The Life of a Large Streamer (6)
“This one goes like this… oh, maybe I need to solve it this way? Was that number from earlier the answer? Guys?”
With her over-the-top reaction, Arine barely salvaged the situation that had nearly gone off the rails and smoothly covered for me. I silently thanked her a hundred times over in my head. As expected from a large streamer’s broadcast. It was on a completely different level from a hako like me who just streamed whatever came to mind. Still, the ad was only a small part of the experience. Her pacing was precise and brisk, exactly as planned for a regular stream. Even when making a single remark, she carefully avoided anything that could spark controversy. Having a big audience meant having a lot to lose, and with more eyes watching, there were simply more things that could trip you up. She’d smoothly change the subject whenever something risky came up, using harmless vocabulary to keep people laughing. To me, it looked like an almost acrobatic level of skill. Thinking back, Arine had never once cursed on stream. …How on earth did she manage to stay entertaining? For someone like me who relied on provocative language, aggressive wording, and weird antics to get laughs, this kind of performance was impossible. It was like tightrope walking hundreds of meters in the air with only a single rope. Standing beside her now, I could finally understand just how burdensome and exhausting her fight really was.
“Isn’t it this? The letters written on the wall earlier match this lock, right?”
“Oh, is that really it? Kyaa~ Doyun, you’re a genius. I think this is the right one.”
The game we were playing together was a puzzle game. A DLC for a puzzle title that had a pretty solid fanbase on Naty had just come out, and Arine was streaming it. Because it was a mystery game, it required constant thinking, and without any flashy sounds or events, it felt a bit slow. We were keeping it alive with our banter and broadcasting skills. …Just now, Arine’s eyes had fluttered shut for a split second. She was still talking, but I saw it clearly. It probably hadn’t shown on the cam she’d minimized for the game. The movement had been that tiny.
“Hmm. Is it like this…?”
“You have to rotate the letters. Like this, then this.”
Her speech sounded a little more sluggish than before. She had every right to be exhausted. She’d woken up at 5 a.m., and it was now 10 p.m. Arine had been awake for seventeen hours straight, and on top of that she’d done an intense external shoot. Then her eyes trembled again at the corners. I glanced at the chat.
Her acting was meticulous. She’d done this so many times that her mask was too thick for even drowsiness to show through. If I hadn’t been watching right beside her, I never would have noticed. But at least right now, I could feel it. …She looked like she was at her limit. She probably didn’t even know what she was saying anymore, desperately clinging to consciousness through the crushing fatigue and sleepiness.
Had she always endured like this alone when I wasn’t around? Watching her eyelids droop made an unexpected pang of sympathy rise in my chest. She always stuck to the schedule she set for herself. It was admirable how professional she was, yet it also made me realize that this broadcast, which looked so fun on the surface, was built on one girl’s hard work. It probably wouldn’t change anything. Even if I did this here and now, tomorrow and next week she would still have to stream just as hard without me. But for today at least—for as long as I was beside her—I suddenly wanted to help her. After seeing how exhausting her day had been, I wanted to let her rest, even if only for a little while.
“Hey, Arine.”
“Yeah?”
“You said we were swapping lives for a day. Now that I think about it, I’ve never actually hosted your stream myself, have I?”
“Yeah. That’s true.”
“Then let me take over for just ten minutes.”
“Huh? Right now?”
She looked at me with bleary eyes. From her perspective, it must have sounded completely out of the blue. Since we were only swapping lives for a day, there was no real need for me to host in her place. Just streaming side by side was already meaningful enough. But I stubbornly pushed the idea.
“How often do you get a chance like this? A hako getting to host a large streamer’s broadcast? That’s a rare experience, right?”
“Well… I guess so…”
“I just want to try it once~ Come on, let me run the stream with five thousand viewers for a bit. Please?”
“…Then what about me?”
“Go to the bathroom or something. You drank a lot of water earlier. And that energy drink with me.”
She looked bewildered, but after staring at me blankly for a moment, her eyes wavered slightly as if she’d realized something.
