Chapter 73. A Familiar Scent From a Woman I've Never Met
Chapter 73. A Familiar Scent From a Woman I've Never Met
"Hoho, what's got you so nervous?"
The last interviewee sitting in front of me kept glancing around anxiously. To lighten the mood, Laila asked in a soft voice.
"Ah, n-no... It's my first interview..."
"No need to be so tense."
With that, she moved through the same questions she'd asked the others. Motivation for applying, whether they'd done volunteer work before, and so on. After hearing her brief self-introduction, we wrapped up the formal questions.
'We still have some time before the fan meeting...'
"This is just out of curiosity... Do you watch my stream a lot?"
"Ah, yes! I've even donated!"
"Really? You're a treasured viewer."
Since she was the last interviewee and we had time to spare, I asked this and that. As a streamer, I was curious about the viewers' thoughts too.
"What do you like about my stream?"
"Hmm... I like that it feels light. The playful back-and-forth that doesn't cross the line is fun."
She seemed like a pretty passionate viewer. That was exactly the streaming vibe I was aiming for.
"Could you... tell me your nickname?"
"Uh, uh... Th-that's..."
"Heh heh... Worried your chat history might get dug up?"
"I didn't say anything weird...! I'm just a little embarrassed..."
"Just kidding. Will you be joining the fan meeting later?"
"Yes!"
"Good. Then I'll see you again soon."
She glanced around, hesitating before speaking up.
"Um, excuse me... Is the manager here too?"
Why was she asking that all of a sudden? The viewer nicknamed 'Hero's Foot Wiper' had been made the president of the foundation, so they'd see his face eventually. As for 'Overflowing Holy-Power Pouch' and 'Saintess's Foot Wiper', I had no idea. I didn't particularly feel like singling any of them out as special named viewers.
"Well... I did make one of them the foundation president, so you'll see his face someday... As for the others, I'm not sure?"
"Ah, I know him too... The other one is 'Saintess's Foot Wiper', right?"
She glanced sideways at Laila and spoke hesitantly. That was certainly a nickname too embarrassing to say out loud in public.
"Yes. When I meet him someday, I plan to give him a real knuckle sandwich."
"Wh-what!?"
"Pfft... Just kidding."
"Ahah... Yes..."
Eventually, we finished the last interview and took a breather.
"Laila, what did you think of the last person?"
"She seemed like a really decent person... but I got the feeling she was hiding something."
"Hiding, huh..."
"But it didn't feel like a bad thing... more like she was hiding it because it would be embarrassing if she got caught?"
"Pfft... Well, she must've typed a lot of weird things in chat."
We shared a brief conversation and roughly compiled a list of successful candidates. We decided to go over the details later at Attorney Kim Tae-hyun's office.
"How ready are things right now?"
"Ah, they said the setup for the finger foods, drinks, and beverages is already done."
"Let's go. Time to see these guys' faces."
I headed to the auditorium to see my viewers, whom I'd be embarrassed to show off anywhere.
---
When I opened the auditorium door and walked in, countless eyes fixed on me. Several drones trailed behind Laila and me. Inside the large auditorium, dozens of round tables had been arranged.
"Nice to see you all~"
As Laila smiled brightly and waved, the viewers cheered. Meanwhile, the quieter viewers each showed off their 'malignant force' through their own chats.
"Wow! You're so pretty!!!"
"You're way too pretty!!!"
"This is insane..."
"Ahem..."
I stepped in front of Laila with an exaggerated cough. Only then did the viewers laugh and respond.
"Big bro! You look cool!"
"What's your workout routine?"
"Boo! Go back down!!"
"Saintess, don't block the view!!!"
"..."
[What a total loser lol]
[Wait, aren't they all supposed to be just like me? Why do they look so normal, wtf]
[I thought we were comrades, but this sense of betrayal is insane...]
We launched into the most basic fan-meeting template, a Q&A session. Inoffensive questions followed: why I stream even though I was S-rank, whether we're dating, what I usually do in my free time. Someone also asked why I'd scheduled the interview date and the fan meeting on the same day.
"It's just more convenient to do it all at once."
[Seriously wtf lmao That's so efficient, man]
[But why isn't anyone who went to the fan meeting heckling him?]
[Because if they heckle him in person, their ankles would break on the spot lol]
[Aha!]
"Now that I think of it, I saw the gifts you all gave me. There were so many?"
