Today's Chicken Mukbang W 12 - Hyacinth in Bloom

#12

“Well… I think I’ve registered everything now, shall we begin?”

Viewers threatened that if many entries came in, the roulette would spin endlessly. Their determination to make me do something was so palpable that I could hardly laugh with composure.

As a test, I opened donations for just 5 seconds before quickly closing them again.

– It’s finally starting!! Ready to clip this?

– ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋLet’s go everyone!!!!

As if their words weren’t empty, the roulette truly spun without pause. But no matter what, it couldn’t beat the 95%. Fortunately, as intended, a series of “misses” continued for a while.

While snickering at the chats mixed with laments and resignation, I gradually relaxed. Then options with relatively higher probabilities like “Play on alt account” and “Play against viewers” began to appear intermittently.

By the time “Sing a requested song” and “Swear for us” broke through their terrible percentages, the chat was covered with tearful cheers.

Unconsciously stiffening my face, I stared intently at the roulette. The appearance of low-probability requests one after another was unusual.

End quickly, end quickly. With each result, my shoulders automatically flinched. After fidgeting anxiously for a few minutes with one leg trembling, my mouth fell open on its own.

[Winner! ‘Play duo with that person’]

This can’t be right—I definitely rigged it! The result that casually ignored the 0.001% probability was hard to believe.

– Wow, this is insane ㅋㅋㅋ Wallet warriors always win ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ!!!!!!

– It finally happened ㅠㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋㅋ That person!!!! Let’s see that person!!!!!!

– Rescued that person from the clutches of the roulette with money ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– 5252 Don’t underestimate the power of our wallets!!ㅋㅋㅋ

Unlike my bewilderment, the viewers were in a completely festive mood. Amid the flood of ‘ㅋㅋㅋ’ and ‘ㅠㅠㅠ,’ one viewer insisted that I call Imun right now. The bandwagon opinion boiled up in an instant.

– Let’s go, Gangha!!!!!!!!!!!

– Show us (clap)! Show us (clap)!

Even while reading the chat, I was seething with frustration. The person who was desperate to play duo with Imun was none other than myself. After glancing at the camera with indignation, I huffed and puffed as I turned on Legend of Legend.

“No, I told you I want to play games together too, but that person is too busy! Look, they’re not even online…?”

– But they are!

– They’re there!!!!!!!

Why are you appearing there…? Of all days, today, Imun was logged into the game without saying a word. After being momentarily stunned, I exclaimed “Oops!” and shifted my gaze.

As expected, while I was laughing and chatting with viewers, Imun had sent several KaTok messages.

Just now seeing this. The moment I stared at the game screen again, all the blood drained from my body.

– THATMOON: Hyung, are you busy?

– THATMOON: I sent you a KaTok, did you see it? ㅎㅎ

This time, he was messaging me in Legend of Legend. I hurriedly minimized the game window, but viewers had apparently already seen Imun’s whispers.

They playfully pressured me to reply quickly. “This person doesn’t know I’m a streamer!” I said in confusion, unable to take any action.

[Open up about Gangha’s occupation before the broadcast ends! (0 hours 30 minutes) Prize: 100,000 won]

People added money to the mission donation that appeared out of nowhere, as if they were coordinating. The chat heated up uncontrollably.

I tried to persuade them to let it slide this time, promising to tell him separately, but I was met with firm refusals. With the mission amount approaching 2 million won, they clearly had no intention of letting this go.

While alternating between looking at Imun’s accumulating KaTok messages and the broadcast chat, Imun finally requested a call. He must have been quite frustrated with me not responding in either the game or messenger.

How could things get so tangled up? I was caught between a rock and a hard place. Unable to do either, I rolled my eyes and then slumped back against my chair.

I had firmly decided to reveal my identity to Imun. But I still needed to think about ‘how’.

Thinking carefully, directly showing my broadcast to Imun wasn’t a bad option.

Even if I suddenly introduced myself as “I’m a streamer!”, there was a high possibility Imun wouldn’t easily believe me. At least if I showed him me talking to him in real-time, I could avoid the painful misunderstanding that I was trying to deceive him again.

Yes, let’s try it. With a solemn heart, I adjusted my posture and spoke impassively toward the camera.

“Yes, alright, I’ll reveal it. That person is calling me now, so I’ll be talking from now on. You absolutely cannot set off donation alerts during this time.”

