The Triple Aegyo Set
I pressed my ear to the door and listened. Word had clearly gotten through.
Yuwol unnie looks so happy.
These weren't just anyone—they were the members who'd be going with me. The one who always made sure I ate, who stayed by my side and looked after me whenever Hoyeon unnie or anyone else was swamped. If a person like that said she was having a hard time, what wouldn't I do for her?
Of course, it had come to spending every last bit of money I'd saved—but I could always earn it back.
At least it was an outer district, so the price was cheap. If it hadn't been, what I have now wouldn't have come close.
A difference of a single block, and they charged twice as much for being "inside." The problem was that one-block gap decided whether customers even showed up. On top of that, the shop Yuwol unnie had been working at was tucked even farther in, past that extra block. Unless you set out looking for it on purpose, you'd never find the place.
I was just starting to relax, turning to go start my stream, when the phone I'd left on the living room table buzzed—bzzzt, bzzzzzt.
Mom
Mom? What's this about?
I'd already done the check-in call earlier today. Another call now meant something had come up. A little uneasy, I picked up.
"Hello? Mom, what's going on?"
"Jiwoo. Don't you miss Mom?"
I was thrown at first. Calling out of nowhere just to ask if I missed her? But this was her version of hello—she said it every time she called. And if I said anything else, or answered no, she'd pout.
"Of course I miss you, Mom. But work's been crazy, and whenever I actually have time, you're the one who's busy."
"Right~ Because of that goddamn department-head bastard! Ah, sorry. Mom didn't even realize she was swearing."
Imagining her cute little hehe laugh, the corner of my mouth lifted on its own. Over forty, and she could still pull off something that adorable. It was a blessing, honestly—and it gave me hope that I might still be cute when I got that old too.
"So what's this actually about?"
Time to get to the point. If I let the call keep going, we'd drift further and further from why she'd called in the first place.
"Ah, get it together. You know Grandma's birthday is next week, right? The whole family's getting together. We couldn't even make it for Lunar New Year. We should go pay our respects now, at least."
I'd already heard about this.
"But Dad got booked for an emergency surgery, so we're trying to push the gathering back a day. I wanted to check if that works for you too."
"Hold on. Let me check my schedule."
I opened the calendar saved on my phone and checked the dates.
"There's actually an extra day free. I have a film shoot the very next day, so I can't stretch it any further, but one extra day is fine. Although... if we leave a day later, could I book one more schedule?"
"Then we wouldn't be going together?"
"I'll talk to Hoyeon unnie and have her take me."
I'd blown through every last bit of my savings. I needed to scrape it back together, ruthlessly. And for that, I needed Mom's permission. If I could squeeze in one more job on that extra free day, it'd be perfect.
"Hmm.... Mom wants to go down with you, Jiwoo, but it looks like money matters more to you than Mom does.. T_T Mom is so sad~"
Ugh. When she came at me like that, I had nothing. And it was true that money mattered more to me than family, so I didn't know what to say.
"Oh my? It really does look like money matters more than Mom. Mom's going to pout. Want my lips to stick out like an octopus?"
"W-why are you like this. You know that's not it. You've got to row when the tide comes in if you want the boat to go forward. I just can't afford to sit still right now."
I dressed it up pretty and tried to dazzle her. But Mom was already a famous prosecutor. In that world she was better known as the Yaksha with a Sword. She saw through my lie in a heartbeat.
"Alright. If that's how you put it."
She didn't seem inclined to stop her daughter from working, at least.
"Show Mom the triple aegyo set! Then I'll allow it!"
Never mind. Mom was absolutely going to stop me from working.
Was she insane? The triple aegyo set, of all things. Even doing cute aegyo on a normal day made me want to dry-heave. And she wanted three of them from someone who could barely manage one.
Just kill me instead!
"Mom's waiting~ Come on, do the aegyo~"
"Ugh."
Looking at this, the call was not ending until I delivered. No choice. In that case.
"Mom~ I wanna book a schedule, can I? Please? Pretty please? If you saaay nooo~ Jiwoo's gonna pout. Hmph hmph! When Jiwoo comes home I'll give you a smoochy-kiss, so please say yes~"
Uurp! The second the triple aegyo was over, the dry heaves surged up from my gut.
