The Tournament's Over, But... (2)
“Hmm.”
Park Jimin clicked the link a viewer had sent him.
“Ah, right — I should change the stream title.”
He’d already left the Discord call. Leaving “collab in progress” in the title would basically be false advertising.
[LIVE] Jijijik Female Streamer World Cup
Viewers: 1,054
A thoroughly honest title.
“Ah······”
The moment he hit start, two photos of pretty women popped up.
Animated ones, no less.
“Karen-nim, Yujini-nim······ Heh.”
He had no idea what to say.
“Both of you are truly beautiful.”
Jimin pushed through the awkwardness and went with the most polite phrasing he could manage.
Two female streamers confident enough to show their faces on camera. Cameras helped, sure — but these were adult women of a beauty Jimin had never encountered in his school days.
“Thank you for the 1,000-won donation!”
A nickname he didn’t recognize.
“Hmm······”
For now, Jimin focused on the screen in front of him. He was a streamer — he had content to run.
If we’re talking ideal type······
He found himself scratching his head. Was he just supposed to pick whoever he thought was prettier? Or not? What even was the standard here?
He knew the dictionary definition of “ideal type,” but it wasn’t a phrase he kept parked in his head on a daily basis.
“What kind of criteria do people usually use for this?”
When in doubt, ask chat.
“Ah······”
That made it even harder. He’d thought that was the right answer from the start, but he’d needed the confirmation.
Still — was he really allowed to just do that?
I don’t know.
Everyone else did it, so it was probably fine. It was a joke either way. He just had to be careful.
“Hmm.”
Jimin, who hadn’t even solved the first problem yet, finally started thinking properly.
Karen vs. Yujini.
Both were beautiful, but Karen had that cute look, while Yujini was a cool, tall-looking beauty.
“Huh? Wait — if it’s Karen-nim.”
Jimin suddenly searched her up.
“Ah, right — she was in the tournament with us.”
He’d been so nervous he’d almost failed to recognize her.
“Okay then.”
Jimin’s first pick was Karen.
“Ah······”
The chat’s negative reaction left Jimin flustered. This almost never happened to him.
“Thank you for the 1,000-won donation. I’m sorry. Ah — no, but honestly I just said that because she came to mind.”
Even if they told him to pick again, he didn’t think he’d choose Yujini. He already regretted opening his mouth.
“Okay, next······ Whoa.”
Anyone watching from the side would have said the immersion broke — Jimin reacted that hard.
Gulp.
Jimin swallowed dryly.
Diyul vs. Baby Sua.
A matchup between young female streamers whose looks got brought up constantly. Both had appeared on other YouTube channels a few times.
“Ah — it’s Diyul-nim.”
The top laner from Park Donghyun’s team — the one who’d gone up against him. More familiar than Karen from earlier, at least. She’d even chatted and donated a few hours ago.
She’s ridiculously pretty.
Last time, when everything had gone to chaos with the crying and the meltdown, her cam had been off. The most he’d seen was a profile photo from the tournament streams. Seeing her on a moving cam feed was a completely different experience.
“Ah, but everyone is so pretty.”
They were closer to life-highlight GIFs than real photos, but in that moment Jimin was genuinely overwhelmed.
“······”
He couldn’t choose.
In that case······
Internally, Jimin declared defeat — but he still had to make a pick. And if he was going to pick anyway?
“Ah, okay.”
Jimin’s choice was Diyul.
It hadn’t even been half a day since she’d donated to him. It wouldn’t mean anything, but he figured he could at least thank her this way.
“No, this time I actually thought it through.”
Jimin tried to move on and salvage it fast.
Huh?
But the viewer count was doing something weird.
Viewers: 2,215
Why did it jump so much?
Jimin had to rub his eyes. The number had spiked way too hard.
“People just flooded in all of a sudden······”
This wasn’t a normal bump. For it to climb this much······
Jimin checked the cafe post.
“Ah!”
“······”
He’d made the popular posts on the Jijijik community board he visited all the time. The view count was noticeably higher than the other posts, too.
What do I do.
A content bit he’d started for fun had pulled way too much aggro.
“Hoo······”
But nothing had actually changed. He was a streamer. He just had to do what a streamer does.
“You’re both incredibly pretty.”
Arina and Quinter. Both beauties, but without the same impact as the last round. Jimin’s pick came relatively fast.
“······Thank you for the 1,000-won donation.”
He’d been trying to coast through it, and now they were demanding he say something more entertaining. Not that he’d ever considered himself good with words.
“Ah.”
The moment he’d been half-expecting finally arrived. He just hadn’t expected both of them to show up at once.
