Cooking Broadcast
After planning the Valentine's event.
I fired up the stream that very evening and announced this noble decision.
"Aigoo, of course! Should I just make you watch a wall while I cook?"
And that announcement was just the thing to shake up the stream's gloomy vibe after the long hiatus notice.
"You all seem down about another break, so I figured my homemade chocolates could melt your hearts at least...."
With that, I pounded my chest like boom-boom!
I was the VTuber doing a Valentine's Day cooking stream—drunk on hype, stumbling around with excitement.
Public opinion always favors the loudest voice, after all.
I went around shouting about Valentine's Day like some election-season politician dropping promises.
And when I added that I'd take requests during the stream and randomly ship out handmade chocolates...
Valentine's Day proper.
[430 Viewers]
The viewer count hit a record high.
Almost double my usual.
For an obscure indie VTuber like me, that meant even my usual organic chat strays had all wandered back.
Sure, we'd hit numbers like this during the last community drama, but this time it was pure fans from my stream—way more meaningful.
So, feeling smug, I first showed off the main ingredient for today's dukkah.
"Here's the kitchen table. This is where the magic happens."
The stream was shot from above the kitchen table, with all the prepped dukkah ingredients and tools laid out.
It was a pain to rig the camera that high, but now the whole table fit in frame.
Of course, that meant the actual cook's hands and arms were all that'd show.
"Here I go."
The moment I said that, a long arm whoosh—slid onto the table.
Slightly tanned for good looks, veins popping clearly.
Super long... and kinda pretty....
"Wayo's a virtual lifeform, duh? So I brought my avatar."
Yeah, it was Ah-seong's arm.
"Say hi."
"...Noona's little bro."
Ah-seong's mumbled intro sent the chat into chaos for a bit.
But it didn't last.
Ah-seong had appeared on stream once before.
With pretty much all my viewers tuned in, plenty recognized him.
First reaction: shock.
"How's it going? Long time no see, right?"
Second: delight.
And the final reaction...
They realized they'd been backstabbed.
*
The viewers got royally screwed over.
But the stream vibe was still solid.
"Don't worry, though. I'll be doing the cooking."
Sure, they might've felt betrayed since I was hyping it up but not showing on cam.
But hey, if it's fun, who cares?
Novelty's part of the fun, so they'd probably just watch and see.
"Alright, first up, grind and toast the cardamom?"
"Hear that, bro?"
"Yeah...."
To make the dukkah filling, we had to grind and toast the cardamom first.
Ah-seong, my loyal second-in-command, didn't sound thrilled, though.
"Hey, little bro."
"Yeah?"
"You think I'm forcing you into this?"
He seemed embarrassed to be on stream like this.
Man, don't make your noona feel bad.
"N-no, it's not that."
"Hmm."
If he kept up that mopey tone, it'd look bad on me.
"C'mere."
I beckoned Ah-seong from the living room, safely out of cam view.
"Huh?"
"Hurry up."
He flinched at my gesture, but my noona authority won out—he slunk over.
"W-what?"
"My sweet Ah-seong."
I slung an arm around his shoulders all buddy-like, and he instinctively leaned in.
Good, his manners were still ingrained.
"You're all grown up now, and here I am bossing you around. Must suck, huh?"
Truth was, Ah-seong had prepped all the dukkah ingredients himself.
From setup to cooking—piling on the orders must've built up some resentment.
"R-right? I'm not some high schooler anymore."
I knew damn well I was working him hard.
The kid was an adult now; having a noona just a few years older boss him around? Brutal.
"Yeah, I get it. Totally."
So, Ah-seong was a full adult now, huh.
College, part-time jobs, living that young adult life.
Noona's allowance probably felt pointless by now.
That independent spirit? So proud.
And just like that.
With my warm, praising tone acknowledging his "growth," smarts started flickering back into his dazed eyes.
**
"Short break, back now."
"Hey everyone! Tools for making dukkah under noona's orders today! Just call me little bro!"
"Oppressed? Weird for a bro to help his noona, right?"
"N-no? It's totally normal?"
Yeah, this was my bro.
Satan fled, and sharpness returned to Ah-seong's eyes as I pointed to the cardamom and mixer.
"Okay, grind it up first, then toast in the pan."
"Roger!"
With a spirited yell, he crushed the cardamom like a pro.
Just like my smart little bro.
"My bro? Eh, dabbled a bit."
Baseball plus consistent jiu-jitsu dojo time meant he had some muscle game.
That tense grip? Probably from his elementary school sports days.
"Now just toast it nice."
"Like this?"
"Evenly, no burning."
Anyway, dukkah production was going smoothly.
With ace commander Wayo and her obedient soldier, what'd you expect?
"Disqualified? Look how well it's going."
Humans are tool-using animals, right?
Using Ah-seong like a tool meant I was basically cooking myself.
"Bro, hands too slow?"
"Huh? Oh, this doesn't mix easy."
"Too heavy?"
"N-nope!"
Anyway, after toasting the cardamom and pouring in melted white chocolate to mix, we had some legit dukkah filling.
"Whoa... coming out pretty good."
"Dinner's negotiable. Anyway, now we ball it up, right?"
"You'll crush it. You hear?"
Sadly.
Even rolling the dukkah meant shoving arms under the camera again.
A risky move in my position.
And if I were gonna roll it, I'd have done it from the start.
"Have my bro roll 'em nice."
"Okay...."
So, yeah, cardamom-rolling duty fell to Ah-seong too.
"Doing great?"
Kid had baseball hands or something—they came out perfectly round.
"They say you're doing great."
"R-really?"
Praise makes whales dance, they say.
Ah-seong sped up at my relay...
And with ~10 years of jiu-jitsu grip strength, the balls piled up in seconds.
"Aigoo, good job."
But the chat.
They were missing the point.
Not marveling at his skills, but zeroing in on the obedience.
"Psh, age gap's not that big."
I hadn't dropped my age, but no way was I letting them assume 30s—early-20s girl here, watch the slander.
"Does the age gap have to be huge?"
FYI, Ah-seong lived under my roof for 20 years—from birth till pre-cram school.
Plenty of time for manners training.
"Bro, siblings 1 year apart?"
Meaning: we had time for that.
"...."
Tsk, he was good as a kid.
"Siblings 1 year apart?"
Embarrassed in front of people, he hesitated...
But my glare got him mumbling.
"...Taekwondo black belt difference."
"You can catch a flying phantom kick."
"But sibling age gaps? No stopping those."
"You heard that, right?"
Nice, he still remembered after all this time.
Not a saying that flies in modern society.
But siblings? Older one's the sky, no matter the gap.