The Bane of My Existence
Everyone has at least one bane of their existence.
If I had to name mine, it would be the incredibly annoying girl standing right in front of me.
"Gyeong-do, Gyeong-do, Gyeong-do~"
Hearing that grating voice call my name, I snapped back, genuinely irritated.
"Lee Yebin, can you shut up for once?"
"Nope~ Why should I~? How much are you gonna pay me~?"
"Wow, you're so damn childish."
"Bleeeh~"
Lee Yebin, the girl teasing me in the most childish way possible, is without a doubt the absolute worst thing to ever happen to my life.
We live next door to each other. We've sat next to each other since kindergarten. We went to the same elementary and middle schools, and to top it off, we've been in the same class for all three years of high school. She is a stain on my existence, a curse.
How could one relationship be so persistent and infuriating?
Looking at her again, a wave of pure annoyance washes over me.
Her tiny, petite height; the face she bothers to put makeup on just because she's technically a girl; and that fake, bright smile that hides her pitch-black, scheming heart.
It's utterly nauseating. She is the literal definition of two-faced.
"Is sleeping all you do at school, Your Highness?"
"Whether I sleep at school or not is none of your business."
"You were even snoring, though?"
Annoyed by her mimicking my snores in that obnoxious voice, I decided to flick her forehead.
Thwack!
"Ow!"
"Could you not squeal like a dying pig?"
"Who's squealing like a dying pig?! And you flicked me way too hard!"
"I didn't hit you. There was just an ugly pig in front of me, so my body reacted reflexively."
"Cut the bullshit, will you?"
"Wow, look at you swearing. Shouldn't I report this to the school violence committee?"
Seeing Lee Yebin react so perfectly to my baseless teasing makes the irritation I felt a moment ago melt away.
"Yebin, Yebin, shouldn't you be studying? I know you desperately want to play with me, but don't you think you're running out of study time?"
"Who said I wanted to play with you? I only came over because you're being a massive distraction during class."
"Ah~ Yeah, yeah~"
I brushed it off, but since she went out of her way to warn me, I figured I should probably stay awake during the next period.
If it were only Lee Yebin I was bothering, I would have snored even louder. But it would be bad if I ended up disturbing my other, innocent classmates.
"Anyway, Gyeong-do."
"Call me by my actual name, or I'm never talking to you again."
For the record, my name is Do Gyeong. My family name is Do, and my given name is Gyeong. I'd respond normally if she just called me Do Gyeong or Gyeong, but for some reason, she insists on calling me Gyeong-do.
It feels like she's trying to use a cute nickname, which makes my skin crawl.
"Since when does Gyeong-do talk back?"
But logic never works on this crazy pig.
Fine. I'm the bigger person here, so I'll let it slide today.
"What is it?"
"Have you been staying up all night lately?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Because you look even skinnier than a dried-up scarecrow. And your dark circles are as dark as a panda's."
Lee Yebin pulled down the skin under her eyes with her fingers to mock me. I had nothing to say to that.
Then, she suddenly started patting my shoulder. At an incredibly annoying rhythm, too.
"What?"
"This big sister understands. Yes, yes, our little Gyeong-do. You're at that age, aren't you?"
At that age?
Once the meaning of her words finally registered, I bolted upright.
Startled by my sudden movement, Lee Yebin looked up at me, flustered.
"W-what?!"
Ignoring her reaction, I stepped behind her and stood slightly on my tiptoes.
Standing on my toes, the crown of her head came into view. It felt like a foul stench would waft up if I got too close, but that wasn't the point.
Thump!
"Aaargh!"
I slammed my chin down onto the crown of her head. Lee Yebin shrieked and began rubbing her head.
"Are you completely out of your mind?!"
The moment she yelled, I fired back with the first insult that popped into my head.
"Ugh, did you not wash your hair today?"
For the record, she smelled strongly of shampoo. A sweet, fruity scent.
But when you're trying to annoy someone, facts don't matter.
The key to teasing your enemy is to throw out all sympathy, understanding, and reality, and just go for the most baseless, unfair attack possible.
"Aaaaaah! You pervert! You absolute pervert!!!"
Perhaps deeply moved by my comment, Lee Yebin threw a spectacular fit.
How does she always react so perfectly? It's rare to find someone who gives such a satisfying reaction to being teased.
I chuckled at her chaotic thrashing and sat back down.
"Now get lost. I won't sleep this period."
"...What's gotten into you? You gave up on studying ages ago."
Having calmed down a bit, Lee Yebin spoke in a slightly quieter tone.
I answered her flatly.
"You said I was a distraction. If I fall asleep again, I'll probably snore like a chainsaw."
"Oh~ Look who's all grown up, our little Gyeong-do?"
Lee Yebin started patting my head. I glared at her as she did.
I was trying to warn her with my eyes, but it didn't seem to work at all. Seeing how she casually kept patting my head, she must be completely oblivious.
"This big sister is going to head out now, so study hard, okay? And stop watching porn at night."
