Chapter 15: Conversations Over Coffee.

Yu Sieun presented her card to pay the bill, but I didn’t offer to pay for my own meal.

It was for the same reason I hadn’t refused when Yu Sieun poured out her story to me and explained why she wanted to share the YouTube channel’s revenue.

When someone wants to give pure goodwill, it’s polite and natural to receive it.

‘From now on… I really have to do well.’

Of course, it’s also natural to want to return what you’ve received with another act of goodwill.

After coming out of the restaurant, Yu Sieun turned her head and looked at me, walking beside her.

As it happened, I was looking at Yu Sieun as well, so our eyes met.

Yu Sieun, keeping eye contact, parted her lips.

I thought she was going to say goodbye, but Yu Sieun said something different from what I was expecting.

“Would you like to have a cup of coffee nearby?”

“Pardon?”

“It’s a little disappointing since we only talked about YouTube at the restaurant… I wanted to talk about other things with, well, Eunsol…”

Could anyone refuse when Yu Sieun, who had put so much effort into her appearance, said something like that?

Countless types of people flashed through my mind, but no matter what kind of person I imagined, the answer was always no.

The result was the same when I imagined myself, Ha Eunsol.

“I’ll pay for the coffee…”

I said as if possessed, nodding my head eagerly.

I hadn’t decided where to go before coming outside, but finding a cafe to go into was easy.

There are so many cafes in South Korea that it sometimes feels like the competition is even fiercer than in internet broadcasting.

The small difference from internet broadcasting is that, unlike broadcasts where having no viewers is always bad, tranquility can sometimes be an advantage for cafes.

Therefore, there was a slightly wider range of choices for cafes.

After walking for a bit, Yu Sieun and I were able to find a quiet little cafe.

‘…You can speak comfortably, you know.’

Having been together since earlier, I had built up enough internal intimacy to talk comfortably with Yu Sieun.

That was why, when we received our drinks and sat down, I was able to find the courage to suggest that Yu Sieun speak casually.

What our first impressions of each other were.

Our personalities, as we saw them ourselves.

Where we lived and who we lived with.

The kind of conversation you might have with a blind date, doing it with Yu Sieun in front of me was quite enjoyable.

There was a bit of a taru-llulla [TL Note: a situation where someone makes an insensitive comment without realizing it applies to themselves] when I revealed I didn’t have a family while talking about where I lived and who I lived with, but I solved it by asking Yu Sieun the same questions.

Whether you don’t have a family or are estranged from them, it feels similar to reveal it when someone else asks.

My counterattack brilliantly dealt with Yu Sieun’s embarrassment.

Our conversation, which poked around in various places, eventually touched on our hobbies.

When I asked first, Yu Sieun gave an answer that I had somewhat been expecting.

“Hmm… I still play LoL even after I turn off the broadcast, so I guess it’s games? I don’t really do anything else.

If I had to pick something, I read web novels a little bit in the past. What about you, Eunsol?”

“I guess mine is games too. I haven’t been playing much recently, though. Ah, if watching internet broadcasts counts as a hobby, that’s probably my biggest one.”

“Ah, games… What kind of games do you play?”

“I’ve tried a few of the popular games, except for RPGs. But the only one I played seriously was LoL.”

“Wow! You play LoL!”

Yu Sieun seemed to be still in her EunSiyu state, full of affection for LoL.

My one sentence seemed to have created a lot of intimacy; her already smiling face became even softer.

Perhaps it was a smile that meant she thought she’d picked a good editor.

Since she broadcasts primarily one game, the more knowledge the editor has about that game, the better.

Of course, gaming skill itself doesn’t directly translate to editing skill, but it’s still a valuable asset to have.

A high level of understanding makes it easier to grasp the flow and create smoother videos.

“Can I ask what your rank is?”

This question, which she asked with shining eyes, was probably a process of verifying my abilities.

“Diamond.”

Until I left the orphanage, I enjoyed playing games, but I didn’t play that much.

I had some talent, and people said I was good, but that was about it. In LoL’s case, I was Diamond.

I figured parallel-world me would be the same. All the IDs and passwords for the various sites I used were the same, so this would probably be too.

“Wow, that’s really high. Have we actually met a few times before?”

Of course, we had met before.

