Real Recognize Real
As soon as Si-a walked in and dropped that line, it was enough to set the viewers’ chat on fire.
"Whoa, so the last member was Luccia?"
"It was you?"
"Yep, it was me."
Watching Si-a greet everyone so brightly only made my head spin more. The earlier worry about taking a break from streaming suddenly felt pointless.
Wait a second—Si-a was the last member? I turned to look at Red-hyung, who had just taken his seat, and he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I told you I was an evil virtual-marriage fanatic."
"...I never took this hyung for that kind of guy, but wow. He’s the absolute peak of trash-tier behavior. That’s some serious dedication."
Once Si-a had come in and taken her seat, the stream finally got underway under Red-hyung’s lead.
There wasn’t really anything special planned. It was late, everyone was a little hungry, so the idea was just to fill up a bit and then show off our gaming skills to each other.
Since it was our first time gathering after the team was formed, it was really just a chance to see one another in person and get acquainted, so nobody had any grand ambitions for the session.
"...And yet the team lineup looks like this?"
"Why? I don’t know about tournament results, but I’m pretty sure the viewers will love it. Right?"
"Ha, nobody’s on my side."
"Why wouldn’t anyone be on your side? Luccia’s sitting in the front row, isn’t she?"
Killer Sniper said that to me as I lamented my fate. Looking at the way things were going, it seemed he already knew that the last member was Si-a.
No wonder he’d been having so much fun teasing me about my dating experience earlier—there was a reason for all of it.
"Come to think of it, what was that 'domestic support' thing earlier?"
"It was just to keep things from being dull when I walked in. We laid out the red carpet, so it’d be a waste not to strut over it."
It was just a joke.
At that, Red-hyung and Killer Sniper both looked disappointed. I guessed they were bummed that the reaction they’d imagined hadn’t materialized.
The viewers felt the same way.
"We haven’t even discussed a virtual marriage yet."
"We haven’t even brought up the letter v in virtual marriage."
I didn’t know about soulmates, but I had a feeling there was something from a previous life going on. The way people kept trying to tie me and Si-a together made it seem like we must’ve done something huge back then.
"Now that I think about it, it’s kind of amazing that Luccia can talk to me so casually even though we’re meeting for the first time."
"Yeah, really. We still call her Luccia-nim, after all."
"Why don’t you drop the honorifics while you’re at it? We’ve known each other long enough, haven’t we?"
"Wow, the second Hazy gets attacked, she’s already asking to go casual."
"That’s domestic support done right. Hazy, learn something from Si-a."
"...Me? Learn what?"
We mostly ate while talking about me and Si-a.
Of course, it wasn’t as if the entire conversation was nothing but us. We also talked a bit about the upcoming tournament.
"I heard the bomb they patched in this time is going to be in the tournament version too?"
"Oh, you mean that C4 thing?"
"Yeah. Apparently it can attach to anything except people."
I’d heard they were finally adding a different kind of bomb to a game that had only ever used grenades, and I wondered if this was it.
"If you stick it to a wall, it’ll blow the wall apart, right?"
"I heard it only works on certain walls."
So maybe it was kind of a deployable bomb. There hadn’t been much information, since only a tiny bit had been shown in the patch video, but the two of them were clearly in sync, so they’d gotten the news fast.
Still, something had felt off for a while now, and that conversation made it obvious. They were talking to each other and not including us.
"Why are you guys talking about stuff only the two of you know?"
"Exactly. Let us in on it too."
"See? The viewers like it better when you two talk separately."
"Even if you say that, we don’t really have much to say."
I didn’t know about that. The two of them laughed while they said it, and it felt like I was watching a bunch of older brothers observe their little sibling’s love life. Seriously, was this for real?
"Then since the topic’s already out there, should we just talk about the virtual marriage?"
"...You too?"
"What?"
And then there was Si-a, eating with this completely innocent expression while saying that. That was the moment I realized once again that nobody here was on my side.
*
After we finished eating, we moved over to Red-hyung’s streaming booth. I’d been curious about how big the booth inside his house was, and when I stepped in, it was bigger than I’d expected.
