Chapter 29 – The Streamer with No Face
Morning sunlight filtered through the beige curtains of Cal's apartment. The hum of the city had started early—a mix of distant traffic, early school announcements, and the occasional chirp of a crow landing on the nearby power lines. But inside his small one-room space, the world was very different.
It was quiet.
Peaceful.
Yet beneath that stillness, momentum surged.
Cal sat at his desk, staring at the screen while chewing on a piece of melon bread. His mouse hovered over the [Dashboard], where the system had just refreshed his analytics.
[System Notification – Morning Summary Report]
[Your Channel Growth (Past 48 Hours):
New Subscribers: +124,322
Top 3 New View Regions:
United States
South Korea
Philippines
Total Channel Subscribers: 334,219
Viral Tag Growth: #RETROSTREAM #FutureJMusic #UndertaleIn2010]
A slight tremble passed through his fingers as he moved the cursor toward the "Fan Clips" section. He had enabled a new system feature yesterday: viewers could now create timestamped clips from his streams, submit them for approval, and repost them on video platforms.
He expected a few dozen to come in.
Instead, there were 6,122.
His fingers paused mid-air.
"Six thousand…"
He opened one. It was titled:
"Undertale Final Boss – Streamer's Silent Tears Hit Different" – 128,442 views
Subtitled in English, Korean, and Chinese.
Another:
"Ado - Usseewa | 2010 LIVE STREAM?!" – 214,893 views
Tagged as "Found Footage from the Future?"
Dozens of videos had thumbnails edited to showcase RETROSTREAM as a mysterious figure. Black hood. Shadowed face. 4K visuals. Future content. No camera. No schedule. And no explanation.
And it was that very mystery that had the world hooked.
March 7, 2010 – Los Angeles, USA – 7:12 PM (PST)
The office of Seismic Talent Management was supposed to be closed for the weekend. But inside a glass-walled conference room, three men were crowded around a projector, watching a Japanese music stream on loop.
"That's the third time I've watched this," muttered Greg Harland, head of international music scouting. "And I still don't get it."
Next to him, Marco slid his laptop forward. "Reddit's blowing up about him. Twitter too. People are saying he's a time traveler. A few are saying it's AI. Look at this—"
He pulled up a thread titled:
"RETROSTREAM: The Future Ghost of the Internet?"
The top comment read:
"He's not trying to make money. Not promoting himself. Just drops a stream and vanishes. Feels... ethereal. Like internet folklore in the making."
Greg folded his arms. "And you're telling me no agency in Japan knows who this guy is?"
"None. No talent bureau, no YouTube registry, no real-name trace. The only detail we know—he streams under a VPN that links somewhere in Tokyo. That's it."
Greg leaned forward, eyes locked on the stream's ending shot—when the screen faded to black and the words "Thank you for watching. I'll be back soon." hung for five seconds.
"Keep watching him," he said. "This isn't just viral. This is cultural."
March 8, 2010 – Tokyo, Japan – 11:33 AM
Cal walked back from the nearby 7-Eleven with a small bag of groceries—instant curry packs, more melon bread, and three cans of iced coffee. It wasn't glamorous, but it was what he liked.
He passed by a group of middle schoolers crowded around a phone. One of them was whispering excitedly.
"...No, seriously! He streamed this game called Undertale! It's not even out yet!"
"Isn't that the one where you don't have to kill anyone?"
"My cousin from Korea sent me a clip. Even she's talking about him!"
Cal didn't stop walking, didn't glance back.
But a faint smile tugged at his lips.
Back inside his apartment, he dropped the groceries, pulled on his headset, and opened the system menu.
[System Message:
"International Curiosity Rising."
You have unlocked: Stream Delay Control, Multi-Region Language Overlay, and Time-Displacement Buffer (Beta).]
[New Suggested Stream Concept:
"Future of FPS" — Showcase iconic shooter titles of the 2010s and 2020s to wow classic-era players.]
Cal raised an eyebrow.
The system was becoming more suggestive now—offering strategy rather than just tools.
He considered the prompt.
"Future of FPS…"
A slow grin formed.
"Yeah. Let's do it."
March 8, 2010 – 9:00 PM JST – Stream Title: "FPS From Another Era"
Cal didn't show his face.
Instead, the stream opened with the clean, hyper-stylized opening menu of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019).
To 2010 viewers, it looked like a movie.
Weapons gleamed. HUDs were sleek. Characters moved like they were from the future—because, well, they were.
Chat was stunned before the stream even truly began.
[MIKAchan_92]: "Is this a game or a trailer??"
[NeoBoomer]: "Graphics like this in 2010? What console is this on!?"
[ZeroWinged]: "This isn't Battlefield. This isn't COD4. What is this???"
[UnknownUSA]: "Streamer has access to dev build or something?"
Cal had spent the afternoon customizing loadouts, practicing a few missions, and setting up story mode transitions.
He started with the campaign—jumping straight into the Night Raid mission, with its eerie realism and flashlights cutting through darkness.
No commentary. Just raw gameplay, atmospheric tension, and cinematic experience.
At its peak, 147,801 viewers were watching live.
1 Hour In – Multiplayer Mode Begins
He transitioned to Warzone next—dropping into Verdansk solo, playing cautiously.
Every time he downed an enemy, chat flooded with:
"UNREAL!"
"HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?"
"Someone call Activision!"
"I NEED THIS GAME!!!"
When he finished Top 3 in the match, donations exploded.
[Donation – "Eagle_Korea": ₩40,000
Message: "This is lightyears ahead of Battlefield 2. My clan is crying watching this."]
[Donation – "HaloFan_USA": $75
Message: "This looks better than any Halo trailer. What engine is this??"]
He didn't reply. He only continued, now loading Apex Legends.
By the third game switch, the chat had evolved.
People weren't just reacting—they were theorizing. Trying to figure out how such games even existed. What hardware they ran on. Who this streamer was. And why every single title felt like it didn't belong in this timeline.
Some compared him to an oracle.
Others to a digital ghost.
One Reddit post summarized it best:
"RETROSTREAM isn't trying to prove he's from the future. He's just letting the content speak. And somehow... it's working."
End of Stream – 11:12 PM JST
Cal finally unmuted the mic.
"Thank you, everyone... for watching."
Pause.
"I'll show you more soon."
Click.
Stream offline.
[System Notification – Stream Complete]
[Total Peak Viewers: 147,801
New Followers: +81,221
Subscriber Milestone Reached: 400,000
Mission Cleared: "Future of FPS" — +3500 Points
Unlock: "Retro Battle Royale Playlist"
You have earned: Random Tier 2 Gacha Ticket]
Cal leaned back, exhausted but content.
He had opened a portal—showed them what games would become. And they believed it.
He wasn't some loud, over-the-top entertainer. He didn't play for laughs or overreact. He just shared—with precision, care, and timing.
And somehow, that was changing the past.
To be continued in Chapter 30…