The Heavenly Demon Is Weak to Praise
"Hinyong is weak to praise" was not the chapter anyone expected — but then again, neither was what happened next.
"Sinhyeok-nim! Are you in?"
A moment later, a woman appeared on screen — pretty, with a touch of cute that made the whole package dangerous. Her outfit was especially bold: a skin-tight bodycon look that clung to every curve, and the eye went there whether you wanted it to or not.
Yeah. She's a real bagel girl.
Cute face, violent figure. That was exactly why she was so popular.
Hinyong greeted him at once. He hammered out a reply in chat just as fast.
"Wow! You're really a fan?! The honor's all mine!"
They traded light small talk. He never would have guessed he'd end up chatting with the Hinyong like this. For the first time, it actually felt like he'd made it.
"So the thing is, I got a mission to show a streamer a dance. That's why I came looking for you, Sinhyeok-nim. Would that be okay?"
It stung a little that she hadn't come purely of her own free will. Still — she could have picked any streamer, and she'd chosen him. That alone was enough to make him quietly proud.
"Thank you! Then I'll jump straight into the dance!"
Music poured out of the speakers. Then the dancing started.
Chat exploded into a blur. Everyone was singing Hinyong's praises — and of course they were. She'd prepared a seriously sexy routine: a dance called the Perminal that put the hips front and center, her pretty, generous backside filling the entire frame.
He watched just as intently. She'd come to him personally and asked. He couldn't half-ass it.
He stared at the video like it owed him money. He'd always cared more about faces than figures — but right now, he was starting to think a body mattered a whole lot too.
He was so locked in that the first verse was over before he knew it. He checked the chat at once, fully expecting the reactions to match his own.
They did not.
A bad feeling hit him out of nowhere.
Without thinking, he glanced over his shoulder.
A pair of ice-cold eyes met his.
The person who was supposed to be deep in martial training was standing right behind him.
"…Would you care for some water?"
Once again, a glass was in her hand. His throat was dry as dust; he took it and downed it in one go.
"Gulp. Gulp."
It felt exactly like getting caught watching something he shouldn't. Weirdly embarrassed. Something uncomfortably close to guilt.
"Finished?"
"Y-yeah. Th-that's not— you're misunderstanding!"
"What misunderstanding would that be?"
"I wasn't watching because I wanted to…"
The excuses came out on their own. Of course they didn't land.
"I see."
She just kept looking at him with that same frosty stare.
He changed the subject immediately. First priority: kill this atmosphere.
"More importantly — weren't you supposed to be training?"
"…I was."
For a second, the Heavenly Demon's presence shrank. Even her answer came a beat late.
He saw his opening and took it.
"What? You weren't actually focusing on training?"
"Ahem… well…"
It wouldn't have worked on anyone else. It worked on the Heavenly Demon. Because this was the Heavenly Demon — and she had, of all things, failed to concentrate on her martial training.
Either way, the mood improved a lot. More precisely: the mood where he alone was the criminal finally evaporated.
♪ ♫ ♪
The music was still playing on screen. Hinyong was still dancing her heart out.
But the chat had completely flipped. Every line praising Hinyong had vanished. In its place, the chat was nothing but Heavenly Demon.
Wall-to-wall praise for the Heavenly Demon. Nothing else.
Had the clone noticed?
He caught the corner of her mouth lifting — just for a second. Then it dropped again just as fast.
"Huh? Did you just smile?"
"I did not."
"…Really? Weird."
He gave her a faintly puzzled look. The Heavenly Demon's expression had changed so fast he wasn't sure he'd seen it at all.
Interest in the Heavenly Demon was going nuclear. If he sat her down beside him, the viewer count would probably explode.
The problem was, that made him nervous. She was not easy to control.
So he asked out of politeness more than anything.
"Want to stream together?"
"Is that an order?"
"No, I'm just asking what you want."
"…Then I will go back inside and continue martial training."
Yeah. He'd figured she'd turn him down like that.
