An Unexpected Opportunity
I’m not planning on streaming yet. While Menhera rambled on in the broadcast, preaching her own thoughts, Soyun muted her mic and called the president.
“Hello… President…?”
> Yeah, good job.
The president praised her the moment the call connected. Soyun fought back the tears welling up again and continued.
“Yeah… Anyway, it looks like everything’s sorted out now….”
> Right. I never would’ve guessed that person was a girl.
“True. Just from the way she talks normally, it’s hard to think otherwise.”
Soyun nodded along with the president’s words. Honestly, even she had been convinced Menhera was definitely a guy.
> I didn’t expect her to actually help, though.
“Mm, yeah. It didn’t seem like she had any particular reason to.”
> Hey, Kits. You know we’re prepping the third generation, right?
Soyun understood what the president was getting at. She was probably suggesting they put Menhera in the third generation debuting after the second.
> We’ve still got one spot open.
> Think she’d be good?
“Uh… From what I’ve seen, she seems like a good person.”
“Though she was messing with Sukmin… she does come off a little mischievous.”
> True, but watching her now, she clearly has talent for broadcasting.
> Want to talk to her once the stream ends?
“Yeah, I’ll give it a shot.”
After discussing putting Menhera in the third generation, Soyun ended the call with the president and unmuted her mic.
“Ahem, can you hear me?”
The situation had calmed down somewhat, but the viewer count was higher than usual. Soyun smiled, guessing that some people had come to cause trouble at first but stayed because the stream looked fun. Or maybe they just couldn’t look away from Menhera’s performance—summoning a boss as a priest and beating it down.
“Um, anyway… the explanation seems to have gone well….”
“Huh? No! I’m not planning to sue or anything.”
“I don’t know about the president, though… Hehe.”
Seeing that things had improved, Kits immediately started teasing the viewers. Given the president’s personality, the regular viewers would probably get off with a warning or a ten-day stream ban at most. Newcomers from other communities wouldn’t be so lucky, though.
It meant her viewers liked her enough to cause this much fuss, and she didn’t want to be too harsh, so she was pleased.
“Um, anyway… I only turned the stream on to explain things, so I’ll end it here….”
“Uh, Menhera?”
> [Yes?]
Meanwhile, Menhera—who always replied in casual speech in chat—was using polite language on the call. Kits nearly burst out laughing.
“Pfft, that’s it for today’s stream.”
“Could we talk for a bit after it ends?”
> [Mm, sure.]
> [Everyone, you saw that, right? I didn’t get to show the full priest stuff.]
> [This is how you use the other classes.]
As Kits wrapped things up, Menhera naturally started ending her own part too. She handled it so smoothly that Kits felt a twinge of awe—had she streamed before?
“Anyway, see you all tonight. Bye!”
“Aish, I told you it’s not a keyboard!!”
Still, everyone accepted the playful ending, perhaps feeling sorry for getting so angry earlier.
After ending the stream, Soyun spoke to Menhera—who was still in the voice chat, playing priest and taking down the boss.
“Uh, Menhera, can you talk right now?”
> [Yeah, go ahead.]
“Um, first of all, thank you so much for helping!”
“Honestly, this was my first time dealing with something like this… I didn’t know what to do….”
“Plus, I never thought Menhera would be a woman….”
> [Ah, it’s fine.]
> [I was pretty flustered this time too.]
> [Mm, so is that all you wanted to say?]
Soyun kept talking while watching Menhera’s character dodge the boss’s attacks that seemed impossible to avoid and counter with skills.
“Uh, our agency is debuting the third generation of virtual streamers soon….”
“We’ve still got one spot open. So I was wondering if you’d be interested….”
> [Mm, sorry. Streaming just isn’t my thing.]
…Not her thing?
Then what the hell was all that earlier?
Questions piled up to the tip of her tongue, but Kits swallowed them down and continued.
“But still! You did really well on the stream just now.”
“Honestly, I thought you’d streamed before.”
> [That’s because I watch Sukmin’s streams a lot.]
> [I just copied how he handled controversies.]
> [Didn’t think I’d ever need it, but hey, it worked out.]
“Aha…?”
