First Meeting
First Meeting
It's a bit embarrassing to say this myself rather than through someone else's mouth, but I had quite an affinity with adults.
Of course, I was generally good at quickly becoming friends with people my own age, older brothers/sisters, and younger siblings too, but I had a particular talent for blending in effortlessly with people around my parents' age.
I'm not sure if it's because I grew up as an orphan without parents or if it's just my innate disposition, but since childhood, I frequently visited friends' houses and ended up staying overnight, with their parents even calling me their son. This remained exactly the same even after coming to this gender-reversed world.
"Oh my, Kang Cheol-ssi, you're already finished? Would you like another bowl?"
"Huh? Would it be okay if I had another bowl? Father-nim, your cooking is so good I didn't even realize my rice bowl was empty~ And please, instead of Kang Cheol-ssi, just call me Cheol or A-deul* casually, Dad~!" (*A-deul is a casual, affectionate term for 'son')
"A-ah, Dad? ...Oh my~ Okay, son! Eat this and have another bowl. You eat so heartily, unlike someone."
Flushing red and acting shy at the word 'Dad', but seemingly not displeased, he immediately called me 'son' and piled the empty rice bowl high with white rice like Mount Namsan, even adding meat side dishes on top - Father-nim.
Although it was a bit jarring to see a sturdy-built man in his 50s displaying feminine speech and mannerisms, I am a connoisseur of gender-reversal novels.
I can't be shaken by this level of dissonance!
"Wow~ So does that mean I'm getting a big brother? Yay, I always wanted an older brother instead of just a sister! Kang Cheol hyung. Can I call you hyung from now on?"
"Hey, kid! We might not share blood, but weren't we already brothers the moment I stepped into this house? And you're already calling me hyung lololol"
I patted the high school boy sitting next to me—positioned there to help me feel less nervous or burdened—on the shoulder firmly, further boosting the sense of familiarity.
And then there was the reason I came to this house, my employer for today's stream, Streamer Tangtang.
I think she said her real name was Kim Ye-rim.
Her characteristically Korean black hair fell to her shoulders, and she had a cat-like face—not a sharp or haughty-looking cat, but a round, cute, cat-like face, so to speak?
And if I had to point out one peculiar thing...
"By the way, are you in the military, Ye-rim-ssi? Or was today your reserve forces training day?"
An outfit with military green as its base, symbolizing soldiers, splotched with black and brown colors for camouflage despite having zero actual camouflage capability—a military uniform.
And over that uniform, she was wearing a yellow padded jacket, the symbol of a sergeant nearing discharge and a savior against the harsh winter cold, with the zipper wide open.
From what I roughly found out, she enlisted at 20 and is currently 26, so why was she wearing a military uniform at home, where she could wear comfortable clothes?
As I looked at her with a puzzled expression, mixed with distaste at the sight of the damn military uniform after so long.
Ye-rim-ssi, who had been staring at my face with her mouth agape, admiring it instead of touching the precious meat side dishes since earlier, suddenly snapped out of it and answered with a proud expression.
"Ahh~ This? Isn't it cool? The military green frog uniform!"
The military uniform is... cool?!
This woman, she looks pretty but is she a crazy bitch with something wrong in her head?
Who does she think she is? One of my training camp buddies was the only one sent to the frontlines in Cheorwon, Gangwon-do, a GOP unit, shoveling snow even on Children's Day (May 5th) and suffering all sorts of absurdities from seniors, to the point he wouldn't even piss in the direction of the base for a while. The moment he became a civil defense member, he tore that fucking uniform to shreds and threw it into an incinerator! And she says it's cool?!
"This is none other than my handmade, military green frog uniform! By the time I was in the military, they had switched to digital camouflage uniforms. And it's not reserve forces; today's content is about military stories, right? So I dressed according to the concept... Is it weird? I thought military uniforms were the best for a perfect superwoman image..."
Perhaps because my expression while looking at the uniform seemed bad.
Somehow, the longer she spoke, her words trailed off and she started to shrink like a defeated person.
By the way, a digital uniform generation? So Ye-rim-ssi was a rookie?
Of course, even in my time, more than half were from the digital uniform generation.
"No, it's cool! It's really reassuring to know that women in such uniforms are protecting our country!"
"Right? It's cool, isn't it? Hehehe~ As expected, Kang Cheol-ssi, I heard you served too, so you have a different eye. My little brother shithead said it was ugly."
Yeah, it is ugly.
At my lip-service, Ye-rim-ssi regained her energy and giggled, and Father-nim, aiming at her back, said 'What do you mean "little brother shithead" to your precious younger brother! Just eat your food, you bitch!' and delivered a back smashing, concluding the happy meat side dish feast that resumed.
Now, to explain how I ended up getting a home-cooked meal like this, we have to go back in time to this morning.
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"Okay, this is perfect!"
Me, arranging my attire and appearance via the mirror hanging on the bathroom wall.
Truthfully, my attire was just the white shirt I got when I came to this world, a puffy down jacket, and jeans, but they say the face completes the fashion, and the me reflected in the mirror was nothing short of an angel.
"Ah, there's a motel robe too?"
Hey, why not include the robe I somehow ended up taking from the motel room in my fashion items!
