Watch the Broadcast as a Broadcast

After carefully reading through the contract over and over again, I eventually signed it. I figured there wasn’t anywhere else that would offer me a deal of this size. More than that, compared to the contracts I’d seen from other MCNs, this one didn’t force much of anything on me.

When I handed the signed contract to Ms. Yu, she slipped several sheets into the envelope and handed it back to me. One copy for the company, one for me, she said. It was the first time I’d heard of that arrangement.

"So I’m officially under Element now?"

"Looks like it. We’ll need to update your affiliated MCN on Watch."

We were already planning to go live for the stream I’d promised my viewers today, so I thought it would actually be easier to explain things if I changed my affiliation right when I went live.

"Then since we’re here, why don’t you stream from here too?"

"Hmm. Should I?"

I thought of the gear I’d seen on the fourth floor earlier. It was definitely better than the setup at home, and among it were several pieces I’d tucked away in my wish list, waiting for the day I’d saved up enough money.

Stuff like a Stream Deck I could use to switch scenes more easily. Of course, since I didn’t use a cam, I didn’t exactly need to switch screens all that often, but I’d still put it on my wish list for windows and scenes and for the day I eventually started using a cam.

"I’ve wanted to try a Stream Deck anyway, so this works out."

"I’ll show you how."

With that, we left the meeting room and went up to the fourth floor. When I opened the broadcast booth and stepped inside, the faint scent of roses from the diffuser on the desk drifted through the room.

I sat down, adjusted the chair height, and turned on the computer. The fans whirred, and after a moment the machine booted up.

"Wait, you said you weren’t turning on your cam, right?"

"Yeah. I’m not planning to for a while."

Let me use the mouse for a second.

Ms. Yu took the mouse, clicked through a few programs, and brought the stream output up on the second monitor.

"There. Now only the game computer shows, right?"

"Wow, thanks."

After that, it was nothing much. I threw up a quick notice saying I’d be going live soon, went into Watch, and changed my affiliation. The viewers who arrived early and checked my profile would notice I had a company name attached now.

"All I have to do is go live and explain it now."

"Explain what?"

"That thing from yesterday, about letting me use casual speech. You can’t just give that to anyone."

"That’s true, isn’t it?"

"Yesterday you said that and then left the voice chat, so the viewers came at me alone."

Of course, I’d dumped it on Yura and run too. Still, I was planning to stream today as promised, and I was going to explain it, so it shouldn’t matter.

"Why? Did they tell you to explain it?"

"You really ask that like you don’t know?"

"So what are you going to say?"

"I was going to say you were trying to recruit me."

"I wasn’t."

Huh? What was that supposed to mean?

"The reason for the collab was to make a contract, not because I let you use casual speech as part of the contract."

"Then you were just trying to get friendly because we’re the same age?"

"No. It was just fun to tease you."

"Wow."

"Didn’t I tell you? You’re fun to tease."

After saying that, she opened the clip tab on the Watch homepage.

The highlight clips tab. Sorted by view count.

The video at the top wasn’t the potato clip. It was a new one.

"Have you seen this?"

"No. This is my first time opening Watch today."

"Then watch."

What was this? Not insanity, just what kind of title was that? Ms. Yu played the clip and stepped out for a moment.

The video cut off. I hurried and closed the clip in case it tried to loop. When I went back to the homepage, the view counts on the hot clips lined up in a row and jumped out at me.

One, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand... 150,000?

The number-two video was the potato clip where I’d taken down the hacker. Was it even possible for a video uploaded a day later to get twice as many views as the potato clip?

"Finished watching?"

Right on cue, she opened the booth door and came back in. She was holding a tumbler, so it looked like she’d gone to get water from somewhere, but no, that wasn’t the point.

"What is this?"

"What do you mean, what is it? It’s the hot clip you made yesterday."

The hottest hot clip, too. No, I knew that. What I didn’t get was why she was showing it to me. When my eyes said I needed an explanation, she said,

"Did you read the comments?"

"I can guess without reading them."

As I said that, I opened the comments. Sure enough, the comment section was ruled by people soaked in madness.

Some said there was definitely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠something going on between us, others said we were already dating, and then there were people saying Lucia was too good for me while someone else insisted we should just do whatever we wanted... Even if the world were about to end, I don’t think it would be this chaotic.

One comment in particular stood out as the most popular.

- This is malicious lol

- This one’s the most malicious of all

- Isn’t it facts?

- It’s more malicious because it’s facts lol. If you think about it, none of it is wrong.

- Are we getting a fake-marriage setup? Are we getting a fake-marriage setup? Are we getting a fake-marriage setup? Are we getting a fake-marriage setup?

- This guy’s a hardcore fake-marriage addict lol. The way he’s connecting things is no joke.

- But somehow I thought Sia would end up fake-marrying someone on her own level. This is unexpected.