“Yudai-nim······ Park Solmi-nim······”
Yu Dahye — someone far more special than just a streamer. And Park Solmi, who’d gamed with him. No matter how much people said to just pick whoever, there were too many reasons he couldn’t make this choice easily.
“Huh?”
That caught Jimin’s eye.
“Oh! Hello.”
Park Solmi was in his chat.
Jimin quickly made Park Solmi a moderator.
How long has she been here?
It didn’t really matter yet, of course.
“······”
What do I do?
His hand wouldn’t move.
“Both of you have played games with me before, so······”
No pick — just rambling.
Click.
Jimin made his choice.
“Hehe.”
It was Yu Dahye.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
It definitely hadn’t mattered at first — and suddenly his choice had become a whole thing. On top of that, the viewer count was way too high by his standards.
Of course she wasn’t the type to get mad over something like this.
“······”
Park Solmi still hadn’t left.
The Ideal Type World Cup kept rolling.
“Suhyeoni-nim, Mizuna-nim.”
Whoa.
Jimin, who’d been clicking through with a blank face for a few rounds, was genuinely startled.
So tournament profile photos meant nothing.
Suhyeoni — the jungler from Park Donghyun’s team — pulled Jimin’s eyes especially hard. Doll-like eyes and nose. The kind of face that made you wonder if people could even look like that.
She kind of looks a little like Dahye Nuna?
Subtract a bit of the flashiness and her face type was definitely similar to Dahye’s.
“I’ll go with······”
It didn’t take long before he picked Suhyeoni.
“Please refrain from putting people down.”
Jimin asked them to cool it once. Things had been going okay for a second, and then······
“Yulha-nim has a really charming look. Something about her just draws the eye.”
Jimin tried to go a little richer with his commentary.
A slightly weird reaction. Had he picked too fast?
“Ah······”
She looked way too young for a married woman.
Move on. Fast.
“Diyul-nim.”
The Round of 64 was done. On to the Round of 32.
Diyul and Karen. Jimin’s pick was Diyul.
He’d been picking silently for a while now, so this worked out.
“······”
Someone had dumped a pile of Diyul’s photos and clips.
“Wow, she looks like a model.”
Looking at the other photos, she was clearly tall and beautiful.
“······”
He kept going. And the picks got harder and harder.
Honestly, just looking at pretty streamers had been fun in its own way — but now Jimin was taking this seriously.
I’ve been noticing them for a while.
Viewers with streamer fan nicknames had started showing up. With the crowd piling in, people who usually stuck to one stream were pouring into his too.
“Yudai-nim, Diyul-nim.”
This one came relatively fast. He clicked Dahye’s photo.
“······”
Why am I like this.
Something — something suddenly made Jimin feel shy. Ideal Type World Cup. The meaning of it hit him a little too directly.
“Suhyeoni-nim.”
Semifinals done. Now the finals.
Surprisingly, the finals pick was the fastest one yet.
“Haha.”
Jimin chose Dahye.
And for something he’d clicked almost like he was committing a crime — seeing Dahye’s animated photo blow up big on screen left him with a strange feeling.
“Uh… um… okay, we’re done.”
What even was this feeling.
“······”
He had no idea why that nuna was laughing all of a sudden. Should he just say later that he’d knocked her out early for fun? That felt a little cheap, though.
Knock knock!
“What are you doing up this late.”
“Huh?”
Past midnight, his mom walked in.
“Mom! I’m streaming right now?”
“Oh my, are you?”
She hurried right back out. She clearly hadn’t expected her son to be live this deep into the night.
The viewers were just sitting there, but Jimin — already strangely embarrassed — had his head snapped back to reality by his mom of all people.
“Ah······”
It’s way too late.
Checking the time, it definitely was late.
The problem was······
Viewers: 2,909
The viewers had gone up again.
“Is there anything light we could do?”
Jimin asked carefully. Honestly, picking female streamers had come with a burden he couldn’t quite explain.
[Something light you can do]
“Huh?”
A nickname that was pretty active on the cafe — and seemed decently well-mannered. Jimin clicked right away.
“Eh?”
[Jijijik Vtuber Cover World Cup — Round of 64]
“······”
Jimin tilted his head. He wasn’t a total stranger to music, but still.
Ahh.
The viewer count had broken 3,000. Jimin still couldn’t understand why everyone was watching this.
Oh, right!
From what he’d seen of Yapang, who he’d played with, she seemed close with all the Vtubers she met. And this wasn’t judging faces — it was judging songs. Light, friendly, no stress, right?
“Alright, everyone. Let’s do it.”
What was he even hesitating for.
Jimin smiled and started.