Chapter 22
What? You're doing a collab with Ppeuhongi?
Yes.
Hee. I thought you'd collab with another streamer, but I figured it'd be someone from my little brother's company.
When I called about the collab with Ppeuhongi, Hong Siyeon came to find me.
She was sitting at a cafe near my place, sipping espresso, and she grinned.
You're not collabing with a female streamer?
I don't know any female streamers.
I'm now a fairly well-known streamer in my own right.
So I do get collab offers from all over the place, but none of them are from female streamers.
Do you wish there were?
Not really...?
Why not?
Other female streamers can't compare to our boss, after all?
AHAHAHA!! You're really only saying nice things!!
Honestly, it isn't like people with that much fame contact me all that often.
It's only the ones who want to use me.
But Ppeuhongi was different.
He just genuinely wanted to do a broadcast with me.
And if possible, he wanted to say something that would help Kim Juhyung.
So? Do you need anything? I'll do anything, so just say the word.
It's not so much that I need something... but on the filming day, I'm planning to go to Ppeuhongi's set...
Should I go with you? I've never fought anyone, but I hear I have good punching power.
Yeah, right.
How much would those tiny fists hurt, anyway?
The way she jokingly raised her fists and waved them around was cute rather than scary.
But wouldn't it be better if you went with Mr. Cheolhon? Isn't that why you had him stick around with you?
Cheolhon, Kwak Cheolhon, is the bodyguard Hong Siyeon assigned to watch over me.
He lives in the apartment next to mine in case anything happens, and he always comes with me whenever I go somewhere.
He also went with me to the set last time.
I gave Mr. Cheolhon leave.
What? Why?
Because his grandmother is going to pass away in a few days.
Kwak Cheolhon was raised by his grandmother.
Even so, he grew up wonderfully, but that grandmother has terminal stomach cancer and is in the hospital.
Honestly, I'd like to stay by her side the whole time, but you still have to make a living.
So every weekend, he went down there to take care of her.
Since he's such a devoted grandson, I gave him leave so he can stay with his grandmother while he still can.
Then you should've said so. We could've had someone else fill in.
That's why I'm telling you now.
Actually, since I don't really go out much, I don't particularly need bodyguards.
Hong Siyeon thought for a moment, then nodded.
Understood. I'll send someone else over.
Thank you. Ah, and one more thing.
I held out a card.
Hong Siyeon flipped it over without saying a word.
Expand your dealings with Japan's Heimas company a little more. I think it'll be hugely profitable.
A bright smile spread across Hong Siyeon's face.
.
.
.
The day of the collab shoot with Ppeuhongi.
When I went down after getting the call, there was a blonde foreign woman I'd never seen before.
Wow.
If it came to fighting, I'd lose.
She was about 190 centimeters tall, with broad shoulders.
The woman, who looked like she could casually fold up most Korean men, took off her sunglasses and greeted me.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Rachel Promier. Please just call me Rachel. I normally handle security for Boss Hong Siyeon."
"Yes. Nice to meet you. You're Russian...?"
"Yes."
In Rachel's past, I saw her slitting terrorists' throats with a single knife.
Let's not mess around with her.
"Today, I'll be your escort."
"If you're handling me, then where is the boss...?"
"She said she'd be with her grandmother today."
"Oh. I see."
Then that's settled?
Anyway, I rode in Rachel's car and arrived at the filming location.
It turned out to be a snack bar in the outskirts of Seoul.
It was said to be near the high school Kim Juhyung attended, and a place he often stopped by to eat when he was a student.
We'll have the first round here, and for the second we'll go to a famous restaurant Ppeuhongi knows.
I wasn't sure if it was even possible to eat in first and second rounds, but since both Ppeuhongi and Kim Juhyung were big eaters, it should be fine.
...I'll just eat lightly and be done with it.
"Welcome!! Hyung!"
"It's been a while. You've been well?"
"Haha! Yes! I've been doing well. By the way, yesterday's broadcast was incredible."
"Yesterday's broadcast? Oh, right."
It was about what happened on yesterday's stream.
A viewer's five-year-old son had gone missing, and I was the one who found him.
"No way that really turned out the way you said."
"Kids are like that."
A child had gone missing after coming back from kindergarten.
And shockingly, there was no trace of him at all.
The parents were on the verge of losing their minds, and the whole neighborhood was in an uproar, with everyone turning out to search.
But they couldn't find him.
So someone told me, saying they were grasping at straws, and when I checked, the child was stuck in a drain.
If I'd been even a little later, it would've been a disaster.
The future I saw was one where I rescued him just before he died.
Anyway, the kid was shaken up badly, but I was told there was no danger to his life.
"Aren't you going to hit 300,000 pretty soon?"
"That'd be nice."
Of course, my subscriber count had increased quite a bit too.
There's nothing bad about getting more recognition.
"By the way... the person next to you...?"
"That's our boss's bodyguard. Normally it's someone else, but they're not here right now."
"Ah, I see. Nice to meet you. I'm Ppeuhongi."
"I'm Rachel."
A brief greeting.
While we were exchanging a few words, I could hear whispering from a distance.
The day's other guest had arrived.
