Today's Chicken Mukbang W 23 - Hyacinth in Bloom

#23

“Grandmother, I’m sorry…”

Clutching his bloated stomach from the hangover, he lay face down at the dining table, groaning. Grandmother paid no attention to this and just silently stirred the soup.

Last night, secretly taking the alcohol seemed to have caused considerable anger. After waiting a few minutes for her cooking to finish, a mouth-watering aroma filled the kitchen.

“Buy ten bottles by the end of today.” Grandmother set down the soup bowl on the table with a thud, wearing a cold expression. Faced with her intimidating presence, he quickly nodded and hastily gulped down the rice and soup. If he dawdled with his meal, who knew what disaster might occur.

Filling his stomach with warm soup finally made him feel somewhat alive. After appeasing Grandmother’s anger with his killer aegyo, he went straight to his room. As he lay motionless on the bed waiting for the effects of alcohol to fade, Imun called.

What happened after that? Recalling the abruptly ended call from last night, he quickly answered the phone.

“Did you talk with your members well yesterday?”

-Yes… I’m sorry for hanging up so suddenly. That guy likes to play around a lot… Did you have your hangover soup?

The taste of the refreshing soup he had eaten a few hours ago lingered in his mouth. As he excitedly boasted about his grandmother’s cooking skills, Imun chuckled softly as if he found him incorrigible.

“You should really try this someday.”

-Haha, I guess I’ll have to go to Japan just to taste Grandmother’s food.

A promise with no timeline. “Yeah, you definitely should come.” He replied nonchalantly with a weak smile. Just like yesterday, he couldn’t say anything more than that. He fidgeted with the bedspread and grumbled resentfully.

“Don’t you guys do activities in Japan?”

-Ah… that… Yes. Besides overseas tours, we rarely go there. One of our members… has a fear of flying.

“I see. When’s the tour?”

-Umm… around the middle of next year?

Still far away. After roughly counting the remaining months, he turned over on the bed. “Ah, I miss you, hyung.” His whining tone made it seem like he was about to suggest a video call.

“I’m not doing a video call today.” He preemptively blocked Imun’s request and was in the middle of joking around as usual when Imun suddenly brought up the main topic in an excited voice.

-Hyung, by the way, if you’re free this evening, would you like to play a game together? My schedule changed, so I think I’ll have some free time.

“Really?! You should have told me sooner!”

To only tell me something this important now! It seemed like he needed to lecture Imun about the importance of getting to the point first. While listening to the details with a big smile, Hajun’s face unconsciously fell. The time slot Imun suggested was quite awkward.

“It’s a bit risky. It might overlap with my streaming time.”

-Ah, is that so? Then we can do it next time.

“No way! Hold on, umm… Should we duo during my broadcast?”

-That’s a bit… Your fans are already flocking to my broadcasts…

He couldn’t miss this opportunity to play with Imun after so long. A joint broadcast also seemed like the perfect solution to appease viewers who might have misunderstood that he had ruthlessly abandoned his friend.

While pondering how to persuade the cautious Imun, a brilliant idea suddenly flashed in his mind.

“Then, how about this?”

-Ah… Is that really okay? It seems dangerous.

“It’s fine, I still have my main account anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

It was time to exact sweet revenge on the viewers who constantly teased him. Whispering secret plans into his phone, he worked out the details with Imun.

From the start of the broadcast, he maintained a stoic expression, saying only what was necessary. The viewers were visibly unsettled by his demeanor, which was quite different from usual.

To think they’d fall for it so easily! He was about to burst into laughter. Barely avoiding crisis by stabbing his thigh with a pen, he composed his face.

[I’ve arrived at the dorm]

[I’ll join right now!!]

About thirty minutes before the end of the stream, the long-awaited signal from Imun finally arrived.

I even get to do a duo stream with Imun. He was already itching after having to act out of character for about two hours. After a small fake cough, he calmly looked at the camera.

“Although there’s not much time left, I’m thinking of doing a duo with ‘that person’ for the remaining time. Given the circumstances, we’ll play normal games instead of ranked matches, and for smooth broadcasting, please refrain from mentioning details if you catch on.”

Just as expected. The moment he dropped the bombshell, questions about who “that person” was came pouring in. “That person” was a secret wording that only longtime core viewers of his stream would understand.

‘Wow ㅋㅋㅋㅋ that person?! Really that person?! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ’, ‘Duoing with that person ㅠㅠ I’m wide awake today ㅠㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋㅋ’ Longtime viewers seemed to catch his intention and, despite being quite agitated, were keeping Imun’s identity hidden.

