I'm Coming to Meet You
I had dumped a lifetime's worth of luck into my stream in a single burst. The influx of viewers had been beyond anything I could have imagined, but after Wednesday's broadcast—when the fight video had pulled them in—nothing particularly dramatic had happened.
Not that it mattered much. What mattered was that I'd gathered an audience fast, and a decent core of regulars had started to form.
The proof was right there in the numbers: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, my average concurrent viewers had held around seventy. Streamers who could post those kinds of figures a week after going live were few and far between.
If anything had changed about the stream, it was that I'd added cooking as a regular segment.
I didn't have the money to keep buying food for mukbang content, so after the gukbap eating stream I'd started carving out time to cook on every broadcast—and the response had been genuinely good.
It saved money, made the hours fly, and even built up a wholesome, domestic image. An absolute steal of a content idea, really.
Having a distinctive regular segment like that was definitely a good sign.
And now it was time to end Saturday's stream.
"Alright. So, everyone—I'm not coming tomorrow. See you Monday."
"Unnie? What unnie, you punk. Call me oppa."
These guys… what exactly did they think my gender identity was? It wasn't like the words meant anything; they were just messing with me. No real reason to get upset.
Anyway, stream over. Viewer count: seventy-nine.
Already one in the morning. When you got into a stream, time had a way of vanishing. Later on the broadcasts might get boring… which was exactly why that beginner's mindset mattered.
On a normal night I would have reviewed how the stream went, checked whether I'd said anything weird, prepped for tomorrow, and gone to sleep. Tonight I didn't have that luxury.
Tomorrow was the day I visited the orphanage for the first time in a week. I needed to be in peak condition.
The moment I closed my eyes and lay down, my mind went hazy.
I couldn't wait for tomorrow.
"Unnie, what about this doll?"
"The orphanage probably already has plenty of dolls. Only put in the ones that actually look useful."
"Then should I take this plastic model kit out too?"
"Uh… let's keep a few more of those. They seemed to like them more than I expected."
A lazy Saturday afternoon. I was at a big-box supermarket with my stream managers, shopping.
The reason four grown women were wandering the toy aisle was tomorrow's content shoot.
The orphanage donation content worked like this: we contacted the facility in advance, asked what they actually needed, and donated accordingly. After that came interviews with the Director and staff, then a few hours of filming volunteer work.
Whenever I saw people posting proof that they'd gone and helped their local orphanage after watching the video, I was sure it was content that actually had an impact.
The views had been surprisingly high, and the revenue that came with them had startled me more than once—but I donated those earnings separately anyway, so it hardly mattered.
At any rate, the toy aisle was the last stop. Everything was bought.
Four hours of shopping. It shocked me every single time.
"Then we meet at ten tomorrow and head out. Don't any of you be late."
"Unnie, are you sure you just want to go ahead with it? If you explain the situation to the Director, they could probably push it back a week."
Had my sudden announcement of a break worried her that much? What a loyal little sister.
"Two days off and my head's already back in one piece. You just worry about tomorrow."
"I try to worry about you and I still get an earful. Fragile little sunfish."
We traded barbs, laughing.
Truthfully, my head wasn't completely fine. A little anger was still sitting in my body, smoldering.
Back in school, when I'd lived every day by a ruthless study schedule, my mental state had never really shaken. Stress from other people, though—that was always impossible to predict.
The short, ugly pile-up of stress from Junhyuk and Geum Taeyang was proof enough of that.
But I was a professional in my own right. I'd already taken a break over one bout of stress; I wasn't about to tank the content on top of it.
"Anyway, you don't need to worry about me. Just pack what you need for tomorrow and show up."
I parted from the managers with a bright, easy smile. My face, I suspected, had still looked a little dark.
"Me? I'm just working, same as always. Found a new part-time gig."
The Director asked what I'd been up to lately.
Of course, after getting fired from my old job and waking up in the gender-reversed world, I hadn't actually gone looking for other work… but I couldn't exactly announce that I was streaming. My channel wasn't big enough for that to sound impressive; I'd only worry her.
…Alright, fine. I was embarrassed. That was the real reason.
"Have you been watching any of those internet streams?"
I sprayed coffee.
"Y-yes? Y-yeah, sometimes… I watch them sometimes."
The question came in so sharp and sudden I coughed and sputtered through my answer. She looked at me with worried eyes, asking if I was alright… honestly, I'd just been that startled.
"W-why do you ask, all of a sudden?"
"Someone who does internet broadcasts sent a filming request a while back, and we set the date for today."
"What's a streamer coming here for?"
