#27
Since that day, Saha had been persistently calling Hajun “hyung,” apparently feeling some sort of familiarity with him. Sura sometimes envied Saha’s obliviousness, as he never noticed how Imun’s eyes would turn from sharp to downright murderous each time.
But not today. After quietly kicking Saha in the shin, Sura quickly glanced at Imun. They couldn’t leave him in this dejected state forever.
“Ow, what was that for?” Ignoring Saha’s bewildered question, Sura prompted Imun to speak.
“Gangha-nim doesn’t want to come to Korea?”
“Hmm… I’m not sure. It seems like there’s some backstory there, but it’s not easy to ask about it.”
Imun’s voice carried a distinct hint of regret. While they were contemplating a solution, Saha made a thoughtful “Hmm” sound and stroked his chin. Then, as if struck by a brilliant idea, he cheerfully suggested:
“Try luring him with a concert invitation later.”
Oh, this idiot! Sura elbowed Saha in the waist when Imun wasn’t looking. “Ow, what’s wrong with you!” Saha shouted before hunching over, making it look like Rai had kicked him in the leg. While dramatically complaining about the pain in his side and shin, Saha boldly continued.
“Hajun hyung seems to really like your face. Last time during his livestream, I saw him smiling from ear to ear while looking at your photo. Even if he’s hesitant to come, maybe he’ll consider it if given a good reason.”
Imun’s expression softened immediately. “That’s right, he did.” His complexion brightened as if he’d realized something important.
“Muhaha, I’m so smart!” Saha was boasting when Sura gave him a pitiful look before quickly sending a signal to Rai. Sure enough, Rai already had his phone in hand.
[Oh god, this clueless bastard]
[But things seem to be working out lol?]
[Sigh… thank goodness we have a hyung… I love you, hyung]
[Heh… get lost]
While Sura was exchanging secret messages with Rai, Imun suddenly stood up from his chair.
“For our fan signing event, would 500 albums be enough to win?”
“F-five hundred?! Even with random selection, it would be strange not to win with that many… Wait, don’t tell me you’re planning to buy albums and enter Gangha-nim in the draw? That won’t work! It could cause a chart manipulation scandal!”
“I already bought them, 502 to be exact. It’s true that only the person who entered can attend the fan signing, right?”
“Y-yeah, that’s probably correct.”
Five hundred albums? Sura was calculating the cost with a shocked expression. Imun, who had been standing absentmindedly, suddenly patted Saha’s head.
“Thank you.”
“F-for what?”
“Like you said, I should make better use of my face.”
“I’m going to make a call.” “Again? Just do it here.” Instead of answering, Imun smiled and quickly left the waiting room. As Saha stood there dumbfounded by the unexpected physical contact, someone’s hand landed on his shoulder.
“That’s your strong point. Keep it up.”
After firmly patting his shoulder for a while, Sura took Rai and disappeared outside the waiting room.
“Strong point? What nonsense.” Left alone and confused, Saha rolled his eyes and frowned. The shin and ribs that had been hit by the two members for no apparent reason were starting to ache.
***
Heading toward top lane, Hajun sent a ping to his team’s top laner.
“Since this top champion becomes extremely powerful in the late game, you need to keep checking and cutting them off.”
Hajun timed it perfectly, herding the opponent like a rabbit and easily securing a kill. Having killed them five times in this match alone, the enemy finally started venting their frustration, asking why they were being targeted specifically.
The chat filled with familiar teasing about how pitiful the opponent was for encountering such a cruel streamer. Hajun skimmed through the chat with his usual indifference before letting out an awkward “Haha.”
– Is Gangha usually like this? lol Unlike your appearance, you’re a complete bandit lolol
– Your face is electrifying and so is your stream lololol
Since his duo stream with Imun, Imun’s fans had been steadily flowing into his livestreams. Ugh, here they go again. Every time they boldly complimented his appearance like they would with Imun, he felt like breaking out in hives from embarrassment.
After finishing three games in a row, he subtly lowered his camera. Viewers who incredibly noticed this immediately protested, accusing him of planning to break their agreement. The ridiculous chain of comments was maddening.
