Chapter 33: Even Exchanged Contact Information

I finally understood why Yeram kept insisting on coming here.

It was to meet Harin.

But a question arose.

“What were you going to do if we couldn’t meet Harin?”

“Well, if we couldn’t, then… we’d just eat the braised short ribs and leave.”

“…Well, that’s true.”

It made sense, but I still found it absurd, so I gave Yeram a light smack on the head and continued eating my kimchi.

As I was chewing the kimchi, suddenly—

Tap tap.

Yeram poked me.

“What? Do you need an apron?”

She seemed to need one.

Just as I was about to stand up to fetch the apron—

“No, it’s not that… it’s…”

It seemed like there was something more important.

I’m not the most perceptive person, so even though she was practically giving me obvious hints, I wasn’t picking up on it.

I stared at Yeram, and finally, she spoke.

“Can you go say hi to Harin for me? You’ve at least met her online.”

“…Me?”

I wasn’t sure if I’d heard her correctly.

She wanted me to greet someone I’d only met online.

In real life.

“Sis, I’ve never even spoken to her directly. What are you talking about?”

I had only ever communicated with Harin through chat, so she didn’t even know what my voice sounded like.

Besides, I wasn’t exactly sure if she had a good impression of me.

‘There’s no way she could have a good impression after what happened.’

It wasn’t my fault, but a group of self-proclaimed fans had harassed her.

“Still, it’s better than me doing it.”

“I’m more likely to make things worse. If you want, you should do it.”

“Aww, come on. Just this once, please.”

This was the first time Yeram had asked me so earnestly to do something.

I had planned to keep refusing, but seeing her wanting it this badly, I couldn’t help but give in.

“Fine, I’ll do it.”

“Oh, nice!”

Yeram looked at me like she’d won the lottery, clearly not expecting me to actually agree.

I stood up, thinking to myself that I’d have to give her a good talking-to once we got home.

‘Ah, I’m nervous.’

I didn’t have any particularly bad feelings toward Harin, but I didn’t have any good feelings either, which made me anxious.

From what I’d seen of her chats, she didn’t seem to have the friendliest personality.

With these thoughts swirling in my head, I slowly approached Harin.

And then, I opened my mouth.

“Hello.”

“…Yes?”

I greeted her lightly and got straight to the point.

“My sister is a fan of yours. Could you take a picture with her?”

There was no need for me to tell her I was ‘Dama.’

I delivered the message concisely.

Harin, who had been looking at her phone, glanced up at me.

“If you bring your sister over here, I’ll take the picture.”

“Oh, yes.”

Just like on her streams, she was very blunt.

I couldn’t exactly call her kind.

‘This is the first time I’ve met someone who’s exactly the same on and off stream.’

Most people wear some kind of mask.

I found it fascinating as I called over Yeram, who had been sitting anxiously, constantly glancing at us.

When I gestured for her to come, she practically sprinted over.

Harin glanced at her and spoke.

“You’re my fan?”

“Yes…!”

Yeram was so excited she was practically out of breath.

I couldn’t understand how someone could get this excited about meeting a streamer, not even a celebrity.

As I watched in amazement, suddenly—

“If you’re a fan of mine, do you know when I first started streaming?”

Harin abruptly asked a question.

A question about when she started streaming.

I thought it was a bit strange for her to ask that, considering I didn’t even remember when I started streaming. But, I let it slide.

“March 12th…!”

“Oh, you answered right away. Not many people know that.”

She got it right.

If it had been me, I would have panicked and forgotten completely.

I was amazed at how much of Harin’s streams Yeram must have watched to remember something like that.

I could have sworn Yeram had told me she didn’t watch that many streams, though.

As I was thinking this—

“Well, this is my brother. You probably know him too, Harin.”

Yeram suddenly blurted out.

“Sis? Close your mouth.”

There was absolutely no reason to reveal that, so I tried to stop her.

“Hm? Who is he?”

Harin seemed intrigued.

While it wouldn’t cause a huge problem if she found out, I’d still been trying to keep it a secret as much as possible.

“My brother streams too. He goes by the name ‘Dama.’”

I was at a loss for words.

What could I possibly say in this situation?

All I could do was hope for this moment to end quickly.

“Dama? Hmm…”

Thankfully, Harin didn’t seem to remember my stream name—

“Oh, right! You’re that guy who’s friends with Mangming.”

