Journey's End
"Everyone! We've played enough for now, so this time let's head over to the amusement park. I think they call it a yuenchi in Japan?"
We stayed at Waterland until the sun finally started to sink. I'd come close to getting motion sick halfway through, so we'd taken it slow — and just like that, the day had gotten away from us. The original plan had been to leave around three or four. Knowing I was the reason the schedule had slipped, I felt a little guilty.
"You good now? You got sick last time too, remember?"
"Ah… I have a fear of heights. I can still ride them, though — you just feel the ultimate thrill with your whole body, you know? Sounds fun, right? Want to try it too, unnie?"
"…No. I don't have a fear of heights."
That was a bald-faced lie. There isn't a person alive who isn't afraid of falling from a great height. Anyone who claims otherwise is definitely the weird one. And Jina, even if it wasn't full-blown acrophobia, still got sluggish the moment she was up high.
The viewers seemed to know exactly how I felt. Most of the chat was cheering me on.
Aww. How sweet.
They really were my viewers. Every last word of it was so lovely it almost hurt.
Honestly, I'd been anxious right up until debut. What if nobody cared as much as I hoped? What if the viewers turned out to be a bunch of scumbags? My head had been a complete mess. Thanks to that, there were mornings when I couldn't even take in the script I read at dawn, I was so wound up.
"Is something worrying you?"
Viewers like that did pop off with impulsive stunts from time to time, but it all came from a place of looking out for me. At first, talking them down had been a cold sweat of a job. Not anymore. A light word of warning, and everyone got the message.
"It's not because of the company, so please don't worry. I'm just a little nervous about whether the movie I'm shooting right now will do well."
I could practically see them thumping their chests with total confidence, all the way from here.
"Yeah. That's really reassuring. That's Kumongdan for you."
A fandom name for Jiwoo, all of a sudden.
I'd already figured the occasional viewer would go off-script, and that a light word of warning was usually enough to get them to listen. I assumed this would be the same.
"Everyone? You really don't have to make a fandom name."
"No… this is my stream. If I step out, who's supposed to talk to you and make your time here fun?"
I did not trust them.
No — I could not trust them. What streamer in their right mind would be happy about chat running wild like this? If I didn't set the tone here, they'd only get worse later. It pained me, but maybe I had no choice but to start kicking people.
I lifted a finger, ready to cut off the viewers hatching their little conspiracy in chat.
That was when Yuwol and Tsuki came waving from a distance.
"Jiwoo-chan! Tsuki is totally exhausted now — let's stop playing and go somewhere else."
"I think I've had my fill too. Thanks to the help here, we actually got to use the attractions properly."
The company had already reached out to the park and asked for a hand. They'd refused at first, but after the CEO of JO Entertainment spoke with them personally, the park had agreed to keep us from standing in those endless lines — even if it wasn't an instant skip. Thanks to that, I'd been able to talk with the viewers the whole time and actually enjoy myself.
"So what are you doing right now?"
"Ah… the viewers are…"
I filled everyone in on what had just happened. Yuwol sank into thought for a moment, then delivered the verdict.
"Why not just leave them to it?"
"Leave them to it?"
"Yeah. If you ban them or shut it down here, they're definitely going to push back even harder out of spite. You already know this, but Kuro's fans have been showing up on your SNS stream too, right?"
I did know. The same handles I saw on Kuro's stream kept popping up on the SNS one. I nodded.
"Then leave it. The viewers will come up with an answer on their own and tell you anyway. So come on — let's go wash up."
"You think so?"
This wasn't just anyone talking. This was Yuwol, with more than three years of streaming under her belt. She wasn't going to be wrong. I told her I understood, let the viewers know I was going to wash up, and ended the stream. I couldn't exactly walk into a locker room with the broadcast still running. If it had been just us, being careful would have been enough — but there were regular guests here too. We had to be as cautious as possible.
Ji_woo has ended the stream.
I lowered the phone, stream off, and headed for the locker room.
Right then.
"If you're free, wanna hang with us?"
