The Warehouse Gig (1)

On one end of the world, there are people who scrape by on meals that cost a dollar or two. On the other, there are people who drop hundreds of dollars on a single dinner.

Of course, unless you are ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠staggeringly rich, you cannot simply ignore an expense like that. Even so, there are people for whom spending on that scale does not actually put a dent in their finances.

"So, how's work going these days? That internet streaming thing, or whatever it is."

"Yes, Mother. It's going... reasonably well, I think."

"Are you ever going to stop calling me Mother? It sounds so stiff every time I hear it."

"All my college classmates talk like this. And I'm an adult now. I can't keep calling you that forever."

Ari's household was a textbook example of that last type. They were not enormous wealth-holders, but they could, if they put their minds to it, sit down to a dinner like this.

It was Sunday of the week she had spent playing at home with Yuhan. Ari was having dinner with her family at a high-end restaurant in Seoul.

The truth was, her streams had not been going well at all. A five-day hiatus had ended, and two days later she had taken another emergency break.

Ari had what she considered a perfectly reasonable reason of her own. She had decided that the cause of her recently strange, disordered state of mind was stress, and she had gone to see Junhyuk in search of a way to work it off. He had been her closest friend for a long time, and more than that they were lovers who loved each other, so she had believed that seeing him would ease it. Her mental state had gotten bad enough that even ordinary daily life was a struggle, so she had decided to put streaming on hold for the time being.

But her viewers had no way of knowing what the "personal reasons" on the hiatus notice actually meant. That complaints would pile up against Lethe, who had started taking breaks without even offering an explanation, was only natural.

The one silver lining was that after the collab with Yuhan, the chat restrictions on Lethe's stream had loosened a little, and the viewers were happier for being able to enjoy the broadcast more comfortably than before. Those two currents pulled against each other, and Lethe's stream drifted along between them.

Not that Ari had any desire to lay all of that out for her parents.

"If you're going to talk like that, what does that make me?"

"Then you can call them ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠whatever you want."

"Can't you both just say Mom and Dad?"

"I'm more comfortable this way, Father."

It was the kind of restaurant whose prices could have kept them busy savoring every single dish. But this was not a family that had never had an expensive meal before, so they all sat and enjoyed dinner at their ease.

A quiet, happy family meal.

"How are things with Junhyuk these days?"

Earlier in the week, in her confused state, even that question might have left her feeling strange. But—

"Same as always, I guess. We meet up, we eat, we hang out."

Right now, Ari's mind was remarkably clear. Seeing Junhyuk had been, as she had expected, quite a lot of fun.

"Well, you two have always clicked, ever since you were little."

"That's because Junhyuk hyung's the one who always accommodated her."

"Is there anything you won't say to your sister..."

A light scolding from their father. Ari poked her little brother in the side with a playful smile.

She was comfortable in this moment, and because of that, she was happy.

"There's no 'friend' like Junhyuk. Even if we don't do anything special, hanging out is fun."

"Good. Just don't go making him cry somehow. No—you'll handle it fine on your own."

"We've been together almost twenty years now."

It wasn't only Ari. All of them felt it. Her parents were glad their daughter, living on her own, seemed to be doing well, and they were happy to have the whole family together for the first time in a while. Her little brother bickered with her constantly, but he had no reason to dislike a table with everyone present.

Perhaps that was why nobody noticed.

That every time Ari answered a question about Junhyuk, she kept stressing the word friend.

And that fact—

"You know I treat that friend of mine really well."

—was something Ari herself had not realized.

Hanging out with Junhyuk had been fun. Whether that was because she was with a friend, or because she was with a boyfriend—

Ari did not reach a conclusion.

Monday of the week after I had gone to Ari's place.

One in the morning. The usual ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time my stream ended. Wait—did that make it Tuesday?

Anyway, I checked my phone and found a Kkatalk from Ari, asking me to get in touch once I was off the air.

Ari's stream wrapped at midnight. Had she been waiting for me to contact her this whole time?

She always had a pile of work to handle after she went offline, so maybe that was it.

I sent a reply, and not long after, she called.

There wasn't much to it, really. I thought it was an entirely reasonable request, but Ari apologized to me without end.

...If her boyfriend needs it, wouldn't it be weird for me not to give it back?

And in the way she kept apologizing, there was emotion in her voice. A distinctly negative emotion.

The fact that I could hear it at all was strange enough. Stranger still was this: the target of that negative feeling seemed, somehow, to be her own boyfriend.

