I Became a Malicious Streamer

Lying still and staring at the ceiling.

Just blankly lying on the bed, only blinking my eyes.

Without even holding my phone, my body rests on the electric blanket, maintaining some kind of hazy state.

I feel like my body is gradually melting away.

Sticky and dense, like a marshmallow roasted on kindling, slowly melting away.

Thinking this makes me crave marshmallows.

Recently, I’ve been suddenly craving sweets a lot.

“Ugh… damn.”

With such thoughts, I struggled to roll over.

Sweat beaded on my back and trickled down.

I’m caught in a never-ending cycle of sweating due to my high temperature, the sweat cooling down, and the cooled sweat warming up again.

But what can I do?

If I turn off the electric blanket, it’s too cold.

I should shower or at least wipe the sweat off and lie back down, but I didn’t even have the strength for that.

Yes, I have caught a cold.

Not that I had any signs leading up to it suddenly… well, not really.

In fact, there are some hints. It’s just a ridiculously absurd reason.

“Getting a cold just from eating naengmyeon… Is this even a human body?”

It’s astonishingly fragile.

I wonder how the previous owner of this body lived.

Getting a cold just from enjoying some naengmyeon, and it’s not even a light cold but a nasty one that makes me unable to move.

Or maybe it is a light cold, but this body couldn’t even handle that.

I should have noticed it since my throat felt scratchy after sipping the broth.

Honestly, apart from having a somewhat pretty face, I don’t like this body at all.

“Ah… I need to stream.”

Only disappointment lingers in my heart.

It’s not that I’m dying to see the viewers or that I’d feel uneasy if I didn’t stream.

I’m not that diligent of a streamer, and that’s not a wholesome reason, but it isn’t unhealthy either.

So, the reason I wanted to stream was…

“I had picked out a game I wanted to play…”

The newly created game recommendation board at the cafe is genuinely useful.

When I’m lounging around with nothing to do and browsing through there, I go, “Oh, this game looks interesting,” or “Oh, this one too…” and I feel the vastness of the world.

In short, I found it fun to realize there are such a variety of works out there.

It feels a bit like exploring an unknown cave.

While digging through the game recommendation board, I found a game I thought would be fun.

I was planning to play that game today.

Cough cough.

As you can see, my body is in this condition.

The viewers who were watching my stream started panicking and saying everything from “Turn off the stream” to “Take a rest quickly” and “Have you gone to the hospital?”

It’s strange how those who usually just tease me suddenly turned concerned.

…Nowadays, it seems like that’s not the case either.

I remember Ji-yeon’s comment about how my sister’s stream chat felt unpleasant in a different way than before.

Yeah, I think so too.

Since that group streaming event, the number of people who’ve noticeably changed has increased.

Quite a few viewers whose usernames I remembered suddenly became sweet.

It feels like they’re imagining my face based solely on the stories of streamer colleagues.

Is it because they want to have some kind of pseudo-romance with me?

To them, I will always just be the same entity.

Ever since I ended the stream due to being sick, I’ve remained like this.

Like a wilted vegetable, I crawled into bed, turned on the electric blanket, and felt like the world and I were one, while the ceiling spun around, and everything felt gooey and bad, mixing warm, cold, and drowsiness—.

Uuuuuuugh…!

“Ah.”

Desperately clinging to my fading consciousness, I reached out to grab my phone.

What was that vibration? Oh, a text message.

[Editor Si-young]

– Boss, are you okay? I watched the stream. Should I come visit?

What do I say to that?

Si-young doesn’t exactly look like that type but still tends to panic.

I tried to text back something to convey that I’m fine.

– I’m okay, just a cold. You don’t need to come vis’eeeeeeeeeeeee

“Ah.”

My hand must have been slippery from sweat, and I accidentally sent a typo.

But the meaning should have come through. A hospital visit sounds bothersome. I haven’t caught a serious illness; just a seasonal cold, so why a hospital visit?

[Editor Si-young]

– I’ll come right away.

Why are you coming over?