Those who knew who “that person” was and those who didn’t. Hajun continued speaking as he proudly watched the viewers’ reactions sharply divide.

“Now, I’ll invite them.”

– Ganghaa: Hello everyone, this is Ganghaa

– Ganghaa: Please take care of me on today’s stream

Incredibly stiff yet brazen whispers decorated the game chat. It would be best not to relay any unnecessary information. To stop Imun from saying more, he quickly typed on the keyboard.

– Gangha: Hello Haa-nim ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Gangha: No personal talk! We don’t have much time, let’s start the game quickly

– ㅋㅋㅋ wow Ganghaa ㅋㅋㅋ I should call you Haa-nim from now on ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– Gangha’s betrayal is epic ㅋㅋㅋㅠㅠ I was worried for nothing!! ㅠㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋ

He casually soothed the still grumbling viewers and lightly stretched his wrists. The first duo with Imun shown on his stream. He was determined to win no matter what.

After his initial greeting to the viewers, Imun admirably held back his words. It felt like they had returned to the early days before they even exchanged messages on Discodi, when he had to call out five or six times to get one response.

After briefly recalling those distant memories, he hurriedly checked Imun’s chat and snapped back to reality.

– Ganghaa: Gangha-nim mid

– Gangha: ok

The enemy champion that was facing off with Imun was escaping toward the mid lane.

“You can smell it, right? When an enemy runs this way, the answer is usually one of two options. If they go deeper, they might encounter teammates, so they’re probably hiding in a bush somewhere. Obviously, it’s either here or here. If you poke around without certainty, you might get counterattacked, so be careful.”

Responding to Imun’s signals, he marked danger and movement pings where the enemy might be. Since he had already positioned his champion in anticipation of the opponent’s route, he was quite close to the bush.

There was a high possibility the enemy would return to their base if they waited for him to arrive. Maybe he should try baiting them. Recalling the enemy’s half-depleted health, he smiled leisurely.

– Ganghaa: I have my ultimate ready

– Gangha: ok I’ll go first

– Gangha: Open your mouth and get ready to eat the kill ㅋㅋ Do you trust me?

– Ganghaa: Yes ㅎㅎ

He calmly approached the bush where the enemy might be hiding. As he pretended to pass by and placed a vision device, the enemy, whose position was revealed, launched a desperate attack.

Unfortunately, he had to stay alive until Imun arrived. After binding the enemy with a skill and gradually chipping away their health, the opponent seemed to realize there was no hope and took to flight again.

Everything according to plan. As he giggled watching the opponent walking to their death, Imun finally arrived and easily secured the kill.

After that, a kill party ensued. They swept through the enemies who came as backup one by one like eating sausages. “Double kill!”, “Triple kill!” The always pleasant game sound effects continued.

Despite not having duoed for quite some time, he and Imun still had great synergy. It was just when they were in full bloom with laughter after completely defeating the enemies.

– Imunie ㅠㅠ If you keep appearing on Gangha’s streams without saying anything… thank you ㅠㅠㅠ

– ㅠㅠ Why did you come with a different account ㅜㅜ

– We’ll quietly just cheer for the game ㅠㅠㅠ

Imun’s fans, who had joined at some unknown time, were shedding tears through the chat. Oh no, how did they figure it out? As he was at a loss, unable to stop the game, the previously sporadic chat messages snowballed. He furrowed his brow, guessing their desire to interact even a little with their favorite idol.

“Even if you speak in the chat, Imun-nim isn’t watching the stream, so he won’t know. I’ll… convey well to Imun-nim that the fans miss him very much. Please don’t flood the chat too much.”

– Yes, yes ㅠㅠ Thank you ㅠㅠㅠ We bow to you ㅠㅠ

– ㅠㅠ Haneul fans, let’s all be quiet on our own ㅠㅠㅠ

Despite not using a harsh tone, the advances toward Imun quickly disappeared. After calming his startled heart and focusing on the game for a moment, he pondered over the significantly increased viewer count.

Simply because he was Imun’s friend, the photos and videos generously shared with him were so numerous that he still hadn’t seen them all. Not to mention their exceptional quality.

They were kind and gentle fans, just like the kind Imun. He felt sorry for trying to deceive them just to enjoy playing games with Imun for a long time.

Imun’s fans had probably just entered the broadcast to see him and likely didn’t know much about Legend of Legend. He felt a strange affection, reminded of Mari who used to watch games beside him, saying she just wanted to be near him.