He nodded and let the Heavenly Demon go without a fuss. The viewers were devastated, of course — but she'd already refused out of her own mouth. Nobody could really blame him.
There'd been a little crisis at the end, but overall he'd handled it fine. All in all, a pretty fun stream.
He thanked Hinyong properly for the hard work.
"Thank you for watching! Ah — right! Sinhyeok-nim! We should collab sometime!"
Collabing with Hinyong did sound fun. He didn't get his hopes up, though. Odds were she'd just said it to be polite.
He left Hinyong's room and ended the stream. He'd been about to sign off anyway.
"Alright — see you tomorrow!"
Watching them all look so disappointed, he found himself smiling a little.
Yeah. Streaming really was fun.
He went outside for the first time in a while.
Fortunately, the reporters who'd been camping the apartment entrance were all gone. Getting around was easy.
He was standing in front of a studio apartment now. A firmly shut front door waited in front of him.
Ding-dong.
He'd rung the bell. Someone would be out any second.
— Clatter-bang-crash.
"W-wait a second!"
A racket erupted from inside. He was already grinning.
The door opened with a creak — and there was Park Soyun, looking like she'd just washed her hair.
"Whoa, you're here?"
Right. Today he was appearing on Park Soyun's stream. That was why he'd come all the way to her place.
"Yeah. Mind if I come in?"
"Of course not. Hurry and— wait!"
Park Soyun's eyes went huge. There was someone standing next to him who absolutely should not have been there.
"……"
The Heavenly Demon, still not saying a word to Park Soyun.
"…You didn't come alone?"
"I wanted to. She insisted she had to come with me…"
He really had meant to go by himself. His clone had flat-out refused. So here they both were.
She had her reasons, of course. These days even the government was fretting over his safety. A foreign spy could show up and snatch him at any moment. That was why the Heavenly Demon had tagged along.
Park Soyun nodded with a distinctly mixed expression.
"Uh… come in, then. Both of you."
A nod. The Heavenly Demon inclined her head and stepped inside with him.
"Place is small, huh?"
"This is plenty for one person."
It was their place that was big — bought on a maxed-out loan by the skin of their teeth. For living alone, this was more than enough.
It was a studio apartment in the purest sense, though. Martial training here would be rough.
"You eat yet?"
"Not yet."
"Want to eat on stream, or first?"
"On stream."
"Okay."
There wasn't really anywhere else to sit, so they ended up on the bed — with her permission. The mattress was surprisingly plush. At least she splurged on the bed. Before he knew it, the Heavenly Demon had claimed a spot right beside him.
"So when are you starting the stream?"
"Hmm… now?"
"Right now?"
"Yeah. You said you don't have time."
"Well. That's true."
He nodded. Lately martial training had him completely swamped.
"Sit here."
"Got it."
Luckily there was a second chair. He got off the bed and sat in front of the cam.
There was one thing he'd forgotten.
"……"
Namely: the Heavenly Demon, still sitting on the bed, watching the two of them with a blank face and nothing else to do.
"You're gonna end up on stream like that. You okay with that?"
"I am fine."
The place was too small to do anything about it. She seemed to understand that.
Broadcast prep was done.
"Alright. Starting."
"Okay."
The broadcast has started.
This time she didn't hide her face. The cam went straight on.
Habit-chat flooded in on autopilot.
Come to think of it, her viewer count's gone up a lot too.
She hadn't fully clawed back her peak numbers — but she was averaging around five hundred. That was five times what she used to pull. He felt a warm little rush of pride and nodded along as the messages scrolled by.
Then the chat shifted. The autopilot greetings vanished, replaced by pure shock.
They were all welcoming him. Most of them were his fans, when you thought about it. Of course they were glad to see him.
"Hello! I'm Soyuni! Today I've got my very first guest — someone who's been incredibly hot lately. Please welcome Kim Sinhyeok!"
"Hello. Kim Sinhyeok here!"