Let the Carnage Begin
A week later, Friday evening. The golden hour right before the weekend.
I started my stream during this prime slot.
"Hey guys, what's up~"
As soon as I went live, viewers started flooding in.
Once the crowd stabilized, I had about a thousand viewers. A decent number to get things started.
Just in case, I checked the viewer counts of the others joining the collab today.
Marty-hyung and Ggumyong-nuna had about two to three thousand viewers each, while Yebin was sitting at around a thousand, similar to me.
Deciding this was plenty, I prepared to get to the point.
"So, guys. You all forced a pretty wild narrative on me last week. During Saturday's collab."
"'Dating for real'? You, get out. Mod, get him."
Since even my moderator was rebelling, I decided to take matters into my own hands and swing the ban hammer myself.
How dare they suggest I'm in a real relationship with someone like Lee Yebin? Beheading wouldn't even be enough.
Of course, "beheading" was just a figure of speech; I only timed them out for exactly one minute.
Since this kind of WWE banter was a regular occurrence in my stream, the viewers played along with the joke.
"Anyway, maybe because that forced narrative went a bit viral, Marty-hyung suddenly reached out wanting to do another content piece. And hey, the sponsorship money was pretty sweet. So..."
"Today, I've prepared the content you've all probably been waiting for."
With those words, I switched the stream screen to the game, and the chat immediately began to react.
The game we prepared for today was DigCraft—specifically, a DigCraft quiz show.
Since this particular quiz show map was quite famous, the viewers who recognized it reacted with laughter...
While the viewers who didn't know asked questions like that.
Naturally, the one to answer them was Marty-hyung.
As soon as I unmuted the Concord voice channel, Marty-hyung immediately took the mic to host.
"Welcome, everyone, to the 'Quiz Show of Doom'! I'm your guest MC for today, Marty."
"And I'm Ggumyong~"
As soon as they heard "Quiz Show of Doom," the chat burst into laughter.
The "Quiz Show of Doom" was already a famous concept. It was a format where hosts asked influencers highly controversial questions—like political leanings or sexual preferences—that could easily buy them a one-way ticket to career ruin. It was designed to bait maximum viewer engagement.
We were using this format to secure some prime content for the stream.
Apparently wanting to push the boundaries of the questions, some viewers started demanding we set the stream to mature-only.
Ggumyong, who was co-hosting, addressed their requests.
"Now, now, everyone~ Today isn't just any ordinary Quiz Show of Doom! It's a... Real Dating Quiz Show of Doom to test their true feelings!!"
"Real Dating Quiz Show of Doom." The name itself sounded catastrophic.
I had absolutely no idea what kind of questions they were planning to throw at us.
Meanwhile, Yebin, who had been listening to all of this, immediately started whining in frustration.
"I am not in a real relationship with him! Take out the word 'real dating'!"
"Oh, come on~ You two look more like a real couple than we do~"
"Unnie, you and Marty-nim are the ones doing the WGM!"
"If it looks more real than WGM, doesn't that make it real dating?"
"We are not dating!!!"
Amidst this conversation that seemed to align yet subtly miss each other, Yebin and I were finally placed on the stage.
As soon as we stood on our platforms, Marty-hyung briefly explained the rules.
Once Marty-hyung or Ggumyong-nuna asked a question, Yebin and I had to answer it at the same time.
Then, we would hear each other's answers and expose the truth about one another.
...This content felt like it was riding the line between real dating and not.
Actually, wasn't this more of a "proof of mutual hatred" content? I actually kind of liked it.
As if reading my mind, Yebin voiced a similar thought.
"Isn't this less about real dating and more about just burying the other person?"
"Well, yes, but you guys prefer it this way, don't you?"
"Yes."
"I love it, actually."
At our unified response, the chat, Marty-hyung, and Ggumyong-nuna all burst out laughing.
"Alright, great. Let's start with the questions right away~"
""Okay~""
"Why are you copying me?"
"You copied me, you jerk."
"I did not, asshole."
"Pfft... even their bickering is perfectly synchronized..."
