As Planned
"I-if you tell them, what am I supposed to do? Once these people go wild..."
"What's the harm? It's not like I'm showing them anything."
"That's a secret."
"Then don't sleep. You should be watching the stream."
"Hmm. What should I do."
I gave that one no answer at all, only a quiet smile. Whatever I said, it had been a strange question, and I had no intention of telling them anything more. In that same moment an effect burst beside the broadcast window, and the mission that popped up pulled a short laugh out of me.
"Don't slap crap like that up as a mission! Do you all actually want to get banned?!"
"This is Lee Hyangsuk's channel!"
"I knew this would happen. I explained it till I was blue in the face."
"Fine. Whether I answer or not is up to me, anyway."
"What's good?"
"Hmm. I'm the one who should be grateful. It was awkward, but you've been steering things so well through chat that I've gotten a lot more comfortable."
I tried to read the chats that came pouring in again, but they were moving too fast to catch. Just then the door opened, and Choi Soojung came in with an iced Americano in a glass, set it down in front of me, and left the room.
"Hey, guys. I think we're gonna have to switch the tablet chat to donations only. I'm trying to read it for him, and even I can't keep up."
"Even so, that doesn't feel right. This isn't even my stream."
"That's an awful lot to call cab fare."
"Hey! If there's a streamer out there who reads regular chat as hard as I do, tell them to step up and prove it!"
"Is Gyeongsang your hometown?"
"Yes, Busan. I-is that bad?"
"No. Your dialect is incredibly cute. Do more of it."
The donation chat, which had paused for a moment, came down without mercy. Watching the list of donations stack and stack in the streamer's view, I quietly set the coffee straw between my lips. When the donations piled up like this, Lee Hyangsuk waited until every one of them had come through, so I was only following her lead.
"Ah..."
I could feel her staring at me in a daze, but my conscience eased a little. At least I seemed to be earning my keep.
"No. Today's my first time. This studio of yours is incredible. It's seriously professional."
I looked around and talked about the lights and the monitors, and donations calling me cute kept climbing the screen. I only smiled and went on reading.
"But I'm seriously amazed, guys. Doesn't he seem like he actually has talent?"
"You're all being much too kind."
"No, really. My first time, I shook the whole way through, barely filled an hour, and turned it off."
"You want a ban? I'm cute now too, you know?"
Under the desk, I felt Lee Hyangsuk clench her fist. True to her fans, the moment that question landed, even the chat seemed to hold its breath. I happen to be decent at reading a room, though.
"Hmm. Hard to say. It depends on how you look at her, doesn't it?"
"Well, she is a woman, obviously."
"Should I say it, or not."
From beside me came the sound of Lee Hyangsuk swallowing, and it must have caught the mic, because a long run of lols climbed the chat. A little mischief stirred in me, and I slowly reached out.
"Here. Let me take another look."
"Ah..."
I extended my hand and drew her chin toward me with my fingertips. Her eyes went round, and her face turned, little by little, in my direction. I looked at that face in silence. She swallowed again and began to stare at me, and under that gaze I started taking her features apart from every angle. Unhurried. If anything, drawing it out, making her wait.
"...You're pretty. You work hard at what you do. There's a brightness to you, too. Part of me wants to know more, but."
"...Ah..."
Donation messages burst out without end, but I paid them no mind. I looked at her face a moment longer, then carefully took my hand away and whispered.
"...Ah."
"Well. About that much? I wonder if you're satisfied."
At that, Lee Hyangsuk startled, cleared her throat, and asked.
"C-come to think of it, Shinwoo, aren't you thinking of streaming? You're really good at it."
"Hmm. I was interested. Honestly, though, watching you stream has me reconsidering."
"Wh-what? You don't know a thing, and you're saying I crossed a line?!"
"Ah, it's not that. I just don't think I could do it overflowing with energy the way you do, Hyangsuk. I don't think I could even fill a microphone."
"That's only because all of you are helping."
