Unexpectedly Cute(?) Cheonma
The chat reaction was fantastic, just as I'd hoped.
I watched it roll by with a thoroughly satisfied look on my face.
"More importantly, Soyuni — is this your first time having a guest on?"
"Yeah. Actually collabing like this, in person? First time."
"Oh, I'm honored, then?"
"Pfft. You better be!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Park Soyun and I really did have great chemistry. I was already smiling without meaning to.
Then, through the screen, I caught Cheonma's expression. Something about her face looked… off.
Hmm? Is it because she got dragged onto the stream against her will?
Still, she wasn't going to blow up or sabotage the broadcast. She wasn't that thoughtless.
"Alright, let's start light — a little catch-up talk!"
"Oh? You prepared a lot for this, huh?"
"Obviously! Wait till you see what I've got lined up. You're gonna be shocked."
"That so? Looking forward to it."
She really had put in the work. It even looked like she'd written a script ahead of time.
"So, how've you been lately?"
"Me? Doing fine."
"Yeah? Not too busy? I figured you'd be getting a ton of broadcast invites."
"I did get a lot, actually."
NewTube, streamers, even the major networks — offers had poured in from everywhere. I'd turned them all down. I simply didn't have the free time to hop on other people's shows.
Been too busy training in martial arts, after all.
Park Soyun's stream was the exception. Given the loyalty she'd shown me, doing this collab was the only right call.
"But you turned them all down?"
"Yeah. After the dungeon raid, your stream is the first one I've come on as a guest."
"Whoa! I'm genuinely moved?"
Park Soyun's eyes really were full of emotion. At least she wasn't crying — small mercies.
Either way, we kept the early talk fun and light, and the viewer count steadily climbed.
This was a daytime stream. And yet, word of mouth had already pushed us past twelve thousand.
"I've never hit numbers like this before."
"What? You were a tiny streamer, weren't you?"
"Are you looking down on tiny streamers right now?!"
"Pfft. Sorry."
Even with a crowd this size, Park Soyun barely flinched. Moments like that made it clear — she was a born broadcaster.
Is she going to get big enough to threaten Hinyong someday?
It was possible. Especially if I kept pushing her hard.
We spent about thirty minutes on talk, then moved into the real content.
"Alright, time for the games I prepared!"
"You prepared games too?"
"Yes! I told you! I prepared a ton!"
She pulled up a screen.
"First game — Balance Game!"
Pick one of two options. Simple enough.
"One million subscribers VS ten real friends. Which do you choose, Kim Sinhyeok?"
I laughed at that. Honestly, there was nothing to think about.
"Ten real friends."
"For real?"
"Yeah."
Before I'd hit rock bottom, I probably would've taken the first option. Not anymore.
"Oh, I'll ask for the reason a bit later? Next one, then! Never being able to date for the rest of your life VS never eating fried chicken again."
"Oof. That's a rough one."
"Hurry up and pick."
"Hmm… never eating fried chicken."
"Oh! So dating is non-negotiable, is that it?"
"Ahem. Dating's pretty important, you have to admit?"
"…Okay, fair."
Soyuni hadn't been bluffing about her prep. Every question was fun and surprisingly fresh. She'd clearly put real work into this.
Just from the Balance Game alone, we'd already blown past twenty thousand viewers. The momentum was serious.
We rode that energy straight into the next game.
A telepathy quiz — both of us picking the same answer at the same time.
"Mountain VS ocean! One, two, three!"
"Mountain!"
"Mountain!"
"Oh! Then — jjamppong VS jjajang! One, two, three!"
"Jjajang!"
"Jjajang!"
"Oh, we're actually in sync?"
Surprisingly, Soyun and I had excellent chemistry. More precisely, we just shared a lot of the same tastes.
"Dunk it VS dip it! One, two, three!"
"Dip it!"
"Dip it!"
"Oh!"
Even I was impressed. I hadn't expected our rhythm to be this good.
We hit five matching answers in a row. I was genuinely surprised as we went.
Normally the telepathy quiz would've been a short segment. But it was so uncanny that we both just kept going, curious how much further the streak would hold.
"Summer VS winter! One, two, three!"
"Summer!"
"Winter!"
"…Summer!"
Unfortunately, we missed on the sixth. Both of us made the same disappointed face.
And then — I thought I heard a voice from behind me that absolutely should not have been there.
"Huh?"
I turned around. Cheonma was there, pointedly looking the other way like nothing had happened.
"Did you just say something?"
"…Did I?"
"No? Weird."
