Two Weeks
I trailed after Bae Jihyun with a whistle on my lips, then pulled out my phone and checked my messages. Hyunji had sent quite a few. Most of them were packed with worry about me.
Maybe I shouldn't have told her.
Even so, once Bae Jihyun's stream went up, I didn't want to leave anything lying around that could make me look sloppy later if I thought it all the way through. It was only a matter of time anyway. I sent her a message telling her not to worry, that I was on my way home, and at that same moment a chirp of an unlocking car sounded from one side of the parking lot.
"Oh. Nice car."
"......Cheap. That's mean. You could've pretended not to notice one more time."
Still grumbling, Bae Jihyun climbed into an SUV whose three-pointed star caught the light. I let out a short laugh at the sight of her, dropped into the passenger seat, gave her the address, and whispered while she worked the navigation.
"I gave you plenty of hints, you know."
She shot me a look like she couldn't believe me and flung her handbag into the back seat, but the moment our eyes met she flushed and turned away. Acts tough, and then does that.
"......If I want a kiss, will you give me one?"
"Depends on the situation."
"What situation are you even watching? You trade stocks or something?"
"You trade stocks too?"
"Of course I do. It's a job with an uncertain future."
"If you're still holding, you're probably down by more than half."
"......If you know, don't rub it in."
"You're the one who brought it up."
"......How is a man supposed to let a single word slide?"
"Forgot how eagerly you were licking that guy's feet?"
"Gah!"
She glared at me, then pulled the car out, and I whistled as I watched the streets go by. It was about time to actually talk business. Bae Jihyun was the one who spoke first.
"......I've been thinking."
"About what?"
"About what I can do for you."
"Hmm. Let's hear it."
"......Well, I do know my way around broadcasting and YouTube. If you've got footage, send it over. I've got plenty of space on my NAS, so you're welcome to use it with me. Soo-jung will handle the editing."
"Won't she be busy?"
"......Why do you speak so politely to Soo-jung?"
"She hasn't told me I can drop it yet. We've barely exchanged more than a few words."
"......That's really all it is, right?"
"What? Jealous? I hate jealousy. A lot. You."
"God, so high-maintenance. Handsome men really do cost what they're worth."
"Handsome? Since when am I handsome."
"......Someone like you is plenty handsome, Shinwoo. What are you even saying?"
I looked at her, trying to tell whether she was teasing me or meant it, but the face turned toward me was sincere. A little embarrassing. Makeup really is a frightening thing.
"Anyway, I'll cover the costs myself. Soo-jung's basically my manager. The editing team's separate, and they're on salary anyway."
"All right. I appreciate that."
"Are you going to run the channel yourself?"
"We'll see. I suppose I'll have to."
"If it's a pain, leave it to Soo-jung. About half of growing my channel was her doing. She's good at managing things."
"Feels like I'd be asking too much."
"......Why does it keep feeling like you treat me and Soo-jung differently?"
"Why? Want me to treat you the same?"
I tickled the thigh of Bae Jihyun, who was driving in silence, and whispered as I watched her suck in a sharp breath.
"Want me to treat you like a stranger?"
"......Ah, okay...... I didn't know that's what you meant......"
"As long as you understand."
"......I'm sorry. It's not— not jealousy...... I just got self-conscious......"
"I know. Anxious?"
"No...... I just wondered if maybe you didn't like me......"
"If I didn't like you, I wouldn't have touched you."
"......Okay."
She was clearly uneasy that we hadn't slept together. Well, she'd brought it on herself. I'd warned her plenty; saying any more would be useless. It would only steal her chance to think. When my fingers left her thigh she breathed out like she missed them, stole a glance at me, and slowly opened her mouth.
"......And once the channel gets big, you could look into an MCN."
"Where are you signed?"
"I'm not with anyone."
"Why not?"
"Just... how do I put it. It starts to feel less like being a streamer and more like becoming a broadcaster. I do this because I like being free, but once a contract has you, you have to chew through whatever schedule they set even if you don't want to. Even without that, there are already things I have to be careful about as the channel grows."
I thought I understood. Even a big company has its own kind of headache. So Bae Jihyun did think things through.
"Then I'll just do it with you. I don't have some grand goal of becoming a big deal. I'll go with the flow."
"Th-then I'd love that. Having a fam was always a wish of mine."
"No streamer friends you're close with?"
"......Not many. This industry's colder than you'd think. But I've got a lot of numbers saved, so if you need more places to guest, I can look into it."
At that I gave a light shake of my head.
"No. For now I'm not thinking about anything besides your stream."
She smiled, pleased, color rising in her face, and I let out a short laugh of my own.
"......Okay......"
"If a lot of offers come in, I'd rather think about it then. Think that'll be hard?"
"Th-that's fine too. Better for negotiating, and it looks better on you, Shinwoo. I'll tell Soo-jung."
"Then let's do it that way."
"......Okay. And...... the important thing is that I Want to Date Too I mentioned earlier."
"Ah, right. That. When is it?"
Stopped at a red light, Bae Jihyun slowly avoided my eyes and couldn't go on. I narrowed my eyes at her and opened my mouth.
"If you're about to say next week or some crap like that, I'm refusing. Right now."
"I-it's not next week."
"Then when?"
"......The week after next."
"Two weeks? Did you just say two weeks?"
"I-it's because the nature of the show fits spring, so......"
"Even so, don't people prepare for a month?"
"......It's because I decided way too late......"
