Do You Know the Word?
After we finished our usual bickering, I set about arranging the things Lee Yebin had bought around the house.
There were teacups and stuffed animals and all sorts of adorably tiny props—I still had no idea why any of it was necessary. Wasn’t a house just supposed to be a place to sleep?
Besides, this wasn’t even real life. It was a game. A broadcast server that would vanish in about two weeks. Did we really need to put this much effort into it?
I couldn’t wrap my head around it, but since I had already decided to go along with whatever Yebin said, being dragged around by her was simply inevitable.
“Dodo, you finished placing everything?”
“I don’t know if I did a good job. Come check.”
“Hmm~ Just as expected from Dodo. Zero sense.”
“You’re actually dead.”
“It’s a fact, though?”
With that, Yebin marched over to the items I had arranged, canceled every single placement, and started rearranging them however she pleased.
A stretch of time that felt both long and short passed. When she was finally done, I had no choice but to admit—grudgingly—that she was right.
My arrangement had been… boxed-in. Not particularly pretty. Almost forced, if I was being honest.
Yebin’s, though—it looked free and casual, yet somehow genuinely pretty. I actually found myself thinking, Huh, so this is how you get things to harmonize like that.
“…What’s the difference?”
“Isn’t it a huge difference?”
“No. Looks the same to me.”
Yeah, I knew. The way Yebin had placed everything was way prettier and made far better use of the space.
Saying “there’s no big difference” was pure stubbornness. I just didn’t want to admit she had done better.
That was a feeling she would never know. To bury it even deeper, I started picking a fight.
“This or that, what’s the actual difference?”
“If you don’t get it, I’ll compare them side-by-side in the video. Editor-nim, can we get some B-roll for this?”
“You’re not the one comparing—the editor is.”
“Editor-nim’s not live, so it’s fine!”
“Wow. Pure terrorism.”
While we were sniping at each other, the viewers were having a great time reacting.
“I already said it’s not a real marriage.”
“You guys getting the real-couple jokes too?”
“You getting them?”
“Yeah, I get some.”
“I’m busy banning them right now.”
“Damn, that’s cold as hell.”
We were still going back and forth when—
*Ding-dong~ Ding-dong~*
The doorbell we had installed at Yebin’s very forceful request rang out.
I had agreed to it too, of course.
“Coming~! Dodo, move out!”
“You just said you’d get it.”
“I answered, so you have to go open it!”
I had no idea what kind of logic that was, but I decided to just go.
It would probably be better for whoever was ringing the doorbell if I was the one who answered anyway.
*Creak*
The door opened to reveal a streamer wearing a sheep-hybrid skin.
Nickname: Mei_Nemuru. It was Nemuru Mei.
“Hello~ I’m Nemuru Mei, your new next-door neighbor~”
Nemuru Mei, a Vtuber under Fantasy Live. Female, for the record.
“Hello, Mei-nim. You moved in as our neighbor?”
“Yes~ It’s only polite to bring rice cakes when you move in, so I came to say hi~”
Her broadcast concept was quiet ASMR, but her actual skill level was secretly high-tier, which had earned her serious popularity.
I wasn’t particularly close with most Vtubers, so I answered as politely and brightly as I could.
“Looking forward to the next two weeks.”
“Yes~ Ah, later on one of my juniors from the company might come stay too~”
Fantasy Live currently went up to third-generation members, but only second-generation and earlier were participating on this server, so it would be a second-gen.
No—thinking about it, Nemuru Mei was basically the leader of Fantasy Live. As the eldest sister of the group, she could easily call even her fellow first-gens her juniors.
I had no idea who might show up, but I really hoped it wouldn’t be that one particular top-tier Vtuber. If she came, she could easily steal our entire content. For real.
“If they come, we’ll be the ones visiting for a housewarming.”
“Sounds good~ I’ll be going then~”
Nemuru Mei did a little bowing motion, then bounced back to the house next door with light steps. I turned and went back inside.
And then…
“Who was it?”
Yebin’s voice came, laced with a hint of wariness.
“Ah, uh… Nemuru Mei-nim. You know her?”
“Ah…! I know! The ASMR Vtuber! Fantasy Live!”
“Yeah, that was her.”
“She’s the neighbor?”
“Pretty much. She said a junior who’ll live with her might show up later.”
“Ooooooh…”
Yebin clapped her hands, then suddenly started saying something weird.
“But did you already know who Nemuru Mei-nim was?”
“Her nickname was floating above her head, so yeah.”
“No no, I mean did you already know what kind of Vtuber she is.”
What kind of Vtuber she is?
“Of course I knew. She’s pretty high up among the famous Vtubers.”
