I Want to Be the Bias

Every fan signing event has this one line I always use.

“Who’s your bias?”

Short, but powerful.

If they answer with my name, they light up like they’ve won the lottery and slap me a high-five. If they say no, they shoot me the longest, most dramatic glare imaginable.

It’s not like I’m some obsessed, yandere-type fan. I’m just doing my job as an idol. Checking how popular I am within the group ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is important business.

Of course, even now…

“Um… out of the HYPE members, who’s your favorite?”

It’s just an extension of that same habit.

“Just because we were talking about HYPE. I’m a huge fan myself… ahem.”

My cheeks flushed instantly. Admitting I liked my own group felt weirdly embarrassing.

Even though I really, really did.

“What the heck is ‘polar bear yaho’… pfft. Of course girls like idols. If anything, the ratio’s probably higher on the female side, right?”

In reality, HYPE’s fandom did skew a little more female—roughly 6:4.

“So? Gonna answer my question? If you don’t answer fast I might just mute the mic~ Five… four…”

The moment I threatened to mute the mic, the chat exploded with replies.

The answers came rolling in…

“…Is that so? Hehe… ahem.”

I was extremely satisfied.

Seeing my name pop up in every single message made me feel oddly proud. I was barely holding back a laugh with my hand over my mouth.

“Well, you all have good taste, I see.”

I added, half-teasing.

“Jimin is pretty, though. She’s my favorite too.”

“Ehehe… ahem.”

So embarrassing. Calling myself my own bias was mortifying.

Still, it felt good in a way that didn’t make any sense.

I wanted to ride this momentum and ask all kinds of questions.

Why do you like her? Did you see the drink commercial we shot last time? When’s Jimin coming back? Did you follow her on SNS? And so on…

I was dying to ask everything and watch their reactions, but—

‘No.’

I shook my head firmly.

Hold it in. Just hold it in.

Even if it was hard to tell people apart by voice alone, asking that many specific questions might make them go “Huh?”

So…

“Alright, let’s just keep playing the game…”

It was probably best to drop the topic and move on, but—

I froze at the donation. The previous “Jimin’s the best in HYPE!” consensus was already starting to flip.

What was wrong with these people?

They just flipped their opinions the second they saw a donation? Seriously?

“……”

Stay calm. If I blew up now, everyone would get suspicious.

Besides, everyone had their own tastes. I respected that. It was fine if they liked someone else more than me.

And I’d only started this topic out of curiosity anyway. No reason to get worked up.

“Ahem… Haruka’s great too. I like her second after Jimin.”

I said it casually, and that seemed to trigger something.

The chat turned into a full-blown debate.

A very civil discussion about who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was the prettiest in HYPE.

Honestly, I found it kind of fascinating.

From what I could tell:

Yena was the cute one.

Seohae was the… sexy one?

Haruka was the Japanese one?

That seemed to be how they were categorizing everyone.

“Oh… I see. Well then, you know…”

What about me, then?

I almost said it out loud but caught myself just in time.

I understood that everyone had different preferences. But why wasn’t I mentioned at all?

“So what’s Jimin’s role…?”

I couldn’t help but ask.

Another donation flew in right after.

“……”

Yeah… it did sound kinda funny.

“Skill one” was definitely a compliment. But… why did it feel so unsatisfying?

Was there a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nicer way to put it?

“E-Eh~ That’s kind of a letdown compared to the others, though? Our Jimin would be hurt if she heard that. So…”

For example…

“L-Like, the visuals one…?”

I said it and immediately buried my face in my hands.

This was mortifying on every level. Pretending to be a fan while desperately defending myself was humiliating!

It didn’t even feel good. It just felt embarrassing!

Even after I forced myself to say it despite the embarrassment, the reaction was lukewarm at best.

Why?

They’d all been praising me earlier when I first asked!

So why now…

Why……

“……”

So that was the answer to their lukewarm reactions.

I see.

I was only popular with girls, huh.

Made sense. Guys usually went for cute girls.

Of course, there were still chats defending me—“Not really?”, “Jimin’s got a great body, guys would like that too”—but for some reason those didn’t register as much.

Because deep down, I kind of agreed with them.

Thanks to my personality and the body that still remembered my past life, I’d been pretty rough around the edges compared to the other members when I first debuted.

In short, I acted more like a guy than a girl most of the time. A producer had even pointed it out once.

I’d improved a lot since then, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠apparently that image still lingered.

Ugh, what do I do?

I didn’t want to settle for the status quo.

Ever since I set my sights on becoming an idol, my goal had been to be the strongest. The ultimate idol loved by everyone—men, women, young, and old.

But acting more girly than I already did was impossible. Especially aegyo—that was way too out of character for me…

“What do I do…… ugh.”

I suddenly felt restless. I was half-tempted to just end the stream when another donation popped up.

“……Excuse me?”

I was already feeling unsettled, and now this donation had to poke at my nerves.

Boyfriend?

What boyfriend? I was an idol as my main job.

I’d been ignoring every male idol because of the fans, for crying out loud.

Ha, this was ridiculous.

“No, I don’t!!”

Ending the stream so abruptly out of irritation was a first.

“I’ve never rage-ended like that before… hmm.”

Regret hit me for a second, but what could I do? I’d just come back tomorrow and figure it out.

The regret didn’t last long. There was something I wanted to ask right now, so I called Haruka.

Ring ring.

“Hai~ Moshi moshi tteok. Ming-jjang, why?”

Her usual nonsense greeting came through the other end.

“Haruka…”

“Yeah? What’s wrong?”

I called her name and went silent for a moment.

Ahem.

I cleared my throat, feeling oddly shy, then tried again.

“Unya-nyat. How’s this? Cute?”

“…Ming-jjang, did you drink?”

I attempted some aegyo.

Hmm… yeah, this was still hard.

Meanwhile, after Streamer Bocchi’s sudden stream end—

In the Rel-related communities, suspicion that her boyfriend had been playing for her spread like wildfire after seeing her suspicious reaction.

And then came the finishing blow.

“This is basically irrefutable proof, right? Boyfriend, no doubt~”

“What do you mean? If that’s not her boyfriend, then what? It’s obvious the girl was talking and the boyfriend was playing for her.”

Once a famous Rel streamer said it too, the communities started treating the “Bocchi’s boyfriend is playing for her” theory as fact.

And then—

“Ha, for the millionth time, I’m not dating anyone. My standards are way too high because of my sister.”

“Introduce, my ass. One thing’s for sure—she’d never date any of you guys. Puhahaha!”

Average viewers: 5,000.

Haon Lee, the popular male streamer whose main content was Rel.

He was Jimin’s younger brother.