My Favorite Has Started A Live Broadcast!

It was 8:30 on a Monday morning, and after sending my younger sister and Eunah-unnie to school, I had finished a quick cleaning session.

But today, I got ready a bit faster than usual because I was heading back to work after a week-long break.

With a slight feeling of regret, I took off my warm cat pajamas and changed into regular clothes. Since I had showered right after waking up, my hair brushed smoothly against my clothes. I tied it back into a natural ponytail using the hair tie my sister had given me as a gift the last time we went downtown and put on a hat. It felt somewhat intriguing as my long hair fit through the small hole at the back of the cap. I greeted Strawberry, who was munching on her food as usual, before getting ready to head out.

“Nyaooow!”

“Hm…hm…”

Strawberry was clinging to my leg, like a koala gripping a tree, and I pondered how to gently pry her off.

When I tried to lift her and place her on the floor, she clung to my leg again. I thought about leaving her inside, but I worried that it might stir up some bad memories.

“Sigh… what am I supposed to do with you…”

In the end, I brought Strawberry with me to the front of the café. She wasn’t too noticeable in her pure white fur against my white short-sleeved shirt, but we still caught a lot of attention from passersby.

“Should I… go in like this…?”

Holding Strawberry made it impossible to take a shortcut, and with less than five minutes left until 9 o’clock, I stood in front of the café entrance, hesitating on whether to go in with her. There weren’t any “no pets” stickers on the door or windows, but it wasn’t a cat café either. I kept wondering if it was okay to bring Strawberry into my workplace.

Ding-dong—

As the café door opened, I heard a cheerful bell, and a face I hadn’t seen in a week appeared.

“What are you doing out here?”

It was the manager.

“Huh? Uh… um… you see…”

I mumbled for a while, then finally showed Strawberry, who was nestled in my arms. The manager’s eyes widened when he saw her.

“Oh, what a cute cat… Is she yours?”

“Um… yeah, sort of… Someone abandoned her, so…”

The manager’s gaze softened, as if she felt sorry for her. I quickly added,

“Still! She’s been doing really well these days! She eats a lot… and sleeps in the cutest way…”

I hoped she wouldn’t pity her just because she was in my care.

“…Haha, I see. Well, come on in and start your shift. There were all sorts of rumors going around because you were gone, and we lost a lot of customers. So, just the two of us will be enough.”

“Is that… really okay?”

“Why not? From the look of things, she just doesn’t want to be away from you and is throwing a little fit, and you’re indulging her.”

“Haha… alright then.”

Strawberry was surprisingly well-behaved. I could have left her in the break room, but that wouldn’t have been any different than just leaving her at home. So I placed her in the far corner of the kitchen, on top of the coffee machine where she’d be safe from any customers. She seemed a bit startled by the unfamiliar height but soon settled down comfortably. I had cleaned the spot beforehand, so her pure white fur stayed spotless.

“Nyaong…”

“Just hang in there for a bit; I’ll play with you loads once we’re home. Welcome!”

Even though it was just past 9, a sudden crowd of people came in, and I greeted them alongside the manager, who looked unusually pleased.

“Haaa… It’s a bit tiring since I haven’t worked in a while.”

Once the next shift’s employees arrived, the manager and I retreated to the break room, munching on some jelly while taking a breather. Normally, I would go straight home after work, but, as I mentioned, it had been a while since I worked, and there were a lot more customers than usual, which caught me a bit off guard.

Scritch-scritch—

I felt the soft touch of Strawberry’s fur as she purred contentedly under my hand.

“Purr… hiss!”

When the manager tried to pet Strawberry, she hissed and darted into my clothes, hiding. I felt a tickling sensation on my belly but managed to keep her from crawling up any further.

“It’s okay… she’s a nice manager.”

I gently pulled her out from my clothes, though her little legs were still squirming frantically.

“Nyaa…”

After a moment, Strawberry seemed to calm down and sat on my lap, watching the manager with narrowed eyes.

“Hmm… somehow, it’s both similar and different.”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, never mind. Anyway, I should get going. With you back, the rumors will spread again…”

Knock-knock—

“Yes?”

Just as I was about to get up, someone knocked on the door, and when the manager called out, the door opened, revealing a familiar face.

“Hey.”

“Huh? Hi, what’s up?”

It was Eunah-unnie.

“Unnie, can I borrow you for a bit? I have a lot to discuss.”

