Strange Currents
After the whole chaotic shopping spree, one day passed.
Even after looking at the watches I had carefully put away, I still couldn’t quite believe it had happened.
The clothes and watches that had filled my arms that day. And then....
“No, seriously, what was the boss thinking....”
The boss’s girlfriend had been at the department store where Si-a and I had gone, and of all things, she’d been caught by us.... No, that wasn’t right. From the start, that had been the goal.
Now that I thought about it, it made sense why the boss had suddenly said he was coming along. It hadn’t been to film us at all; it had just been because he wanted to meet his girlfriend.
And as I quietly looked down at my watch, I remembered the mail I’d received not long after shopping with Si-a.
Watch Year-End Party Invitation.
I had heard Si-a say she’d take care of it. I hadn’t exactly expected much, but seeing an invitation arrive in my hands like this really drove home Si-a’s place at Watch.
“So I was making content with someone insanely important.”
Muttering to myself, I opened my phone. That day after shopping, when we’d parted ways, I’d more or less been forced to take Si-a’s contact information.
“Right. Give me your phone.”
“My phone?”
“Yeah.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“So I can give you my number.”
Just like that, she’d saved herself into my contacts after punching in her number and name without a care in the world. I was staring at the contact saved under Si-a when a message came in.
It was from Si-a.
[Si-a: We’re almost there. You ready?]
[Me: Yeah.]
[Si-a: Then come down.]
Before heading down, I gave my outfit one last once-over. I straightened my clothes and fastened the watch Si-a had bought me around my wrist.
“Hoo.”
Today was the actual day of the party.
Once I left the house, I got into the car waiting right there and headed straight for the venue.
At the wheel was the boss, with Si-a in the seat beside me and one unknown woman.... Of course, I wasn’t really clueless about her identity.
“Hi! This is our first time meeting in person, right?”
The second I heard her voice, I knew. It was Yura. Since she was close with Si-a, she’d apparently suggested coming together today, and when she heard I was getting in too, she said even better.
But what about my opinion?
“Hazy looks way better in person.”
“Right? The camera really does him dirty.”
“Y-you’re Yura, right?”
The moment I guessed correctly, Yura turned around in her seat, her seat belt already on, looking startled.
“Huh? How did you know?”
“I could tell from your voice.”
“Wow, you got it instantly.”
Honestly, Yura’s voice was so distinctive that she wasn’t hard to recognize. Not in the sense that it was unusual, but in the sense that it had a really strong character.
For a woman, it was pretty high-pitched, with a slightly muffled way of speaking. And there was her signature laugh, the one everyone had come to know.
There was no way I wouldn’t know.
“I’m a huge fan of you too, Yura.”
“Really?”
“Seriously?”
“There are tons of videos of you and Yura all over YouTube.”
And that was true. Probably because the two of them were such genuine best friends, there were endless videos on YouTube of Si-a and Yura just talking.
The common reaction in the comments was that their chemistry was so natural, even their everyday conversations were ridiculously entertaining.
“Aw, this is embarrassing.”
“Oh, look at you acting all shy again.”
“You should at least play it up a little for your fans.”
Yura got flustered at my saying I was a fan, and Si-a immediately jumped on her for it. It was a familiar setup.
“Now go do even half of that with Saengsam.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“I just can’t. I don’t know why.”
After Si-a suddenly changed the topic, a question I’d been curious about popped into my head.
“Um, Yura? I’ve got something I’ve been wondering about.”
“Yes! What is it?”
“When it was decided that you’d do a fake married-couple broadcast with Saengsam, how did you honestly feel?”
I asked that not as streamer Hazy, but purely as a viewer.
It looked like the two of them were gritting their teeth and forcing it, but even so, their relationship had definitely softened afterward.
Ah, I decided not to count the fact that they’d immediately hurled abuse at each other at midnight the second the fake marriage ended.
“Hmm, to be serious, I didn’t really think much about it.”
“Really?”
“Oh! But there was one thing. How am I supposed to do affection stuff with this guy? I remember thinking that.”
“Really?”
“Like I said, I end up unable to do it without even realizing.”
For all she said that, during the fake marriage she’d been determinedly sweet about it.
They’d only been doing it for a week, but she’d already come up with nicknames, done the wish-bread game challenge, and even had a real-life joint stream on the last day.
“I seriously thought you were amazing back then.”
“I know, right? I’m a pro.”
“Ugh. So irritating.”
“You literally just said I was amazing!”
“That was before I saw that.”
The two of them bickered in front of me just like they did in the videos, as if none of it had been scripted.
The boss, as if he were used to this sight by now, drove on calmly, paying them no mind at all.
“So, is Saengsam coming today too?”
“I heard he was.”
“He said he had something going on, so I guess it worked out.”
