Chapter 44: YouTube Algorithm (7)

I left the three of them inside, using the excuse of the delivery.

I wandered around, looking for a place as far away from the house as possible, a place where no one could hear me, and found an alleyway.

There’s a CCTV nearby, so there shouldn’t be any major problems.

After checking the surroundings, I picked up my phone and made a call.

“Hello?”

“Yes. Yes, yes.”

“…It’s just, well, always the same.”

“That’s right, you’re still the youngest. What can you do? They say there’s a job shortage and a labor shortage these days, right?”

“….”

“It’s going to be difficult this Lunar New Year. I’m a bit too busy with work.”

“Yes. Yes, yes. Yes.”

“I’ll go down sometime. Yes, yes.”

“…Haa.”

How long can I keep hiding it?

It’s already been three years by count.

Moreover, there’s no way to hide it anymore.

A completely changed face, a completely changed gender.

How am I even going to prove to my parents that I’m me in the first place?

Even if they believe that I’m me, will they acknowledge me as their child like this…?

I’m not manly, and I’m living a life deceiving people. I’m a terrible, unfilial child who hasn’t kept a single one of my father’s words.

Even so, I want to survive, so I will continue to live as I have until now.

Still.

If I achieve some success in my own way.

Wouldn’t I be able to stand before my parents a little more confidently?

With that hope, I resolved to succeed once again.

For that day, that moment, which is indefinite but bound to come.

So, let’s hurry.

Maybe that day will come as early as tomorrow.

“What, did you order alcohol too?”

“One can per person. I bought six just in case someone wants two. Is there anyone who doesn’t drink?”

“I’m okay.”

“I’ll drink.”

“Put the alcohol in the fridge quickly before it gets warm.”

“So, there’s one person who doesn’t drink. Okay.”

At Hiro’s words, the three looked at him as if he was talking nonsense.

“I’m bad at drinking, so I won’t drink.”

“Like h*ll, no way.”

“If you look at it a certain way, this is a company dinner, so the boss should drink too, right~?”

“…Let’s go!”

“No, is the company going backwards here?”

As the three, except for Hiro, ganged up on him, Hiro reluctantly agreed and put the beer in the refrigerator.

“It reminds me of my college days.”

“College?”

“Sitting around on the floor talking reminds me of my college club.”

Certainly, the sight of sitting around on the floor chatting without chairs or tables was a common sight in college club rooms.

There were many proper clubs, but there were also many that were just for fun, so you could often see people sitting around in club rooms playing board games or drinking.

The difference between those club rooms and this place is

“Boss, how much did you earn today?”

“Let’s see… Ooh.”

“Why, how much?”

“I earned a little over 1 million won.”

Isn’t the difference that the conversation revolves around money?

To Hiro, who said he had earned a considerable amount of money, 1 million won, in just one day, Cha-in jokingly teased.

“Wow, this b*stard makes money so easily, I should become a streamer too?”

“Right, you dance and I get the money. Isn’t it a sweet deal?”

“Screw you.”

The reason Cha-in didn’t back down was because she was also a streamer.

From Hiro’s perspective as a streamer, Cha-in’s words were quite rude, but it didn’t matter.

They both knew they were joking, and they knew that the rude words weren’t sincere.

Watching the two people’s easygoing demeanor, Ara seemed curious about something else.

“Um… were you two friends from the start?”

“No?”

“We’re not friends.”

“…?”

The two of them made strange faces at the word “friend.”

Ara, who was wondering why they were acting like that when they had been so in sync just a moment ago, asked again.

“…Then, did you two know each other before?”

“Do you mean before I started streaming?”

“Yes, you seemed to be talking to each other very comfortably.”

“It’s not that we’re talking comfortably, it’s that this b*tch has no manners.”

“Why, are you complaining? Should I treat you like an older sister? Cha-in unnieeeㅡ Buy baby Hiro some crackersㅡ”

“You fcking btch, shut your mouth, please.”

“You said I have no manners, but you’re still complaining even when I use honorifics, you old hag.”

“I sometimes wish you were dead.”

It seemed like Ara’s question would be buried again by the two people’s bickering, but fortunately, this time the conversation returned to its original track.

“We weren’t friends from the start, we met while streaming.”

“Really? You seemed to have known each other for a long time.”

“Long time? We didn’t even see each other’s faces until the day of Ara-ssi’s interview, you know?”

