The Explanation
A few days had passed.
Not because I'd been busy… well, maybe this counted as being busy too.
Jae-min seemed to have talked things over with her mother about crushing those lunatics who'd set the boards on fire, but somewhere in the middle of it all, the whole ordeal must have hit her even harder — because she'd been glued to me the entire day.
And when I say the entire day, I don't mean it figuratively.
She literally clung to me from morning to night and refused to let go, so I couldn't get anything else done.
"Jae-min."
"……."
"Jae-min."
"……What."
"You know it's almost stream time, right?"
"……."
"How long are you planning to stay like this?"
"……Just a little longer."
"……."
This behavior of hers had gotten worse starting yesterday — specifically, ever since we'd agreed to go live today.
Even now, she was planted firmly on my lap and showed absolutely no intention of moving.
She wasn't heavy, so it wasn't hard on me. For the same reason, I could have forced her off without much trouble.
But there were only two ways out of this situation.
Either carry her straight to the bed…
Or endure the wounded look she'd give me if I made her get up.
"……Mm."
Well, neither of those was a choice I was willing to make, so I just stayed put.
Earlier, when I went to the bathroom, she'd nearly followed me inside. I'd managed to make her wait by the door, at least.
I understood she got like this when stress piled up… but damn, her mental fortitude really was made of glass.
"You're still streaming, right?"
"……You're doing it with me, though?"
"Yeah."
Today was a collab stream.
A collab… if you could even call it that.
I'd seen internet streamers do real-life collabs before, so me showing up probably counted, right? I wasn't a streamer myself, so I was closer to a guest.
Either way, I'd already set up my work laptop next to her desk so we could stream and play together. I had a character image ready too — the same one I always used while drawing comics.
Here's how things had gotten to this point.
After the incident, the Manga Gallery had caught fire starting the next morning. The Witchiz Gallery was burning over Gemini; the Manga Gallery was burning over me.
It was the middle of the night, so only the hardcore fire-keepers had been around, which made it burn even hotter — and once dawn broke and the user base shifted, things calmed down somewhat. But the flames never fully died out.
The Gemini sex-audio scandal had been the kind of topic that made the rounds and then faded. The rumor that Gemini and I were married, though? That one stuck around.
Still, looking at the so-called evidence, it was all circumstantial at best — nothing solid enough to be certain. If the people involved just came out and flatly denied it, the whole thing would have gone cold in no time.
The problem was that it was true.
But… so what?
I posted a single thread on the Manga Gallery.
A lot of problems only get more complicated when you try to dodge them — and resolve themselves easily when you just charge straight through.
I figured this whole mess might be one of those. They say every cloud has a silver lining, so maybe this could even count as a kind of viral marketing.
Mm-hmm.
"……My head."
"Huh? Ah."
She mumbled it while pushing her head against me. That was her way of asking me to stroke her hair, right?
I moved the hand that had been wrapped around her waist up to the top of her head.
"……Hnnn……♥"
"You're streaming, right?"
"……Kiss……♥"
Look at her, not even answering. Did she think I was some sucker who'd give her everything she asked for?
……Well, when it came to requests like this, she wasn't exactly wrong.
"……Mmh……nnn……♥♥"
Her arms wound around my neck like she was hanging on for dear life. Answering her demand, I slipped my tongue between the lips pressed against mine and traced the soft flesh inside.
Our tongues moved together, saliva mingling, and a faint sweetness drifted through it all. The arms that had clung to me so tightly at first — tense with something like anxiety — gradually went slack and languid.
"……Phaaah……♥♥"
Our mouths parted.
Her face was flushed a deep red, as if she'd been swept up in pure bliss. Her arms still hadn't let go, trembling finely with leftover excitement.
I checked the time. 7:47.
We really needed to start getting ready.
I gathered her head against my chest the way you'd soothe someone and stroked her hair slowly.
"Alright. Calm down now."
"……Uuuh……♥"
"You're the one who said you'd stream. Unless you're quitting right here, you've got a broadcast to do."
"……Okay…… hnn……♥"
I felt her bury her face in my chest and take a deep breath. And then — whether she was drunk on my scent or what — instead of pushing herself up, she went completely limp and burrowed even deeper into my arms.