Even as she talked, she kept saying she was sorry that he had "suddenly" tried to borrow "the thing she'd lent me," to a degree that was honestly uncomfortable.

Something about it felt off, a faint sense of wrongness—but it wasn't my place to pick at it.

Anyway, I told her I'd return it whenever.

I was the one who had borrowed it to use on stream, and I had gotten a good week of use out of it. The right thing was to give it back quickly.

And then—

Does she seriously go this far with other people too?

Or is it just me?

...If it's just me, that would be weird in a whole different way.

I don't know. Whatever the case, she isn't the type who can't manage her own affairs.

That aside, I had gotten a hell of a lot of use out of that Switch over the past week.

It was a console I was going to have to give back eventually, so I had figured I might as well wring every last drop out of it while I had it, and for a while the stream had revolved around Switch games.

In Mariu Kart, my mechanics had finally reached the point of overpowering the viewers' sabotage.

Mariu Party, which their nagging had forced me to play at least one round of every day... the results were always about the same, but it still got a warm reception every time.

I had played all sorts of other games too, but the one I had the most fun with was, without a doubt, Come Gather: Animal Village.

Ari, watching my stream, had given me permission to make a character of my own, and I had played as that character. Hitting on the furry villagers wandering around town. Going fishing whenever the viewers gave me a hard time.

Anyway, here is what I am trying to say.

I could no longer guarantee what would become of my stream if I went back to the days without a Switch.

I had had too much fun, and the viewers had liked it enough to forget Minecraft. If the Switch disappeared, all I would have left was my computer, and the games I could enjoy on that were limited; the viewers' reaction would not be entirely positive either.

Hm. So the time had come to actually spend some money.

My funds were not exactly comfortable. Donations on my stream were on the low side.

The reason... I had a rough idea.

A guy had turned on his cam, so technically it counted as a male-cam stream, but I wasn't exactly stirring up any romantic feelings, and with a face like this they didn't look at me as some pure-hearted boy either.

Of course that wasn't the only reason donations were thin, but it couldn't have been doing me any favors.

Anyway, I was not flush with cash.

What I had left was earmarked for food and next month's rent, and once you took that out there wasn't much sitting in my pocket. Dipping into next month's rent ahead of time didn't sit right either.

Damn it. I had never wanted to do this again, but it looked like the time had come.

A regular part-time job would be hard to land, and the pay wouldn't come in for a month, which did not work for someone who needed cash in a hurry.

Even if I tried construction work, this was the gender-reversed world; they wouldn't even put me on a site. Whether the contacts I had made on those crews in my old life still existed here, I had no idea—and they had never been that deep a connection anyway.

That left... warehouse loading.

The memory of getting hurt on a loading gig put a bad taste in my mouth, but still.

With this body's physical ability, I could probably trust it, right?

This bizarre body of mine would handle it somehow, wouldn't it?

I couldn't keep sitting around forever waiting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for livestreaming to make me real money. Maybe that would be possible later. It wasn't possible now. I couldn't make it possible now.

To put it crudely, it was a fucked-up situation.

But that was how my life had always been.

Strike while the iron's hot. I'd hit the ground running tomorrow.

The collab with Yuhan never went up on NewTube, so he wouldn't know about that, would he?

Junhyuk didn't watch livestreams even when they were mine, so it made sense he wouldn't know I had been using the Switch just recently. He barely knew what TwizyTV was in the first place.

Hanging out with him during that last hiatus had been pretty fun. We went so far back that just digging up old memories was entertaining on its own, and our interests overlapped at least a little.

Junhyuk really was a good "friend" to be with—being around him was always enjoyable. But...

This was way too sudden.

A thread of irritation uncoiled in my chest.

Yuhan was in the middle of using it. Watching him have fun with it had been such a joy.

Why, so suddenly, did he want to take a Switch he had never even been that interested in?

Should I tell him I don't have it?

No. That wouldn't work.

Yuhan's viewers all knew I had lent him the Switch. Honestly, I didn't think there was any chance Junhyuk would find out where it had gone. But hide something pointless in a... romantic relationship, and it could blow up into a real fight later.

He hung up. Just like that.

I'd have to contact Yuhan after today's stream...

Will he be disappointed?

No.

He'll say it's fine.

I don't know about anyone else, but if it's Yuhan, he will. He'll say it's fine, for my sake. No matter how he actually feels about it.

...For some reason, a corner of my heart feels uneasy.