The Conglomerate Little Brother

Name: Haon Lee.

Age: twenty — one year younger than me.

My little brother.

And, at the same time, the designated eldest son of our conservative household.

Maybe that was why.

Haon's gonna grow up and~

Let's aim for Seoul National University~

Haon, listen to the adults~

From the time he was little, Haon had been loaded down with adult expectations. And he lived up to them, too — good enough at school to crack the top ten in his class. Handsome as well, taking after me.

So of course the adults wouldn't leave him alone. Every family gathering, the pressure came at him from every direction.

Then one day…

"Noona… I've got something on my mind."

"What is it."

"I don't wanna study."

He'd come into my room to spill his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠guts.

And just as I'd figured — Haon was buckling under the weight of it all. Studying didn't suit him, he said. He was only forcing himself because the adults made him.

Honestly, I had a hand in how things got there.

After all, I'd been the older sister who turned down every commercial offer from childhood on and lived like a total delinquent. The adults had basically written me off halfway and gaslit Haon with a steady diet of You can't live like your noona~

"Hmm."

Hearing him out, I felt a twinge of big-sister responsibility.

So what I told him was…

"Boy, go chase your dreams."

I didn't actually say anything that cringey. I just told him to live however he damn well pleased.

And that if the adults gave him grief over it, I'd fight them right alongside him.

"Thanks, Noona! You're the only one I've got… sob!"

That day Haon cried tears of pure gratitude — and then he really did live life however he pleased.

Dyeing his hair bright yellow from the roots and delivering the adults their first major shock.

Dropping his studies and running around with his friends.

Casually cutting school the next day without permission… well, I yelled at him for that one and he went back.

Anyway. Following in my footsteps, Haon Lee became Delinquent Unit 2. The kid got hooked on Legend of Legends, played it like a maniac, and eventually swung his entire career path that way.

In other words: a streamer on Chijijik.

And he turned out to have real talent for it. Leveraging that unfiltered mouth and sense of humor, he became a conglomerate with five thousand average viewers.

Well. Happy ending, right?

Medetashi. Medetashi.

As for a little epilogue…

"Hmm. Been a while since I saw this kid too."

He said he was coming over today.

The last time we'd properly seen each other's faces was almost two years ago. Back when I was still active as an idol, I'd been so busy there was never even time to meet.

"Might as well clean a little."

Even if it was just my little brother, basic hospitality still applied.

So I ran the vacuum, tidied this and that, and before long—

"Noona~ Hi."

"Hi."

"Your long-lost little brother shows up and that's the energy? A little cold, no?"

"Is 'no' a type of persimmon."

"Ugh."

My little brother was home. The second he walked in, he sprawled across the couch like he owned the place.

"Ahh, so comfy. How long are you on break, Noona?"

"Not sure exactly. But I'll be back within a year."

"Ahh~"

Haon and I traded the usual everyday small talk.

And then—

"Yeah? So what have you been up to? You're free now, right?"

"……"

My whole body flinched.

Right. Of course he wouldn't know. The only person I'd told about streaming was Haruka.

I almost just told Haon too, but then…

"You think an idol actually rests when she's on break? I've been shooting Jacon, doing all kinds of stuff."

"That so?"

I brushed it off. No real need to tell him.

The idea of my own little brother watching my streams was… a little much. Yeah.

"Oh, I think I saw some of that on NewTube. But Noona, don't you look, like, completely different now compared to then?"

"You wanna die? What do you even know about idols."

"Khheheh. Sorry."

"Haa… oh, that reminds me."

Looking at Haon, a thought suddenly struck me.

Right — he was a guy too. Worth asking, then.

About the thing that had been tormenting me all last night.

"Hey. Am I, by any chance… not popular with guys?"

That was it.

Ever since last night's stream, that donation had refused to leave my head.

So I'd asked Haon — who was outgoing and had plenty of friends — but…

"…Noona, have you been drinking? I don't smell any alcohol, though."

He just stared at me like I'd lost my mind. Same reaction as Haruka, even.

"I'm being serious right now. Just answer."

"Hmm… yeah?"

Haon stroked his chin for a moment, then—

"No? Doesn't seem like that at all?"

—said it like it was nothing. For a second, flowers bloomed through all the tangled feelings in my chest.

"Heheheh… really? Nobody's out there saying stuff like, 'Jimin's got no cute factor, so she's whatever~'?"