What was that supposed to mean? What was there to film at an orphanage?
She wouldn't have agreed thoughtlessly, of course, but I still couldn't quite make sense of it.
"Content filming, apparently. I looked into them myself—they seem to do a lot of good work. And it looked like it would help us quite a bit, too."
"Hmm…"
"Haha. Even with all my years on the job, I still worry about everything."
"Still, though…"
A streamer showing up at the orphanage for content wasn't something I was simply happy about, and I couldn't help worrying it might be a bad influence on the kids. But this was the Director's decision. I was an outsider; it wasn't my place to argue.
"Well. I'm sure you'll handle it perfectly, Director."
I said it, knocked back what was left of the paper cup in one go, and stepped outside.
The little ones latched onto me the moment I left the Director's office. I played with them on the way, and we ended up behind the orphanage—the same place I'd hung laundry last time.
There was only one volunteer today. When I walked over, the college student I'd met before was hanging laundry by herself.
"Here on your own today?"
"Ah, Yuhan! It's been a while!"
A moment ago her face had looked rather gloomy. Maybe I'd imagined it—because the smile she turned on me now was bright as anything.
"The others from last time didn't come with you?"
"Yes, well… I think the work didn't really suit them. Nobody messaged about coming together this week."
"As long as you showed up, Yebin, that's enough. Thanks for coming back."
Park Yebin, was it?
So much had happened in a single week I'd nearly forgotten her name, but a second of thought brought it back.
I thanked her with a crinkle-eyed smile, and her face lit up even more. I hadn't thought it could get brighter than that.
Orphanage volunteer work was hard in a lot of ways; most people came for a week and quit. The fact that she'd come back even by herself was genuinely nice to see.
A good person, I decided, watching her.
"W-why are you staring…?"
"No reason. I just like looking."
I meant I was glad to see her again. Judging by that enormous expression, Yebin was glad too.
We were down three people compared to last time, but two of those had been guys standing around doing nothing anyway, so not much had actually changed. If anything, working and talking just the two of us felt more comfortable.
The mountain of laundry vanished in no time, the floor of the basket showing through. Proof of how hard we'd worked, maybe—damp clothes were clinging to my body.
"Ugh. My shirt got a little wet."
I said it and gave the fabric a flap.
Hmm… what was that look? Yebin was staring at me with an absolutely tremendous expression. Extremely uncomfortable.
Still flapping my shirt, I asked,
"What's wrong? Is there something on me?"
"Ah! Th-that's—I'm sorry!"
? I could not keep up with this person's tension. What was she sorry for?
Hmm……
Ah.
This was the gender-reversed world.
I'd been here about two weeks and I still forgot that fact every now and then. Why did I keep blanking on it?
Looking back at myself acting like some dense light-novel protagonist, I was thoroughly embarrassed.
My face burned. Me, Seong Yuhan, Confucian youth. What kind of perverted stunt was that?
And it wasn't even over. The instant the embarrassment looked like it might linger, my body moved on its own.
If it were just my speech and personality tipping a little Geum Taeyang, I could live with that. Now even my actions were slipping out of my control.
"Hah…… were you staring at my chest this whole time?"
"I-it wasn't like that!!"
I wasn't even angry, but my mouth spat casual speech all by itself.
It wasn't something I could regulate on my end anymore, so I didn't even try to stop it.
My hand caught her arm and pulled it to my chest. Great. Now I was going to get treated like a pervert on top of everything else, this damn Geum Taeyang.
Tak.
"!!"
"Pfft… what's the big deal."
I looked at her face. She was staring down at her own hand, stunned.
"Uh, uh… that's, I mean…"
"I didn't take you for the type, Yebin. You're actually pretty dirty-minded, huh?"
Wow. I didn't know a person's face could turn that red.
I was watching my body do its thing in a state of resignation when the tension suddenly, sharply dropped.
My body was under my control again.
It pulled all that, then snapped back to normal? What was I supposed to do with this?
The air went awkward and thin. The one mercy was that Yebin still hadn't recovered her wits.
"Um…… Yebin, that's. I mean."
"Yuhan hyung! Can you come here a second?!"
In the middle of the panic, a voice called for me, urgent. The timing was fantastic.
I turned around with a smile of sheer relief. Minwoo, one of the younger kids from the orphanage, was standing there. His face was grim.
"What is it, Minwoo? What's going on?"
"I, I think you need to come. Fast."
A streamer coming to the orphanage, my own perverted stunt, and now an accident on top of it?
This. The atmosphere was getting weird.
Today, I had a feeling, was going to go sideways.