Chapter 13
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Sore Finger
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Thanks to my brother waking me up, I managed to drag myself out of bed.
I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, and threw on my uniform. Threw on is more like it—it barely qualified as wearing it.
Eh, good enough. I grabbed my bag and indoor shoes and headed to school.
Once I got there, I staggered up to the classroom...
Thud!
I collapsed straight into my seat and slammed my head on the desk.
I'm exhausted. No, wiped out. My brain won't even turn over.
What's all this about? Simple.
I kept fumbling shortcuts I'd just learned, hitting the wrong keys left and right. And with one finger out of commission, adding subtitles took forever—way slower than usual.
On top of that, my finger kept distracting me, so the clip quality suffered too.
By the time I'd revised and revised until it matched my normal standard, it was already 6 a.m. before I could export and upload.
Yeah. I'd gotten just over two hours of sleep.
My eyelids felt insanely heavy. I wanted to pass out right there. I was about to.
But then...
"Jinwoo... you okay...?"
A voice full of worry came from right beside me.
I lifted my head on instinct and looked toward the voice. There was Im Rua, her face etched with concern.
"......Nah, just sleepy."
"What time did you go to bed last night?"
"......"
What should I say? If I told the truth, she'd chew me out big time. But lying didn't feel right either.
So what I went with was...
"...Dunno. I'm just gonna sleep."
Dodging the question.
I know evasion isn't a great habit. But right now, it was exactly what I needed.
I turned my head away from Im Rua and buried my face in my arms on the desk.
And before long, my mind went blank. Like a total blackout.
When I came to again, it was already past 11 a.m.
That meant I'd slept nearly three hours straight since arriving at school around 8:50.
"Hey, you're finally awake?"
The Korean teacher was grinning mischievously at me.
Apparently, a lot had gone down around me while I was out.
"...Alright, let's move on."
The teacher resumed the lesson, and my classmates—who'd been laughing around me—went back to studying.
And...
Tap tap.
Im Rua was nudging my arm.
She held out a note to me, just like always.
[You okay?]
Her round, cute handwriting asked if I was alright.
Remembering how prickly I'd been before dozing off, I felt bad and replied with genuine apology in my heart.
[A bit better now]
[What time did you actually crash last night?]
This time, there was no dodging it, so I answered honestly.
[6 a.m.]
[Why?]
The second I saw that, I glanced at Im Rua's face.
She had the most earnest expression, her eyes clear and innocent.
I could tell it wasn't blame or scolding—just pure curiosity.
After some thought, I gave her my honest take.
[Had some stuff to do]
[Stuff?]
[Yeah]
[Important?]
I hesitated a bit, then wrote the same thing.
[Yeah]
She read it, made a few complicated faces, then passed me something from under the desk.
It was that mint candy she'd given me a few times before.
I popped it in my mouth, and a chill hit me so hard it made my whole body shiver.
It looked the same, but this one packed way more punch than the last ones.
[This'll wake you up a little. Sleep again at lunch]
Whatever, that's what she wrote.
Moments like this always remind me how many biases I had about Im Rua.
When I first ended up seated next to her, I pictured her full-on disturbing me while I tried to sleep.
And yeah, at first she did bug me. Telling me not to sleep, to stay awake.
But after that one time, she switched to giving me candy to gently wake me up. Sometimes she even helped me sleep better.
...Maybe Im Rua's more flexible than I thought—not so stuck on rules and principles.
Thinking back, even as kids, she had a sneaky flexible side.
She'd gotten cooler and more distant as we grew up, sure. But that just meant I hadn't seen the real her hidden behind it.
A wave of needless guilt and sorry washed over me, chasing away the last of my sleepiness.
[I'm good now]
[Good]
Im Rua casually passed another note, then asked more.
[How's your finger?]
My finger... huh.
If she was asking if it was okay or not, then no, it wasn't.
It still throbbed, and even now while scribbling notes, it stung a little.
Hell, maybe the pain was what woke me up.
Still, I lied to her.
[It's fine]
Why'd I say that? Was I trying to act tough in front of Im Rua? Pulling some pointless macho stunt for my old childhood friend?
Dunno. Don't really care to figure it out.
Doesn't matter anyway.
What matters is I don't want her knowing it hurts. That's the honest truth.
[No need to worry]
[See? Notes are fine]
She glanced at my finger, her face sinking even more.
Did I mess up?
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, she added one more line.
[Leave your book out]
And with that, our note-passing ended.
Im Rua dove back into studying, and I snuck a peek before pulling out my book.
It was brand new, barely any study marks on it.
Damn, even my textbook's brutally honest.
*
After fourth period and lunch, I was fully awake and chatting with my friends like usual.
Our go-to topic was always otaku stuff, and today it was one of those—VTubers.
"What about Lulu's gaffe yesterday?"
The talk was naturally about Lulu's slip-up from last night.
A gaffe, basically a verbal fumble.
My honest take on it?
"Eh, probably fine."
"You think?"
"Yeah, it'll be okay."
I really do think it'll blow over. For real.
Right after the stream ended, Lulu and Sweet Nightmare's SNS dropped a makeup stream schedule—for today and tomorrow, two days straight.
Content was simple: the three of them grinding a game until they win at least once.
Might get flak for the difficulty, but nothing about Lulu's gaffe.
It was just a day later anyway, and it fit her character perfectly. Hell, that moment even turned into a hilarious highlight.
Made me wonder if she faked the slip on purpose.
If so, Lulu's one scary, smart cookie.
Turning even a gaffe into content.
Honestly, I think she meant to do it at least a little.
Some might call it a stretch, but Lulu's a pro at milking her character.
She weaves between her RP persona and real personality seamlessly, keeping viewers hooked—that's the holy grail for VTubers, and it's tough as hell.
Lulu nails it effortlessly.
Might be bias as a fan, but that's how I see it.
"If it wasn't on purpose, she's lucky."
"Right?"
"Oh yeah. So, Sweet Nightmare collab today... wanna snipe it?"
These guys were suddenly dropping scary ideas.
Snipe your fave VTuber's stream? That's straight savage.
...Well, it could be content too, and streamers kinda aim for that sometimes.
But if you grief hard until it's no-fun city, that's a problem.
How to put this? After mulling it over, I just blurted what came to mind.
"Don't snipe unless you wanna ruin the vibe instantly. If you do, one game max."
"Loyalist has entered the chat."
I gave my cackling friend some straight-up real talk advice too.
Not some deep life wisdom.
Just playful enough not to kill the mood, but grounded in reality.
What was it?
"Those three queue up, matchmaking'll put 'em in Aris-tier lobbies. You at her tier?"
The 'you're nowhere close' strat.
"...Nah."
One answer from my friend, and the teasing exploded.
"Ooooh~"
"No sniping for you then~"
"Sniping has limits, folks~"
Watching my buddies crack up, I thought to myself.
Read the room, guys.