Is It Real, or Just Acting? (2)

The reason the game For Rosemary's Happiness became popular among internet streamers was its unique concept and setting. One streamer plays as a blind saintess with a completely darkened screen, while the other watches her and communicates only through voice. That was the rule.

“Honey, try putting it in properly. No need to act like it’s your first time.”

“You don’t have to say it like that.”

“Should I turn on the lights? It’s a little embarrassing…”

Just like Yujacha was throwing suggestive lines at me right now, when a male and female streamer played together, naturally funny situations would unfold.

“No, I slid the key under the door. Why can’t you find it?”

“No matter how many times I click, it won’t interact! Use that nice voice of yours to guide me better!”

“You’re not deliberately spouting dirty talk on purpose, are you?”

“Ah, you caught me.”

Yujacha had seemed to follow my instructions at first, but after the fifth run she started messing around, claiming I wasn’t completing the missions.

“It feels like I’ve become a wife learning to drive from her husband. It’s scary how you won’t even let me joke around.”

The game was built around infinite regression, so clearing the demon king ending required information from various routes and choices. Yet…

‘Why do you keep raising the lewdness stat? We got married and started a family before we even went to fight the demon king.’

Whether she was trying to follow her virtual character’s setting or simply entertaining the viewers, Yujacha was drifting further from the ending conditions despite my advice.

‘No, even if you’re roleplaying a succubus saintess, you can’t focus on seducing me. In this game I’m supposed to be the sword that protects you…! This isn’t a family-making simulator!’

In a game that should end once the demon king is defeated, why was she speedrunning the shortest path to starting a family?

“Call me ‘honey’ just once and I’ll stop joking around. You have to do it too if you want the one-million-won mission to succeed~”

“It’s not good to let viewers push you around like that. Besides, how could I say that to the VTuber I’m in charge of? It’ll cause trouble later.”

The donation had doubled from five hundred thousand to a full million won. Even seeing that huge amount, I deliberately avoided using the word “honey.” The moment a streamer caved to such a large donation, the infamous “rat-tugging” atmosphere would form and the power dynamic would flip. Of course, with Yujacha’s ten years of streaming experience, she could probably brush off the donation itself without issue. Still, once we started the virtual marriage project, viewers making unreasonable requests like this would only increase.

“Does it really matter? You’re a viewer and fan who’s watched my stream for over ten years, so other people would probably understand…”

“I still don’t like it. I don’t want to get personally close. That wouldn’t be a healthy relationship between a fan and a streamer, would it?”

I had already drawn that line in advance. Besides, part of the fun of watching a virtual marriage was knowing it was a business couple.

“You were the one who contacted me first, though.”

“……”

“Then can I ask the president what you actually look like? I bet you’re incredibly handsome.”

Anyway, probably because she had shown her arms during the drinking stream with the cam on, Yujacha and her viewers had been asking about my face more often lately.

“It’s better if you don’t ask.”

Objectively speaking, I wasn’t ugly. Back in middle school, quite a few juniors had confessed through my little sister. Of course, I couldn’t date anyone because I had to earn money to ease my mother’s burden, and after watching my father run off with another woman, I didn’t want to give my heart away so easily either. I absolutely didn’t want to become like that man.

Unlike the nickname she used on stream, Yujacha always wrote “Editor-nim” in her CodeCode messages. She must have contacted me on her phone while pretending to go to the bathroom.

“If we clear this game today, I’ll send you my photo.”

“Oh, really? Then can I show it on stream? Guys, we did it!”

As the viewers were saying, For Rosemary’s Happiness was fundamentally a high-difficulty co-op game.

“Only if we can actually clear it. With your skill level, Yujacha-nim, it’ll probably be difficult, right?”

Many runs required the two players to be completely in sync. There was even a joke that couples should play this game before moving in together or getting married.

“Dear viewers, honestly, aren’t you more curious about Mr. Baekseolgi’s face than the one-million-won donation? It might even be worth that much.”

