Momo, You Seem Way Too Complacent Lately

I set the barely conscious Maru down in a chair. Since her stomach was weak and she sometimes couldn’t stop vomiting when it got bad, it was honestly a relief that things had stopped at this level. …Oh, there’s still some residue left.

While wiping up the bitter fruit of Maru’s suffering, I relayed to the boss exactly what I had heard from Komari. The boss examined Maru for a while longer before finally sitting down in an empty seat.

“So… Pino said he wants to take on the rigging work?”

When both I and Mari nodded, the boss turned to Mari.

“Did he send an official email?”

“No. He only asked for Jia-unni’s email address.”

“Why Jia’s email…? Could you tell him to send the proposal to the planning team with me in CC?”

“Yes.”

Even though we knew each other, rigging was outsourced work. Money was involved, so proper documentation was necessary. It might have seemed a bit cold for someone who was technically an acquaintance, but when you ran a business, you had no choice but to handle those details.

“Anyway… shall we get going? You two, help me get Maru into the car. Jia, after that, take care of Mari for me.”

“Understood.”

Soon Komari rushed over to the jellyfish-like Maru, whining as she lifted one of her arms. The boss then lifted the other side, completing a lopsided shoulder carry. Even when the taller person tried to crouch to match heights, there was a limit, so the weight naturally shifted toward the shorter person.

“J-Jia-unni. Help me.”

But there was no obvious way for me to help. If this had been before I shrank, I could have supported her by myself and gotten her into the car. Unfortunately, that was no longer possible.

Should I stick to Komari’s side? Even then, the two of us pressing together to support her would just make it harder. “The positioning is awkward, so I’ll cheer from here.”

The moment I said that, the boss gestured for me to come over. In the end, we swapped places. The boss carried Maru on her back like a piggyback ride while dragging her along, and Komari and I supported from the sides in a bizarre formation until we somehow reached the parking lot.

After tossing Maru into the back seat of the boss’s sedan, all three of us let out a sigh as if on cue. The boss, who had worked the hardest, stretched first, then patted both me and Mari on the back.

“Get home safely. Jia, you worked hard on the promotion today too. We’ll talk about work tomorrow.”

“Yes. Drive safely.”

With the jellyfish-ified Maru and the boss now gone, only Komari and I remained. I entered Komari’s home address into the app and called a taxi. In normal circumstances I would have called one that went to our house together, but since it was late at night and the boss had asked me to, it wouldn’t be too late to call one for our house after seeing Komari safely inside.

“Dora and Rain went in a little while ago, so once I drop you off I can finally clock out too.”

“Don’t talk about going home like it’s some kind of quest…”

“You guys are just coming back from hanging out, but for me it really is a quest.”

“……”

The bright, round eyes illuminated by the streetlamp stared at me for a long time before the mouth took over the job.

“By the way. How about you stay at our place until morning?”

“Is that necessary?”

“It’s dangerous at night…”

This was actually the first time I had ever heard something like that from Komari. After all, wasn’t she the smallest and most fragile member of the first generation? The kid who used to take it for granted that I would escort her home was now worrying about me. What a thing to see after living long enough—or rather, after shrinking enough.

“Instead of worrying about me, worry about preparing for your broadcast tomorrow. Well, at least you won’t be late like Dora and make the leaf kids angry.”

“Of course I won’t… That’s not the point. So. Are you really going straight home?”

“Of course. There’s no reason for me to go sleep at your place.”

When it came to Dora, I had stayed for the sake of the broadcast. But sleeping over at one of our company idols’ houses without a proper reason? That was out of the question. However, Komari didn’t back down easily. The brain of the first generation, the sharp one acknowledged by the boss, proposed a deal.

“It’s already been half a year since you last set up my streaming equipment. Isn’t it about time for a check-up?”

The others had called me in the past few months due to unwanted accidents, but for Komari it had been nearly six months since the last time. As the one described as having a big head, she was the most knowledgeable about computers among the first generation and maintained her setup well, so issues occurred less frequently. Still, as she said, half a year was quite a long time. It wouldn’t hurt to do a check.

Since I was already outside, taking care of it now would reduce the number of late-night taxi trips in the future. It was a win-win.

“Then I’ll do the equipment check and head out.”

“You’re not seriously planning to leave right after the check, are you?”

“That’s exactly what I’m planning. Your parents are home, Komari. I don’t want to bother them at this hour.”

The girl who usually showed less than fifty percent of her emotions was now displaying a face of one hundred percent bewilderment.

“They’re all asleep anyway… It’s not like I’m going to shout for them to open the door for a guest. And aren’t you causing a nuisance the moment you come in to check the equipment?”

“Ah. You have a point. Then let’s skip the check entirely. I’ll drop you off in front of your house and head straight home.”

“…Ugh, damn it.”

