The One Destined to Succeed
With that, the time meant for practice turned into a session of choosing how we’d address each other, and after a long back-and-forth, we finally settled on our names for one another.
"...Now that I think about it, Peach is kind of awkward."
"Then you take Peach."
- Hazy as Peach is a bit...
- Hazy suits Plum perfectly
- HazyPlum
- The shortened version sounds weird
- Ahem, stop right there
With Sia as Peach and me as Plum, our pet names were decided.
Maybe because I’d once watched a cartoon about a little girl named Plum when I was a kid, but it felt like it would take me a little while to get used to the new name.
Was it just me?
"Plum!"
"Yeah? Does the name feel okay?"
"Honey!"
"...That’s not it."
- A curveball lol
- Just changing one syllable and it turns into the old pet name lol
- Was this the plan?
- Just use whatever you want at this point
- lolol
Sia seemed to be trying to get used to the new pet name, calling me Plum and then, all of a sudden, switching back to the old one.
No matter how I looked at it, she had definitely chosen Plum because of this. Calling me Plum and then suddenly turning it into honey... that was unfairly flustering.
That didn’t mean I hadn’t been flustered before, of course. It was only natural that the way I reacted would be different depending on whether I was braced for it or hit with it out of nowhere.
"Peach."
"Mm! Honey."
"...I, uh. Never mind."
- Hazy's tired lol
- Sia wins the glass-cannon mirror match
- Can we call that a win?
- It’s not a loss, so
"So, why did you call me?"
"It’s been quite a while, so I was going to ask what you planned to do."
"Hmm...."
At my words, Sia fell into thought.
"If I stop here, what about you?"
"Well. I probably stop too."
"Then let’s stop here."
- Why does fake-marriage time fly by so fast?
- The time in fake marriage goes by insanely fast
- Don’t go, don’t go, don’t go, don’t go, don’t go
- Keep going, keep going
- It’s right to send them off when you’re reluctant, but that’s easier said than done
- Tomorrow when Hazy practices, Sia is obviously going to barge in again
- lol
The viewers showed their disappointment in the chat, but there was nothing to be done.
Sia had her own schedule, and I... technically didn’t, but I was kind of tired.
"To everyone who watched today, thank you, and I’ll see you again in tomorrow’s broadcast!"
"Arardan, thank you for watching today. See you on tomorrow’s stream~!"
We said our goodbyes with Discord still open, then ended the broadcast. The chat was full of people telling us not to go, sounding genuinely reluctant to see it end.
What could I do? I’m tired. I’ll be back tomorrow.
"Sia, good work."
"You too, Plum."
"The broadcast is over, and you’re still going to keep calling me that?"
"Huh? Ah...!"
As if she’d realized she’d said something wrong, Sia went quiet for a moment, then blurted out one last thing before vanishing in a hurry.
"Good night!"
"Go...od ni—"
Before I could even answer, she was gone, and I found myself thinking that she’d chosen the new pet name far too well.
What could possibly not break down?
*
When I woke up, my body felt better than usual. I went out for a workout in high spirits, came back, got something to eat, and started preparing for the broadcast.
Before going to sleep, I’d decided I was going to start the stream earlier than usual today. Homework had to get done.
- ??
- Hazy streaming at this hour?
- Is something going on today?
- Is this because of Red’s homework?
- Because of that?
- Nothing else, really....
- Anyway, jackpot
- Chairman, come outttt
- Haeha
As usual, plenty of viewers had already shown up while I was off getting water from my bottle.
There were more people than I expected, so I was a little startled.
"Ah. Hello."
- Chairman’s here
- Taking my seat!
- Haeha
- Haehaaa
- Why did you go live so early today?
- Seriously, is there homework or something?
"Homework? There is."
- Advertisement?
- Did you get an ad?
- Damn, Hazy’s getting ads now. You’ve really grown
- Not an ad. Red-hyung’s homework."
- Bummer
- Ah, what a letdown
- Figures lol
- Legendary
Maybe some people thought I’d gone live early because of an ad, so when I said it was because of Red-hyung’s homework instead, a few viewers looked disappointed. That probably just meant they wanted me to do well.
We bickered with the viewers every day, but without these people, the broadcast never would have grown this far.
"Thank you, as always, for watching the stream."
- ?
- Why so sudden?
- Are you dying soon?
- Where are you going, chairman?
- To America?
- What’s with the sudden thank-you?
"Just... I was thinking, if it weren’t for all of you, what would I even have been doing?"
- What else? You’d still be streaming.
- You might’ve actually gone on a fake marriage show.
- Looking at your face, you don’t exactly look like someone who’d starve to death
- lol
- Hazy starting Just Chatting with a thank-you? That’s rare.
[10,000 won donation!] - Video donation!
"Thanks for the ten-thousand-won donation. What is this?"
While I was talking with the viewers, a video donation came in.
What was it? Curious, I opened it, and suddenly, with a light, ticklish tune, a streamer appeared on the screen.
[Oh my. What are these two?]
"Was that Miss Lucy? But what are you watching?"