“……”
I blinked at her and waved my hand more playfully, trying to make sure the viewers never noticed she was tired. It wouldn’t have been a problem if they found out, but it didn’t seem like she wanted that. At least in front of the camera, Arine always wanted to be the bright, energetic Arine. I gently pushed her chair aside and took the center camera shot.
“Ah~ Everyone. I’m the host now. We swapped for ten minutes. This is my stream~”
“Ah… wait… Doyun…”
Looking guilty that I’d noticed, Arine tried to speak carefully, but I just shrugged and nudged her back. Go rest, even a little. “What? You’re still here? Hurry up and go. I’m starting the ten-minute countdown now.”
“Ah… uh… yeah… okay… I’ll be back in ten minutes? I’ll watch the stream on my phone from the bathroom, so do your best, okay?”
“Leave it to me. I’m getting used to the chat speed now.”
Unable to win against my persistence, she finally slipped out of the soundproof booth. Her apologetic gaze lingered on me until the very end, but I coldly ignored it. Arine was quick on the uptake. Since I’d pushed this hard, she’d probably wash her face and rest properly. Once I confirmed she’d left, I finally felt at ease and ramped up my energy even more.
“Alright~ Everyone, look at this. It was written on the wooden board earlier, right? What is this? It has to be a diamond shape~ That’s what it means, yeah? No? Why not!”
I threw myself into it as if trying to fill the empty space she’d left behind.
#
Opening the double doors designed for soundproofing, I stepped into the hallway. Since the bathroom was outside, I had to walk quite a distance down the corridor.
“Hwaaah… I thought I was going to die from sleepiness…”
She covered her mouth to stifle the yawn that escaped on its own. Tears welled up in her slightly reddened eyes. The schedule really had been brutal. She’d planned to end the stream early after the shoot, but she hadn’t expected her limit to hit this fast. She even wondered if her stamina had gotten worse than before. To show weakness after only seventeen hours…
“Maybe I should take more supplements.”
Muttering to herself, she entered the bathroom and sat on the toilet. She hadn’t actually needed to go. She’d only come out because she couldn’t refuse Doyun’s consideration. So she just stared blankly into the air, zoning out.
“But Doyun oppa… he’s really sharp…”
Alone, her voice came out weak and mumbled. She was grateful for his thoughtfulness in letting her rest, even briefly. Arine prided herself on being good at hiding when she was struggling. The filming crew hadn’t noticed, and neither had the viewers. But maybe because he was sitting right beside her? Or maybe Doyun was just that perceptive. He’d quickly picked up on her fatigue and used the “swap lives for a day” excuse to send her out. …Without even directly asking if she was tired. He’d pretended to be greedy for the stream just to save her pride. His sense was annoyingly good.
“Idiot. Doyun oppa, you idiot. Dummy.”
The words were harsh, but her tone wasn’t. It was half aegyo, half sulking. Did he really think she wouldn’t notice? He might have had an easier time than her since he hadn’t done the shoot himself, but Doyun had still followed her entire schedule. So he had to be tired too. Yet he was forcing himself to keep the energy up alone with five thousand viewers he’d never interacted with before, all so she could rest. Even while resting, her heart wasn’t completely at ease.
“But does oppa do this for everyone…?”
The thought suddenly crossed her mind. Just how far did his careful consideration go? Did he look after everyone like this? Other guys? Or other girls? The idea left an unpleasant taste in her mouth—the same uncomfortable, stuffy feeling she’d felt when he patted her head earlier. Not wanting to dwell on it, Arine quickly changed the subject in her head. …It’s because I’m special to him. That’s why he’s doing this. Maybe it’s only natural. No matter how kind Doyun was, it wouldn’t make sense for him to treat everyone this way. It had to be because they’d grown close, or because he thought of her as special. At that, Arine’s mood soared. Special person. In what way was she special? Close friend? Fellow streamer? Good business partner? Somehow, none of those three felt quite right. Then what did she actually want? There was nothing else that could define the relationship between her and Doyun. “I don’t know…”
For a while, she kept turning the question over in her head, searching for an answer she couldn’t find.