This girl, seriously……
"Hey, you little pervert!"
"……Nnh, I'm not a pervert."
"Yes you are."
"……You're a pervert too!"
"……Fine, whatever — just get up."
"……."
I managed to get her on her feet somehow.
……Even with that sulky, wronged look on her face, a promise was a promise. She'd agreed to this herself.
And spending the entire day drowning in that kind of thing made her a pervert, end of story.
"Hello. I'm Otaku."
"……Hello. I'm Lechery Master Gemini."
Chaos right from the jump.
"I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to explain. Want me to start from the beginning?"
Gemini's stream, titled simply Collab.
It had been live for one minute and there were already three hundred viewers?
I might have pulled a little too much aggro. Everyone was typing at once — the chat was completely unmanageable.
"I'm putting slow mode on for now. I'll answer questions as I see them, so type slowly."
"Alright, let me explain. I'm DrawingFreakOtaku — I draw comics — I'm Gemini's husband, and I'm also her manager. I'm the one setting the ban hammer rules around here, so don't cross the line."
Mm…… they had a point.
I'd stepped in because it felt like I needed to, but—
"You want to take over?"
"……."
She looked like she was deliberating. She met my eyes, then snuck a glance at the chat.
"……You……"
Uh…… hang on. She looked like she was about to explode.
"No, just let me—"
"Hey, you fucking bastards! Yes, it's me! Yes, we're married, and yes, we've done all the biting and sucking and everything else! You all heard it already, didn't you?! What more do you want from me?!"
Uh, well……
"Fuck it, anyone who keeps running their mouth is getting banned. Hey — just play the damn game."
"Uh, uh……"
……Was she okay?
"Shut the fuck up, you pieces of shit! I am…… hey, you playing support?"
"Huh? Yeah, of course."
Was that subject change a little too obvious?
"Ahem. If you don't want to get crushed, stay behind the line."
"……Nnh."
There she went, face turning red again. Good thing the cam wasn't on……
"I'll just play Storm Spirit or whatever."
"……Play whatever you want."
The games themselves went smoothly enough.
Managing chat while playing was a bit of a grind, but…… current viewer count was sitting around a hundred and fifty?
Mm…… between the bans and the heat dying down, a lot of people had filtered out. Still, the occasional chat that snagged my eye kept popping up.
"Hey, go plant a ward in the top brush."
"Yeah…… ack!"
On her way into the brush to drop the ward, the enemy jungler burst out from over the wall.
And at the exact same moment—
A feather shot out from our carry and locked the jungler down.
"Get out!"
"Okay."
I harassed the enemy bot lane with wind as they tried to find an angle, and we shifted toward our own jungler who was rotating in.
First Blood!
Double Kill!
……
Victory!
"Hmph……"
"……Hey, the cam's not on, so nobody can see that."
"……."
She'd been sitting there all puffed up and triumphant — and then she just deflated.
Getting hyped up by the chat must have gone to her head; she was doing things she never normally did. Streaming really did seem to have some kind of power to shake people up emotionally.
"Yeah. You did great."
"……Nnh……♥"
……The chat caught fire after every single game, but the stream itself went well.
Seven games in about three hours. Six wins.
She seemed worn out too — her voice had gone soft against the mic.
"That's all for today."
The stream has ended.
"Good work."
"……Yeah."
"Hm?"
Was she really that wiped out? Well — mentally exhausted made sense.
"……Haa……"
She let out a small breath and turned to look at me.
I couldn't quite place the faint tremor in that sigh, but the meaning in her eyes was unmistakable.
I'd thought she was just tired. Turns out that wasn't it at all.
This little pervert was at it again……
"Hey……"
"Kang-yeon."
"Huh?"
A flush of red heat rose into a face that had already been full of excitement. She fidgeted, wringing her hands in front of her knees — then reached out and caught my hand by the fingertips.
"Do you……"
Something about streaming must have gotten under her skin. She spoke like she was pulling something up from the deepest place she'd been hiding it — voice trembling as she forced the words out.
"……want to?"
"……Want to what?"
"……Have real sex."