Ignoring the ridiculous reactions of the chat, Yebin and I finally got our chance to clear the air.
A chance to prove we weren't dating by tearing each other to shreds.
I had no idea how much prep they had done, but sound effects started playing inside DigCraft.
Amidst the dramatic drumroll sound effect, Marty-hyung's first question rang out.
"First question! Do you have a specific pet name or nickname for each other?"
A highly challenging question right off the bat, but that was actually better.
"Yes."
"No... Wait, what? Are you crazy?"
Yebin immediately shot back with a "Are you crazy?" Her brain really doesn't work fast in these situations.
If she just thought about it for a second, we could make this so much more entertaining.
The chat's reaction was perfect. Now, all I had to do was flip the script.
How?
"Could you tell us what that nickname is?"
"Can I say it right here, right now?"
"Yes, please give us a nice, clear demonstration of Vini-nim's pet name."
Chuckling at his words, I uttered the name I usually called Yebin.
"Hey, pig."
A brief silence followed, and then...
"You crazy bastard! I am not a pig!!!"
"Shorty."
"I am definitely not short!!!"
"Your height is barely 150—"
"Shut up!!!"
Yebin's scream pierced through the headset, and I stopped right there. Right at the "150" mark.
And as expected...
"I am not 150! I'm not!! You crazy jerk! I'm not 150!! Explain it right now! You explain it!!"
She wanted me to explain?
"But you told me to shut up."
After all, I'm just a good boy who listens to his friends.
"You're talking right now! You're talking!!!"
"Mmph! Mmmph-mmph!"
"Hey!!!"
"Zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket!"
"Are you out of your mind?!"
Yebin hurled a barrage of angry curses, prompting Ggumyong to step in and calm her down.
"Vini, calm down~"
"Ugh...! He's making things up...!"
But that's literally what this show is for?
Did she really think this was a normal quiz show? If so, she's incredibly naive.
Well, she has always been a bit simple-minded. Her brain is practically brand new.
As Yebin huffed and puffed, I decided to throw her a bone for the sake of her honor.
"Okay, she's not quite 150, but she's definitely shorter than average."
"I'm 165!"
"Wow, that is a blatant lie. Total bullshit."
"Aaaagh! I am 165!!!"
Absolutely not. I could bet my entire life on that.
"If you're 165, then I must be 185."
"Now that is definitely not true."
Yebin's voice was dead serious, and I couldn't help but chuckle.
Meanwhile, seeing us like this, Marty-hyung quickly steered the conversation back.
"It looks like Vini-nim finally understands the rules. Could you give us a clear demonstration of your nickname for him?"
"Can I just call Dodo what I usually call him?"
"Yes!"
What did she usually call me?
When she wanted me to buy her something, she'd call me "Do Gyeong-oppa," but otherwise...
...Wait a minute.
"Hey, piglet. I haven't revealed my real name on stream yet, you know?"
"I know, you dimwit. And how many times do I have to tell you I'm not a pig?"
Hearing "dimwit" felt like taking a direct hit.
"I'm still smarter than someone who just figured out the rules—"
"Yeah, right. Looking at your school grades, you're a total dimwit."
Damn...
She really knew how to shut me up.
"Oh, were Dodo's grades in school that bad?"
"Do you really think they'd be good?"
She really, really knew how to shut me up.
Moments like this made me wish I had actually studied back then.
"Looking at you, I've realized that school grades and actual intelligence are two completely different things."
"You're right, but that doesn't mean you aren't a dimwit, you dimwit."
"You're the dimwit here. There's nothing inside your head."
"Sure, whatever you say, 7th-tier."
"I never got a 7th tier! I got a 5th!"
"Wasn't that just for math? Because you got lucky on the multiple-choice guesses?"
There was no winning the school grades argument. I needed to retreat.
"Let's just move on to the next question."
"Pfft... Wow, this is gold. Okay! Moving right along~!"
Marty-hyung moved to the next question, his voice filled with genuine amusement.
I was going to attack on the next question. No, I was going to be the only one attacking.
Without fail.