Mother
My mother, as far as I'm concerned, is the ideal housewife.
Even while juggling a side job, she runs the household with such effortless skill that you'd be hard-pressed to find a single bug in this spacious two-story home. I've tried buying her a dishwasher and a robot vacuum, but she always waves me off. Watching her cheerfully belt out hymns while she runs the vacuum, you'd think she genuinely enjoys housework for its own sake. She insists on sun-drying the laundry, and she never fails to make breakfast for Aseong and Dad. For all that half her day is swallowed by chores, though, there is one routine she never skips.
"Heading to dawn prayer?"
"Yep~"
She goes to dawn prayer without fail. So running into her at this hour wasn't all that strange. Her hair was braided off to one side — the look of someone about to walk out the door.
For the record: plant soybeans, you get soybeans. Plant red beans, you get red beans. Mom is the one who handed down the base of Ahyun's features. Or… is she? Well, honestly, Ahyun is more of a mutant, so let's say she's the base for Aseong. The height came from Dad. For a mathematics professor, he's surprisingly well-built. These days age and nothing but research have shrunk him some, but I remember him being pretty solid when I was little. If he'd gone into sports instead of studying, maybe he would've hit it big? Then again, looking at Aseong — the poster child for middling talent — maybe not.
Anyway…
"Want to come with me, Ahyun?"
Mom's eyes curved into a gentle smile as she delivered that nightmare of a suggestion.
"Oh, no thank you."
The words shot out of me before I could even invent a reason. Dawn prayer? She wanted me to sit through that legendary borefest of a prayer service? Back in early childhood, church ranked firmly in the top five most tedious places on earth — and dawn prayer was number one. You could fairly call it a hymn-scored version of hell.
"Why~? You were just singing a hymn a second ago."
She asked it with that soft little smile of hers.
"I was…"
I was about to say more when I remembered what I'd been humming a moment earlier. Right. Playing a cleric in Laek will do that to you…
"I knew it. The Lord's word is still alive in my daughter…"
She'd clearly gotten the wrong idea, and I opened my mouth to set her straight — then stopped.
"…Mm."
Did I really need to argue? Thinking about it, who on earth was more devout than me? I don't know about other religions, but in Protestantism the most important thing is faith, isn't it? By that measure, I — who believes in God more than anyone — am faithfully following the Word.
"You're not wrong…?"
"See? Then you and Mom can go to dawn prayer toge—"
But dawn prayer was a hard no. Scratch that — church itself was a hard no.
"Mom, prayer doesn't have to happen at church."
And does faith even have to come from a church? No. True faith comes from inside a person.
"Is that so?"
"I concentrate better at home, always have."
This Ahyun feels most alive when she's gaming, and that is the proof of her reincarnation. So playing games is, effectively, a prayer that strengthens faith.
"Still, gathering in the name of the Lord is also…"
"Mom, aren't you going to be late?"
"Oh, right."
She looked like she desperately wanted to take her daughter's hand and drag her to church, but my reminder made her expression shift. She'd been on her way out to dawn prayer when she ran into me, so there was no time for a long conversation.
"It would've been nice if we went together…"
Looking away from those lingering eyes wasn't easy. But who am I? Am I not Wayo, the emotionless psychopath VTuber?
"Next time."
"Really?"
"Of course. I'll let you know on a day when I don't have a schedule and I'm not streaming."
With a vague promise of the "let's grab a meal sometime" variety, I beat a hasty retreat.
Back in my room, the chat was waiting. Right. I'd left the stream running. Between nearly getting dragged to church, I'd completely forgotten. I could've just said I was live, and that would have been that.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting."
More to the point — Mom's words are weirdly hard to refuse. Is it because of all the trouble I caused as a kid? With the spirit of a hot-blooded late-twenty-something stuffed into a child's body, little Ahyun had a habit of pulling off some truly spectacular stunts. Establishing order at kindergarten, conquering elementary school… long stories, all of them, and Mom suffered plenty because of them. Is that why she got so devout? Lord, I think Satan has taken up residence in my daughter— yeah, no. Probably not that.
