Chapter 7
1.
Gulp—
‘It’s okay. This’ll go well.’
I’d already planned out the whole setup and how things would play out in my head. If everything went according to plan, I could turn this into something fun.
“It’ll be okay….”
I kept tightening and loosening my grip on the mouse.
I had to move. I had to press the start button. Only then could I move forward. I knew that, and yet my finger just wouldn’t do what I wanted.
Maybe the original owner of this body had felt this kind of pressure, too.
I picked up the cigarette pack I’d tossed beside the desk. I took a cigarette from it and put it between my lips. A familiar smell brushed past my nose.
“Phew….”
Only then did my heart, which had been pounding like crazy, gradually return to its normal rhythm.
“Let’s do this.”
I tensed the fingers resting on the mouse.
Click—
『Streaming has started.』
“I-I pressed it…!”
I sprang up from my chair like a cat that had spotted a cucumber. I couldn’t sit still, so I aimlessly circled the room.
I tossed the cigarette from my mouth into the trash, then opened the fridge.
“Hmm….”
Dried-out pickled radish from a takeout order, a half-finished bottle of water, and assorted disposable sauce packets. A carton of expired milk and a bottle of soju.
There wasn’t a single proper meal in sight.
I took out just a bottle of water and sat down. On the vertical monitor to my right, I could see the chat scrolling by at high speed.
I did my best not to look over at it and opened the plastic bottle. Just as I was about to put it to my lips and drink, a strange thought suddenly crossed my mind.
‘Would this count as an indirect kiss?’
Sure, it was the same body. But the original owner of this body and I, the person controlling it now, were undeniably two different people.
“I’m seriously not right in the head….”
Even I thought it was a creepy-ass idea. I must’ve gone completely crazy.
Feeling strangely embarrassed, I carefully drank without letting my lips touch the bottle’s opening. After a few sips, I set the bottle down on the floor.
“Phew. Let’s do this.”
I pulled my chair close to the desk and sat down. Then I put the image I’d prepared earlier, while talking to Heukrangi, on the stream.
-???
-Holy shit lmao
-Whoa, what the fuck is that???
-LMAOOOOOO
The chat, which had been full of insults and trolls just moments ago, was instantly flooded with laughter and shock.
“Ah-ah.”
I turned on my virtual character along with the microphone.
“H-hello… I-I’m Bullet… T-today, I’ll be doing this clarification stream with H-Heukrangi, who’s on my team….”
My voice was trembling, but at least I managed to get through it.
[Me : Heukrangi, come on in.]
Ding—
I joined the voice call on That’sCord first. Heukrangi followed right after.
“H-Heukrangi, p-please introduce yourself….”
[Uh… Hello. I’m Heukrangi, and I’m currently on the same team as Bullet, playing the defender role. Nice to meet you!]
A husky yet lively voice. She had the energy of a professional streamer, just as I’d expected.
“……….”
[……….]
“……….”
[Um, Bullet?]
While I was admiring her in my head, Heukrangi was the first to break the silence.
“Yes?”
[Could you say something? It’s a little awkward when you’re completely silent….]
“Oh.”
That’s right. I was streaming with her right now, too. Maybe because I was so nervous, I kept forgetting.
“Ah, w-wow….”
I clapped softly to welcome her.
[Thank you. Though I can’t feel any sincerity at all.]
“…I’m sorry.”
[It’s okay. So why did you want to do this clarification stream with me in particular?]
“B-because you… were the one who cursed me out the most when the hacking scandal broke… and you also leaked it on stream…?”
I spoke, then looked at the chat. I thought I’d come up with a pretty reasonable line.
-Oh damn;;
-Cough, cough…
-Fact: true
-What a bitch lmao
-How does someone come up with the idea of doing a collab with the person she hates most?
-She’s got some serious balls;;
-What’s with this power play;;;
But judging by the viewers’ reactions, a lot of them took it as a power play. I really hadn’t meant it that way.
[…I’m sorry.]
“N-no, it’s okay. It’s only natural that you’d curse me out, since I was in the wrong….”
[Still, I shouldn’t have said those things without knowing the whole story. I’m really sorry….]
“I-if you really feel bad… could you maybe lead the discussion? I, um… I did prepare a script, sort of….”
[M-me? Lead it?]
“Yes….”
[But… this is your stream, Bullet….]
“Yes….”
-What is this bitch doing;;
-She said she wrote a script, for fuck’s sake;; Why isn’t she doing it herself?
-Is she crazy…
[All right… I’ve never done anything like this before, but I’ll give it a try. Could you send me the script?]
I sent Heukrangi the script I’d prepared earlier. She seemed to read it for a moment, then let out a hollow laugh.
[Are you sure you want me to do it like this?]
“Yes… I thought it was pretty straightforward….”
[Well, sure….]
Her voice made it clear she didn’t agree at all.
[Um… Should I go ahead, then?]
“Yes…!”
-What is it?
-What the hell is it???
