episode_0156

-Sniff, sniff.

There’s a sweet smell in the air.

Kim Dae-yoon thought to himself.

In his 19 years of life, entering a woman’s room was a first for him, other than when he had a meeting at a classmate’s house for a group project.

There was still a fantasy for him. From a woman, only a pleasant smell emanated, the room was very well organized, and everyone seemed to have a neat personality.

Sure enough, Jung Da-young’s room was neatly organized to maintain that fantasy of Kim Dae-yoon, and the scent emanating from the small diffuser on the desk was sweet yet refreshing.

Above all.

“Wow… it’s the scene I saw on TV.”

Naturally, the background that occasionally appeared when she turned on the camera on TV was right in front of him.

“How fascinating.”

What would the minds of the audience members who visited the studio where celebrities broadcast for the first time be like? It was fascinating and somewhat… moving.

“Senior, I don’t know what fantasy you had about me, but well, I’m just a normal girl.”

She seemed a bit embarrassed as Kim Dae-yoon looked around her room in amazement. However, it wasn’t embarrassment stemming from his behavior, but rather from the unfamiliarity of showing her personal space to an outsider.

“It’s my first time entering a girl’s room.”

Kim Dae-yoon was rambling without even knowing what he was saying.

“I’ve never had a guy in my room before, except for my brother.”

Jung Da-young also rambled, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

For a while, the two couldn’t gather their thoughts. Eventually, Kim Dae-yoon regained his composure first as he drank the coffee Jung Da-young offered, and his face turned red from the bitterness.

“What on earth did I just say?!”

Embarrassment washed over him, turning his ears red, but as he quickly regained his composure, he tried to calm his mind and asked her.

“So, why did you ask me to make time for you?”

He was genuinely curious. Did Jung Da-young ask him for help before realizing his secret Kirinuker, or did she ask him for time for some other reason?

“Well…”

Jung Da-young hesitated as she spoke, seeming worried about what she was about to say. Kim Dae-yoon simply waited quietly for her to speak.

“I mentioned yesterday that I don’t have friends who are interested in broadcasting, right?”

“Yeah, but why is that? You said that on the way home yesterday. If you like something, why hide it?”

He said that. Looking at how confidently she expressed her hobbies, he had thought she was very open about it, but apparently, that wasn’t the case.

“Hmm… there’s a bit of a story.”

“What kind of story?”

She closed her eyes and seemed to be choosing her words carefully.

“I don’t know where to start explaining this… In short, yesterday wasn’t the first time I’ve been exposed.”

“Huh?!”

It was such a sudden and heavy story.

“Oh, that’s…”

And so began her explanation.

“My first broadcast character wasn’t Jongnyeo. In fact, I reincarnated once, did something like that.”

Reincarnation.

It’s commonly used to describe when a broadcaster, for whatever reason, discards their original character, nickname, and even ID and starts completely anew.

Usually, it’s when an unpopular, unidentified streamer changes their personal character, nickname, and ID and starts a new broadcast. In most cases, for whatever reason, even if they reincarnate, their past life is revealed.

However, as far as he knew, Streamer Jorang-i did not believe in past lives. At least that’s what was written on the Tree Wiki, and he hadn’t seen any mention of past lives related to Jorang-i on other communities.

Kim Dae-yoon was just gaping in surprise, listening to her words.

“Has it already been about 3 years since I started broadcasting?”

“Oh, yes. That’s right.”

“Actually, before I started as Jorang-i, I used to broadcast under the name Jeong Mango about 6 months before.”

He started watching internet broadcasts as a 2nd year middle school student. So, it’s been about 4 years since he started watching broadcasts, roughly around the time when Jeong Da-yeong started broadcasting.

“But, you know, at first, I didn’t really know much about broadcasting and was inexperienced, so I just did cam shows without really knowing what I was doing.”

“Oh, I see.”

“So, some friends who liked broadcasting saw that and started coming to watch my broadcasts and encouraged me, so I thought it was all good.”

“But?”

