Living as an Otokonoko
“Guys, do I really have to do this? Can’t I just take some other punishment instead? What do you mean, hunting…? Hah, you know what kind of person I am. I seriously can’t do it. I’d rather do back-to-back Jar Games until I’m dead on stream.”
Even monkeys fall out of trees sometimes.
Had he ever felt that saying this painfully before, the way he did now?
With a sigh he couldn’t quite swallow, Black Star walked down the street with a camera in one hand for his outdoor stream.
His real name was Kim Jinsu.
A former professional gamer.
Current partnered streamer on the live-streaming platform Twinkle.
Just from the title “former pro,” you could tell he was one of those skill streamers who made his name by being good at just about every genre under the sun.
He had enough game sense that even if he tried something for the first time, he’d adapt quickly and show off impressive skill—but even he had moments when he fell out of the tree.
He’d been baited by his viewers into a punishment roulette mission.
If he cleared the speedrun, he’d get 100,000 won. If he failed, he’d spin the roulette and carry out whatever punishment the viewers decided on.
And as you could see, he’d failed the speedrun and ended up spinning the wheel for a random punishment.
There were all kinds of ridiculous punishments on there, from eating a whole lemon peel and all, but the Twinkle viewers—known, in other words, as Byeolsu—hadn’t run out of imagination.
One of those punishments was “hunting.”
At first he’d thought it meant going out and hunting like some kind of outdoor leisure sport, but that wasn’t the hunting in question.
He was supposed to go outside and ask a random woman for her number.
“That kind of punishment is a nuisance to other people too. Let’s just not do it. There are issues with image rights, and I’m not a broadcaster in the field anyway—it’s just an ordinary person….”
-Edit it with mosaic blur~
“It’s live!”
-Use a filter~
“Listen to how casually you all say that? If I screw this up, I’m ending up on the social pages!”
That was what he said, but it didn’t work, and in the end he had no choice but to leave it on the roulette.
Fine. What, like there’s any chance it’ll land on that?
There were so many punishments the viewers had thrown out that once they’d all been added to the wheel, the odds of landing on the hunting punishment were only 0.2 percent.
By all common sense, there was no way it would land there, so he’d just gone ahead—but then—
“It actually landed on that? That one?!”
He won.
The 0.2 percent reverse upset had come through.
-LMAOㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-It actually hit? Hahahaha
-You really thought it was guaranteed not to land, didn’t you? You got cocky, treating the 100,000 won like a safe asset after the speedrun and then got wrecked, huh?
At the exploding chat and flood of donations, Kim Junsu slapped a hand to his forehead and cried out in despair.
“Ah, seriously, why are you doing this to me….”
Honestly, just like the donation said, Kim Junsu wasn’t the bold type at all.
He was shy and introverted, so asking him to go hunting like this?
If it were some other streamer, they’d probably grit their teeth, ask for the number, and whether they succeeded or failed, apologize, thank the other person, maybe offer some kind of compensation, and be done with it.
But for Kim Junsu, the situation itself was the punishment.
Just imagining himself standing in front of a woman and asking for her number made his hands and feet curl up in embarrassment, his heart felt like it might burst, and heat rushed to his face.
So he tried every possible way to negotiate with his viewers and get the roulette spun again with a different punishment.
And after desperate pleading, he managed to secure one more chance at a reroll by promising he’d do a forty-eight-hour stream next time.
“Oh heavens!”
He called on a god he’d barely ever bothered looking up to in his whole life and spun the wheel again.
He’d honestly rather get something like coal briquette charity volunteer work.
It would cost him money, sure, but it would look good too, wouldn’t it?
He could even meet the viewers there, do volunteer work together, share a meal afterward, and part on warm, wholesome fan-meet terms. Perfect, right?
With that desperate wish in his heart, he spun the wheel—and
“Aaagh! No way!”
Once again, the roulette landed on “hunting” with a 0.2 percent chance.
-Whoa… what the hell? What are the odds?
-I just asked ChatGPT and it says 0.0004%.
-Insane. That hit again???
-What if one of the Byeolsu is a genius hacker and rigged it? Or maybe something’s wrong with the roulette system?
