Chuseok Special Broadcast
About two weeks had passed, and midterms were finally over.
After the exam, Jihye Kim, who sat next to me, casually sorted through her papers and asked,
"Jinwoo, how did you do on the test?"
"Beats me."
"Huh? Didn't you study hard with Lua?"
"I did, yeah."
"Then you must've done well, right? Lua's first in the whole school."
Well, that much was true.
Lua had been pouring everything into both her streaming and her studies, and on top of that she'd still made time to tutor me.
It was incredible, and at the same time it left me feeling guilty as hell.
I knew better than anyone how exhausting those streams were for her.
And me, the guy who watches every single one and clips them? Sure, it wasn't exactly effortless, but if you asked whether it was as hard as what Lua went through, the answer was a hard no.
Every week Lua had to invent new content from scratch, and the quality of that content rose or fell entirely on how hard she pushed herself.
There was no way reworking already-finished content could ever be that tough for me. If anything, it was fun.
And in that situation I was still leaning on her for study help. How could I not feel bad?
So I worked even harder. For the sake of the girl who'd helped me, I ground myself down to the bone trying to earn better grades.
I must have studied at least four hours a day.
Thanks to that, the number of Lulu Shorts I put out dropped. Days when I normally would've made five clips often got rounded down to two.
Still, all that extra effort paid off—the results were better than before.
"…Probably somewhere in the high seventies to low eighties average?"
"Whoa, you really went all out. Low eighties puts you right around my level."
"Bullshit. You're top five in our class."
"Which means you're saying you'll crack the top eight."
Hearing that only made it harder to believe.
Half a year ago I used to count ranks from the bottom because it was faster. Now counting from the top was quicker?
I was still stuck on how impossible that sounded when Lua walked over to my side.
"Jinwoo, how did the test go?"
"…I think I did about as well as you taught me."
"So you got into the nineties, right?"
"Are you crazy? Best case is low eighties."
"Still, that's amazing. Aww, good job~"
Lua rose onto her tiptoes and patted me on the head.
Having her stroke my hair made my chest tickle, yet at the same time it bruised my pride a little.
But the moment I imagined it was Lulu doing the head-pats…
……the damage to my pride got even worse. That scrubby mesugaki Lulu was giving me head-pats? Where the hell did my dignity go?
I immediately pulled Lua's hand away. No matter which way I pictured it, my pride ended up in ruins, so the only option was to retreat.
Even so, Lua just giggled and started teasing me.
"You're embarrassed~"
"Are you nuts?"
Jihye Kim, who had been quietly watching our exchange, dropped an absolute bombshell.
"…So you two are dating, then?"
"N-no we're not…?!"
"Absolutely not."
At our flustered answers, Jihye only shrugged.
Please stop trying to ship us for real.
That would be rude to Lua, not to me.
For me it would actually be an honor—getting linked with someone as pretty and smart as Lua. But for her? Getting tied to a guy way dumber than her, and not even a good-looking one at that? There was no way she'd enjoy it.
I'll have to apologize separately later, I thought, finishing packing my bag.
The moment exams ended, what waited for us was none other than Chuseok.
And I had been looking forward to this Chuseok more than anything.
Chuseok was also the grand festival season when countless streamers held collabs.
Naturally, Lulu's Sweet Mare had a collab planned as well.
Sweet Mare collabs had been rare lately, so the fans were all desperate not to miss this chance to quench their thirst.
Lulu and Aris fans were excited enough, but Mei's fans in particular were going completely feral waiting for it.
Why?
Because Mei was an ASMR and just-chatting focused streamer who only treated games as a side thing.
So her viewers who wanted to see her play games waited for collabs like this with genuine hunger.
Sure, they loved her ASMR and chatting, but even those formats had their limits, right?
For viewers craving a fresh hit of dopamine, this collab was perfect.
Especially since Mei almost never got worked up or angry—yet whenever she got tangled up with Lulu and Aris, she slipped into big-sister mode every so often, and plenty of fans lived for those moments.
So what content were the three of them doing for this Chuseok holiday collab?
"The content we'll be playing today is~"
"Right this second~~"
"Go-Stop!!"
…Go-Stop, she said.
Huh?
While I sat there momentarily stunned, Lulu declared it with complete confidence.