"Big bro!!! I put a gift in too!!!"
Everyone burst into laughter at the sudden shout from a viewer.
"Thank you. I'll make good use of these..."
Just then, a huge donation from the manager popped up for the first time in a while.
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 500,000 Watts! ]
- Seeing you in person, you look even more like a total loser lmao
"?"
If you watched my stream often, you would know this named viewer. At the content of his donation, the people gathered here started looking around.
"Are you here right now?"
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper : ... ]
When I opened his personal message window, no new chat was coming in. I'd planned to catch anyone fiddling with their phone at that moment if they dared to chat...
"When I catch you, you're really dead..."
I put aside the chat and introduced the prizes I'd prepared for the viewers.
"You remember this from last time, right?"
I held up the expensive graphics card I'd received at the Pajijik year-end party. Besides that, we'd prepared various prizes like a high-spec computer, a mechanical keyboard, and a mouse. Only the value differed; we'd arranged enough prizes so everyone could take at least one thing home.
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 100,000 Watts! ]
- Lmaoooo, geez, thinking about how this bastard must have rummaged around preparing this, why is it so cute?
"..."
[Lmaooooo you're really gonna die if you get caught]
[Seriously, maybe he's just at home causing trouble?]
[No, that bastard certified on the gallery that he got a ticket to the fan meeting lol]
[If he even did a certification, that means one of those guys here really is him, wtf]
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 50,000 Watts! ]
- Watching you look around trying to find me makes me want to bite your puffy cheeks, really lol
You bastard, I was definitely going to catch you. I briefly stepped down from the platform and walked among the tables where the viewers sat.
"Alright, has anyone seen 'Saintess's Foot Wiper' and suspects this person?"
[Lmaooo let's go!!!]
[Fucking lol let's go arrest that malicious troll]
[If your balls are trembling with fear right now, Foot-Wiping Dog, press like lol]
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper : f-i-n-e ]
"Hey, is it you?"
"Come on, man. I've never donated even once~"
"...You should donate sometime."
I wove my way through the round tables. No one stood out.
'Huh...?'
The 'instinct' honed through mercenary work, war, and the expedition force. The moment I passed by one of the tables, I felt a strange sensation. That instinct, which had saved my life dozens of times, went off.
"Hm?"
I looked back at the table I'd just passed, but they were just ordinary viewers. And the woman sitting there was the last interviewee I'd seen earlier.
'Did she just stick in my memory because she was the last interviewee...?'
My instinct had clearly prickled and gone off... But it seemed my senses had dulled considerably since leaving the life-and-death battlefields and coming to Earth.
"Ah, damn... Who is it?"
[Lmaoooo]
[Evading the gaze of an S-rank is a talent in itself lmao]
[I really wish he'd get caught just once]
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper has donated 50,000 Watts! ]
- If you find me, 1 million won lol
[He's seriously donating like his life is on the line lmaooo]
[What are you gonna do if you actually get caught doing that?]
[ Saintess's Foot Wiper : Yep~ I'll just kill myself~ ]
"When I catch you, for real..."
If this guy had done the interview... And if he made the final cut and joined our foundation... If his identity were to be discovered then...
"Your cause of death will be overworking..."
After issuing that bloody warning, I went back up onto the platform. Then, we accepted applications for long-term supporters, gave out prizes, and also distributed some through a raffle.
"How does it feel to receive the most expensive graphics card here?"
"Hmm... I'm happy I'll be able to run more high-spec games!"
"It's nice to have a viewer like this among our audience, always looking for better specs."
Seeming embarrassed by my words, she ducked her head deeply. The viewer who took the graphics card was the woman who had been the last interview of the day.
'Why did she keep catching my eye...'
I already had Laila, an incomparable girlfriend. Given that, I wasn't harboring any low-class, trashy romantic feelings. A familiar scent came from a woman I was seeing for the first time...
"Anyway, thank you all for coming such a long way!"
---
After successfully wrapping up the fan meeting, the three of us gathered again.
"We've narrowed it down to most of them."
"The people we each had in mind are all pretty similar, huh?"
We handed around the documents we had each written on and checked them.
"Shall we contact all of them then?"
"Yes, let's do that."
Them joining the company and the full-scale charity activities would likely happen a little later. There was a more important event coming up.
"We'll postpone the new employee orientation for a bit, then."
"Let's set the schedule after we return from the World Hunter Association."