"Ah, shit…"
That was the fourth time I'd heard a line like that. Every other time, the bodyguards had come flying out and shoved them off — but they were nowhere in sight now. Maybe they'd stepped away for a moment.
Where did they go? They're usually so by-the-book. Why vanish now of all times?
I frowned, irritation stacking up. The men closing in didn't pick up on the mood at all. They just stood there like they thought they were something special, and started making weird little gestures.
"Tsuki. What are they even doing."
"Mm… just leave them. They're probably just idiots."
"R…ight?"
Tsuki was swearing even harder than I was. Irritation had already filled every face in the group.
"This is all because Jiwoo-chan is too pretty. That's the problem."
"Why is it my fault? Yuwol unnie's been hitting her training hard lately — those short shorts and the shirt tied up on top look great on her."
"You think so?"
"And Jina unnie works out all the time. That solid core of hers just radiates healthy energy. The monokini looks really good on you."
"Hearing it that bluntly is a little embarrassing."
"Jiwoo-chan! What about Tsuki? Tsuki!"
"Mm… Tsuki is…"
I could say without hesitation that the two unnies looked great. Tsuki was a little more complicated. If the only question was whether it suited her or not, it absolutely did. With that childlike frame of hers, the little one-piece swimsuit — practically kids' sizing — looked adorably right.
"Yeah. Cute."
"Hehe… Jiwoo-chan is super pretty too!"
"So… we were…"
The men butted in with zero sense of the room, and Tsuki stepped forward.
Wow.
I'd heard it once before, but a thick, dripping curse in Japanese coming out of Tsuki's mouth made me genuinely wonder if this was the Tsuki I knew.
Whether it was because he'd been sworn at, or because he'd been sworn at by a girl, the man scowled and started toward her. Tsuki flinched and tried to ease back — and that was when the bodyguards appeared, right on cue, and handled it cleanly.
"I'm sorry. We only stepped away to use the restroom. This won't happen again."
Bodyguards were people too. Of course they had bodily functions. And this was Waterland, a place drowning in water. Even a little to drink left you chilled to the bone and desperate for a bathroom in no time. I wasn't about to chew them out just for going…
I could still say a little something, though, couldn't I?
We were the ones under protection, and this had happened in the tiny window they'd left us unattended.
"Haa… no, it's fine. Please just be more careful from now on."
I shook my head and let the anger go. I hadn't come here to get mad, and people make mistakes. Nobody had gotten hurt, either — and off to the side I could see a rookie bodyguard looking thoroughly cowed.
They must have taken their eyes off us while they were talking to that one.
Now that I understood the situation, I didn't have anything left to say.
"Understood. And please carry these, just in case."
The bodyguard pressed emergency pagers into our hands. They hadn't seemed necessary at first. Then something like this had happened.
"Got it. We're going to the locker room to change, so you should go wash up too."
"Yes."
Leaving Sangjin the bodyguard behind — still answering in that stiff, clipped tone to the very end — we headed into the locker room.
"Tsuki. No weird stuff in here. Just wash up quietly."
"…Hiiing."
The second I peeled off my bikini to wash, Tsuki started wriggling her fingers beside me in the most disgusting way.
After that we went straight over to the amusement park next door, had a great time, came home, and passed out from exhaustion.
And then the last day — day three in Japan.
I finally learned to cook from my master.
I knew the basic fundamentals, but I murdered the doneness on every ingredient and completely killed whatever unique character each one was supposed to have.
"I'll do it again."
Again, again, again, again, again, again, again…
I had already lost count of how many times I'd heard that word.
"Aaaagh…"
Terrifying. Tsuki's mother was far too terrifying. I briefly considered making a run for it right then and there — then I picked the knife back up and threw myself into learning how to prep ingredients and judge doneness.
"Well done. You've finally set foot on the fundamentals. We don't have enough time to go any further today, but the next time you come, I'll teach you something much more advanced. How does that sound? Exciting just to think about, isn't it?"
"Aaaagh…."
S-someone save me…
And that was how my three-day trip came to an end.