277. Saying She's Simply Popular Wouldn't Be Enough
277. Saying She's Simply Popular Wouldn't Be Enough
***
The weekend Serin spent alone passed faster than she expected.
She didn't try to decide anything or do anything in particular. She simply let time flow and spent it as it came.
As if letting her mind relax, once she stopped forcing herself to focus and simply passed the time, her heart felt far more at ease.
All weekend, whenever she was bored, just browsing the community or watching other streamers made an hour pass like a minute,
and just exchanging messages with acquaintances made Serin feel that time was flying by.
'Time moves the same either way.'
Whether you live frantically busy or live without a thought in your head.
The idea that time simply passes by indifferently seemed unchanged in this world too.
August 30. Monday, 3:59 p.m.
Click.
When 4 p.m. arrived, I turned on the stream without hesitation.
Unlike before, the stream screen no longer showed a dark default background. Instead, the image Hayoon had made for the stream thumbnail was in place, and it even gave off a bright, polished feel.
Looking at the image on screen—my figure inside Another World, using Moon Princess, my whole body dyed pure white—I parted my lips.
"Ah. The Monday, August 30 stream has started."
The gray chat window soon came alive, tinted green, and the moment I began speaking, chat started scrolling upward as if it had been waiting.
[Hiii, Rin!!!]
[Hi, Rin!]
[a stream after 4 years;]
[wow how long has it been since you streamed for real]
[is a 4-day hiatus real???]
[Rin's voice definitely sounds lighter]
[what did you do over the weekend!!]
[I really missed you so much 😭😭😭😭😭😭]
[the thumbnail is so pretty seriously]
The reactions in the fast-scrolling chat were varied, but maybe because it had been four days, all of it looked adorable regardless of content.
'Guess it's because I rested for four days.'
Since it was a stream I hadn't done in a while, I cleared my throat and spoke calmly.
"It's been a while, everyone. I'm feeling better now, and over the weekend I just rested at home. I'm grateful that so many of you were worried about me, and I'm sorry for making you worry for nothing."
As I spoke, a laugh slipped out without meaning to.
The chat kept scrolling quickly, full of energy, and I felt the tension I'd been carrying naturally ease.
As I watched the chat scroll and took my time choosing my words to pace myself, some interesting messages came up.
[can't you do an Another World cam stream?]
[want to see your face]
[lol Rin is a no-cam streamer what face]
[if she turns on Another World it becomes a cam stream lol]
[are you sure your body's really okay?]
[you didn't overdo it with scrims, right?]
[Rin abandoning her viewers for 4 years, what the hell;;;]
[did you see the Knights of Charlemagne's sns? the way they hype Rin in the reviews is no joke]
[RinTube didn't upload over the weekend either so I was seriously suffocating]
Nearly half the chat was people saying they missed me. The rest was various news and assorted chatter.
"It looks like the players from the Knights of Charlemagne posted reviews about the scrim?"
When I asked casually, the viewers in chat showed great interest in a scrim that hadn't even been made public.
'What kind of reviews could they be?'
Their reaction felt unusual, so I searched the SNS accounts of the players from the Knights of Charlemagne and found scrim reviews from several of them, including their captain Roland.
Mostly things like they had thoughts about the scrim, or that it was fun.
Every single one was full of praise.
I remembered there had been a bit of friction during the actual scrim, but maybe because it was SNS, it was striking how the players only wrote nice things.
After that, twenty minutes passed as I responded to chat here and there and kept up the interaction.
Serin's gaze drifted unconsciously to the viewer count.
The number was now approaching ten thousand and continuing to climb smoothly, but the firepower in chat felt distinctly unusual.
To Serin, the impact of the four-day hiatus seemed to be hitting even harder.
The chat was scrolling so fast it felt comparable to twenty thousand viewers, enough to leave her flustered.
"There won't be another four-day hiatus like last week. Honestly, I wondered whether I should turn on a stream over the weekend since you all seemed so disappointed. But I decided resting properly was the right thing to do......"
As I kept talking to soothe the viewers,
Ding-a-ling!
『annyeong donated 50,000 won!!』
《Tell me today's stream schedule!》
『naerae donated 50,000 won!!』
《Rin, don't be sick 😭 I'm sick too 😭😭😭》
Serin smiled softly and answered the donations that popped up here and there.
"annyeong and naerae, thank you both so much for the 50,000 won donations. For today's schedule, since the hiatus was long, I'm thinking of spending some time chatting with you all first, then playing Another World. As for my health, I'll be more careful going forward too."
As she was responding to donations, the chat's topic soon shifted heavily toward the pro league.
[the ACK playoffs start today, do you want to watch the match together?]
[Rin was fun when she casted G1 last time, a playoff cast from Rin's perspective would be fun too]
Maybe it was the scrim's influence, but there were a lot of pro league comments, and it felt like perfect timing.
"I also have some news to share with you all today."
[??]
[what news?]
[it's not another scrim, right? please stop the hiatus!]
[I just hope it's not a hiatus]
[is it good news? bad news?]
[playoff cast??]
As chat filled with all sorts of questions, a laugh burst out of me without thinking.
So four days really was that long, I thought, and continued.
"If I had to say, I'd call it good news. It's about a special collaboration stream. And this week, aside from the weekend, there won't be any hiatus, so don't worry too much."
Watching chat get spammed with nothing but hiatus comments and question marks, I continued.
