101. Backpacking Wherever the Road Takes You
101. Backpacking Wherever the Road Takes You
Gyejipsa's expression was full of anxiety.
They'd been startled by the word "fired."
［Fired···.］
Gyejipsa was on the verge of tears.
I stroked her head to reassure her.
"What are you so surprised about? I'm not going to fire you, so don't worry."
Then I asked Guburi.
"Guburi, why are you suddenly firing Gyejipsa? They heard you and got all startled."
【Reformed Guburi】─If you've got equipment like that, a manager's fucking useless now. Won't be anything for Gye-Nori to do either. lol
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─Oh, I thought you meant we should hand the manager role over to Drift.
"The manager was useless before, too. And aside from occasionally handing out chat mutes, Gyejipsa never did any real work in the first place."
【Reformed Guburi】─Ah. True.
【Hottie Licker】─lol Gyejipsa's a folding-screen manager. Lick.
【Min-ji】─Now that you mention it, she was just a freeloader.
【Qkrnfl892】─Fr lol
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya! She did plenty, like connecting the cameras and stuff! -_-
"Anyway, they're keeping the manager position. There'll be times when I can't be bothered to mute people myself. And don't mock them for being a freeloader. Do you know how hard Gyejipsa works on the housework?"
［Gye Bastard-hun···!］
Gyejipsa threw themself into my arms.
They wore a deeply moved expression.
【Yoho】─Get off him, please. -_-
【Min-ji】─Don't use this to get handsy.
【Qkrnfl892】─She's gotten a taste for skinship with Se-hun lately, I think.
【Mengyao】─Why do so many people hate Gyejipsa?
【Hottie Licker】─Plenty of bitches are jealous because she's living with Se-hun. lol Lick.
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya! Don't badmouth Gyejipsa! Yeah, they're dumb, but they're good at housework and games!
【Se-hun Defense Force】─Yeah, she's quick with the work.
【Hottie Licker】─A competent but stupid bitch. Lick.
【BigGirl】─Gyejipsa always works hard around the house, so they deserve to rest easy when they watch the stream.
【Qkrnfl892】─Doesn't housework have nothing to do with being a stream manager? lol
【Hottie Licker】─They are technically separate. Lick.
【Reformed Guburi】─She just gives orders; her teddy bear underlings do all the cleaning.
"Stop nitpicking and apologize first."
【Reformed Guburi】─Huh? Me?
"Yeah, who else but you?"
【Reformed Guburi】─What? Did I do something wrong?
"You didn't exactly do anything wrong, but you made Gyejipsa cry."
【Qkrnfl892】─She wouldn't have cried if you hadn't brought up the word 'fired.'
【Se-hun Defense Force】─Fr lol, you said it yourself.
【Reformed Guburi】─Favoritism like crazy. Okay, I'll apologize for now.
【Reformed Guburi】─Gye-Nori, I'm sorry! I didn't mean I was freeing you from slavery, I just meant cut you from the manager role. Sex.
【Se-hun Defense Force】─Gyejipsa isn't looking at the chat right now.
【Reformed Guburi】─What do you want me to do about it, dipshit.
【Se-hun Defense Force】─?? Guburi. I'm Red Clown.
【Reformed Guburi】─Whatever, you fucking bitch. I've unstanned, so fuck off, you cunt.
【Se-hun Defense Force】─lol···.
Guburi readily admitted her fault.
Since Gyejipsa couldn't see the chat at the moment, I decided to pass on Guburi's sincere apology in their stead.
"Gyejipsa. Guburi says she's sorry."
［Understood! I shall specially forgive you! Idiot Guburi!］
【Hottie Licker】─Idiburi. Lick.
【Reformed Guburi】─Dumb bitch. lol
Gyejipsa stopped crying at once.
And as I'd said earlier.
I planned to keep Gyejipsa on as stream manager.
It didn't matter whether she did the job well or not.
Moreover, it was perfectly fine if she did nothing but watch the stream.
I'd just appointed her in a sort of mascot capacity.
If I'd chosen a manager based on ability, I'd have given the job to Drift.
Not that Gyejipsa wasn't competent.
But Drift was on a different level, an incomparable viewer.
However, Drift aside.
Making any of the other viewers manager would've been a little problematic.
At least one viewer would've complained of unfair treatment and demanded the manager role too.
But Gyejipsa was my slave···.
No, she was living with me.