"Anyway, enough jokes. What a coincidence. The one-day part-time job I got just happens to be with a resident of the same apartment complex."
Yesterday afternoon.
The conversation content gig with Streamer Tangtang, which I painstakingly found on a job site brimming with mind-boggling entertainment industry listings.
She offered to pay 6 times the transportation fee and wanted to meet immediately, but the meeting place listed on the site was surprisingly OO Park, the apartment I just moved into, and since it was getting late, we decided to meet around noon the next day, today.
Although my so-called fashion items were just the basic equipment described above, since I'm appearing on an internet broadcast, I should at least look the part, right?
Grumble~
"Hmm... I only had the fruit juice the real estate Ajumma gave me for breakfast, so I'm hungry. It's about time, shall we head out slowly?"
Since the meeting place was both Streamer Tangtang's broadcasting room and her home.
Instead of the transportation fee, we agreed I'd have a meal at her house (for some reason, she wanted to treat me to an expensive restaurant meal). With my entire fortune being just 100,000 won, I was a pauper who had only drunk one bottle of fruit juice given by the real estate Ajumma for breakfast and had an empty stomach.
Well, if I'm getting a free meal, it's good to save on food costs, right?
For reference, the fruit juice bottle from the real estate Ajumma had a post-it note attached saying 'Contact me anytime if you need pocket money, I'll treat you well, bachelor♡'.
Of course, I crumpled it up and sent it diving into the toilet bowl.
So, although it was the same complex, it was a large apartment complex with 1,800 units, so it took a full 20 minutes of walking. Just as warmth was spreading through my body from the walk, I arrived at Streamer Tangtang's house.
Ding dong~
"Oh my~ You must be here."
The door opened simultaneously with me pressing the doorbell, revealing a sturdy-built man in his 50s.
I had already been informed that her father and younger brother were home, so I shouldn't have been surprised, but hearing a grown man exclaim 'Oh my~' almost made me lose control of my expression.
"Yes, hello! I'm Kang Cheol, here to appear on today's broadcast with your daughter! Pleased to meet you!"
Uncles and aunties special trait.
If a young person bows respectfully and speaks loudly, you're halfway there.
"Oh my, oh my~ How can such a young, pretty person be so polite~ Please stop bowing and come in. I made some meat side dishes since we have a guest."
As expected, showing the skills I've honed over 30 years of getting meals at friends' houses since childhood, the uncle seemed to have already built up more than half a stack of favorability.
During the short walk to the dining table, I chattered away with flattery to diligently build favorability stacks. The uncle, with rock-like hands whose thick black hair was a charm point, demurely covered his mouth and repeatedly exclaimed 'oh my, oh my' as he led me to the table. There, I saw a woman in a military uniform and a boy in a school uniform with a sturdy build resembling his father, both making surprised expressions upon seeing my face.
"You kids, we have a guest, greet them first! And Ye-rim, what kind of outfit is that for eating?!"
At the uncle's scolding—who was already 99% on my side—the children hurriedly bowed their heads in greeting, and what followed was the same as the beginning.
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"Wow~ Is this the broadcasting room? Isn't this the kind of thing they use for filming movies? Oh! This looks just like a real K2 rifle!"
'A, a man is in my room...! And an ultra-handsome boy at that!'
Kim Ye-rim tried to calm her pounding heart, which had been racing since earlier, as she watched Kang Cheol marveling at her expensive BB gun, a prop for her stream.
She had imagined over the phone the day before that the owner of that youthful voice might be handsome, but this was really excessive!
His face clearly had no makeup, yet his smooth, moist skin, as if mist had been sprayed on it, was porcelain-white. It felt unreal that such large, captivating eyes could exist on that fist-sized face.
A fairy or an angel.
Unlike others, since she had her father and younger brother at home, she had high immunity to men, but even she was losing her composure over this appearance!
On top of that, most men would be nervous being alone with a woman in a small, enclosed space, but this innocent-looking man approached her as effortlessly as if he were with someone of the same gender.
'Is, is he a seducer?'
She was utterly confused, wondering if he was being so defenseless because her father and younger brother were outside, or if he was a viper-like man who was careless with his body.
"By the way, why are there three computers? Is that a camera on top of the gaming monitor in the center...?"
'Ah, right, the stream!'
In the thrill of having a man in her room for the first time in her life, she had gone crazy and forgotten her own stream. She hurriedly checked the time: 1:50 PM.
As someone who usually streamed from 1 PM to 7 PM, right after lunchtime, to avoid the prime time when big corporations started streaming at 7 PM, she was already 50 minutes late without any notice.
"Kang Cheol-ssi, I'm going to start the stream first!"
"Huh? I don't even know exactly what I'm supposed to do today?!"
As Kang Cheol said, normally she should have explained today's stream concept and points to note before going live, but thanks to her father, who was chatting with him like he'd regained a son after 30 years, she was extremely late.
The very reason she hired Kang Cheol was to retain her recently declining viewers and subscribers, and now she was late!
So, she sat Kang Cheol, who knew nothing about streaming, in the spare gaming chair, and Streamer Tangtang's live broadcast began. One hour later...
[Service usage has been suspended. Reason: Violation of Public Morals]
The stream had exploded...