I wasn't trying to blame her. If anything, her deciding late was what had opened this chance for me. The program schedule had probably already been locked, so I'd ended up joining in a rush. It was still sudden either way, so there was no point thinking any further. All I had to do was figure out how to use the opportunity.
"So there's no time to prepare, then."
"What would you even prepare? If it's you, Shinwoo, they'd be saying thank you just for showing up."
"Don't hype me up too much. So it's you and me going on, the two of us. No concept for the broadcast? No synopsis?"
"Nothing's been released yet."
"Huh? With two weeks left? You haven't even had a meeting?"
"No. Seeing how few streamers have even said they got an offer, I think they might have put an embargo on the people who've already signed."
"And we're fine?"
"We were at the point where all we had to do was sign, so I'll talk to them. I'll reach out tomorrow and let you know."
"All right. So we're really not preparing anything separately?"
"Put your worries down. Trusting me is enough."
So I didn't bother saying I wasn't entirely convinced. She said she'd work hard; there was no need to knock the wind out of her.
"And about that clause I wanted in."
"Yeah, yeah."
"I want to use the parts I appear in on my channel too."
Bae Jihyun nodded.
"That's possible. I'll be adding them too."
"And bedroom scenes are an absolute no."
"......Ah, you mean the, the sex scenes?"
"Yeah. I don't want those. Let me be exact. I absolutely hate sex scenes."
Another unpleasant memory surfaced, and I hurriedly shook my head to scatter it. The face of the ex who had made me hate both filming and lying. I'd been living just fine forgetting her, but lately she kept crawling back out. Irritating.
"Then up until right before is okay? F-foreplay, and things like that......"
"That's fine. About as far as what happened with you today. But a penetration scene — not even the mic."
"......It might be a little difficult. The other side might need that footage......"
"Then I'll talk to the person involved myself when we get there. If they refuse, we stop. Just put in that I have the right to refuse how the content gets used."
"......Okay. I'll negotiate."
Bae Jihyun suddenly looked deflated, and I tilted my head, unable to tell which part had taken the spirit out of her.
"Why? Did that bother you?"
"N-no...... it's not that."
But at the very end she whispered, barely audible, "......I just feel like I'm losing my place in line." It wasn't jealousy. It was impatience. I looked at her for a moment, then quietly stroked her cheek. The light happened to be red.
"You want me that badly?"
"O-of course...... I'm twenty-eight. Really...... I don't want to feel like this, but every day that passes I get more desperate. The thought that I might have to go into the military like this......"
"Is it really that urgent? I get how you feel, but there's plenty of time even after you're discharged."
"Stories about your hymen tearing during training are way too common."
"......That got very direct all of a sudden."
"W-well, of course men wouldn't know, but if you move hard it tears easily. They say they'll do reconstruction surgery, but...... would that be the same? Do you know how I've protected it, from puberty until now?"
"Come to think of it, you never even considered a dildo?"
These women had such strong desires, so it was surprising they kept their hymens intact. It was a fragile place that damaged easily even with a toy. Hearing that Bae Jihyun had guarded hers so carefully left me feeling oddly soft.
"Never. They won't even sell a dildo in the first place without a man's record on file. O-of course you could buy one secondhand, but that's creepy......"
"What?"
"M-men sometimes end things on the spot if you're not a virgin...... so there's no choice."
"......So that's how it was."
"It's proof you're safe, and proof you're not hiding anything, so it's not like women can't understand it either. Women are hoping too, for the chance that they get lucky and actually get to sleep with a man......"
"And if you don't get pregnant?"
"If he likes you, he'll come find you again. If he leaves, you get reconstruction surgery...... or you just live like that from then on."
"Kind of sad."
"......What's stranger is you understanding this, Shinwoo."
I wasn't some virgin obsessive, but it was also true I had no reason to dislike it. Still, experienced women were plenty enjoyable too.
"I don't dislike it. If I'm the first, I'm satisfied as well."
"......I figured."
"That said, I don't think I'd feel shortchanged either. That's the past, to begin with. And."
I looked at Bae Jihyun quietly, caressing her cheek, then grinned and went on.
"I'll probably be better. I can make you forget the last guy's face entirely."
Part of it was the Special Internal Energy, but I figured a little confidence like this was allowed. At my words Bae Jihyun's face went bright red. She swallowed hard and answered in a trembling voice.
"......Y-you're the strange one, Shinwoo. I'm telling you, this is a real problem."
Well, I'd just heard that they endured their entire youth for the sake of seizing one chance properly. That wasn't something ordinary willpower could manage. Especially if even someone with looks as good as Bae Jihyun's was like this.
"But were there really no men? Someone like you is on the pretty side, Jihyun. Even if it looks like you've had a little work done."
In that instant she slammed the brakes, and a horn blared from behind. She looked at me, then hurriedly flipped on the hazards at the sound of the horn and got the car moving again. Had she really thought I wouldn't notice?
"D-does it show that much? If, if you don't like it......"
"No. You only live once. Living with a face you like is a good thing. So what if you get a little surgery."
"......Shinwoo. That's dangerous."
"What is?"
"D-don't say things like that outside. You only ever pick the lines that get women worked up."
"Ah. I don't like tattoos."
I didn't bother saying it was because of the woman from that unpleasant memory. Thanks to her, I made a point of avoiding women with visible tattoos.
"......I don't have any."
"I can tell just by looking. If you want one, ask permission first. You're about half mine now."
"......Ah......"
At my words she flushed, swallowed, glanced at me, and answered. I'd said it to soothe the anxious Bae Jihyun from earlier, but it worked better than I'd expected.