But then she remembered right away.

It was truly a hopeless situation.

Since I had been found out, I couldn’t avoid introducing myself.

“I’m Dama, a streamer on Twitch.”

“Oh.”

At that moment, Harin finally gave me a proper look.

From head to toe.

It felt like she was scanning me with a sticky gaze.

“I was curious who it could be since it’s the first time I’ve seen Mangming watching a male streamer… So, this is who you are.”

Her voice carried a sense of amusement, as if she had found an interesting opportunity.

Cautiously, I opened my mouth.

“It would be great if you didn’t mention that we met today…”

“Nope.”

She rejected me outright.

“I need material to talk about on my stream too. I should definitely talk about this. Besides, you’ve caused some trouble for my stream.”

“That… is true.”

Her reasoning was flawless.

She implied that since I had brought weird people to her stream and caused her problems, she would share the story of our meeting—

I couldn’t find any words to refute her.

“Then how about we take a picture to commemorate this meeting? With your sister, too.”

“Pardon?”

She suddenly suggested taking a picture together.

It was a bewildering offer.

“Come on, let’s take one,” Yeram said, looking at me eagerly, clearly wanting to take a picture with Harin.

At this point, I couldn’t exactly refuse.

I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Taking the picture is fine, but please don’t show it on your stream. I don’t reveal my face.”

“Of course, that goes without saying.”

“Hmm… alright, let’s do it.”

Harin’s face looked like she was about to burst with excitement.

I had a feeling she was going to do something mischievous after we parted ways, but for now, there was no way to know what.

So, I had no choice but to take the picture.

“Jungyeon, could you take the picture?”

“Sure.”

And so, we took the photo.

‘…Did we really just run into Harin here?’

“Taking a picture with Harin… I’m going to brag to my friends.”

“If you’re going to brag, just tell them you met her. Don’t show the picture.”

“Got it.”

I didn’t want anyone finding out that I was Dama because of the photo.

Still…

‘I had been asking around the gallery, thinking we’d spend more time in Seongsu-dong, but…’

We ended up meeting Harin so soon.

I had a feeling Yeram had originally planned for us to stay longer, but after meeting Harin, she completely forgot about it.

It was a strange feeling.

Meeting Harin there was already unexpected, but to even exchange numbers with her…

“This is the first time I’ve exchanged numbers with someone famous.”

I have about a hundred contacts in my phone, but none of them are famous.

The most notable person is probably one of my professors.

Everyone else is just classmates.

Thinking how strange it was, I lay down on my bed and logged into the Efreet Gallery.

[Currently Ranked 45th in the Busiest Galleries!]

A message appeared in the upper right corner.

It seemed like the Efreet Gallery had finally stabilized.

It had been tough with all the trolls recently.

Finally, it’s back to normal.

Feeling relieved, I posted a message in the gallery.

[Author: UncoveringLondon’sSecret]

[Title: Went to Seongsu-dong today planning to have some fun, but…]

[Content: (Photo) Only had galbijjim… didn’t have time to go anywhere else, haha.]

The point of the post was to apologize for not visiting the places the people on the gallery had earnestly recommended.

A few moments later:

L: Seriously, what the hell, we gave you all those recommendations and you only ate galbijjim?

L: 20

L Kang Hoomin: You bastard, start the stream already.

N: As expected of Kang Hoomin, calling a guy “bastard” so confidently, haha.

N: She’s not afraid of lawsuits, lol.

L: Just shut up and start streaming.

L: I’m bored, if someone doesn’t stream soon, I might have to drop a tactical nuke on the gallery…

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have posted it.’

I regretted not writing the post more thoughtfully.

Feeling like I had made a misstep, I got out of bed and sat at my computer.

“I’m going to start the stream now, okay?”

“Okay.”

Before starting a stream, I always say this in case something unexpected happens.

And shortly after…

[The stream has started!]

The broadcast began.

Then the viewers started coming in.

[Finally dragging yourself in, huh.]

[Give me galbijjim, give me galbijjim, give me galbijjim, give me galbijjim, give me galbijjim, give me galbijjim.]

[Kang Hoomin: You pig.]

[Harsh words from Kang Hoomin, as usual.]

With the familiar chats, the stream was underway.