Pure Talent

[Suihwa: Oppa] [Suihwa: That] [Suihwa: I'll explain later] [Suihwa: Our room's viewers raided your stream just once] [Suihwa: Can you let it slide generously...?]

Hmm. I'd been waiting for her to reach out, but she contacted me sooner than expected.

'Suihwa's not the type to just leave it alone.' Well, the old Suihwa might've, but...

That thought didn't last long.

[Me: Yeah] [Me: It wasn't on purpose anyway] [Me: Keep streaming hard]

Suihwa had apologized so directly—there was no point grilling her further. Sure, I was curious how things had spiraled this far, but I could ask about that later.

Anyway.

'What about the stream...'

This was bad. Twis had put out an announcement. With the chat completely locked, I was stuck.

"This unlocks after an hour, right?"

Oh, right. I'd forgotten again.

"...Kidding, kidding."

Even as I said it, I felt embarrassed. What kind of goldfish memory forgets something like that right away? I was cringing at myself when—

"Pfft...!"

Yuu, sitting beside me, let out a little laugh. My fumbling probably looked pretty ridiculous.

"Just kidding, kidding."

Yuu just grinned at me without a word. A bit embarrassing, sure, but that was that. Right now, fixing the stream was priority one.

Viewers were still piling in, too.

I was racking my brain on what to do when—

'Huh?'

I spotted some small text in the corner.

Subscribers? What's that?

"It says subscribers can chat right away... Anyone know how to do it? I have no clue."

All I knew was YouTube subs. Zero idea about Twis's system.

I said that, and moments later—

"Huh?"

Karin. So Suihwa gifted me 100 sub tokens. I was floored. What the—? Do subs cost money...?

As I panicked—

The dam burst—chat exploded in seconds.

Wait. No way...

"Wait, sub tokens—are those the ones you buy with money?"

Oh. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠That was... a lot. I'm not big on accepting big favors from friends without giving back.

I was about to message Suihwa right then—

Suihwa beat ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me to it. Tsk. Now it felt awkward to send it back.

"...She got me."

She wasn't like this before. That cute impulsiveness had faded a bit. Though I guess she'd gotten more perceptive.

"Alright, now we've got chatters... Let's keep the stream going."

Situation sorted. Time to dive into Mork and Crimson properly.

Yuu, who'd been quietly grinning beside me, shifted into a proper seat. Though to me, it still looked uncomfortable.

'She probably draws like that too.' Sitting that way would wreck her back eventually. I'd have to mention it seriously later.

I set up the tablet while thinking that. I'd planned to just grab random images online, but with Yuu here... I pulled out my spare drawing tablet and set it by her.

'Chatting while sketching together should be fun.'

Plus, as Rito's former assistant, Yuu could replicate his style near-perfectly. This was gonna be a blast. With that, I kicked off the real stream.

"Mork and Crimson... It's an age-old debate, but like I said, I'm slightly—I mean very slightly—leaning Mork."

You have been temporarily timed out.

"Not an excuse."

I was pushing why Mork was superior when—

"Mm... I disagree...! Crimson's definitely superior."

And on screen, Crimson started taking shape. Scribble-scribble. A few bold strokes, and sharp eyes pierced through—anyone could see it was the original's 'hawk eyes' perfectly captured. No flashy techniques. Just simple, deliberate lines interlocking to build Crimson's three-dimensional silhouette. The feather adornments' angle, the black cloak's curve—immaculate, only possible from someone who truly understood the original art style.

Enough to steal the gaze of every Mork stan in seconds—overwhelming.

Chat went nuts. Rightfully so. The drawing was unreal.

'...First time seeing someone draw faster than me.'

No wonder she joined Rito's brutal assistant team and never missed deadlines. I thought I was fast, but this felt like hitting a wall.

But I couldn't just sit there. Had to swing chat back to Mork.

"Eh, entrance exam art level at best."

"Entrance exam art...?"

Yuu paused, then—

"Hehe..."

Grinned at me like it was laughable. Fine. Time to show her again.

Ah, but we'd agreed never to use our real styles. No way either of us wanted our identities leaked.

Lying on the floor—not the mattress for once—browsing YouTube as usual. That's when a weird Short popped up in the algorithm.

The title caught my eye. An artist doing Guard Cup streams? Who? With 56K likes, must be big. Curious, I hit play.

"What the hell. That's me."