Is This Still Not Dating?
There was a little commotion because of what I said at the end of the interview, but the tournament still wrapped up smoothly.
"Red-hyung. That was the first time I ever heard someone say they loved each other in the booth."
"How is that just a fake marriage?"
Listening to them, I felt my face slowly heat up. When I’d said it, I’d only had simple gratitude in mind, so it hadn’t felt like much at the time. But thinking about it now, wasn’t that basically a public confession…?
As I fanned my face with my hand, the viewers spotted fresh prey and started teasing me immediately.
"Watch your keyboards. I’m seriously embarrassed enough to actually ban people."
I took a few deep breaths and forced myself to calm down. Since I’d said it in the interview, Si-a would probably let go of that sulky mood a little, just as promised.
She wouldn’t say one thing with one mouth and another with the other, would she?
"Still, everyone worked hard. It must’ve been really rough."
"We did suffer. Does everyone have plans after this?"
"I’m going home to sleep. I’m way too tired...."
"I have to keep streaming from here on out, right?"
At Killer Sniper’s words, I rolled my stiff neck once. My bones crackled, and my whole body practically screamed at me to get some rest, which I barely managed to suppress.
Yeah. I should get home and sleep as soon as possible. It wasn’t like I’d done anything that exhausting, but on a day like this, shouldn’t I rest a little anyway?
The viewers protested that we were already leaving, but what could I do? I was the one who was about to die here. Still, I figured they’d let it slide for one day. If necessary, I’d finish the Discord call later and negotiate with the viewers then.
"Hazy’s heading out, and Si-a’s keeping the stream going?"
"Yes."
"Yes. I’ve got an ad scheduled after this."
At Si-a’s words that she had an endorsement deal lined up, I clicked my tongue.
With whoever it was she was fake-married to being so useless, this tournament must’ve already been hard enough, and now she wasn’t even going to wind down with a bit of easy chat with her viewers but do an ad on top of it?
Today I learned what a real professional looked like....
"Then what time are you done with the ad, Si-a?"
"Around... eleven? Why?"
"I was going to suggest a celebratory drinking stream for winning."
Celebratory drinking stream? I’m still at the office right now, though?
Even if I go home, I don’t exactly have any alcohol or snacks ready.... Ah, I could buy them on the way home. But even then, Si-a was the problem.
"Hmm, how about the day after tomorrow? Today you’re at work too, and I don’t really have any alcohol or snacks prepared."
"You called me yeobo the second I said I loved you in the booth, and now you’re already using a pet name?"
"They say women are weak to love more than money, and I guess that’s true."
"Ah... anyw-ay! Let’s do the drinking stream the day after tomorrow!"
As expected of a former pro, Red-hyung had found a sharp opening, and Si-a, flustered by the jab, stammered her way into setting a date.
"The day after tomorrow? I’m fine with that."
"Me too."
"And you, yeobo?"
"I’m fine the day after tomorrow too. I don’t have anything important going on."
I said it was fine because there really wasn’t anything major. Even if something suddenly came up, if it wasn’t that important, I could always apologize and postpone it for the stream.
"Then let’s meet the day after tomorrow. How much do Hazy and Si-a usually drink?"
"You seemed to drink pretty well with what you brought that time."
"For me, two bottles max? But only on days when I’m really in good condition."
Two bottles? For a woman, that was incredibly good.
...Wait, then was what I’d seen at Red-hyung’s place not drunkenness at all?
That thought brought back, for a moment, the image of Si-a when she was drunk back then.
"Thannk yoooo~"
The way she’d snatched up the money Red-hyung gave her for fare and stuffed it quickly into her pocket. And that slurred pronunciation from then, too.
No, that can’t be right. There was no way that was just an act of being drunk. I still wasn’t sure, but I decided to let it go for now.
"Really? You drink a lot."
"Cancel the two bottles. Think one and a half bottles."
"That’s still pretty good. Then what about Hazy?"
"I’m..."
"Yeobo gets really drunk after one and a half bottles!"
If I ate snacks while I drank slowly, I could probably manage two and a half bottles.
But my words were already cut off. Maybe remembering the time I’d called Si-a while drunk, she went and declared that my limit was only one and a half bottles.
The viewers, as if they remembered that incident too, started copying my old drunken words in chat and making fun of me.
"Then you and Hazy drink about the same amount?"
"No, hyung. Still, a guy’s gotta have some pride. How do you end up at only one and a half bottles..."
