On the Brink
Gachi's Side
The day I had lunch with Hae-an and Wa Sol, I ran into Bian by chance—the girl who had once been my first love.
The old flutter in my chest was gone, but seeing her looking healthy left me with a quiet sense of relief.
At the same time, something new started nagging at me. Wa Sol didn't have many friends. Aside from Senior Yun-a, the only people left in her circle were probably the members of Utopia.
That suspicion hardened into certainty the last time I spent time with Gyu-ri. Which meant one of the remaining two had to be Bian...
"...Process of elimination leaves only Vivi. She joined Utopia later than the other three, so the timing lines up too."
On top of that, I already knew Eve and Kiri's real identities, and I couldn't picture Bian pulling off the high-energy broadcasts Tita did. So for confirmation I opened YouTube and listened carefully to Vivi's clips.
"Hearing it like this... yeah, it really does sound like Bian's voice."
It was funny saying that after already knowing, but every so often Bian's real voice slipped through Vivi's.
"Same thing happened with Wa Sol. Guess I just don't have the talent for recognizing people by voice..."
Still, if I had to make one excuse:
No one would ever confidently decide a celebrity was someone they personally knew based on voice alone.
While I was making that unheard defense, one fact hit me. Why was I still listening to the voice of a first love that was already over?
Ping!
Right then, someone messaged me.
...What is this? Suddenly everything feels ominous.
My hand trembled for no reason as I picked up the phone and lit the screen.
...
..
.
Terrifying...
Just how many superpowers does Wa Sol have? Freezing time, reading my mind, knowing what I'm doing even when she can't see me.
I didn't lie.
How did she catch that?
Thud.
What is this? Why does it feel like an arrow just buried itself in my chest?
Anyway, first priority was smoothing Wa Sol's mood.
Ah, that was somehow insanely embarrassing.
I felt my face heat up while I waited for her reply. I waited quite a while... yet no answer came. The "1" had definitely disappeared.
Did I mess up without realizing?
Guess that wasn't it. Thank god.
...Half right, half wrong.
How do I even explain?
She wasn't even giving me time to answer.
And with that, Wa Sol's messages stopped.
For the record, I really had been waiting for Eve's stream. At the same time, I had also been waiting for Kiri's.
What that meant was this:
Hiive! Today is a long-awaited full Utopia collab day!
Today I would be watching Eve and Kiri at the same time.
Today was the day the entire Utopia lineup had decided to play a game. The game was called Our Marble—basically a world-tour board game where you buy famous city properties in each country and make money.
Since Utopia had four members, they decided to form two-person teams.
"Then today, the one who suggested this game—Tita unnie! Spin the roulette!"
"Okay! Then... let's go!"
With the booming voice of Tita—called Utopia's big sister—the prepared roulette spun.
How would the teams fall?
Eve was always happiest with Kiri, so teaming them would be nice... but I also wanted to see an Eve-Tita party again after so long. Both of them ran high energy, so the audio never died and there were no boring stretches.
"As for Kiri... well, as long as it's not Vivi, I'll be fine."
In recent conversations with Wa Sol, neither Vivi nor Bian had come up even once. So I hadn't asked either.
But the atmosphere had told me enough.
"Of course it'd be awkward. Not that I have room to talk..."
The root cause was me, so I felt a twinge of guilt. But this was the first time I'd faced a problem like this, and I had no idea what to do.
All I could do was hope those two wouldn't end up on the same team.
...Of course, you don't always get what you want.
Sometimes the exact thing you think, "Ah, please, anything but that," is exactly what happens right in front of your eyes.
"Drumroll... yes, it's decided! Eve-Tita team! And Kiri-Vivi team!"
Of all things. Those two on the same team right now?
...Please just don't fight.
Wa Sol's Side
Hehehe.
Hmm~ He knows it well. Gachi is mine.
I'll forgive the little cheating for now. After all, this boyfriend of mine always watches Eve's streams more than his girlfriend's!
Right. Right now I don't have the bandwidth to worry about Vivi.
My biggest rival is Eve... haah.