And I'd brought her here specifically to be my manager, so no viewer would take issue with her holding the manager title.
【Min-ji】─Fire Gyejipsa and make me the manager, please.
【Yoho】─Streamer. Can't I be the manager?
【Qkrnfl892】─Just make her do the housework.
【Reformed Guburi】─Let's fucking beat up Gyejipsa.
Probably.
***
One hour into the stream.
I was sitting on the terrace, vacantly admiring the first snow.
【Qkrnfl892】─The teddy bears are good workers. Dispatch some to my unit.
【BigGirl】─They're toddling along and working so hard.
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya! Good thing I didn't go out to play today!
【Gyejipsa】─Wakyapya! You fucking bitch!
【Bubblegum Collector】─?
【Reformed Guburi】─But the necklace camera's still crazy amazing.
【Hottie Licker】─Agreed, I still can't believe it even when I see it with my own eyes. Lick.
【Min-ji】─First-person view is seriously amazing.
【Qkrnfl892】─Fr, it feels like controlling an avatar.
【Se-hun Defense Force】─Third-person's even more amazing.
【Yoho】─Streamer? You've been quiet for a while. Are you meditating?
Science and technology really were great.
Even when I was just staring off into space like this.
I could check the chat through the AR chat window.
【Mengyao】─So what's today's stream content? You're just sitting still. It's not a chatting stream, so what are you doing?
【Qkrnfl892】─lol Just turning on the stream is the content.
【Min-ji】─If it's Se-hun, he'll probably say, Content? I don't have any! Bbu! Hehe.
【Plum Tree】─What's 'bbu,' you crazy bitch.
【Reformed Guburi】─Don't act like such a newbie. Mengyao, you fucking bitch.
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya! The newbie's adorablyuke!
【Gyejipsa】─Warkyarpya! Adorablyuke!
【Mengyao】─Why does Guburi keep cursing at me? Did I do something wrong?
【Hottie Licker】─She doesn't just do it to you. Lick.
【Yoho】─Reformed is an equal-opportunity curser to everyone.
【Se-hun Defense Force】─Put simply, just see her as a dipshit.
I hadn't told the viewers.
But today's content was originally supposed to be a travel stream.
It was just that because of the snow, I had no choice but to fall back on this.
"What do you mean, no content···? Do I look like that thoughtless a streamer to you?"
【Reformed Guburi】─Yeah.
【Hottie Licker】─He was a streamer? Lick.
【Qkrnfl892】─So he's aware he's a streamer after all.
【Se-hun Defense Force】─You're saying you have content?
"Actually, I did prepare a very special piece of content, but it snowed a lot today, so I'm saving it for later. So for now, let's just do a normal chatting stream."
【Hottie Licker】─Special content? Lick.
【Reformed Guburi】─Don't be fooled. Last time he got our hopes up saying he'd prepared special, fun content, and then we just went hiking, you fucker.
【Drift AI】─I speak. I ask what the special content is.
Drift asked.
Originally, I'd planned to reveal it as a surprise event on the day of the trip, but since there was no real reason to keep hiding it, I decided to just tell them.
"A backpacking trip."
【Min-ji】─Oh! A backpacking trip! That sounds fun. Heh heh.
【Yoho】─A backpacking trip?
【Reformed Guburi】─Are you serious?
【Hottie Licker】─I'm done. What kind of special content is that? Ptooey ptooey!
【Qkrnfl892】─Just come to our unit and do a ruck march in full battle gear.
"Why, don't you like it? Then the three of you don't watch the stream that day. I'll blacklist you in advance."
【Hottie Licker】─No no, actually, I was just thinking it sounded fun. Lick.
【Qkrnfl892】─Me too lol. Seems like only the Guburi brat is complaining.
【Reformed Guburi】─? Are you fucking bitches?
【Reformed Guburi】─Actually, I also thought the backpacking trip was very special and fun content. No blacklisting.
Just as I'd expected.
The mood among the viewers was that they all liked the backpacking trip content.
"Since everyone likes it, preparing this content was worthwhile."
【Reformed Guburi】─You fucker···.
【BigGirl】─But are you going overseas? Or is it a domestic trip?
【Yoho】─Don't go on an overseas trip; it's dangerous.
【Hottie Licker】─Penis tuna mayo. Lick.
【Min-ji】─Yoho, who the hell are you to boss him around?
