NOVEL NEXT Chapter 54
As she refreshed the page, dozens of posts appeared.
“Thank you for your interest. I’ll read them one by one.”
―――
Oh
Yenun
How do I join this?
Please accept me too, dammit.
Ah, I missed the last chance to join.
―――
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll take additional applications after reading all these posts.”
Now she skillfully coordinated the broadcast order, then scrolled down to click the first post. She began to read aloud.
―――
[Si-hyun, I love you]
[I’m a fan]
[First comment]
―――
“‘First comment’? Does it mean first place? Congratulations. Thank you. ‘I’m a fan.’ Thank you. The photo of the puppy attached is so cute. ‘Si-hyun, I’ – …thank you.”
All the posts that had come up were expressions of fan affection towards Moon Si-hyun.
Perhaps because they didn’t disappear like donations or chats, these felt far more stimulating to her than the love expressed through chat or donation.
“…… Next-”
The shy and unfamiliar expressions made Moon Si-hyun’s heart flutter a little.
She tried to hide that feeling as she read all the posts made by subscribers.
―――
Hahahahahaha
Wow
Their reactions are so cute, hahaha.
―――
She’s unexpectedly weak to such comments.
The reactions are hilarious.
Why was she so proud earlier? She’s already oozing femininity.
She’s trying to act nonchalant but it’s painfully obvious, huh?
―――
“…… I’ve read everything. Now I’ll take membership applications again.”
After finishing her task, she pushed her hair behind her ear and fanned herself, as if modeling.
It was a rather warm situation that most normal people would find pleasant.
―――
Hmm………………..
But if they praise too much, it’ll get boring.
What’s this? Why is she so normal?
Hey, why is that old account that used to stir trouble here, hahaha?
Oh, my inner troublemaker.
I’ll be a troublemaker…
―――
However, self-proclaimed “cheerful troublemakers” lurking beneath the surface found it uncomfortable.
Moon Si-hyun went back to the cafe management window. Her pupils widened slightly.
―――
Membership applications (+239)
―――
Many times more applications had come in.
As she clicked the membership application tab, the names of the applicants popped up.
―――
– Si-hyun Wrestling Game
– High-Ability Moon Si-hyun
– Bear Huh
– Moon Si-hyun Fan ty
– Moon Dori
– Moon Ttakmeok
– Moon Si-hyun Food Container Thief
―――
Hmm
Hmm
Haha
Hmm…
Huh
Huh
Hahahahaha
―――
Most of them had normal usernames. But there were a few suspicious ones mixed in.
Moon Si-hyun slowly clicked to accept the applications one by one until she suddenly stopped at one point.
“…… Moon Ttakmeok? What is this?”
―――
Huh
Huh
Ah
Whaaat
Huh
Huh
―――
Who is that? Hahaha.
What a crazy person.
There were plenty of weird usernames before, but it’s funny it finally stopped here, hahaha.
Aren’t the other ones suspicious too, Si-hyun?
This is bad!!!!!!
―――
It was a combination of unfamiliar characters she’d never seen before, and the viewers who wouldn’t reveal themselves.
That ignited the challenge spirit that had always been strong in Moon Si-hyun.
She habitually rested her chin on her thumb and index finger, thinking intently. Silence enveloped the broadcast for a few seconds.
The chat and gallery briefly fell silent with tension.
“Ah!”
Finally, Moon Si-hyun clapped once.
“I want to eat eomuk (fish cakes) warm. Right?”
―――
?
??
Yes
Yes
Hahahahaha
Yeah, that’s right.
Yes
Yenun
Oh, how did you know? You really are high-ability.
Hahahahahahaha
―――
After a moment of silence, several chats went up.
“Hmph, I told you, I’m smart. I’m high-ability, right?”
She seemed a bit proud of the compliment she hadn’t heard in a long time, and her voice carried a hint of laughter.
“And the next one is ‘Moon Si-hyun Food Container Thief’? Hmm. Stealing is bad. But you’re just joking around online, right?”
As she spoke, Moon Si-hyun accepted the membership of those two users.
―――
Haha
Hahahahahaha
Hahahahahahahaha
Phew………..
Si-hyun, I can’t take it anymore.
Wow
―――
Wow, no way…
Instead, it’s rather thrilling, hehe.
Hey Si-hyun, can you steal my food container???