"It's nothing else—TSJ has a playoff match this week, right? I've arranged to cast that match together with a very special person."
Rather than revealing it all at once, I decided to take it step by step.
[Oh!?]
[casting a TSJ match?]
[insane lololololol]
[wow who's the collab with?]
[this is Plea!]
[if it's a joint match cast, who else but Plea lololol]
[Rin and Plea casting TSJ playoffs? can't miss this lol]
[Wednesday chicken angle confirmed]
[Rin so are you casting today's playoff match too?]
[whoever wins today faces TSJ in the next match]
When I said I'd be casting a TSJ match, chat reacted with great enthusiasm, and I went on about the collab with satisfaction.
"No, I don't think I'll be casting today's playoff match. And the person I'm casting with isn't Sua. It's someone you all could never imagine. To give you a little hint, they're a famous celebrity under SJ."
As if tossing out puzzle pieces, I felt a playful mood come over me.
No matter how I said it, the viewers would never guess.
[who the hell?]
[saying an SJ celebrity makes the range way too broad;]
[there's more than one or two celebrities who are TSJ fans, this is impossible]
Watching chat throw out every celebrity they knew in wild guesses, I hesitated a little.
'Maybe I should just reveal it.'
Part of me wanted to drag it out a bit longer, but I kept it simple.
I wasn't casting the match right away anyway, so dragging this out didn't seem like it would do any good.
I leaned toward revealing it early to raise expectations instead.
Slowly parting my lips, a small laugh slipped out.
"It's the face genius, Seo Eunwoo."
It felt incredibly embarrassing to say, but also fun.
***
TSJ headquarters.
Two days before the playoff match.
The players, who had spent the weekend on scrim schedules, were each resting to manage their condition.
Some players were getting massages, others were working out.
The two female starters of TSJ were watching an internet broadcast together.
Serin's personal stream was being projected through a hologram device.
—It's the face genius, Seo Eunwoo.
When Serin's laughing voice rang out, the two women watching the stream showed completely different reactions.
"...Seo Eunwoo!?"
"...?"
Seola gasped in admiration and turned to Eunha beside her, but even after hearing the name Seo Eunwoo, Eunha showed no particular reaction, not knowing who he was.
"She said the person casting the match is Seo Eunwoo! You heard it too, right!?"
When Seola spoke in a thoroughly excited voice, Eunha tilted her head and looked back at her.
"...Who's Seo Eunwoo?"
"Huh?"
"Seola, do you know who Seo Eunwoo is?"
At Eunha asking as if she'd never heard the name before, Seola stared at her blankly.
'No, but you're a genuine fan.'
For a moment, she was speechless.
He was a celebrity who openly went around saying he was a Jeanne d'Arc fan, so even the team staff all knew. But Eunha herself said she didn't know him.
"Face, ge, ni, us, Seo Eunwoo! You really don't know him?"
At Seola emphasizing the "face genius" with her pronunciation, Eunha looked at her like she was a strange person.
"Face genius...? Is that even a real phrase?"
When Eunha asked back as if the phrase itself was bizarre, Seola burst out laughing in disbelief.
"No, there's this really handsome celebrity. I'm sure you've seen him before? Oh, hold on. I'll show you."
Frustrated, Seola opened an app on her smartphone and searched for Seo Eunwoo. Countless images appeared.
Seola pulled up one image she thought looked especially good and showed it directly to Eunha.
"This person. You've definitely seen him before, right?"
When Seola showed the image in a heated voice, Eunha stared at it quietly.
'He is handsome, though.'
The image Seola showed was definitely of someone who could be called handsome.
It was an image she felt like she'd glimpsed somewhere in passing, but not someone who had left any particular impression.
She didn't take interest in other people to begin with, so she didn't remember faces or names well, and celebrities were no exception.
"Wow. You really don't know him?"
"Yeah."
Seeing Eunha's lukewarm reaction, Seola blinked.
'How can she not know him?'
Shaking off her bewilderment, Seola calmly changed the subject.
If Eunha didn't know, then she didn't know. But Rin would be different.
"Still, Rin must be happy. She's doing a collab with Seo Eunwoo, so isn't it like a dream come true for her too?"
"Why would that be a dream come true...?"
When Eunha blinked and asked, Seola wondered if she herself was the abnormal one.
She turned her phone back and looked at the image she'd just shown. There was definitely an exceptionally handsome man in it.
'Is Eunha's sense of aesthetics just different?'
She could suddenly feel why Eunha hadn't had a single scandal in three years.
Eunha's attitude, utterly indifferent to men and women alike, was completely natural.
"He's this handsome. If Rin's a woman, wouldn't she enjoy streaming with him more?"
"...Would she?"
"Of course she would. Seriously, even back when I was in school, this Seo Eunwoo was our class's first love. He's got a great personality, he's handsome... he's good at acting too, there's nothing he can't do, and his way of speaking is so gentle......."
Even as Seola went on and on, Eunha tilted her head as if she couldn't relate at all. Then—
—I'm really looking forward to the playoff match too. It's also the match where Jeanne d'Arc returns. And since it's my first time doing a collab with a celebrity, I think casting it will feel different.
Hearing Serin's excited-sounding voice, Eunha felt a strange sensation.
She couldn't tell whether Serin was happy because of her match, or whether she was excited because of this Seo Eunwoo person, as Seola said.
"Is this person popular?"
When Eunha asked carefully, Seola nodded repeatedly.
"'Popular' doesn't even begin to cover it."