Hard at Everything
Regardless of how much Lua’s streams had grown, midterms had rolled around at school as well.
Truthfully, neither of us really needed to study that hard. Neither of us had any real intention of going to college, after all.
But still…
“Lua-ya, can you help me with this problem?”
“Hmm… This is the kind of problem where you can’t get stuck on just that one condition. Look carefully.”
And so Lua and I were gathered like this, studying hard together.
Honestly speaking, I didn’t particularly feel like studying. I’d already gotten into the habit of working hard at it, and I’d even found a decent bit of fun in raising my grades—but the important thing was that right now, I didn’t have much motivation to study at all.
Besides, studying itself wasn’t exactly a blast, was it?
So I hadn’t wanted to do it all that much…
“Oh, thanks. I get it now.”
“Glad to hear it.”
…but when she praised me like that and wanted to study together, I simply couldn’t ignore Lua’s feelings.
The biggest reason I’d changed was, no matter what anyone said, thanks to her.
Because Lua had recommended studying to me. Because she’d wanted to study with me. Because she’d spent her own time helping me with it.
That was why I’d been able to put in more effort, why I’d been able to work harder.
And that same Lua, even though she claimed she didn’t need the results of studying, was pouring her whole heart into preparing for the exams.
To give her best to everything. To always work diligently. She was studying hard even when she didn’t need to.
With a girl like that right beside me, didn’t I at least have to study alongside her?
I genuinely thought so.
After some more time had passed, Lua tapped my shoulder.
“Jinwoo-ya, want to take a little break?”
“Yeah, let’s.”
I got up with her and headed out to the living room, where we started chatting about this and that.
“Jinwoo-ya, third-year studying’s pretty hard, huh?”
“The subjects themselves are tricky, but it’s still doable enough.”
“Ooooh~ Look at you~”
I said that, but the really impressive one was Lua.
No matter what I asked, she knew everything and answered without missing a beat. How could that not be cool?
“How about you? Studying going okay?”
“Me? Eh~ It’s all pretty much the same~”
All the same, huh. Meaning everything was easy for her.
A girl like that not going to college… the teachers must have been pretty sore about it.
But what could you do? Lua was already earning enough that it didn’t lose out at all compared to getting into a good university and landing a job at a good company.
“But Jinwoo-ya, isn’t it hard on you?”
“What is?”
“Studying. You used to hate it so much just last year.”
She asked in a faintly worried voice, and all I could do was shake my head at her.
“It’s not really that hard.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You’re studying right next to me, after all. When the person beside you is working hard, you naturally end up working harder too.”
“…… Thanks, Jinwoo-ya. For keeping me company.”
After saying that, Lua looked at me and opened her mouth again.
“But Jinwoo-ya, there’s something I’m curious about.”
“What?”
“You said you weren’t going to college either, right?”
“Yeah. You were the one who told me to come in as your personal editor in the first place.”
“…… With grades like yours, you could still get into a school in Seoul. Assuming you actually take the CSAT, of course.”
She said that, then looked at me with a deeply worried tone.
“Our Representative is actually really strict, you know. No matter how good you are, if he doesn’t like you, you probably won’t get to be my editor.”
“Not even with Lulu’s influence?”
“No matter how popular Lulu is, picking an editor on her own would be overstepping. Besides, I need an editor I can grow the channel with either way.”
Lua’s take was completely right. A partner you work with shouldn’t be chosen based on feelings. It had to be based on ability.
Looking at it that way, I honestly thought I was even better suited as an editor for a streamer like Lulu.
What made Lulu famous was her unique charm, her banter, her streaming sense and planning ability—but I figured at least twenty or thirty percent of the credit was mine.
My shorts had ridden the algorithm and blown the streamer known as Lulu up to an absurd degree, after all.
As proof of that, Lulu’s clipper Mangjjonku was currently freelancing edits for Elia’s streams, helping her find her footing.
And since that Mangjjonku was me—and since I’d already finished a certain amount of discussion with the Representative—I could say this with confidence.
“I’m really confident I can do well.”
“I think so too, but still…”
“I’m confident I can earn your Representative’s recognition too.”
“…… Really?”
“Yeah. Really.”
When I answered full of certainty, Lua finally gave a small smile and nodded.
