Six Days of Waiting
Pyeongjipja’s confirmation. It had already been six days since I sent her the recording file. Still no feedback. I’d waited so long, but nothing. Was she too busy to check? No—she’d said she’d already listened. Yet she still hadn’t replied. I needed that confirmation fast… so I could get everyone else’s approval too. I was swamped. If I didn’t move quickly, a whole year… no, two years could slip by in a flash. The content was just that massive.
“Hmm…” I couldn’t let things drag on like this. I knew Pyeongjipja was busy, but she really needed to hurry up with this one!! I’d held out until I finished my bowl of rice soup, but when no reply came, I had no choice. I called her.
—Ring ring ring. Ring ring ring.
I had to do this fast. I had that… what was it again? The Lara 2 commentary today. And it wasn’t just any stream collab—it was an official tournament commentary! Prize pool and everything: five million won. The scale was huge. I had to nail it, so I’d already written my script carefully. Today marked day three of prep, which meant I was doing a one-and-a-half-day event commentary? Something like that. Either way, I couldn’t afford to let the original content distract me today.
I had so much to say about the tournament. I’d watched it yesterday and felt frustrated the whole time. I planned to voice those frustrations today.
“Pyeongjipja. Pyeongjipja!!”
“Yes~ Hello.”
“Pyeongjipja, did you listen to the recording I sent?”
“Ah~ Of course.”
“How was it?”
“It was a forbidden secret the world was never meant to know.”
“Huh?”
What did that even mean? Was she saying I did an amazing job? I couldn’t quite read her tone.
“That’s right.”
“So it was good, then?”
“…No.”
“Why not? You said it was good!!”
“You packed it full of things that would cause an uproar if they ever saw the light of day.”
“…When?”
I genuinely had no idea what she was talking about. I’d only said the right things. Nothing beyond my station. She had to be misunderstanding. Otherwise none of this made sense. What on earth had she heard?
“…A lot. Especially the part about XX. That one was straight-up mockery. If it went public, the backlash would be enormous… A VTuber sniping another VTuber… that sort of thing.”
“…Ehhhhh? Me?”
“Yes. I don’t think you realized it, Seon-a, but the ripple effect would be massive.”
“Where’s it going?”
I never sniped anyone!! Pyeongjipja was saying terrifying things!! I’d stuffed the script with nothing but nice comments. Pyeongjipja, don’t tell me… you were being mean on purpose? No way. That couldn’t be.
“You sent it to me with this line: ‘I’ll only tell you this, Pyeongjipja!! XX is Maem, and Maem thinks VRChat is real life!! We’re going to save her. What a twist, right?’”
“Gasp…”
I shouldn’t have sent that. She got spoiled and got mad. Damn it. The spoiler was the problem…!! My itchy mouth had betrayed me again.
“Then I won’t spoil it anymore.”
“No. You need to cut it out entirely.”
“…Cut it out? Why?”
“Because it’s a sniping line.”
“Me? Why?”
“If you don’t understand, just remove it. Take out every single one. One hundred percent.”
“Hng…”
Remove it if I didn’t get it? Sob. One hundred percent meant everything had to go. Then what was I supposed to do!!
“Rewrite it with a different story. This one’s too risky. It feels like an obvious attack, and you’ll end up in trouble.”
“Hng… but it’s not an attack.”
“Even if it isn’t, someone could still take it that way.”
“Kkh…”
Fine. If that was the issue, then it was the issue. Got it. So what should I replace Maem with? It felt too empty without her. Just sealing her away would feel cheap. The story needed substance. I couldn’t just say “Poof… she got sealed” with zero context. That wouldn’t work. Hmm… what now? I didn’t really have another role to give her. But I couldn’t cut her either. This whole thing came from wanting to understand Maem. It was like red-bean-less bungeoppang. Maem said VRChat was her reality… so clueless Seon-a, shocked by that, created an RP to try and understand other VTubers. If I removed all of that and just said “Seon-a made an RP,” then… no. Why would I even do it then!! Maem was necessary. So… the sealing arc was still correct. She did get sealed. Then… why did she get sealed? Ugh… my head hurt. I had no ideas at all.
“Ugh…”
“Still, it won’t work. This could really blow up~”
“Ugh…”
“You should go in a completely different direction…”
“Ugh…”
I had no other direction!! Maem literally said reality was VR!! Our reality is Korea. We live in Korea, walk on actual ground, eat real rice…!! You don’t survive by eating in VRChat. Eventually you take off the headset, eat, drink water, exercise, sleep. Why! How is that sniping?! I just wanted to show her what real life was like.
“Pyeongjipja, you’re a bad person.”