Anyway, guilt and gratitude toward Mom sit side by side in me. The fact that I make a living as a model without having to grind through something miserable — isn't that thanks to her too? She's the one who took me to the department store casting. She's the one who, faced with a daughter who looked anything but ordinary, steered me onto the child-model track. And she's the one who quit a perfectly good job to become my full-time manager from day one. So when Dad asks me to go to a math conference, I can flip the table. When Mom asks me to go to church, all I can do is dodge and weave. That's why you have to treat your kids well when they're little. Look at Aseong — I changed his diapers and fed him baby food, and now he's loyal as a dog.
Maybe it was the emotional drain talking.
"Uh… guys, aren't you sleepy?"
No, I mean… I'm a little sleepy.
If there exists a liberal-arts, fire-element unfilial daughter who turns down her dad's invitation to a father-daughter date at an academic conference and her mom's request to pray together at church, then the world naturally also has the opposite.
"Aseong, I put it up here."
"Ah, thanks."
A lazy weekday. I was sprawled on the sofa in a white tee and shorts when I spotted Mom fixing the collar of Aseong's shirt.
"Where are you going, Aseong?"
"Conference with Dad."
He was dressed for going out — dress pants and a shirt. The clothes looked familiar; after a second I realized I'd given them to him. Kid looked good in them. There was a time I wanted a fit like that myself… Ah, the ache. A dream that would require rewriting things at the chromosomal level left my eyes a little misty.
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
"None of your business."
It really wasn't any of his business, so I shut it down and looked past him toward the rest of the living room.
"Where's Dad?"
If they were going to the conference together, shouldn't Dad be getting ready too? When I asked, Aseong pointed outside.
"Dad's coming from school."
"Ahh."
The school Dad teaches at is one of those places people casually call a prestigious university. He'd gone in that morning for something and was on his way back now.
"But you're not going, Noona?"
"Me? Why would I?"
"Dad seemed pretty disappointed."
"Tsk tsk. You dense little thing."
"What?"
Aseong's brow furrowed at the sudden dig. Still lying on the sofa, I waggled a finger at him.
"From the watch on your wrist to the clothes on your back — all of it came from me. If that isn't going with him, what is?"
"…."
No comeback? Yeah. And besides, outside family events are the eldest son's job. The eldest daughter is supposed to plant herself in the house and help with chores.
"Isn't that right, Mother?"
"That's right. Ahyun, shall we go pray together later?"
"Oh, look at the time — I've got a stream."
I shot up off the sofa. Right. Time to go live.
"You're streaming already?"
"…Noona streams at this hour?"
Mom looked puzzled; Aseong looked suspicious. This brat. Doubting his own noona?
"Aseong, that look in your eyes isn't very pretty."
"…It's nothing."
For the record, Aseong had his reasons for reacting like that. Unlike me — a second-life veteran armed with cold reason — Aseong is a fresh, foolish first-timer. He never studied math, and after enough persistent coaxing he spent his school years going to church. The fact that he knows so little about computers and games probably has a lot to do with the stretch when he was youth group president at church.
Anyway.
"There's a match I want to watch today."
On a normal day I would've lied and gone off to stream, but today I actually had a reason. An important sports match was scheduled for early afternoon.
"I'm not late, right?"
Our platform, Zizizik, licenses sports broadcasting rights and various anime titles so streamers can watch with their audiences — all in the name of pulling in new viewers and improving content. Which is why the chat had me by the collar demanding I go live for the match.
"I got here before it started. That counts."
Sports has been a favorite of mine since my Han Seongwon days. Soccer especially. Soccer turns out to be the same over there as it is over here. The ball is round wherever you go, huh? Though it was a shame that the European team I'd cheered for dissolved into thin air the moment I reincarnated.
"Ah, the strong team."
"They're pretty even, honestly."
Come to think of it, is the World Cup this year? It's being held in France. I wonder if I can get tickets somehow. Watching a World Cup match in person has been a dream of mine since my past life. Last time around I was too busy settling into things to even think about it, but things are different now, aren't they? Roselia and Aseong both like soccer too. It'd be nice if the three of us could go together.
Anyway… I turned my eyes to the match that was just about to begin.
Oh, and for the record.
We're starting~!
What I was watching was a LoL match. Esports is still sports, right?