Yujacha was skillfully steering the viewers’ attention away from the one-million-won mission toward other topics. Judging from the heads-up she had given me on CodeCode, she might have been aiming for this from the start.

Even the retired pro gamer Cha Seungwoo, streaming as Cha Yeti, was finding the situation increasingly entertaining.

“Alright, then let’s really try to clear it properly this time! I promise I won’t troll just because I don’t want to send the photo!”

If all of this was part of Yujacha’s plan and she was genuinely trying to revive her channel through the virtual marriage project…

“Of course. I wouldn’t be able to clear it even if I helped properly anyway, so why would I ruin the fun by interfering?”

As a fan, I had no choice but to go along with the flow. If she graduated from streaming, I had no idea what I would live for anymore.

“Ah, right. Please send a photo taken with your own smartphone. No editing or Photoshop. You can take as many shots as you need until you get a good one.”

The chat was heating up again at her unusually detailed photo request.

“Why does it have to be like that?”

Even to me, the request sounded excessively specific.

“It’s been so long since I found such fresh, rich spiritual energy. I need to see your face so I can visit you in your dreams, don’t I?”

Yujacha wiggled the tiny demon wings on her hips and slipped back into her succubus roleplay.

“Also, some viewers are still suspicious about your cam stream last time. Showing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠proof is better than just denying it with words, right?”

How much was genuine, and how much was acting?

The half-cam I showed yesterday had already been clipped and spread across multiple streams under the title “Thirty-Year-Old Woman Seeing a Man’s Veins for the First Time.” Combined with the ongoing debate about whether that massive teamfight was real or staged, my appearance had become another hot topic. Half the viewers suspected I had planned to turn on the cam since I hadn’t even changed out of my dress shirt. The other half were reacting to my physique.

“Besides, I don’t like other people ogling Mr. Baekseolgi’s body either.”

Just like Yujacha was saying now — half the reactions were about how good my body looked from working out, or how the veins on my hands and the dress shirt looked suggestive.

“Have you ever seen a succubus lose a man she’s marked first? I’m going to see him first. You all can look later.”

Bringing her mouth close to the mic and whispering, Yujacha displayed a provocative side that perfectly matched the succubus saintess concept.

At that moment, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my heart was pounding so loudly that the surrounding sounds were fading away.

“No, I really haven’t aged that much!! Who the hell said I need to freeze my eggs before it’s too late — are they insane?!”

Yujacha, who had been roleplaying until a particularly nasty viewer’s comment scratched her the wrong way, dropped the act and complained in a slightly wronged voice.

“Pfft, hahaha…”

Right. The reason I watched Yujacha’s streams so often was because she herself was fun and straightforward like this. Even if a VTuber’s “red pill” (her real personality) wasn’t as important to most people as their organs, I felt like I could recognize her even if she stopped streaming as Yujacha.

“Sorry… I’m sorry. Saintess-nim, I shouldn’t laugh, but… pfft…”

“Don’t laugh!! I told you not to laugh!! You little bastard!! I’m still not at that point!!”

Hearing me laugh, Yujacha abandoned the saintess concept entirely and blurted out curses and casual speech. She seemed extremely sensitive about her age.

* * *

For Rosemary’s Happiness gave bonuses in the next run based on the ending you saw previously. So far, Yujacha and I had seen two endings:

Instead of choosing endings that would let her become a knight, pirate, or tycoon to make the next ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠run easier, she had picked the married-couple route. Maybe the god of streaming was helping her.

“Wow! Mr. Baekseolgi, this just popped up. Is this good?”

Yujacha licked her own lips with an innocent expression.

“Wow! Foreign YouTubers use this trait for speedruns! So you need to get two endings in a row like this!”

What the heck was that? I’d never seen that trait before either. Did this mean I really had to send her my photo?

“I’m looking forward to the photo, honey. If you’re ugly, I’ll just keep it to myself, so don’t worry too much!”

“Do what you can.”

Praying my worries wouldn’t come true, I started the sixth run of the game with Yujacha once again.