Cucumber Soup Chaos and the Deep-Sea Comic Dive

If the Deep-Sea Exploration Club was diving into food no human could possibly eat, that'd be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one thing, but something ambiguously edible like cucumber cold soup as a meal? That just rubbed me the wrong way. Imagining it was straight-up disgusting.

"What kind of cucumber cold soup is that? No one eats that."

Just in case, I gave it another thought. Skipping stuff like pork soup, pig's feet, and bossam for cucumber cold soup?

"I get pulling aggro, but don't do something this ridiculous. It's making me nauseous just thinking about it."

I temp-banned the viewer who'd chatted about cucumber cold soup. Come on, at least make sense.

*

"Ah, that was fun."

After unloading all my chat diarrhea on Suihwa's stream, the stress melted away. My mind felt a lot clearer. This is life.

I didn't hit her with any chats that'd piss her off during the stream. We'd known each other long enough that I'd never once sent anything she'd hate. The cucumber cold soup thing... wasn't meant to poke the bear. It was genuinely one of my favorite foods. Whenever I had a cold or a headache, mixing rice into whatever cucumber cold soup was in the fridge cleared it right up. It was based on personal experience.

Does cucumber cold soup have some magic ingredient? Looking at the ingredients, probably not.

As I pondered the ingredients of cucumber cold soup, my thoughts naturally drifted to my own stream. What should I do today? Last time, I'd accidentally drawn a huge wave of casual viewers, so this time I wanted something chill. Sure, big crowds were fun... but they were exhausting too. Constantly dealing with split-chats was no joke.

"Hmm..."

I mulled it over alone for a solid three minutes, but nothing clicked. I kinda wanted to game, but dedicating my measly two-hour daily stream to that felt off. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Plus, I could game solo anytime.

Tap tap.

Fiddling with the stress ball on my desk—

—I just hit start anyway. Realizing I was agonizing over stream ideas on stream was kinda hilarious.

Viewers started pouring in as soon as I went live. A bit later—

"Sigh..."

This is insane. Why so many? I'd expected some influx, sure, but a hundred people watching my stream?

It felt good... but not that good.

"I said don't mention viewer count. We're just here to chat and have fun—no need to call it out."

I didn't obsess over numbers, but having them pointed out made me check constantly. It bugged me.

"Haven't decided yet, but thinking of reading some manga together."

"Nah, obviously sticking to free releases like new stuff that's out legally. No way I'm pirating paid chapters."

I'm no free spirit anarchist. Now that I'd tasted the fun of streaming, I planned to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠keep it safe.

Right as I was chatting with viewers—

"Hm?"

An unexpected alert. 1,000 followers?

Is that a big deal? No clue. I'd never checked others' counts.

"Does hitting a high number give perks? For real, I have no idea."

Ah, like YouTube subscribers. Not that huge then.

Lots of YouTube channels have tons of dead subs—no views. Subs who don't watch but inflate the count.

"Having tons of followers doesn't guarantee success anyway. And I'm content with where I'm at right now."

Viewers were up, sure, but whatever. Can't kick 'em out.

Still wild thinking about it. Japanese manga latest chapters were impossible legally before.

Wonder what whim hit the big corp to do this. Still a mystery in otaku circles. Sure, Japanese manga's huge, but objectively, non-majors don't get scraped from the depths. Even J-manga's bottom shelf is a graveyard. Hard to profit off this charity—who pushed it? Always grateful, though.

Anyway.

"Was gonna do Electric Man, but..."

"Too obvious, so Deep-Sea Exploration Club this time. Haven't had time to read properly lately."

Deep-Sea Exploration. Webtoon vets know the thrill: unearthing buried gems no one sees, hyping your finds.

"Yep, just for me then."

Nothing worse than sneaky trolls. Rude as hell.

"Even with this many viewers, trolls keep popping up. Must suck for bigger streamers."

"What manager? I'm not that big-time."

Handing out mod powers could inflate egos and tank the stream. Better not.

Don't wanna ruin my new hobby.

Musing like that, I logged into Ink Stage. And there it was, bold as brass in the top right: the [Diamond] badge.

Truth? I'd set it up on my phone pre-stream to flex. Ahem. I don't brag much, but this? Irresistible.

"Around... ten million won, I think."

At least that much. My library's packed with majors and minors alike. Even dropped 500k on Yuu.

She probably won't check. Ink Stage said they'd pass donations, but doubtful. Yuu's not the type. Wasn't for thanks anyway.

Skipping the main page, I scrolled straight down. Scraaaape. Starting from the bottom for gems.

"Hmm..."

I wanted fun stuff too. I'm a voracious reader, but not a shit-eater.

How deep did I dive?

"This looks good."

Found one. Simple title:

"Gonna rate it straight—no sugarcoating. Author won't see my stream anyway."

Not hating, just honest. Casually started reading together. As if the creator's watching.