After repeatedly getting confirmation from the viewers, I placed my hand on the mouse. My entire body trembled uncontrollably as I moved the cursor to the accept call button.

It had never been so difficult to do something that would only require a slight press of my finger. After hesitating for a long time while clutching my pounding heart, I boldly pressed the call button.

“Hyung-“

“Wait! I have something to say… Don’t speak until I’m finished.”

I cut off Imun’s words as soon as the call connected. His voice should not be exposed to the broadcast unintentionally.

I really did it! I silently shook my wrist after properly doing the deed, then took a deep breath.

“Umm… I… have something I couldn’t tell you… I… actually have been lying to you until now.”

Imun listened to my story without any particular response. Thinking that was at least fortunate, my face briefly lit up before anxiety rushed back in.

Despite steeling myself, I found it hard to spit out the truth when the moment came. Hajun sighed as he wiped the cold sweat from his palms.

“…Have you heard of Twitch? It’s a site where people stream games and various content, and I’m… a streamer there. I’m sorry for deceiving you until now. And actually I’m livestreaming right now… if you don’t want your voice exposed, you don’t have to speak. No, don’t speak.”

I opened my tightly closed eyes slightly and checked the viewers’ reactions. The chat was scrolling too fast to follow with my eyes.

The viewers seemed quite impressed even by Imun’s brief word, “hyung.” I barely caught words like “awesome,” “daebak,” and “voice,” showing their excitement about Imun’s voice.

After I finished speaking, only silence hung between him and me. Is he bewildered? Is he angry? The longer Imun’s silence continued, the more my chest tightened with guilt.

Although I had been holding back out of fear of his reaction, I was painfully realizing that no reaction at all was even more frightening.

Still, the call remained connected. I wished he would at least get angry. Like a criminal waiting for a verdict, I vaguely waited for his answer.

After several minutes passed, just as I reached the conclusion that I should apologize to Imun regardless of the broadcast, he finally spoke.

“…Are you done speaking? You’re saying you’re… livestreaming right now?”

“Yeah… If you come to Twitch, you’ll see I’m broadcasting. Is it okay if your voice… goes on the broadcast?”

Silence fell again. I bit my lip hard at the situation that hadn’t changed much from before.

Regret crept in that I should have considered the plan more carefully. While trying to gather my complicated feelings, I was looking at Imun’s profile.

“…What’s your streamer name?”

“Ga… Gangha, search for that.”

While I froze in surprise, I heard the clicking sound of a mouse along with keyboard tapping. Imagining Imun searching for me made my hair stand on end.

“So your streamer name is Gangha too… You really are livestreaming right now.”

My face reflected on the screen clearly showed signs of tension even at a glance. I mindlessly clenched and unclenched my fists repeatedly, then deeply furrowed my brow.

Why do I look so gloomy? Why did I wear these clothes of all things? I wasn’t pleased with my appearance today of all days.

It seemed like my judgment was lacking in many ways. I was hurriedly fixing my hair and clothes.

“…This is really amazing. Seeing your face, I remember now. When I first started Legend of Legend, I studied by watching your YouTube videos. Ah, hello to everyone watching the broadcast.”

Imun’s voice was bright as usual. Somehow it seemed like I had avoided the worst-case scenario, but it was too early to feel completely relieved.

With trembling eyes, I stared at the camera as he greeted the viewers once more, saying “Hello to all of Gangha… nim’s fans.”

The viewers who had been watching the situation with bated breath also seemed confused. Chats asking if they could donate now kept coming up. As soon as I nodded silently, they excitedly set off the speakers.

[30,000 won donation! Hello ㅠㅠ that person ㅠㅠㅠ Finally hearing your voice ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[50,000 won donation! Thanks for playing with our Gangha ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Can we call you hyung too? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[20,000 won donation! Gangha has told us a lot about you ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[100,000 won donation! Is it true that you’re a Legend of Legend genius? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

“Pfft, ‘that person’ means me? Gangha-nim, did you brag about me?”

Only after hearing Imun’s soft laughter did relief wash over me. It felt like the tightly drawn thread of tension had suddenly loosened. “Well, not exactly bragging…” While weakly chuckling and making excuses, the tip of my nose suddenly felt tight with emotion.