Did My Body Make Your Heart Race?

—Yes! Let's really collab tomorrow!

"You mean it?"

—Of course! For real!

"Thank you so much!"

—I'm the one who should be thanking you!

Out of nowhere, Hinyong—the Empress of Twiv—had proposed a collab stream.

And not just any collab. She wanted to go live under my account, from my house.

Until now, Hinyong had never collabed with a male streamer. I was going to be the first.

That's wild.

This was the same Hinyong who had turned down even Inhwang's collab offers. That made it all the more surreal. Clearly, my standing had risen quite a bit lately.

Either way, I was thrilled, and I posted the news to my Twiv channel announcements right away. In a sense, I was a fan of Hinyong myself—of course I was excited.

And promoting it ahead of time would only drive the viewer count higher.

Am I about to snatch the top spot from Inhwang again?

As far as I knew, Inboom had nothing major planned for tomorrow—just games or a casual talk stream. If that was the case, overtaking him wouldn't be hard.

On Twiv, at least.

The moment the announcement went up, the reactions poured in.

Most of the reactions were pure shock—and with that shock came a flood of anticipation.

Related posts flooded the Twiv gallery too.

Thanks to this suddenly arranged collab, all of Twiv was buzzing.

And then the next day arrived.

"No way. This can't be real."

Given my current momentum and the fact that this was Hinyong's first-ever collab with a guy, I'd expected an easy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hundred thousand viewers. Hell, everyone had expected that.

But an unexpected spoiler had appeared.

Of all days, Inboom announced that he was gathering the biggest streamers from both PopTV and Twiv for a mega-streamer summit—today, out of nowhere.

Naturally, I was more than a little annoyed.

Is this him trying to keep me in check?

It almost certainly was. The odds of something like this happening by pure coincidence were vanishingly small.

So now even Inhwang is going out of his way to counter me.

I really had gotten big. Big enough for things like this to start happening.

As for Hinyong—she was more furious than anyone.

"You really don't have to go that far…"

The streaming scene these ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠days was so dominated by Inhwang that some people called it the Inhwang Occupation Era. His ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠influence ran that deep—hardly any major streamer wasn't connected to him somehow.

But Hinyong wasn't part of Inhwang's circle. She had built herself up alone. And because of that, she'd taken plenty of heat from him over the years.

Naturally, she wasn't exactly a fan of the guy.

Hmm. Is that why she's trying to get close to me?

That much, I couldn't say.

Either way, I spent the time training, and before I knew it, stream time had arrived.

"Welcome!"

"Hello!"

Hinyong kept her promise. She showed up at my place right on the dot.

Though—maybe it was the rage at Inhwang fueling her—she'd put serious effort into her outfit.

I never expected her to show up at another guy's house for a collab dressed in something that skimpy and revealing.

I have no idea where to look.

The outfit put her full chest and the elegant curve of her hips on full display. Finding a safe place for my eyes was genuinely difficult.

That was when the Cheonma approached her.

Thud.

Thud.

Just like with Park Soyun.

I tensed slightly. Knowing the Cheonma's personality, there was no telling what she might pull.

"……"

My clone simply stood near Hinyong and stared at her in silence. As expected, she didn't say a word.

Hinyong's expression grew noticeably tense.

But that was all.

The Cheonma ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠glanced back and forth between Hinyong's chest and her own, then let out something that looked suspiciously like a mocking little smile—before turning around and disappearing back into her room.

"Ah, please don't mind her."

"It's fine. Honestly, it's an honor? I just saw the Cheonma in person."

"I appreciate you looking at it that way."

Thankfully, Hinyong didn't take it personally.

More notably, she'd brought a considerable amount of luggage. She'd said she was coming fully prepared—apparently the outfit wasn't the only thing she'd planned.

We hauled everything in, got set up, and before long it was time to go live.

We sat in front of the camera with faintly nervous faces. Hinyong seemed tense too—her expression had stiffened just a little.

Should I try to loosen her up?

A flicker of concern crossed my mind, but I shook my head. This was the Empress of Twiv. She'd handle herself just fine.

The stream went live.

For now, I kept the screen black and the mics muted—just music playing. A deliberate move to amp up the viewers' anticipation even further.

The chat was flying so fast it looked ready to explode. It even lagged for a moment.

