Chapter 120: Simp

I stared blankly at my phone screen while sitting still.

“Hmm…”

This was the first time in my life I’ve ever been this hesitant on contacting someone. Not even Doah made me feel like this.

Maybe it was because I was trying to formally talk to the guys I’ve been fooling around with? That was why I felt nervous?

There were over 300 notifications already piled up.

Just how it went with really close friends, we never really paid much attention to what each other had to say.

Instead, we’d just say whatever we wanted to say and be done with it. I personally would also just skim through the group chat unless there was something special happening.

The first message that popped up when I touched the screen with my thumb was…

[hey, don’t ‘cha think Haruka-chan’s the best nowadays?]

Like usual, those guys were engrossed in their weeb talk that only they could understand.

[What are you even yapping abt;; last week you were still praising the rabbit princess or whatever. You movin up from her already?]

[nonono im being fr. i’ll send haruka-chan’s clip. deadass watch it.]

Who the hell was this Haruka-chan, you weeb?

Anyway, the non-otakus always conveniently lumped us together the moment they found out that we liked an anime or a manga a bit, but the term was actually very broad.

There were people who loved anime and watched all the seasonal anime.

People who liked VTubers, like me, who spent all day making clips and lived their lives on the stream chat.

Or people who were so into gaming that they wouldn’t have time to chat with other people like this.

[‘Sup dudes.]

It had been quite a while since I chatted here, so my message drew their attention.

[Huh? Ayo? Han Taemin? Damn, hasn’t it been a while?]

[taemin-kun, why didn’t you ask us to meet up on winter break?]

[Eh, who cares, glad I didn’t have to see this fucker.]

Look at these guys. I hadn’t even told them what I wanted, but seeing them snickering among themselves like this already made me not to tell them anything.

Fucking hell. Should I really do this?

It felt like I was just shooting myself in the foot. At that moment, Doah’s face came to my mind, making me shake my head to ward off these thoughts.

Right… Doah said she was curious, wasn’t she…?

Besides… If I were to become famous because my face was out there, I might not be able to experience this sort of thing again later…

[Let’s meet up. It’s the break after all.]

It was rare for me to suggest meeting first, so I felt awkward even as I typed it.

[…Did you hit your head? What the hell happened?]

Dude, couldn’t you see that I was forcing myself to do this!?

A surge of irritation that was expected of affectionless interactions between guys grew inside me, but I knew that I had to yield and swallow my pride here.

[My girlfriend wants to meet you guys.]

Yeah, right, fuck it. It was better to just dive in headfirst rather than testing the waters like a girl. So, I just bluntly dropped the main topic there.

Immediately after that, a flood of question marks and bizarre emojis poured in.

[You got a girlfriend?]

[well. not like you couldn’t.]

[The fuck? Why didn’t you tell us?]

Because I knew you’d react like this!

Those fuckers started showing hostility like natives with spears, there was no way I’d willingly tell them!

[..Is it someone we know?]

[Nah, a hoobae from college.]

but didn’t that idiot han taemin say luka-tan was his only girlfriend and he was going to marry her?]

Oi, Luka-tan is my girlfriend, you bastard.

My fingertips itched to reveal the truth, but I couldn’t do that.

[ah… poor luka-tan… well, it’s okay. I’ll love her instead.]

Gyuho’s words sent a chill down my spine.

[that traitor han taemin can fuck off, luka-tan just needs to be happy with me. ill fuck her good]

Endure, endure…

While trying to calm myself down, I stubbornly typed out a message.

[So we meeting or not.]

If they said no, I wouldn’t entertain these fuckers anymore.

[What we gonna do boys? I’ll go depending on the date.]

[Same.]

[tbh, just curious abt han taemin’s girlfriend so I’ll go, prob.]

Most of the guys were considering it positively.

[hold up… it’s okay if we tell your gf that you’ve been saying 3D can go die, yeah?]

[Don’t do that.]

This was another reason I was afraid to introduce my friends…

They knew too much of my creepy side.

Then again, that was what most close friends were like.

They’d say whatever the shit they wanted without a filter so they could laugh together.

Before I met Doah, I used to flood the chat with stuff I wouldn’t say anywhere else.

[it’d be like fucking hilarious to show her luka-tan’s pics.]

Don’t please, that poor girl would kill herself.

[Anyway, but Luka’s been really fun to watch lately.]

