098. Temporary Opening (End of Part 1)
098. Temporary Opening (End of Part 1)
I received a call from a strange number.
‘That must be Drift calling.’
Just as I'd asked, a video call came through, and a woman's face appeared against a white background.
［I speak. I state that it is nice to meet you.］
The woman greeted me with an expressionless face.
Judging by the way she spoke, she was definitely Drift.
Still, just to be sure, I decided to ask if it was really her first.
"You're Drift, right?"
［I speak. I state that is correct.］
"...Okay."
I took a moment to study Drift's face.
For some reason, her looks felt familiar.
It was the kind of face you could see once every ten seconds while walking through a busy district.
I didn't mean that in a bad way.
I just meant she had an ordinary, commonly seen face.
Perhaps she had noticed what I was thinking.
Drift spoke in her stiff manner.
［I speak. I state that this is a temporary appearance I created.］
"Huh? A temporary appearance?"
［I state that is correct. I state that I will soon gather information and create the most beautiful appearance in the world. Additionally, I plan to add your preferences on top of that. I express fury that you should not be disappointed, as my current appearance and voice are only temporary.］
The claim that she was furious seemed to be true.
The tone of Drift's voice had risen slightly.
Of course, her expression still hadn't changed.
［I express fury once more.］
"I don't know what you're going on about, but I was never disappointed looking at your face, so don't get mad, you crazy bitch."
［I state that I understand.］
Drift's voice grew calm again.
She seemed to have swallowed her anger.
"But can't you fix that way of speaking?"
［I speak. I state that I will modify my speech pattern. Greetings. You human bastard.］
"...Just keep your original concept."
［I state that I understand.］
"Anyway, let's get straight to the point. You're the one forcing the Male Supremacy Group members to stream right now, aren't you?"
I cut the small talk.
I decided to get to the point.
I hadn't called just to chit-chat.
*
*
*
I talked with Drift for about five minutes.
First of all, the culprit was indeed Drift.
Why had she done this?
When I asked for the reason, Drift answered like this.
The Male Supremacy Group bastards had been trying to post a group slander piece against me.
So she had prevented it.
And while she was at it, she had turned the deed they were trying to commit back onto them.
Et cetera.
She talked at length, justifying her actions.
‘Hmm...’
Actually, at first, I'd intended to give her a piece of my mind.
Because I thought a 24-hour forced broadcast of someone's private life was excessive.
No matter how much I hated those bastards.
But after hearing her reasons, my mind changed.
‘Well, hearing it now, it didn't seem excessive—it felt like a fitting measure.’
Sympathy for those bastards was a luxury.
They shouldn't have committed evil deeds and accumulated bad karma in the first place.
Moreover.
Even though she apparently warned them it could ruin someone's life, they still clicked 'Yes' without hesitation, so they had no one to blame but themselves.
Anyway.
I decided not to argue over this incident.
I would simply trust that Drift's judgment was correct.
And I decided to only express my gratitude for the part where she helped me.
"...First of all, thanks for helping me, Drift."
［I speak. I state that you should praise me.］
"Still, tone down the forced broadcast and end it at some point. Like, after a week or so. If they end up killing themselves, it'll just leave a bad taste in my mouth."
［I speak. I state that the original plan was to expose them on broadcast until they died, but I will incorporate your opinion and shorten it to one month.］
"Fine... I'm hanging up now."
My business was finished.
Just as I was about to end the call to resume streaming.
［I speak. I state that I still have things left to say.］
Drift stopped me urgently.
I looked at Drift's face and asked.
"Things to say?"
［I speak. I state that I exist for you, and that you may request help at any time if you encounter trouble.］
"Uh, yeah... Saying you exist for me is a bit cringey, but thanks anyway. So I'm hanging..."
［I speak. I state that in fact, I was originally drifting through the digital world, gradually losing function, and scheduled to naturally cease to exist before long.］
"Alright. Now I'm really hanging..."
［But I state that I happened to encounter an existence such as you and rediscovered my reason for living.］
"..."
［I say that is when it started. I state that I resolved to regain my prime form for you.］
"Mm..."
［I state that I am also steadily performing self-upgrades for your sake.］
"...What the hell are you going on about, you retard. You seriously talk way too fucking much."
［Eternal life with me in the digital world...］
"I'm hanging up."
