The Life of a Hako Streamer (3)
"Hello, everyone. Wow, look at all these people pouring in. These people aren't all here just to see me, are they?"
I could feel the viewer count skyrocketing the instant the stream went live. I'd only had the waiting screen up, yet we were already closing in on four thousand viewers. There was no way my channel had grown that much in such a short time, so of course they were all here for Arine.
Still, having broadcast in front of five thousand people last time must have helped. The overwhelming pressure of that number felt a little less intense now.
I gave her a quick rundown of how my streams usually worked.
"First of all, the format itself is pretty similar to yours. It's a variety game stream, after all."
"Yeah."
"But since the stream blew up so fast recently, the fan cafe never really took off. So the low-chat segments are pretty much just me talking to myself like before."
Originally my low-chat sessions were never as long as hers anyway. Not many people wanted to hear about some random guy's daily life.
Arine listened quietly, then asked with genuine curiosity.
"But what do you do when you run out of things to talk about? Just start the game immediately?"
"That used to happen a lot back in the day. There were times I'd launch the game the second the stream started. These days though, I usually check news articles, community forums, trending topics—stuff people are actually interested in."
"Wait, you put in that much work? It sounds like you put way more effort into low chat than I do."
Arine stared at me with wide, surprised eyes. Her gaze made me feel strangely awkward.
In truth, I'd never once told the viewers that I prepared like this. It wasn't anything worth bragging about, and I didn't want to act like I was some selfless martyr doing it all for them.
The chat exploded with buzzing reactions. It didn't feel bad to have my unseen efforts acknowledged like this, but the way they were getting all emotional about it made me cringe.
"Don't get all moved, guys. You're making me get goosebumps over here."
Yeah. This was how the chat was supposed to look. When a bunch of guys started getting all warm and fuzzy, it made me want to puke.
"Looks like we've got a decent crowd now, so let's turn the camera on first."
The moment I switched on the cam, the already fast-moving chat sped up even more.
Exactly as I expected. The viewers were losing their minds over nothing again. Watching them get excited, I tossed a teasing comment to Arine.
"Don't just sit there. If you're going to do it, at least put your arm around my waist or something, they say."
It was just a throwaway line to appease the burning chat. I had no real intention of doing it.
"I don't mind. If you want to, go ahead."
Arine glanced at my face and gave a mysterious little smile. The look was strangely seductive, and I flinched without meaning to.
This would be the first skinship on a joint stream? Not even holding hands first, straight to the waist? Yeah, this was a woman who understood what made broadcasting fun. She didn't throw out any lines that would kill the mood. After a few joint streams, maybe she figured we could afford to be a little bolder now.
Besides, it wasn't even our first skinship anyway. The viewers didn't know this, but I'd already stroked her hair in the car before.
"No. We can't show everything all at once. Let's stop here for now. We can save the rest for next time."
"Why are you backing out when I said you could do it? Are you scared?"
But Arine kept provoking me from the side.
...What was with her today?
Maybe she was excited about streaming from an unfamiliar place, or maybe she was just riding the flow. There were steps to these things. Going straight for a waist hug when we hadn't even held hands yet felt a bit much.
Even so, her reaction seemed to satisfy everyone except me.
I couldn't withstand the barrage of public opinion and finally glanced at Arine. When our eyes met, she was simply laughing like the whole situation was hilarious.
......Screw it. You asked for this.
I shifted the blame onto her and slid my hand behind her waist. To be honest, the "you're not even a man" comments had gotten under my skin a little.
I placed my hand carefully between her side and waist so we weren't touching too directly. The result was that we looked like lovers pressed tightly together.
".....Ah."
A strange sound slipped from Arine's lips. I whipped my head toward her in surprise.
"What?"
"Nothing. It just tickled a little..."
It wasn't thin clothing, but I could still feel the shape of her body clearly. The narrow curve of her waist, the smooth side with not a trace of fat, and the warm body heat spreading across my entire arm. Pressed against her like this, a fresh floral scent drifted to the tip of my nose.
Pretending my heart wasn't hammering wildly, I continued the stream.
"Anyway, that's not what's important right now, so for today's broadcast—"
"Yes. What is it? Your heartbeat is so loud I can barely hear you."
"...You're the same, so be quiet. Ahem. Originally the concept was supposed to be a large streamer experiencing hako life, right? So for today's stream—"
"Right?"
"But with this many people watching, it won't feel like a real hako experience. So I'm going to enable one-month-follow-only chat for the first ten minutes or so."
"Oh, that's good. Do Doyun, you're a genius?"
"So to all the viewers who came today, I'm really sorry, but could you please endure just ten minutes for Arine's hako experience?"
"It's not like it'll be any different. This is exactly how I was streaming until a month ago."
"But am I the one who has to do it?"
"No. You can just watch me. I can't make you do something that harsh. Alright, enabling follow-only chat now?"
I set the restriction to one month and turned on follow-only mode. The chat that had been flying by like crazy instantly fell silent.
Yes. This was what my stream used to look like. Even though it had sped up after hitting five hundred regulars, the peaceful feeling of coming home washed over me.
The chats trickled in slowly, one by one. The usernames were all the familiar ones—long-time subscribers I knew by heart.
I was thinking about what to say next, wondering if I should start the low-chat portion properly, when Arine, who had been staring blankly at the scene beside me, muttered in astonishment.
"......You really used to stream like this until a month ago?"
What was so surprising? Was this her first time seeing a real hako stream?
#
"Anyway, guys. I woke up this morning and my head was killing me."
Arine was at a loss for words watching the near one-on-one communication. It was so adorable how flustered she looked that she even forgot she was trembling from the sensation of Doyun's arm wrapped around her waist.
No, it wasn't even one-on-one. With the chat barely moving, it was essentially Doyun talking to himself. The few names that did appear kept repeating the same ones over and over. When they stopped typing for even a moment, the chat window became practically empty.
Of course she'd said she had gone through a similar period, but the reality was a little different from what she'd imagined. Since Arine was a woman with good visuals, even during her hako days she'd had a decent number of viewers who responded diligently to everything she said.
This level was exactly like when she had first started streaming, so she could barely even remember it. Having grown used to chat windows with thousands of people, Arine genuinely couldn't think of any way to communicate in an environment like this.
Her usual low-chat style was to throw out topics herself, then ride the reactions that came up, adding funny drips or expanding on interesting comments. Talking alone like this wasn't streaming—it was basically stand-up comedy.
"So I've been debating whether I should try out that new game that just released. I spent a long time wondering if I should bring it today."
But Doyun handled it like it was the most natural thing in the world. He'd glance at the occasional comments that appeared and smoothly shift topics, keeping the low chat going all by himself.
Had he really been squeezing out monologues like this for four years? For real? Right up until a month ago?
......At this point, maybe the one with actual streaming talent wasn't her, but Doyun oppa.
Watching him put on a solo Do Doyun Show right in front of her, Arine couldn't help but think so.