Chapter 156: The Reason for the Breakup
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 156: The Reason for the Breakup
“Ah… where should I even begin…”
Clover stared at the bubbles fizzing in her beer, finding it incredibly difficult to begin.
“No… forget it. I must be crazy. What am I even saying, we just met.”
“No, no! You can’t just leave us hanging like this, that’s torture!”
Doah waved her hands, urging Clover to continue.
And honestly, at this point, I was curious too.
What the hell happened?
Why break up on the day of a double date, of all days?
Don’t people usually break up privately?
“Uhm… okay then… Since Taemin-ssi doesn’t know the full story, I’ll start from the very beginning.”
“Yeah, yeah. Take your time.”
“Taemin-ssi. Would it be okay if I speak a bit more casually just for this story?”
“Ah. Yes, of course. You’re older than me, anyway. Please, speak comfortably.”
Since she was older than me, it didn’t feel strange at all.
“I met him five years ago… right when I was starting my second year of university. He was a returning student, a year older, so he was in his third year.”
And so, Clover’s love story began.
I wondered what it must feel like to spend your entire early twenties with one person.
As if she could read my mind, she took a sip of her drink with a sorrowful expression.
Clover was a VTuber famous for her calm, soothing talks.
She painted a picture for us, so naturally describing how beautiful those times had been.
Even without a single photograph, I could tell.
The beginning and middle of her relationship were like a warm spring.
“So, I waited for him. I waited until he finished all his exams.”
“What? Isn’t he just a total asshole, Unnie?”
“Ah… for him to dump you after you supported him through all that is just…”
As we listened, our protests grew so heated that Clover had to be the one to calm us down.
“No, it’s not like that. It wasn’t because he suddenly had a change of heart and found another woman.”
Her next words were enough to silence our outrage.
“The problem started when I became a streamer.”
“A streamer? Why?”
“Because he was serious about me.”
It didn’t take long to understand what she meant by “serious.”
“He… wanted to marry me.”
That was a topic that didn’t apply to us yet.
For our relationship, which hadn’t even reached a year, it felt like a story from a distant future.
“It makes sense, right? We’d been together for so long, it would have been weirder not to think about marriage.”
A bitter smile revealed her true feelings.
“He became a teacher… and he wanted me to follow him and become a teacher, too. And that was my plan, originally.”
“But then, as if by some twist of fate, right before I graduated, I discovered how fun internet broadcasting was.”
“I was watching streams all the time, sometimes staying up all night just glued to the screen. For someone like me, who had never known a world like that, it was this amazing, new kind of stimulation.”
“So I thought, screw it, I’ll postpone graduation for just six months and give this a try.”
“I felt like if I didn’t do it while I was still a student, I’d never get another chance in my life.”
Ah… this is making me anxious…
Well, not that anxious since I already knew the ending, but Clover’s story was still a nail-biter.
“At first, he was supportive. He told me to go for it. That if it was what I wanted, I should give it my all so I wouldn’t have any regrets.”
“But… I ended up enjoying it way more than I expected.”
I glanced over to see Doah nibbling on peanuts with both hands like a little hamster.
“And I was actually doing pretty well. Not as well as I am now, of course, but even back then, I was earning enough to cover my living expenses.”
“Then, one day.”
A tear rolled down Clover’s cheek.
“I still remember it so clearly.”
“It was a summer day, during the peak of the rainy season.”
She took a moment to compose herself before continuing.
“He asked me how much longer I was going to keep doing ‘that’.”
“When I asked him what he meant, he asked if I was going to live as a streamer forever.”
“He asked if I wasn’t going to return to school that fall.”
“So I told him the truth. That I was having so much fun with what I was doing, and I wanted to keep at it for a little longer.”
“But then, with the coldest expression I’d ever seen, he said this.”
[I like Shin Seojeong the person more than Clover the streamer.]
[We promised we’d be a teacher couple. You’ve had your fun playing streamer for over half a year, haven’t you? Huh?]
