I Became a Malicious Streamer

awkward silence

And it’s awkward.

After the chaos in the bedroom, I pushed my wobbly body up to prove that I was okay.

My vision was a bit dizzy, but I felt that after a few hours of good sleep, I could at least greet my guests.

“Eonnie, are you still feeling bad?”

The girl with puffy eyes, Ji-yeon, asked.

She had been resolutely stopping me from getting up from the bedroom.

Considering her attitude of treating me like a fragile glass doll and her words, it seemed like something had happened.

“Still not feeling well, huh?”

I wasn’t sure how Ji-eun used to be, but I figured she wasn’t doing well.

“No, I’m feeling much better. …Really. I’m much better…”

What on earth had improved? I had no idea.

I said I was okay to reassure Ji-yeon, even though I had no clue how things were going.

Then she glared at me with bloodshot eyes as if to ask when I had cried.

I flinched at her gaze but had to say I was fine.

If I said I wasn’t okay, I had no idea what she might do.

“Are you eating well?”

“Yeah, I cook sometimes, order takeout sometimes… I’m not skipping meals.”

Ji-yeon, who was looking around the kitchen, said that. She glanced at me and added,

“You seem to have lost weight since last time. You need to make sure to eat well. I’ll come check on you regularly.”

Was she like this usually?

A dongsaeng making sure her eonnie is taken care of.

Something about it felt more like Ji-yeon was the eonnie.

At least I was relieved that Ji-yeon didn’t think of me as a weirdo.

I didn’t know what Ji-eun was usually like, but she didn’t seem to talk much like I did.

Ji-yeon seemed familiar with my awkwardness and looked around the house.

“…What did you make? It’s all stuck to the frying pan.”

“Um, it’s soy sauce egg rice, but I kinda tried to crisp it up, and it turned out like that.”

“Just eat properly. You cook well.”

Had not doing the dishes been a mistake?

Seeing the frying pan in the sink, Ji-yeon shook her head.

Then, when she opened the fridge, she let out a small sigh.

“Just a bunch of eggs and the onions are all mushy. What are you living on? No wonder you’re losing weight.”

She quickly turned around to look at me, and I pretended not to notice, avoiding her gaze.

“It’s just that I don’t have much of an appetite, so I’m eating less…”

“You’ve probably been eating last-minute junk. I can tell without looking.”

Even as she grumbled, her warm gaze toward me was full of concern, and I couldn’t say a word.

Honestly, I’m not her eonnie.

Her eonnie has disappeared somewhere, and for some unknown reason, I ended up occupying this body.

The words were stuck in my throat, but I couldn’t tell her the truth.

Because it had been so long since I felt this warmth.

“…Are you taking your medicine regularly?”

Medicine?

While she cautiously looked around the house, Ji-yeon finally spoke up.

In her hand were small bottles of medicine.

Anxiolytics, panic meds, antidepressants… there were a lot of types.

These were things I hadn’t discovered while searching the house earlier.

So they were hidden away here.

I could roughly guess what issues Ji-eun might have had by looking at the labels on the bottles.

“It doesn’t seem like the meds have decreased much since the last time I saw them.”

“They’re not good to take frequently, so I haven’t taken them at all lately. I feel like I’m getting too reliant.”

Generally, being dependent on medication isn’t a good choice.

In fact, during my school days, when I caught a cold, I’d choose to just tough it out rather than go to the hospital.

Eventually, it would pass, and I was too lazy to visit the hospital.

Besides, my immunity had gotten better.

I hadn’t even known Ji-eun was taking those meds, but I hadn’t taken any since I became her.

Ji-yeon was worried, but it wasn’t a particularly serious situation.

Still, her concerned eyes were fixed on me.

“Are you really feeling better? Your complexion doesn’t look great.”

“No, it’s just… it was that day. I didn’t sleep much.”

That was a hard thing to say. The word “that day” felt so uncomfortable coming out of my mouth.

Perhaps because we were both women, Ji-yeon seemed to empathize with my pain.

Then, she tried to lay me back down on the bed.

I had been so drained that even if I half-heartedly resisted, I had no choice but to be pulled along.

On top of that, her hand brushing my forehead was a nice bonus.

“Eonnie! You have a fever!”

“I think it’s just because I washed with cold water… I’ll be fine after a bit.”

“No, you shouldn’t wash with cold water when you’re already feeling bad!”

“They say cold showers are good for health…”

“Where did you find something weird again? I told you not to just follow anything blindly.”

Seriously, ugh.

As Ji-yeon mumbled that, she tucked the blanket snugly around my neck.

But it would be hotter if I was completely covered.

Still, as the warm blanket enveloped me, I couldn’t help but feel drowsy.

“Get some sleep. I’ll make some porridge.”

