The Hedgehog Swears Its Own Babies Are Adorable
It just so happened that I ended up with more time for small talk.
So I decided to set the camera properly while I was at it.
It wasn’t difficult in the first place.
I just turned on the broadcast screen, adjusted the camera angle so I showed up clearly, and I was good.
I was about to do that when I paused and first visited the bed.
“Ah, one second. Could you tidy the blanket behind me?”
No matter how ugly my face was, the room had to be decent.
Even if I looked the same, a messy space would make me feel truly bad.
A neatly dressed appearance might even earn me compliments about how good I looked for studying, but that’s just how it was.
When I went back after smoothing the blanket, the viewers were still arguing among themselves.
- Tti-hwak-jjit: You straightened the blanket?
- SilverPanthea: I should… right?
- MarryBed: Why bother tidying it? It should be left out to dry in the sun, right?
- Suk-sak-sushi: Even if it’s not that bad… isn’t it better to unfold it and organize than leave it all crumpled?
- KHC0147: ??? Wait, folding the blanket isn’t just organizing?
- Mincho-bong-golara-pasta-bibimbap: It’s not like I’m using this bed for anything else anyway… does it really need tidying…?
- SUDO: If it’s just a floor mattress for the floor, space-saving reasons alone would still mean tidying it, but that’s not even the case here.
- SleepyJoe: Actually, organizing it prevents bacteria and mold from growing on the bed and blanket, right? That’s why I lay them out on the chair.
People argued that the blanket should be folded for various reasons, that it should be folded in a certain way, and that it should be organized completely differently.
I stood up awkwardly and picked up the blanket again.
I wasn’t sure about much else, but the idea of leaving the blanket exactly as it was on the bed I had slept in bothered me because it wouldn’t ventilate properly.
After all, Gabi had complained about that smell the last time she lay on my bed.
Like it smelled sweet, as if I’d sprayed on some perfume or deodorant.
If she knew it was my natural scent, how would she have reacted?
Of course she would have said something like, “Hey, do your laundry or bathe,” but since it wasn’t a bad smell, she probably wouldn’t have gone that far.
Even if she didn’t know and said it anyway, it was still pretty embarrassing.
“Um, then I’ll lay the blanket out on the sofa and come back.”
I finally chose to endure the hassle and ventilate instead.
No, I should just wash the blanket and the bedspread soon anyway.
That way, the next time Gabi came over and lay down, I wouldn’t have to deal with that awkward feeling.
…The next time.
Was I hoping Gabi would come back to the bed in my room and lie down again?
Well, that wasn’t weird, right?
We were the same gender; it was perfectly normal for two women to do that.
Whether Gabi lay down or not, though, I still had to organize the blanket.
Especially since the viewers could see it clearly; I couldn’t show them a chaotic bed.
At least now there was no longer anything awkward about showing my face to the audience.
After glancing around the room for anything else to tidy, I nodded.
My face was the only thing left that felt embarrassing.
On second thought, I did have one foot, but……
No, I should say I didn’t.
After all, it wouldn’t even show up on the camera.
I lifted my gaze from the keyboard and mouse that I had put away.
The broadcast screen with a slight delay had only changed position after some time passed.
It had originally been black, but the hoodie now looked like a deep navy because it was soaked with water.
It was so baggy that my slender body wasn’t visible at all, which was fine.
The long, straight white hair hanging down from it.
Whether it absorbed the hoodie’s light color a little or because of the shadow in the room, I learned today for the first time that it gave my skin a slight bluish tint.
Now that my face was reflected on the camera, it was embarrassing all over again.
But it was still better than having fewer people.
I figured I should think of it as an extension of giving a presentation.
So I decided to be shameless.
After all, people had come to watch my games, not my face.
By declaring it so boldly, I was saying exactly that.
“Everyone needs to get used to my face too. But my broadcasts are game broadcasts, you know. I know my appearance isn’t pretty, so please don’t comment on that.”
- BB14: ?? Ugly with that face??? This is a lie
- Life-restoring-polar-bear: Noooooong lolol
- Highlander: Why is it said that this face is ugly or whatever??? It’s only cute
- LexiaQueen: Haa… If she had just grown well like that, a world-peace beauty would have come out…
- Nongnang-bbangbbang-ppibbaep: Then it’s upside down…
- Bungeoppang-sweet-cream-bun: Uuu, pedo
- SilverPanthea: There’s nowhere to hit that pretty host, really… T_T
Hm.