"KYAAAAAAAH!! Of course you can! Jiwoo. Thanks to you, Mom just got enough energy and courage to pull all-nighters for days. Mom's going off to fight."
The call cut off. Fight what, exactly.
Reeling with self-loathing, I collapsed into a dining chair. But... that gaze I'd been feeling for a while now. I turned.
"Ah.."
"Uh... Jiwoo, you're pretty good at aegyo."
Ah... aaaah!
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
That day, the clip of my triple aegyo set hit real-time number one on both live clips and NewTube.
Why would anyone upload this. And I never even gave permission!
Buried under the blanket, I kicked it with everything I had, blanket-kicking like my life depended on it.
"Uh... Jiwoo? I'm sorry."
"Unnie, get away from me! Why would you film that?!"
"I-it wasn't a video! It was a stream!"
That's even worse! I couldn't understand it. Just sit in your room and stream like a normal person—why were you walking around streaming on your phone?! This was a full-blown dark history. The kind that would follow me until the day I died!
"Hnnngh..."
"Hey, don't cry. If it was that embarrassing, why did you even do the triple aegyo... pfft. Set."
"Don't laugh! I said don't laugh!"
It wasn't like I'd wanted to do it. There are times in this world when you have to do things you don't want to do. When your boss tells you to. When your parents tell you to. And when it's the only way to get what you want. Those three.
"Still, thanks to you we hit real-time trending, and it's been a pretty good day. Unnie'll make you a delicious dinner."
"Earlier you said... you were going to cut dinner a little."
"Ah, that was a joke. Where exactly is our Jiwoo supposed to lose weight from. Though I guess the chest could come down a bit. I'm jealous."
"...Excuse me?"
Yuwol unnie laughed it off like it was nothing, hoho. It was the laugh of the person who'd created my dark history, and yet, somehow, I couldn't bring myself to hate it.
"Haa... I forgive you. Instead, I want a hamburger."
"Hmm... a hamburger. Alright. Unnie'll make you the shop-special burger they make at the PC bang where I work."
"Deal."
"Then that settles it. No more being mad."
Mad? I wasn't mad.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Hehe. Sure. Then until dinner... what do you want to do?"
"I don't know..."
I looked down at my phone. Comments were still rolling in, live, on the triple aegyo set video.
Lunatics... A bunch of lunatics were running their mouths.
"Looks like I need to teach them some manners."
That day, for the first time in Kuro stream history, a cold, sharp, merciless blade of wind swept through.
"Huu.. You get it now, right? I'm a scary person. And you all did well following the plan. When I talk to the CEO soon and we hold a fan meeting, everyone who took part in the operation gets a gift."
"Don't try to sneak in after the fact and claim you were part of it. I've already written down the nicknames. If we can confirm it on the day, you'll get your gift right then."
The Kumongdan all shouted nirvana together.
◈ So what's the gift?
"The gift? That would be."
I rested a finger lightly on my lips.
"Shh. It's a secret. Check it out when the time comes."
Time to move on to the actual stream. Today's game! The Fodian I'd been playing before Yuwol unnie switched to a cooking stream!
"Let's see how many hours it takes to clear!"
I still had no idea why Yuwol unnie had fled into a cooking stream midway through.
"N-no!!! Why did that fall off?!"
"This fucking garbage game! Who the hell made this piece of shit!"
I'd already fallen for no reason a third time. Bang! Bang! Bang! Crunch! After a few enraged slams, the keyboard couldn't take it anymore and shattered. That made three keyboards wrecked this month alone.
"Huu. That feels so much better. Alright, let's keep going."
Midway through the game, I did a mukbang with Yuwol unnie and the special hamburger she'd made, then went right back to playing.
At the word Clear on the monitor, I burst into a cheer.
"H-hurray! It's finally over!!"
"Yes, it's all thanks to you. And Kumongdan No.10! Thank you for the 100,000 Walnuts. I'm heading to bed. Then, Kuro bye~!"
I ended the stream and flopped onto the bed. I checked the time—it was already past 3 a.m.
"Ahh.. I'm so sleepy."