“… I’ll trust you, Jinwoo-ya.”
I used to not really understand how good and reassuring it felt to be trusted. But receiving Lua’s trust like this…
… somehow, it felt nice. Like I’d become someone a little more impressive, someone a little cooler.
Even though the real me was still the same as ever.
That was just how good a person Lua was to me, how cool she was, how amazing she was.
“… Want to rest a little more before we study?”
“Yeah, let’s. But you’ve got a stream today too, don’t you?”
“I do, yeah?”
“You streamed yesterday too.”
“The streams have just been going too well lately~”
Lua stretched out long and lazy as she said it.
And she was right—Lua’s streams, Kuroa Lulu’s streams, were doing incredibly well right now.
You could practically say there were almost no VTubers on the platform doing better than Kuroa Lulu. She was basically top-tier among VTubers.
That meant plenty of superchats and plenty of ad revenue. How could the streams not be going well?
Frankly, the whole universe was riding Lulu’s wave right now.
“Aren’t you tired?”
“… A little, yeah.”
She said it with an awkward little smile, and I answered her with complete sincerity.
“… Why don’t we put studying on the back burner for a bit and just get some sleep?”
“Sleep?”
“Yeah. Wouldn’t you feel better if you slept a little?”
At that, Lua narrowed her eyes at me and started teasing.
“Jinwoo, you pervert. What are you planning to do once you’ve put me to sleep?”
“… There you go calling me a pervert again.”
“You are a pervert, Jinwoo. Pervert, pervert, pervert, per~vert.”
It was a little unfair. A pervert? No matter what, my actual behavior was plenty gentlemanly.
… That was what I said, but the truth was, being a guy, there were some things I couldn’t help either.
“Ahem…”
“Jinwoo, you per~vert. What exactly are you planning to do to me once I’m asleep?”
“… Want me to?”
“Huh?”
Lua jumped and blinked at me.
“…….”
It was the best counterattack I could manage, and thankfully it seemed to work on her too.
The Lua who’d been channeling a little bratty gremlin to mess with me had shut her mouth and gone all shy.
See? If you were just going to get quiet like this, why keep teasing me in the first place?
I stood up and poked her a couple times.
“Hey. Let’s go study already.”
“… Jinwoo-ya.”
“What?”
“… Do you… want to do that kind of thing with me?”
Lua looked up at me and said something I had never expected in the slightest.
“… What?”
“Don’t play dumb. You know exactly what I mean.”
There was something in her eyes—something I hadn’t been expecting at all.
What was that feeling? Goodwill toward me? Curiosity? Contempt? Or something else entirely?
I didn’t know. And I didn’t particularly want to know. It felt like something I shouldn’t find out.
“Stop talking nonsense and let’s go study. We’ve rested enough.”
“… Idiot.”
Lua stood up, brushed past me, and headed toward the desk in my room.
I stared blankly after her for a moment, then went and sat down beside her.
Of course, studying was never going to go well after that.
What she’d said kept nagging at me so badly that I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of feelings had made her ask me something like that.
In the end, I only managed to get through about a single page of problems.
Time ran out, and our study session had no choice but to stop there.
But there was one strange thing.
That concentration monster Lua—that studying monster Im Lua—
had barely even turned the page from the one I’d last seen her on.
Maybe she’d been reviewing. Or maybe she’d gotten stuck on a problem.
I wasn’t sure which, but right then I couldn’t spare any attention for her side of things either.
“… See you later, Jinwoo-ya.”
“Yeah. See you later.”
Neither of us said another word to each other after that exchange.
And for nearly the first time ever, I deliberately chose not to watch Lulu’s stream.
Elia was growing well too, so I should focus more on making her clips—that was the excellent excuse I hid behind, at least.
Needless to say, I couldn’t properly edit Elia’s footage either.
I couldn’t even properly concentrate on making clips.
It was all Im Lua’s fault. She was the one who’d messed up.
As a side note, after Elia’s stream ended I thought, “I should at least make a Lulu clip,” and checked her broadcast…
“Aaaaaaaah! Why did I die?! Why am I dyiiiiing!!!”
… only to be met with Lua’s physical gameplay, which had somehow become twice as disastrous as usual.
That was a little serious. Even when she was bad, she usually wasn’t that bad.