If you do this, it’s just free sexual harassment, right?
Not knowing much makes it all the more serious.
No way, my reaction sucks; I think I’ll just come up with a normal username.
―――
Moon Si-hyun’s soft and clean brain couldn’t relate those basic common sense indirect nicknames to anything lewd.
And her innocent remarks that were unexpected even for herself ignited a fire in the ‘evil’ hearts of those who hardly remained warm.
Perhaps because of that, those types of nicknames in the cafe membership applications quickly decreased as she refreshed the page.
After wandering through the free bulletin board for several minutes.
“Hmm, a question post. As I mentioned earlier, I created several categories for the bulletin board, but right now, activating the free bulletin board seems the most important. So, for now, I’ve kept it private.”
Moon Si-hyun said, moving past the question post to click on the next one.
―――
[Spot the Difference]
―――
It was the title of a post.
The content had no words, simply showing two identical photos side by side.
―――
Oh
A participation game, whoa whoa whoa whoa.
Finally a game where you can give advice!
―――
“Oh, I know this game.”
Moon Si-hyun spoke, reminiscing briefly. It was a game from a book she used to enjoy playing occasionally to relax at the library when she was a child.
“I’m actually pretty good at it.”
She said, then concentrated in silence for a moment.
Moon Si-hyun’s eyes quickly darted left and right to find the differences in the images.
“…… Hmm.”
But after a few seconds, she couldn’t find any. To her, the pictures definitely looked identical.
“Hmm, no matter how I look at it, these are the same picture—”
– Kyaaaah!!!!
―――
Ah, shit.
Scared me!
Ah
I spit out my drink.
Ah, damn it!
Ah
Is there none??
Let’s get rid of it!
―――
Suddenly, the image transformed into a terrifying ghostly face accompanied by a woman’s horrific scream.
In fact, the picture was a video that changed to a ghost a few seconds later. It was a classic ‘prank video’ with quite a history on the internet.
Viewers who had been concentrating alongside Moon Si-hyun on the picture jumped in shock and cursed.
Then they began to worry, wondering if Moon Si-hyun was too frightened. On the other hand, they slightly anticipated her reaction.
At that moment, Moon Si-hyun’s hand, which had been still, suddenly moved.
[Activity Suspension – 2 days]
And the post was deleted.
“Things like this aren’t good. It surprises the viewers too much.”
Moon Si-hyun admonished gently. Her breathing and tone were as neat as always.
―――
She’s not surprised.
Oh, what’s this?
??
Is she really not surprised??
What’s with her strong heart?
―――
“After all, it can’t harm me. It’s just a fabricated ‘ghost’ acted by a human, and this is a video, not the real thing.”
In response to the questions in the chat, Moon Si-hyun smoothly shared her reasoning that she had thought about for a long time.
…… Then, she glanced at the chat window.
―――
Oh
Wow
Oh…
This is kind of cool.
―――
Perhaps due to the various events, including Sansu’s statement and her ranking in quizzes, it seemed that the viewers, who previously claimed “she’s just dumb,” had slightly decreased.
“…… Hmph.”
With a very slight laugh, her shoulders lifted slightly.
And that sound and action were visible to all the viewers.
―――
Hahaha
Wow, that’s amazing.
So cool, Si-hyun, hahaha.
I almost fell for you, hahaha.
As expected of Si-hyun, haha.
―――
She’s really easy to understand, hahaha.
Aren’t really dumb people bad at hiding their emotions?[4]
What a foolish girl, hahaha.[7]
You’re such an idiot, we can all hear you laughing.[5]
Of course, she’s a ‘beast girl'[2].
So cute.[5]
―――
Not recognizing the suddenly increasing artificially crafted chat, Moon Si-hyun maintained her slightly elevated shoulders and continued to explore the posts.
‘And, it’s a video, right?’
Moon Si-hyun savored her last remark and felt elated. She particularly liked what she said at the end.
[Cute Doll]
That was the title of the next post. Moon Si-hyun clicked on it much faster than usual.
―――
Hahaha, what’s with that speed?
???: I don’t like dolls.
―――
This time it was a video. A bear doll as big as a child’s body.
In terms of both design and size, that doll resembled her ‘beary.’ It made her laugh naturally.
The man with a beard holding the bear doll was explaining something with the doll outside in a language she didn’t quite understand.
“…… It’s a bit cute.”