- Boarding the Hazy-Lucia coin.

- So when does this get issued?

I stopped reading the rest of the comments and just closed it. Sure, fake-marriage content was all the rage among Watch streamers these days, but even so, I didn’t think I could stop viewers from seeing a fake-marriage setup in this.

Had everybody’s brain just melted from too much fake-marriage content? While I was thinking that, Ms. Yu said,

"Here, I’ve got one proposal."

"What is it?"

"It’s kind of baseless and out of nowhere, but it worked on the viewers, didn’t it?"

"Yeah. I got worked on by the viewers."

At my words, she nodded, as if that was fair enough. What’s with agreeing so readily...

"Not that part. I mean the fake-marriage buildup."

"...That’s true, but so you want to do it with me?"

"If you want to?"

Who wouldn’t want to? Usually, when streamers do fake-marriage content, both of their broadcast clout rises at least a tier, and the stronger the other person’s clout is compared to yours, the bigger the effect.

In other words, this was an opportunity I’d never get twice.

But why me? That was the same question that had come to mind when I signed the contract earlier. It was also the same question that kept showing up before any big decision I made today.

Why me?

"You’re wondering why you, aren’t you?"

"Honestly, I can’t deny it."

"That’s the second time you’ve asked that today. You know that, right?"

But I really didn’t get it. At my murmur, she answered.

"My broadcast is a little rough. You’ve said you watch my videos a lot, so you know that, right? If you look at the collab videos on my channel, I have kind of a strong older-sister vibe when I’m on stream."

That was true enough. Looking at Saengsam or Yura, they were the kind of people who usually led the atmosphere elsewhere, but in front of Ms. Yu they tended to shrink a little. Or maybe it was more that her presence was just too strong.

When she was doing casual chat streams with viewers, the mood was calm, but when she was streaming with other people, she definitely gave off more of a "everyone gather up!" kind of feeling.

"I needed content that would show a slightly different side of me. I thought fake-marriage content was something that could show a different side of how I treat people."

"...Aren’t I still the one getting teased?"

"That’s different. When I’m collabing with other people, it’s more like I’m pushing them down with force, but when I’m with you, I’m being mischievous and playing around in a kind of shameless way. Like when I blew on your ear just now?"

Fair.

"And the reason the other party is you is because of broadcast chemistry?"

"Me?"

At my question, she pointed to the number-two hot clip video.

"How many streamers do you think can pull off a scene like that on the spot in a suddenly arranged collab?"

"But that’s just one thing...."

"There are others too, but the main reason is that if I stream with you, I get the image I want, like I said earlier."

With Saengsam and the others, I’ve known them too long for that side to come out.

I was a little surprised by what she said. The version of her I’d known through her videos was someone who took control of the collab. So I’d assumed that was just how she was in real life too.

But the fact that all of it had been a carefully built structure was surprising. Her objective analysis of her own broadcast and YouTube channel, the way she identified the problems, and even how she found the exact person who fit the solution.

Of course, it would be a lie to say I wasn’t flustered yesterday, but the way she looked at herself so objectively and tried to improve honestly amazed me.

"Is that reason enough?"

So. Do you want to do fake-marriage with me? Her voice hit the soundproof booth wall and vanished.

*

"Hah, what a perfect day to die."

"Calm down."

I had gone live, but I wasn’t really able to focus. It was just that the flood of chat messages had tangled up my thoughts, and I was telling them to calm down while my head kept drifting back to the conversation from earlier.

"What is there to explain? I’ve got an affiliation now."

"Stop spamming 'explain it' already. I saw it earlier, and honestly it looked like 'Myeonghaehae' because you two didn’t even line up."

"I will."

Right. I’d said I’d do it, so what else could I do? At this point I had no choice but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to go all in.

"She said she wanted to get friendly because she thought the stream would do well."

"Right? Honestly, she’s kind of like a role model to me, so informal speech still feels a little hard, but I’ll probably get used to it someday."

After saying that, I thought about it for a second. Maybe because I’d kept thinking of her as a role model, I’d kept mentally going, Ms. Yu this, Ms. Yu that. No wonder it felt awkward to say it out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠loud. I’d need to change that too.

Come to think of it, the buildup had gone well enough, and it would be too much of a loss to step off the board now that things were set up like this.

Since we were using each other as stepping stones anyway, I figured I might as well grab a little more of the falling crumbs.

There was just one thing I wanted to warn the viewers about. All of this was something we’d cooked up together. So.

"Ah, but Sia’s real-life self is seriously beautiful."

"I saw her when I came in."

"Did I hear anything else?"

"You’re asking whether I heard that I was apparently going to fake-marry Ms. Sia?"

Please. Watch the broadcast as a broadcast.

Because if you don’t, I’m going to end up getting swept along with you too.