The 14th Stream

I sat down in front of my computer for the first time in days.

I'd thought I was used to this by now, but after even a short break from streaming, the nerves came creeping right back.

"Whew... Camera and mic are fine. Lighting's the same as always."

"Why are you so tense? Just relax."

That was my noona, getting ready to head home, speaking up from beside me.

If relaxing were something I could just decide to do, I would have done it already.

This was the first hiatus I'd taken since I started streaming, so what worried me most was how the Yandere would take it. According to my manager noona, the mood out there was mostly concern for my health—but you never really know until you go live, do you?

I didn't think the Yandere would come out swinging with abuse for no reason. The toxic boards, though, were another story. To people who already looked at male streamers with a sour eye, a hiatus was a free meal. Bait they had no reason not to swallow.

"Sometimes you worry way too much, Dan-woo. You're not even alone, but you keep trying to shoulder everything yourself."

"..."

When I didn't say anything, she ruffled my hair roughly.

"How am I supposed to walk out the door when you're making that face?"

"...Yeah. Fair point."

She was right. I had Se-ah noona with me, and my manager noona, and Hae-ryeong noona. And plenty of other people besides who wanted to help. Worrying myself sick over something this small was just stupid.

"Thanks. I guess I forgot, since it's been so long."

"As long as you get it. Alright, noona's heading out?"

"See you later!"

I walked her to the front door and saw her off. We were basically living together at this point, but most of her things were still at her place. She had to go back every so often to take care of things.

On the way back I stopped in the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water. I wet my mouth—dry from nerves—and typed in the stream title.

I kept it simple. No clickbait. It wasn't the time for that anymore, and besides—this was my first stream in a while. I figured I should show a little restraint.

I checked the clock. One minute left until 6:50. I went live.

The Yandere came flooding in before a full minute had passed, and the chat exploded along with them.

I'd posted in the fan club that the reason I hadn't been streaming was the flu. I couldn't exactly tell them it was a dungeon break, and the flu happened to be going around anyway. Which was probably why every last one of them ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was worried about me.

I had gotten hurt, that much was true—but something about lying to them still sat wrong. Well. It was a lie, technically.

The donations poured in right along with the chat. There was one name in there I couldn't quite figure out the presence of, but every last one of them had decided I was pushing myself too hard.

The firepower ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is insane.

Maybe it was because I hadn't streamed in so long, but the viewer count climbed to nearly my average in under five minutes. I hurried to turn donations off and switched the screen from the illustration of my character over to the webcam.

"Hey, Yandere? Man, it's been forever!"

"I'm fine! I was pretty much better by last night. Slept like a rock through this morning and woke up good as new!"

I didn't want to keep lying to them—but if I didn't say something like this, they'd just keep worrying.

"And I turned donations off for a bit. I love that you guys are worried about me, but this feels like a little much."

"Don't be disappointed about that!"

I'd been thinking this for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a while, but seriously—why were they so determined to give me money? If it wouldn't be rude, I wanted to ask them at a fan meeting someday. What did these people even do for a living? They weren't all CEOs and chaebol heirs, were they?

"I missed you guys too."

Everyone was being so sweet today, though. Normally they'd be nice for about five seconds before the teasing started, but they'd been like this the entire time since I went live. It felt... strange.

"Hey, uh, can you guys act normal? Why are you being so careful—or, I don't know, so gentle?"

Looks like this atmosphere was going to last a while. I didn't mind it, though. Not even a little. Who in the world would hate hearing that people liked them?

"I get that you're worried. But the fact that I went live means I'm healthy, so everybody go back to normal!"

"R-right. This is the Yandere I know."

I was thrown for a second by how fast they flipped. The Yandere snapped right back to normal, like they'd just been waiting for permission. That was its own kind of weird feeling.

Still, I'd gotten what I asked for, so I turned donations back on and settled in to actually stream. I hadn't prepped any content for today, so the plan was to keep it Just Chatting.

"It is not."

The stream rolled along smoothly after that. Luckily, turning donations back on didn't unleash another flood of huge tips. I listened to funny clips and stories and tossed out a few of my own. Every so often someone would bring up something I couldn't make sense of, though.

Like right now, for instance.

"There's a difference between an honest mix-up and whatever this is. You sent a hundred dollars, so that's a ten-minute ban. Enjoy."

"Don't say 'that game' either. Just don't bring it up! Wipe it from your memory!"

Every time I finally managed to forget about it, it came crawling back. The one silver lining was that I'd be crying a lot less from now on. I really ought to be thanking God for that.

...Or should I? God's the one who made me like this in the first place.

Then again, God was also the one who sent me to this world. I should be grateful either way.

"What were we even talking about?"

"Ah, I completely forgot!"

I was pretty sure I'd been talking about something fun, but that useless donation had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wiped it clean out of my head. Then again, that was part of the charm of Just Chatting, so I shook it off fast. It had only been one topic among dozens anyway. No point getting attached.

We'd been bouncing between one subject at length and knocking through several in short bursts when another donation came in.

"Huh? What is this even—hey! Why would you send that!?"

The clip showed three female streamers staring at the semifinal candidates, completely short-circuited. They were all so pretty it made the whole thing even more embarrassing. I was pretty sure the last one had flushed red and let out a moan, but I couldn't say for certain.

So she had moaned at the end.

Women who, back on Earth, would have been the ones doing the choosing—getting worked up over something like that. The uniquely off-kilter reactions of a gender-reversed world never stopped being funny, or fascinating.

"How many people did you send that to!?"

This one had four reactions. That was already seven just from these two clips, and there were definitely more people out there who'd gotten it. More to the point—I'd deleted the VOD. How had they even clipped it?

Pretty much every girl streamer. The words made my head spin. Why would anyone do that?

And that last chat. What did they just say?

"WikiAnnals? I'm on WikiAnnals?"

Curiosity got the better of me. I pulled up the internet and searched for WikiAnnals. Filling the whole screen with a browser window would start a riot, so I split it down the middle the way I had last time.

I clicked the site sitting at the very top of the results and searched for Ian. In this world, Ian wasn't a biblical figure, so my page came up immediately.

"Wow... it's real?"

The profile picture looked like a capture from the first time I'd turned on the webcam. Underneath the photo was a dropdown labeled Character ▼, and clicking it brought up the character illustration that SORI had drawn for me.

"Why are there so many sections?"

I pulled my eyes off the photo and looked at the table of contents. There were six of them.

One entry in the middle snagged my eye and made my scrolling finger go heavy, but I was already here. I could close it and walk away, sure—but then I'd have nothing to tell the Yandere. And they all looked like they were waiting for this.

"Well. I'm already in, so I guess I have to look, right?"

"Haa... alright. I'll read it once?"

Curiosity really was going to be the death of me.