Geez... I Told You to Hold Back!! (1)
I had a good dream for the first time in a while.
In that short stretch of sleep, I cleared every single route.
Maru's ending came out packed with realism. Even when I tried to spin pure fantasy, the fact that we'd already been to an amusement park together kept yanking it back to reality. At first she played along and had fun with me, but later she got tired and just took photos. From the waiting area she smiled and waved.
Next was Motteok. Motteok would have a blast with me. Absolutely. She'd be just like me. In my mind she'd love riding the attractions together, take a ton of pictures, and laugh nonstop. She just couldn't ride too many — those huge boobs and gravity meant she'd have to take it easy. That was my Motteok route.
Then Pyeong-nim. At first he'd be ridiculously embarrassed. For sure. Me? Why? He'd keep dodging. Then he'd watch me ride, edge closer little by little, and finally join in. Even on the Viking ship he'd just cling to the safety bar at first, until I went Wooaaah!! and yelled that it was fun. If I taught him hard enough, he'd copy me and eventually ride even harder than I did. One hundred percent.
Raming would go even wilder than me, so I'd be the one who got worn out. My friend Raming would definitely be like that.
That was how I wrote the endings.
I have to go for real someday. I need to check whether it matches what I imagined.
Between Maru, Motteok, Pyeong-nim, and Raming… who should I take? Everything sounded fun, so I still couldn't decide. Not something you settle overnight, so I put it on hold for now.
"Uwaaahhh…"
The moment I woke up I rubbed my eyes and made the bed first.
Successful people make their beds. I'd been deeply impressed by that line, so I always stuck to it.
Next… brushing my teeth.
When you wake up your mouth is full of bacteria, so you have to… do something or other. I saw it somewhere.
Mom and Dad skip brushing before breakfast, but I brush.
Sadly… Dad used to be all about management, management, management — hardcore health control. Then he went bald and his whole outlook flipped.
Genetics is everything in the end. Completely useless. I took such good care of my hair and it still all fell out.
That was his lament.
On top of that, Dad eats a proper amount of meat and… I don't really know the details, but he eats everything in moderation. Never overdoes it, never touches food after eight, never even drinks — and he still ended up with high cholesterol.
When Mom says it's because he doesn't exercise, Dad insists life is just luck.
I finished brushing, then gulped down a full cup of water.
"Hwahh!! So refreshing."
After drinking I opened the fridge.
Mom and Dad had already eaten. They understood the special nature of my job and never complained if I skipped breakfast. Lunch, though — that was non-negotiable.
"Seona."
"Yes ma'am!!"
"Eat lunch first, then snack."
"Hmm… yes ma'am."
I'd been plotting to sneak an ice cream or pudding, but she'd caught me. Nothing I could do about it now.
I shut the fridge and headed back to my room.
Once you're up, you should work, right? When I lived alone I never thought like that. I'd just wake up, mess around a bit, and hit the stream button. But this was home, so I felt like I ought to look busy.
I'm not just playing around. I'm working.
I turned on the computer… and then wondered what actually counted as work. I'd never really done a proper job, so I had no idea.
Well… maybe I should draw something.
Knowing how to draw really does have its perks. I could make my dreams real.
I started sketching a heart-pounding amusement-park dating sim.
Maru was pure and ultra-girly. You could practically feel the girl-power dripping off her. Ehehe. Motteok had those massive boobs. Pyeong-nim was drop-dead gorgeous. Raming was my friend.
I grinned like an idiot and kept drawing until lunch.
While I drew, something hit me.
I fired off a group text to Maru, Motteok, Pyeong-nim, and Raming.
I would go with the very first person who texted back.
Sorry to the latecomers, but even if they begged it wouldn't matter. Firm no!! Strictly first-come, first-served, one person only.
Build trust, raise brand value. Just like the philosophy of a luxury label.
An amusement-park date with Seona was luxury goods.
"Ehehe."
Delusional dating sims were pretty fun in their own right!!
After lunch I rested a bit, then sat back down in front of the computer.
Once the food settled… a problem appeared.
"So what am I doing today?"
My head always throbbed over this. I genuinely had no idea.
I thought about it every single day and still didn't know.
Having a fixed content series would be nice, but I couldn't decide lightly.
"Ugh… if I just played games…"
If I were good at games I wouldn't even have this worry… but I sucked, so my pool was tiny.
Couldn't play AOS. Couldn't play FPS. Wasn't even good at story games.