Either way, both of them were headaches... but something just appeared that would make my head hurt even more.
"...So the teams ended up like this." / "Of all things, right from the start..."
The words slipped out of me without thinking. Vivi quietly muttered the same thing in time with me.
And our slip went straight out on stream.
Naturally the Hara started getting suspicious, so I immediately tacked on a follow-up.
"This just means our victory is already decided."
"Yeah, I don't feel like we're going to lose."
Vivi instantly caught my line as ad-lib. The Hara dropped their doubts with chats like "as expected of KiriVivi."
Don't forget. We are professionals.
A mistake of this level—we can laugh it off without breaking a sweat.
That said... the other two are giving us side-eye too. Why did you have to call a full collab at this timing, Tita!?
I couldn't say it out loud, so I just grumbled at Tita in my head.
Of course that changed nothing, and the game simply moved forward.
"Everyone! You know you have to cheer hard, right!?"
The chat filled with alternating Kiri and Vivi emotes, and plenty of cheering donations from Hara and Hosu poured in.
"Don't worry, KiriKiriRing-nim! And the rest of the Hara too! Your points will never disappear!"
After reacting to a donation from a Hara who had been showing up a lot lately, I finished getting ready for the game.
Normally this would be the moment I'd tell Vivi to hang in there too.
"..." / "..."
Neither of us said anything like that. Still awkward... I just hoped it didn't show.
While I was reading not only the opponents but my own teammate, the countdown to game start ticked down.
Right before it began, Eve's voice came through.
...What is this? My woman's intuition is firing. Something that will piss me off is coming.
"Ah, thank you for the 1 Silver Coin, Eve's First-nim! Just like you said, I'll do my best and crush Kiri unnie!"
...This bitch?
Starting the mind games the second the match begins? How dare she pick a fight with me?
And Go Gachi. You're dead today.
Gachi's Side
Right before the game started I sent Eve a donation telling her to do her best. Because it was right before the match, Eve saw it, suddenly grinned, and—
...What is this? The vibe is terrifying.
"Ah, thank you for the 1 Silver Coin, Eve's First-nim! Just like you said, I'll do my best and crush Kiri unnie!"
Eve!?
I only told her to do her best!!
If you say it like that it sounds like I told her to crush Kiri!
Eve!? Eveeeee!!
Kiri (Wa Sol)'s Side
"Huu."
Calm down first. I can scold Eve and Gachi later.
Right now, focus only on the game.
"Kiri."
"...Ah, yeah? What is it, Vivi?"
I hadn't expected her to speak up. Well, the game was starting now.
"Have you played this game a lot?"
"No, I only started recently. You?"
"I've... played quite a bit."
Ohhh, so Vivi's experienced with this one. I usually avoided games with this many luck elements, so I wasn't familiar. Maybe I could freeload off Vivi this time.
"Oh~ Then can I ride the bus a little?"
When I asked, Vivi answered like this:
"Sure. Kiri still doesn't really know the value of the lands in Our Marble yet."
...
Huh. Just now the word "value" sounded like it had a massive accent on it. Was that my imagination?
It had to be. There's no way she'd do something that childish...
"I've known the value of the lands longer, and I know it better. I'll teach you."
The value... of the lands?
Not imagination. This... is clearly a provocation.
Huu, calm down. I can't stoop to elementary-school-level mind games.
"...I did it first, after all."
I know I shouldn't... I know that... but now I don't care.
"...Come to think of it, I feel like I know that value pretty well myself. Maybe even better than Vivi?"
"You said you only started recently. I'm sure I know it better. So... leave it to me."
...Ha.
"...We're on the same team, right?"
"Of course."
Yeah, right... doesn't feel like it at all...
"The Adami are cheering for me! The Adami are! Cheering! For me! I can do this!"
"Kiri still doesn't get it..."
With psychological warfare coming from both the front and the side, of course I couldn't focus properly on the game. But... I am Valkyrie.
I can take this much as a handicap!
"Two hotels in Paris! And since I just rolled double twos, I roll again... okay! Golden Key!"
"Again!? Unnie, why do you keep getting Golden Keys!?"