"Go-Stop is a board game packed with Korean tradition and history! It's not bad, right? Right?"
"And for the record~ the loser has to scatter tickets into the winner's stream room~"
Those "tickets" were basically fan tickets that let you skip ads and the like while watching a stream.
Not a bad prize, honestly. For a gambling concept, that level of punishment sounded fun.
Of course I'd never win one myself—I'd already bought a full year's worth of tickets.
But… was this even okay?
The other two were probably adults, but Lulu—Lua—was a minor. Was a minor allowed to play a gambling game?
I had my doubts, yet it wasn't like she was wagering real money, so I figured it was fine.
Besides, the VTubers themselves wouldn't be buying those tickets; some manager or staffer would handle it for sure.
Anyway, the Go-Stop match that kicked off among the three of them…
……turned into a one-sided slaughter by the person no one expected.
Aris was the gaming powerhouse, Lulu was sharp at mind games.
I'd expected a rivalry between those two, or maybe one of them running away with it.
But instead…
"I'll take that~ Oh my! Another one stuck on~"
"Thanks for the meal~ Both of you, hand over a card each~"
"Aaaah, Unnie! All I have left are the two-point ones…!"
"Then you have to give those~"
……Mei started massacring them.
It got so bad that from the mid-game onward they openly started teaming up to check her.
"Hey, Lulu. You need anything?"
"A light would be nice."
"A light? I'll give you a light, so you take it."
"Got it…!"
They were straight-up asking each other what they needed and trying to cheat.
Mei must have found it adorable, because she just smiled and kept dismantling both of them.
"Isn't that a little mean~? Gang-ups make Go-Stop no fun~"
"Unnie, you're just too good!"
"Yeah! You're a bad person who steals from her little sisters!"
"My, how harsh. I'm just playing my hardest, you know?"
When Mei bantered with her regular viewers she usually came off as the soft, gentle big-sis type.
But facing Lulu and Aris, she turned into a teasing older sister full of mischief.
That gap moe was exactly what her fans loved.
"Come on, Lulu! You take this!"
"Okay…!"
*Slap! Slap!*
Lulu happily ate the card Aris tossed her.
But then…
*Slap!*
[Puck!!]
The very next card was an identical match, so Lulu couldn't even keep the one Aris had thrown her.
"Aah…!"
"Our Lulu and Aris are just too cute~ Trying so hard like this…!"
*Slap!*
"…to feed Unnie something delicious~"
And then Mei gobbled up that delicious something all by herself.
"Kids, each of you bring me a pi~"
"Aaaaaah noooooo!"
"There's no 'no' allowed~ Our Lulu~"
Lulu and Aris got thoroughly toyed with by Mei until even their last reserves were cleaned out, and finally Mei dropped the line.
"Our Lulu and Aris~ Unnie has something she wants to say~"
"What is it…?"
"You little… cheaters…."
"…Now why don't the two of you just kill each other?"
At that point neither of them had any way left to flip the board. Only one option remained.
The two who had been helping each other until seconds ago would now abandon each other and fight for second place.
Second place at least meant avoiding the penalty.
And so, barely a minute after being allies, the two of them launched into a blood-soaked(?) struggle.
How did that struggle turn out?
"Lulu, I can take the pi right now. What do you think? I feel like Aris unnie could finish on this turn too."
"Correct answer~"
"Lu… Lulu thinks… that's not good…!"
"Why?"
"Be… because… if you take it, Lulu gets hurt…?"
"Aegyo."
"Aegyo…?"
"Start."
"Wow~ the maknae's doing aegyo~"
Lulu hesitated, then began pleading with Aris and Mei in the cutest voice she could muster.
"Lu… Lulu wants… unnies to go easy on Lulu! Lulu… is cute, right…!"
……Whoa. That was something else.
The chat exploded into a sea of laughter at the over-the-top aegyo, and the price for that performance was brutal.
*Slap!!*
"Lulu, cuuuut!"
"Yaaaaaaa! You evil bitchhhhhhh!!!"
"Lulu, language."
"Hiiing…."
And that was how Lulu ended up taking the penalty.
Obviously I clipped that aegyo. If I didn't save that, I'd lose my clipper license on the spot.