“That’s true, but… don’t tell me you listened to another girl Vtuber’s ASMR when you already have a virtual-married girlfriend?”
…Ah. That setting.
“I’m about to start cheating. Getting tired of you.”
“H-huh, so mean… You’re just dumping me like this…?”
“Yep. Dumping you right now.”
“Knew it, you trash. I knew you’d dump me immediately. You pervert.”
Just like that, Yebin snapped straight back to her usual self and attacked.
I decided to just lay it out for her. Or rather, counterattack.
“Hey, what if a guy Vtuber with good ASMR moves in next door?”
“I’d go confess on the spot.”
“Right?”
“I admit it. But cheating’s still a no, got it?”
“Tsk.”
“Why are you clicking your tongue?! You player!”
“Excuse you. I’m a pure romantic.”
“In what universe are you pure?! You were already full of cheating thoughts!”
The second we started bickering again, the viewers simply sat back and enjoyed the show.
One of the chats that popped up was “Now it finally feels a little like a fake couple.”
Aren’t we already pretty solid as a fake couple? Or not? Whatever.
We glossed over the whole cheating bit and decided it was time to get back to work.
“Hey, Vini. That spot we were digging earlier. Let’s go finish it.”
“Oki oki.”
I grabbed a pickaxe with Vini and headed back into the abandoned mine.
The moment we stepped inside, we both raised our pickaxes and started furiously digging into the ground.
The sound of earth being broken filled the air, and right along with it Yebin suddenly began to sing.
“Vini is! Ddun-ddun~ Today too! Ddun-ddun~ Working hard~ digging~ the ground~ ne. Ddun! Ddun!”
Watching her sing like she thought she was the cutest thing alive made a wave of pure secondhand embarrassment hit me instantly.
“Excuse me, Vini-nim. Could you maybe not sing?”
“Why?”
“It’s too disgusting to listen to.”
“You’re more disgusting~ Bleh~”
Was that “bleh” supposed to be her sticking her tongue out?
If so, it was so childish I didn’t even feel like responding. I didn’t want to acknowledge it.
“Do whatever… Haa…”
“Why are you reacting like that all of a sudden?”
“I was just wondering what to do about how ridiculously childish our Vini-ssi is…”
“You wanna die for real?”
“Do you know how many times you’ve said that today?”
We immediately started scuffling, but that wasn’t the important part.
The important part was that we needed to make money right now.
Thanks to Yebin spending money in several extremely thorough ways, the funds that had felt pretty comfortable earlier were suddenly running low.
“Just look for iron ore or diamonds. Got it?”
“Hmph, fine~”
*Thud-thud-thud-thud*
*Thud-thud-thud-thud*
The two of us went back to simply digging. Just digging, planning to chat about nothing in particular. That was the idea, until…
“Hey, Dodo.”
“Yeah, what?”
Yebin suddenly called my name.
I wondered what she could possibly need and asked back, only for her to say—
“……There’s, I think there’s a zombie past this wall.”
“Oh, nice ears. Yeah, there’s a zombie.”
“I don’t wanna fight, though…”
For the record, a zombie was something we could handle no problem. The monster specs hadn’t been touched much except for the custom ones people made themselves.
“Alright, Vini.”
“Hm? What?”
I called her name, then immediately typed into the chat.
“Fight. You know that word, right? Fight. Break the wall and go fight. Dying because you fight like an idiot—that’s absolutely not allowed! But! Fight every single second. Today I’m gonna watch you do that.”
The instant I finished speaking, I heard the sound of Yebin standing up from her seat.
I immediately ran to my door and started shoving it shut with all my strength, while Yebin sprinted over and rang our doorbell.
Naturally Yeon opened the door, and Yebin charged straight for my room—
“Hey! Open the door! Open it already?!”
“Would you open it if it was you?! Kehehehehe!”
“You told me to fight! I came to fight, you bastard!!”
“You’re supposed to go fight the zombie, why are you fighting me?!”
“Open the door!! If you don’t open it I’m really gonna pout!!! I’ll even tell your mom!!!”
“Mom already knows for sure!”
“I’m telling! I’m really telling!!”
An extremely childish fight dragged on for a bit, and in the end I decided to just let Yebin win.
If she actually pouted for real and snitched to Mom, I would be the only one who suffered.
So eventually…
*Thwack!!!*
“Uuuaaagh… You crazy woman…! Hitting the side is a foul…!”
“You should be grateful it ended with just that, you punk…!”
Leaving Yebin’s rage behind me, I clutched my side and let out a scream full of pain.
I made sure it went straight into the mic, of course. The viewers loved that kind of thing.
…Separate from that, though, it really did hurt. For real.