"Don't worry, Eve. She just bought two hotels so now Kiri has no money! And the next stretch is nothing but our team's colonies."
"Move to a tourist spot."
"...No way."
I skipped right over Eve and Tita's properties and landed on Jeju Island—one of the six tourist spots, sitting right in front of the stretch where Vivi and I owned the most land. Since I passed Go I also picked up 200,000 won!
"If I dump all my remaining money... Jeju Island is mine!"
"Ah... wait! If she does that—!"
"Hey hey hey, Eve! There's only one tourist spot left!!!"
Even if I was broke, I still held the most properties. And if I took just one more tourist spot, victory was immediate.
"Alright, Vivi. I set the board for you. Now you can finish it. I told you, right? I know value extremely well too."
"...I'm not losing."
"That's right. We won't lose. Obviously."
The Hara and Hosu (Vivi's fan name) took our exchange as pure chemistry and reacted like that. We had steered them that way, but only Vivi and I knew the real meaning underneath.
"Then my turn... ugh! Paris!!!"
"Tita unnie!?"
In the end, Tita—whose turn came right after mine—landed on the Paris I had just claimed, sold three properties, and after that Vivi took the final tourist spot exactly as I had said. The first match ended in—
My victory.
"I won."
"...Our team won."
"Kiri champion!!"
"...We both championed!"
A beat late, Vivi matched my shout. Of course her voice was a little quieter and her energy lower than mine.
Heh. I won.
I beat Vivi. See? I know value better!
Having scored two victories with one game, I moved into preparing the next match in a very good mood. (I was so worked up I didn't even realize how elementary-school this fight was...)
We spun the roulette for teams again, and this time I landed with Tita.
"Tita. We're the kind of people who don't care about the past, right?"
"Yesterday's enemy?"
"Today's friend."
"Let's go, Kiri. Our teamwork is number one in the world!!"
"...Ban that last one, please."
I'm still young!
"Kiri."
Then Vivi's voice. Calling me?
"Vivi, we're enemies now. You're not seriously asking me to go easy because of our bond, are you?"
"As if... Now we can find out who really knows value better. I'm actually excited."
...Really, Vivi.
If you keep provoking me like that... how am I supposed to not take it?
"Bring it, Vivi. I'll show you the difference in class."
"I'm not joking. I'm going to win."
Yeah. Me neither... I'm not joking.
And so began the Kiri-Tita team... no, the fight between me and Vivi.
"Two and three. That means... I just got the most valuable land."
"I'm taking it."
"You're not taking it."
She's not even hiding it anymore.
But Vivi. I already told you.
When it comes to value, I don't yield to anyone.
If you want to take what's mine... beat me head-on and take it!
"I'll spend double the money and snatch the most valuable land."
Having completely forgotten about actually winning the game, Vivi started making moves that made zero sense to any third party. Snatching properties she had no reason to force, or—
"Demolish the buildings on the most expensive, most valuable of Kiri's lands."
—openly targeting only me.
"As expected of Vivi unnie! Tita unnie's a black hole anyway! If we just beat Kiri unnie we win!"
"Wow, getting called that by a sinkhole..."
At least Eve and Tita tried to justify Vivi's behavior somehow and turn it into comedy.
"...I'll take it too."
"...!"
Sorry, girls. I can't hide this feeling anymore either.
The land we were snatching back and forth was the most valuable property in the game. But honestly, taking it right now didn't mean much for the actual win condition.
Even so.
"You don't even know value that well anyway."
"I know it better than you."
"It's only been a few months."
"But I understand it deeper than you do."
We didn't stop fighting.
"Whoa, the tension between these two is thrilling. Wouldn't you say, Eve-ssi?"
"Yes~ At this point I'm almost starting to believe the win condition of this game is just who gets that land, Tita-ssi."
Eve and Tita kept covering for our trolling.
Fortunately most of the viewers just took it as comedy and enjoyed it.
But I saw it.
One chat.
Ahh, so a comment like that finally appeared. Still, something that small the manager would ban on their own, so it should be fine.
Or so I naively thought...