Reversal (2)
After being kicked out from downstairs as if chased away, I returned to my room. For some reason, I felt unpleasant. Of course, staying there would have meant enduring more unpleasantness, but the feeling now was a different kind than before. I had been completely ignored. No matter how strong Kang Juhyuk was, being treated like I didn't exist didn't feel good.
"...Whatever."
I had no intention of dwelling on this unpleasant feeling. Nothing bad would happen just because someone like Kang Juhyuk ignored me. If anything, I should be grateful he didn't pull any weird stunts. I knew he was trying to get under my skin, but if that meant he'd stop meddling in my life, I'd agree a hundred times over.
Forcing a lighthearted step, I jumped onto the bed and picked up my phone again. Then, for no real reason, I searched my sister's name. It wasn't like I was trying to spy on her broadcast or anything. I was just curious whether it had been revealed that she was my real sister. Even if it would come out eventually, I hoped it would be as late as possible. It wasn't about being embarrassed... It was just that the more famous she got, the more I hated the idea of being tied to Kang Juhyuk through her.
"Ah, this..."
Searching her name didn't yield much, so I went straight to the broadcast site. There, right on the main page, was a familiar face. The outfit was the same one I'd seen at the event last time, so that was whatever. But her skin was so pale it was almost blinding. The reddish outfit looked almost light orange under the lights, and her hair was practically white. How many lights had they set up? I didn't even go that far with my own setup.
- Ah, then Pia-nim, do you not like PC games much?
- No, I don't really use computers.... I only play phone games a bit.
- So you like gacha games.
- Ah, I don't really spend money on them. I just enjoy the story....
When I casually entered the stream, a woman with equally pale skin sat beside my sister, and they were chatting about trivial things. Questions to fill the audio like what games they liked, random personal details, even slightly risky questions.
- Ah, this might be rude, but can I ask? The viewers are really curious....
- What's a "tsu"?
- My viewers.
- Ah.... Yes. It's fine.
- Do you have a boyfriend?
- Um.... ...No comment. Hehe.
Especially with the boyfriend question, the way she smiled meaningfully and handled it smoothly made it obvious this was scripted. Otherwise, they wouldn't ask something like that, and she wouldn't answer so naturally. ...Maybe it was for the best. The hint about having a boyfriend suggested my sister had no intention of streaming herself.
After that, my sister and the unknown woman continued their small talk until someone else appeared while they were eating.
- Aigoo, hello. I was passing by and dropped in~
- Oh, Yujin, why are you here all of a sudden...?
- I had a collab nearby, so I stopped by after it ended.
- Hello...?
It was a man whose face I didn't recognize at all. I assumed this was scripted too, but both my sister and the female streamer looked genuinely surprised, so it seemed like an unplanned incident. My sister obviously wouldn't know him, but were the other two acquainted? Well, the entertainment industry had plenty of "oppa-dongsaeng" or "noona-dongsaeng" relationships. Just as I was blankly watching, thinking the same applied here—
- Ah, hello. You're Pia-nim, right? I saw you at the event last time.
- ...Yes? Ah, yes....
- You're wearing the same outfit as back then. It suits you really well. I like that character too.
...This guy. Was he just here to hit on her? The chat exploded because of the man boldly flirting in front of thousands of people, and my sister looked flustered. Unidentifiable initialisms flooded the chat so fast it refreshed every second, while the female streamer sighed heavily, stared at her monitor, and started clicking away.
- Everyone, don't say bad things. I'll ban you.
- What, noona, are the viewers saying something again?
- It's because of you, you bastard. Why did you come here?
- I told you. I was nearby for a collab and got bored....
- Don't lie. If you're gonna talk shit, get out.
- Ack, aaah, stop, stop....
After beating the guy like they were real siblings and kicking him out of her soundproof booth, the woman sighed and started apologizing to my sister. My sister, who had been shrinking back, accepted the apology in a daze and stared at the chat, which was now moving too fast to read.
- I'm sorry, he's my little brother. He streams too, you know? But he gets like this sometimes.
- Ah..., I see.
- Boyfrie—, ah. ...You said no comment. Ah, seriously. My mouth just runs....
- No, it's fine.
- ...Anyway, shall we just eat? You said you've never tried malatang before, right?
- Yes, yes.
...So they weren't "like" real siblings. The woman's effort to salvage the situation even in the chaos was admirable, but from my perspective, it was a little pitiful. It reminded me of myself, struggling because of a troublesome sibling—except in our case, the problem was the older sister, not the younger one.