- What do you think it is, lol
- It’s themselves~
- Watching the hottest fake marriage right now lol
- The one Red watched
Ah....
[Oh! Oh, wow! Are these two really in a fake marriage?]
"......"
- Wow, that’s sweet
- Still sweet even now, honestly
- The legendary fan video where Red watched this and told them to just date already lol
- Looks like this video is just a compilation of reactions.
A compilation of reactions? Then how many times had they watched it?
"If I turn this off..."
- Hey
- Stop
- Don’t do that, Hazy....
- Please don’t take away the one joy I have left in life
...Wasn’t that basically a religion? I thought that, but since they’d told me not to turn it off, I had no choice but to endure it. Besides, the viewers were enjoying themselves.
When I looked back at the screen, it was Heist.
[This is fake marriage? Don’t lie. How is this fake marriage?]
- It really is legendary
- At this point, I don’t even know anymore lol
- The fake marriage everyone knows about but pretends not to know
[I’ll put my marriage on the line and say this: that’s definitely a real relationship.]
[Honey?]
[Honey, you’ve got it wrong. But look at this. They’re saying it’s fake marriage.]
[Oh my. Sia does fake marriage?]
[Yeah. But this atmosphere is weird, don’t you think?]
[Oh, heavens.]
[See? I’m not the only one who thinks that!]
Back when the term fake marriage wasn’t used for broadcasts yet, Heist and Yebin had kept doing joint streams that gave off obvious chemistry, then made a surprise announcement and ended up getting married.
If those two talked, it would obviously cause a huge stir, and I wondered if the reason people had recently been saying they didn’t care whether it was fake marriage or not, as long as the joint streams kept coming, was because of this.
Then the screen changed again, and this time a familiar face appeared.
"That went to Saengsam?"
- You think it only went to Saengsam?
- It went to everyone in the joint stream~
- "Official couple of the joint stream"
- It’ll be fun when they all get together for a collab later
[Wow, seeing them all collected like this makes them look insane.]
"That’s a little rich coming from the person who was the most insane of all of you...."
- Fair lol
- Your fake marriage with Yura was legendary
- Hey, when money’s on the line, how is it a joke?
- I heard the thing they regretted most in streaming was accepting that fake-marriage call back then lol
- The way their expressions soured whenever they called each other pet names was hilarious lololol
Hearing that from someone who had cussed out his own fake-marriage partner after just one week felt kind of strange. Was that praise, or an insult? Probably praise.
It meant there was that much material for people to get invested in.
After that, a lot of other people passed through. Watching streamers I knew and streamers I didn’t know all react to my video, I could feel heat rising in my face.
I’m really glad I don’t have a cam.
"Wow, this is hard to watch. My face is getting really hot."
- This is why he has no cam
- lol
- Is your face red right now?
"You’re asking if my face is red? Yeah. Extremely red."
- Plum fits perfectly lol
- One’s Peach and one’s Plum, you two are just soulmates
- Yep, for the tournament you have to turn the cam on~
- Let’s go with the cam forced activation~
When I checked the length of the video, there was still a little left. As the screen changed, the last streamer to appear was Yura.
[Wow, if I’d watched this without knowing anything, I think I would’ve said these two were definitely in a real relationship.]
If even Yura was saying that much, then it seemed like we were doing pretty well.
[So sweet, so sweet. Why am I the only one getting this tingly feeling?~]
As some vaguely pitiful words rang out, the video ended. Seeing everyone’s reactions, I really did think we must be doing something right.
If you could make people get invested like that, then that was a success. Fake marriage was content, after all.
"What do you think of it?"
- Of what?
- What do you mean, what?
- The fake marriage?
- The two of you, Sia and you?
"I was curious what you thought of our fake marriage."
- Just an insanely sweet fake marriage
- Honestly, it kind of feels like a real relationship
- Makes me want to date when I watch it
- lol
[1,000 won donation!] - So is Sia coming today?
"No idea. I haven’t talked to her separately, so I don’t think she’s coming today."
- Bummer
- These days happen
- Detox from the dopamine
- You need one hard hit first for it to burst bigger later
- Anyway, homework first
- Turn on the game so you can do your homework
There were plenty of people disappointed when I said Sia wasn’t coming, but others said okay and told me to just turn the game on.
"The people telling me to boot up the game are definitely baiting me."
- lol
- Hey, we got caught
- Caught red-handed, huh?
- Should we settle this with a snipe-off now?
"Snipers? Come on in. Let me at least do the homework Red-nim gave me."
- This is a head-on charge?
- You’re gonna regret that
- Uh... I really don’t recommend that
- If you’re surrounded by snipers, you’ve gotta take a beating with your fists to come to your senses
"You guys are all just scrubs."
At my provocation, the viewers erupted in indignation and loaded into the standby screen.
After switching matchmaking to squads, I told the viewers not to get it wrong.
"I’m going solo squad. Only the confident ones should come in."
- Oh, so you’re confident?
- Come on, then!
- Ah, got it. I’m sniping you all day today
It had started out so boldly, but...
By the time I ended the stream that day, I still hadn’t made it past the opening.
I shouldn’t have provoked them....
---