Did This Bastard Major in Bungtang?
Choe Seohyeon really had taken the entire day off. And what, exactly, did that mean?
"Gaaaaah……."
It meant I had wasted a whole day for nothing. Goddamn it — had a day without a stream always been this wretched, this painful? I hadn't felt the dread of a hiatus in so long that the backlash hit harder than it had any right to.
But.
"Heh heh heh."
That dread was over now. According to the piping-hot notice that had just gone up, Choe Seohyeon was turning his stream on today.
"All right, let's go——!!"
I booted the computer, pulled up the streaming site, and settled in to wait for Choe Seohyeon's broadcast.
And then.
"……The title is……???"
The room title was wrong. Choe Seohyeon's titles were almost always about whatever game he was playing. Today, though…… a talk stream?
"No way."
Don't tell me the wrist thing had been that serious. Worry started to creep in. The reason I'd ended up watching Choe Seohyeon's streams in the first place was none other than…….
No. That wasn't what mattered right now. The thought that I might never get to watch his broadcast again…….
"……."
Before I knew it I was tense, clicking into the stream. It opened on a waiting screen. A little while later he turned the cam on and showed himself.
"Hello, everyone."
The chat's mood was ordinary enough. But…….
One message climbed the chat. Choe Seohyeon must have read it, because he nodded.
"Fortunately, even the hospital said it wasn't that serious. I'm fully recovered, and the doctor gave me a definite answer, so playing games shouldn't be a problem now."
"Thank you for worrying. Ah — even so, I want to be careful for a while, so I'm going to hold back on anything too intense. Anyway, I apologize once again for taking the stream off over my wrist."
The mood was warm. I glanced from his words to the chat and back, then sank into the chair with a long breath of relief.
"Thank god……."
It hadn't been anything serious after all. Which meant the nightmare — never getting to watch that absurdly good gameplay again — was off the table.
And then.
"……Hmm."
He swept the chat this way and that, as if he were looking for something. I wondered what. The quick-eyed viewers were never going to miss a tell like that.
That bastard? Who's that bastard supposed to be……? I thought, and in the short beat it took me to wonder, Choe Seohyeon laughed like he was embarrassed and answered.
"Yes. For now."
Everyone in chat agreed with him. I tilted my head again, still trying to figure out who this bastard was. What was this? Had somebody turned into a full-blown regular while I wasn't looking? Just in case, I tried to think of who it could be. No matter how I turned it over, nobody came to mind. There wasn't even a candidate. I watched this stream without missing a single day. There was absolutely no way some infamous regular existed that I didn't know about.
Which meant…….
"……This is kind of pissing me off."
I don't sit on curiosity. I fired off a one-dollar donation on the spot.
It was a fair question. I was a seven-year veteran of Choe Seohyeon's stream. And they were going to leave me out and chatter about some specific person only they knew? That was discrimination against a senior fan.
And yet.
The chat wallpapered itself in laughter. Around then, I felt that something had gone badly wrong. How to put it — the feeling that I was the only idiot in the room…….
"……The man himself has appeared."
Reading the chat, I finally understood. That bastard was me……? I was genuinely speechless. At the same time, I tried to take an objective look at myself. Had I really acted out that much on a regular basis?
So I asked. Things like this, you only know for sure when you hear them from somebody else.
And yet.
……So I'd been doing it even more than I thought. I'd only been tossing those lines out for the sake of the stream. Had they really landed that hard?
……This was hopeless. In this atmosphere, nothing I said was going to count as an explanation.
"……Ahem!"
Fortunately, Choe Seohyeon stepped in.
"All right, all right, let's leave it here."
"Ganging up on one person isn't right. And……."
He glanced over and read the donation I'd sent. Then he said it.
"……He may not look it, but he's the most senior viewer on this stream. We ought to respect our elders."
Respect for one's elders. One viewer asked, at that:
"……If that lunatic happens to carry a good chunk of this stream's entertainment, then there's nothing I can do."
It felt like the moment was sliding past, one way or another. The stream, at any rate, rolled on without much trouble.
And right in the middle of it—
"Oppa? You're streaming?"
"Hm? What?"
From the very edge of the frame, a head eased into view. Ppulppulpiri. Ppulppulpiri — Choe Haeun — offered a hello with only her eyes showing.
"Hello."
"Oh, it's nothing. I heard Oppa's voice, so I wondered if he turned the stream on today."
"Why would I? We're siblings, and we live in the same house anyway."
"This much distance is right for siblings. Too close is no good."
