Next-door Sister
"Ah, hmm. So that's what's been going on."
Prompted by tips from his viewers, Jaemin skimmed through the League of Champions community boards and muttered to himself.
Noel's story was showing up more than he'd expected. Normally, whenever streamer talk started flooding the boards, the moderators would step in and tell people to keep it reasonable. But maybe because of how many unfair things had been said about Noel already, they seemed willing to let it slide for a while.
Thanks to Kanchona filing the lawsuits on her behalf, there was no one left writing baseless, malicious posts. Most of what remained came from people whose hearts ached for how pitiful Noel's situation was, or from people who were slowly starting to find her gameplay entertaining.
Jaemin hadn't contributed anything to Noel getting better at the game, not really. Still, it made him proud. If Noel became a successful game streamer, he figured he might have a little stake in that — not that he planned to demand anything for it. It just felt good.
That was the sunny-day version of the story, though. When strange rumors like this started circulating, his chest tightened right along with them.
There was a woman who knew Noel's house password?
It wasn't jealousy — not some I don't even know it, so how does someone else? kind of feeling. It was pure concern. In this world, even blood relatives turned ugly the moment money got involved. And she was handing out her password to someone she wasn't even related to?
The commenters said it could happen. But by Jaemin's standards, the only thought that came to mind was, Is that really okay?
Besides, Noel had been abused by her own family — not some stranger, her family. After something like that, could she really place that much trust in an outsider? What if she'd been forced to give up the password, and was now dealing with unwanted interference? Even if this person hadn't hurt her yet, was their kindness truly pure? Or had they approached her because there was something left in that house worth taking?
The world Jaemin knew wasn't that gentle. He'd grown up loved by his parents and had never been the target of any real crime, but a friend's death and the cold face of society had made sure he could never be purely optimistic.
So he logged into Noel's stream, intending to get the full story. Watching another streamer's broadcast mid-stream wasn't exactly recommended practice — but this was for Noel's safety.
Even without him stepping in, Noel's viewers were already giving off a strange atmosphere, as if they were trying to determine whether this next-door sister was a safe person at all.
"Hmm, I don't remember exactly when. After my mother went to prison, there was a stretch where I wasn't eating properly. Somehow she found out and took me to the hospital. I remember her saying I was fine now and heading off to work."
A first meeting that didn't quite sit right. If Noel had collapsed, she would have been alone at home. Even granting that the neighbor heard something and called for help — that still wasn't a reason to hand over a password.
Other viewers seemed to share the same doubt, and asked how she'd ended up giving out the code. Noel could only tilt her head.
"Uh, I don't really remember clearly. I think I was half-conscious at the time and just told her the password myself. Right? You didn't ask for it, did you?"
Malnutrition, most likely. But her memory of that day was fuzzy enough that she moved her hands out of the camera frame and turned to ask someone behind her.
"She says I was the one who told her. I don't know why I did it either, but thanks to that, I wasn't completely alone at home. And not long ago, when I collapsed in the bathroom, she called for help and I ended up at the hospital again."
The next-door sister's reply never came through. But judging by Noel's reactions, she really did seem to be talking to someone.
Other viewers started asking the same things Celesty had been worrying about. Anyone would think that way. A stranger walking into your house without permission was strange enough on its own. But Noel was completely unfazed.
"Hmm, honestly I was a little surprised at first too... But if she'd had bad intentions, wouldn't she have done something bad already? There's nothing in our house worth taking anyway... I don't think she's ever asked me for anything. And she doesn't try to do a bunch of stuff for me in a way that feels burdensome either. I don't know if it's okay to say this, but... she feels like a friend. Ah — I know, Unni is older than me."
As Noel said, they did seem remarkably close. Even setting Kanchona aside, Noel had always been fairly stiff around Jaemin. But the way she talked with this next-door woman looked surprisingly natural.
Still, Jaemin's worry didn't ease. He felt bad for thinking it, but the fact that the next-door woman hadn't shown any greed might simply be because Noel had nothing. People who shared a single bean between them could change their tune the moment a lump of gold appeared. If Noel started doing well — if there was something in that house worth stealing — there was no guarantee the next-door sister wouldn't take it.
And he couldn't exactly say any of that while the next-door sister was clearly right there. He was still fretting over how to tell Noel to be careful when her viewers started spamming playful chat messages.
Demanding a civilian's face on camera was absurd. Jaemin frowned slightly at the chats that just wanted to see a woman's face — but then considered that it might actually help. Someone whose face was known would think twice before doing something bad, even if the urge struck. Sure, people who pulled off big scores sometimes used fame to their advantage, but this was a robbery concern, not a scam.
"Uh, this unni isn't a streamer or anything, so... that might be a bit difficult."
"I just do game streams. Face reveal is a bit much. You guys wouldn't want to look at an ugly face and feel bad either, right?"
But Noel turned down the request flat. It was a shame from Jaemin's perspective, but for Noel's sake right now, this was the better call. Unless she was set on streaming full-time, keeping her face off camera was the wiser choice. Fame wasn't an unalloyed good. Without real benefits to match — without even making money — just being known was worthless. There was a reason the prayer please let me become a billionaire nobody recognizes was so popular.
Of course, if Noel later decided to go full-time as a streamer, that would be a different story. Jaemin let out a short sigh and started thinking about how to look into this next-door sister. The conclusion he reached: he'd have to meet her himself.
"Everyone, I know Noel, right? Shouldn't I meet this next-door sister in person so we can figure out what kind of person she is?"
"Hey, what's with the sudden ADC slander? Isn't that a little harsh? What's wrong with being an ADC, huuuh!"