[I don’t watch CLOSER these days. Korean stuff is boring as hell.]

Ah, there we go.

I swear, these foreigner dickriders would always do this whenever you said you were into something.

[LMFAOOOO aren’t they just knockoffs of the OGs anyways? lemme show you guys some clips. I’m telling you, you’ll def like them too]

It felt like the atmosphere was turning against Luka, a surge of irritation rose from the bottom of my stomach.

[What are you talking about? The OGs aren’t even half as popular as CLOSER. Look at the average viewers and video views.]

[traitor han taemin, go take care of your girlfriend~ what vtuber~]

Shut the fuck up, my girlfriend is one!

I held back what I wanted to say, figuring that it would be less of a hassle for me to just set a date and be done with it.

[Alright, this weekend in front of subway exit 9. OK?]

[lfgggggggggggg]

Now, I just needed to explain everything properly in Doah— Huh…?

[Hey, Taemin.]

[?]

[Is your girlfriend pretty?]

Oh, right, this question hadn’t come up yet.

It was a standard question in any male group chat, and it was rather surprising it hadn’t come up until now.

[Yeah, she’s pretty]

She was pretty in my eyes, that was what matters.

[Show a pic.]

Now, should I show them or not?

Well, if I were just trying to tell them that I already got a girlfriend, I wouldn’t even bother to, but considering that we would meet on the weekend anyway…

I figured that I’d upload a picture of her briefly and delete it immediately, but those fuckers were on standby and all managed to see the picture.

[Dang… You’re wasted on her.]

[fr. you def win in the looks department.]

[LOOOOL I thought you had high standards from watching so many vtubers.]

[Fuck off, better than you fuckers who’ve never got a gf.]

Ah.

The group went dead silent, not a single new message coming up.

“Ah! Why did you show them that picture?!”

Sure, I was happy that he agreed to introduce me to his friends, but Oppa’s misdeed was too severe to forgive!

“But I thought you liked this picture?”

“I like it because… Ugh… I like it because it came out naturally! It isn’t the kind of pictures you’d show others! Pick one where I look better!”

What would Oppa’s friends think of me now?

“Look at it, I wasn’t even wearing makeup in the pic!”

“…Sorry.”

At this point, the only way to clear this up was to meet them while dressing prettily.

Wanting to look like someone who wouldn’t embarrass Oppa, my motivation flared up.

“Oppa, I’ll show you my clothes, tell me what I should wear.”

I opened the closet and started pulling out clothes I had been considering.

“What do you think about this one?”

“It’s pretty.”

“This one?”

I tried to gauge his reaction as I held these clothes up, but he just kept repeating the word pretty like a parrot.

No, no, it was nice to hear that from him, but that wasn’t helpful at all!

“Ugh, please give me a more sincere answer! I’m being serious here!”

“Doah, I’m also being serious.”

Oppa looked into my eyes with a rather serious voice.

“Huh?”

“I don’t think you need to bother to dress up too prettily like this.”

“Why?”

It would be the first time I’m meeting them, so shouldn’t I dress up nicely?

There was a reason why they said that first impressions are important, you know?

“Those bastards aren’t going to dress properly anyway.”

“…Eh?”

Wondering what he meant by that, I tilted my head. Oppa then continued with an awkward expression.

“So… Um… They’re not really… Interested in clothes and stuff.”

Not interested in clothes and stuff?

Well, now that I think about it, Oppa wasn’t particularly interested in fashion either, so that made sense, I guess…

“But still, first impressions are important…”

“No, really, they don’t even care about their own first impressions, you don’t need to try so hard.”

It was rare for him to be this assertive, so I just nodded obediently.

“Then… Um… What are your friends interested in, Oppa…?”

Still, knowing their interests in advance was important so that the atmosphere would be less awkward!

Like, I wasn’t particularly good at talking.

So, it would be nice if I could prepare myself a little before jumping in.

While I wanted to hear about Oppa’s school days the most, if there were other topics we could talk about, I wanted to join in and chat about them too.

“…VTubers.”

Huh? Did I hear that wrong?

They were interested in VTubers…?

I frowned, asking him to repeat what he said, and he ran his hand through his hair and repeated his answer to me clearly.

“They’re filthy simps who are obsessed with VTubers.”

Today I learned that the saying, birds of a feather flock together, could sound so threatening.

A cold sweat ran down my spine.