As expected of Choe Seohyeon's little sister, she took a sudden intrusion and carried the talk without a hitch.
And right in the middle of that—
"Oh, right. Up until a second ago we were talking about TSDropDead."
"……That bi— no. You mean that person?"
The moment my username came up, Ppulppulpiri failed, for a second, to manage her face. Choe Seohyeon carefully pointed a finger at the chat.
"He's watching the stream right now."
"……."
Told that I was watching, Choe Haeun this time truly could not control her expression.
Chat was too busy laughing at that venomous look to do anything else. Choe Haeun, of course, was not.
"Haa……."
She tipped her chin up, trying to wrestle her feelings back down. Watching her, Choe Seohyeon smiled with his eyes and spoke.
"That's why I told you not to take that person on in a game."
"……I didn't think he'd go that far."
"Haeun, if you still didn't know after getting done like that all this time, I'm not buying it."
"……."
Maybe it was her brother's fact-bomb. The venom she had barely smoothed away came creeping back across her face.
"……Are you actually my brother?"
"No, I'm really saying this because I'm worried about you. You know that if you bet him in a game, you basically always lose."
"……You could still sympathize with me sometimes, though."
"……."
Choe Seohyeon shut his mouth for a moment. Choe Haeun and the viewers alike turned to look, wondering what that was, and he spoke with care.
"……Haeun."
"Yeah."
"There are things siblings can do, and things they can't, right?"
"Huh?"
"……Do I really have to empathize with you?"
"……."
Her own older brother, carefully climbing in damage. And Choe Haeun—
"……Are you trying to start a war right now?"
"It's not that……."
"Then why are you talking like that."
"You asked me last time why I even play trash games like that."
"That was—"
"……You know that saying? Get fooled once, it's the liar's fault. Twice, you're the fool. Three times, and……."
He glanced around, cautious, and let it out.
"……Be honest. The views are pretty fat, aren't they."
"……."
The views are pretty fat, he says. At that, Choe Haeun finally detonated, snatched up whatever was within reach, and asked with murder in her voice.
"You done talking?"
"We're live, Haeun. You're going to cause a real mess."
"Live or not, I need to smack you across the back right now."
"Smacking your own brother on the back? Haeun. I said we're live. Think about your image."
"My image has been gone since that person demolished it four years ago."
"……I'll give you that."
It was a parade of dialogue unhinged enough to drive a person insane. The viewers cheered a sibling showdown they hadn't seen in a long while.
People figured Choe Haeun would win.
"Mmm."
The situation was getting funnier by the second, and a laugh slipped out of me. So I did what you do to a house already on fire: I dumped oil on it and fanned the flames.
"……."
"……."
The offer to hand someone a win shut both of them up at once. Chat, meanwhile…….
And just like that, my Bungtang sent dopamine detonating through the chat. At the same time, Choe Haeun let her head drop.
"……If I could win even once."
"……?"
"That wouldn't be so bad, would it?"
"……Haeun."
Choe Haeun's eyes had gone a little unhinged. Choe Seohyeon moved to stop her.
"Haeun, this is a scheme that person cooked up to drive a wedge between us. You can't fall for it."
"……But."
"Haeun, you should trust your brother, not what that person says. Okay?"
Shouldn't she trust her brother over that person? Choe Haeun's answer—
"……Sorry, Oppa."
"Haeun."
"Hey, no—"
"Let go of me! Your back—!!"
Choe Haeun threw herself at him. Choe Seohyeon blocked her and shouted.
"I'm telling you, this is all that person's scheme!! Get a hold of yourself, Haeun——!!!"
He said it pitifully, the way you look at a younger sibling who's just been converted by a cult. Choe Haeun, of course, didn't ask and didn't argue. She just kept charging. And so, once again, the great Choe sibling showdown began.
Chat was happy beyond words.
Oh, and for the record, Choe Haeun lost this round. Even so, he was her brother, and she knew his wrist was hurting, so she couldn't launch herself at him the way she used to. The showdown ended on a strangely empty note.
The next day.
"Haa……."
Maybe because I'd gotten to see a Choe sibling showdown for the first time in a while, my mood today wasn't bad at all. Anyway, time to give the night shift everything I—
Dee-ree-ree— dee-ree-ree—
The convenience store door opened on that electronic chime.
"Welco—"
I started the greeting and flinched. Because.
"Hic! H-hey, miss. You wouldn't happen to know where the alcohol is……?"
One of the customers a convenience-store part-timer least wants to face had arrived: a drunk.