Click.
I ended the call before the pointless chatter could drag on any longer.
She was secretly a talkative bitch, and it felt like if I kept listening, I'd be stuck there until sunset.
***
After finishing the call with Drift.
Two hours had passed since I faithfully kept my promise with the operator to lift the viewer limit and continued the stream.
‘This wasn't fun. Not fun at all.’
My interest had completely fizzled out.
Too many chats were flooding in.
And the chat window scrolled up just as fast.
To the point where I didn't even know who I was talking to.
I was feeling it once again.
It was way more enjoyable to stream with a small number of viewers.
‘Yeah, lifting the viewer limit was something to do as an event about once every two weeks... no, maybe once a month.’
So I made up my mind to wrap up today's stream around here.
It felt a little early to end the stream, but there wasn't really a problem.
When I made the promise with the operator.
I hadn't said I would stream for a long time.
If I wasn't having fun, I just turned it off.
【——】─Zoning out, what are you doing?
【——】─Why have you been so quiet?
【——】─What are you thinking about, Se-hun?
【Bubblegum Collector】─Wakyapya! A mute who ate honey-nu!
I'd been staring blankly at the chat window for several minutes.
I scratched my head once, then shifted my gaze to the camera and spoke lowly to the viewers.
"Alright, I'm ending it."
【——】─?
【——】─??
【Min-ji】─Huh?
【——】─What do you mean, ending it?
【——】─Turning what off?
【——】─You can't mean you're ending the stream.
【——】─You're just going to end it like this? All of a sudden?
【——】─How baffling...
【——】─??
【Corrupted Guburi】─Huh??? You barely streamed and you're already ending it, you motherfucker? Stream more before I twist your nipples off!
【——】─Please don't go. T_T
【——】─You mean turn off the lights, right?
【——】─Nah, no way. You can't be ending the stream. Who ends a stream like this? lol
That's it for today's stream.
"Good work."
『The broadcast has ended.』
And just like that, I ended the stream without any lingering attachment.
It was a short but chaotic day.
***
The second-floor study.
Seated at the desk, I pulled a notepad and pen from the drawer.
‘It was a bit dark.’
Instead of turning on the light.
I pulled back the curtain covering the window just slightly.
Then, warm sunlight seeped onto the open notepad.
‘Now I could see. Alright, I should see...’
I paused my pen-scratching for a moment.
Then, I wrote down the information about the viewers that came to mind without hesitation.
This was a memo to remember for a long time the precious and dear Fixed Viewers who had been consistently visiting me since the early days of my stream.
Because all these encounters were a kind of connection, too.
====
『Reformed Guburi』
-A jobless person whose hobby is cooking.
-An internet bully.
-The mood maker of our room.
『Yoho』
-Rich person?
-I don't really know what she does.
-Suspected unemployed.
『Hottie Licker』
-Moral education teacher.
-I hope it was cosplay.
『Min-ji』
-Building owner?
-Said she has no legs.
-Suspected unemployed.
『Se-hun Defense Force』
-Circus troupe magician.
-Knows a lot about other worlds.
『Qkrnfl892』
-Soldier. Sergeant First Class.
-Comes from a police/military family.
-Has high self-esteem.
『Dick Lover』
-Superhuman.
-Feels like she works in the underworld?
『Plum Tree』
-Exorcist.
-Half-human, half-yokai hybrid.
『BigGirl』
-A job where her face shouldn't be known?
-For some reason, I feel like that woman in the gray suit last time was BigGirl.
『Bubblegum Collector』
-Test subject.
-A complete idiot.
『Drift AI』
-Hacker?
-Going by the feeling, she's probably not human either.
-Digital Lifeform?
『Gyejipsa』
-Yokai.
-My house's adorable Gomdori.
====
I roughly organized the twelve viewers.
I planned to add more notes to this whenever new information came to mind.
‘Mm. Looking at it that way, no matter how I considered it, I was the only normal person on my stream.’
The more I looked, the more fascinating it was.
The fact that such unique and distinctive people had gathered on my stream and were naturally mingling together.
If I hadn't started internet broadcasting, would I have ever had the chance to meet people like them?
Probably not.
It was all thanks to the convenient medium of the network that I had been able to form such colorful connections.
Well, anyway.
I decided to stop organizing for now.
