This Is Actually Really Good...
"...Quit laughing."
You're still laughing?
"Haa..."
How in the world had it come to this?
Until now, little desserts like that fruit had always been brought in by the housekeeper, and she never entered my room without knocking and calling my name. I always heard her and cut the mic. Today it wasn't the housekeeper. My brother brought the dessert himself. True to form, that taciturn guy who took after Father knocked once, decided I must have heard him, and opened the door and walked right in.
Even so, you don't just stroll into a girl's room like it's nothing, do you? The more I thought about it, this was my brother's fault, not mine. Damn right it was.
I pressed at my throbbing head and looked at the chat. They were still making fun of me.
...I'm actually mad?
"I'll end the stream here for today."
Already too late.
I hit the end-broadcast button without a second thought.
Should've behaved when I was still giving you a chance.
Bzzzt!
I was sprawled on the bed, watching K-tube the way I always did, when the phone went off. The only thing that ever made it ring was an alarm... but this was a text. From my brother, no less.
The phone belonging to Choi Eunha, born in '07, didn't have many numbers saved on it. Not even an ordinary friend's. Just family, the housekeeper, and the driver. My brother's number was stored under a single word: Oppa.
I never dreamed you were streaming. It didn't even occur to me that you might not have heard the knock.
I'm not going to give you a hard time for streaming. I don't particularly think it's something to be ashamed of.
Still, it's something you're working hard at, and I got in the way. I'm really sorry. I'll make sure this never happens again.
But next time... please say something before you come in T_T
Huh?
This is your work, and I want to respect your freedom up to a point, but showing your face is absolutely out.
If Father finds out, there's no telling what will happen.
If Father finds out?
If Father learns I'm streaming... am I going to get chewed out...?
Father cherished me, but he was still, to me, an object of terror. Even now, the thought of being scolded by him... nngh! I didn't even want to imagine it!
Anyway, if you don't want a mess on your hands, you're better off never showing your face.
Come on, even he wouldn't go that far...
Mm.
The thought that our father just might flashed through me, and I swore I would never reveal my face.
How many times was he going to say he was sorry?
Ugh. He really knows how to wear a person out.
I closed the messenger and stared blankly up at the ceiling.
The truth was, after I became Choi Eunha, the girl born in '07, a real distance had opened up between me and the family. Father had pushed straight through it and poured endless affection on me, but Mother and my brother were in a different situation. Mother was busy with work right now, and my brother always came home after I was asleep and left for the office before I woke. Even so, today, because of this, I felt a little closer to him.
Oppa still sat awkwardly in my mouth. If I kept using it, though, I'd get used to it. Feeling the day had been worth something, I drifted off to sleep.
I got up the way I always did, washed, came out of my room, and sat down to breakfast. Father and my brother had both already left for work, so the meal was mine alone. It was a little lonely, but not so lonely I couldn't get used to it. Meals with Father were, well... tiring, because there were all kinds of manners to observe. Maybe eating by myself, a bit bleak, was better than eating under that kind of pressure.
"Finished already? Want some more?"
"No, I'm fine."
Back when I was a man, I still ate about as much as the average twenty-one-year-old guy. The appetite of a man in his early twenties? Yeah, you can't stop that. Now I couldn't even manage half of what I'd eaten then, so meals were over fast. More time to game? I wasn't about to complain. A genuine game goblin who resented even the time it took to eat. That was me.
I cleared breakfast in the blink of an eye, went back to my room, and turned the computer on. I clicked Rioat's signature fist logo, typed in my ID and password, logged in, and launched Project A.
If I remembered yesterday right, Diamond 1 had been right in front of me.
"Hmm..."
If I played it right, I might even reach Diamond today. I wanted to play Project A on stream as soon as I could, so I had to push the rank up before the day was out. Set on that, I started the queue.
Haaahm...
I yawned, got up from the chair, and gave myself a light stretch, lacing my fingers and reaching for the ceiling, then leaning side to side.
Crack.
"Ugh... have I been sitting too long?"
Every time I moved, my bones made sounds bones had no business making, and when I thought about how I'd been living lately, it almost seemed inevitable. These days I'd spent the whole day sitting, playing nothing but Project A. Even so, stretching like this now and then left me feeling much better. This body—the body of Choi Eunha, a girl born in '07—looked terribly frail and flimsy, but the stamina was secretly solid. Healthy enough that sitting for hours doing nothing but game didn't faze me.
I checked the time on my phone.
Not p.m. A.m. Which meant I'd been playing straight through to dawn. Still, I had said good night to the housekeeper and to Father.
I'd hit the tier I'd been aiming for. Fair to call it a worthwhile day. It was about that time, so I opened the platform and hit the button to go live.
Today, at last, was the day of KZ's match at PCT LOCK//IN. The game was in Brazil, so I had to broadcast it at dawn. I'd grabbed a light nap beforehand, and my condition was at its peak.
"Hey, everyone~"
Something good? Of course there was.
"Something good? Of course. I finally hit Diamond."
I put my Project A client up on the broadcast screen. Look at that. That brilliant purple tier! Once, a Diamond rank wouldn't even have registered. Right now, I felt fantastic.
"Of course. Starting tomorrow, I'm streaming Project A ranked."
As far as I knew, the highest rank among female streamers playing Project A right now was Immortal, the second-highest tier. Once I climbed in earnest and reached Chaser, the channel would only get bigger. Grow the stream until the income was secure to some degree, and then I'd make my deal with Father. Bluntly, if I went to him now and said I wanted to be a streamer, he'd probably allow it. I wanted that permission after I'd proved I could actually make a living at this.
"And there's one more thing I prepared."
The surprise doesn't stop there, you know.
Careful not to mess it up, I switched on the device I'd set up in advance.
"Ta-da!"
The broadcast filled with the top of my desk. My keyboard, my mouse, and the small white hands resting over them. All of it, going out on the stream.
I spread both hands toward the camera and waved them side to side, like I was greeting the people watching. Seeing them react to every little thing I did, I started having fun.
"Oh, that was nothing. My brother texted me an apology."
Honestly, I was still a little embarrassed I'd been caught. If I looked embarrassed, though, these people would obviously tease me again, so I acted as unfazed as I could.
"Anyway. Just watching would be boring, so I brought a simple dessert."
A tournament was the kind of thing you were supposed to watch while eating something.
"Ta-da!"
With an exaggerated flourish, I held the snack I'd brought up to the camera.
The snack's true identity was... a quarter-size tub of Baskin-○○○ mint chocolate! Mint-choco ice cream was, I would state for the record, the greatest ice cream dessert of this era. I'd been holding the craving back for a while, and when I asked the housekeeper, she bought it for me without a fuss. I popped the lid, savored that fresh scent, and held the ice cream up to the camera.
"Looks good, right? Jealous?"
But the viewers' reactions...
Hmm... weird.
This is actually really good...