Thinking there was nothing more worth watching, I tossed my phone aside and closed my eyes the moment my sister took a spoonful of broth and grimaced. ...Come to think of it, why had I even been watching my sister's stream? If it were the other way around, maybe. Ah, right. Because of Kang Juhyuk. He said he was going to pick her up, so I checked out of curiosity about what would happen if he ran into the guy hitting on her....
...After coming up with excuses that didn't even match the timeline in my head, I realized how stupid I was being and dragged myself up to pop a coffee-flavored candy that had been rolling on the table. Once the sugar hit, I felt a bit sharper and easily decided it was better to stop thinking about things like that.
**
Around the time the stream ended, I went straight to Haeun. Lounging around at home alone was boring as hell. The only thing I'd done was call over the neighbor kid to throw laundry at him. Hinami had sent a photo saying she was taking a half-body bath because she was tired, and then gone silent. In the end, I had no choice but to watch Haeun's stream with the feeling of leaving a child by the water, and while it was a little risky, nothing major happened, which was a relief. Except for that one fly that butted in.
"Ah, Juhyuk!"
"Good work."
Of course, that didn't piss me off. If anything, it felt refreshing. Watching some guy try to hit on my woman in front of a crowd only to get humiliated—if that didn't feel good, something would be wrong with me. I didn't even know who he was, and I had no interest in getting to know him. When I looked him up, he was already getting roasted hard by the viewers, so I didn't feel the need to say anything myself. His own viewers would mock him plenty—calling him a woman-crazed bastard, asking if his eyes had gone to her chest. Thinking about how Haeun's recognition would only rise while he got dragged through the mud, I was almost grateful.
"Hello. You're her boyfriend, right? I didn't see you arrive...."
"Yeah. I'm filling in as manager too."
"Sorry about earlier. My brother gets like that sometimes...."
"No, it's fine. Nothing really happened. He wasn't rude, was he?"
"...No, if we'd left him alone, he probably would've been."
Watching the older sister come out to apologize because of her brother's screw-up gave me a strangely familiar feeling. We were pretty similar. Whenever the younger one caused trouble, the older one paid for it with her body. I wondered if the brother had any intention of apologizing, but he had already gone home and was nowhere to be seen. Of course he was embarrassed too—barging into his sister's stream, hitting on a guest without knowing she had a boyfriend, then getting beaten and kicked out by his own sister.
"Anyway, thank you for appearing on the stream today. I'll send the guest appearance fee to your account by tomorrow. Thanks to you, we got a lot of donations today too."
"Ah, thank you."
"If there's another opportunity, could I contact you again? Our viewers really liked you. Since doing another collab slot would be awkward, if there's a content discount...."
"Sure. Call me."
"Thank you."
Aside from that one incident, it had been a success, so it wasn't bad to exchange polite words and plan for the future. The streamer had probably gotten way more viewers than usual, and Haeun had shown her face in a well-lit place with plenty of people. The face-reveal video uploaded right after her appearance was already getting suspicious view counts. At this rate, she might seriously be able to quit the gym. Using her for info work really had been a waste of talent. Still, even I had some pride about living off a woman.
"Then get home safe. Good work today."
"Yep."
After sending off the helpful female streamer, I loaded Haeun into the car and pulled onto the road. ...I wondered how far I should sell this popular woman of mine before she lost her shine. Being treated like a wholesome celebrity just because you covered the nipples and crotch wasn't how it worked. The woman she'd streamed with earlier probably had some reputation in that world, so maybe I'd ask her if the chance came up.
"Juhyuk."
"Yeah."
"...Are you mad?"
"About what."
"...No, never mind."
"I'm not mad."
"I said it's fine."
But the moment I started thinking about asking another woman something, Haeun, who had been sitting in the passenger seat, glanced at me like she could read my mind and spoke up. She obviously hadn't read my thoughts—she probably just meant to ask if I wasn't bothered by another guy hitting on her.
"If you'd returned his greeting, I would've been mad. Since you didn't, I'm not."
"...."
So I gave her the answer she wanted, and as expected, when I reached over to touch her thigh, she gently stroked the back of my hand. Just enough stimulation to not distract me while driving. As I kept stroking her thigh for a while, my hand naturally wandered up to squeeze her chest while I drove one-handed. I was wondering whether I'd returned her underwear along with the laundry to Seo Jia when Haeun suddenly bit down on my finger.
"Why."
"...Focus on driving."
"...Got it."
...It was probably a coincidence. Even so. I hadn't even been thinking anything dirty.