A Sudden Kiss
"Alright then — my turn! You've thought about wanting physical contact with me before!"
"Ahem — no!"
I denied it on the spot.
The result was merciless.
Beep-beep!
"Ack! Th-that can't be right!"
"…I'm genuinely disappointed."
"It's a misunderstanding!"
Just like that, I'd already given up two points. The game had swung heavily against me.
And I never managed a comeback before it ended. For all practical purposes, I'd lost the first round.
"I got one point, right?"
"…Yes."
Was I turning into Cheonma?
Losing a game left me feeling just a little bitter.
No — Cheonma was my clone. Of course we'd share plenty of traits. Competitive fire was apparently one of them.
"I won, then? Heh. On to the next game!"
"Let's go! Next one's the heart-rate monitor game, right?"
"Yep!"
Whoever raised the other person's heart rate higher won. The rules were simple enough.
"I won, so I go first!"
"Alright."
Hinyong launched the first attack again.
I sat in the chair and clipped the sensor to my finger.
Beep.
Beep.
My heart rate appeared in real time.
"You're already over a hundred? Think you can handle my attack like this?"
"Don't worry about it."
Qi circulation and meditation shared a lot of common ground, and I'd been circulating steadily. Calming my mind shouldn't be hard at all—
♪♩♫♩♪
Out of nowhere, background music kicked in. Something distinctly sultry.
And right on cue, Hinyong started to dance.
Hinyong's dancing was intense. From the first beat she threw her body into it without restraint, and the already revealing outfit only amplified the heat of the performance.
Gulp.
I swallowed without meaning to.
And she didn't stop at dancing.
Her hands began roaming over my body.
"W-wait a second!"
"Why? Nobody said this wasn't allowed."
"Th-that's true, but…"
Her hands brushed across my chest, then trailed down to my thighs.
Hinyong wasn't the kind of streamer who usually put on this kind of act. For all the boldness of her wardrobe, her actual behavior tended to stay fairly reserved.
Now every last seal had come off, and she was putting on a show this provocative. I couldn't adjust.
Beep.
Beep.
My heart rate spiked in real time.
110
124
131
144
It climbed all the way to 144. A genuine crisis.
Hey — Cheonma, what are you doing?!
Normally, situations like this were exactly when my clone would step in. She'd done it constantly with Park Soyoon.
But ever since she'd earned that wish ticket, that side of her seemed to have vanished.
How to put it?
Like she'd gotten… comfortable?
Even now, she hadn't so much as stirred from her room.
Final reading: 148. At least it hadn't cracked 150. Small mercies.
I'm going to lose this, aren't I?
My competitive streak hated the idea of losing — but for the stream, I needed the win for the optics to work. Dropping two games straight would be a disaster.
Then the Ppepero game we'd prepared would never happen, and the whole thing would be over.
"So now it's your turn to seduce me, Sinhyeok?"
"Ahem. I shouldn't touch you the same way, right?"
"I don't mind."
"Really?"
"Go ahead. Be bold."
She clearly understood how streaming worked. That was probably why she'd said it.
Not that I planned to grab her thighs or chest the way she had. That felt like a step too far.
I approached her with a faintly tense expression. Strangely, just closing the distance made me the one who was shaking more.
Beep.
Beep.
"Huh?"
Something was off.
All I'd done was walk toward her. Approaching was the entire extent of it. And yet her heart rate had climbed to a bizarre degree.
110
125
131
I just walked over and she's at 131?
Maybe she was a lot more easily flustered than she let on.
This was my opening.
I closed in further.
No — I brought my face right up to hers.
As if I were about to kiss her.
I had no intention of actually kissing her. I just figured getting this close would drive her heart rate even higher.
"W-wait a moment!"
"You can't move. That means instant defeat."
"Ugh!"
My lips drifted closer and closer to hers.
With every inch, her heart rate exploded upward.
Then, with about seven centimeters left, I stopped.