The moment he saw the passing chat, his mind snapped awake.
This can’t be happening.
Denial surged up as if reality itself was refusing to cooperate, and Kim Junsu spun the wheel one more time.
It was a reroll filled with desperate hope that maybe there’d been some kind of error.
And then this time, it cleanly landed on a much more reasonable punishment like coal briquette charity volunteering.
Seeing that, he could no longer hold it in and slammed a shotgunned hand onto the desk.
“Why! Why can’t I ever be happy!”
-Wow, angry Kim Junsu is back after ages lol
-This is genuine, huh? Is this the first time since the Jar Game disaster, when you accidentally hit the snake and got sent back to the beginning?
-Ah, that was legendary. The gods of variety were with you when that happened hahaha
The Byeolsu laughed and cackled at him.
Normally, Kim Junsu was known for keeping his composure no matter what happened.
He was so calm that even when he played horror games, jumpscares barely rattled him.
Thanks to that cool-headedness, he’d even done well at international competitions back when he was still a pro.
And because he was so composed, the viewers especially loved it whenever he finally exploded like this.
They loved provoking him for exactly that reason.
Just like this punishment.
“Haa….”
Anyway, back to the point: since it had come to this, he had to do the punishment… right.
A forty-eight-hour stream on top of this punishment.
What a colossal loss.
If it had come to this, he should’ve just coolly accepted the punishment from the start. At least then he would’ve kept some dignity.
Instead, he’d gotten on his knees and negotiated, shamefully pleading, “Byeolsu hyungs! This younger brother, Kim Junsu, is bowing before you!”—and only then won the chance to reroll.
And now, after all that, he still had to carry out the hunting punishment. What kind of cruel trick of fate was this?
……Still, it’ll make for good broadcast material.
Four years since he retired from pro gaming and started streaming.
Kim Junsu had become such a stream rat that even now he was already gauging how well this broadcast was going to do.
In fact, what had happened to him was already becoming a hot topic online.
It would’ve been stranger if a major streamer’s absurd misfortune hadn’t caught fire.
Especially since if Kim Junsu had normally been the kind of guy who brazenly asked random women for their numbers, maybe it would’ve been different—but he wasn’t.
The sight of him writhing in mortified sincerity as if he wanted to die only made the Byeolsu love it more.
That was how the Byeolsu were: they rejoiced when streamers suffered.
If Kim Junsu had just accepted it coolly with something like, “Eh, I’ll give it a shot,” it wouldn’t have become nearly this much of a sensation.
By the time he began the punishment outdoor stream, his viewer count was up by about 1.4 times his usual numbers.
The thought that these Byeolsu only cared about watching streamers suffer came unbidden, and he let out a hollow laugh.
Man, my life is cursed.
He sighed deeply to himself, then headed out to carry out the punishment.
“But I’ve never actually done anything like this….”
Half the people walking the streets right now were women.
That gave him plenty of candidates, but if he just barged up to anyone, it could easily spiral into a huge controversy.
So he needed to choose carefully… though how was he supposed to know who he could approach without backlash if he’d never done anything like this before?
He voiced that thought like he was asking for advice, but—
-Why are you asking us that?
-Breaking news! Streamer asks Byeolsu how to pick up women?
-You weren’t seriously expecting relationship advice from the Byeolsu, were you?
So that’s what they called this-girl-this-girl-content, was it?
Not all of them, but what kind of gamer watching Kim Junsu’s variety stream would know how to hit on women?
“…Sorry. I think I asked something stupid. Let’s pretend I never said that.”
-Why do my eyes suddenly feel hot and my fists feel tight?
-You little….
-Are you ignoring the collective intelligence here? Why do you think there wouldn’t be at least one romance expert among the Byeolsu? Step up, Casanova!
-Speaking as a master of dating sims, choose the options that raise affection.
Turning away from the chat that was helping him absolutely not at all, Kim Junsu eventually arrived at his own answer after some thought.
He’d go to a PC bang, the place he knew best, and try something there.
Surely it was better to do something unfamiliar in a familiar place than to do something unfamiliar in a place he didn’t know.
And if the woman worked at a PC bang, maybe she’d had similar experiences before.