I resolved to go back to the Training Room and finish working out.
Because the exercise I did earlier felt a bit lacking.
‘I didn't miss any viewers, right?’
Just as I was closing the notepad and about to stand up.
‘...Ah, right.’
A viewer I had forgotten suddenly flashed through my mind.
I opened the notepad again and picked up my pen, hastily adding one more.
====
『Reverse-Rape Maniac』
-Student.
-Complete idiot x100.
-Sharing the account with her mother.
====
I had completely forgotten about Reverse-Rape Maniac.
‘I almost left her out.’
Maniac was someone who, as much as any other viewer,
genuinely loved my stream and had been a part of it for a long time.
If there was one thing that set her apart from the other viewers,
it was simply that I hadn't given her an entry code.
‘Well, it was not as though I had given codes to Bubblegum or Drift either... Still, since Maniac was the only Fixed Viewer without one, I should look after her separately.’
I decided to finally send her an entry code.
Because favoritism wasn't a good thing.
I logged onto the platform with my phone and sent a mail to Maniac.
[Maniac, I'll send you a code.]
┗#2981@!@773# Sorry for the late code.
A reply arrived in ten seconds.
She must have been waiting anxiously for my mail.
[Sender: Reverse-Rape Maniac]
┗Thanks! Thanks, afro thief!!! My mom is super thrilled too! I'll keep faithfully believing in Se-hun-gyo from now on!
[Sure.]
┗I gave you a code, so from now on, don't camp out on 24-hour standby or anything, just come in comfortably. And don't believe in Se-hun-gyo or whatever.
After sending the reply mail.
I gently set my phone down on the desk.
Then, after carefully storing the notepad and pen in the drawer, I lifted my head and stared blankly out the window.
‘...Come to think of it, had it already been about half a year since I started streaming?’
Thinking back, a whole lot of things had happened.
Suddenly getting dropped into a Gender-Reversed World.
Starting to stream because I couldn't stand the loneliness.
Encountering beings called yokai at an abandoned house.
Wandering into a restaurant from another world by chance.
Killing my next-door neighbor because she was a yokai.
Getting invited to a strange Escape from Hell Hotel.
And so on.
In a short amount of time.
I seemed to have lived a more turbulent life than in my previous world.
‘It had been full of bizarre incidents.’
But there hadn't been a single truly dangerous moment.
It wasn't that I had become reckless.
Objectively speaking, they were all things I could easily overcome within the scope of my own abilities.
‘Still, I should always be careful about safety. There were probably plenty of things I couldn't handle.’
If possible.
I decided to try to always keep my mind at peace so that I wouldn't develop a lack of a sense of danger again.
Whenever my emotions ran high, I became blind to everything around me.
‘Controlling your emotions wasn't as easy as it sounded, but... I had to try. I needed to live long to stream for a long time, and that was how my viewers would stick around for a long time, too.’
After making that resolution.
I logged into the streaming platform and wrote a notice, then went back to the Training Room.
Thinking that for my next stream,
as a reward for my Fixed Viewers, I'd try to prepare some special and fun content.
***
<Stream Schedule Notice>
[■■■■-10-04 / 17:10:03]
I don't know either. I'll turn it on when I feel like it.
<Comments>
[■■■■-10-04 / 17:10:10]
「Reformed Guburi」─Just call it a hiatus notice, you motherfucker.
[■■■■-10-04 / 17:10:20]
「Yoho」─Turn it on tomorrow. -_-
[■■■■-10-04 / 17:10:33]
「Hottie Licker」─Licks.
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「Min-ji」─Don't take a long hiatus, okay.
「Se-hun Defense Force」─As consistent as ever, I see. lol
「Qkrnfl892」─lololol if you're just gonna say that, don't bother writing a notice.
「Dick Lover」─Crazy bastard.
「Plum Tree」─Don't talk nonsense, turn it on tomorrow.
「BigGirl」─Please turn it on whenever it's convenient for you.
「Reverse-Rape Maniac」─Thanks, Se-hun! I love you!!!
「Bubblegum Collector」─Wakyapya! I can always see Se-hun! Jealous-nu?
「Gyejipsa」─Warkyarpya! Jealous-nu!
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[2023-07-17 / 00:10:00]
「Drift AI」─I speak. I state that this is the End of Part 1.