Is This Still Not Dating?
As Si-a hung up on me, negotiations broke down. Well, then there was nothing for it. Guess I’d just keep watching videos.
I clicked on another video that had come in through a donation, and Si-a called me right back.
Not a chance. I’d already given her plenty of opportunities. You can leave when you want, but you don’t get to come back whenever you feel like it. I deliberately took my time hitting decline, savoring the view of Si-a’s aegyo playing on my screen.
“Should I ask her for this too? I want to see this one as well.”
Watching the aegyo clip made me want to get her to do something other than the cheeseburger one. This more plain, straightforward kind of aegyo was nice too.
Just as I was grinning to myself, completely absorbed in the video, Si-a called again. I’d already rejected her once, so I guess this time I should answer? I hit accept, and what reached my ears was a scream bordering on a howl.
“Please, turn it off!”
“That’s a request too?”
“It is, so please!”
“Then show me some aegyo.”
As if she’d rather die than do it, Si-a thought it over at length before finally making it clear she was refusing my offer.
“No aegyo. Anything else...”
“Hmm. I don’t really have anything else I want.”
I said that, but the aegyo video I’d been watching earlier had already been turned off long ago. If I played another one, I could probably do it, but even so, the person herself hated this so much that if I teased her too hard, I’d probably get sulky Si-a again.
“You really hate it that much?”
“Imagine someone sent me a video of your embarrassing old black history.”
“I wouldn’t mind.”
“Oh, really? Then who was it asking if you were handsome when you were drunk?”
“Agh!”
At Si-a’s words, the black history I’d buried deep in the ocean came peeking its face out. I’d only remembered that I’d called her while drunk, but I’d practically forgotten everything I’d said back then. Now she was dredging that memory right back up.
“Are you going to stop the video?”
“I’ll stop looking! I won’t watch!”
“Good.”
“But you can’t tell me who sent it.”
“That doesn’t matter anymore.”
Si-a said it like the shock of seeing her own aegyo on screen had been bigger than she’d expected, and now she didn’t care who’d sent it. What a shame. I’d been planning to trade this for cheeseburger aegyo.
“But that aegyo was super cute.”
“That wasn’t me.”
“It wasn’t you, honey?”
“If I’m drunk, that’s not me.”
Too embarrassed to own up to it, Si-a flat-out denied that the person in the video was her. If pretending that hard helped her keep her sanity, then sure, I’d support it.
“Really? Then I guess I’ll have to watch the aegyo video one more time.”
“Stop!”
I’m supporting you, that’s all. Where do you think you’re running off to? Open both eyes and face reality. The you in that video is acting cute!
“So just do it once for me.”
“Cheeseburger? No.”
Si-a refused in a firm voice, as if there was no way she could ever do that while sober. She’d already had a hard time tolerating the drunk video floating around the internet, and how was she supposed to do aegyo when she hadn’t even been drinking? That was her reason.
“Then let’s each grant one wish.”
“…You want to do a wish-off just to see my aegyo once?”
“Not a wish-off. We each grant one wish.”
“Exactly. And your wish is aegyo. You’re giving me a wish pass just so you can watch aegyo?”
Si-a repeated it back as if she genuinely couldn’t understand, but my resolve was rock solid.
“Yeah.”
“How do you know what kind of wish I’ll make, and you’re handing over a wish pass?”
“You’re not going to ask for anything weird. I trust you, honey.”
Right. It’s not like she’d ask for anything weird, would she? She was a partner I did content with, after all. Our relationship wasn’t that...
“Durian mukbang?”
“……?”
“Or fermented soybean stew mukbang?”
“Excuse me?”
“Ah! What about bungee jumping?”
Cancel that. Wish pass canceled. No matter how badly I wanted to see Si-a’s sober aegyo, it wasn’t worth staking my life on. But before I could take it back, Si-a stopped me.
“Aegyo? Isn’t that just something you close your eyes and do?”
“No, I’m telling you to cancel it.”
“One aegyo and then a fermented soybean stew mukbang? That might actually be okay.”
“……”
“I’m kidding.”
At that, I let out a sigh. A fermented soybean stew mukbang was one of those things everyone who’d seen it on YouTube said never to do. Besides, the trend had passed ages ago; I even doubted there were still people who liked it.
“So I still can’t see the aegyo.”
“I’ll allow you to watch the video by yourself in private later.”
“That’s not enough.”
Having the actual person who’d done the aegyo right in front of me, yet still not getting to see her sober aegyo, was a little disappointing. Still, no fermented soybean stew mukbang.