So she learned by watching Sukmin—the streamer she’d gotten close to during a collab. Was that even possible? Normally, no matter how much you watched, actually streaming yourself made your words dry up. Still, Kits figured it would be rude to drag this out any longer and spoke one last time.
“Anyway, if you ever decide you want to stream, just let me know! I’ll be waiting anytime!”
> [Yeah, I’ll think about it. Take care.]
“Okay! Thank you again!”
Tring—
After ending the call with a thank-you, Soyun slumped over her desk and let out a long sigh.
“Hwaaa… What kind of morning is this….”
Grumble—
“I’m hungryyyy….”
*
After finishing the call with Kits, Menhera immediately exited practice mode. Kits had wanted her to watch, but she’d muted her mic and seemed busy, so it couldn’t be helped.
“Streaming, huh….”
Honestly, she had no desire to stream. She wasn’t talented at it either…. All she knew how to do was troll people.
…Wouldn’t streaming just cause controversy from the start?
“…Have I trolled a bit too much?”
Thinking pointless thoughts, she got up to eat a late breakfast. She pulled leftover chicken from the fridge, transferred it to her bowl, and microwaved it for about a minute, then grabbed a cup of ramen. While the water boiled in the coffee pot, she turned on her phone and checked her remaining balance.
“Rent’s coming up soon….”
Balance: 250,890 won
“…Huh?”
Why was there only this much left? There should’ve been at least a million won….
“…No way.”
A bad feeling hit her, so she checked the transaction history. On the day she’d turned into a woman, 1.5 million won had been spent.
“……”
“Ha, haha….”
“No, this is… No, right…?”
Where had the money gone? Seeing the savings she’d scraped together vanish in an instant snapped something inside her.
“Fuck….”
“Why the fuck is this happening to me!”
Fine, she could accept becoming a woman. That hadn’t caused any real problems in her life. But this? This wasn’t okay. Why? What had she done wrong? Did whoever took it even know what that money was? It wasn’t normal money. There was no transfer record, and it had been withdrawn during bank maintenance hours. So why leave a record at all? Couldn’t they have hidden it completely?
“……”
Click—
The coffee pot stopped in the silent room. She didn’t feel like eating anymore, so she left everything as it was and went back to her room.
“No, why the hell….”
It was unfair. So goddamn unfair she could go insane. She couldn’t understand why this was happening to her. She didn’t even want to understand. Becoming a woman overnight, forcing herself to adapt to an unfamiliar body, trying to erase that sense of disconnect—it all felt meaningless now. She spent the time cursing and cursing whoever had taken her money.
*
“Haa….”
After calming down a little, she got up. When she went back to the living room, she remembered the chicken she’d left earlier. She took it out of the microwave—already dried out and inedible. She thought about throwing it away, but realizing she’d bought it with what little money she had left made her reluctant. So she picked up a piece with her bare hands and shoved it into her mouth. She swallowed without chewing properly, grabbed another piece, and forced it down. Her throat felt blocked, but she kept stuffing more chicken in.
“Ugh—”
She gagged her way through finishing the chicken, then dumped the bones and bowl roughly by the sink. The cup of ramen she’d opened and poured broth into earlier—she didn’t want it. So she threw it away. Straight into the trash. She stared blankly at the cup ramen in the bin, washed her hands half-heartedly, and pulled out her phone. She downloaded the part-time job app she’d deleted a long time ago, logged in, and started searching for jobs. Anything that would let her make money fast. But most of those jobs were impossible with her current body. Loading and unloading? With this physique?
“Fuck….”
She cursed and kept looking. Something that paid well, even if it took longer to find. What came up were factory jobs or, at best, restaurant or convenience store work. Even those were either too far from home or required dealing with customers, so she couldn’t do them.
“Haa… What the fuck am I supposed to do….”
“I can’t even make money….”
She could settle for lower pay if it meant finding something doable, but next week’s rent was due. She’d almost been kicked out once before for being late. If she got evicted now, she’d be in real trouble. Staring blankly at her phone while sitting on the floor, Kits’ words suddenly came to mind.
‘Anyway, if you ever decide you want to stream, just let me know! I’ll be waiting anytime!’
She installed Mico on her phone and sent a message to Kits.