The Stream-Visiting Fee Starts at Fifty Million Won

"From now on, the stream-visiting fee starts at fifty million won."

Kang Na-el peered down at the donation history. Her lips, which had been counting the zeros one by one, stopped dead.

"Shin Lee-hyun, hold on a second. Did you press the wrong amount or something?"

Once the message went through, Lee-hyun noticed something new beside his own nickname — a donation badge that hadn't been there moments ago.

Kang Na-el took a sip of water. She was lowering the bottle when she brought it right back up to her mouth again.

"I didn't ask you for anything difficult. All I said was show me that thing from earlier one more time."

Kang Na-el set the bottle down and looked into the camera.

"Lee-hyun, thank you so, so much for the ten million won donation."

She bowed her head deeply, then went back to scanning the chat.

"You mean the dance from before, right? Not... anything else?"

"Okay. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'll show you. Just give me a second."

Her mouse, hunting for a song, clicked open some completely unrelated window. She pressed her lips together and shut it again.

"Oh, you lot shut up too. My hands are being weird right now."

The words came out and she started laughing at herself. This time she picked the music properly. As she pushed her chair aside and stood up, Lee-hyun tore his eyes away from the chat as well.

Kang Na-el stepped back a few paces. Between her fitted top and her short shorts, a strip of bare waist showed through. Her legs, cropped out of the thumbnail, were now fully in frame.

She smoothed down her clothes, checked the camera, and swept her hair back over her shoulder.

"Here I go."

The intro began to play. This time, from the very top.

She extended one leg and raised her arm, and the hem of her top rode up just slightly. The move flowed into a twist of the waist, catching the beat with her hips. Lee-hyun very deliberately moved his hand away from the mouse, careful not to jostle anything.

Once the dancing started, Na-el looked far less stiff. She brushed the hair spilling over her shoulder aside and locked eyes with the camera. Every time her body turned sideways, the line running from her chest down to her waist came into view.

When one of the moves brought her up close to the screen, Lee-hyun's back snapped straight.

The chat scrolled past beside him, but Lee-hyun didn't read a word of it. The song had ended the moment it began the first time; this time it felt just as short. The choreography swelled with the chorus, and before he knew it, the track was winding down.

Kang Na-el shaped a heart with her hands.

"Thank you, Lee-hyun!"

Only then did Lee-hyun glance at his own chat window.

"Nice."

Kang Na-el came back to her desk and turned the music down. Up close, her face was flushed.

"So... how was it?"

"Whew. Thank goodness. I was terrified I'd mess up halfway through."

"Of course. Today it's on the house."

Kang Na-el dragged her chair over, sat down, and fanned herself with one hand.

Unfamiliar nicknames began mixing into Kang Na-el's chat.

The viewer count had climbed by several hundred. It was already far past the number Lee-hyun had seen when he first arrived.

"What the— where did you all come from?"

"Honestly, it hasn't fully sunk in for me either."

Kang Na-el glanced back at the donation history and burst out laughing.

"I just earned back everything I spent on Maple Story this week."

"I won't splurge. Today, anyway."

While Lee-hyun was chuckling, the viewer count on his own stream climbed past one hundred as well. The newcomers kept asking whether he was really the one who'd sent the ten million. After why did you send it came the next question: what did he actually do on this stream?

"I'm just watching a dance."

He was still reading through the replies when Kang Na-el called his name.

"Wait, who? Lee-hyun, you're streaming right now?"

Kang Na-el turned her head toward the monitor beside her. A few clacks of the keyboard, then a laugh.

"Oh? It's true. And here I thought you were just a viewer."

"Yesterday? You're a total newbie, then."

Lee-hyun laughed too. But Na-el studied her screen a moment longer before adding,

"Ah, but when you broadcast someone else's stream like that, you're supposed to ask them first. Some streamers don't allow visit-broadcasts at all."

"Huh—?"

Lee-hyun looked at his own chat.

"Wait, I'm supposed to ask before watching?"

Lee-hyun switched his broadcast feed over to his own camera first.

"You're welcome to watch mine anytime. Just check first before you go anywhere else."

