Chapter 6: A little bit clever(2)

I ran out of the motel and dashed back to my house.

As if someone was chasing me.

I went straight into the hallway and hurriedly closed the door before I felt relieved.

It was my room.

My excitement subsided at the familiar sight and smell of the room.

“Na yu-ah… Rikyuel?”

It was a series of shocks and surprises.

Not only did I sleep with Yu-ah while drunk, but now I knew that she was Rikyuel.

I felt like I had been hit twice in a critical spot.

How could these things happen at the same time…?

They say that misfortune and fortune always come together, but I couldn’t tell if this was misfortune or fortune.

My head was dizzy, and I couldn’t grasp the situation, so it was complicated.

I calmed myself down while wiping away my surprised chest.

… Let’s drink some water and take a shower first.

I couldn’t even replenish my water because I thought I had to leave before Yu-ah woke up.

Maybe it was because I moved around violently yesterday and collapsed.

I was very thirsty.

On top of that, I couldn’t wash up, so my whole body felt uncomfortable.

After gulping down water, I took off my clothes and quickly finished showering.

I calmed my pounding heart as I got under the warm water.

I came out of the bathroom, drying my hair with a towel, and finally felt my heart calming down a little.

My head, which had become colder after my excitement subsided, wondered about Yu-ah’s identity…

Is what I heard really true and my thoughts correct?

“Honestly, it seems like irrefutable evidence…”

There was no more evidence to suspect that she was not Rikyuel.

Unless it was not Yu-ah’s cell phone but someone else’s.

However, Yu-ah had changed her cell phone once when she entered college, as a gift from her parents.

I had seen it occasionally, so I knew the model.

Since she had never changed it since then, the possibility that it was not Yu-ah’s cell phone was zero.

Otherwise, it must have been a mistake.

“That doesn’t make sense, either.”

It was ridiculous.

Among all the numbers in Korea, Rikyuel and Yu-ah’s numbers were similar.

Did the Starlight staff mistake Yu-ah for Rikyuel and call her by mistake?

“It’s much more likely that Yu-ah is Rikyuel…”

At least, it was much more likely that Yu-ah was Rikyuel than that.

Neither she nor I knew what broadcasts we watched each other often.

We shared the fact that we watched internet broadcasts, but we never talked about specific things.

Like which streamer was good?

Which platform was good?

“I guess I need to cross-check. As expected.”

Those are personal preferences, so I felt embarrassed and didn’t necessarily use them as topics of conversation.

Besides, I got really into internet broadcasts after I enlisted in the military.

I got a girlfriend almost immediately after I was discharged, so I was distant from her.

So I didn’t know what broadcasts she watched or what her tastes were….

Then it’s quite possible that she enjoyed watching YouTubers.

Yu-ah was a huge fan of pretty girl characters.

I thought Yu-ah had started watching internet broadcasts before I did.

Even though she was a woman, she was a pretty girl.

How can I guarantee that she didn’t fall for the cuteness of YouTubers and audition for some job posting?

As expected, reason said that Yu-ah was most likely Rikyuel.

But feelings shouted at me that they couldn’t be trusted at all.

There was no way my childhood friend of 10 years could be my favorite.

That was ridiculous.

In the end, I started cross-checking anyway.

First, I put on a replay video of Rikyuel and looked at her closely.

[Liha~! Liha-Liha! Hello. Everyone. Hi hi.]

Rikyuel’s ordinary voice.

But today for some reason it feels different.

Is it my imagination?

It’s clearly a different voice from Yu-ah’s, but I feel a similar feeling in between.

Is it because I suspect her of being Yu-ah?

Or is that really true?

… Although she doesn’t use such a high tone when talking to me.

YouTubers change their voice tones on purpose for broadcast tension and to avoid being singled out.

That’s why their everyday voices and broadcast tones are very different.

I also heard that there is a difference between the voices heard in real life and the voices coming through the microphone.

It’s hard to tell the difference because the same sound is captured differently depending on the EQ or audio settings.

Furthermore, since Yu-ah speaks comfortably in front of me, she doesn’t necessarily use a high tone.

She never uses a voice that is intentionally made up or cute.

“If Yu-ah were to try to speak cutely…”

Honestly, I thought that kind of voice might come out.

I don’t know exactly because I’ve never heard it.

… But this alone is still uncertain.

Thinking about the information I know about Yu-ah, I search her profile on TooWiki.

Height, weight, age, etc. are settings, so I’ll skip them.

I check the information that would be good for identifying the actual person.

Her MBTI is ISTP…

Her birthday is December 25th…

That’s right too…

“No… Am I an idiot…? Why didn’t I think about it when they’re so similar?”

The MBTI of Yu-ah that I know.

And when I think about it, I haven’t paid attention to Rikyuel’s birthday because she hasn’t had her first birthday on TV yet.

Most of her personal information matches hers.

