Stress Is the Root of All Illness

Kim Naeun, twenty-two years old.

She'd been streaming since her school days, which made her a five-year veteran with a solid track record. And yet, aside from a couple of angry emails back when she was a tiny streamer hanging out with male streamers, she had never once been caught up in dating drama.

I'm already dying trying to juggle streaming and school. Dating can go freeze to death.

If anyone ever walked up and asked, "Why don't you have a boyfriend?" she would have wanted to slap them across both cheeks out of sheer injustice. It was true that she was too busy to date, and it was also true that she'd chosen not to so she could focus on streaming. Either way, she had never once deceived her fans.

That had always been the case.

Until now.

Sweat beaded and slid down her face.

Maybe she'd been thinking about this too lightly. All she'd wanted was for Lee Chaewon not to vanish from the streaming world without a word — just a little hello, a little check-in.

"Uuuugh…"

Only now did Momozi remember: ChaeChae — Lee Chaewon's streams — had always been a little… off the beaten path. Whether Chaewon intended it or not, nobody could say. But Naeun, who had actually met her in person, had come to a realization.

This kid is the real deal.

No calculation. Just a pure lump of dopamine. The mischievous curl of her lips seemed to say it all: Oh, this is gonna be fun.

Look at her. She'd tossed aside the game she'd been happily playing moments ago and was now planted squarely in Momozi's stream room.

"ChaeChae-yaaaa, please don't do this. I'm sorry, okay? Okayyy?"

"Hee."

"Right?! This girl has no idea how scary her unnie can be… Ah, but ChaeChae is surprisingly strong, you know. She bit me earlier."

Fortunately, Lee Chaewon's silence didn't last forever. It had felt like twenty minutes, but in reality she'd only been in the room about five minutes before she opened her mouth. And even then, she'd been snickering the whole time, unable to hold it in — so the vibe had already been full-blown WWE. For Momozi, who had never experienced this particular brand of chaos, even that was a shock.

Even if she was older than Lee Chaewon, Kim Naeun was still only twenty-two. This would be an experience that built character. Or scar tissue.

Never again! I will never do anything even remotely like this!

"Hello?"

Lee Chaewon finally spoke — only after she'd thoroughly finished her revenge.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Huh? No way, mine's supposed to be the latest model?"

"Nah, ChaeChae's voice is even more babyish in person than on stream. On stream it gets a little crackly and darker."

"Really? Weird, the shop owner bragged about it so much… Did you get scammed…"

Leaving Chaewon tilting her head in confusion, Momozi shouted at the camera.

"There!! Now you get it! It wasn't a guy — it was ChaeChae playing games in the living room!"

"Hm? But Momozi's boyfriend was the one playing with her, though?"

"YAAAAAAAH!"

"PS3 is Momozi's boyfriend. Heh."

A sharp twinge—

Ugh, my stomach… my stomach hurts.

Was this stress-induced gastritis flaring up?

As Momozi reeled, Chaewon grinned beside her.

"Just kidding. Aren't you grateful I cleared things up for you? No downfall for Momozi."

"Th-thanks."

Was this really something to be grateful for? The question flickered through her mind, but she was too frazzled to dwell on it.

Once things had settled somewhat, she'd planned to have Chaewon say a quick hello and then send her off — but Chaewon found the chat too entertaining after so long away, and she stayed put.

"ChaeChae? That's a secret! ChaeChae is just… so ChaeChae."

She desperately wanted to brag to the whole neighborhood about how ridiculously pretty the girl was, but she held back. If Chaewon had been merely decent-looking it wouldn't matter, but an honest description might get her identified.

"ChaeChae, what about unnie? You can be honest."

Instead, the stream's host would take the evaluation herself. Even Lee Chaewon wouldn't say anything mean, right? She'd fed her delicious food and they'd spent time bonding. Objectively speaking, she wasn't a difficult person either.

"Hmmmmm. Momozi…"

…It would be fine, right?

Watching her draw it out, Naeun's pupils trembled slightly.

"Pretty, Moji."

"Haha, you little—! You've got good eyes!"

Phew. Thank god. Of course she wouldn't stir up chaos over a simple question like this.

"And…. Big."

"…?"

"Huge."

"…ChaeChae-ya?"

Lee Chaewon raised her gaze to the top of Kim Naeun's head. Compared to Chaewon, who was still growing, Kim Naeun was definitely bigger. In height. And that was what Chaewon had meant.

"You're tall."

The problem was that the subject only got added after the fact.

The chat was on fire.

