Hwabon Station's Alpha Male Jjang-hem (2)

"Eheheh. No, what even is that!! For real!!"

Out of nowhere, Maem-nim lets ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out a soft, powder-scented laugh.

If she comes at me like this… this is a problem. Does she think I'll go easy on her just because of that?

I am the alpha male Jjang-hem. An alpha among alphas who has never once been conquered by any woman. You don't know what an alpha male is? Then I'll tell you. Uwaha!!

I do not take the hit. That is what it means to be alpha male.

I had zero intention of yielding, so I put on the weight and said,

"What."

"Your lines are way too much. You're way too aggressive."

"Hmph… I see."

"And that kind of guy style doesn't work these days."

"So what. Want me to scold you?"

"Euhahahahaha. The bad-boy style doesn't work. These days you've got to be sweet."

"Hmph… I see."

Is that so? I didn't know that. Then do I need to change the concept? Hmm… to what? I'm the alpha male Jjang-hem—I'm supposed to be nice?

The world should be the one being nice. That is alpha male.

Look at how pretty and handsome people act. They just decide they are the center of the universe.

How do I know? Thin experience, sure, but there was a genuinely gorgeous girl at school.

Whenever she walked by, the guys panted after her like a pack of dogs.

She picked and chose her men. And when she posted photos on Facebook—hearts? likes?—she got a mountain of them. Everyone was hitting like, so I hit like too.

Guys are the same. Even if the personality's weird… I'm right.

I'm right. Yeah. I almost fell for that powder-scented laugh.

The blunt man always has demand. Maem-nim was just gaslighting me just now. Yeah.

I reached my conclusion.

"No."

"No to what? What do you mean no?"

I'd run into a strong woman.

I'd never actually dated, so honestly I didn't know much. Doing it like this… made me dizzy.

She kept talking and talking, picking every little thing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠apart.

She needed a real scolding. I went in hard.

"No yapping."

"Whaaat? What did I even do!! I can't even ask a question? Guys like this are totally the worst?"

I see. An alpha male does not cling. That is alpha male.

Other people cling to me. I do not cling.

Uwaha!!

"Bye."

"Huh? Wh-what, where am I going?"

"You said I'm the worst. I'm not holding you. Brrring… brrr-ring… Yeah. Unit 9201. Come to Hwabon Station."

"Huhuheheheh. What? Nine thousand? Why do you have so many women? What have you been doing?"

"Nothing special. I've got ten thousand."

In my worldbuilding, Jjang-hem has truly way too many women. So many I can't even remember who they are. That was the perfect worldbuilding I had built.

Just because Maem had walked into it, I couldn't start giving her special treatment.

If I started babying Maem-nim, the worldbuilding I'd poured work into would collapse.

"Ten thousand? Women? What number am I?"

"You… uh… ten-thousand-something, I guess."

"Wow!! I'm actually hurt. This is way too hurtful."

"Should I remember you?"

"Uh… um… tsk… Even so, you should at least remember. That's mean."

"Fine."

Remembering isn't hard. Uwaha.

I was still high on alpha-male Jjang-hem when Maem said, dead serious,

"I'll be the guy now."

"Wh… what?"

Polite speech slipped out of me without thinking. Suddenly? It was so out of nowhere I was thrown off.

This was the worldbuilding I worked so hard on…!!

"This time I'll do the male role. I'll be Ma-hem."

"No."

"Why? I want to try too."

"Hmph… Difficult. Problematic."

"You getting scolded?"

"Why would I. Listen. I'm the alpha ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠male."

"Scolded?"

"Not scolded. Reflect."

"You're really getting scolded?"

"Reflect. Not scolded."

I was completely wronged. Who does this. An actor mid-role just goes, okay I'll be the heroine now, you do the hero? No. People don't do that. That is not professional.

"I'll bring a male avatar… Now I'll show you the sweet-boyfriend role."

"I… I don't want to. I'm Jjang-hem."

"Ah-hem. Is my baby getting scolded?"

"Ah… I'm not a baby. I'm Jjang-hem."

"Ah-hem!! Is my baby getting scolded? I'll do the sweet part now. From now on Jjang-hem is the salty one and I'm the sweet one. Nice, right?"

"No, this… this."

I was in real trouble now.

Chat had to be roasting Maem-nim right now. Definitely.

They were all on my side. Maem-nim needed to look at our chat and grow from it. Right?

I snuck a glance…!!

Why were they so friendly about it? They never used to be like this. If it were me, they'd be going off again—content's dead, this is embarrassing Seona, stop the brain-rot. That's the kind of chat they'd spam.

"Hmph… This isn't right."

I kept checking the room. Not a single person was on my side. Everyone was on Maem-nim's. Absolute demons…!!

If the public opinion was like this, there was nothing I could do. In the end the viewers were the ones watching the stream. I had to follow. But I couldn't just go like this. Not like this. It was too unfair!!

