015. Accidental Collab
015. Accidental Collab
Nam Hyeon-ji's sex appeal campaign continued.
She looked like a female animal in heat trying to flaunt her femininity, desperate for attention.
She hadn't resorted to anything blatant like stripping off her top, of course.
‘Somehow she'd gotten even more aggressive.’
It wasn't my imagination.
She was definitely coming on stronger than before.
It seemed clear she'd moved beyond simple interest.
‘But why was every single thing she did so clumsy... Now I got why people called her a loser.’
After we arrived at the Korean beef tasting corner.
Nam Hyeon-ji swiftly snatched the meat I was about to eat, popped it into her own mouth, and chewed with a serious expression.
That was already the third time she'd pulled this.
Made me want to deck her.
"I'll try this meat first too! It could be poisoned!"
"..."
"Mmm! It's fine! You can eat it now! Or should I feed it to you?"
"No thanks. I'll eat on my own."
Her reasoning didn't even make sense.
What was she, the royal food taster?
Since there was no malice behind it, I didn't say much.
"Good grief..."
Beside me, Cheerful Namsu clicked his tongue and shot Nam Hyeon-ji a dirty look as he sampled the beef.
The viewers' reactions were similar.
The chat was full of messages treating her like she was pathetic.
─Hyeon-ji, what the hell are you doing?
─Why the fuck would there be poison in the tasting corner meat, you crazy bitch.
─Maybe she just wanted to eat it first?
─No, that bitch is signaling she's into Se-hun.
─How is that signaling interest lmao
─Isn't that more like a hostile display?
─Interest my ass. That's straight-up taunting.
─Called it. Total loser behavior lol
─Stop broadcasting that you've never been with a guy~
─If I were Se-hun, I'd already be throwing hands.
─Stealing Korean beef crosses the line.
─Our Se-hun's mouth is filthy, but he's genuinely a good person. How does he put up with beef theft three times? I was counting on a three-strikes-and-you're-out, but he's a total saint.
Still, she wasn't completely clueless.
Nam Hyeon-ji glanced at the chat window, stifled a cough, and scratched her head.
After that, she stopped pulling the same stunt.
Her quasi-courtship activities continued, of course.
"Oh? Se-hun! Let me push the cart!"
"No, I'm fine."
"Don't be shy! This kind of thing is a woman's job! You just walk comfortably, Se-hun, comfortably!"
She kept revealing her feelings like that, endlessly.
Well, walking comfortably suited me fine.
One refusal was enough, so I handed the cart over without protest.
‘...Even though all her actions were clumsy, watching her for a while... I guessed she was kind of cute.’
Was this that whole ditzy charm thing?
No matter how weird her behavior got, her face made most things forgivable.
And so we finished filming the segment where we sampled every cut of Korean beef and moved elsewhere.
***
Introducing various smart carts.
Introducing the search function mounted on the display shelves, and so on.
We'd gotten almost all the footage we needed for promotion.
All that remained was to freely shop for groceries.
For the record, I'd naturally started speaking informally with Nam Hyeon-su and Nam Hyeon-ji.
Nam Hyeon-su was three years older than me.
Nam Hyeon-ji turned out to be the same age.
So Nam Hyeon-ji and I agreed to call each other by name, while I would treat Nam Hyeon-su as an older friend.
Anyway, once we filmed the shopping segment, today's stream would be over.
"Hey! Se-hun! I told you to leave carrying stuff to me!"
When I reached for an item, Nam Hyeon-ji jumped in alarm and rushed over.
"Men shouldn't carry heavy stuff like this."
"No, I mean, this is just..."
"If you overdo it, you'll hurt yourself! Just leave everything to me!"
"...Do people get hurt carrying a loaf of bread?"
The more I saw of her, the crazier she seemed.
I retracted the "cute" assessment a long time ago.
This was way too much.
Nam Hyeon-su must've been thinking the same thing, because he smacked the back of Nam Hyeon-ji's head without mercy.
"Nam Hyeon-ji. Please, stop overdoing it."
"Ow! Why'd you hit me again?"
"Haah... Hyeon-ji, do you not realize that every single thing you're doing right now is having the opposite effect? You think Se-hun's gonna be so impressed that you carried his bread for him?"
The viewers were also busy roasting Nam Hyeon-ji.
─Lol, tone it down.
─A woman who carries bread for you lmao
─Earlier she carried his toothpaste too lol
─Is she actually a moron? It's not that she's never been with a guy—I don't think she's ever been with people.
─Guess she's totally fallen for Se-hun. Crazy bitch.
─Seriously, she looks possessed.
─Tbh I'd probably act like that if I saw Se-hun in person too.
─If you're gonna act like such a loser, just give me your face. What a waste of looks.
─Se-hun genuinely has a good personality~ Any other guy would've been cussing Hyeon-ji out long ago and telling her to stop clinging~
─Agreed, no matter how pretty she is, that was too much.
As I watched the chat, I narrowed my eyes slightly.
It was because of the messages I'd been seeing for a while then.
I had a good personality?
What ridiculous bullshit.
My personality had been garbage from the day I was born.