"Then who was it that called me drunk back then?"
I didn’t really have anything to say to that. The hyungs seemed to find my silence amusing, and after laughing along with the viewers for a moment, they spoke as if to comfort me.
"It’s fine. We weren’t asking you to drink past a certain number anyway, just how much you could handle."
"Right. If it comes to it, Red or Killer Sniper would have to tell you to stop."
"Come on, you’ve got to regulate yourself."
"Regulate myself? That from someone who drank straight from the bottle?"
There wasn’t anything to say to that, but I still had plenty to feel wronged about.
But the chat wasn’t on my side, and Red-hyung and Killer Sniper both seemed to have already accepted that my limit was one and a half bottles.
If I kept trying to defend myself here, they’d probably just think I was a pathetic, desperate struggle from a lightweight, so I gave up on explaining.
"Hyung, I don’t have a cam at home, though."
"Turn it on."
"Huh?"
"Turn it on."
"I don’t have a cam, though?"
"Yeah. Make it work somehow."
I hesitated a little at Red-hyung’s firm, military-style insistence on the old "if it doesn’t work, make it work" mentality. Did I really need to install a cam at home?
Part of me thought it was unnecessary, but then I realized that if I set up a cam, it might make occasional drinking streams feel more like I was drinking with the viewers, and that didn’t seem all that bad.
The reason I hadn’t used one before was because of my face, but now that my face had already been revealed, that excuse was gone too.
"Anyone else have objections?"
"Should we pick a time in advance? I need to order snacks."
"Ah, let’s do ten o’clock. From what I’ve seen, that’s the best time."
After setting the date and time for the afterparty drinking stream, everyone dispersed with a round of thanks for all the hard work.
Everyone except one person.
"Si-a—"
"Jagiya."
"...Jagiya, are you done being mad?"
"I was done ages ago."
Thankfully, the sour mood seemed to have melted away because I’d said I loved her in the interview. Once her mood lifted, she went right back to using pet names, which was easy enough to read.
"Today was really exhausting."
"You carried today, Si-a."
"What?"
"Yeobo carried it."
I kept forgetting the pet names. Telling myself to watch out for how sharply Si-a’s voice could turn at any given moment, I kept going.
"Good work."
"That’s better."
"I’ll say it right away even if it’s a little embarrassing from now on."
"...Really?"
"Huh?"
She’d answered normally when I said she’d worked hard, but the moment I said I wouldn’t do it again, her voice suddenly brightened a lot. Was that just my imagination?
A chill ran down my back, so I glanced at the chat. They were filling up with messages saying I’d been caught and telling me I’d done well. Why? What was happening?
"You’ll say it right away?"
"Huh? Yeah."
"Anything?"
"Anything."
"Then say you love me one more time before you go."
"...I love you, Si-a."
I hesitated at Si-a’s sudden demand, but I’d said I would, so I told her I loved her.
I hadn’t been able to say it because the whole thing felt embarrassing, but just like during the interview, once I focused on the gratitude behind it and said only the words I love you, it came out fine.
Si-a, on the other hand, stammered for a moment and then vanished after leaving me with a simple good work.
As long as Si-a was satisfied, wasn’t that enough? Anyway, now that she was gone too, it was time for me to say goodbye to the viewers and end the broadcast.
"All right, then I’ll head out too."
"I really can’t keep streaming any longer. I might actually die if I keep going."
"So you want me to die? If I die, we won’t be able to watch our fake marriage anymore."
I was dumbfounded by how the viewers were telling me to go rest at the same time they were saying they’d hate not being able to watch the fake marriage.
Then again, if I thought about it, the viewer count had gone up because of the fake marriage, so these weren’t people who’d come purely to see me; they were viewers who’d come to watch the fake marriage from my point of view. So I supposed that made sense too.
Curious, I asked them.
"So why do you come to my stream?"
"Ah, screw all you average-brain idiots. I’m asking if you’re here for me or for the fake marriage."
"Get out. Get lost. I’m ending the stream."
After snapping at the chat, which was packed solid with fake-marriage comments, people started laughing again and posted that today’s stream had been fulfilling, along with goodbye messages. This was why I couldn’t hate them.
So I did my closing sign-off, turned off the stream, and started cleaning up my desk. I was shutting down the programs and reaching for the power, when an alert suddenly rang from Discord, which I’d forgotten to log out of.
Wondering who had sent what, I opened the program back up and saw a message from Red-hyung.
Tarot?
For me?
---