They Let Me Win
After school let out, Mina and I headed home. I showered, then sat down to get the stream ready.
Weekday broadcasts were capped at two hours — that much we'd already decided — and today's content was Animal Kingdom, just like we'd planned the day before.
I texted Minjeong and Minji, then went live.
Without at least one of them around, starting a stream would have been rough. So the rule was simple: message them first, and don't hit the button until they messaged back.
I hit go live, and my second internet broadcast began.
I checked the viewer count. Numbers were climbing fast. I launched Animal Kingdom, and the donation chat started scrolling just as quickly.
Once we hit five hundred viewers, I started the stream for real.
Mina sat down beside me, opened her laptop, and joined the broadcast. I gave her a permanent moderator role.
Mina has been appointed as Manager.
"From today on, watch yourselves. Toxic viewers get banned on the spot."
"Hyungs, why are you like this?"
"No. Nuna."
"We're playing a mobile game today."
"Thank you all so much for the donations. I got so many yesterday that I sent a bunch of gift cards to my friends."
Without the viewers, there was no way I could have swung that on my allowance. Even at twenty dollars a head, twenty people would have been four hundred dollars. But yesterday's stream had pulled in two thousand dollars in a single day, and treating everyone to chicken gift cards barely put a dent in twenty percent of it. Of course, I'd gone all out — chicken plus sides, loaded. The sides were random, too.
It might have been a first-stream buff, but I figured if WeTV donations averaged even a hundred dollars a day, that would be plenty. My real income, I was pretty sure, would come from WeTube. And I trusted my friends to handle the editing.
"Yes, it was chicken. I sent chicken gift cards to everyone in my class, sides included. The menu was random, though. I only picked from the crowd-pleasers — nothing anyone would actually hate."
"By the way, everyone. Would you rather I speak politely, or more casually?"
"Then I'll go with polite speech. I'm starting Animal Kingdom, but it's my first time, so I don't really know it yet. I'll just dip my toes in as a free-to-play."
The viewers had asked, so polite it was. They were probably older than me anyway, and they were kind enough to donate. Being respectful felt right. I'd heard the ChoiShinTV streamer talked casually with chat, but polite speech sat more comfortably with me.
Come to think of it, I had something from school today worth bragging about.
Hehe. If I tell them I carried dodgeball in P.E., they're going to lose their minds.
I'd survived until the very end, and I'd even taken someone out with my own hands.
I'm actually amazing.
"We played dodgeball in P.E. today, and my team won."
That one clearly understood dodgeball. They got it — I was smaller than the rest of my friends, which made me a lot harder to hit.
Why didn't anyone else get it, though? If I tucked myself behind a teammate, I was basically unhittable.
"If I hide behind a teammate, the other side can't land a hit on me."
I said it like I was showing off. Dodgeball really did favor the small.
Ah. Right.
Once my friends were all out, the human shields disappeared. Being smaller than everyone else would still make me harder to hit, sure — but the more they threw, the better their odds got.
Even so, I clearly had the best body for lasting until the end. That much was obvious.
"I'd still survive until the end, though, wouldn't I? I'm small. I'm hard to hit."
I would not cry from getting hit by a ball, okay.
I'm a real man.
If they really whipped it, I might tear up a little from the sting — but the other person wouldn't notice. Right?
"I still got someone out, though. Hehe. Pretty good, right?"
I puffed up a little, bragging about the first time I'd ever taken someone out in dodgeball. Surely even the viewers couldn't talk back to that.
Well? Impressive, isn't it?
Okay, the chat was being ridiculous now. The other team had clearly just let their guard down. That was the only reason my throw had landed.
These viewers, I swear.
"I like sports in general, you know."
"I like basketball and soccer. I've even dunked."
"Still, I have a pretty good win rate when I play soccer or basketball with the guys."
"Jiyoung, can I tell them the truth?"
"Huh? Tell them what?"
"If you promise you won't get mad, I'll tell them everything."
"I won't get mad, so just say it. Now I'm curious."
"You get a lot of assists in soccer, right?"
"Yeah. When I pass, they score pretty well."
"That's because the other team lets them in on purpose."
"What? Are you serious?"
I had nothing. The other team had been eating goals on purpose.
Whenever we played soccer, the ball had a weird way of ending up at my feet. Even when I tripped passing to a teammate, the shot somehow still went in. I'd thought something felt off, but my own teammates just kept calling me a great assist man. I'd celebrated those wins with the whole class, then happily eaten the ice cream and drinks we'd won off the bets.
"And the ice cream from those bets? I bought that."
"Why would you buy it?"
"So the boys would know who's in charge. That way they'll be extra careful not to let you get hurt."
Mina's words left a sting of betrayal, but it was also true that she'd been looking out for me — and I'd promised not to get angry, so I couldn't even be mad.
How could they all play along with match-fixing and act like nothing was going on?
I was the only one who hadn't known.