“I’m fine…”

“You probably haven’t eaten at all. You’re not feeling well, and eating soy sauce egg rice is not good.”

What’s wrong with soy sauce egg rice? I understood well that it was quite lacking nutritionally.

But Ji-eun’s body had good fuel efficiency.

Even a little was enough to fill me up.

I didn’t have the ability to eat much. My body was rejecting anything above a certain amount.

Since it was a body that didn’t take in much food, I chose the easy-to-make soy sauce egg rice.

Of course, with my lack of awareness, I understood that I shouldn’t say this to Ji-yeon.

If I did, I might just get a slap on the back.

In the kitchen, a small humming accompanied the sound of something cooking.

It was a strangely soothing feeling I hadn’t experienced in a while.

I hadn’t felt this sense of relief since I became Ji-eun.

Maybe it was because my eyelids grew heavy with psychological comfort, but I drifted off into a deep sleep for the first time.

*

“Are you awake?”

“Yeah…”

How long had I slept?

It was definitely morning when Ji-yeon had come over, but now the sun was setting.

Still, my eyes felt wide open, and my condition was much improved.

“You must be hungry; I heated up porridge.”

Dragging my heavy body over, I staggered to heat the porridge.

As I scooped the porridge into a bowl and prepared for a meal, my scattered thoughts began to wake up.

Perhaps due to the lack of decent ingredients at home, the simple vegetable porridge was rather bland, but it looked quite appetizing.

Spoonful by spoonful, I took the vegetable porridge, shifting my gaze to Ji-yeon.

What was she doing right now?

Ji-yeon was sitting at the computer.

The computer I had been using to play games and broadcast until recently.

Ji-yeon, with the power on, was rolling her eyes here and there.

And when she seemed to notice my gaze, she quietly asked,

“Eonnie, are you broadcasting?”

gulp.

I momentarily panicked and swallowed the hot porridge without letting it cool.

My tongue and throat screamed in agony from the scalding grains, but I couldn’t show any reaction.

So hot…

As my eyes asked how she knew, Ji-yeon pulled out a mic and a small camera.

They were tucked away in the drawer beside the desk, so it seemed they caught her radar.

“When the monitor suddenly became two, I was a bit unsure. I thought I might have been seeing things or something.”

Why did it feel like I was being interrogated, even though she was clearly talking softly?

“But when I looked it up, I found a mic and camera…?”

Every time Ji-yeon continued talking, I could do nothing but freeze, like a frog in front of a snake, my eyes darting around.

“Can you explain what’s going on?”

She was clearly smiling, but her eyes were not.

So this was the feeling I had only heard of; I realized once again as I explained to Ji-yeon.

“Um, I thought it looked fun while I was watching a broadcast, so I thought I’d give it a try…”

“Broadcast?”

“It’s a game, so I usually play. It’s nothing; I just need to turn it on.”

“A game?”

There’s a communication technique where you repeat the last word in the other person’s sentence, showing that you’re paying attention.

It’s something you need to master to be a sweet guy, or so I’ve heard.

Ji-yeon’s speaking style wasn’t much different.

But why did it feel like an interrogation?

It’s a sign that she’s truly listening, but somehow it felt a little creepy.

“I didn’t know you play games, eonnie… you should have told me.”

“No, you don’t play games…”

“Still, you could have told me so I could check it out.”

“I was going to-”

“I wanted to play games together with you.”

Her tone hinted disappointment, and I felt like a criminal.

What was this pressure?

No, I didn’t even know I had a dongsaeng like you!

“What about the broadcast? How did that come about?”

“Well, there’s a bit of a backstory….”

I couldn’t bring myself to cut off Ji-yeon’s prying questions.

Ji-eun probably acted the same way. Ji-yeon was always the one in control.

But I couldn’t tell her precisely how I started broadcasting.

I was labeled a hacker, and then I turned on the broadcast to explain myself, but found it fun and wanted to continue.

Otherwise, I’d be bombarded with questions about the hacks and why I needed to stream to explain myself and why streaming is fun.

Was this the current trend of question mark killers?

Just thinking about it gave me a headache.

I casually dodged that I became interested in streaming after meeting a streamer while playing a game.

Then, she asked what game I was playing.

“It’s a game called EOW…”

“I know EOW too. My friends play that.”

Hearing that both boys and girls play it made me realize the popularity of EOW once again.

Wow, it’s such a popular game.

But for me, that wasn’t the main issue.

The important thing was to steer the conversation elsewhere.

This topic was unfavorable for me.

However, Ji-yeon smiled as if she understood my inner thoughts and said,

“Let me watch you broadcast, eonnie.”

With that sweet smile, I couldn’t refuse her request.

How could she be so good at not leaving any gaps?

If she played EOW, she’d probably be good at it.

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