Face to Face with the Escort Officer

"Alright — the fandom name is officially Yan Sisters!"

"Simple, but it's the most intuitive one," Alpha-noona said.

An hour of brainstorming had produced a flood of candidates, and three finalists had risen to the top: Yan Sisters, Yansomnia, and Yandere. In the end, a riff on the very first suggestion — Sisters — took the crown. The "Yan" tacked onto the front of each word was a clipped-down version of Ian.

A fitting name for a confirmed older-sister guy like me.

Sisters could mean little sisters too, of course, but the word that surfaced in my mind first was noona. Maybe because I had a thing for older women. It was something I'd only figured out after arriving in this world and starting to actually listen to what I wanted — I liked older women. I'd never taken that preference anywhere real, but every time I looked at a streamer or a celebrity, the ones who hit me hardest were always older.

Is this because I grew up without a mother? Some kind of rebound thing?

I had no idea. All I knew was that it didn't feel unpleasant.

"So you are all officially the Yan Sisters! As for what I call you… should I just go with Yanderes?"

"That works. The two of them were basically tied anyway."

The viewer count had already broken four thousand, and 3,872 people had cast a vote.

As the numbers made painfully clear, Yan Sisters had beaten Yandere by a grand total of three votes. Which meant a whole lot of people had really, really wanted Yandere.

"Wouldn't it be a little weird to introduce yourselves as Yanderes out in public, though?"

"That's when you'd just say Yan Sisters, right?"

Fair point. That was why we'd split the fandom name and the nickname in the first place.

Everyone seemed genuinely happy with Yandere. If I tried to walk it back now, I'd have a revolt on my hands.

"Then I look forward to having you with me from here on out. My Yanderes!"

"Hearing it out loud like that does make it sound pretty dangerous. Yandere…"

I gave Alpha-noona's comment a wry smile. Now that she'd said it, it really did have a dangerous ring to it. Not that I could take it back — so I might as well lean into it.

"We've got about an hour left? Kind of an awkward amount of time to start anything."

The reaction segment had wrapped faster than I'd expected, and I'd been staring at a blank stretch of leftover stream with no idea what to fill it with. The fandom-name debate had eaten a surprising amount of that leftover time. The clock in the bottom-right corner of my laptop already read four in the afternoon.

"Yeah. Whatever you start now is just going to fizzle out halfway."

What do you mean that's the one? Starting tomorrow I was going to be streaming until midnight or later anyway. There was no reason to start that tonight.

"I can't play games. This laptop isn't strong enough to run a game and the stream at the same time."

The broadcasting software was heavier than I'd expected. Yesterday, when I'd tried to search the internet for a way to stem the flood of donations, a single search had taken several seconds to load. And they wanted me to run a game on top of that?

The laptop might actually explode.

I was not joking.

"Oh, I like that! Donation messages — you mean the 'so-and-so donated X dollars!' thing, right?"

"Exactly. I think it's a great idea. Let's just lock everything in today."

Alpha-noona was on board, and the chat was flowing in the same direction. Taking the Yanderes' suggestion, we decided to settle every leftover stream setting that would either be necessary or just make things easier.

Donation messages came first — and before we could even start, another one came in.

The chat started flooding with demands that I drop the formal speech. The way they locked into perfect sync for something like this really did make them look like actual sisters. Siblings bickered constantly and still somehow ended up with the same sense of humor, didn't they? I'd seen it on the internet, so don't even try to argue with me.

Informal speech, huh…

Honestly, I didn't mind. There wasn't any deep meaning behind the formal register — I'd already slipped into casual speech here and there without thinking about it. I'd only been speaking formally because I figured talking down to people I'd just met would come off weird.

"Mm… alright. From now on I'll talk comfortable, then? Noona."

"Ian, take care of the little sisters too."

Ah. That was the problem. True to the name Sisters, the people watching my stream came in both older and younger. But I was an older-sister guy, so I defaulted to noona without thinking — which meant any Yandere younger than me could end up feeling left out.

"My little sisters are precious too, of course. Oppa's sorry, okay? I'll do ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠better."

Tossing around noona and little sis like this, it almost felt like I'd grown a family.

If I had a family, would it feel like this?

A family like this, I might be better off without.

"Aw, my little sis. Thank you. Giving your oppa allowance, though — what a sweet yet cheeky little sister."

The fifty-dollar reaction: play along with whatever little-sister or noona bit they'd committed to. Forcing those words out of my mouth was embarrassing, but the Yanderes' response was strangely, disproportionately good. So good, in fact, that when this reaction had first been proposed as a donation tier, it had been a hundred-dollar one.

No, hang on — they're offering to LOWER the price, so why am I the one refusing?

A hundred dollars!

No — a hundred was way too much! Ten was the right number!

After a full-blown argument over it, we'd settled on the midpoint: fifty dollars.

"Thanks, everyone. And stop talking about other guys so much."

"What? Are you jealous already?"

I'd said it because in this world, mentioning other men was as sensitive a topic as name-dropping another streamer. But I supposed you could read it that way too. A glance at the chat confirmed they were losing their minds over the keyword jealous guy.

I always thought of jealousy as an ugly feeling.

Personally, I did have a jealous streak. Not a severe one — but if I wanted to let it show, I could.

Should I play along?

"Yeah. I am jealous. So the Yanderes only look at me. Got it?"

"The Yanderes are eating this up. Makes sense — when would they ever get to feel a man being jealous over them?"

