༺ Turn Off The Stream ༻
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing right now…
I thought something like this only happened in manhwas!
Holding Oppa’s phone, I genuinely thought that I was hallucinating.
On the screen was a golden badge, shining brightly.
This wasn’t something you could get overnight…
It was proof that he had been subbed, and watched my streams from the very beginning…
After confirming it was the most expensive tier sub, my voice trembled as I asked him the truth.
“T-Then, does that mean you’re really…”
Was I not dreaming, after all…?
“…my subscriber all along?”
He ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath before snatching his phone out of my hand.
“Can’t you see this 12-month sub badge? Do you think it’s a joke?”
Oppa zoomed into the badge, tilting his head slightly.
That sassy posture…
That irritating way of speaking…
And to top it all…
“Luka-tan…?”
He called me by my other name.
The name that should have only existed in virtual space somehow was being mentioned in reality…
Oppa lowered his arm, put the phone back in his pocket, and pulled me into his embrace.
“…So, yeah.”
My cheek was pressing against his sweater.
The pleasant scent of his fabric softener tickled my nose.
“You weren’t the only one with feelings.”
Oppa awkwardly patted my back.
I felt myself tearing up again…but for a different reason this time…
His touch was clumsy…but also…warm…
I yearned for more of that warmth, so I wrapped my arms around his waist.
“Stop crying already!”
“Don’t say that!”
Jeez, couldn’t he tell that my feelings were fragile?! His words only made it worse for me!
Like, telling me to stop crying would only make me cry harder!
And I thought I had shown enough of my ugly crying face back in the DVD bang…
“At least let me finish what I’m going to say first.”
“I already know what you’re going to say! I don’t wanna hear it!”
Please, just a little longer… I wanted to savor this sweet, fluffy feeling…
Who woulda thought that the most unrealistic scenario turned out to be the reality…?
If I knew this would happen, I would have told him everything sooner…
Hanbit unnie.
You were truly a goddess.
And so, I was stuck with those thoughts for a moment…
“…Oppa.”
“Yeah?”
“…So, you’ve been watching my streams since November last year?”
After my sobs subsided, the focus of my anxiety switched to something else.
“Ah, yeah…”
When I caught a glimpse of his stiff face, chills ran down my spine.
November…last year…?
B-But that…
T-That was when I had just started streaming!
To be exact, I started back in October, and he subbed to me in November…
“T-Then, you were there when I was still doing the princess…”
“Ah, right… Well, back then you were quite…unique…”
T’was a good day. Time to die.
That thought suddenly came to my mind.
* * *
I did that shit impulsively, but…
That should resolve everything…right?
After she confirmed how long I had been watching her stream, she said that she’d text me later and ran back home, as if fleeing from something.
I thought we’d start talking about our plan for the future after that. You know, whether we should actually get into a relationship or not and something like that…but that didn’t happen.
Oh, well…
At least she didn’t seem too upset by the end of it…
Imagine if she were to cry even harder after hearing the word ‘Pink Army’ coming out from my mouth. I woulda break down on the spot.
I opened the fridge, took out some ice, and immediately gulped down ice-cold water to the point I got a brain freeze.
“Whew…”
After all that, Doah still had to stream in a few hours, so it was kinda funny.
I’d go crazy if I were her.
If she was an indie vtuber, she could just take a break or whatever, but because she was affiliated with YM, there was no way she could do that.
Work was work, after all.
I laid down on the bed and opened my phone.
Then I went on Twitch and checked Luka’s profile, her pink-haired avatar winking at me.
Seriously, how the hell did we end up like this…?
I still couldn’t believe that Luka, who always felt so close yet so far to me, was breaking down in tears a moment ago because of me.
Then, I closed my eyes, waiting for Doah’s text.
* * *
「Ah, ah. Can everyone hear me?」
It was eight in the evening.
Doah’s voice came through the speakers as she started her stream right on time.
[Luhai! Luhai!]
[luhai!]
[Luka-tan, what took you so long?]
[you’ve been late a lot recently…]
The waiting screen faded out and a familiar avatar appeared.
「I’m not late! I started this at eight o’clock sharp.」
「Mhm, yeah! I haven’t been late ever since I joined Closer!」
「Only because I got a salary now? What do you mean?! Even before that I was barely ever late!!」
Seeing Luka puff up her cheeks, the waves of people’s whines and teases on the chat were replaced by their spam of ‘cute’.
