Love at First Sight
“So my weakness is probably quick thinking. Maybe because I’m a J. I’m not great at handling sudden, unexpected situations.”
[For example?]
“Like when something happens that wasn’t in the plan. Or when I suddenly have to do something live on stream. You know, the kind of thing you’re good at.”
Unlike Doyun, Arine was a meticulous planner. She was the type who preferred to map everything out before making a move. That was why she had approached even their virtual marriage with such careful planning. Viewers always praised her strength in content creation, but that was only half true. The truth was, she had to be good at planning—because her quick thinking was weak. In the world of live internet broadcasting, lacking spontaneity was a massive flaw. Years of experience had helped her catch up to others, but it had been far worse in the beginning. Back then, she had compensated by preparing her content with obsessive thoroughness after every stream. There were times she even wrote full scripts for just-chatting segments. That effort had carried her this far, yet it remained her sore spot. And perhaps that was exactly why she liked Doyun.
People fixate on what they lack. Even if your whole body is fine, a single thorn in your finger can render you useless. She was human too, so she naturally admired what she didn’t have. In that sense, Doyun was almost like an idol to her.
……How does he pull out such funny moments on the spot like that? Is his brain wired differently?
She was right. While Doyun’s planning skills were average at best, his quick thinking ranked among the very best. Even among the large streamers she had seen, few could match him. In the span of a single moment he could read the room, drop the perfect ad-lib, or create a situation that always made people laugh. He probably would have done well on old-school variety shows too.
The fact that she had felt drawn to him, enjoyed his jokes, and wanted to keep him close—maybe it was her own deficiency that had pulled her toward the man named Do Doyun. Arine thought so.
[Really? I don’t think that’s true. You seemed pretty quick on your feet during that collab last time.]
“……Did I?”
This was exactly what she meant. She was weak against things like this—sudden, unscripted moments. So Doyun’s abrupt change in attitude caught her completely off guard. At least give me time to mentally prepare! Weren’t we supposed to treat this like a proper virtual marriage only after the wedding ceremony today? Why was he suddenly starting this on his own? She had no idea how to respond to a development she hadn’t anticipated at all. Her face kept flushing and cooling because of the strangely sincere lines Doyun had been dropping since earlier.
……And this wasn’t even his character. He was supposed to be the comedy guy. Why was he suddenly being so sweet out of nowhere……?
She knew he was only acting this way for the sake of their virtual marriage content. But was it really possible for someone who usually played the clown to flip like this? The gap between those images left her completely defenseless. It felt like a close male friend or older brother suddenly confessing and flirting with her. He used to be the guy who just said nonsense……now she didn’t know how to treat him. It was ridiculous, but she genuinely felt like the female lead in some romance drama right now.
……And how could he say things like that so casually? It was kind of annoying. He mentioned having an ex-girlfriend before. Maybe people who’ve dated before really are different. She had never heard him talk about dating, so maybe he had done it multiple times. To her, Doyun wasn’t bad-looking, he was fairly tall, had a good personality, and a great sense of humor—so it wouldn’t be strange if he had dated plenty. After all, women liking men with good humor was common.
In contrast, Arine was a solo. It was embarrassing to admit, but at twenty-four she was still a lifelong single. She couldn’t help it. She simply hadn’t had time for romance. Plenty of men had approached her—more than she cared to count. But most of them made their intentions far too obvious, so she had avoided them out of discomfort. She hated how they judged her based solely on appearance without knowing anything about her. Besides, she had spent her childhood in an idol agency practicing until she couldn’t sleep, and after giving up on that dream she had juggled part-time jobs and streaming, leaving no room for dating.
……Of course, she knew there were people who still managed to date despite being busy. But at least Arine believed her own busyness was the reason she hadn’t dated.
Anyway, most of her life had been mentally crowded, leaving no space for anyone else. Now that she had succeeded as a streamer and entered her stable fourth year, this was probably the most secure period of her life.
[Yeah. So I was genuinely impressed a few times. I thought, “So this is what a large streamer is like~.”]
“Aish. Enough already. Stop exaggerating.”
[I’m not exaggerating, I’m hurt. I meant it.]
“Ehe. Guys who cling like that aren’t popular, you know?”
So it was only natural that her heart fluttered a little at this man’s praise—whether it was sincere or not. His earlier comments had already been shocking enough. And while she wasn’t sure about him as a romantic prospect, she did have a favorable impression of Do Doyun as a person. His words didn’t feel as burdensome as they would coming from other men. If anything, seeing this side of someone who had seemed completely uninterested in her as a woman felt……nice.
……After all, even in a virtual marriage, there should be at least some excitement and nervousness. No matter how much of it was acting, that flutter and thrill couldn’t be completely absent. Without it, viewers wouldn’t feel anything either. When a man and woman sat together having this kind of conversation, how could there be no tension at all? As long as it didn’t cross the line into real romantic feelings, it was fine. In dating terms, it was exactly the tingling stage of “something”—cutting it off right there and never letting it progress into an actual relationship. That was Arine’s definition of virtual marriage. So this level of excitement and embarrassment was well within acceptable range.
The viewers were cheering at her embarrassed reaction. That was why she hadn’t cut down the seed of emotion growing in her heart. Maybe she even wanted to enjoy it a little longer. The thrill of romance was one of the feelings Arine had never experienced in her life.
Yeah. If Doyun oppa was going to act like this, then she wasn’t going to just sit still either. The more she played along, the more people would enjoy it. But she had no idea how large the tree that seed would eventually grow into.
#
“Alright, that’s enough for the self-introductions. Shall we move on to the next chapter?”
[Sure. What’s Chapter 2? Oh, it’s “First Impressions.”]
The PPT displayed an image of a man and woman looking at each other for the first time, with the large text “What were your first impressions of each other?”
“Oh. This one seems like it’ll have a lot to talk about.”
[Really? I thought the same. We’re on the same wavelength, huh?]
Both Arine’s and Doyun’s voices were full of laughter. It was a pretty fun topic, after all.
“Alright then, let’s have our Arine go first.”
The chat window was now being flooded with reactions to his single phrase, and it was hilarious. These people seemed even more excited than he was. Internet broadcasting was all about over-immersion, but the fact that they were this invested without him doing anything special made him grateful. If they were this worked up over a single word, what would happen if he actually held her hand? He thought to himself while waiting for Arine’s answer.
[Okay. If I had to sum up my first impression in one phrase……?]
“Yeah. Summarize it for us.”
[I think……I fell in love at first sight?]
“Huh?”
Fell in love at first sight. A statement that could never possibly apply to his looks. Doyun stared at Arine blankly. ……Even for a virtual marriage, this was pushing it, wasn’t it? While he was thinking that—
Then Arine flashed the camera a strangely seductive smile, grinned like a mischievous girl, and asked him in a low, alluring voice.
[……Why are you so flustered? Doyun? Did your heart skip a beat?]
Insane.