"Haven't heard anything like that."

Well. There were people who liked cute, sure.

Haon muttered that and kept going.

"But your type's popular too, Noona. Just looking at my friends — there's a whole truckload of guys who say you're the best one in HYPE."

"R-really?"

"Yeah, for real. And sometimes when I'm hanging out and someone brings up how pretty you are, it actually feels good. Is that, like, vicarious satisfaction? Ahaha."

"You precious little—!"

I immediately started ruffling his hair like crazy.

Truly precious. Truly. Back when we were kids I'd given him advice, shielded him from the adults — huh? I'd done everything for him, and now he was paying it back like this.

"See! What do a bunch of shut-ins who only play LoL in their rooms know anyway! (Myself included!) Heheheh!"

"Ugh… get your hand off my head! What am I, a little kid!?"

"Want some allowance, baby brother? Wanna buy some candy?"

"Get lost!"

Grumbling, Haon wriggled free of my grip. Normally I always wanted to beat him up, but today he looked weirdly cute.

I was gazing at him with a fond little smile when—

"Noona, wait — do you even play LoL these days? Why'd you suddenly bring up LoL?"

"Hyat."

"Hyat? Why the weird noise all of a sudden. Do you play LoL or not."

I'd made a stupid sound without meaning to. Mortified, I cleared my throat and tried again.

"Ahem… I do play LoL. Augment Abyss is pretty fun."

Ranked was fun too, for the record. I was rank nine and everything. And I streamed, also.

"Augment Abyss, fair. Honestly that's been the main mode lately."

"You know a thing or two, little brother of mine."

"'Little brother of mine'? Noona, you otaku… wait, yeah, you are."

"You wanna die?"

"Sorry. Oh, right — there's been some funny drama in LoL lately. Wanna hear?"

Haon pulled out his phone and searched for something. A moment later he shoved the screen in my face.

And what was it but…

"…Isn't this the LoL rankings?"

The ranking board. A screen I knew all too well.

"Yep yep, exactly. So rank nine is famous for being an Irel one-champ, right? But turns out that person is a girl. And she's a no-cam ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠streamer on Chijijik!"

And then someone got curious whether her boyfriend was just playing for her. I mean, if someone mains Irel at that level, it's a fair suspicion, right?

So someone donated asking if she had a boyfriend — and she didn't even explain, just rage-quit the stream on the spot?

…My precious little brother kept going with the rundown.

"I watched the clip too and yeah, it was one hundred percent that. What do you think, Noona? Just looking at it, her boyfriend in the back is clearly—"

"…That's me?"

"Huh?"

My little brother, mid-enthusiastic storytelling, froze solid.

I kept a straight face and opened my mouth.

"That's me."

"Huum…"

I'd been too rattled yesterday to check the community boards, and apparently all of this had been going on.

My phantom boyfriend theory had hit the hot posts, people were arguing over whether I'd explain myself today — total chaos.

To be fair, I'd been pretty careless myself.

Even I would get suspicious if I casually asked someone if they had a boyfriend out of pure curiosity and they just screamed and ended the stream.

Anyway. Moving on.

"And what are you doing…?"

I said it while looking at Haon, who was kneeling on the floor with both hands raised in the air.

For the record, I hadn't told him to do that. He was doing it entirely on his own.

"Gomen."

"Why the sudden Japanese."

"I was copying Haruka noona. For real, gomen."

"Okay, but gomen for what."

"Th-that's…"

I heard him out.

Rough summary: he was sorry that something he'd said on stream had spread through the community and started getting treated like fact… that kind of thing.

"Noona I'm really sorry sorry sorry sorry…"

"It's fine. I messed up too, so cut it out and get up."

I pulled Haon to his feet and thought to myself.

"Hmm."

He couldn't recognize my voice either. Maybe I didn't need to worry about that going forward.

That part was at least a positive… but what about the rest?

Namely, the explanation.

Normally, if you needed to clear something like this up, you'd do a hand cam ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to prove it. Or just flip the full cam on entirely.

But a hand cam was tricky.

I'd just said the voice was hard to place — but hands were genuinely dangerous. There was a whole origin story for that in the VTuber watermelon-knife incident. And going full cam was completely out of the question.

Which left one remaining solution…

"Haon Lee."

It was surprisingly simple, actually.

"You. Come on my stream today."