A Real Man Eats Three at Once

It was time to show the viewers just how much of a real man I was. If I suddenly started acting the part, they'd be pretty shocked, right?

"Watch closely. I'm about to eat tteokbokki. Three at once."

I boldly speared three pieces with my fork and stuffed them into my mouth. The tteokbokki were barely five centimeters long, but for someone with a mouth as small as mine, eating three at once was a serious challenge. I could barely fit them in. I chewed in little bites, savoring the flavor — a hint of spice, the rich taste of cheese, and that sweet sauce. It was heavenly.

"Ah, that's good. See? I'm a real man, right? I just ate three at once."

I took my time reading the chat, savoring another bite. Then I picked up one of the side dishes — fried shrimp. Fried shrimp. I was so happy. I loved these so much.

I dragged it through the tteokbokki sauce and took a bite. My mouth wasn't big enough to eat a shrimp that size in one go. I could feel the care of the woman at the stall, who'd already pulled off the tails for me.

"So good. I love shrimp."

"Here, drink this too."

"Thanks, Mina."

I slowly drank the fruit juice Mina had handed me. Cola was nice too, but nothing beat a cold fruit juice with tteokbokki.

"Ah, that's refreshing. So good."

"A friend."

"What are you talking about? I'm a freshman in high school."

I was a high schooler.

"Doesn't matter. I'm a real man. Thanks for the seventy-five dollars."

"That's a secret. I'm taller than I look."

"Heh heh."

"I'm taller than you'd think? You guys don't believe me. I've even dunked before."

Yeah. You guys were right. There was no way I could ever dunk.

"In a dream. You guys are the worst. And I woke up in the middle of it, too, which was the worst part."

"Is that really so important?"

"Excuse you. I am 140."

I hadn't expected my height to get found out by the viewers this easily. It was my complex. And they'd sniffed it out this fast. All because I'd slipped up and said it myself.

"As far as I know, it's 139.5."

"My height isn't 140? That's weird."

Wait — my height wasn't 140? How did Mina know better than I did? I had definitely seen the number 140cm. When had I lost half a centimeter? It wasn't like all that head-patting had shrunk me, right?

"It's actually 139.5. I mean, 139.5 and 140 is only half a centimeter, but it looks like a much bigger difference, you know? So the teacher specially rounded it up for you. I heard it from her."

"Damn, you've been hiding that this whole time?"

"Yeah. I was gonna tell you eventually. I guess that time is now."

"Damn it. 140 isn't technically wrong, you know."

Couldn't I grow even half a centimeter? They'd been rounding it up since middle school, and my height had been sitting at 140 this whole time. How had it not gone up even half a centimeter?

"Oh right. I should eat the tteokbokki."

I hurriedly speared another piece with my fork and put it in my mouth. It had cooled a little, but it was still delicious.

While I was eating, a flood of new viewers poured in.

"How do I already have 500 viewers?"

I tilted my head and popped another piece of tteokbokki into my mouth. Why on earth were there this many viewers? Wasn't mukbang supposed to be about vicarious satisfaction? There was nothing vicarious about watching me eat.

"Why are you guys even here? This stream isn't even interesting. I can't even eat that much."

"How come? All I'm doing is eating tteokbokki and talking."

"Heh heh. Go pet your monitors, then."

Mina suddenly came over and patted my head.

"What are you doing?"

"Teasing the viewers? Jealous, everyone?"

"Mina's the prettiest girl in our school."

"I'm the one streaming. Mina's just helping out."

"I wouldn't mind showing my face. And Jiyoung is way prettier than me anyway. You should see her skin."

"Yeah, it's Lee. Hehe."

"I'm ending the stream once I finish eating."

I popped the last of the tteokbokki into my mouth and called it done. I couldn't eat another bite.

"Alright, tteokbokki's all gone, and this first stream was just a test, so I'm ending it here."

"I'll keep streaming. Can't do long ones, though. Anyway, bye-bye."

By the time I ended the stream, the viewer count had climbed to nearly a thousand, and my first broadcast had been a massive success.

Being cute really might be the ultimate cheat code for streaming, I thought. A pretty or handsome face was a cheat code in its own right, but that kind of look tended to be popular with one gender in particular. Cuteness, on the other hand, didn't discriminate — and that seemed like the best part.

"This is insane. I made fifteen hundred dollars on my first stream."

"See? I told you. I knew it'd go well."

"You helped too, Mina, so I'll make it up to you."

"No, it's fine. I've got plenty of money."

I never imagined I'd make this much from a short stream on day one. Even accounting for the first-day boost, I hadn't expected it to go this well. I couldn't believe I'd made that much from donations alone. I'd figured even seventy-five dollars a day including WeTube would have been lucky.

"The streaming gear is all yours now. The computer at your place should be plenty."

"You're giving me all of this? I feel kind of bad."

"I bought it for you in the first place. Let's make a WeTube channel too, right now."

"Okay. Got it."

"Once the stream gets bigger, we might get some nasty viewers. I'm thinking of putting Minjeong or Minji on as manager."

"I feel bad asking them, though. We can pay them, right?"

"They'll be handling WeTube too, so how about we hire them as editors and managers?"

"Yeah. Let's do that."

The two of them would do a great job. They were good with computers, and I trusted them to handle the editing too.

The phone rang. I checked the caller and picked up right away.

I finished the call with Minjeong and Minji. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Since they were twins, talking to both of them at once wasn't a problem. We decided to discuss how to split the income when we met tomorrow.