‘There was nothing good about a nice-guy image... Maybe if I'd been genuinely a good person, but I wasn't.’
When a good guy accidentally did something bad, he got cursed out.
But when a bad guy did something good just once, he got praised.
That was a fact I'd learned through life experience.
‘So I was better off with a trashy image from the start.’
I had no interest in letting a virtuous image take hold.
I hated the idea of people making arbitrary assumptions about me and then being arbitrarily disappointed.
For that reason, this kind of misunderstanding needed to be corrected.
I'd crush it at the root.
"Hyeon-ji."
"Huh? Se-hun, what's up?"
"I've got something to say to the viewers. Mind if I borrow the camera for a sec?"
"Something to say? Uh... Oh, okay."
Nam Hyeon-ji handed me the camera without complaint.
I immediately addressed the viewers.
"Hey. Viewers."
─Yeah?
─Why's Se-hun suddenly using polite speech again?
─He only uses polite speech when he feels like it, I guess.
─Is this semi-polite mode?
─Semi-polite lmao
"I've been seeing some chat messages saying I have a good personality, and I just wanted to say this—my personality is dirty as fuck, so please don't get any weird misunderstandings."
─???
─What's up with this guy?
─We give him a compliment and he still bitches lol
─He's declaring his own personality is trash lmao
─Wow. Se-hun really does have a great personality. People with actually bad personalities never say stuff like that about themselves.
"Got it, you motherfuckers? Answer me."
─???
─Lmaooo, what kind of character is this guy.
─Swear at us more!
─He really does have a good personality. Truly trashy people would deliberately act nice here.
I'd even thrown in swearing, but public opinion didn't budge.
...Guess there was no helping it.
It didn't seem like I could clear up the misunderstanding.
Because there was no way to prove it.
I couldn't exactly grab a random passerby and beat them up.
"Forget it, fuck... Make up your own minds. I tell you the truth and you still don't believe me, what a load of shit."
I handed the camera back to Hyeon-ji.
Beside me, Nam Hyeon-su had been watching the whole scene and spoke up with a grin.
"What, are you afraid it'll mess with your potty-mouth brand?"
"It's not a brand."
"Sure, sure. Anyway, Se-hun, even if your language is rough, you really do have a kind personality."
"What the..."
I was speechless.
How could he have known my personality after seeing me for just one day?
Just as I was about to argue.
Nam Hyeon-ji chimed in to back up Nam Hyeon-su.
"That's right! Se-hun's sensitive inside, so he deliberately acts tough on the outside! I know everything!"
At this point, I didn't even want to argue, let alone explain myself.
Fuck. Just judge me however you wanted.
If you came bitching about being disappointed later, I'd smash your heads in.
Just like I did to those bastards before.
『'Guburi Who Won't Die' has donated 10,000 won.』
└Praise be! Crispy-outside-tender-inside Gye Bastard-hun!
└'Guburi Who Won't Die' has been permanently banned.
And so the misunderstanding only grew.
At that point, I didn't even know anymore.
***
─gg~
─gg~ see you next time~
─Se-hun! Let us know when you stream!
─Can't our Se-hun come on as a guest again? T_T
『The broadcast has ended.』
Today's filming wrapped up there.
The broadcast was over, and we were in the middle of moving the groceries we'd bought into my car.
"Se-hun. Is that your car?"
"It really is a truck? A man who drives a truck... That's kinda cool..."
Nam Hyeon-su and Nam Hyeon-ji helped with the loading.
For the record, those two had arranged separate deliveries for their own groceries.
Apparently, a perk of this mart was same-day delivery.
I'd deliberately opted out of delivery.
Because it would've been a nuisance to the delivery driver.
It was already pretty late, after all.
Morning or early afternoon would've been one thing, but the sun was steadily setting—I couldn't make a driver come out then.
‘By the time they finished the delivery and headed back, it would definitely be pitch-dark... A first-timer on the road was a huge accident risk.’
Nighttime, and an unfamiliar route.
It wasn't just those two things, either.
My place was in a secluded area, and there were lots of unpaved roads on the way.
Plus, the road was narrow and rough—one wrong move and there was a real danger of plunging off a cliff.
‘Evening deliveries were a no-go. Not to my place.’
Anyway, thanks to the Nam siblings' help, we got all the groceries loaded into the truck in one go.
"Thanks for the help, both of you."
"Haha. Helping out with something like this is a given!"
"Definitely! Hehe."
"Nam Hyeon-ji, don't laugh like that. It's gross."
After that, we exchanged some quick goodbyes and swapped contact info.
Nam Hyeon-su asked Nam Hyeon-ji, 'What do you need to swap numbers for?' but Nam Hyeon-ji shot back, 'I'm your manager, so I need to have your acquaintances' contacts.' Her pretending to have ironclad professional dedication was a little funny.
After chatting a bit more, we parted ways.
When I got home, I just put away the groceries, showered, and went straight to bed. Strangely enough, it had been an eventful day, and my fatigue was substantial.
Then, the next morning.
A video was uploaded to Cheerful Namsu's Neotube channel.
It was an edited version of the promotional broadcast I'd appeared on.