Her voice kept coming through from the other window. Lee-hyun typed a message into her stream, which he had open separately.

"No, no, I told you it's fine. Just keep it in mind for next time."

"Ah... I had no idea."

Lee-hyun opened the donation window.

He was grateful that she was willing to let it slide, and sorry for having watched her stream so freely without asking. He typed in an amount and a short message, then pressed send.

Kang Na-el's words cut off mid-sentence.

On Lee-hyun's stream, only his own face was showing while the donation alert chimed.

On the screen Lee-hyun was watching, Kang Na-el was frozen mid-gesture, hand still raised. Only her eyes darted toward the alert; then she straightened up, her chair rolling backward.

"Hold on a second. Fifty million won?"

"No! When did I ever say that!"

Kang Na-el hurriedly lowered the voice she'd raised at the chat.

"Lee-hyun, I absolutely did not mean it like that."

"You don't need to feel bad!"

Even as she said it, Kang Na-el shut her own mouth. She opened the donation history again, then closed it.

"Don't you guys say weird things. That was not an invitation to send money."

Kang Na-el read the message and lowered her head.

"I should be the one thanking you. I am grateful, it's just... wow. Hold on a second."

She covered her face with both hands. A beat of silence, then laughter leaked out through her fingers.

Lee-hyun found himself laughing along.

People kept pouring into Lee-hyun's stream as well. With Kang Na-el's face no longer on his screen, the chat filled with requests to put it back up.

Lee-hyun sent a message over to her stream.

"Yes, go right ahead."

Then Kang Na-el added immediately,

"But you don't need to send any more money."

Lee-hyun brought her screen back up. Kang Na-el was clutching her water bottle, cheeks scarlet.

"Of course I have to. Of course I do."

After a sip of water, Kang Na-el looked at the screen.

"Lee-hyun, is there anything in particular you'd like to see?"

Lee-hyun skimmed the song list pinned to one side of her stream — titles that had meant nothing to him earlier either.

"Then I'll choose for you."

Kang Na-el browsed the list and settled on one song. She was pushing her chair back ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to stand when she leaned forward toward the camera once more.

"Oh, and from now on, feel free to come watch anytime. Even when you're streaming. My stream is always fine with it."

"It's not because of the money, I'm telling you — my stream just allows visit-broadcasts, okay?"

Kang Na-el glared at the chat for a long moment before finally breaking into laughter.

"Ugh. Let me just put the music on."

By the time the next song had ended, quite a lot of time had slipped by. Lee-hyun now knew the names of both songs — Kang Na-el had explained them, and the chat had even picked out what he should request next.

"So how did you get into streaming, Lee-hyun?"

"Ah, so that's what yesterday's title was about. So going forward, you'll be showing off more things like that?"

When games came up, Kang Na-el recommended a few. All the while, the chat kept chanting for her to do another dance.

"If there's ever anything else you'd like to see, just say the word."

They traded a few more words, and then Lee-hyun typed out his goodbye.

"Oh, you're heading out? Thank you so much for today. Come back soon!"

Waving at the camera, Kang Na-el added one more thing.

"And remember — ask first before you visit anyone else's stream."

Lee-hyun returned to the stream list.

"You mean the people who stream as a character?"

"I've seen them around, but I don't really get it. They put a character on screen instead of their face, right?"

When Lee-hyun typed "Hanyabi" into the search bar, a white-haired character with cat ears popped up.

"What's a 'no-sleep marathon run'?"

"Seventy-four hours? What does she do about sleep?"

Still, it was more than three days. Which meant she had been glued to the same game since before Lee-hyun had even turned on his first stream.

This time he switched his feed over to his own camera and double-checked that no audio from any other stream would leak out. Then he clicked on Hanyabi's broadcast.

On the game screen, a sword-wielding character lay sprawled on the ground. Over in one corner, the cat-eared character had her eyes closed too.

"I'm not sleepy."

The voice came out slightly muffled.

Hanyabi's eyes snapped wide open.

"You think I'm dying to this because I'm sleepy?"

A brief pause.

"I'd die to it even wide awake."

Lee-hyun burst out laughing.