No Ordinary Man
"Nngh. My money..."
"I said I'll pay."
"No! I can't let a guest pick up the check..."
In the end, we ordered delivery. Going back to the mart for cookware on top of everything else would have pushed us well past lunch.
I was the one who decided what to order. Not that I stepped up on my own — Choi Yeram asked me. I looked through the delivery app on the phone she handed over and settled on sandwiches, placing the order at a sandwich franchise, enough to cover the staff as well.
"How long will it take?"
"They say about an hour."
"We've finished tidying up. Want to rest until it gets here? We started filming early this morning, so everyone looks pretty wiped."
"Let's do that."
"We'll just set up the cameras and then take a break."
"Yes, ma'am! Thank you for your hard work!"
"Great work, everyone."
Under Manager Gwak Hyeona's direction, the staff scattered. I watched them take the cameras they'd been carrying, bring in extra compact ones, and install them throughout the house, covering every last corner. Not a single blind spot left.
This wasn't even a network variety show, and there were still a lot of them. I'd heard the cameras would be rolling all day, but this was something else.
As I stood there blankly staring at the installed cameras, Choi Yeram came over.
"We didn't put one in the room you're using. Don't worry about it — just rest easy."
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
That was a relief, but did YouTube videos usually get filmed like this? Most people started with one or two cameras whenever a good shot presented itself. I'd never seen an individual YouTuber shoot this way. This was the kind of production you saw on corporate channels.
I could tell Choi Yeram had poured a lot into this content.
"Hey, uh, Yeram."
"Hmm? Need something?"
"No, it's not that. You can put a camera in my room too. I don't mind."
"Huh? For real?"
"Yeah. It's fine."
The channel owner was putting this much effort in. I figured I should do whatever I could to help.
"Are you sure? At first you're conscious of the camera and it's fine, but once you get used to it, you start acting like you're home alone without realizing. You'll fart, strip your clothes right off, whatever. Even snoring in your sleep could get recorded."
"It's fine. If it gets filmed, you can use it."
"Huh? Really?"
"Yeah. Really."
Choi Yeram's eyes went wide as she stared at me, stunned. The will to put myself completely out there — that resolve seemed to have caught her off guard.
"Anything?"
"Yeah. Anything and everything."
"Ooooh. Got it."
She flashed a thumbs-up, impressed, then picked up a camera and a mount herself and went into the room I was using. I followed her in. She installed the camera with practiced ease and headed back out.
"I'll call you when the food gets here."
"Okay."
She even closed the door on her way out. The moment it clicked shut, the noise dropped away at once.
Left alone in the quiet room, a long sigh spilled from deep in my chest.
"Huuuuaaah..."
This is hard. My body isn't tired, but mentally, I'm exhausted. I'd never had this many eyes on me in my life, and it left me awkward and tense — a different kind of gaze from the ones I felt at the gym.
When I'd seen the state of that fridge, I'd been so worked up that filming and everything else had gone out the window. All I'd wanted was to fill that tragic refrigerator right then and there. But thanks to the guy at the mart, I'd come back to my senses. And by "came back to my senses," I mean I'd started tensing up all over again.
I'd nearly lost it again when they said they were just going to order in, then snapped back once I saw there wasn't even a knife.
Hmm... Looking back on it now, we'd probably gotten a lot of good footage. A female friend acting all awkward, then going dead serious the moment she sees the fridge. The same friend volunteering to cook when she hears they're ordering delivery, then going slack-jawed and greenlighting the order the second she learns there's no knife. I'd only swapped the subject from "me" to "a woman," and suddenly it was gripping.
Did I tell them to install a camera for nothing, then? I'd only said to put one in because I figured I'd look too tense for any of the footage to be usable...
Well. It'll be fine. They say more is better, and the same goes for footage.
"Aah. Time to actually rest."
The mental fatigue was intense. I lay down on the bed and let myself rest.
"This is huge. Like, actually huge."
Choi Yeram walked into the room still riding the shock. The staff sprawled across the sofa and the floor lifted their heads to look at her.
"What is it? Did something happen?"
Gwak Hyeona, seated in a chair, asked on everyone's behalf. Choi Yeram looked around at the staff in the room and grinned.
"I think this content is going to blow up."
Gwak Hyeona responded evenly.
"I think so too. Beomjun's character is pretty unique, and his chemistry with you seems really good."
Choi Yeram was privately surprised. It was the first time she'd ever seen Gwak Hyeona start with praise. No matter what content they were making, Gwak Hyeona always opened with criticism. Your expression looks off. The sequence is wrong. Is that really all you could salvage? Choi Yeram had fully expected the usual notes, and she was a little thrown.
"Uh, yeah... Right?"
