Real Recognize Real
I had no idea what I was thinking when I got home. The only thing I remembered was getting in a taxi with Si-a and then watching her get out first.
No, that wasn’t quite right. She had said something as she got out, but what was it again...?
"You still haven’t answered me."
She had looked at me as she said it, and I’d managed to coax and soothe her long enough to send her off first. How, exactly?
I just told her I’d contact her after I got home, so she should go in first. There hadn’t been any other choice.
After seeing Si-a off, I got home too, showered without really thinking about it, and collapsed onto my bed.
And now this was my state: lying there with absolutely nothing on my mind.
"What am I supposed to say?"
A virtual marriage? Just do it? Then what about everything we’d talked about before?
Was she canceling the part where we were supposed to drag out the pre-marriage flirting a little longer, so the fans could see a side of us that was a little different?
The more I thought about it, the more tangled everything became, so I set that aside for the moment and sent Si-a a message on Discord.
It didn’t take long for a reply to come back. From how fast she answered, it felt like Si-a had been waiting too.
Come to think of it, we had already shown a different side plenty of times. People who’d watched her on YouTube and people who’d seen her live both said they still found it strange that Si-a could act like this.
Even so, wasn’t this a little too sudden...?
"Three?"
She suddenly started counting down out of nowhere. Why was she in such a rush? Calm down! I’m doing it, so calm down already!
Sleep well. That was the last chat, and then Si-a logged out. It felt like I’d been pushed around one-sidedly again.
"Sigh. I should just sleep."
I was already tired, and I’d had alcohol on top of that, so the more I thought about it, the messier my head felt.
Anyway, since we’d agreed to talk by phone at noon tomorrow, I decided I’d ask her all sorts of things then.
With that, I lay down and tried to sleep.
Not knowing at all what kind of chaos the night was about to bring.
*
I woke up because the light was blinding. There was no reason for me to wake up from sunlight in my own house, but when I got up and looked around, I realized I must not have drawn the blackout curtains before sleeping last night.
When I checked the time on my phone, it was only 10:30. Our appointment was at noon, so I had plenty of time. I was hungry, so I went out, opened the fridge, and pulled out a few side dishes at random.
When I couldn’t be bothered, ramen was the answer. I took out a pot, filled it with water, set it on the gas stove, and pulled out a pack of ramen.
While I waited for the water to boil, I took a quick look at the reaction to yesterday’s broadcast on my phone.
"Huh? What’s this?"
Then I checked the Watch community for a second and found a weird post.
"What’s there to have going on? We already decided yesterday to do the virtual marriage."
With a sigh, I shoved my phone into my pocket. I finished boiling the ramen and quickly did the dishes too.
Then I turned on the computer and sat down at my desk, thinking again about what had happened yesterday.
We’d gone out to get into the taxi, and then Si-a had suddenly grabbed me and said we should do the virtual marriage, right?
Was there anything before that? No, there wasn’t. Unless you counted the sudden overdrive when she came into Red hyung’s place?
"I really have no idea."
While I was still thinking it over, a message came from Si-a. When I came to my senses and checked the clock, it was already close to noon.
Less than ten seconds after I replied, she called me.
"Hello?"
"H-hello..."
Her voice still sounded rough, like she’d only just gotten up.
"Sleep well?"
"Mm... but I’m still sleepy."
"You could’ve said let’s talk later and slept more."
"Nn, but I was the one who said noon."
I could hear her yawning through the speaker. When did she even go to bed? Imagining Si-a yawning made me snort softly.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Nothing. I could hear you yawning."
"Ah."
"So, why did you want to call?"
"Because we’re doing the virtual marriage. We need to decide the date."
"Right."
I hadn’t been thinking properly because she’d suddenly brought up the virtual marriage yesterday, but usually when you did one, you set an end date.
The most obvious example was Saengsam and Yura. They’d bowed to overwhelming capital and spent exactly one week showing viewers every scene they wanted, then, right at the stroke of midnight on the promised date, they’d put on the world’s craziest content by cursing each other out.
"Have you thought about how long we should do it?"
"Should we do it for a year?"
"...Why don’t you just say a hundred years while you’re at it?"
"Could do."
Oh, she was serious. I had a feeling if I pushed this any further, she’d say, No taking it back?, so I backed off immediately.
"Let’s do two months."
"Isn’t two months too short?"
"Is it?"
When I thought about it, maybe it was. But six months was too long too. Maybe four months would be right?
"Then how about four months?"
"Four months, and then later we can see whether to extend it or end it early."
"Will there really be a reason to extend it?"
"I thought about it after telling you to do the virtual marriage yesterday too, and if I think about the viewers, we might need to make it longer."
Maybe we really could do a whole year. When I heard that, I thought, no way she’d actually do that.
*
I needed to show this scene to my past self. If this attention kept up, we might really have to do the virtual marriage for a whole year.
"You’re that happy?"
"We decided when it ends, but we’re keeping the rest under embargo."
"Address each other? We haven’t decided on anything else yet."
Watching the viewers’ reactions, I decided this was something we had to do. Truthfully, we hadn’t decided on anything at all, but come to think of it, if we gave them something to overinvest in...
Hold on. We haven’t actually given them any overinvestment material, and they’re already this obsessed. Do we even need to give them anything?
As I thought that and looked at the chat, it seemed like they were one step away from rising up if today wasn’t the day we chose nicknames.
Everyone had been arguing among themselves about whether the virtual marriage was real, and now that I was saying it really was happening, all the restraint they’d been holding in looked like it was bursting at once.
"Is Si-a even free right now? Wait a sec...."
Ignoring the chat, which was busy spinning out its own fantasies, I sent Si-a a message asking whether it was okay to call while she was streaming.
Just as I was about to glance back at chat after sending it, my phone rang immediately.
"Wow, that was fast."
"Hello?"
"Yes! It’s your husband!"
Si-a, didn’t you say you weren’t going to speed?
If you keep this up, I’m going to have a hard time...