[But… you want to keep doing it? You expect me to just watch you live like this, acting cute for pocket change from guys you don’t even know?]
[I’ve put up with this for a long time because you said you liked it. I’ve never once liked the fact that you stream!]
[Snap out of it, Seojeong. Do you think my parents would approve of our marriage if they found out about this?]
[Why would you throw away a stable job with a guaranteed pension! Why! Why do you have to do that! Just why!]
I found myself biting my nails.
It wasn’t me getting scolded, so why was I so engrossed in her story?
Doah must have felt the same, as her hand gripped my thigh tightly.
“So… what happened…?”
“It wasn’t good… It couldn’t have been…”
They fought every time they met.
But they couldn’t let each other go because of the history they shared.
Clover, who wanted to chase her dream and become a serious streamer.
And her boyfriend, bound by reality, trying to change her mind.
The two of them could never close that gap.
She said that if she hadn’t succeeded as a streamer, things might have been different. But after joining CLOSER and gaining even more popularity, she was in a position where she couldn’t just quit.
“That’s why I wanted to meet with you guys today.”
“W-With us?”
“I just wanted to show him that the people I work with are good people.”
“It would’ve been better if Jennifer unnie, who’s older, could have come, but she doesn’t have a boyfriend…”
What could I say to comfort her?
With my pathetic comforting skills, I couldn’t think of a single thing to say that would soothe her heart.
I couldn’t exactly say, [Well, since it’s come to this, why not just marry a rich guy from your fandom?]
“Not all streamers are thoughtless… or foolish people…”
The empty seat next to Clover seemed to grow even larger.
“Ahah. I’m sorry. Ah, really… I’m so sorry… you guys…”
Feeling bad for bringing up such a story, she apologized to us once more.
“No, Unnie. Don’t cry…”
Doah, who was already streaming tears, got up from her seat and hugged Clover.
Suddenly, the two of them were a sea of tears.
Watching them from the other side of the table, I turned my head to look out the window.
On such a beautiful spring day.
How cruel fate can be.
Clover’s shoulders trembled as she broke down.
Doah held her hand tightly.
My throat felt dry, and I found myself chugging the beer I didn’t even like.
I can’t handle my liquor, and just as the buzz started to hit me…
The two of them stopped crying and pulled themselves together.
“Ah… Taemin-ssi… I’m so sorry… really…”
Her face was a mess from crying.
“No, it’s okay.”
“Sh-Should we get going now?”
Apologizing for making a scene, Clover let Doah help her up, and they headed outside.
“Oppa, I’m going to walk Unnie back to her place.”
“Okay, okay. Go ahead. It’s fine if you need to stay a little longer.”
“Alright. Thanks.”
“Just call me when you’re on your way home.”
I walked them to the bus stop and watched the bus disappear into the distance.
“Dammit…”
No matter how hard I tried to forget, the image of Clover’s tear-streaked face was seared into my mind.
I kept replaying her words over and over.
Of course, it wasn’t our story, but I couldn’t help but put myself in their shoes.
What if Doah said she wanted to be a streamer for the rest of her life?
What if she said she wanted to drop out of school and live as Luka-tan? What would I do?
Of course, unlike Clover’s boyfriend, I understood internet broadcasting culture well.
I loved it more than anyone.
And yet, the reason I could sympathize with the man’s story was because I knew that the reality we lived in judged us by a similar standard.
“It’s amazing how different it is.”
This second meeting with a CLOSER member was the complete opposite of my encounter with Fumurin.
Letting out a deep sigh, I felt a tightness in my chest. I thumped it with my fist and looked up at the night sky.
“Kim Luka-ssi.”
I took out my phone and looked at Doah’s face on my home screen.
At the very top was the Twitch app.
I pressed my thumb on it, and the first thing I saw was my favorite, Luka-nim, with her pink hair and a wink.
“You know I’ll always support you, right?”
At the very least, I don’t think of it as me “putting up with you.”
Yeah. As long as we have that, we’ll be okay.
It was deep in the early morning when Doah’s call finally came.