“Yes?”

“This b*tch was so mysterious that no one had ever met her before she turned on her camera.”

Hiro subtly avoided eye contact at the mention that some people even thought she was a man, but no one noticed.

“Unexpected….”

“I know, right? So, you two have known each other for about a year? How did you meet?”

“Ah, that’s…”

Hiro pushed aside Cha-in, who was trying to avoid the question, and answered instead.

“That b*stard left a lot of malicious comments in the chat, so we had a 막고라.” ( 막고라 means a 1:1 fight)

“Ah, why are you saying that, you sh*t!”

“Malicious comments?”

“…A keyboard warrior?”

“So, what happened was…”

The story went back to when they were rookie streamers who hadn’t yet properly grasped the viewers’ needs.

“That damn thug! Stop using just grabs…!”

‘Shouldn’t I just do what I like?’

That kind of naive thought was still in Hiro’s head at the time.

That day, Hiro was doing a fighting game stream with less than twenty viewers.

[Pinegrove: You f*cking suck lol]

The current Hiro would have just ignored it, but

“Hah~ How good do they think they are… It’s always those guys who leave comments like that who don’t even buy the game and just watch streams and act all high and mighty, right?”

Hiro, who was still a rookie streamer at the time, fell for the provocation.

The problem was

[Pinegrove: Let’s go for 10 matches, you loser.]

Cha-in at the time was also new to internet broadcasting, so she didn’t know much about internet broadcasting culture.

And so, the two began their bloody battle, and the result was

“I destroyed her.”

“How is 10 to 9 destroying, you b*tch! And I didn’t know how to deal with that garbage character that no one uses!”

“Your tongue is long, you super-noob unnie?”

“Hey, you sh*t, let’s go again. Do you have a spare stick at home? No, I can beat you even with a keyboard, just you wait.”

“You lost the nickname bet after talking so much sh*t, and you want to do it again? Nope~ I don’t play with super-noobs~”

“…So, the boss gave you that nickname.”

‘It’s like watching little boys fight.’

Ara, the oldest person in the room, thought as she watched them fight over just one game.

【~♬】

“What’s that?”

“Ah, the pizza’s here, but they don’t know the password to the common entrance, so they’re asking me to come down. I’ll be right back.”

Hiro told them to set things up while she was gone and left the house.

“Aish… I should have put on another layer of clothing.”

I regretted thinking that it would be fine since I was only going out for a moment.

It was only a minute or two at most, but even that one minute was difficult because of the cold.

But it was too much of a hassle to go back inside, so I shivered and went down the stairs.

When I came down the stairs, I saw the delivery man waiting with his arms crossed and the food placed on the ground.

‘The food’s going to get cold and suck if he does that.’

I thought that he could have held it for a few minutes, but since it was my fault for not telling him the common entrance password, I swallowed my complaint.

“You’re working hard~ It’s for 302, right?”

“We get paid per delivery, so please make sure you…”

The delivery man, who had been grumbling, trailed off as he turned to look at me.

I couldn’t see his facial expression because he was wearing a motorcycle helmet, but I could guess.

“I’m sorry~ I’ll be careful next time?”

“Hmm hmm… Okay, please be careful next time.”

The delivery man, who looked a bit old, handed me the food that had been placed on the ground and rode off on his motorcycle.

‘It’s so much easier.’

If I were still the gloomy loner I was before becoming a woman, I would have had to listen to him say more things.

I definitely feel like the world has become easier to live in since I became a pretty woman.

Most men get embarrassed when they see my face, or at least think twice before saying something.

‘I wonder if it’s the same with our employees?’

Even if it’s just me, all three of them are quite pretty… Wait a minute.

Suddenly, I had that thought.

Why don’t I feel anything even though I’m surrounded by three such beautiful women?

When I was a man, I was such a shy guy that I was too embarrassed to even talk to women, let alone beautiful women.

It was different on the stream because I wasn’t face-to-face, and I was pretending to be a woman… but what about now?

I’m not really acting, and I’m sitting right next to them, talking?

Something.

It felt like I had lost something precious.

My precious thing has disappeared, but does that have such a dramatic effect?

Could it be that I’ve completely become a woman, even mentally?

“….”

No, that can’t be.

I denied it as hard as I could and carried the food up the stairs.

…I should watch some BL works later to check my condition.