Yu-ah was the kid who said she didn’t like her birthday because she didn’t get Christmas presents every year…

The more I learned about her, the more certain I became.

More than half of my heart had already accepted that she was Rikyuel.

But…… So?

So what would you do if you found out that Yu-ah was Rikyuel?

So what could you do?

Yoon Ji-bin.

The closer I get to the answer, the more I think about it.

Isn’t it better not to know?

It’s not like YouTubers hide the red pill for no reason.

If I knew that Yu-ah was Rikyuel, what would change?

I’m still her fan, and Yu-ah is still my childhood friend.

“What, you’re asking me to date you because you’re my fan? Or ask me for an autograph?”

Even if my guess was right, nothing would really change.

It’s just that there’s a secret between her and me that no one else knows about.

Rather, it’s fortunate that it doesn’t make things awkward because of that.

“… But if that’s true… spent the night with Rikyuel? Right now?”

That’s the only thing that’s different.

That I took away the beginning of my favorite person that I thought only existed on the monitor in real life?

It’s really dizzying…

This… Should I like this? Should I hate this?

… No matter what, it was a moment when I felt like it was getting harder and harder to see Yu-ah’s face.

***

I rushed back home and quickly finished up some light business with the Ridongbu (Rikyuel support team) members.

I crawled out of the room where I was working and broadcasting and crawled into the bedroom.

I collapsed on the bed with a groan, exhausted.

“…I ended up not asking… what should I do…”

It was about whether Ji-bin had answered the phone.

… Ji-bin might have known that I was Rikyuel.

From the contents of the call.

Of course, I don’t know if Ji-bin watches YouTubers or not.

So this might just be my shadow boxing alone.

However, what was unsettling was that I was so well-known for a broadcaster who had only debuted for a short time.

As with all companies, I received a lot of attention from the beginning of my debut, and it was especially bad for large companies like Starlight.

Plus, I’m a partner streamer, and I’m almost always at the top of the site.

Since I have a high average viewership, I naturally caught people’s attention.

If someone was browsing streaming sites during my broadcast time, they might have seen my name even if they didn’t watch the broadcast.

“Aww… what should I do… seriously.”

I lay on the bed in a cat pose, staring at my phone.

There was a chatroom where Ji-bin and I had our last private chat.

I was a bit scared to ask over the phone… so I tried to send a text… but that wasn’t easy either.

“What should I start with…?”

Did it go in okay?

In this awkward situation, I didn’t even know what to say.

I couldn’t decide what to do about the situation where I slept with Ji-bin.

Should I just pretend it never happened and move on?

Or should I apologize and take responsibility?

So it was natural that I was hesitant to talk to him first.

Because if I talked to him now, I couldn’t avoid talking about it.

Tok tok.

Eventually, I typed a few messages and deleted them repeatedly before giving up.

I felt like I couldn’t make a decision on my own, so I opened another chatroom.

[Choi Soo-jin]

The only relationship I have with Ji-bin since middle school.

Soo-jin, who I can call my closest and most reliable friend.

I contacted her first.

[Soo-jin. Are you busy right now?]

Unlike Ji-bin and I, who went to the same university, Soo-jin went to a different university.

So I didn’t know exactly what her current schedule was.

I asked her because I thought she might be in class.

[Huh? No. I finished class in the morning today and am just lazing around at home?]

Nice timing.

Soo-jin is my friend and my relationship advice.

Unlike me, she is confident and proactive, so although we are the same age, she has much more experience in relationships.

She also likes to listen to other people’s stories and give them advice.

Of course, the problem was that I couldn’t follow her advice.

And there was another reason why I relied on her.

Because Soo-jin and Ji-bin went to the same middle school.

She wasn’t close with Ji-bin, but she knew how it felt, and she was also my only friend who knew that I had a crush on Ji-bin since then.

[I… have something to talk to you about. Soo-jin.]

[Yeah. What is it? Tell me quickly.]

As expected, Soo-jin was the type who would listen.

I carefully told her about what happened yesterday.

[You know… …]

[Yeah.]

[I slept with Yoon Ji-bin yesterday. Soo-jin.]

[?]

The question mark returned as if flustered.

But I had to start here if I was going to tell this story.

I held back my embarrassment and told her honestly.

[????????? You slept with Yoon Ji-bin? What are you talking about? This? You just slept next to me?]

The urgent chat flowed down.

Of course, I had already decided what I was going to say.

[No, no. That’s not it…]

[Yeah.]

[That… I did… that.]

…I guess she understood if I said this much.

Even though it was a little less on TV, I felt some resistance to saying such things in real life.

I waited for the answer, feeling my body heat up with shame.

And the answer that came back was.

[You finally did it! You succeeded! Congratulations! Yu-ah!]

…Huh?

Congratulations?

It was a strange message congratulating me on my maiden graduation.