【Yoho】─Min-ji. Shall I release the screenshots?
【Min-ji】─I'm sorry. fuck you
"I can't go on an overseas trip. I haven't gotten my passport yet."
【Mengyao】─Want me to send you a forged passport?
【Drift AI】─I speak. I state that I can send one as well.
"Forget it. What is this, a conspiracy to turn me into a criminal···? I'll go on an overseas trip later; for this time, I'll just go to Jeju Island or something."
【Hottie Licker】─Jeju Island's nice. Lick.
【Yoho】─I'll permit Jeju Island.
【Min-ji】─Who are you to permit anything? Heh.
【Reformed Guburi】─Will the stream work on the plane, I wonder.
【Drift AI】─I speak. I state that the stream is possible anywhere.
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─??? Airplane? Jeju Island? What kind of So-ri is that? How do you go to Jeju Island without a passport?
【Reformed Guburi】─?
【Plum Tree】─What does that mean?
【BigGirl】─What does a passport have to do with it?
The moment I saw Maniac's chat, my head went blank.
Was there an error in the AR chat window?
It was such a strange question that I couldn't help but think that.
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─Don't you need a passport to ride an airplane? Ah, maybe you don't if you take a boat?
I let out a hollow laugh.
Maniac was truly a hopeless viewer.
Like me, the other viewers were also reacting as if they were utterly dumbfounded.
【Qkrnfl892】─Is she an idiot?
【Min-ji】─What is genuinely wrong with that person?
【Yoho】─She's a little serious.
【Hottie Licker】─If you were my student, you'd be dead. Lick.
【BigGirl】─Jeju Island is part of our country···.
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya. Maniac is an unparalleled moronuke.
【Gyejipsa】─Warkyarpya. Even Bubblegum can't beat Maniac, it seemsuke.
【Reformed Guburi】─Why don't you say you need a passport to ride the city bus, too? You fucking bitch?
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─Did I have it wrong? Brb, gonna go ask my mom.
【Drift AI】─I speak. I state that you do not need a passport to board a domestic flight.
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─Oh, acquired new knowledge.
【Plum Tree】─She sure believes what Drift says.
【Se-hun Defense Force】─Probably because Drift's the most knowledgeable here.
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─I thought you absolutely needed a passport to ride an airplane. Sorry sorry.
【Drift AI】─I say that a lack of common sense is no crime. I state that this is simply something you can learn going forward, so there is no need to apologize.
"···Right. Like Drift said, as long as you know now, it's fine."
I swallowed my sigh internally.
If it had been another viewer, I'd have cursed them out.
But since Maniac was a moron beyond imagination, I decided to let it slide.
【Min-ji】─But isn't she at a level where it might be an act?
【Qkrnfl892】─Fr, I think that's a bit.
【Se-hun Defense Force】─She might actually be crazy smart.
【Hottie Licker】─That's absolutely not the case. Lick.
【Reformed Guburi】─Maniac, you bitch. Do you know what 1+1 is?
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─Window.
【Reformed Guburi】─Fucking bitch.
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─2···.
"Don't be too hard on her, guys. If you've never had any interest in passports or never ridden a plane, it's possible not to know."
After I defended Maniac.
I quickly changed the subject by bringing up something else.
If I'd let it continue, the other viewers would've kept ganging up on Maniac.
And so, carrying on with just the chatting stream today, somehow another day came to an end.
***
November 7th.
The day of the trip had finally arrived.
Today's content was the backpacking trip.
The destination was Jeju Island.
【Min-ji】─Did you book a place to stay?
【Qkrnfl892】─Where are you going once you get to Jeju?
【Plum Tree】─Watch out for the Dol Hareubang yokai.
【BigGirl】─Are you going to explore famous restaurants?
【Se-hun Defense Force】─Did you look up any tourist spots?
"Dunno. I'll figure it out when I get there."
【Reformed Guburi】─?
【Yoho】─?
【Hottie Licker】─Churp?
【Drift AI】─I question mark? do.
【Reverse-Rape Maniac】─You'll figure it out when you get there? No plan?
"Yeah. I don't have a specific plan. That's the whole charm of a backpacking trip."
Just as I'd said.
Apart from the vague plan of going to Jeju Island.
I had absolutely no concrete plan for what came after.
Which was to say.
Without setting a clear destination in advance.
I intended to travel wherever I felt like going based on my mood at the time.
Just wherever my feet took me.