It’s just a typo, seriously. I’m really fine.

Clearly, my message didn’t get through.

With the boss and employee not syncing like this…

While I was trying to convince the firm Si-young that I was fine…

[Younger Sister Ji-yeon]

– Sis, are you okay? Do you want me to come visit? It’s not something serious, is it? Okay, I’ll visit.

Ji-yeon chimed in, answering her own question.

Why is everyone doing this? It’s just a cold; why the fuss about visiting?

Sure, I’m feeling too weak to do much, but I can still manage to text.

A quick nap and I’ll be fine!

I called Ji-yeon to dissuade her.

“Ji-yeon, I’m okay, so you don’t need to come.”

“Are you really okay? Your voice sounds off. I’m worried, so I have to go.”

“I mean, the Editor is already coming over. You don’t have to—.”

Suddenly, I heard a big intake of breath followed by a pause.

“…Ah, that person you mentioned last time? Then I have to go. If a guest is coming to the house, I need to clean up a bit.”

Oh no, I wasn’t…

“Oh, you probably haven’t cleaned the house, right?”

“Uh…”

I had no choice but to agree, feeling like I couldn’t refuse any further.

Well, whether one person comes or two, it doesn’t really matter.

This would actually be a good chance to introduce Ji-yeon to Si-young.

She’d been curious about who the editor was and what they were like since the last time.

As I put my phone down, thinking of returning to rest…

Uuuuuuugh-!

[Streamer Ryuah]

– Hey, Ji-eun, are you feeling okay? I watched your stream. I’m in Seoul right now for work. Should I get you some abalone porridge?

What now?

*

[Ji-eun-ing♥]

– Sure.

“Wait, what?”

Ryuah let out a high-pitched voice without realizing it.

Fidgeting, I stared at my phone for several minutes, unsure if to reply or not.

I was aware it was a bit sudden.

Suddenly, she says she watched the stream and wants to come visit.

If someone saw it, they might think we’re really close, but in reality, we’d only met once at a work gathering.

We only started talking because we’re the same age and she was drunkenly rambunctious.

Just thinking back to that day made my face flush with embarrassment, but I still felt it was a good decision to talk to Ji-eun.

I had the same feeling when I debated whether to send a message or not and eventually hit send for the same reason.

A simple yet complicated desire to get closer.

From the moment I saw this age-mate, or even before—.

To be precise, since the first time I saw her stream, Ryuah had completely fallen for the streamer Mollru.

That feeling grew even bigger when I actually met Ji-eun during the gathering.

Friendship, fondness, admiration… emotions I couldn’t even fully understand stirred inside me.

I wasn’t an extroverted person, but I also wasn’t particularly introverted either, yet I felt so confused in front of Ji-eun.

Had I really been the kind of person to agonize over relationships like this?

I’ve always just said what needed to be said and moved on, allowing friendships to flow naturally.

Who would’ve thought I’d go this far wanting to be close to someone?

“Is this it?”

Holding a bag from a famous porridge brand in one hand and my phone in the other, I wandered around.

Looking over the address Ji-eun sent, I frowned but then suddenly smiled as I found something.

“I found it!”

Ji-eun even kindly noted down the names of nearby buildings in case I struggled to find it.

It seems my coming here isn’t such a bother for her after all.

I had been anxiously wondering if I was putting pressure on Ji-eun, or if I secretly wanted to decline but couldn’t.

But now that I’m already here, those worries seem pointless.

If I don’t act, the outcome won’t change.

Ryuah boldly decided to take action to deepen the connection, and now it’s time to face the results.

“Hah…”

In front of the one-room apartment where Mollru lives, Ryuah stepped out with determination.

I checked my outfit and adjusted my makeup as I entered the building corridor, where a woman stood.

My first thought was that she was quite tall.

The tall woman, like Ryuah, was waiting for the elevator, holding lots of wrapped items in one hand.

It seemed like she must have brought porridge or something as steam wafted from her.

As the elevator opened, Ryuah followed her inside, wondering if this woman was also going to visit someone.

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