How Is This Still Not Dating?

The next day, I let out a sigh as I looked at the community board, which had exploded all over again. It really felt like there hadn’t been a single quiet day there since Si-a and I started WGM.

The posts were mostly about the tarot reading from yesterday, and of course it was the last line that caused the biggest stir. Because Chur-nim had left behind such an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ambiguous comment and then shut down both the Discord stream and the Watch stream, people had been tearing that line apart in every possible way since then.

Most of it, naturally, was about Si-a’s last question and the answer she got.

"So why did you tell me to check the community board?"

-Just because

-Just because

-Trap card activated?

-Thought we could check the community together.

After I turned on stream and stepped away to use the bathroom for a minute, viewers told me to hurry up and check the community because something huge had happened. I never would have guessed that what they meant was just that they wanted to look at it together.

I’d thought some weird post had gone up about me and Si-a. Once I confirmed that wasn’t the case, I leaned back against the chair.

"You scared me."

-lol

-Wife love is real, Hae-pyeong lol

-Nothing serious happened, so his voice went back to normal.

-So are we doing a drinking stream today?

-What’s the snack?

"We are. The snack is raw beef delivery."

-?

-Damn, I want raw beef.

-Shit, I’m on a diet.

-Raw beef doesn’t make you gain weight. I do.

-This is the same Haeju who used to do drinking streams while downing booze with no snack at all? My heart is swelling...

Out of nowhere, some bastard brought up one of my past humiliations, so I banned his chat for a bit. It really had come out of nowhere, and I’d reflexively reacted before I even knew it.

"Today’s drinking stream is with our wife, Red hyung, and Kills hyung. Four people."

-Our wife, he says

-Luccia trained him well

-lol

-Every time you call her Si-a, Luccia corrects you, but now you’re getting results.

At the viewers’ words, I thought about it for a moment. Huh. Usually, when I didn’t use a nickname and just called her Si-a, she’d warn me to use an affectionate name instead. But just now, I’d called her "our wife" without even thinking. Was that the result of training?

"Wasn’t abducted or anything?"

-They already abducted you at Element Agency.

-Right lol

-You’re chained down by contract, so you can’t run, huh?

-What the hell, that was a leash? lol

After chatting back and forth with viewers for a while, it was time for the appointment, so I joined the voice chat room.

"Why is nobody here?"

...Why is no one here except me?

Streamer time was real.

People say streamer time is just another way of saying streamers have no sense of time and are always late. But usually, streamer time refers to offline collabs between streamers.

How far could streamers really be going? Most of them didn’t know how long it would take to get somewhere unless it was close by, so once they actually set out, it often took longer than they expected and they wound up late. That habit had hardened into what people called streamer time.

"Isn’t this an offline collab? It feels online."

But why were we using streamer time online? I thought that only applied to offline stuff.

I was left alone in the voice chat room, and a little while later Si-a and Red hyung joined. They said they’d been a little late because they were setting up the drinking table, which was fair enough. The problem was Kills hyung.

"Why didn’t this hyung even turn on stream?"

"Kills was streaming for over ten hours yesterday and went to sleep at two today."

"Morning?"

"No, afternoon."

-That’s Kills for you

-Kills is so dead. Back in the day, two in the afternoon would’ve just meant he’d keep going into the drinking stream too.

-For real, his stamina’s gone a lot.

-He’s getting old.

-He’s not even thirty, what do you mean old?

-This bastard is in perfect condition. Once you’re past 25 or 26, staying up all night gets hard.

The guy who knew there was a drinking stream today stayed up all night and went to sleep at 2 p.m.? Was that even right?

Of course, the old Kills hyung could’ve pulled it off. He was the kind of person who could stream for forty-eight hours straight with booze in his system. But it seemed he’d forgotten that he was a little older now.

"I’ll call him."

"Yeah."

While Red hyung called Kills hyung, I put a photo I’d set up in place of a cam onto the broadcast screen in a small window. Since there was no cam, this would have to do.

"Hello?"

"Mm...?"

"...You asleep?"

"Mm...."

Apparently he was on speaker, because Kills hyung’s thick, sleep-ravaged voice came through Red hyung’s microphone. Yeah, I figured this was what happened.

When we told him the time, there was a brief silence, followed by the sound of him jolting upright. Kills hyung said he’d turn on stream right away and hung up.

"If we order the snacks now, they’ll be late."

"Then all we can do is be disappointed."

"Right?"

After waiting a bit, hyung finally joined the voice chat room.

"Sorry I’m late."

"Ahem."

"My apologies?"

"Hyung, the snacks?"

"My mother said she’d make them."

Apparently because he was living with his parents, when he begged them just for today they agreed to make something. In that case, at least the snacks wouldn’t be late, which was a relief.

Since hyung said he’d only pulled out one bottle of liquor and some simple dried snacks from the fridge, everyone filled their glasses first.

"Can the last person to arrive also be the last one to fill their glass?"

"You’re missing the point."

On the screen, I could see Kills hyung scrambling to fill his glass. He still looked half-asleep, his eyes a little glassy, but well, drinking would wake him up sooner or later.

"Alright, cheers~"

"Cheers~"

-Cheers

-Cheers

-Congrats on the win

We tapped our glasses against the monitor and tossed the liquor down our throats.

That strange sensation sliding down my throat still never got any easier no matter how much I drank, but the slightly unpleasant aftertaste that lingered in my mouth had at least become somewhat familiar.

"Hey, Haeju. I told you to turn the cam on."

"I’m sorry!"

"One shot as punishment."

There was nothing I could do about that.

*

Since I hadn’t closed the curtains, the morning sunlight poured in without obstruction and settled across my face.

It was warm, but too bright, so I had no choice but to get up and look around. On my desk, the remnants of last night were still sprawled everywhere, completely unorganized.

"My head..."

Holding my throbbing head, I stood up from my seat, and then a strange sense of wrongness suddenly hit me.

"Huh?"

I couldn’t remember anything from the night before. The last thing I remembered was Red hyung saying that since I didn’t have a cam, I had to drink a penalty shot.

On instinct, I checked the computer. It looked like the stream had ended properly, since the computer was shut down well enough. The problem was that I had no idea what mistake I might have made on stream.

I pressed the power button and turned the computer back on, then quickly checked my Discord messages.

"There aren’t any, at least..."

Since nobody had messaged me, it seemed I hadn’t caused some massive disaster. Still, I couldn’t relax yet. Last time, there hadn’t been any messages either.

So I hurried over to the Watch homepage. Since I hadn’t uploaded my own replay, maybe it would show up if I checked Si-a’s replay? Just as that thought crossed my mind, a hot clip caught my eye.

"No way, not again..."

That was what I said, but my hand was trembling as I grabbed the mouse and clicked the very first clip.

The instant I heard the beginning, I shut it off.

I stared blankly and turned on my phone. Luckily, the app ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for checking the Han River’s water temperature was still there. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Since the timing worked out, I went into the app to check today’s water temperature.

...There really wasn’t a single thing working.