Now, she’d lessened her resistance to using that adjective for a doll.
―――
But is there really such a cute bear doll??
Why do people like it so much? Hahaha.
―――
She quietly watched the video.
In the video, the man was talking while holding the bear doll, then he stopped walking. Before him stood a large metal container that made a loud noise.
It was a working shredder. The man said something, then dropped the bear doll into it.
Then, the bear doll fell into the shredder’s gap.
– Thud.
Moon Si-hyun stopped the playback.
―――
What the hell is this?
Get out.
Get out.
―――
“…… Okay. It’s just a video. It’s just a bear doll.”
Moon Si-hyun said quietly. Once, when she had been deeply hurt by malicious donations, that memory lingered as a slightly embarrassing experience.
She was trying to pass it off as maturely and quietly as possible.
Yet, as she went through the next post and the one after that, she kept seeing such videos, like putting bear dolls in hydraulic presses and shredders.
―――
Here come the clueless idiots again.
Stop it, you idiots.
Do you think this is funny?
―――
In fact, those videos were common experiment videos on YouTube.
However, such common videos could still be deeply hurtful for someone.
“…… Please refrain from posting stuff like this.”
Moon Si-hyun finally spoke quietly. Her voice sounded slightly choked.
―――
Are you crying?
No way, are you really crying?
T_T;
―――
“…… No, I don’t cry easily. I haven’t cried since I grew up.”
After a little while, Moon Si-hyun responded.
It sounded a bit like a lie, but it was the truth. It was just a voice full of wilted flowers.
“…… Anyway, please refrain from such videos. It hurts my heart if I have to suspend activities.”
―――
Yes
Yes
Yeah, don’t post stuff like that.
Trying to get attention, huh?
Honestly, it’s just boring.
―――
As Moon Si-hyun spoke, she refreshed multiple times. Then posts related to dolls burst forth.
These were videos that viewers had posted to comfort her. Most were doll videos from YouTube.
“…… Can I believe this?”
Moon Si-hyun cautiously asked.
―――
Yeah, yeah.
I checked them all, they’re all just doll videos.
Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.
―――
For now, Moon Si-hyun carefully clicked on one.
What played was indeed a perfectly ordinary, cute video of dolls.
“…… Hmph……”
―――
She laughed.
Wow.
Phew.
Good thing.
―――
In the end, I also cracked up, huh?
She’s genuinely a bit too much to bully……..[5]
I just got so lost in laughing that I ended up posting comforting videos, hahaha.
―――
With a warm atmosphere, everyone watched Moon Si-hyun and the doll videos together.
―――
User ㅇㅇ donated 1000 won.
Stop playing it already, damn it.
―――
“Ah, yes. I’m sorry.”
It seemed like Moon Si-hyun had finally regained her senses and stopped the video.
It was a one-minute long short doll video.
Yet it had already played the 13th time.
―――
Phew.
Phew.
Haha.
You said it.
Good.
Good.
Thank you for the donation.
―――
Moon Si-hyun played the next post’s video.
And it was another doll video meant to comfort her.
Plus, there were dozens of such videos intended to comfort her beyond that one.
―――
Ah, crap.
Hahaha.
Ah.
Ah.
Hahahahahaha.
―――
Why are they posting these videos?
Where did that shredder go…?
I feel like all my hydraulic presses are getting a workout.[6]
―――
Thus, the viewers were forcibly made to watch doll videos with her.
Just as everyone but one person endured the painful time.
Another donation came in.
―――
Donated 1000 won.
Seeing what this guy usually does, he probably talks to dolls as if they are real, haha.
―――
Thud.
Her hand stopped as she scrolled through the board.
―――
?
?
What’s this?
Is it lagging?
―――
Moon Si-hyun’s movements made her feel like she was experiencing a glitch. For a moment she stayed in that position for several seconds.
Then, a voice called out.
“…… That’s never happened, you know? I’m 21 years old. There’s no way I’d talk to dolls. I’m an adult. It can’t be… It can’t be true, right?”
―――
Why is her reaction so serious?
?
?
―――
And that reaction felt very suspicious to anyone watching.
―――
User ㅇㅇ donated 1000 won.
You talk to dolls, huh?
―――
An incredibly serious female voice was used for the donation. It had punctuation, which was rare in the internet world.
“……”
A cold sweat trickled down her cheek.