"Are you actually insane?"
"Hahaha!"
Right on cue, the class bell rang, and Lee Yebin bolted before I could even chase after her.
Fine, let's endure. Patience is a virtue.
Honestly, it was pretty unfair. It's not like I was staying up all night watching porn.
School ended, and it was finally time for after-school activities.
Naturally, I got up from my seat and headed straight to the PC bang with my friends.
If I hadn't given up on studying, or at least had some intention of going to college, I would have gone to study. But I had abandoned academics a long time ago.
So, here I was, heading to the PC bang with a few guys.
Annoyingly, the conversation on the way there was all about Lee Yebin.
"Do Gyeong, are you sure you and Lee Yebin aren't dating?"
"Are you sick or something? If you're ill, you should go to the hospital, not the PC bang."
"You call that not dating? That's even crazier."
"If you ask me, one of you definitely has feelings for the other. One hundred percent."
Since they were spouting nonsense again, I replied with absolute certainty.
"Are you guys gay? Do you get turned on by XY chromosomes?"
"Do Gyeong, you gay."
"Do Gyeong, we respect your preferences. Just don't get too close to us."
These absolute lunatics. No matter how I looked at it, they were impossible to reason with.
Still, my point seemed to have gotten across, so I gave them a warning.
"We are absolutely not dating. Just wait until we graduate high school. Cutting ties with her will happen in the blink of an eye."
"But she lives next door?"
"She'll probably move out on her own once she goes to college."
"And you think a boyfriend wouldn't visit his girlfriend's apartment?"
"Do you actually want to die?"
Despite my threatening tone, the guys just cackled. I eventually gave up.
Seeing that I was no longer reacting, they shifted the topic.
"So, how's your stream going lately?"
"Your live viewer count seems to be growing steadily."
"Your NewTube subscribers are going up too."
"I don't know, you bastards. Shut up."
Still a bit annoyed from the Lee Yebin topic, I snapped at them. My so-called friends immediately began "soothing" me.
"Oh, great streamer Dodo-nim, please forgive us."
"We are so~ sorry, Dodo-nim~"
"Dodo, please unban me~"
🔔 Ding! 1,000 Candy has been donated!
No, they weren't soothing me. They were mocking me.
Anyway... that's how it was. I'd catch up on sleep at school in the morning, and once school let out, I'd play games at the PC bang with my friends for about two hours.
Then I'd go home, eat dinner, and turn on my stream at 9 PM. That had been my routine ever since summer vacation.
During summer break, I realized the only things I was actually good at were playing games and running my mouth. Naturally, I started streaming. It turned out to be surprisingly fun, so I kept at it.
Bantering back and forth with the viewers was entertaining, and seeing them cheer for my plays gave me a strange sense of accomplishment.
My live viewer count was growing slowly but steadily, which made the progress rewarding. I also edited and uploaded videos to my NewTube channel, and seeing that channel grow was satisfying in its own way.
If possible, I wanted to do this full-time, but I knew making a living out of it would probably be out of reach.
My growth rate was on the slower side, and it didn't seem like enough to put food on the table.
Still, I had a steady average of forty to fifty viewers, which brought in a small amount of pocket money. I figured I'd probably keep streaming for a while even after I became an adult.
"Seriously, what are we going to do with our lives...?"
"I don't know. I might just take over my parents' shop."
"I'm still going to college."
"How the hell are you going to college? If you were going to college, you wouldn't be at a PC bang with us."
"Hey, if Do Gyeong's stream hits it big later, you're buying us food, right?"
"I'll buy you guys a full-course meal."
I said that, but I knew it probably wouldn't happen.
Meeting Lee Yebin and dragging out this ill-fated relationship for over ten years,
giving up on academics early on because I had absolutely no talent for studying,
and even having to quit Taekwondo—which I had started instead—due to a physical constitution that made it impossible to gain weight or muscle,
all of it showed just how twisted my life was. It proved how rarely things go according to plan.
I figured this stream of mine would do okay for a bit before I eventually quit and moved on.
But then again, saying life doesn't go according to plan is just another way of saying life is full of twists and turns.
It means nobody knows what the future holds.
After graduating high school, I was slowly preparing to live the life of a full-time streamer.
But what do you know? Right around that time, COVID-19 hit, putting the entire world into quarantine. Naturally, the number of people watching streams skyrocketed.
And of all times, a video I made caught the NewTube algorithm and went viral.
Thanks to that, ta-da! Just one year after starting, I became a NewTuber with 100,000 subscribers. Wow, look at me go!
If only it had ended there, how happy I would have been.
"Hey, I want to try streaming too. How do you do it?"
I never imagined that Lee Yebin, who was forced to take a gap year from college, would follow me into streaming.
"Hey! I hit 80,000 subscribers! How about that?! That's your big sister for you!"
...And I certainly didn't expect her to catch up to 80,000 subscribers in just six months.
Life is seriously so unfair.