"Whoa, this is huge."
"How big was this place before you installed the soundproof booth?"
"My streaming room is about this size."
When Red-hyung pressed a button on the stream deck, the screen on broadcast changed. On it, we could see the four of us lined up inside the booth.
Red-hyung sitting at the computer, Killer Sniper on his left, and Si-a and me on the right.
Even this seating arrangement had probably been intentional. The corners of both hyungs’ mouths were practically glued to their ears every time they looked at us.
"Look at this punk, Hazy. So that’s why you gave me the chair first?"
"You were planning to give it to Si-a and have her sit down first, weren’t you?"
"Keep teasing me and I’m going home."
"If Hazy leaves, I’m leaving too."
"No way! If you two go, the viewers will leave!"
I shook my head. Of all the things to say in this situation, he didn’t even go with, “Okay, enough joking around,” but instead, “If you leave, the viewers will leave.” That hyung was the real deal.
As I watched the game launch, a donation suddenly came in.
"A 10,000-won donation! Thank you!"
"Isn’t that the one with all those Hazy and Si-a virtual-marriage moments compiled together?"
"Oh, the one that went to Hazy’s stream last time...."
"Hyung, turn that off! You absolutely cannot play it!"
"Why? What is it?"
The moment I saw what the video donation was, I kept insisting that they absolutely could not play it, but there was no way those two were going to listen to me.
What was worse, Si-a seemed to have never seen the video before, because she reacted like this was her first time hearing of it—and that only gave the other two more reason to push ahead.
"Looks like Si-a hasn’t seen it."
"Exactly. Si-a should watch it too."
"What is it?"
"You’ll know when you see it."
"What do you mean, 'you’ll know'?! That’s a video of your and my black history!"
But my desperate plea never reached Si-a. In the end, Red-hyung’s mouse clicked, and the video began to play....
"......"
"I told you not to play it..."
"Ah, I just can’t quit this because of how tingly and embarrassing it is."
"Feels like I watch it at least twice a day too."
Our black history was laid bare for every single viewer to see. Si-a, looking like she regretted not listening to me, covered her blushing face with both hands and turned away.
Since I’d already been forced to watch it once or twice before, I’d developed a bit of immunity. Even so, there was no way I could hold it together during that scene.
"But how did they ever get the confidence to ask a question like that?"
"With a face like Hazy’s, it’s possible. To Si-a, I’m handsome so—"
"STOOOOP!!!!"
As soon as the hyungs tried to blurt out that line, I nearly jumped out of my skin and stopped them. Seeing my reaction, they found it hilarious and teamed up with the viewers to tease me mercilessly.
Even if this kept up, was I really the one supposed to take the hits? I was a victim too, you know.
"You say something too! This isn’t just my black history!"
"Ugh.... But honestly, if you hadn’t been drinking, this wouldn’t have happened."
"That’s rich coming from the person who caused me to drink in the first place."
"Which is why I put the virtual marriage on hold for a while, didn’t I?"
Si-a answered me while fanning her red face. With my own mouth suddenly gone dry, I had nothing else to say.
Sometimes when Si-a and I talked, it felt like this happened all the time. We kept catching each other off guard and leaving one another speechless.
Thinking that, I turned my head—and found the hyungs laughing.
"If you’re going to go public, this is the best place to do it. Hurry up and say it."
"You two are definitely doing a virtual marriage, aren’t you?"
"No!"
"No!"
"...That’s enough. Let’s play the game first. We all came here to game, remember?"
"R-right! The game’s already booted up!"
I only realized it then, but the game had already loaded and was sitting on the waiting screen. I’d been the first to catch on, and in order to steer the conversation elsewhere, I brought up starting the match.
Luckily, Si-a had also come to her senses to some extent and immediately picked up on my lead.
"At dinner, Si-a was the one changing the subject, and now you’re doing it?"
"I’m just saying you should stop bullying your girlfriend, so I’m helping you out~ Now then, first round, I’m going solo queue!"
What do you mean, pretty much?
That’s not what it is, you idiots....