I glanced sideways at the monitor.
At that number, her heart was one beat from detonating.
I smirked at the reading and pulled my face back.
"Ah…"
A strangely disappointed sound slipped out of her.
Not that it mattered. What mattered was that I'd won.
"My victory this round?"
"D-did I lose?"
"Yep. Look at that."
Hinyong stared at her sky-high heart rate with a thoroughly startled expression, then fanned herself with one hand for no particular reason. She looked genuinely overheated.
I chuckled and prepped the next game.
One to one. Somehow, we'd made it all the way to the final round.
More pressing was the chat — the reactions had gone weird.
Surprisingly, the viewers seemed disappointed. Apparently they'd wanted an actual kiss.
Absolutely not.
Game or no game, she was a female streamer. Image mattered. Stopping where I had was the right call.
Either way, the long-awaited final game had arrived.
The Ppepero game we'd been waiting for (allegedly).
Both of us would hold a Ppepero stick in our mouths and close the distance — whoever got closer without breaking it won.
"I won this round, so I go first."
"Alright."
Hinyong bit down on her end of the Ppepero first.
I leaned in toward her.
A moment later I caught the free end between my teeth.
We were closer than I'd expected. Her flushed face filled my vision.
She really is pretty.
Up close, even more so. My heart gave a little uninvited skip.
Focus.
We were live. This was no time to get swept up in feelings.
I worked my way along the Ppepero, closing in on Hinyong's lips.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Thoroughly embarrassed, from the look of it.
I smirked and kept advancing.
Hadn't I said it already?
I was competitive.
I planned to win this one too — claim the wish ticket, and get a front-row seat to another of Hinyong's dances.
My lips drew nearer and nearer to hers.
The Ppepero had shrunk to roughly a finger's width. At this range we were practically touching.
I could hear her nervous breathing. I almost thought I could feel the warmth of her body.
Honestly, if I pushed it I could have closed the gap further — but I stopped there.
About two centimeters left, give or take.
Victory was essentially locked in.
No way Hinyong gets closer than this.
She had a female streamer's image to protect. Her remaining length would almost certainly be longer than mine.
"I'll measure it myself!"
Hinyong pulled out a prepared ruler and checked the length. Exactly 1.9 centimeters.
I looked at that number and knew I'd won.
The chat agreed.
I snuck a look at the viewer count.
Whoa!
That put me on the verge of overtaking Inhwang. A smile spread across my face on its own.
"Your turn, Hinyong. Think you can beat 1.9 centimeters?"
"Ugh!"
She looked thoroughly cornered.
But she didn't give up.
I bit down on my end of the Ppepero first.
Then Hinyong carefully closed the distance.
Her pretty face drifted right up to mine.
"Alright — starting now!"
"Go ahead."
Hinyong parted her lips slightly and took the free end between her teeth. Even a motion that small somehow looked elegant. I had no idea how she managed it.
Okay, this is actually kind of nerve-wracking.
I hadn't noticed when I was the one moving. Being on the receiving end was a whole different kind of tension.
In that state, Hinyong's lips kept advancing.
She was bolder than expected — faster than I'd been, even. Finger-width by finger-width, the Ppepero vanished into her mouth.
Then she reached the danger zone.
Roughly one finger's width remaining.
Any further and our lips would touch. That close.
Honestly, just getting this far was impressive.
But this had to be her limit. Anything more would be too much.
Image concerns alone would stop her—
……!
My eyes went wide.
Because Hinyong kept coming.
She showed no sign of stopping. She was a bulldozer.
Her lips drew closer still.
And then—
Chup.
Hinyong's lips brushed mine.
Faint — but unmistakable. Our lips had touched.
I sat there with a blank expression.
And in that daze, Hinyong held up what was left of the Ppepero.
Practically nothing but crumbs remained.
"I-I won, right?!"
She held it up for the viewers to confirm.
Of course, chat completely lost its mind.