When Eunah-unnie took me outside the café, I saw another familiar face.

“Huh? Aro?”

He did have the respectable name Kim Joo-hyun, but “Aro” was the name I was most familiar with.

“Hello, ma’am. Do you have a moment?”

“Um… sure, I suppose…”

We naturally ended up sitting at a table with three chairs. Strawberry managed to clamber up onto the table, looked around, then hopped back onto my lap.

“Alright then… let’s start the first meeting.”

“Meeting?”

“Yes. Since you’re a streamer now, we thought we’d talk about it and cover a few other things.”

Eunah-unnie tapped the table as she spoke, while Aro looked around the café thoughtfully.

“First, you’re doing well on your stream. Initially, we were a bit worried because of your personality… you might say something odd…”

Eunah-unnie glanced at Aro, who just tilted his head, looking puzzled. Aro’s hair, once unruly, was now neatly styled as if he’d put some effort into it.

“But you’re doing okay talking, though it’s more about being a good talker than being an actual streamer. Aro and I, being kind of homebodies, watch a lot of streams. I even asked a senior streamer I know for advice. Your stream still needs a few things.”

“Like what?”

As I sipped the coffee the manager brought, I listened to Eunah-unnie and Aro’s feedback.

“Hmm… there’s a lot more than I thought… Reactions… places to use points… What else?”

“Content. Honestly, right now, just chatting and playing Lesik is enough. At least for now. I’m not sure if you’ll keep streaming in the long run, but you can’t play just Lesik forever. When you did a rhythm game the other day, the response was huge, even if you didn’t notice. So if you’re serious, it’s good to start thinking of content ideas now.”

“Hmm… I do have a few games in mind…”

“There’s also the topic of reactions. You don’t really have any yet, nor anything for channel points. Do you watch any other streamers besides Chocoa?”

“No?”

“…Hmm… Anyway, you have a unique appearance, not in a bad way. It might be worth using that to your advantage. Reactions are something you can decide with your viewers too… Do you know about channel points?”

Channel points… I had seen them before. From watching Chocoa’s stream, I’d accumulated points… was it 9 million? Or maybe 90 million? I can’t quite remember…

“Yes, I’ve seen them, but I don’t really have a use for them.”

There wasn’t much use for the points piling up in Chocoa’s stream. Even with all those points, the options were things like “No stream tomorrow – 1 point,” “End stream – 1,000 points,” or “Go do homework – 100,000,000 points,” so nobody ever used their points.

“So, let’s come up with ways to use them. What do you think?”

“Hmm… It might be better to decide this with the viewers… I don’t really have any ideas.”

“Alright, we can go with that for now… but there’s one more important thing.”

Eunah-unnie took a sip of her coffee. I was curious who was footing the bill for all these drinks, but I set that thought aside to focus on her.

“…It’s YouTube.”

YouTube—one of the world’s most-used platforms, surely within the top three. Thousands of videos are uploaded there every day, and I occasionally visited it when Chocoa wasn’t streaming or I had already watched all her replays.

The only reason I didn’t use it often was because there was rarely any Chocoa content. The official channel only had her song cover of Counting Stars with a group called “Dinosaur Shrimp,” which was my favorite song by my favorite.

Seeing Chocoa’s usually relaxed and calm face transform into a focused expression as she sang so earnestly was amazing. Not that I disliked her usual self, though. Her occasional moments of shyness or cuteness were rare treats.

.

“Me…?”

“Yes, I can handle the editing to an extent. I’m not as good as a pro, but it’d be better than uploading unedited videos. Though, I suppose people might still watch unedited streams…”

“It’s just… I can’t really afford to pay much… There are so many expenses that I can’t offer a big salary…”

It’s not that I was against the idea of posting videos on YouTube or having Aro edit them. But I truly did have a lot of expenses—my sister’s tuition, the occasional money sent to my parents and Seo-ha, rent, groceries, and, lately, the extra costs for Strawberry. But I couldn’t blame any of it; these were my choices.

“…I understand, ma’am… You’re managing a lot… So, I’m thinking of helping out myself.”

“Sorry?”

“…The part-timer here… the high schooler.”

“Oh, yes… He left since he’s a student, didn’t he? Or maybe he’s here only on weekends?”

“…I was thinking I’d take over his shift.”

Aro pulled out a crumpled help-wanted notice from under the table.