“Still can’t do it.”
“Ugh… bad person. But also a good person. So you’re a good-bad person.”
“Try rewriting the story properly.”
“Ah! Oh, right. What about everything else? How far is okay? Is only that part the problem?”
I’d almost forgotten the most important question. Was only Maem the issue? Or was everything a problem? I’d nearly missed that.
“I think you just need to change the Maem part. The article concept and everything else depends on whether the other VTubers agree to participate or not.”
“Pyeongjipja… you’re a good person.”
Thank goodness. Nothing else was wrong. Her eye was sharp. Hehehe. Only one thing had been the problem. The whole “saving Maem” arc… ugh. But that was the hardest part to fix. What should I do? No, this wasn’t the time to worry about it.
“Um, the tournament commentary is today, right?”
“Yes~ That’s correct.”
“But Pyeongjipja.”
Lately her voice sounded more energetic. Did something good happen? When a girl suddenly got brighter, it was usually because she got a boyfriend, right? Back in school, the delinquent girls would beam whenever they started dating.
“Yes~”
“Did something good happen?”
“Huh? No.”
“Your voice has been really lively lately. You even smell like powder… why is that?”
So Pyeongjipja smelled like powder too. She really was a girl. I’d only just realized. But she shouldn’t go around smelling like that. Guys would swarm her. If they fell in love and she got distracted, she wouldn’t edit as hard. My videos would be late. Disaster!!
“No!! What about editing if you get a boyfriend, Pyeongjipja?”
“Huh? Not at all. I don’t have one.”
“It’s okay if you do. You’re not a streamer, after all. Be honest. If having a boyfriend makes your editing slow… should I hire another editor?”
Pyeongjipja was a civilian. Whether she had a boyfriend didn’t matter. But if she were a VTuber, it would be trouble. People would assume things and make her life harder. Still… if she started ditching work for dates, that would be a problem. That’s why I asked.
“I don’t. It’s fine. I’ve just had more free time lately, I guess.”
“Did you hire a housekeeper?”
Housework was annoying. Who cleaned her place? It would be nice if someone did. Even I hated taking out the trash on cold days. If someone else handled it… wow. Life would be so much easier. Sob. Her quality of life must be way higher. Was Pyeongjipja already living that dream?
“Huh? No. I clean myself.”
“Pyeongjipja… are you tidy?”
“Me? A little?”
How did Pyeongjipja live? Suddenly I was curious about her house. Judging by her face… it was probably messy. Very messy. High chance. The kind of face that suggested a menhera girl’s apartment piled high with trash.
“You’re lying. Faces don’t lie. Your place is dirty, right?”
“Excuse me? What kind of face do I have?”
“The face of a delinquent menhera who smokes twenty packs of cigarettes and leaves delivery food containers everywhere without cleaning.”
“…”
“I’ll come over sometime.”
“Where?”
“Your house. I’ll do a surprise inspection.”
My mom inspected my studio apartment the same way. It helped a lot. She taught me how to clean the bathroom, the corners I always missed, and which detergents to use. Really useful. I’d teach Pyeongjipja all of that. Obviously not today. I had my own schedule. Official tournament commentary. If I did well, maybe they’d call me again? Hehehe. I’d work hard and pick apart every flaw I saw in yesterday’s matches.
“When are you coming?”
“Surprise.”
“At least give me a hint…”
“Inspection.”
Employee-managing Seon-a. Impressive. I’d grown so much without realizing. Grown-up Seon-a. Wow. I was even showing boss qualities now. Maybe I should grow even more and start my own VTuber group? Hehehehehehe. That would be hilarious.
“Anyway, I’ll drop by later, Pyeongjipja.”
“Huh… really?”
“Of course!! As boss Seon-a, I’ll see with my own two eyes how you live. And if it’s not clean…”
What would I do if it wasn’t clean? This was part of employee welfare too. Hehe. I had to think carefully. Hmm, should I get a two-room place and live together? Or ask my parents to hire a housekeeper? Well… I’d decide after seeing it myself. No point deciding now.
“I’ll check first and decide.”
“Ah… okay…”
“I have the tournament today, so I’m going to go prepare!!”
“Good luck. I’ll be cheering for you!!”
“Yep, got your cheer~ Give me one more~”
“Hahap…!!”
“Got the poof cheer. That encouragement came through. I’ll call again later!”
“Okay! Go on in.”
I hung up. For the tournament commentary, I opened my notes and started preparing my lines. I had to do well. I needed to show a cool side. Who was I? The former number-one “taste-and-run” (empty-house) player. The public-café menace, Seon-jjangjjang. I couldn’t let that reputation get tarnished.