Reading the Room...

The K1 x Jimin video dropped.

I pulled up the view count.

"Reading the room..."

The views had gone completely feral in a single day. Compared to a HYPE music video it was nothing, sure — but if you thought of this as a variety segment, it was basically a record. Honestly, I was pretty nervous about it.

Because if the Bocchi fans watched that video and started commenting things like huh, the way she plays is kinda similar to Bocchi?, that would be a genuine problem.

Anyway, I dug through every last comment.

Thankfully, nothing like that. It had just gone up because it was genuinely fun. Well, even I had to admit the video came out pretty entertaining. The title and the clickbait did their part too.

The content popping off was a good thing, right? A chance to pull Lel fans into HYPE, and I could start picking up sponsorships for other games off that whole idol who's actually cracked at gaming angle.

Yeah. Definitely a net positive. And yet...

"Ah — ah~ of course I did!"

It had gotten so famous the news even reached my own stream. Maybe that was obvious. Streamer Bocchi had long since been rumored to be the first-division captain of Jimin's pirate crew. There were even viewers who'd gotten into Jimin because of me.

Anyway, I couldn't exactly say oh, that's me in here, so...

"Kya~ our Jimin is really good at games AND dancing AND singing! What CAN'T she do? I genuinely don't know~ heh."

"Not more famous than Ronaldo, but... maybe more famous than Messi?"

I was desperately worshipping Jimin. How do I put this. This was so, so, so, so, so embarrassing.

It wasn't the first time I'd worshipped myself. But today it just felt extra mortifying, and after turning it over I think I figured out why.

It was because I was forcing it. I was artificially hyping myself up so nobody would get suspicious — how was that supposed to produce any dopamine? This kind of thing had to happen naturally. Sigh.

This wasn't working.

"Guys, should we just play some Lel?"

"Eden is... well. That happened. I'll really do it later, I promise. Today we need to lock in and get back into the top ten! Yeah yeah!"

I changed the subject at speed. And so, just as I was about to dive into another evening of Chinese political simulator —

"......"

My breath caught. The air around me went cold and blood rushed straight to my head.

S-surely not. They're not already half-convinced I'm Jimin and trying to fish it out of me, right?

A million thoughts tore through my skull in the space of a second. I checked the chat with trembling hands...

Thankfully, that didn't seem to be it. Looking at the chat, this was just the usual nonsense donations and the usual nonsense chat atmosphere.

Phew.

I mean, inferring we were the same person just because I'd been a little cocky on stream was ridiculous. I let myself relax and opened my mouth.

"Eyy~ when has our Jimin ever been cocky? That's real slander, period! She's just cute... agree?"

"...her mouth corners went up watching the video? I — I did that too. Yeah. Mmhmm-hmm-hmm."

Cancel. Cancel what I said about no dopamine.

Who said there was no dopamine. I still felt incredibly, insanely, ridiculously good... heh.

"Guys, did you see Jimin doing Domain Expansion too? That was super cute."

"Kya~ you guys really get it... mmhmm-hmm-hmm."

Ah, shit. What do I do. I was getting wound up again.

Should I just talk about our Jimin today instead of playing Lel?

Lee Jimin (me), get over here!!

...is.

"......"

Screeeech!

The brakes slammed on immediately.

Wait. Wait. This was actual UFC.

Looking at the chat they still hadn't caught on at all, but this was a really dangerous current. For example —

If it started connecting one by one like that, that was when the mood could die in a single second.

So... I needed to change the atmosphere. Rather than something like I have good game sense too actually! —

"Huh? Really? Similar?"

Just admitting it was the right call.

"Then maybe our Jimin plagiarized me as a whole~? Hahat."

Redirect the arrows so they all flew at me instead.

"Pffft... I'm kidding~ kidding! So stop spamming already~ hahahaha."

I might have looked like a girl full of mischief from what I was saying, but in reality cold sweat was pouring down me.

...my armpits were completely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠soaked.

Anyway. Thankfully the stream pulled every last bit of aggro onto me, so I was able to wrap up safely without any further suspicion.

What I was doing now was....

"Lee Jimin. You've been way too damn complacent."

I was doing a self-debrief after ending the stream.

Today might have been the biggest crisis of Lee Jimin's life. It had been that close. I'd almost gotten suspected — and once the suspicion started, that was just the end.

What was certain was that I couldn't keep going like this. I was going to need to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠completely separate streamer Bocchi and idol Lee Jimin going forward.

A kuudere aidoru on the outside. A cheerful girl on stream. Something like that.

Honestly, the best option would be to just quit streaming altogether....

"...I don't want that."

Quitting streams was no longer an option that existed for me. I'd already become someone who couldn't live without broadcasting. ...and I also wanted to keep talking about myself on stream.

Ahem.

"I need to find a way."

Brain: full power, ON.

How was I supposed to completely separate Jimin and Bocchi? How was I supposed to stably, secretly worship Jimin (me)...?

After thinking it through...!

"Welcome-bocchi~ everyone welcome, it's Bocchi-dachi~"

I'd decided to lock in a character on stream. So thoroughly that they couldn't even begin to think idol Lee Jimin was me.