“But at first, it was nice, but later on, one of my friends started to argue back against the viewers who were making fun of me and kind of ruined the atmosphere. That’s how broadcasts are, right? The streamer becomes the target, and they also make fun of the viewers. But he couldn’t stand it and started fighting with other viewers. Eventually, he revealed that he was my real-life friend…”

“Oh…”

As soon as Kim Dae-yoon heard those words, the rest of the situation was vividly drawn in his mind like a video.

“So, at first, I warned that friend. I told him not to do that. Just quietly watch the broadcast and cheer me on from behind.”

“But it didn’t end there. If he wasn’t the type to take it that way from the start, he wouldn’t have done such a thing.”

As if agreeing with Kim Dae-yoon’s thoughts, Jeong Da-yeong nodded with a dejected expression.

“Yeah… Why did he do that to me? Wasn’t it because the other viewers were making fun of him that he did that? He was just trying to defend me. He said stuff like that.”

Well, it was obvious what happened next. Caught between his friend and other viewers, the broadcast atmosphere deteriorated. Well, that’s the story.

“That was when I started 1st year of middle school. Both that friend and I were young. Anyway, the broadcast atmosphere got worse, the chatroom atmosphere deteriorated, and public opinion on the community turned negative. So, feeling like the broadcast was a failure, I decided to quit broadcasting.”

But after a few months, he felt like he wanted to broadcast again.

“I don’t know. In the end, I guess I have a bit of an attention-seeking side, wanting to talk to other people, receive attention, comfort, share joy with others.”

Although he had never tried broadcasting himself, he seemed to have heard similar stories from other streamers.

“Anyway, that’s why I started broadcasting again. But this time, I thoroughly analyzed other broadcasts and made rules to prevent such incidents from happening again.”

Even in Kim Dae-yoon’s eyes, her broadcasting rules were very neat and tidy compared to other broadcasts. And despite being only 17 years old, she seemed to handle crisis management quite well.

Every time he saw her like that, he thought she must have been born to broadcast, but behind the scenes, there were efforts and painful experiences.

“Well, thankfully, the broadcast is going well now. There was an incident yesterday, though.”

Her face was exposed. Of course, it was an accident and a very short time. It was less than 30 seconds, but the fact that it was exposed was important. It meant that the information wasn’t at 0, and ultimately, if it wanted to spread, it could spread.

Other popular streamers also tried to prevent their faces from being exposed due to broadcasting accidents, but somehow, people always managed to find the information. Moreover, with looks that could attract even more attention than her, her mother, who also had a more sensational appeal, was revealed as well. It seemed like the scandal would not die down anytime soon.

“Still, it will eventually blow over. It’s not like it’s a huge incident like the NFT incident that happened recently. And it’s not your fault, no one is to blame, it’s just… an accident.”

Kim Dae-yoon said to her as if to lighten her heavy heart.

“Then, was it my fault that something like this happened in the past?”

Jung Da-young replied bluntly.

“It’s not like that. But this time, there’s nothing that could make things worse. Even if your friends find out, they are not the ones watching the broadcast.”

“Right.”

“They might watch a few times out of curiosity. But in the end, if internet broadcasting is not their cup of tea, they won’t keep watching. They’ll move on after a few views.”

In truth, all of this was just speculation. Rumors could spread, or they might not. It was a problem whether friends would notice and watch the broadcast or not.

It could be really unlucky if a friend watched the broadcast and got into a fight with the viewers, leading to a chaotic atmosphere. It could escalate to the point where the friend could expose Da-young’s identity on an online community.

The sharpest knife always hurts the most when it comes from someone close.

But even this was just one possible scenario if things took a turn for the worse. Nothing could be certain. That’s why Kim Dae-yoon felt the need to reassure her.

“Trust your mother’s words.”

“Huh? Why all of a sudden?”

“People are not as interested in you as you think.”

“Oh… I see.”

“You’re just being overly self-conscious.”

He thought that rather than sweet words of comfort, being straightforward and critical like this would have a greater impact on her.

“Haha, hahaha!”

It seemed like his thoughts hit the mark. Kim Dae-yoon breathed a sigh of relief.