"What's with that. You said it was going to blow up, I agreed with you, and now you're hitting me with a question mark?"
Her expression looked faintly offended, and Choi Yeram rushed to explain.
"N-no, that's not it. I've just never heard you praise something right from the start, so I was surprised...!"
"I'm kidding."
"Huh?"
How do you even deliver a joke without moving a single muscle on your face. Two more of those and my heart's going to give out.
Gwak Hyeona's face was still completely blank. Choi Yeram stared at her like she couldn't believe this woman, then shook her head and sat down in a chair.
"So. Why?"
"What?"
"You said it was going to be huge. You must have a reason for thinking that."
I don't want to tell her. But she couldn't win against that unblinking stare, and her mouth opened anyway.
"W-well, we decided not to put a camera in the room Beomjun's resting in, right?"
"Yes. And?"
"We installed one."
"...Is that it?"
"Yeah, well. Do you need more of an explanation?"
She didn't. Gwak Hyeona understood the value of that single camera just fine. She was simply puzzled.
It was only on loan, but that room was Park Beomjun's personal space. The one place he could take off his mask — and he'd allowed a camera in there. In all her time working with Nellka, Gwak Hyeona had seen plenty of male streamers. Park Beomjun's behavior was not typical.
"Yeram, did you threaten him?"
"Excuse me?! What do you take me for!"
"Fair enough. You don't have the guts for that anyway."
"Hey! Couldn't you have just said I was too nice?"
"Who, you? Absolutely not."
"Urgh!"
Was he bold, or just naive? From what she'd observed over the past half day, the latter seemed more likely — but she couldn't jump to conclusions. A man's mask was solid, and hard to peel away. Getting a read on what was underneath would take patience.
One week. Plenty of time for a person to adapt to an unfamiliar environment. No matter how tightly a mask was fastened, wear it long enough and the straps would loosen.
Interest gathered in Gwak Hyeona's eyes.
I don't have a single thought in my head. Because I don't have a single thought in my head.
I lay draped across the bed, staring at the ceiling for a long time. A ceiling of blank, spotless white. I zoned out for a while, then pulled out my phone.
Who's starting today again.
I pulled up the sports news and checked the Daejeon Eagles' game.
We lost.
Didn't even need to watch. Eagles over there, Eagles over here — dead last either way. Why are these people so bad at baseball? It's actually driving me insane.
No matter how many times I refreshed, the standings never changed. The Eagles' future was dark.
Knock, knock.
"Beomjun. Lunch is here."
"Okay. Coming out."
At the timely news that lunch had arrived, I got up from the bed and left the room. A few of the staff had already taken their wrapped sandwiches and disappeared. One person stayed behind, getting ready to film.
"You're filming while we eat too?"
"Yeah. You never know when a good moment's going to happen."
"There are cameras everywhere already."
"We need close-ups too."
I understood, but I was a little reluctant. That meant filming us eat from up close, didn't it. Having someone watch you eat was already uncomfortable enough. Doing it on camera... I wouldn't have been surprised if I choked.
"Let's sit and eat."
"Okay."
We sat down at the table in the living room. Come to think of it, this was the first time I'd ever eaten a meal alone with a woman. Back in school, there had been times a teacher told us to fill the empty seats first, and I'd been more or less forced to sit next to a girl. I remembered hunching over as small as I could, terrified I'd bump into her while I ate.
Choi Yeram sat down next to me. Far enough that even if I'd swung my elbows around, I wouldn't have touched her.
"Thanks for the food."
"Yeah. Enjoy."
I tore open the wrapping and started on the sandwich. It was good. Store-bought really did hit different — the flavor was something else.
"How is it? Good?"
"Yeah. It's good."
Choi Yeram bit into her sandwich, looking pleased with herself. Chewing with her cheeks stuffed full, she looked like a hamster. She eats well. I followed her lead and took a bite of my own. The sandwich filled my mouth.
As I worked through the food, Choi Yeram spoke up.
"What are you doing after this?"
She looked at me, waiting for an answer. I hadn't even finished chewing yet. I couldn't reply with food in my mouth, so I chewed faster and swallowed.
"I'm heading to the gym around three."
I'd mentioned it on the phone before — that I went to work out every weekday. Choi Yeram, who at the time had said she worked out too and tried to find common ground, now looked like she was hearing this for the first time.
"Work out? What kind of workout?"
"Just, you know. The kind you do at the gym."
"Oh! The gym! I go to the gym too — want to go together?"
When we'd talked on the phone, she'd said going together would be fun. Working out at the gym with a woman. It was one of those things I'd always wanted to try if I ever got a girlfriend. I never thought I'd get the chance like this.
"Sure."
I nodded, casual.
My heart was pounding.