Yura had been chattering with Si-a when she suddenly seemed to remember something and turned back to me.
“Oh, right. There was something I wanted to ask you if I got the chance, Hazy.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Why don’t you speak casually with me?”
...Because this was only the second time we’d ever talked?
We had talked once during a joint stream, but that didn’t mean I could just drop honorifics on the spot since we weren’t total strangers.
“You do it with Si-a!”
“I’ve known Si-a for a long time.”
“And you even call Si-a baby when you’re with her!”
“That’s because of the fake marriage....”
Every time we met on stream, I got warned to drop the honorifics and corrected into using nicknames, so it naturally started sticking to my tongue. Thanks to that, I adjusted a little faster.
Anyway, the point was that it happened often. So of course the way I addressed Si-a and Yura, and the way I treated them, had to be different.
“The one who said we should speak casually next time when the joint stream ended was me....”
“Did you?”
“Yep!”
“Hmm, then I’ll slowly start dropping the honorifics... okay?”
“Okay!”
I did think that might be a little too fast, but... well. Seeing Yura smiling like that, I guessed if it was good, it was good.
While the three of us were chatting away, before long we arrived near the party venue.
“We’re here.”
“Thank you!”
“Thanks.”
“Thanks, oppa!”
“Yura, I’m literally the boss....”
“I don’t care if you’re the boss. Anyway, thanks!”
I sent the boss a sympathetic look as he sighed at Yura’s words, then headed toward the venue.
“I’ll check your invitation.”
After passing the people stationed at the door to verify invitations, we entered the party venue.
“Wow.”
There were so many people. But wherever I looked, there were only famous faces.
I was still trying to get my bearings after seeing such a crowd in a place I’d never been before when Si-a carefully took my hand and pulled me along.
“You planning to stand there all day?”
“Uh... what?”
“Let’s get our seats first.”
Where Si-a led me was a section arranged around tables in the center.
Si-a slipped inside, then looked back at me standing there blankly and patted the seat beside her, telling me to sit down.
“Why are you standing there like that?”
“I don’t know. Because my seat is somewhere I used to only see on YouTube?”
I don’t know how else to explain it. It felt strange to have the place I’d only ever seen through a screen right in front of me.
“You’ll be coming here often from now on.”
“I hope so.”
Carefully, I sat down beside Si-a. The moment I took my seat, it felt like some of the tension in my tightly wound body eased up a little.
“Should we go get something light to drink first?”
“Let’s do that.”
There was water on the table, but drinks and the like had to be brought over yourself.
With Si-a’s agreement, the two of us got up and returned to our seats with drinks and something to keep the hunger down.
“Wow, a lot of people came today.”
“Compared to usual, how is it?”
“More than usual. I guess I need to brace myself today.”
Brace myself for what?
I asked Si-a, who was saying she needed to prepare herself with such a solemn expression on her face.
Si-a just gave me a smile that seemed to say I’d find out soon enough.
“I’m seriously a huge Hazy fan.”
“Me too! I really love your fake marriage stream!”
“Haha. Thank you.”
“Si-a, long time no see.”
“Wow, Luke, when did you come back?”
“I quit my company. Ah, Hazy, hello. I’ve been watching your fake marriage stream.”
“Ah, Luke, I’m a real fan. If it’s not too much trouble, could I get a photo....”
“Of course.”
After hearing the click of the camera and watching Luke’s back as he walked away, I thought to myself.
So this was what I needed to brace myself for?
I had expected a certain number of people would come. But I hadn’t expected people to start swarming us not even ten minutes after Si-a said she needed to prepare herself.
I realized all over again just how popular the fake marriage stream really was. Or maybe it was even more intense because it wasn’t just any fake marriage stream, but Si-a’s.
Just as I was thinking maybe things had settled down after watching the stream of people come and go,
“Oh my! Si-a!”
“Ye-bin unnie!”
Ye-bin had arrived.
“It’s been ages. Have you been well?”
“Of course I’ve been well.”
Saying that, Si-a went right ahead and hugged Ye-bin.
“Ugh.... I want to sleep like this.”
“The party hasn’t even started yet. What are you going to do if you’re already tired?”
“But I really am tired.”
Watching Si-a whine like a daughter grumbling just a little at her mother made me laugh. So she had a side like that too.
As I was watching her, someone’s voice called to me from beside us.
“Um, are you Hazy?”
When I turned my head, there was a heavyweight standing there.
“I’m Heist. I’ve been enjoying your fake marriage stream.”
“Hello! I’m Hazy!”
Heist.
Ye-bin’s husband, and the father of one son and one daughter. A first-generation broadcaster, and the man who had helped bring streaming into the light.
And, aside from Si-a, the person who had influenced my broadcasting career most of all.
That man was standing right in front of me.