-Now I’m super curious;;
[First, I’ll ask what I’m sure the viewers are most curious about. Were you suspended from Nova Syndicate?]
Heukrangi asked in a low voice. Her clear diction made her sound like a real announcer.
“N-no, I wasn’t…!”
Meanwhile, my voice was trembling, and I kept stumbling over my words. The real-time comparison was crushing my self-esteem.
“I-I’ll show you right now…!”
I moved Nova Syndicate, which I’d minimized, onto the main screen. Then I opened my mailbox and showed the email from the Operations Team on stream.
“A-as you can see… the Operations Team’s investigation found…! I wasn’t suspended…! That means I’m completely in the clear…!”
-Whoa, it’s real;
-Then that really was her skill…
-Then why the hell did she run away?
-Could this be fake???
[Then why did you disappear during the scrim after saying you were going to run an errand for tofu? Were you really going to get tofu? At two in the morning?]
“I-I wasn’t going to get tofu. I’m an orphan, so… I don’t have parents who could send me on an errand for tofu….”
[…Huh? No, that wasn’t in the script!]
-Boo, you suck…
-You asked an orphan that? ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-I can’t even~~~~~~
“S-sorry… I think I forgot to put that in….”
I wasn’t sure whether the original owner of this body was actually an orphan. But judging by the fact that there was no one in the contacts, I figured that was probably the case.
And I’d been an orphan in my previous life, so, mm-hmm. At least it wasn’t a lie.
[Uh, then why did you make that excuse back then? And why did you leave after typing ‘Sorry’ in chat?]
The next part was important. I had to say the right thing here if I wanted to get through this without a hitch.
“You said ‘sorry’ because you were sorry, right?”
[…Pardon?]
-What the fuck;;
-Huh???
-I mean, yeah… you say you’re sorry because you’re sorry…
“Um, the reason I said I was going to get tofu and disappeared was that I wasn’t feeling well….”
I swallowed hard.
“But I thought if I just said I wasn’t feeling well and left, people would get mad, so I tried to play it off with a joke, and, uh… yeah. That’s what happened….”
[So it was an excuse meant to make light of the situation.]
“That’s right….”
[Then the chat went completely nuts, so you apologized afterward?]
“Yes… I didn’t have any friends all through school, so I guess I was a little socially clueless… I’m sorry….”
I bowed my head. The character on the screen did the same.
-How the hell did she interpret it like that?
-Is Heukrangi a top-tier Korean student? Her interpretation skills are insane;;
-Why the fuck does she talk like such an idiot???
-Wait, were you an awkward loser?
[So since you weren’t suspended, you’re going to keep participating in the Battle of Ruin?]
“Yes… I-I know it’s shameless of me… but I think I’ll keep participating… Aura and the other members of my team all said they were okay with it….”
💸 [Nickname: Anonymous] has
🪙 donated 10,000G!
💬 Heukrangi didn’t know about that, though?
My eyes went wide at the sudden donation.
“Th-thank you for the 10,000G donation…!”
I jumped up from my chair and bowed again and again.
-What a great deal lol
-That’s some top-tier gratitude
-She’s acting like she got a million won;;
-Cut it out and get on with it already;;
“Uh, the reason Heukrangi didn’t know was probably that she hadn’t checked the group chat… Or maybe you have a grudge against me and did it on purpose…?”
[No—!!!]
“Eek…!”
The voice was so loud it hurt my ears, and I jumped in surprise.
[Why would I have a grudge against you, Bullet!?]
“Um… on your stream earlier, you said, ‘Some crazy bitch used hacks during a scrim.’ ‘What a mess, all because of one clueless bitch.’ ‘I hope I never see that bitch again.’ ‘That motherfucking bitch….’”
I repeated Heukrangi’s words in an imitation of her voice.
[I didn’t say ‘that motherfucking bitch’—!!!]
Heukrangi practically shrieked.
“So you’re saying you agree that you said all the other things…?”
[I-I did say them, but… ah, well….]
“And you wrote something like this, too….”
[General] Good riddance to that cheating bitch lol
That fucking bitch who’s trying to stream while hacking and ruining things for everyone else.
Pathetic bitch. The way she runs away without taking responsibility to the very end makes me want to puke. And when I think about her starting over as a VTuber and wagging her tail at men, it’s just laughable.
Don’t expect your stream to blow up by leeching off people or using hacks. Try living a little more constructively, asshole.
I put the post Heukrangi had written on the community forum up on the screen.
-Still a masterpiece, even rereading it;;
-For real;;
-Heukrangi used 100% of her brain writing this lol
-Points off, points off ㅠㅠ
“W-what’s this about…?”
[……….]
Silence hung in the air for a while.
[…I’m sorry.]
“It’s okay! You did it on purpose, but… it happens!”
It wasn’t even something I’d done, after all. I could gladly forgive her for something like this!
-This bitch is like an alligator snapping turtle;;
-Once she bites down, she never lets go lmao
-A gentleman’s revenge is… mumble mumble…