Chapter 2
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Different Worlds
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People often say, "They live in different worlds."
The original meaning is that some folks reside in the upper echelons while others scrape by in the lower ones. But I think there's another way to interpret it.
How?
"Everyone has different interests."
Even within school, you can see kids living in their own separate worlds.
From the so-called "popular crowd" types, to the ones buried in the world of studying that I ran away from, to everyone else immersed in their personal hobbies.
And in my case, as you'd expect...
"I fell asleep watching Mei's stream yesterday. Her voice is straight-up ASMR—even in a gaming stream, it just lulls you right to sleep."
"I watched Aris's. She's so good at games, it was a blast to watch."
...I'm living in the world of otaku who watch VTubers.
Birds of a feather flock together, as they say. Most of my friends are into VTubers like me. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say everyone except one or two watches them.
And even those one or two often overlap with me in anime or games.
Other kids might look at us and call us "gross otaku," but it doesn't really faze us. Why? Because, honestly, it's true.
If anything, we hate it when posers try to steal our "otaku" title. Those fashion otaku aren't the real deal.
Shaking off those unpleasant thoughts, I decided to chat with my friends about the VTubers we'd watched yesterday instead.
"I watched Lulu. She was playing a public match, and her screaming was just chef's kiss."
"Lulu's cute and all, but she's way too scared for public matches..."
"What're you talking about? That's exactly why we watch Lulu—for those reactions."
"Ugh, here come the Coward Lulu Squad again?"
"Coward Lulu Squad" is a teasing nickname for Lulu's fanbase, the Lulu Squad. Honestly, it sounds kinda cute, and since it comes from "cowardly Lulu Squad," even the fans use it themselves.
"What's wrong with it? That's what makes her cute."
"She is cute. Still, I prefer the ones who are good at games."
"Yeah, yeah, that's got its own charm."
If there's one unwritten rule among VTuber fans, it's to respect each other's favorites. Just like we're doing right now.
Besides, the three VTubers we're talking about—Mei, Aris, and Lulu—are all from the same group, Sweet Nightmare. No reason not to respect that.
"I hope some highlight clips or official edits from yesterday's stream go up soon."
"The Lulu Squad already posted one at dawn."
"Who?"
"Mango Sticky Cookie, that clipper."
"Oh, that one?"
-Twitch!
My body jolted when my channel came up.
My friends have no idea I'm the clipper "Mango Sticky Cookie." I've never told them, and I have no plans to. They barely know anything about me beyond the fact that I do video editing.
Can't be helped. Everyone has secrets they want to keep from friends, and I just don't want anyone knowing I'm Mango Sticky Cookie.
There are a bunch of reasons, but mainly, I don't like the idea of my friends suddenly paying too much attention to me. Plus, since Mango Sticky Cookie's channel actually makes money, their view of me might change.
Taking all that into account, I've only told my brother. No one else—not even my parents know beyond "my son makes money editing videos."
Brother's the exception. He was the one who helped me start editing in the first place and introduced me to the world of VTubers.
Anyway, since I didn't want anyone knowing, I played it cool as best I could.
"What, they uploaded the overnight stream already?"
"Yeah, and the editing was top-notch."
"When did you even see that?"
"On the way to school. It's pretty easy to watch on the bus."
This guy's got some dedication, watching VTuber clips on the bus. I genuinely admire it.
That clip talk kicked off a deeper dive into highlights for me and my friends. Or at least, we tried to.
"...Hey, hey."
Yoon Soo, sitting in front of me, nudged my shoulder.
"What."
"Over there..."
He whispered and pointed somewhere with his finger.
At the end of that finger was a girl glaring daggers at us... Im Rua.
"The class president's glaring at us...?"
"Were we being too loud?"
"Maybe..."
Glared at for being noisy? Im Rua hates slackers, sure, but not that much.
"She's probably just looking past us at something else."
"Nah, she's been staring at us nonstop. Ever since we started talking about Lulu."
"How'd you notice?"
"When someone glares that hard, only an idiot wouldn't notice."
Really? Were we actually that loud?
Even though things have cooled off between me and Im Rua, I don't really think badly of her. I just figure we've ended up in different worlds, that's all.
"...Let's just keep it down for now. She'll stop glaring."
So my choice was to ignore it. Stay out of each other's hair, live and let live. That was my plan.
After that, we kept our voices low and quiet until lunch ended.
Quiet enough not to bother Im Rua.
And yet, she still shot us glares every now and then. Like we were really getting under her skin.
...What did we even do wrong?
Of course, I didn't have the guts to ask. Two years ago, I would've done it without a second thought, but now? We're in this awkward limbo.
But as if God wanted to test me, he dropped a brutally harsh punishment right then.
Fifth period that day was "creative activities," which basically means free time the homeroom teacher uses however they want.
Teachers handle class stuff during it—like cleaning the room or prepping for school events...
...or switching seats.
Today was seat-switch day. I prayed to sit with someone quiet, but instead, I got paired with the one person I wanted to avoid most.
[Seo Jinwoo/Im Rua]
The name "Im Rua" right next to mine was definitely the last one I wanted to see in the class.
"Hey, kids, wanna roll the randomizer one more time~?"
"“Yeah~!”"
"“Nooo~!”"
Half yes, half no. The teacher grinned mischievously and said, as if it was obvious:
"No take-backs. We've rolled three times already—plenty! Now switch seats."
My last shred of hope toyed with by the teacher, I swallowed my despair and started moving.
Most of the class put their chairs on their desks and shuffled around. I headed to my assigned spot too.
The seat itself was perfect. Back corner of the room—prime real estate for slacking off or napping.
Only problem was my neighbor.
I dragged my desk over, and Im Rua was already there, staring right at me.
"...Hi."
A plain greeting came from Im Rua's mouth.
A voice that once felt so familiar and comfy now just felt awkward. Kinda off-putting, even.
One thing was for sure, though: it was still adorable.
No cutesy affectations, just the natural tone of her voice. Something like that.
"Hi."
I returned her greeting, and she nodded before saying:
"Looking forward to the next two months."
"...Yeah. Same here."
That painfully awkward exchange ended, and we both set our chairs down and sat.
The room started getting noisy right away. The teacher had said, "Do whatever after switching," so kids were wandering off to chat with friends freely.
Predictably, model student Im Rua pulled out a book and started studying.
I kept my mouth shut to avoid bothering her and quietly got up to leave.
That's when she called out to me.
"...Jinwoo."
"Y-yeah? Uh, what... what's up?"
I reacted like an idiot, but I couldn't help it. Never imagined she'd call me "Jinwoo" like back in the day.
But her next question blew past all my expectations.
"You... um... watch VTubers? That kind of stuff?"
Asking if I watch VTubers? I was totally caught off guard.
Never dreamed a straight-A like Im Rua would even know the word.
"Uh... y-yeah, VTubers... I watch... yeah."
"I see... Got it. Thanks."
"Uh...? Y-yeah... sure..."
And that was the end of our conversation that day.
At the time, I had no clue. Not even a guess.
Why Im Rua asked if I watched VTubers. How she even knew what they were. Why she thanked me.
Back when things were awkward with her, I just couldn't know.