Chapter 2: Spend a night(2)

The life of a savage is unnecessarily busy.

First, I rewatch the live broadcast I saw yesterday.

Before the live broadcast starts, I browse through Newtube and rewatch clips and shorts I saw on Kirinuki’s channel.

I’ve rewatched the videos about three times, but the edited videos have a slightly different flavor.

“… Wow. Where are the videos I haven’t seen coming from?”

Are there any hidden, unreleased videos on the channel?

When people are desperate, all sorts of fantasies start to pop up.

That’s how much I thirsted for Rikyuel.

It’s good to rewatch and relive memories, but as a human, my brain wants new stimulation.

There’s a reason why the saying, “I’ll buy a brain I haven’t seen” was popular at one time.

I wanted to hit my head hard and erase all my memories of watching Rikyuel’s broadcasts.

If I lost my memories, all the videos would be new to me.

‘…How happy would I be then?’

“The broadcasts are too short, Honestly”

I grumbled without realizing it.

In fact, Rikyuel’s broadcasts weren’t short at all.

She is a corporate virtual YouTuber belonging to the virtual YouTuber group called ‘Starlight.’

As a full-time virtual YouTuber, she broadcasted for at least 6 hours a day, excluding fixed breaks.

Sometimes, it would exceed 12 hours.

I knew that, but I was already crazy about Rikyuel.

So even if she broadcasted for 24 hours, I would feel that the broadcast time was short.

“When I first saw her, I didn’t know I would become like this… How did it happen… Ha.”

I wasn’t a virtual YouTuber from the beginning.

It started out as a simple interest.

When I watched her debut broadcast, I was initially attracted to her cute modeling.

Two twintail handles on her pink hair.

She looked like a child, but her sexy eyes and her contrasting outfit and atmosphere, like a corner knit.

The imbalance that was harmonious yet not harmonious penetrated the taste of a typical fanboy.

She felt like a corner hikikomori, a succubus.

However, as I watched her broadcast, I gradually fell for her charm more than her appearance…..a cute voice…a dopamine addict’s appearance while playing a game…and the occasional angry moments are thrilling.

The comments that are full of fanboy vibes, the memes that come out naturally, and the innocent girl-like appearances that she occasionally shows compared to her internet-savvy and corrupted words and actions.

“If it weren’t for Lee Chung-ha but Rikyuel, my girlfriend…I wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

Actually, Rikyuel was originally quite far from my ideal type.

I like pure and innocent types.

Rikyuel was closer to the cute and innocent type.

However, after being immersed in her broadcasts, she has now completely become my ideal type.

If Rikyuel were my girlfriend… at least I wouldn’t have spent my precious summer vacation of my second year of college sitting in the corner of my room, not leaving even one step.

I would have enjoyed going anywhere with her.

If it was Rikyuel’s request, I would have gone anywhere, even if I had to shake off my laziness and extreme tendencies.

‘… Real women are no good.’

That’s why.

I blamed reality for the feeling of being damp again and turned my gaze back to the virtual world.

However, today, there was not even a broadcast to console my bitter spirit.

Today was Wednesday, when Rikyuel had her regular break.

Since she had regular breaks on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, that day was the most dreadful time of the week for me.

‘…Rikyuel.’

I’m so cold.

I shivered and checked the fan cafe broadcast notices and X.

I wondered if there would be any surprise broadcast announcements… but there was no way.

Like most break days, it was very quiet and cold.

There was only one morning wake-up tweet.

“Should I play a game?”

Time without Rikyuel did not pass easily.

As I sat down at my computer desk to kill some time, my cell phone, which was lying on the desk, started to ring.

Woohoohoo.

Woohoohoo.

I flipped my cell phone over to see who it was.

If it was that bastard Kim-Dong-hyun, I thought I would just hang up.

“…Nayu-ah?”

I am surprised to see her name after such a long time.

Na Yu-ah was my childhood friend.

And it has been over 10 years.

We went to the same school from elementary school to college, and our parents are close.

When we were young, we would always go on family trips together.

I lost contact with her after I was discharged from the military and got a girlfriend.

