Confusion (2)
Confusion (Part 2)
[It happens. Some days are just like this.
Rank #16 Kills 1 Reward...]
The defeat message floating on the screen and the sight of her character sprawled on the ground seemed to perfectly reflect her current state of mind.
'Huh...! So it wasn't a lie? Then why are you wearing that outfit again!!'
'You worthless piece of...!'
The words she herself had spat out.
The sharp, blade-like words she had directed at her lover Kang Cheol now came back to brutally stab her own heart as time passed.
If even she, who had spoken those words, was this heartbroken and unable to collect herself, how must Kang Cheol have felt hearing them from the mouth of the lover he trusted?
'He was crying...'
Tears.
In this world with its broken gender ratio where men cried at the drop of a hat, tears might seem like nothing special, but the weight of her lover Kang Cheol's tears was distinctly different from other men's.
'It was the first time I saw it...'
She hadn't realized it until now, but seeing his tears earlier made her aware.
That Kang Cheol had never once shown tears since they met until now...
Even when he went through that massive incident with the gangster group, even when she blinded by jealousy had assaulted him at his house a few days ago - she had been the one to cry, but the fragile male Kang Cheol had never shed tears in front of her.
'But that oppa cried and ran away...!'
What had happened to his tears, to his heart...?
She wanted to abandon her broadcast and everything else to go find Kang Cheol who had fled from her side, but reality prevented her from doing so.
※Streamers under partnership: According to company regulations, unauthorized breaks for personal reasons (excluding family events and injuries) will incur penalties.
The partnership with Paprika TV.
It provided tremendous benefits to streamers but was also shackles that stole their freedom.
Her profession was streaming.
At this point, changing jobs wasn't easy - she had no particular skills and hadn't graduated from college, so there were no companies willing to take her.
In an emergency, she could get a job at the company her mother ran, but she hated that idea.
'A grown woman, one who's even been to the military, clinging to her parents? I hate that!'
In this world where beauty was demanded from men, women were prioritized for ability over appearance. Though not a major corporation, her streaming channel had grown enough with her recently increased viewer count to be considered mid-sized - it was by no means a profession to be ashamed of anywhere.
Plus, as someone dreaming of marriage with her lover Kang Cheol, she couldn't give up this profession that allowed her to earn high income at a young age.
But...
-Damn, your shot timing is so off today! Make it again, woman~!
-Tangtang bitch, is it for real you only got 1 kill in 5 hours of streaming?
-And you dropped in solo rank too and couldn't even get chicken once lol;;
-Yesterday you were laughing like a crazy bitch saying those sniper bitches were your precious viewers, but today you're fresh seaweed from the start of stream?
-Tangtang, if you're sick just rest;;
-Even we watching are about to become fresh seaweed
Viewers were agitated by her unusual gameplay and poor performance.
She couldn't focus.
So much so that even viewers who normally hyena-like couldn't wait to criticize her were now worried about her condition and suggesting she end the stream now and rest.
If it were her usual self, she would have retorted with her characteristic bright energy: 'What are you talking about? Sisters, are you worried about me? There there~ Who's worrying about who in that tier heeheehee~' and continued streaming.
'She's not here... Kang Cheol is My Husband, that bitch!'
A passionate fan of oppa's stream who also consistently watched her own stream - a big spender in the viewer community, Kang Cheol is My Husband.
That woman had no record of accessing her stream today.
Of course, she often didn't access her stream sometimes even normally...
'Just... something like consolation money? Hehe~ I'll be going now as it's time for my "friend" to start streaming. Luckily today they kindly agreed to my "suggestion" to stream wearing the clothes I "gifted"~'
'Your outfit is especially cute today, Kang Cheol-nim~? Hehe!'
Puzzle pieces she didn't want to fit were clicking into place on their own, completing a picture she didn't want to see.
Simultaneously, the image of oppa wiping her tears and oppa's haggard appearance when he reappeared after being absent for a day, saying he had resolved everything so she shouldn't worry, came to mind.
Cheating?
Oppa's actions were different from that, and the expression on his face when he was hurt by her words and ran away this morning was definitely not the face of someone cheating.
Rather.
'It was the face of someone betrayed...'
He cheats but makes the face of someone betrayed?
And oppa, who unlike fox-like men only had the skill of charming women but didn't lie like other men?
Something was strange.
Clearly the unfolding situation made it seem like Kang Cheol was betraying her and cheating with another woman, but paradoxically, Kang Cheol's actions and her heart were telling her there was something else going on.
To confirm that...
'I need to meet oppa!'
She had already completed 5 hours of her 6-hour stream.
The partnership precautions only said not to take unauthorized breaks - they wouldn't penalize her for ending early after completing more than half her usual streaming time like this.
After hurriedly apologizing to viewers and ending the stream, she headed to Kang Cheol's apartment.
"He's not here..."
No one was in his home.
Where on earth could he have gone?
"Oppa doesn't usually go outside...?"
Originally, the reason he moved to this apartment even while deeply in debt was because the world was too dangerous for him to wander outside alone - he never left the complex without a specific appointment.
"Then maybe he's still wandering around inside the complex?"
