You People

As usual, Jaemin was in the middle of a game.

He'd started the stream that morning, but until the evening hours when the audience swelled, he could still carve out a niche for himself. And just as he was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠about to wrap up the day, his viewers erupted, all of them throwing around a familiar name.

"Ah, talking about other streamers is normally a ban, but... if it's about Noel, that's a different story. Noel talk on the community boards is nothing new, so why the sudden—? Wait, what? Carried off?"

Jaemin had been half-interested in the uneasy chatter from his viewers, but the chat's sudden escalation made him jolt. He grabbed his phone at once.

He messaged Noel on CocoaTalk right away. Her phone should have arrived by now. Maybe she just hadn't picked it up yet.

No reply came from Noel.

So he checked the community boards, and found them flooded with endless speculation about why she'd gone AFK. The leading theory was that Noel had been attacked and taken away. But the claim that she was dead — no matter how he looked at it — was a wild leap.

Still, the news made Jaemin's heart drop into his stomach.

Noel had said she was fine, but Jaemin himself had never believed that.

The reason someone had been able to graffiti-terror her home, he was certain, was because he'd filmed the process of visiting her place on stream. He'd managed to settle a little when the user who wrote the community apology said they'd identified her from an earlier article about Noel — but that hadn't erased his guilt toward her.

And now Noel had been taken to the hospital? She might even be dead?

If that were true, Jaemin didn't think he could bear it.

"Haa, what the hell is going on... Everyone, should I at least swing by Noel's place? Ask the neighbors what happened..."

"Yeah... Ha, this is driving me insane. I'm ending the stream for now. Have a good night, everyone."

Every fiber of him wanted to storm over to Noel's apartment complex right then and grill the neighbors for the full story. But as his viewer had said, showing up in the middle of the night would be rude.

So Jaemin spent the night wide awake, fretting himself sick.

Even without the self-recrimination, a sense of responsibility toward Noel had taken root in him. Maybe it was because she had no one looking after her. Or maybe it was because he'd dragged her into that hack-accusation stream and still couldn't quite settle his conscience.

He'd only learned she was a legal adult when they applied for her disability welfare card. But looking at the way she carried herself — like misfortune was something she'd long since gotten used to — it was obvious she'd grown up under abuse. Jaemin simply couldn't bring himself to leave someone like that alone.

As part of that, he'd looked after her in bits and pieces, and even gotten her streaming just so he could check whether she was still alive. Apparently that alone hadn't been enough.

If I'd known it would come to this, I should've gotten her a mic and camera sooner. Then I would've noticed the second something happened.

He tossed through a night paved with regret, and only when exhaustion finally dragged him under did morning arrive — not long after which his phone suddenly buzzed hard against the nightstand.

He kept CocoaTalk on silent for almost everyone, but not for Noel. That was why the vibration alarm went off.

"Mmnh— wait, is she okay? Or did someone else get into the house and—?"

At first he flailed half-asleep, but the moment the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠realization hit, Jaemin's eyes snapped open and he seized his phone.

And there it was — Noel's long-overdue reply.

"Oh thank god. On her way home? So she's not on the computer, then...? Did the phone repair finish? Then answer me right away!"

Only then did Jaemin's chest finally open up. He started by asking after her well-being. It would have been nicer if she'd contacted him sooner — but if she could send CocoaTalk messages like this, she was at least okay for now. And the little swell of pride at hearing Noel's news before anyone else was a bonus.

"Is this a joke or is she serious. Can you really treat a concussion this lightly...?"

Whatever pride he'd felt evaporated the instant he heard Noel's story. If one hit had been enough to drop her, how hard had she been struck? Boundless rage toward the person who'd assaulted her surged up alongside it.

Where on that stick-thin body was there even a place to hit? This was Noel, who'd already grown up taking beatings from her father. In the moment she was struck — how horrific must that have felt?

He remembered Noel at Kancho's Studio, edging away from Kancho whenever she could. At first he'd thought it was just the usual tension of an explanation stream, or that she was simply shy and overwhelmed. But after hearing her story later, it was clear she'd been reflexively afraid of anyone the same gender as her father.

That someone had laid hands on a person like that — Jaemin could not accept it.

She could have done it herself if she wanted — streams were watchable on mobile. But Jaemin didn't make her. She could talk about it that calmly over chat, sure. But he couldn't begin to guess how raw she actually felt. This much of a favor was fine to grant.

Besides, people probably hadn't kept the stream running the whole time. Nobody would sit through a broadcast with zero movement. So the plan was just to put on a show of explaining Noel's whereabouts in chat, then pass the news along to the community. There had been quite a few people fretting over her, after all.

With that tender concern in his chest, Jaemin opened Noel's stream — and immediately screamed in pure horror.

"AAAAAGH! Noel is not dead, you people! Why are you holding a memorial procession?!"