I was going to do a fifth-anniversary half-cam… I'm screwed…

She had a small half-cam event planned for her fans. But with the boyfriend bait drawing in a massive crowd, the promo had already gone out to way too many people — and her legs were shaking.

I'm on the bigger side, so maybe I won't get called a fraud…

"Ugh."

Gurgle—!

Ugh, my stomach again…

Her stomach screamed in protest.

"Uh, unnie's stomach… my stomach hurts. I'm gonna step out for a sec."

She whispered it quietly to Lee Chaewon.

"Go ahead, I'll watch the stream for a bit."

She was about to say Would you? Thanks— when a wave of distrust flooded through her at the sight of Chaewon so readily volunteering.

I-I can't trust her.

"No no, ChaeChae's a guest, right? I'll put on some music for the stream, so just hang out in the living room. Okayyy."

"Hm? The viewers will get bored. It's really fine."

No. Anxious anxious anxious.

Gurgle—

The more she fretted, the worse her stomach got.

Uuugh.

"Viewers don't… always need to be entertained… Sometimes it's okay to be bored… You can't just eat meat every day, you need vegetables too—"

As she rambled through her excuses, Chaewon glanced at the chat and narrowed her eyes.

"Chat's saying you're doing this because you're worried I'll cause chaos if you leave me alone. Is that it?"

"……Nooo?"

"…If not, then go already."

Unable to hold on any longer, Kim Naeun looked at Chaewon with desperate eyes.

"Really really really? Unnie trusts only ChaeChae? I want to… keep streaming for a long time."

"…It was real up until just now, but you keep making me change my mind."

"I-I'll be right back. Gotta find some medicine."

"Have fun pooping."

"I'M NOOOOT!!! Looking for medicine! Haaah. From yelling so much… my stomach…"

Momozi vanished at the speed of light.

This is so unfair.

Am I really that untrustworthy? The one who's been cheerfully stomping on her own feet this whole time is Momozi. I've never done that.

Streamers really are a special breed.

I even thoughtfully offered to help, and this is what I get. Aigoo, tsk tsk.

My head shook left and right without me realizing it.

Ding—

"Come back? Hmmmm…"

I don't have any plans.

First of all, the biggest problem was that even if I turned on a stream, I had nothing to do. Other people's time was precious too, not just mine. Why bother turning one on when it was obviously going to be a waste of bandwidth?

"I dunno. Nothing to do."

"Hmm, going to take a dump like Momozi? Now that I'm kinda curious about."

"What are you talking about, Moji's human too. She just went, didn't she."

And she might be constipated. It's taking a while.

I swallowed that last part. Even so, outing someone's constipation was a bit much. Everyone poops, but not everyone has constipation.

"What's Dead Zone? I don't know anything about that."

Not playing Dead Zone.

My friend is dead.

Sitting here blankly reading chat was making my hands restless, so I pulled the chair over toward the desk.

"Let's seeee. What's here."

Momozi computer exploration, commence.

I didn't dig into anything personal or potentially weird — just opened the games folder on the desktop.

"Oh, there's a lot."

True to an endgame streamer, a whole parade of different games. So many I couldn't tell what was what. And among them, the one that inevitably caught my eye:

"……"

Dead Zone.

Click—

I clicked it almost automatically. Enough time had passed that it didn't exactly hurt anymore. Now it was more in the irritation stage?

"Oh, auto-login?"

Momozi's familiar account, 'MojiMoji♡', popped right up.

"Guys guys, if I play on this right now, Momozi gets banned too, right? Hee."

I looked at the chat, which had ignited yet again, with pity.

Come on, of course I was joking.

"Don't people normally assume that's a joke? Why so serious."

"I said I'm not."

I wanted to try a different game, but I didn't really know any. In my past life I'd dug my well deep and narrow, so I hadn't played that many games to begin with. And even those were fuzzy now. The RPG I'd poured my entire life into was the one I still remembered best — but that one hadn't been released yet either.

"Guys recommend something worth playing. I'll recommend a comic in return. I read some fun stuff while I was on break."

"A comic? What did I read? An American football comic. Absolute banger. Hits both the feels and the fun. Want me to tell you?"

I'd genuinely never heard of it before and recommended it in good faith.

"Eck, what. Why does everyone know it. You guys were otaku all along…"

Saying that made them mad and call it a normie pick. It wasn't even one of the Big Three manga, so why was it a normie pick? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I refuse to accept this.

"Hm? What's it called?"

From the reactions I couldn't tell if it was hard or easy, but—

If everyone likes it, it must be a fun game.

"Yeah?"

Maybe just a little taste?