But the time that had passed since he ran away from her was too long for that.
Someone as sensitive to cold as him wouldn't be wandering outside in winter for this long, so where on earth...
Finally, to collect her thoughts.
She began descending toward the first floor using the stairs instead of the elevator, and exactly at the midpoint between the 2nd and 1st floors, she spotted a large SUB vehicle parking in front of the first floor entrance through the window.
It was actually an unremarkable domestic large SUB vehicle, and there was no reason for it to stop her footsteps.
But why was she stopping to look at that vehicle and peeking at it?
'The time...'
6:45.
In 15 minutes would be when she normally ended her stream, and coincidentally exactly, just before her stream ending time, a vehicle parked in front of Kang Cheol's apartment?
This was a kind of intuition.
No evidence or proof whatsoever - only her intuition.
And...
Clunk...
The passenger door opened first and a man emerged.
'O, oppa?!'
The awkward distance between the 1st and 2nd floors.
But how could she not recognize a man with such angelic looks!
Emerging from the SUB vehicle passenger seat was none other than her lover Kang Cheol, and as he immediately entered the first floor lobby...
Clunk
The driver's door opened following him and a woman got out of the vehicle.
'Selena Kim...?'
With golden hair rare in Korea and a glamorous appearance - even if she weren't the CEO of Paprika TV where she worked - Selena Kim who had achieved everything at a relatively young age was famous enough that finding someone in Korea who didn't know her would be faster.
But that famous person was in a vehicle with oppa?
'She personally came forward to clarify that it definitely wasn't a dating scandal...?'
What is this.
What on earth is this situation?
Her confusion was brief.
Glance
'...Did she see me?'
Unlike Kang Cheol who went straight into the lobby where the elevator was, Selena paused briefly and directed her gaze precisely toward the window where she was, making eye contact with Kim Ye-rim.
And...
'Wait...?'
The distance wasn't that close so it wasn't certain, but clearly Selena Kim mouthed "wait" to her.
After delivering this mysterious message to Kim Ye-rim, Selena followed Kang Cheol into the lobby, disappearing from Kim Ye-rim's view, but instead the voices from the lobby came through clearly.
"What, why are you following me?"
First was Kang Cheol's beautiful voice that she knew well.
The voice that seemed to contain some irritation appeared unwelcoming of Selena Kim who had followed him in, and she found that somewhat reassuring.
"Why so~? We enjoyed our date today~"
'D, date?!'
But her expression froze at Selena Kim's voice that followed.
As her bad premonition had suggested, had Kang Cheol really been cheating?
"Who said you could call it a date! We met today on the condition that you publish a refutation article about the dating scandal! What date!"
"That's right~ I forgot - the condition for meeting me on your Saturday break was that, wasn't it?"
'...Wh, what is this?!'
The reason he had taken Saturday off and been with Selena Kim was to end the dating scandal?
She was stunned by this shocking truth she knew nothing about, but the shock didn't end there.
"And that day you panted with that beautiful voice in my arms, writhing in pleasure hehe~"
"That was when you forced yourself on me!"
'!!!'
Selena Kim, that woman had forcibly raped oppa?!
Instantly, the image of Kang Cheol visiting her house saying everything had been resolved so she shouldn't worry came to mind.
His slightly swollen eyes as if he had been crying and haggard complexion.
At the time she had lightly dismissed it as him having hurt his hand while washing, but if that wasn't the case...?
Grind!
An eerie sound emerged as her teeth ground together in extreme anger.
'I'll go down to the first floor right now and kill that woman!'
There was no more need to listen.
She didn't know why she told her to wait and was having this conversation, but she couldn't take it anymore!
As she prepared to run down in one breath and move to smash Selena Kim's face - wanting to chew her up wouldn't be satisfying enough...!
"Why are you suddenly saying things like that? Was the side you showed me today false? ...You were gentle. I genuinely thought well of you..."
Kang Cheol's following voice was affectionate.
An affection that made her wonder if this was the same person who had been angry at Selena Kim moments ago.
Exactly like how he treated Kim Ye-rim, herself...
'Wh, why...?'
She forcibly raped oppa?
And they met today because of blackmail?
What on earth happened today that...
'Today...?'
She remembered.
Her own appearance spouting terrible words she shouldn't have said to her lover, and Kang Cheol's appearance as he ran away hurt.
'But still...'
Her footsteps wouldn't move.
She wanted to immediately run down, separate that woman from oppa, and sincerely apologize to oppa.
'But do I have the right to...?'
A perceptive man like oppa wouldn't use such an affectionate voice with Selena Kim without reason.
That woman must have comforted the hurt oppa well.
Her boiling anger cooled, replaced by a terrible guilt like a heavy lump of lead weighing down her heart.
"Sorry~ I just couldn't let you go like that so I played a little joke. Like I said this morning, unlike her, I love everything about you!"
"Enough... don't play jokes like that, it's unpleasant. And now I'm going home, so Selena, you g, go home safely too!"
Ding~
The lobby fell quiet with the sound of the elevator door opening and closing.
And...
"Now come on down, Kim Ye-rim-ssi? Hehe~"
It was their first meeting...