Not on my main account, and not in the Diamond tier, either.

I swallowed the fact that I had once been matched with her in the Master tier while surrogate-driving, a truth that I would probably hide from everyone for the rest of my life.

“I always turn off the nicknames, so… I don’t remember exactly. Maybe we have. Sieun unni [TL Note: older sister/female friend] does drop by Diamond sometimes…”

“Huh?”

Should I not have said that last part?

Yu Sieun was generally reasonable and level-headed, even in the Rift, so she wouldn’t stay sulky or anything over my teasing her about occasionally dropping below her tier.

The idea of enjoying jumping into cool water is something that streamers who reside in the Master tier probably hear dozens of times a day.

She was probably already somewhat desensitized to it.

Although it was the first time in real life, perhaps.

Well, she said at the end that it would be fun to play a game together sometime, so maybe she’s gotten over it.

I parted ways with Yu Sieun at the cafe.

Aside from our conversation at the restaurant, we’d chatted for an hour and a half just at the cafe, so I’d naturally learned a few things about Yu Sieun that I hadn’t known before.

My body was definitely a little heavier, but my steps on the way home were much lighter than before I’d met Yu Sieun.

The time it took to get home also felt a little shorter than the way there.

‘Ugh…….’

The aftercare routine after going out – something I hadn’t done in six weeks, minimum – felt pretty good.

I washed away everything I’d picked up from the outside by thoroughly showering, and then changed into my most comfortable clothes.

As I picked up my phone, now feeling all fresh and clean, I saw a message from Yu Sieun.

Asking if I’d gotten home safe.

I replied with the same question and sat down in front of my computer.

To do the work I had been neglecting for quite a while.

‘First, I should change the channel name.’

I first logged into the EunSiyu Fan Channel account and deleted the last three letters from the account name.

Now the channel name was simply “EunSiyu.”

After changing the channel description to state that it was EunSiyu’s official channel, I started creating a short video.

The first video as the official channel would be uploaded as an announcement of the channel transition.

I had mentioned it in the community post on the channel before, but making a video and uploading it would be the best way to make sure everyone fully understood.

The work didn’t take long; after clicking ‘render,’ I briefly looked out the window.

I felt a sentimental urge to do so.After checking the completed video a little later, I uploaded it and submitted the application for monetization, completing all the steps for transitioning to an official channel.

Now it was time to figure out what I needed to do moving forward.

The first thing I did was analyze the current state of the channel.

The results were excellent.

‘…Brutal.’

Seeing the statistics showing a huge surge in views and subscribers, I understood that you could actually be startled by a graph. It was like the metrics were razor sharp.

It was a result that greatly boosted my work motivation, so I cut the confirmation short and threw myself onto the bed to start the next task.

I needed to get a grasp on the stream of EunSiyu’s broadcasts, which I hadn’t been able to watch while I was sick.

Lying sideways on the bed and watching on my phone was a small luxury I could enjoy as a freelancer.

A new message from my employer arrived about seven hours after I’d snuggled into bed with my blanket.

‘Hmm…?’

The message contained two things.

First, a text file.

She had written down the editing points we’d talked about today, and added that if I wanted to change the format or if there was something more to convey, to give her feedback.

And second, she was asking for my bank account number. She’d forgotten to mention it earlier, apparently.

I sent my bank account number first, then downloaded the file that Yu Sieun had sent and began to read it.

The file contained several of the video moments I had thought of while watching over the past few hours.

It was about five minutes later that I dropped the phone I had been using to read the file onto my knees.

I had goosebumps.

It wasn’t because I would have dropped the phone on my face if I hadn’t been sitting up reading the file.

Wouldn’t anyone be surprised if a notification suddenly popped up on their phone saying that ₩3 million had been deposited?

The name of the depositor written there was Yu Sieun.

When I questioned it in a message, Yu Sieun gave me a simple answer.

She said that the revenue distribution from the past few weeks’ videos hadn’t exceeded the standard, so she was following the terms of our agreement. Along with that, an emoticon of a cute character throwing a heart appeared on the screen.

‘Haa….’

I sighed with the feeling you get when you see a somewhat immature child, but at the same time, I felt something welling up in my chest.

I really have to do well.

I repeated the vow I had made earlier when leaving the restaurant.