I had told them not to say bad things.
That’s why it felt warm to see everyone only saying nice things.
I had thought people were just making up gossip, but when it targeted me, I had no idea what to do.
People should be humble.
No, humility was supposed to involve downplaying one’s own strengths a bit.
Shouldn’t that mean having strong self-awareness?
Anyway, it was irritating to hear me talk like that even though I wasn’t like that at all.
I quietly spoke to the viewers.
“I know I’m not pretty either, so you don’t have to hype me up like that. I also know objectively what I look like.”
- Tti-hwak-jjit: Did objectivity freeze over?
- Camila-gani-family: You’re like the reverse red mask lolol
- CrawlingLab: Reverse red mask lolol
- LexiaQueen: Not my taste, but objectively she is pretty and cute, yes
- Low-salt-diet: Even just looking at your handle I can guess your taste
- LexiaQueen: Ah
- SilverPanthea: Ahaha, you like crustacean monsters with big breasts
- MissingBnB: But she really is going to grow up to be super pretty, right? What makes people say this person is ugly?
Still, viewers kept saying I was pretty or cute.
Instead of feeling bad, I might have felt my chest warm in those chats because they were calling me ugly.
Of course, chats couldn’t show expressions or tones.
So maybe it was easier to say empty words.
That’s why I could feel comforted like this.
If we had met face-to-face in real life, people probably wouldn’t have hidden their disgust and looked away.
I remembered that Kancho and Jaemin had paused when they first saw me.
Because those two didn’t judge people by appearance, that’s why we kept contacting each other like this.
“Hedgehogs say their own babies are cute, but that wasn’t me. If I was just somewhat ugly, fine, but I know I look the way my mother and father would be disgusted by. If I had been pretty, they wouldn’t have beaten me until I went blind, nor left the wound on my foot to fester until amputation.”
- SilverPanthea: Ah ah…
- Tti-hwak-jjit: My heart hurts so much…
- Nongja-a-bipindo-doduk: There are no more people like that anymore T_T, cheer up T_T
- Sistato: I’m looking for Nongja’s lost self-esteem…
Even so, in this internet space where people who didn’t care about appearances treated me well.
It was thanks and embarrassing, so I added a cheeky warning.
“Anyway, if you keep saying I’m cute and pretty, I might start thinking I’m pretty and lose my appetite. I’m grateful for the kind words, but please restrain yourselves for your own sakes.”
- Tti-hwak-jjit: I want to see Nongja being pretty
- Dedica: People who know they’re ugly and act superior are just annoying, lol
- HamSik: When you say it like that, I want to see Noel being spoiled lololol
Still, the viewers who always wanted to see the horrifying thing.
They said curiosity kills the cat.
Anyway, when other people were screaming in a community, did they feel the need to go in themselves and scream together?
Maybe that was their psychology for enjoying the spectacle.
I couldn’t do anything about people’s hearts.
It was enough that I had safely captured my face on the camera.
Just as I was happily receiving the last moment of that—
- SilverPanthea: Hey, what about making a fan cafe together?
- SilverPanthea: I heard the game community is worried because the host’s story keeps coming up.
- Inbang-bom-daegye-baek: Yeah, since there are quite a few Noel viewers now, it’s probably better to make a separate place for Noel stories.
A chat appeared where I realized my viewers had increased surprisingly.
Yes, there were already more than a thousand.
Talking about me in the game community was probably rude at this scale.
Of course it wasn’t small enough to create a cafe yet.
I thought maybe it was too grand, but—
What was I saying? I had made a cafe with about twenty bookworms in high school.
It just became famous for nothing because no one managed it.
“Um, that would be nice. I haven’t done that before. Shall we make one together?”
- SilverPanthea: I made one in advance, actually.
- Tti-hwak-jjit: Haha, asking for forgiveness is faster than permission lolol
- TKOTeth: Ah, is it a preemptive candidate lolol
(Deleted link.)
- Tti-hwak-jjit: I posted the link, but only Noel can see it, yes. Just post it on the notice.
They had already done it all themselves.
I just needed to give permission.
Thanks to that, a fan cafe was born without any effort, and for a moment I felt thrilled.
When I clicked the link the viewers had given and entered, I couldn’t help laughing.
“……Pfft, fuhuhu…”
How long had my face been on the camera?
By then, a strangely absurd green alien glasses photo had been used as the main screen background.