“Come to think of it, can you remember everything from yesterday?”
“Of course I can. Why? You can’t remember?”
“I remember... ”
I trailed off, caught out by her question. The years I’d spent broadcasting had apparently not gone to waste, because the moment I started hedging, Si-a seemed to catch on.
“You don’t remember yesterday?”
“I do. I drank, didn’t I?”
“Really? Then what did I say when I ended the broadcast?”
I was flustered by Si-a’s sudden question. How was I supposed to remember that? I barely even remembered what we talked about after the second drink.
I looked at the chat, hoping the viewers would help me out, but they seemed to be having too much fun to lend a hand.
“Huh? What did I say?”
“Honestly, I don’t remember...”
“From where?”
“From after I stopped using cam and had my second drink?”
So you don’t remember any of it at all? All I could do was answer her calmly in the affirmative. That was kind of humiliating. It wasn’t even that I remembered drinking a similar amount and then forgetting the rest; I didn’t remember from the very beginning. Just as I started wondering if she was going to tease me about it, Si-a spoke in a worried voice.
“Are you okay?”
“Huh?”
“You don’t have some kind of illness, do you?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“What about a hospital? Did you go to one today?”
Her reaction surprised me a little. After talking with viewers all this time, Si-a worrying about me like that felt oddly out of place. Was I thinking too much like a broadcaster? No. Really, wasn’t this the right reaction?
“I didn’t go to the hospital.”
“Then go tomorrow. Just in case, okay? Definitely go. Got it?”
“Got it. Thanks for worrying about me.”
Where had the teasing atmosphere gone? Now there was a distinctly pink, fluttery air hanging over the stream. As if she’d just noticed the viewers’ chat, Si-a also seemed to be choosing her words carefully.
“Because I’m worried about you.”
“Of course I am. Two drinks is weird.”
“Then I’ll go to the hospital, so do one wish for me.”
“You’re asking for aegyo again?”
She really was quick on the uptake. But her voice had lost the sharp edge it had a moment ago. It was more like she was grumbling now. I figured maybe if I asked nicely, she’d do it, so I played a little pitiful.
“I think I’d be fine if I just heard cheeseburger aegyo once.”
“Oh, please.”
“If you do just one aegyo, I think I might remember...”
The viewers seemed to realize it was working only now, and they were cheering me on from the sidelines. Si-a wasn’t exactly saying no in so many words either, so there was still hope.
“If I do just any kind of aegyo, you’ll be fine?”
“Any aegyo is fine.”
“Phew, then you have to go to the hospital tomorrow!”
“I’ll definitely go. I’ll even show you proof after I get back.”
“Damn it. If you don’t do it, you’re dead.”
After saying that, Si-a suddenly went, “Ah—” and cleared her throat, gathering herself. My heart started pounding as her voice gradually thinned. To think my heart would race just from seeing aegyo, like some hopeless bachelor with no dating experience. What a joke.
“Si... Si-a is h... I can’t do it!”
“No! You can do it! Do it for me!”
“Hah, I can do this. I can do this.”
For a second, she seemed to get hit by a wave of secondhand embarrassment and her voice slipped back to normal, but then she steadied herself again and changed her tone.
“I’m doing it?”
“Yeah.”
I quickly checked Si-a’s broadcast screen. She had squeezed her eyes shut as if she couldn’t possibly do this with them open, and that just made her even cuter.
“Di-a thinks yoebo is the best!”
“So later I’m gonna go get a teeburger with yoebo!”
When the aegyo ended, Si-a’s face flushed red in an instant, and she covered it with both hands. Watching her, I had only one thought.
So this is why fathers raise daughters like precious jade. If it were me, I’d do the same. That’s how cute she was—no, that’s how cute Si-a doing aegyo was.
“Thanks. That was insanely cute.”
“I’m embarrassed...”
“Want to go to the hospital tomorrow and then eat cheeseburgers together?”
“I can’t even get mad anymore... stop... ”
I considered teasing her a little more, but since she’d done aegyo sober for my sake after I hadn’t remembered yesterday’s one, I decided to stop there.
“I’ll go to the hospital. Should I bring back the doctor’s note and everything?”
“Just show the receipt on stream.”
After a little more time passed and Si-a had calmed down, we chatted a bit of small talk and then ended the broadcast. It had been a satisfying day for both me and the viewers.
The next day, thankfully, the hospital told me there was nothing wrong and not to worry.
...So my alcohol tolerance really is just two drinks?