He imagined she might laugh it off if he played it reasonably.
With that hope, Kim Junsu headed for the PC bang.
He didn’t even know how long it had been since he’d last been inside one.
Probably close to two years, since the last time he came after hosting a fan meeting at a PC bang. And now here he was, visiting one just to do this.
My cursed fate.
Thinking he’d just swallow the slap that was surely coming and go home after getting the punishment over with, Kim Junsu approached the counter—and then sucked in a breath.
Because there was someone there who was awfully close to his ideal type.
Kim Junsu wasn’t exactly tall.
He didn’t show it, but it was actually a bit of a complex for him, so he naturally preferred women who were smaller than him.
Women with a petite build, the kind that fit perfectly in his arms.
And there was someone like that right in front of him.
Cuteness and beauty coexisted there.
A tiny frame that radiated both angelic loveliness and adorable charm.
At the same time, her expression had a certain cool, almost sardonic edge.
Neatly cut short hair, and the sharp, catlike air of someone a little fierce.
The instant he saw the PC bang clerk standing at the counter, Kim Junsu felt his heart throb as if it had short-circuited.
This is… love?
So this was what people meant when they said they fell in love at first sight.
He never, not in a million years, would’ve imagined that he’d end up falling in love while carrying out a broadcast punishment.
Love really did arrive without warning.
For a moment, Kim Junsu stood frozen stiff, forgetting even that he was supposed to be doing a punishment.
He still hadn’t gotten permission to film, and he hadn’t even checked whether it was okay to approach her.
But because his brain had completely stopped working, he just kept staring, oblivious to the fact that the camera was pointed at her.
Thanks to that, the chat began to stir as well, reacting to the PC bang clerk being caught on camera.
-Holy crap, she’s gorgeous
-Ughhh big sister, take me with you.
-Big sister? She’s tiny though… she’s not underage, is she?
-Doesn’t seem like it? What kind of psycho owner would put a minor on the overnight shift at a PC bang?
-Maybe she’s family with the owner?
-Whether she’s family or not, that’s still illegal~ And if the owner’s a sane parent, they’d never put a kid on nights, maybe not even days.
-For real lol. Who knows what kind of freaks would start hitting on her?
-Lololol saying Junsoo counts as one of those freaks is just mean, okay?
Then, hearing the donation asking to show the clerk more clearly, he abruptly came to his senses.
He moved the camera away belatedly and steeled himself!
Now, it wasn’t just about the punishment anymore; he was going to win this love honestly as a man.
So Kim Junsu stepped boldly toward the clerk and asked for her number.
“Where does this little prick think he’s going? Get lost right now──!”
The clerk shouted this with a sullen face.
“Ah, crap, I said it backward from what I meant.”
My mistake! Sorry about that, customer~.
She apologized for the abuse, but not even a gram of sincerity could be felt in it.
But Kim Junsu didn’t care.
Androgynous voice… even her voice is beautiful.
That was the sort of thought running through his head as he grinned happily.
And precisely because of this, Lee Harang came to understand his own troubles, whether he liked it or not.
He’d only just opened his eyes in this body a day ago.
In fact, not even a full day had passed yet.
As he tried to recall his memories, every time he crossed the street on the way to his part-time job, men gathered around him and started flirting, and the stress was no joke.
Even going out was exhausting, and the looks from men sweeping over every inch of his body gave him chills.
All of it was happening because they didn’t know Lee Harang was a man.
……Well, maybe a lot of people would act the same even if they did know he was a man.
Fuck, like I can go around with my junk hanging out.
Anyway, Lee Harang had come to understand the hardships of living as a real-life otokonoko.
And not just any kind, either—he was absurdly pretty, which only made the trouble worse.
In his past life, his face had been the problem because it drove people away.
In this life, his face was the problem because it drew men like moths to a flame.
There really was no middle ground, and Lee Harang clicked his tongue in disgust.
At least if people knew I’m a guy, this would get a little better…. If I went on some kind of broadcast or something, then—broadcast?
Just then, while he was thinking that, Lee Harang noticed the camera Kim Junsu was holding.
His eyes brightened.
A good idea had just come to him.