Going on Hiatus

"Alright, looks like I've thinned the herd a bit."

"Political news… ahem. I would prefer not to end this stream permanently."

The power of News-Reading Girl content was no joke.

My stream, which had once swelled to a glorious seven hundred or so at its peak, had now lost roughly half its audience.

When I'd been covering articles about world-class idol Lee Jimin — pure stan fuel — the numbers had held up decently enough. Economic news, though? Apparently that was where they drew the line.

"But come on, wasn't that a pretty useful segment? Be honest — the stock talk was fun."

"Hmm… good question."

I hadn't actually planned anything after this. Honestly, managing two whole content segments in one day on this chaotic stream of mine was already a miracle.

I sat there for a moment, mulling over what to do next.

"Ah — since we've got a lot of new people in here, how about we set up some chat rules?"

Chat rules. That little notice board that pops up the second someone enters the chat for the first time.

I'd only ever slapped something half-assed together before, but with all the new traffic pouring in, this felt like the right moment to do it properly.

"Phew… that should cover it, right?"

Finishing the rules left me with a weird little surge of pride.

Yeah, this should be fine. I was about to click apply when the chat exploded with question marks.

I paused, watching the flood of hooks fill the chat window.

"What? Is something weird?"

"What am I supposed to do, I really am pretty. Even Haon admitted it."

"There you go again, pretending you're not and trying to bait me. So transparent. Ugh."

There were always people like this among my fans. The type who'd show up at a fansign and go, "Haruka's actually my bias!" just to scratch at me and enjoy the reaction.

The viewers here probably had roughly the same agenda.

Well, it was just cute. As if they could actually get under the skin of a third-year idol — the next-generation icon of K-pop, atashi herself.

I was completely unfazed. Not even a little—

"……."

Okay. That one stung a little.

"…MyeongLooming? You for real right now? Want me to go check how you've been chatting this whole time?"

Autopsy tool: ON. In the name of truth, I opened the donor's chat history and put it up on stream.

"Huum…."

My brow furrowed. I'd gone into the autopsy fully confident there'd be at least one or two "she's so cute lmao" messages in there.

This was awkward. Hmmm.

"MyeongLooming, are you listening right now?"

"Let you off? Ah, then type 'she's cute haha' in chat for me."

"Pffthh, you didn't have to add the second part~"

What a good kid. Turns out he was a sweet one all along.

Honestly, everyone else was probably thinking the same thing deep down — they just wouldn't show it.

"See? Let's all just be honest with each other."

"…What do you mean, Botkima? For the record, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if I go full sincerity mode, every single one of you gets whipped in ten seconds flat. Keep that in mind."

"Hmm."

The reaction felt a little lukewarm.

I decided to just let it go. Kind, generous me would be the bigger person. Mm-hmm.

Anyway.

"I've streamed way too much today, mo muri muri. Gonna play one song and then we're done."

"Fighting~ Take care out there. Always appreciate you."

I was winding down with some casual chatter, angling toward the end of stream, when—

"Europe? I've been a lot for work, yeah."

"No lying? Why would I lie about this. Next week I'm literally— ah."

I froze mid-sentence.

Come to think of it — I was going to Paris next week, wasn't I?

I'd meant to announce a full week of hiatus right from the start of today's stream. But I'd been having so much fun that it completely slipped my mind.

Better say it now.

"Guys, I forgot to mention — I'm going on hiatus for about a week starting next week."

"Everyone calm down. It's a work trip overseas ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— I don't have a choice."

"…What I do for work is classified."

The moment I said hiatus, public sentiment turned stormy. And with me hiding my job on top of that, some viewers were starting to look at me with real suspicion.

"Guys, I know exactly what you're thinking right now. Haon already cleared the boyfriend rumors, remember? And it's not even Christmas — you really think I'd deceive you all just to go off and get all hot and heavy with some guy?"

"No waaay… is it that serious? You all said you weren't whipped earlier, but it looks like you're already fully steeped."

"Heh."

God, they were so, so, so, so, so cute. Taking the hit and pretending they weren't.

And this part genuinely surprised me.

Already — the viewers. My Botbuddies. Had I already been carved into their hearts like this? To the point where even one day without me made them anxious?

Haa, shit. Lee Jimin, you absolute menace.

Went and reeled people in again. And I hadn't even used ten percent of my full power yet… heh.

"Alright, fine."

I was feeling generous. Hadn't planned on this at all, originally.

"How about I just stream from over there so you guys don't get bored? Deal?"

Whatever. I'd stream from Paris too.

"Aren't you guys a little too happy about this? Pretty sure you're whipped for atashi after all?"

"Still pretending. Truly legendary levels of absurd. Heh."

I smirked and thought to myself.

Actually, this worked out great. On personal schedules like this, the downtime got so boring with nothing to do.

Ah — that said, I had absolutely zero intention of streaming outside.

Just cover the camera in the hotel room and do a radio-style stream. That should be fine.

…Or so I naively thought.

"Emergency."

Two hours after ending the stream, the realization hit me like a truck.

This trip — I wasn't going alone, was I…?

Jin Seohae.

My fellow HYPE member, two years older than me, the first in the group to land a luxury brand ambassador contract. Cool, aristocratic, long white hair.

Seohae had been invited to Fashion Week too. And as far as I knew, we were sharing a room… ah.

"What do I do."

This was bad.

Sharing a room meant there was no way to stream without Seohae knowing. But I also couldn't just awkwardly backpedal now with a "sorry guys, canceling after all…"

Stuck between a rock and a hard place… hmm.

"I'll just tell her the truth."

After some deliberation, the plan I landed on was honesty. Not the "I'm an idol" kind of honesty, of course.

Telling Seohae I stream and asking her to play along seemed like the best move.

If I tried to half-ass hide it and she walked in mid-broadcast going—

"Lee Jimin, what are you doing right now?"

—that would be an absolute catastrophe.

"Until now I've only told Haruka…"

If I told Seohae about the streaming, there'd only be one person left in the group who didn't know.

I'd have to tell Yena eventually too. If she were the only one left in the dark, she might get the wrong idea and think she was being iced out.

Anyway, I texted Seohae right away.

Something along the lines of: I've got this streaming thing for various reasons, can you pretend you don't notice?

The reply was….

She didn't even ask follow-up questions — just coolly okayed the whole thing. Given her usual four-dimensional personality, I'd been half-worried she'd go tattle to the manager.

Of course.

…That part made me a little nervous.