Explanation (1)
“Heard you got pretty banged up?”
“They said it’s not bad enough to worry about, but she’s out for a while.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Huh?”
“Is the regular part-timer here her boyfriend or something?”
I let out a secret sigh at this nosy question popping up during what should’ve just been a simple handover. “She’s got a separate boyfriend. With Gyeong-guk, it’s just guy friends—well, girl friends now, I guess.”
“Knew it.”
“Huh?”
“Haha, nothing.”
“……”
Yeah, this dude’s way too sleazy to hang with. Ugh.
“But damn, you’re seriously pretty. Bet you hear that a lot.”
“Eh… yeah, I guess.”
“And that size too. Huge.”
“Huh?”
His gaze and line hit me with major déjà vu, and I blurted it out before I could stop myself. He grins all smug-like.
“Height. Height. First girl I’ve seen taller than me IRL.”
“Ohhh……”
“So you’ll be covering her shifts for a bit?”
“Yeah. Probably. Kinda……”
“Sweet~”
Whatever’s sweet about it, I ignored him and changed out of the uniform into my tracksuit the second the handover wrapped up. Normally I’d leave the zipper or buttons open ’cause it’s stuffy, but his thuggy stare creeped me out, so I zipped it all the way up before stepping out of the storage room.
“Alright, I’m heading out.”
“Already?”
Already my ass. You made me 30 minutes late clocking out, asshole. But I’m a timid guy—no, timid girl now? Anyway, timid me swallowed the complaint and forced a smile. “Gotta run. Date with my boyfriend.”
“Ah. Uh. Yeah.”
I threw in that half-assed “date” excuse with zero real salt, landing a light jab. He finally seemed to clock his screw-up, looking all sheepish. First decent expression I’d seen from him since we met. Felt a bit better. But no apology? Legendary dick move.
“See ya. Good luck.”
“Yeah. Tomorrow.”
Not dying to see him, but the sooner he shows, the sooner I get off early. Fingers crossed he’s not late tomorrow……
[Warning.]
[Your mana is below 20%.]
[If it drops below 10%, appetite and sex drive will spike dramatically.]
The stares were milder at night anyway, so my steps felt a tad lighter heading home when my phone buzzed. Checked it out, and……
Oh…… crap. Been almost nine hours since I put on the glasses. That warning hit scary close to home, so I picked up the pace. My shallow-but-wide knowledge from movies, dramas, comics, novels—you name it—screams that while rampaging hunger might be manageable, hyper sex drive spells bad news.
Earlier, that rough four-person meal netted about 15,000 mana, so roughly 3-4k per serving? Glasses burn 10k mana per hour, tank’s 100k max, so…… gotta eat like 20 servings a day? Oh shit. Part-time wages won’t cut it for mukbangs, let alone sustaining tomorrow…… wait.
It said “excess nutrients and calories,” right? So maybe……
A lightbulb flashed. I spun on my heel and hustled to test it out.
Moments later, I dumped out the bags I’d hauled home in a frenzy.
Whoosh.
Right. No mana potions in this world? Hazelnut potion and chocolate potion it is. Oh, and pull out yesterday’s leftover pig’s feet.
Fridge check: Still kinda moist, not totally gone. Way rougher than last night, but beggars can’t be choosers.
“Setup done…… stream on? Let’s see.”
Pushed the keyboard forward, lined up hazelnut jam, chocolates, choccy drinks. Final touch: pig’s feet. Fired up Click, but no Seung-yoon stream. No off-day notice either.
Whatever, chow time first. Mana status……
Nice. Test bite?
Nom. Chomp chomp.
No good streams? Scrolled up and down, munching the pig’s feet thoroughly.
Hmm…… Not that tonkatsu joint level, but solid spot. No tears like before, though. Guess Food God ain’t a fan.
[Food God Calorie complains bitterly about the subpar food.]
“How’d our Food God know it’s day-old leftovers……”
Stuff I’d scarf no problem usually, and now it tastes like ass. Forced it down anyway, checked the app.
What? Expected a solid bump from a full serving. Beyond basic calories/nutrients, some bonus factor? Should’ve checked those daytime alerts one by one. Can’t resist red dots or numbers on games or chats—swiped ’em all away. Rookie move.
Oh well. Clear plate, pop the hazelnut jam lid.
“Mmm~ sniff~”
Sealed container bursts open, wafting that nutty-sweet hazelnut aroma. Jam so sugary-sweet it’d rot teeth just looking at it. Big spoonful—shlorp.
“……Ah……”
Drip.
Tears, pearl-like, tumbling down sudden.
[Food God Calorie raves it’s heavenly.]
[Food God Calorie loses his mind over a taste he’s never known.]
[Food God Calorie demands more sweets NOW.]
[Satisfied Food God Calorie: Mana acquired.]
[Low-volume high-calorie detected. Mana acquired.]
Notifications pouring in confirmed it: Beyond calories/nutrients, Food God-approved eats give extra mana juice.
“Sniff. Who knew it’d be this good.”
Dabbed streaming tears with tissue, shoveling emotional mana potion, when an alert popped: Friend’s stream live.
“Sniff. Huh?”
Black background, dead-serious title. Threw me off hard. What the hell? What happened?
No BGM, just sitting there minutes. Wondering what’s up when ChocoTalk buzzed.
No clue what’s up or what he’s explaining, but I triple-dipped chocolate in hazelnut jam, slurping while watching whatever this is.
“Sniff.”
Sluuuuurp! Where the hell did Food God live that there was no hazelnut or chocolate? Never tasted this? Half—no, his whole life’s a rip-off! Poor guy!
Mourned Food God’s tragic past a sec, then hopped into friend’s stream.
What the…… Viewer count several times normal. Chat exploding with single-letter spam, confused randos mixing in chaos. Flow screamed “streamer fucked up, time to nuke”—ruin, lmao, etc. dominating.
Wonder what? He was with me post-stream till afternoon, no major flubs on yesterday’s broadcast. Why the inferno? That’s why he ChocoTalked me? But how’s this buildup for my guest spot?
[Ahem. Can you hear me?]
He opens with unusually grave tone amid the mess.
[Some of you clueless, some came knowing……]
Big sigh, then excited? Wronged? Some hyped mix.
[No, hear me out. Woke up from nap post-stream yesterday, check Click boards—ton of moron posts blowing up?]
[Fuckin idiots. Wait. This comment and high-view post seem ground zero. I’ll break it down.]
Click’s streamer board—game community only for me, first time seeing it. Seung-yoon pulls up a post with mad views/comments.
Checked out user aaa123 after last stream cuz familiar? Turns out dude's 100% male.
[Clip: Han Seung-yoon getting wrecked in King of Fist shotgun by friend.]
[Yo Kyung-guk! Stop! Stop you bastard! Bam! Bam!]
About 2yo clip. Kyung-guk dude Seung-yoon mentions = aaa123. Chat calls aaa123 retard, 1P syoon (Seung-yoon ID), 2P aaa123. Back when his graveyard shift was dead af, chat slow— we'd grind King of Fist-like fighters when bored.
TLDR why male? [Clip: Seung-yoon greets aaa123 chat happily.]
[Yooo bros~ you here? See ya? aaa123 here's my closest bro. Clap!]
Older clip, see? Calls "bro," closest friend? Circumstantial: Either Seung-yoon's gay AF or faking GF with this guy. 3yr noob vouches. Believe or bust.+
Started as petty post, devolved into infight comments, then suddenly “holy site pilgrimage” and Seung-yoon smears flipped the vibe.