41. Cooking Stream
"Yes, Manager. I've finished all the shopping."
Time had flowed on, and the day of the cooking stream had arrived.
Hmm... what did I even do, for time to pass this quickly...? Seyeon's new single would be dropping soon, after all.
"Miss~ Just give me 50,000 won."
"Oh, thank you."
"You've got such a pretty little face, all sharp and prickly-looking, and yet here you are at a market like this~ Guess looks aren't everything, eh?"
...Was that a compliment or an insult?
"Ahaha...."
I defused the market lady's compliment-that-wasn't-quite-a-compliment — impressive friendliness, really, to chat me up so warmly even with this face — with a suitably hollow laugh, and slipped away from the stall.
Ring, ring.
Hoisting my bags, I headed for the entrance and spotted the Manager's car.
"Hello."
"Hello. It's been a while."
Wow, but,
"This car is a lot nicer than I expected?"
To be fair, I'd already been thrown off when I first learned she owned her own car — it was pricier than I'd imagined. Now that I was seeing the interior, a full-spec model no less, I was even more thrown.
Doesn't something like this cost a fair bit?
"I, uh... put a lot of it on installments...."
Hmm... I see?
"Well, you get what you pay for."
"Right? And I got to watch you being shocked in real time, Yeonwoo-ssi, so it was worth it."
...I was talking about the ride quality and the engine noise.
We were steering the conversation in completely different directions, but correcting her felt awkward at this point, so I let it slide.
"Maybe I should buy a car too?"
"...You barely ever leave the house, and you'd want one?"
"It's a dream, that's all."
In my life before the regression, a car had been priority number one on the save-up-and-buy list. My friends back then would go on and on, every single time we met — a car changes your whole world! Life gets so much richer! — so there was no way I couldn't be curious. The company and my place had been a decent distance apart back then, too.
Anyway.
"Manager, you'll have some of what I cook, right?"
"Oh? No, that's quite all right—"
"I bought enough for your portion too. You're eating it."
"...Please do make it delicious, then."
Hmm, it's the kind of dish that can't help but turn out delicious, so no problem there.
I kept her company from the passenger seat for the rest of the ride, and before I knew it, we'd arrived at the company building.
"Everyone should already be here, right?"
"Mm... there's not much time left until the stream, so I'd imagine so."
And so, when we reached the studio, Sua and Minseo came out to greet me.
"Oh, Yeonwoo's here?"
"Hey, there you are— wait, what's that...?"
"Things I just bought."
"...It's not what I'm thinking it is, right?"
"Probably not?"
I had no idea what she was imagining, but she was probably right on the money.
"Alright! Let's get the stream started!"
Quick on the uptake as ever, Sua pivoted the topic before anyone could think any further.
"Wow... Yeonwoo, you're bundled up thoroughly today, aren't you...?"
"Thoroughness is a virtue."
Just in case anything other than my hands ended up on camera, I wore long sleeves and zipped a baggy coat all the way to the collar. It was a touch warm, but the air conditioning would fix that later, so it didn't matter.
"Shall we turn the stream on, then?"
"Yeah!"
"I'm ready."
I operated the laptop linked up to the cameras and started the broadcast.
...The thirst was running extra thick today.
Well, I'd anticipated the aggro and layered up thick clothes accordingly, so it should be fine.
"Hello, everyone."
"Hi-Wooju!"
"Hi-Wooju...?"
That was Minseo's stream greeting? She really did phone it in when she came up with it.
"...It's embarrassing, so could you not stare at it, please?"
"Why not? It's simple, and simple is good. Should I change mine to 'Hi-Roze.' too?"
"Aaah! Roze! Please, no!"
This is what it's all about...! Truly, our group's finest punching bag.
"Shall we turn the camera on soon, then?"
"Already?"
"Yes. I'm hungry, so I want to cook fast and eat."
"Ah... right, of course...."
Decision made, so the camera went on right away.
"Alright, shall we jump straight into the cooking?"
"Huh? Isn't that a little too fast?"
"Hm? Why?"
We turned the camera on to cook, didn't we?
"Wouldn't it be nicer to show off a bit first? Wave your hands around, that kind of thing?"
Hmm... Sua really does get it, huh? Maybe it's the streamer instinct in her, but she knows exactly what the viewers want.
"Well... fine, sure."
"Everyone, try to guess whose hand is whose!"
...She's genuinely good at generating content, isn't she.
I reflected, somewhat belatedly, on how I'd shoved the stream to the back burner out of sheer hunger. Right — when else am I going to do a cam stream? This is the time to earn it back, so that when people beg for another one later, I can excuse myself with "there's just no content for it."
"Our right hands, then?"
"Mm, yep."
And so the three of us extended our right hands toward the camera —
Hmm... this feels a little strange, actually....
While Sua and Minseo thrust their hands straight out without a second thought, my fingers twitched oddly at the edges of the frame, and I kept myself to poking a sliver of hand into the corner of the shot and snatching it back, over and over.
...Ugh.
Deciding that today's chat was, once again, beyond saving, I steeled myself and thrust my hand fully into frame.
"There... well...."
...I've got absolutely nothing to say, do I?
"Roze? Are you shy?"
"No... it's not that...."
Shy wasn't quite the word for it. More like a vague sense of something being off. Seeing my own hand sitting there in the camera feed on the laptop... the feeling was just strange....
"Hello there?"
Still, I had resolved earlier to put more care into the stream, so I gave the camera a little wave.
"Ah, wait, then we can't guess whose hand is whose!"
"I think everyone's already figured it out?"
"...Still!"
...The aggro isn't shifting to Minseo at all, huh?
I did my usual routine — teeing off on Minseo to redirect the heat — but I could tell the focus stayed stubbornly locked on me.
"S-so... shall we just get to the cooking?"
"You ARE embarrassed right now, aren't you!"
"I'm telling you I'm not?"
"You so are!"
Realizing she was far too worked up for words to get through, I looked Minseo dead in the eye.
"...You're not. There, there... I'm sorry, sweetie...."
But it seemed that once my hand was out in the open and I acted like my usual self, the curiosity only multiplied instead of dying down.
Haah....
I barely managed to swallow the sigh that had nearly escaped my lips.