"Shall we start filming soon?"
A simple opening.
And when it was time to introduce the special guest, I stepped forward.
"Today's special guest!! The talk of the town!! The world's greatest fortune-teller! We've invited Kang Noa-hyung!"
-What!? For real!?
-Noa hyung!!
-Shibal!! It's Noa hyung!!
-Hyung!! Can you read my fortune too?!
The chat room exploded.
Since the only known guest today was Kim Juhyung, it was only natural that things would blow up.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Kang Noa. As for today's fortune-telling... I'll keep it to a reasonable level so it doesn't interfere with the broadcast."
-I knew I could count on you!
-No, hyung. Why are you being so formal? It's awkward...
"This isn't my stream... If I'm a guest, I should act like one."
If it were my stream, I'd have switched to casual speech right away, though.
-What the hell;;; Who is that guy?
-What? You don't know Noa hyung, the world's greatest fortune-teller?
-Ah. So you don't know...? That's how it is...
-You don't need to know yet...
It was chaos.
That was when I glanced at the rapidly rising chat window.
"Juhyung hyung!!"
"Juhyung-ah!! Hit another home run this time!!"
"Mr. Kim Juhyung!!! Mr. Kim Juhyung!!"
This place was the high school Kim Juhyung had attended.
Naturally, he had plenty of fans here.
Kim Juhyung, who had come with a group of people, greeted us with an awkward expression.
"Hello. I'm Kim Juhyung from Woosan."
He's huge.
He doesn't seem like he'd lose to Rachel either.
"Welcome!! I'm Ppeuhongi!"
"Wow! Ppeuhongi! I used to watch your streams a lot back in high school!"
"Haha!!! Thank you!!! Anyway, today's concept is a trip down memory lane with player Kim Juhyung."
It seemed they'd talked in advance, because the conversation flowed smoothly.
Today's mukbang would be trying all the dishes from the snack bar Kim Juhyung used to enjoy.
Even back in high school, he'd shown off his big-eater side by saying he'd once eaten thirty Pikachu pork cutlets here, and he glanced at me.
"But who is that person...?"
So he doesn't know me after all.
Even if I'm somewhat known, I'm still a rookie streamer, so that was only natural.
"I'm Kang Noa. Nice to meet you. If you don't mind, could I ask for your autograph?"
I held out a baseball to him.
Kim Juhyung gladly signed it after taking it.
"I hear some baseball players really hate giving autographs."
"If they're not fans, we're just people playing ball, after all."
He grinned and said it wasn't hard to give a few autographs to people like that.
"And my most respected player, Kim Chanho, said that if you don't cherish your fans, you don't even deserve to be called a player. Ever since he was in L.A...."
Geez, why does he talk so much?
Kim Juhyung was just as talkative as Kim Chanho, who was famous for talking a lot.
After chatting away for quite a while, he seemed to notice the looks around him and gave an awkward smile.
"Ahaha. I slipped up again..."
"No! No! From our side, that's great!!"
Ppeuhongi was delighted, saying there'd be no dead air.
"Player Kim Juhyung."
"Yes?"
"Would you turn this over?"
"A tarot card?"
"Ah! I should've introduced him sooner! This is Kang Noa, and he's a truly amazing fortune-teller!"
"Fortune-telling...?"
His expression turned awkward.
He looked like he didn't believe in fortune-telling and the like.
So I smiled and tapped the card lightly.
"It's just for fun, isn't it."
"Yes. Well."
He turned the card over without any particular complaint.
"Hyung! How is it?"
There was nothing to say either way.
Because his future hadn't changed.
I glanced at the camera.
The camera was rolling.
"Let's save any talk about Kim Juhyung until the end of the broadcast."
"Aww~! What is that!"
-Ugh... in the end, we have to watch until the end...
-Is this for real?
-What kind of trick is this, making us stay until the end;;;
They were yelling in the chat room, but I didn't have anything to say.
Anyway, the broadcast went on like that, and when it was nearing the end...
I spoke up amid the chat room's fervent requests.
"Mr. Kim Juhyung."
"Yes."
"Your future isn't looking good."
"......"
His expression hardened.
Well, I'd react the same way.
Who would be happy if a great fortune-teller suddenly told them their future was bad?
Ppeuhongi also looked pretty flustered, since he hadn't expected an answer like that from me.
"H-hyung. What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what it sounds like."
"What... what happened...?"
"You'll be involved in a match-fixing scandal."
-BANG!!
Kim Juhyung slammed the table and shot to his feet.
The 190-cm giant glared at me, and Rachel, who had been with the staff, slowly stepped forward.
Even so, I didn't stop.
"Player Kim Juhyung. A week ago, your bike's rear tire got a flat, didn't it?"
"......"
"Three days ago, a cockroach came out in your room."
"...Huh."
"Yesterday morning, at the breakfast buffet, you tried to eat some bread, but jam splattered and dirtied your clothes."
His face grew tighter and tighter.
Seeing that, I added one more thing.
"In the WBC game against the United States, with two outs in the ninth inning, a bounced ball will pop up over your head. Catch it and you'll win the game; miss it and you'll lose."
His expression didn't soften.
Until the closing sign-off.