When did I ever make that promise?! He felt the need to address the viewers who had somehow come to expect the face cam as a given.
“Again, making up things that don’t exist. While I have been showing my face lately, I never promised you all that I would continue to do so.”
– Technically, it wasn’t a promise with us lololol
– Sigh… I didn’t want to reveal this for Gangha’s mental health…^^
[30,000 won donation! (Twitch clip video)]
[You… You said when I came back, we’d both show our faces on stream. Ta-da! I showed my face. But you don’t even know if my face actually appeared on stream…]
“AAAAARGH!”
He frantically turned off the donation video and clutched his pounding chest. His hazy memory became crystal clear the moment he saw the clip. As he blushed, recalling his unspeakable behavior, threats flew in saying there were worse clips, so he shouldn’t even think about turning off his camera.
“Worse? No, no! You don’t need to tell me the details! Wow, really… Yes, it’s my fault for drinking too much. Please don’t… release any other clips.”
With his memory being patchy, he couldn’t even imagine what more terrifying videos might surface. This is so unfair! As he glared at the camera without making a peep, a viewer asked a question.
[10,000 won donation! What are those paper boxes piled up behind you??]
Turning to check behind him, Hajun shrugged his shoulders and laughed silently. While a line of question marks filled the chat in response to his mysterious behavior, he said “Just a moment” and disappeared outside the room.
A few minutes later, he returned with his hands behind his back, and with a grin, brought his hand close to the camera. Something colorful but unrecognizable filled the screen.
– The focus isn’t working!! Palm, palm lolol
– What is this? Fix the focus please ã… ã…
“Palm? How do I palm?” Following viewers’ instructions, he placed his palm behind the object, and the camera regained focus, capturing a clear image. It was none other than Imun’s photo card.
Before they could even react, he fanned out the cards like a deck of playing cards. The happiness of someone who had the world in his hands was overflowing from his face on the screen.
‘Did you print these yourself?;;’, ‘Creepy… is all fan behavior like this?;;’ Despite the chat going wild with comments, he brought the photos to the camera again. One by one, images of Imun in various poses filled the broadcast screen.
“Print them? These are what we call photo cards. Only one card comes in each album, and it’s random, so collecting all different types like this is extremely difficult. It’s kind of like, you know, about as hard as getting a Hextech skin from opening random boxes!”
Only after hearing his explanation comparing it to Legend of Legend did the chat acknowledge his effort with comments like ‘Wow, impressive’ and ‘That must have been a serious grind.’
‘It’s really hard to collect all those without trading!!’, ‘Gangha is amazing!! With that many, you must have collected all the other members too lol’ With even Imun’s fans joining in the praise, he became even more excited.
After boasting about the difficult journey of completing his collection, he squinted his eyes. The viewers who were excessively complimenting him seemed like they were making fun of him.
Well, whatever. Looking satisfactorily at the Imun collection in his hand, he continued.
“So to answer your question, those boxes behind me are all On The Sky albums. Thanks to your donations, I’ve collected all of Imun-nim’s photo cards. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all again.”
– LOL I must own like 1% of those cards
– How many did you buy? lol Look at that scale lololol
After politely bowing from his seated position, donations poured in with wishes for him to buy many copies of the next album too. That wasn’t my intention. As he awkwardly smiled while thanking each donor, Imun sent him a KaTok message.
[Are those all our albums?;;;]
[The quantity is impressive seeing it in person]
Imun would often check his broadcasts during breaks in his schedule. As viewers pointed out, he was showing his face for Imun, but the thought of actually being observed by him was embarrassingly awkward.
After jokingly complaining that Imun should stop watching secretly and silently, Imun had diligently sent KaTok messages whenever he watched the broadcast.
This is kind of embarrassing too. The messages arriving in real-time were no less frequent than viewers’ chat messages. Glancing at his contact lens camera, he hurriedly replied.
[lol… Good thing I didn’t buy a thousand lol]
[lol Have you eaten dinner while streaming?]
[No ã… I’m hungry ã… ã… ]
[I wish I could send you delivery ã… ]
[When you come to Korea, I’ll buy you lots of delicious food lol]
[I eat a lot, you know? lolol]
[I make good money ã…Žã…Ž]
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