I wanted to do something a little… bad too. Just once, I wanted to do something the viewers hated and then leave.

What could it be? I thought, and then I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠came up with the laughter medley.

"Can't be helped. Eheheh. Uwaha. Oohoho. Heheh. Hehehehe. Laughter spam… heheheh."

Chat opinion looking excellent. The crime of maintaining a hostile relationship with me. Accept it sweetly.

Revenge achieved. This much was enough. She'd put me in a tight spot, so by the reverse principle the viewers had to be put in a tight spot too.

That was the correct worldbuilding, right? Eheheh.

I turned off the voice changer and said,

"I'm here…!!"

Ah, I was supposed to switch characters too… I forgot.

I immediately swapped my avatar to a hamster.

An exciting height difference, just for Maem-nim. That was something written in my phone notes.

Exciting height difference.

Hamster Seona and Maem-nim—would that be about a 150cm gap? Totally heart-fluttering, right? Maem-nim, only I think of stuff like this, right? Only Seona thinks of things like this!!

"Hamster me… cute, right? Again… I'm here…!!"

I received a difficult donation. Act like a hamster—what did that even mean? How does a hamster act? I genuinely had no idea.

Dogs go woof-woof, cats go meow-meow… chicks go cheep-cheep… cows go moo.

So hamsters? No clue.

This was… the realm of imagination? That was actually perfect. Delusions were my specialty.

Hamster. Hmm, how would it act? I tried imagining it.

"Uh… hamster's here~!! Squeak-squeak? Skreeek? Weird… again. Sksksk? No. That doesn't sound like a hamster. Euing? Uuing? Heehing? Hmm… something's missing."

"Sorry. Am I a little late?"

I was still fretting when Maem-nim showed up with a handsome male avatar.

"You're not late!!"

Truthfully I'd been so deep in thought I hadn't even known if she was late.

"Where are you? I can't see you."

"Down here. I'm down here."

"Huh? Uh-uh? A hamster? No, where did the girl avatar go… what is this."

"Exciting height difference."

"I don't get it… what? What's an exciting height difference?"

"Ehing? The height difference between the two of us right now!!"

I scrolled the mouse all the way down and stared into Maem-nim's avatar eyes. This was seriously insane!!

If Maem-nim had been on a girl avatar, I might not even have been able to see her face past the chest? That was how big the height gap was.

In the end Maem-nim was a girl too. She must have been moved by my consideration, right? Eheheh. Bet she wants Jjang-hem back now, huh? Miss him already?

"No…"

"Nice, right? Fluttering, right? Eheheh."

I grinned ear to ear. Who gives people this kind of emotional impact~ Seona, that's who~!!

"No… please do it properly…. I prepared a ton of lines."

"Ehing? I'm being serious though… whyyy?"

"You're an animal. Not a person. If you were a person, I'd accept it."

Hah!! I'd been way too shortsighted. I hadn't thought of that.

Right. Maem-nim would prefer a person too.

Wait… but her avatar wasn't a person either. It was just a virtual character. Strictly speaking, just an anime character.

Different from a person… eyes ridiculously huge, just a pile of polygons.

Hmm… I wanted to pick that apart, but I held back.

I prepared a ton of lines. That part made me decide to endure it.

If someone prepared something, you listen. That's manners, right? I was a well-mannered person.

So I would listen, then judge.

Maem-nim, who had driven out Jjang-hem. Go ahead and show me. I crushed my wild instincts down hard.

"Okay!! I'll go switch."

I changed into a cute girl avatar!!

"I'm here. How is it?"

"Oh~ my baby's pretty? You're way too pretty."

"Hmph…"

"My baby. Whyyy? Did you have a gloomy day?"

"Hmm…"

Something about it was lacking. It didn't hit at all. Jjang-hem would probably be more popular.

Oh? They were giving me a mission like this? This was a "we're basically paying out" mindset. Honestly, even Mom, Dad, and my little brother had thrown up their hands at my stubbornness.

This was genuinely easy. An extremely easy mission.

To be precise, I didn't know how to make other people angry. But when I dug my heels in, people got mad.

So I'd practiced minimizing the stubbornness a lot.

"What's wrong~?"

"Disqualified. Switching back to Jjang-hem."

"We haven't even started yeeet~ Then shall we look around somewhere nice? Hold hands together?"

"Whoa…!! That's insane."

"What's insane~?"

"I miss Jjang-hem… Jjang-hem was good. Let's go see Jjang-hem!!"

"No, listen."

Maem-nim's voice pitch rose a little. Eheheh. Success?

"Are you mad?"

"Nooo~ I was just saying~"

"Shame."

"Then… I'll open a portal~ Follow me. I'll go ahead and wait~ Mwah~"

Hmm… if I don't follow, will she get mad? What do I do? Time for the reverse-empathy substitution method!!

"I should follow."

If I don't follow, I'll be sad. Euhheheng. I'll do it.