With a game pool that small, locking anything in as regular content was impossible.
What about singing, then? I used to think I was decent. Turns out I wasn't. And even if I were good, making singing a fixed slot was tough. My throat would shred. Completely shredded.
Then art streams… those just shredded the viewers instead. Utterly merciless shredding. A room that had five hundred people would drop to three hundred… two hundred… even Pyeong-nim stopped watching.
How shocking is that? I was devastated. Even Pyeong-nim was skipping?
I definitely saw him in my room, so I called out. No answer. So I phoned him. He'd muted everything and was just chilling at home.
Shocked or not shocked? Uwaaaaaagh!!
Art streams could never be regular fixed content. But every once in a while they were fine. When I did them occasionally, people actually liked it.
"Hmm…"
I opened Notepad and furiously typed out my thoughts.
The more I wrote, the more tears welled up over my talent. How could I be good at absolutely nothing!!
Being decent at even one game should have been allowed.
Was it right that I was bad at everything? Come on, give me at least one thing.
Eliminating options one by one left me with just chatting.
But then…
"Just chatting, huh…"
The "chatting is all you need" theory had been dead for ages. At first you really do have tons to say. You just keep talking. But at some point you turn into a parrot.
Same lines again, same lore dumps again, same thoughts again, same jokes again… some of it was my own lack of skill, but fundamentally it was hard to change.
Chat for seven hours a day for a whole month… of course you'd run out of material.
At some point I'd realized I needed to keep it to a reasonable amount.
"Hard. This is really hard."
Knock knock.
"Yes. Seona here."
"Seona, want some fruit?"
"Sounds good. What's on the menu today? Hit me with the lineup."
"Today it's pineapple."
"Nice. Bring it right over. Lots. Lots!!"
"Alright. Is it okay to talk now?"
"Yes…!! I haven't started yet."
"When are you going live?"
Well… I still hadn't decided, and I had no plans to hit the stream button until I finished sorting my thoughts.
"Maybe… two or three?"
"Alright."
"Ah!! Wait a second. Mom. Mom!!"
Something had just occurred to me.
I'd been home for over a week now. Mom hadn't gone grocery shopping even once. She used to be the type who diligently headed out between three and four every day, but she'd changed.
"Yeah?"
"So you don't go to the mart anymore?"
"The mart? Why would I go these days."
"Then how do you get groceries?"
"Groceries? Nowadays I do it all with internet shopping. Everything arrives by dawn the next day~"
"Wait…!! You know how to use that complicated stuff?"
I was so shocked I had to double-check.
"Once you learn it, it's convenient~"
"No way!! That's huge…!!"
"And it's fresher than the mart."
"Unreal…!! Got it."
I was deeply shaken. This was exactly why you had to keep learning. Whatever Mom was using was definitely the same thing my viewers used.
Insane. Amazing. Because I didn't use it. People said it was super convenient, but I was the type who absolutely had to see things with my own eyes. That was my rule.
But Mom using it? Wild!!
"I see. I see… The world has to change. Mom grew. I have to grow too."
It was seriously motivating. Just the other day I'd been teaching her how to use kiosks because she couldn't, and now I was the more analog one.
I have to grow…!!
"Uwooooh!!"
I clenched my fist and thrust it toward the sky.
My brain suddenly kicked into overdrive — whoooosh!!
Right. Time to grind some XP. I'm getting stronger!! Think, now!! Don't give yourself a second to rest.
"Whoa!! Uwooooh!!"
I'd been stuck on "what am I doing today?" for over five minutes, and then out of nowhere — beep-beep. Wait!! Wait wait!! What if I tried a dating sim? Make my delusions real!! Ohhh!!
This had to be the power of growth (or something)!!
Knock knock.
"Yes! Uwooooh!!"
"Seona, here… eat this. Is it a lot?"
"No!! I'm gonna demolish the whole thing."
"Eat slowly or you'll choke."
"Got it."
I chewed the pineapple thoroughly while watching YouTube, never looking away from it.
Fuel tank filled. Time to show off that growth power.
Ultimate move: grind YouTube hard.
I found it in thirty minutes.
Today's content… a famous dating-sim game!!
Found it, so stream on!!
"Hello everyone!! I'm here. Uwooooooh!!"
I cranked my energy all the way up.
"I've got something planned for today."
I said it with full confidence. If you hedge or mumble, you lose trust. Looking sure of yourself was what mattered.
"So what is it today, you ask? I brought a dating-sim game!!"