「My exams? Hmm~ Honestly, I screwed up a bit.」
「Ah, wait! I’m an idol now, I shouldn’t use those words!」
「Luka-tan did her best! But, the result was just a little disappointing…uuu…」
You’d think most people would cringe at that overly otaku-targeted speech, but our Pink Army loved every second of it. Just look at them spamming the word ‘cute’ again in chat.
「Anyway, I’m pretty much safe on my major-specific courses, but I give up completely on my liberal arts.」
「Look, chat, if I were to go all out to study for my liberal arts courses, I’d have to go on a hiatus! Do you guys really want that?」
She let out a mischievous smile.
「See? If I don’t stream, you guys are gonna spam the forums with Pink Army emotes again.」
Pink Army emotes were exclusive to her subs.
One of her fans was an illustrator, and they made the emotes for her, but people used it for a lot of things.
My favorite was the PArmyBonk.
Whenever the mood turned awkward or someone in the chat made weird comments, people would just spam this emote.
「Ah, when will my break start…?」
It was November right now, so it should start in less than two months.
Usually, all classes would end around December 10th.
Even if they didn’t, they would always end before Christmas.
Maybe Doah was also thinking that, then responded to the next question.
「Am I going to stream five days a week during the break? Well, I don’t know, but I won’t stream more than this, okay?」
「What will I do when not streaming? Rest and have fun of course! How can I just stream everyday?」
「You should go touch some grass with your friends too, chat!」
Before she finished speaking, a bunch of the PArmyBonk emotes came up.
[This is entertainment to me, this is the grass I touch!]
[??? why hit us where it hurts?]
[My friends are here though?]
[??????]
「I get it! I said I get it! I’ll stream more! Stop hitting me!」
Luka spun her head around all dizzily when the Pink Army went straight into punishment mode.
If it were any other day, I would have joined the outcry and demanded her to stream all seven days a week.
But today, I just passively watched the stream.
Then, she continued her stream with a zatsudan.
–LukaCoinsToTheMoon-nim has donated 1,000 won.
[Can you do a cute reaction?]
「LukaCoinsToTheMoon-nim! Thank you for the 1,000~ You want me to act cute? If you want me to do that, you gotta spend more than this, you know~? Can you even afford it~?」
Back when she first started, she’d do it for 5,000 won.
Nowadays, she wouldn’t do it even for 10,000 won.
It was a pity, but understandable.
Because if she kept the price low, she might just end up acting all cutesy for the whole stream.
Besides, this kind of thing would only be fun when done occasionally. Do it too much, it’d lose its novelty and it’d become boring.
–LukaCoinsToTheMoon-nim has donated 50,000 won.
[What about this?]
「Yes, I’ll do this! Hm? You want me to take a look at this video? Ah, you want me to do it exactly like this?」
I thought Luka, who had already done almost everything, wouldn’t feel any pressure, but this one seemed to be especially difficult.
She had to do a third person passive voice…
Also, end her words with ‘kyu’ and ‘ing’… And the contents seemed really confusing…
「Ugh… This is hard…」
Now, Luka seemed to hesitate.
–LukaCoinsToTheMoon-nim has donated 50,000 won.
[Gogo]
「I-If LukaCoinsToTheMoon-nim says so…i-it can’t be helped then!」
Her cheeks blushed as she received all that money.
The viewers were giggling at the sight of Luka getting fired up.
Like the rest of the Pink Army, I licked my lips with a pleased smile.
「But this is the first time I’m watching something like this, so let me watch it a few more times before I try」
Even though a vtuber used a model instead of their own face, it still seemed difficult.
Like, I wouldn’t do that if I were a streamer.
Too much of a pain—
Wait, actually, fuck it, this was for 100,000 won, hell yeah I’d do it.
[Brrrrrrrrrrr.]
Anyway, the clip that would come out of this would be golden.
If she did it well, it would even become a legendary clip.
Whether she did it perfectly or messed up in the middle, it’d be fucking adorable.
Saying that she needed some time to warm up her voice, Luka started humming. Then, she got up from her chair saying she was going to drink a glass of water before starting.
–Riiiiiiing
At that moment, my phone vibrated.
Doah texted me, and the text was only four words long.
[turn off the stream.]
…Okay, that was just creepy, what the fuck…?
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