I was sure I'd heard a voice.
No — I definitely had.
I let a small smile slip.
She wanted in on it too, didn't she?
It was pretty cute. That alone made me grin.
I turned back to Park Soyun.
"Let's keep going."
"Huh? Okay. Coffee VS tea! One, two, three!"
"Coffee."
"Coffee."
"…Coffee."
There should only have been two voices. But for a while now, I kept hearing three.
I turned my head again.
And once more, Cheonma whipped her face away at lightning speed.
She's sneakily adorable, isn't she?
I never expected her to act like this. It kept making me laugh for no good reason.
"Want to try this with me?"
"…Are you speaking to me?"
"Yeah. This much is fine, right?"
"Mm… very well."
Park Soyun looked thoroughly intrigued. She'd just landed a free mega-guest, after all. No reason to complain.
Cheonma stepped closer. From there, the three of us ran the telepathy quiz.
"Cats VS dogs! One, two, three!"
"Dogs."
"…Dogs."
"Books VS movies! One, two, three!"
"Movies."
"…Movies."
"Older partner VS younger partner! One, two, three!"
"Younger."
"…Younger."
Amazingly, Cheonma and I showed flawless chemistry. Ten matching answers in a row. Statistically absurd.
Naturally, chat was flooded with stunned reactions. Something this ridiculous had just happened on stream, after all.
But I narrowed my eyes. I had a pretty good idea what the secret behind this "miracle" was.
She's answering just a fraction of a second slower.
Cheonma was pulling a magic trick. She was reading the movement of my lips, predicting the answer, then echoing it a beat behind.
And somehow, it didn't show. It genuinely looked simultaneous.
A stunt only the Heavenly Demon could pull off.
Of course, I didn't call her out on it. She was being sneakily cute, and I wasn't about to ruin that.
"Ahem."
She was giving Park Soyun a look that clearly said I won. Competitive to the bone — who else but Cheonma?
Park Soyun stared at her in disbelief, then sighed and moved on to the next game.
"Alright, next up — Ideal Type World Cup!"
"Ideal Type World Cup?"
"Yeah. You just pick the streamer you like best, one at a time."
"That so? Doesn't sound too hard."
It really wasn't that difficult.
As I'd admitted before, I was a bit of a face guy. So I just kept picking the pretty ones without much thought.
Even so, there came a moment that made me hesitate.
"…Soyuni VS Kiyungi. Pick one."
"Wait, you're in this too?"
"I'm a streamer, you know?!"
"Ahem. Fair enough. Uh…"
Purely on looks, Soyuni won by a landslide. But for some reason, picking Park Soyun felt embarrassing. I sat with it for a second.
Still — a stream had to be honest. That was what made it fun.
I said it with a shameless face.
"Soyuni."
"…Really?!"
"Yeah."
"Yes!"
When I picked her, she looked genuinely thrilled. Her face even went a little pink.
"Th-then, next round right away. Jaeriri VS Sangeun."
"Hmm, Jaeriri?"
And so it went, match after match.
"Soyuni."
"…Yes!"
"…Soyuni again."
"Insane!"
Before long, Soyuni had made it all the way to the finals.
"Last match. Soyuni VS Hinyong. Pick one of the two."
The final opponent, though, was brutal. Twiv's reigning empress herself.
This time, I actually had to think.
"Hmm…"
Soyuni was staring at me with an extremely tense face. Probably because she was on the bracket herself.
And oddly enough, Cheonma was also locked in, watching my mouth carefully. She seemed pretty curious about the result.
I thought it over, then opened my mouth.
Honestly, their looks were about even. Soyuni had a slight edge, but nothing decisive.
The figure gap, though — that was significant. So I had no choice but to pick Hinyong.
"Hinyong."
"…What?"
"I'm picking Hinyong."
"For real?"
"Yeah."
"Tch."
Soyuni's expression soured instantly. Looking thoroughly displeased, she clicked on Hinyong's face.
True to form for Park Soyun's stream, everyone was firmly Team Soyun — viewers included.
The only person looking pleased was Cheonma. She alone was nodding along like this was the correct outcome.
"Tch. I'm disappointed."
"Honestly, you making finals at all was a miracle."
"You wanna die?"
Park Soyun's face went stormy for a second. But I knew exactly how to handle her in this state.
"More importantly — when are we doing the mukbang?"
"Ah! Right! We have to do the mukbang!"
Her expression cleared instantly. She started tapping away at her phone — clearly about to order food.
I watched her and smiled to myself. Still completely helpless in front of a good meal.