What’s Meant to Be, Will Be
The power of the words “I love you” was tremendous. I hadn’t shown it, but even when Si-a called me by a pet name, I had to stay sharp or things could get dangerous. But once she said she loved me, even that stopped working.
The force of it from someone who wasn’t even my lover was already this much. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how powerful those words must be between real couples.
Or rather, I couldn’t really think at all right now. My brain still hadn’t recovered from hearing “I love you.”
“Jagiya. Why are you so quiet?”
“...Stop it.”
“I don’t want to.”
With my guard already shattered by those words, and then hearing her call me by a pet name, I was completely out of it.
The viewers were still laughing their heads off at my reaction. Then, all of a sudden, an idea came to me.
“Si-a.”
“Yeobo.”
“...Si-a.”
“Yeo-bo!”
“......”
“Hurry up and say it after me. Yeobo.”
When I called for Si-a, she said, word by word, that if I wasn’t going to call her by a pet name, she wouldn’t answer. It was as if she was saying she wouldn’t respond unless I used one.
Under that blunt tone, I had no choice but to call her by the pet name.
“Yeobo.”
“Can’t hear you. Again.”
“...You serious?”
“Yep. Very serious. Again.”
“...Yeobo.”
“Why? Did you call for your jagiya?”
“Y-you said you loved me.”
“Yeah. So?”
“Aren’t you embarrassed?”
At my question, silence fell for a moment. I glanced at Si-a’s expression on the screen beside me, but nothing seemed off.
No, wait. On the still image, I could see the color in her face slowly turning red.
Like a frozen picture whose skin tone was being changed with a gradient filter, it shifted little by little.
“I-I was fine until you said it!”
“So now you’re embarrassed?”
“Yeah! So what are you gonna do about it? I’m telling my own man I love him!”
Who the hell was going to say anything to me?
That was what she said, but her face was dyed the exact same color as before. The only difference was that now she didn’t seem completely defenseless.
Anyway, that was how the incident ended with nothing left but embarrassment on both sides....
Or so I thought.
[Minimum bid: 10,000 won]
Someone had put a mission on my stream. Tell your yeobo you love her?
Apparently there were people who had watched Si-a tell me she loved me, and now wanted to see me say it back to her.
But there was one thing I had to point out.
“Who’s your yeobo?”
“Hazy, you’re my yeobo.”
“No, not you.”
I was the one doing the fake marriage broadcast. Who was calling me yeobo? Come on, seriously.
Still, the mission was there, and I had to think about what to do with it.
You might think I should just do it, but I was a little embarrassed for that....
“But why?”
“Ah, someone was just... um....”
“To your yeobo.”
“...They told your yeobo to call you yeobo.”
“But I am your yeobo.”
“No, I mean, yes, but....”
Under the viewers’ barrage of requests, I decided to skip over that part.
“Ah, I think I get it.”
“Get what?”
“You got a mission, didn’t you?”
From the sound of her faint laugh, she seemed to have guessed the mission content too.
“Is it the one I’m thinking of?”
“What do you think it is?”
“You know. The thing I did earlier.”
“...Yeah, that one.”
So she had guessed it after all. Honestly, it wasn’t hard to figure out, but even so, I had no intention of doing it.
“Are you going to do it?”
“No.”
“Why!”
“Just because.”
The quiet friend who typed that last chat message got a chat ban. Meanwhile, Si-a, apparently dissatisfied with that, let loose with her complaints.
“I said I love you.”
“I never told you to.”
“Still, we’re in a fake-marriage broadcast together.”
“What does that have to do with saying I love you?”
“The viewers want to see it!”
[Minimum bid: 500,000 won]
Seeing the chat, I looked back at the mission. The amount, which had started at only 10,000 won, had already climbed to 500,000 won.
But saying “I love you” was embarrassing. I thought that, but the moment I said it, it was obvious the viewers and Si-a would tease me to death. So I just kept quiet.
“So you really just don’t want to do it?”
“It sounds like something people say in any random situation. Without meaning it.”
People in chat were already praying for my memorial. Had I said something wrong?
“...So you’re saying I said I love you without meaning it?”
Ah. I’d messed up. I’d stepped on a land mine.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean? Say it.”
“Um....”
“The ‘um’?”
“It’s not that....”
“Not that?”
“I’m sorry....”
A quick apology was always the right answer. It should be the right answer this time too.
That turned out to be a huge mistake.
“What are you sorry for?”
“Huh?”
“What are you sorry for?”
“You said it sounded like something people say in any random situation?”
“You’re apologizing without even knowing what you did wrong?”
“Sorry....”
“If you’re just going to say sorry without knowing what you’re sorry for, what’s the point? Then why do we even have police and judges?”
I couldn’t really argue with that. I thought it was a bit much, but if I said that out loud, I had a feeling it would spiral completely out of control.
“Fine. I’ll give you one pass.”
“For what?”
“How much is the mission money?”
[Minimum bid: 500,000 won]
After hearing Si-a, I checked the mission again. The amount, which had been 300,000 won, had somehow risen to 500,000 won.
“It’s 500,000 won.”
“Give me a little.”
“...Was that the goal?”
“Want me to keep going?”
“No....”
Judging by the situation, it seemed Si-a’s viewers had also come into my stream and put money into the mission.
They wanted to see Si-a’s reaction if I suddenly told her I loved her after she’d been so angry like that.
“How much?”
“Ten percent of the total.”
“That’s too much.”
“Then 40,000 won!”
“Four dollars?”
“40,000 won!”
Like some drama lead muttering nothing but 40,000 won over and over, she took the stance that if I didn’t agree, there would be no more negotiation. So I reluctantly said I’d do it.
“Um....”
“Why?”
“It’s like, now that I’m about to do it, I feel embarrassed.”
“Aww, our jagi is embarrassed?”
Ah. I’d meant to think it, but I’d blurted it out.
Hearing what I said, Si-a started teasing me.
“What, so you were embarrassed earlier too? You should’ve said so~”
“No, that’s not it....”
“So it’s embarrassing to tell your noona you love her?”
“Who’s your noona?”
“Obviously me.”
As I’d predicted, the viewers joined in and started teasing me too.
In times like this, the best thing was to just finish it quickly.
“I-I... I...”
“What was that?”
“I... lo...”
“Jagiya, I can’t hear you. Louder!”
“I... I sa... qabgwe!”
*
The next day, during the practice time we had already set, Red hyung and Killer Sniper asked me what had happened after seeing that Si-a was still sulking, and I explained what had happened yesterday.
“So that’s why Si-a’s upset?”
“Yes....”
“Hmph!”
“I never expected ‘qabgwe.’”
What was I supposed to do? I was embarrassed.
Besides, even while she was playing, Si-a didn’t call to me at all.
She really must be seriously sulking.
Unable to stand it any longer, Red hyung asked Si-a in a low voice after a few rounds,
“You’ll still make calls during the tournament, right...?”
“We’ll see how Hazy behaves.”
She wouldn’t even use a pet name. She was definitely in a bad mood.
What was I supposed to do now?
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