This time it was one hundred percent irritation. Seeing such an intense reaction—which was rare for her—was amusing, so even though I should have stopped at the fourth line, I ended up having a brain fart.

“What, did you hide something delicious at home? Pineapple pizza, maybe?”

“……?”

“My favorite is papigeon. I wonder if there’s any place that delivers pizza at this hour. If I demolish one whole pineapple pizza, I feel like I could fall asleep even in someone else’s house.”

Komari blinked a few times, then immediately opened the delivery app. She scrolled through the pizza section diligently and found a 24-hour pizza place that still delivered at this time, showing it to me. As expected of Seoul. Who would have thought there’d be service for people eating pizza at one in the morning.

“Can’t be helped. You’re treating, right?”

“Yes.”

I chuckled and muttered.

“Never mind. I’ll buy it. The Pineapple Pizza Evangelist has to step up at times like this.”

Komari let out a groan mixed with irritation.

“Your taste in food is seriously the worst…”

As soon as Komari proudly posted on Z from inside the taxi, mentions from her fans—the leaf kids who were still awake—poured in. Among them was Pino, who had asked Komari about rigging earlier.

“Seriously, this lolicon.”

While setting the delivered pineapple pizza on the foldable table, Jia tilted her head.

“Lolicon?”

“Pino, of course. He’s a total lolicon.”

“Ah, yeah. His preferences are pretty well known.”

“Right? That’s why he’s trying to take on your flatboard too, unni.”

Hearing that, Jia belatedly realized that her own publicly revealed flatboard was indeed very flat.

“But when he rigged yours, didn’t we outsource it?”

“We did. There probably wasn’t a decent rigger available at the time, so the boss must have begged and pleaded to get him to take it.”

And now that same person was volunteering to do the rigging first.

“He must be free these days.”

“No way. If you look at his Z posts, it’s nothing but ‘I’m so busy I’m dying, please save me.’”

“Then why is he offering to rig my flatboard?”

“Who knows. Maybe it sniped his tastes?”

No matter how much it matched his tastes, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it was rare for someone with a mountain of work to push it back just to take on a new project. Could it be that Pino got hit by a really bad truck? …If that’s true, it’s truly unfortunate. There are so many other VTubers, yet he had to go for my flatboard.

*

At the same time, Do-hee, who had arrived home and finished preparing for bed, lay on her bed and opened her email inbox first. If there were any business proposals that had come in after watching Mazia’s promotion and MoovGun’s Parallel Song World Cup, she wanted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to organize them quickly and hold a planning team meeting the next day.

“…Did it explode?”

The number 999+—something she almost never saw—was stamped next to the received mail count. It was the spectacular return of the malicious email squad that had been quiet for a while.

…There were nearly a thousand emails like this. This was workplace harassment if anything was. Still, Do-hee wasn’t completely unable to understand their psychology. If they said it on stream they’d be ignored or even banned, so the only remaining outlet was email. Since they knew a streamer—especially one who was also a CEO like Momo—couldn’t completely close off external emails, they were staging this protest.

Hand over Mazia.

But even so. What could they actually do? Mazia herself wanted to stay in the Demon King Castle led by Demon King Momo.

After scrolling through her inbox for a long time, she sent most of them to the trash and bookmarked only the legitimate business inquiries. Then she switched to her separate work email to check if any existing partners had contacted her, and an familiar nickname immediately caught her eye.

“It’s Pino.”

It was the same Pino who had said through Komari earlier that he wanted to rig Mazia’s flatboard.

Pino was a professional rigger who worked with companies. The game company he contracted with was currently the most successful subculture game developer in Korea, so he always had more work than he could handle. That was why he rarely took on separate outsourcing jobs, and the only things he posted on his personal SNS were works approved by those companies. The fact that someone like him was volunteering for an outsourcing job was already surprising, but to have created samples before even signing a contract? That was practically the sun rising in the west.

Moreover, when she roughly checked the samples, even though he had called it “light,” the quality was already better than typical cheap rigging work. Mazia’s flatboard came alive and looked so soft you’d want to pinch her cheeks. It was a result that perfectly matched his peculiar tastes.

“Where exactly is this ‘light’?”

Just like how Dora had said she “put in a little effort” and then produced a high-quality character sheet, this person had clearly gone into near full-serious mode. From Do-hee’s perspective, there was no reason to refuse the offer. Even if his tastes were unusual, he was a recognized expert in the industry, and if the price was the same as Komari’s, the cost-to-quality ratio was extremely reasonable.

Still, back when it was Komari, they had to beg, plead, and coax him endlessly just to get the outsourcing contract done. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠She couldn’t help but wonder what kind of wind had blown to make him send the email first this time.

[Me: Pino-nim]

[Me: I heard you’ve been incredibly busy lately]

[Me: I was surprised you offered first]

When the reply came back shortly after, Do-hee reflexively frowned.

[PIN0: Release Staff D right nowwwwwwwwwwwww]