The viewer count was climbing at an insane rate too.

Thirty thousand in just one minute of going live. An incredible pace.

It climbed all the way to sixty thousand—and we hadn't even turned the camera on yet.

Insane.

Inhwang's counterplay had definitely worked. Our numbers were probably a bit lower because of it.

But even Inhwang couldn't have expected a reaction this explosive.

Sixty thousand was more than enough either way.

I looked at Hinyong and gave her a nod.

She nodded right back.

I flipped on the camera and audio immediately.

"Hello, everyone! Have you all been waiting?"

I smiled faintly at the flood of chat. The reaction was so good I couldn't help getting fired up myself.

"Then let me introduce her right away! If you watch Twiv, there's no way you don't know her—please welcome Hinyong!"

"Hello! I'm Hinyong!"

A single word from her sent the chat into another frenzy. In the streaming world, a beautiful woman really was everything.

"More than anything, I never expected you to be the one to ask for a collab."

"I've actually been a fan of yours for a while, Sinhyeok."

"Oh! I'm a fan of yours too!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

Right from the start, our chemistry was solid.

Hinyong especially—whatever nerves she'd had earlier had completely vanished, replaced by a natural, effortless presence. No wonder she was a top streamer.

"So, do you watch my streams often?"

"Of course! I even caught that cooking stream last time!"

"No! Why would you watch that?!"

"Pfft—you were adorable, though?"

"A-adorable?"

For a moment, Hinyong's face flushed slightly pink.

So that's acting, huh?

She was incredible. I couldn't help but be impressed even while watching it happen.

Either way, we carried the stream with strong energy from the jump. We even cracked eighty thousand viewers.

Inhwang's at a hundred and twenty thousand, so… if we push a little more, we might actually take him.

Right now Inhwang had a hundred and twenty thousand on Twiv and a hundred thousand on PopTV. Snatching both platforms was unrealistic, but Twiv alone felt within reach.

"Ah, more importantly—Hinyong brought a ton of stream props with her. What all did you bring?"

"Well, I've got a heart-rate monitor, a lie detector, some Pocky, a measuring tape—that's what I prepped!"

"Why the Pocky?"

"For the Pocky game, of course."

"…Seriously?"

"Yep!"

Hinyong's face showed zero hesitation whatsoever.

I put on a look of pure surprise.

Of course, it was acting. We'd already talked everything through beforehand.

"Alright, how about this—we play games with all the props you brought, and whoever wins overall gets a wish voucher."

"Sounds good? That'll be fun!"

We did a bit of casual chatting first. Then we kicked things off with the lie detector game.

The rules were simple: take turns asking questions, and score points whenever the other person gets caught lying.

"Alright, Hinyong, you go first."

"Okay."

The overall framework had been planned out in advance. But little questions like these hadn't been scripted—so I was a bit nervous myself.

I placed my hand on the lie detector.

And then Hinyong's questions began.

"I have gotten excited looking at Hinyong's body."

"Huh? Wait, you're starting with a question like that…?!"

"Just answer already!"

"Um… no."

I never expected her to open with something like that. Clearly, Hinyong had come today with serious intent.

The lie detector kicked in.

Honestly, it was just a toy. Whether it actually worked reliably was anyone's guess. But it was fun—and that was what mattered.

And sure enough.

"Ack!"

A jolt of electricity shot through my hand.

I clutched it and put on my most wronged expression.

"Hey, I was telling the truth!"

"…I'm disappointed."

"H-Hinyong! That's not—"

Okay, fine—I had gotten a little excited looking at her figure. That much was true.

But in a situation like this, denying it was the only correct answer.

Thankfully, the viewer reaction was fantastic. That alone was a comfort.

Next, it was my turn. I waited for Hinyong to place her hand on the lie detector, then asked my question.

"Be honest—when you said you were my fan earlier, that was a lie."

If she got busted the same way I had, it'd be pretty funny. That was why I went with it.

"No! I really am a fan!"

Hinyong answered with a firm, unwavering expression.

The lie detector activated.

And unfortunately, no electricity this time.

"Ahem! See? I really am a fan of Sinhyeok!"

"Ah…"

Being her fan was nice and all, but I'd lost the round. The feeling was a little bittersweet.

"Alright, my turn again! You've thought about wanting physical contact with me before!"