And that was the moment. A video donation opened, and on the broadcast screen Lee Hyangsuk's face went red in an instant. It was the scene from a moment ago — me drawing her chin in, the two of us meeting eyes. It had come out prettier than I'd expected, though a little blurrier than the picture on our own monitor. A difference in quality, I supposed. The power of a DSLR, after all.
"Exported?"
"Ah, that's... well. That clip... people donate it into other streamers' rooms and come back..."
She was watching my reaction as she said it, and I understood.
"Are you all right with that, Hyangsuk?"
"...Ah. M-me, I'm..."
"...Shut up. I-I'm fine. Clips like that actually help promote the stream... Are you okay, Shinwoo...?"
I nodded at the careful question. It wasn't as if I'd groped her. Would I have come at all without being ready for at least this much?
"Of course. Did I commit a crime?"
"No, no! What are you saying!"
"Then we're good."
It was a donation that scratched exactly where I itched. I'd meant to ask after the stream ended, and the timing couldn't have been better.
"Ah. So there was something I wanted to ask you, Hyangsuk."
"What kind of thing?"
"Is it all right to talk about it here? With the time."
"...Every last one of you is drunk."
"Sh-shut up. What was it you were curious about...?"
Ever since that brief bit of contact, the way she grew shy in front of me was rather cute. If I kept within a reasonable line, I was even thinking of giving them one more bit of service — but the opening had arrived, so I asked as if it were nothing.
"If I ended up appearing on a stream like this, I was wondering whether I could upload that broadcast to my channel too."
"Ah, you can."
"...You'd allow it that easily?"
"Of course, if the originals overlap exactly, the copyright AI catches it, so the edit has to be a little different. When streamers collab, that's usually how it goes. If you coordinate with each other, it's plenty."
"Hmm. Then can I have today's broadcast as well?"
"I'll send it whenever you want. I'll even edit the whole thing for you. So you are doing YouTube?"
"If that's all right. I've been wanting to try. I just couldn't get started, since I don't really have any content."
"Even if you only filmed vlogs, a hundred thousand subscribers would be nothing for you."
"Oh, come on. As if."
"Ah, shall we?"
I met Bae Jihyun's gaze and gave a quiet nod. Then we drew in closer to the computer and went on talking as we watched the monitor.
"Ah, Shorts make money too?"
"Of course. Ads run in between them, and that's the revenue."
So that was why. Lately, vlog-style videos had been showing up less and less in my recommendations. If it were me, I'd upload a handful of Shorts before I bothered with a vlog. That lined up with my plan even better. Making the channel itself hadn't taken long, but the conversation afterward did.
"That's it. What do you think? Easy, right?"
"It is. But are you really sure this is okay?"
"Of course. Aigoo, I've benefited plenty from you too, Shinwoo."
There was a bit of a tug-of-war when Lee Hyangsuk suggested putting up that old café scene as an example, but once she said she wanted it to be the first video on my channel, I didn't have much of an argument left.
"This took longer than I thought. You must have been bored."
"Come on, no way. You've all welcomed me so warmly, I'm having a great time too. If anything, I'm grateful to Hyangsuk for inviting me."
Even over nothing much, the replies came back so full of goodwill that I was the one who ended up embarrassed.
"S-so then, Shinwoo, you don't really mind guesting like this, do you...?"
I didn't know the reason, but she offered the words with extreme care, and in that instant I felt the mood of the chat — donations included — change. They were holding their breath. This. This was what felt so new. The fans and Lee Hyangsuk hadn't exchanged a single word about it, and still their breathing matched, like raid members faithfully executing a mechanic.
"Right. I just can't think of any content. It feels like I'd only be taking content, so I'm being careful. It seems like it might be rude to the other person."
"Ah, no. If anything, all of this is fresh for us right now."
The donations even started turning it over for me, and from the way the talk flowed, my idea didn't seem so bad after all. Someone had apparently already thought the same thing, and that seemed to take some of the resistance out of it.