My ex-girlfriend didn’t like having girls around me, so I asked her to keep her distance.

When I returned to school, Yu-ah was already on leave.

So it was hard to see her for a while.

But well…now there is no one to watch out for…

It has been a long time since I broke up with Lee Chung-ha.

In fact, it was stranger that I had not contacted her during that time.

I happily picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

[Hey. Yoon Ji-bin.]

A slightly cold and slightly crooked voice came through the phone.

Her unique childish tone reminded me of a middle school girl.

Even Yu-ah was actually small and short.

So many people around her thought she was cute.

However, I was the only one who knew her dark inner thoughts and true self.

“Why is your voice so sensitive? Please greet me when I call after a long time.”

[I heard you broke up with Lee Cheong-ha? Why didn’t you contact me?]

I was speechless at the questioning voice.

We broke up at the end of the first semester, and now the vacation is almost over.

I’ve been out of sight for over two months.

Of course, I didn’t tell Yu-ah about our breakup.

‘… To be honest, I was embarrassed.’

“Why are you telling me that to be a good thing? Why are you spreading rumors? Are you bragging about my breakup?”

[I’m not telling you to brag. You’re talking crookedly again.]

I close my mouth again at the voice filled with regret.

Anyway, our relationship has been long, and I knew that she cherished me.

Enlistment, interviews, vacations, and discharges that many of my college classmates didn’t come to.

She was the only one who took care of me by wrapping me up.

I knew how hard it was.

Even my girlfriend wouldn’t do that.

… In the end, the rumor reached her.

Is that why the seniors told me not to date in the department?

I feel a little regret.

“More importantly, you’re on a break from school. Where did you hear that? The hell?”

[…Dong-hyun told me? You broke up and you’re complaining, so take care of me.]

“Oh. Kim-Dong-hyun. You rascal.”

The swear words came out of my mouth naturally.

He’s such a slut.

When I was close with Dong-hyun, Yu-ah and I were also close.

We naturally got to know each other through me.

In the first place, since we’re in the same department, it wouldn’t be hard to find her name in the group chat and contact her.

Should I foolishly tell her when the time comes?

Why is she the one who made the first move?

I curse Dong-hyun in my head and ask her, “So what? What’s the matter?”

If we were on an awkward level, her choice of words might feel a little cold.

But we were already used to this kind of thing.

[Come out. Is an hour enough to get ready?]

“It’s completely dark right now?”

I answered her while looking at the pitch-black outside.

It was already well past 10 PM.

[You’re in Group 0 anyway, so you haven’t been up for long. Do you think I don’t know?]

You know me too well… Ugh.

This is why close friends are scarier.

“What are you going to do when you meet?”

[What are you going to do? Let’s just have a drink. It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other’s faces. You must be frustrated because you don’t have anyone to talk to. I’ll gossip about your ex-girlfriend with you. That rotten b*tch… I knew it.]

I can’t help but laugh at the swearing Yu-ah is spitting out.

Is it because I like hearing my friend’s voice after such a long time?

As always, conversations with Yu-ah are comfortable.

There’s no gaslighting or unreasonable demands.

She doesn’t advise or instruct me on what to do.

We just swear at each other freely and forgive each other for saying whatever we want.

It doesn’t feel weird to call each other late at night.

…That’s why we’ve been friends for so long.

She said that just talking about it can make you feel better.

I’ve never been embarrassed to tell anyone about our breakup.

I thought Yu-ah would be okay.

“Okay. Got it. Just go the way you always do? Right at the back gate of the school.”

[Okay. Come there. She hangs up first.]

Before I could say anything else, the call was cut off.

You sassy girl.

You called first and said everything you wanted to say, so you’re just going to hang up?

Even though I didn’t hang up, I didn’t really have anything to say, but I just kept tapping my phone out of annoyance.

“… Let’s see when we meet.”

I said something I didn’t mean, and got up from the chair to take a shower for the first time in a while.

It was because I didn’t have much reason to wash when I was home alone.

Going out after a long time made people excited for no reason.

“… But back then, you and I were really just friends.”

How did things end up like that?