At the same time, on Shark TV.
Even during the New Year holiday, plenty of streamers—big and small—were live-streaming different games.
In Eric's stream, he was showing the audience some thighs.
"Hey! You're the one who wanted to see the thighs, don't blame me!"
"Bro, what did I do wrong this time?"
"This? Meh, kinda average!"
"Boss, since it's the holidays, let's stream something new. Lucas's new game Overcooked just dropped. Looks pretty fun."
"I saw that too—Overcooked actually looks like a lot of fun."
Eric, who was busy watching some long white legs, finally noticed the chat messages.
"Come on, it's the holidays. Just trying to show you guys something fun, build a little connection. Honestly, this kind of stuff isn't really my thing!"
"Let me see… a co-op game, huh? Perfect. I'll go see what Ashu is up to—maybe he's free."
Eric opened the game platform and searched for Overcooked. After one glance, he remembered this was the game Lucas had made.
He still remembered Lucas as a game designer.
To the Moon had felt so heartwarming, while Outlast scared the hell out of him—it was a serious shift in tone.
After getting the basics on the game, he clicked into another Shark TV channel run by another streamer. A lot of streamers knew each other, and they'd often play multiplayer games together.
The other stream showed a guy in a black shirt, wearing a baseball cap and thick-rimmed glasses, with a small goatee. He was telling a story.
"Society's different now! Back in the day, schools were full of punks. What'd they do? Shake you down! Call you 'bro,' pat your head, and say: 'Hey bro, lend us some cash. If you ever run into trouble at school, we've got your back. Got any money? Come on, take it out yourself. If I have to search you and find even a single coin, you're getting smacked. Your choice—hand it over, or I take it.'"
"Ash, you sound way too familiar with this. You used to rob kids back in the day, didn't you?"
"Heh… hehehe… Lemme tell you—if I'd really been robbing people, I wouldn't be so good at telling it. Victims and bullies see things totally differently."
While Ash was telling his childhood story, Eric sent him a message, and viewers from both streams were lighting up the chat.
"Wow, long time no see! Eric wants to play with me? Sure, let's hop into voice chat."
The two of them joined the voice call.
"Ash, how've you been lately?"
"Great, just great!"
They exchanged some polite small talk for the show's sake.
"Just the two of us playing? I think this game can handle up to four players," said Ashu.
"Yeah, and I think it even has 2v2 mode. Should I see if we can get two more? Luke and Rock are both playing Overcooked too—want me to ask them?" said Eric.
"Alright then, go ask them," Ash said.
Soon, two more people joined the voice channel.
With four of them now teaming up, their individual stream chats also started buzzing with excitement.
After all, during regular streams, everyone usually just played their own games, and there wasn't much interaction like this.
But since it was the Lunar New Year break and they had a multiplayer game like Overcooked, it was the perfect time for something like this.
"Are we jumping straight into PVP? We haven't even gotten used to the game yet," Ash asked.
"No need for that—none of us are going to practice anyway," Eric suggested.
"How are we splitting teams?" Luke asked over voice chat.
"I'll team up with the Ash, and you go with Rock. That should work," Ash said.
After a bit of discussion, they quickly settled on teams.
When entering PVP mode for the first time, there were tutorial tips to guide them.
Creating a private room, choosing maps, and setting rules wasn't hard at all.
They went with a default mode and jumped into the game.
But to get a feel for the controls, they still tried the tutorial level first.
Overcooked's tutorial level wasn't hard—actually, it was super simple.
It walked players through things step by step: chopping ingredients, cooking rice, washing dishes, and dealing with stage hazards, each part separated clearly.
So Eric and the others all had the same first impression—
It was easy. Simple.
But once they entered the actual PVP mode, that feeling completely disappeared.
Orders started popping up left and right, and the background music added this weird kind of pressure.
It really felt like being stuck in a noisy kitchen, with a long line of customers waiting outside.
And unlike the tutorial, the PVP mode threw everything at them all at once.
Cooking, chopping, boiling, dishwashing—it was all mixed together.
And the biggest catch? The two players on each team were separated.
Which meant they couldn't just coordinate easily on the same task.
Things quickly fell apart.
"Rock, hurry up and chop the meat! Chop the meat!" Luke, playing with a controller, yelled at Rock sitting beside him.
"Stop rushing me! You threw the plates all over the place! And look, you didn't even wash this one! What's the point of me chopping meat? Can't you chop it from your side too?" Rock, who was using a keyboard, fired back with a burst of complaints.
"What did you just say?" Luke shot Rock a sharp glare.
"Nothing… nothing! I'm plating it up, plating it up!" Rock shrank back in fear, suddenly remembering that even though they were talking through voice chat, his sister was sitting right there.
He was already flustered, and now even more panicked from being yelled at. He grabbed the food and rushed it to the serving window.
"Rock! Wake up! Wake up! That dish isn't even cooked yet! Why are you serving it?! And that's not even our side's window—that's the other team's!" Luke shouted, stunned as she watched Rock send out the half-finished dish.
Meanwhile, Eric and Ash weren't doing much better.
"Eric! We're trying to sell this food, can you stop throwing it on the floor? This isn't some random street kitchen!"
"Forget the food! Ash! Hurry! The damn thing's on fire! You're still picking up food? Put out the fire!!"
"What?! That fire came from their side! And you're the one who dropped that food!"
"Well you were supposed to catch it!"
"How's that my fault?! There's a counter and you still keep tossing stuff on the floor!"
And just like that, a small issue turned into a shouting match.
They argued while cooking, which only made the chaos worse.
With orders piling up, the whole kitchen was a complete disaster.
The chat was cracking up as they watched the chaotic livestream.
"Haha, they went from super close to almost falling apart!"
"They are now at each other's throats!"
"this is hilarious."
"Is this game really supposed to bring people closer? Feels like they're about to start fighting!"
"Isn't it supposed to bring people closer? Look at that guy, his face is turning red from holding it in."
"This isn't Overcooked, this is the Fight-in-the-Kitchen Simulator!"
(End of The Chapter)
---
Read +70 advanced chapters on my patre*n
patr eon.com/GustinaKamiya
Free Tier can read 3 advanced chapters
---