Why was Alpha-noona being so calm about this? I couldn't just let that stand.

"Noona, why are you pretending you're not? You're the worst one. Just try looking at another guy. I won't let it slide."

"H-huh? What's gotten into you, Ian?"

Her voice trembled when she asked. But it wasn't anxiety I heard in it. It was a heartbeat picking up speed.

"You said you were going to make me your main stream. Spending money on other women, looking at other women — that's fine. But when it comes to men, you only look at me. Only think about me. Only talk to me."

"Hngh… hnnn… F-fine. I got it. So stop, please stop."

Alpha-noona seemed satisfied enough, so I figured I should stop here. Push any further and she'd be the one catching the heat, not me.

"That's enough teasing!"

"We'll have to finish the rest of the reactions next time. It's already five."

A glance at the clock confirmed it — five o'clock had snuck up on us. Settling the reactions had eaten more time than I'd expected. Just locking in the five-dollar, ten-dollar, and fifty-dollar tiers had taken a full hour, mostly because every time we tried to match a reaction to a price, the chat erupted into a disagreement that burned through the clock.

The remaining tiers were a hundred dollars and five hundred — and with amounts that big, those were going to take even longer. The thousand-dollar tier had been a unanimous Yandere vote for ten minutes of Discord voice time. They must have been incredibly jealous of today's call with Alpha-noona.

"They're taking this better than I expected. I thought they'd tell me not to end it."

On NewTube, every time a streamer tried to close out, the donations would start pouring in to keep them from leaving. They were sending me off so cleanly I was the one who felt thrown.

"Better to let you go on a good note than cling and sour the mood."

Ah. That made sense. On a tired day, that probably was the kinder thing.

"Alpha-noona, thanks for today. And thank you too, Yanderes, for watching?"

"You worked hard today too, Ian. Looking forward to more."

"Right back at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you."

I ended the Discord call, then turned to the Yanderes.

"See you all tomorrow! Bye?"

The screen went black, and my own face stared back at me from the dark glass. I hadn't noticed, but I was wearing a look of unmistakable satisfaction.

"Hah… Yan Sisters. Yanderes."

The nicknames we'd settled on today for the people who watched me. For the first time, streaming actually felt real. Maybe because it finally felt like these were people who had gathered here for me.

"Ah. I forgot to tell them I'm going live at seven starting tomorrow."

Yesterday and today I'd started at two in the afternoon, so they might sit around waiting at that hour tomorrow too.

"…Does it even matter?"

Tomorrow was a weekday. Everyone would be at work around then anyway, so it probably wasn't worth worrying about.

At work… right?

I had a feeling I'd just thought something I wasn't supposed to think…

I shut the laptop, threw together a simple dinner, sat on the couch and watched a little TV, then showered and crawled into bed. Tomorrow was the day I met my dedicated Escort Officer. She had a pretty name and a pretty voice, and I was more excited than I wanted to admit.

"I wonder what she's like."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I pressed the flutter in my chest down and went to sleep early.

"Is it going to be too cold if I go out like this?"

I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, doing a final check. In thirty minutes, my dedicated Escort Officer — Lee Se-a — would be here. I'd been inspecting my face and my clothes, and now I was stuck on whether what I was wearing actually matched the weather outside.

"We're going for a walk, so a tracksuit should be fine, right?"

What I had on was a black tracksuit with a white stripe down the side. I'd be throwing a puffer jacket over the top, so the upper half wasn't the problem. The pants were. It was late January, and a sharp wind was cutting through the streets. One thin layer of fabric was not going to cut it out there.

"If I'd known, I would've ordered thermal tights when I bought all this."

Everything I was wearing had been purchased online. I hadn't thought about the weather at the time, and thermal layers had never made it into the cart.

"Hah… should I just change into jeans?"

I had other pants I could switch into. I could swap the top to match, too. But did a walk really require that much effort?

"If it gets too cold, we'll just come right back."

More pressingly — this place was on the large side for one person, and the only mirror in the entire apartment was the one in the bathroom. The previous occupant had probably been so down on his looks he hadn't bothered putting any others up. Between the loft and the complete lack of separate rooms, there was a lot about this place that didn't work.

I should start thinking about moving.

The security wasn't great either. Once the stream found its footing, I was going to save up and make finding a new place the first priority.

I sat on the couch and pulled up a map on my phone to figure out where we'd walk. There happened to be a river near the apartment, with a path running along it — that would do.

Looking at it like this, I start wondering if this even is another world.

Plenty of things were completely different, but just as many were unnervingly the same. This walking path, for instance, had existed in the old world too. I couldn't picture the path itself all that clearly, but I remembered a kalguksu place further down it that had been genuinely excellent.

Then I'd look down at the phone in my hand — a brand I'd never seen in my life, and the number-one phone in this world — and the otherworldliness would snap back into focus.

"Ugh, my head. I just need to live well and enjoy myself in this world. Stop thinking about it!"

The smooth-brained simpleton in me was putting in overtime again.

I killed time studying streaming slang on my phone, and then a text came in.

"Finally!"

I snatched the puffer jacket I'd tossed aside, pulled it on, and headed for the front door. I was still getting my shoes on when the doorbell rang. I didn't even check the intercom. I just opened the door.

"Oh?"

A voice reaching me not through a speaker, but in person. Silver hair so bright it dazzled even under the hallway lights. Yellow eyes gone round as they found me.

There was an angel standing at my front door.