Chapter 137: Invasion

“Kim Eojin-ssi.”

Doah was sitting on my lap, swinging her feet back and forth.

“Yes, Kim Luka-ssi.”

“Aren’t you getting a bit too popular these days?”

Doah had suddenly come to my place saying she missed me.

For some reason, she showed no intention of getting up from my lap while wearing her sweatsuit.

“Even so, could I ever match Teacher Lu?”

Since interview view counts didn’t directly equal my popularity.

I still thought it was too much praise to hear such things.

“You were causing quite a stir among the internet ladies.”

“If we’re talking about that, isn’t Luka-nim like a cult leader among the Pink Army?”

Doah, who had been staring into my eyes, brought her lips to mine.

“Mmm. Your lips definitely taste more expensive now that you’re popular.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Expensive lip taste? What kind of taste was that supposed to be?

When I chuckled at the incomprehensible comment, Doah gave me another kiss.

“There~ I gave you kissies~”

She escaped my embrace and dove onto the blanket.

“So?”

“What are you going to do about today’s stream? Take responsibility, Lucario.”

Though her pronunciation was muffled from being buried in the blanket, her complaint conveyed its meaning perfectly.

“Hmm… what should I do for you?”

I whispered in her ear like a genie from a lamp.

Since she had always been weak to ear attacks, she trembled, not having expected my assault.

“Should I visit your stream and donate?”

“Are you trying to ruin someone’s business?”

Doah lifted her head and puffed up her cheeks..

“No, you told me to take responsibility.”

“Just don’t do anything. It’ll calm down over time anyway.”

If you’re going to say that, why tell me to take responsibility in the first place?

Feeling mischievous, I started targeting Doah’s belly.

I sneaked my hand inside her hoodie.

“…Doah, have you gained weight lately?”

Something soft seemed to have increased in volume?

“Ah! Seriously! Why are you like this!?”

Doah got annoyed and banished my hand from her body.

“Why am I like this? Because I like it.”

Though I sounded aggrieved, I was smiling.

“…I ate a lot just now.”

“What did you eat?”

“…Tteokbokki.”

She went and ate something delicious by herself.

Finding her innocent face answering so honestly was too cute, so I pulled her into a hug.

“I’m really blessed.”

“You mean you’re a horny otaku?”

Oh man. Now she’s making jokes like that too?¹

As our time together increased, the level of our jokes rose accordingly.

“Yeah, since I’m blessed, I guess I get to touch you today.”

“I’m going to expose Han Taemin’s true nature on the internet.”

Doah struck a pose as if shouting toward the window.

Knowing full well she didn’t mean it, I hugged her and buried my face in her nape.

Her soft skin was nice, but I really loved that unique scent of Doah’s body.

Doah didn’t stop muttering to herself like a hikikomori regardless.

“Ah… today’s stream is doomed…”

“It’s not doomed. What’s doomed about it?”

If anything, wouldn’t there be people coming to check it out because of me?

“It’s over… My stream is ruined because of Oppa~”

My girlfriend was even singing about it now.

“If you’re ruined, then there’s no reason for me to do any of this.”

When I smiled and patted her head, Doah’s eyes widened.

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

Only then did I realize my thoughtlessness.

“Uh, well… I meant I’m working hard to buy you snacks and stuff.”

Fortunately, Doah didn’t seem suspicious and put on a cheeky expression.

“Eh~ You haven’t even gotten your first paycheck yet and you’re already acting all high and mighty~ What? You think I can’t buy my own snacks?”

“You might want some expensive snacks someday, y’know.”

“That’s enough outta you!”

Doah’s hand hit my thigh.

“Oppa, don’t worry about me and try everything you want to do!”

Like a truly hopeful manhwa heroine, she gave me her encouraging message.

“I really hope everything works out for you! Hehe.”

Me too.

I hope everything works out for you as well.

With all my heart.

It’s been a really long time since I’ve turned on a stream with my stomach this tense.

After arriving at the studio and sipping the cocoa I bought, I took a short breath to compose myself.

You can do this, Kim Doah.

Frankly, just because I didn’t want to turn it on today didn’t mean I could never turn it on again.

It’s a beating I’d have to take someday.

Nothing would come out of postponing it, so nervously, I turned on the stream.

「Hello everyone~」

I started with an upbeat tone, raising my voice up.

[luhai~]

[luhai luhai]

[Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain! Explain!]

As expected.

Trolls demanding explanations poured out simultaneously with my greeting.

「What am I supposed to explain, chat?」

Since I expected this beforehand, I just laughed and played it off.

「Han Taemin and Luka-tan behind-the-scenes suspicions…? Is this what you’re talking about?」

In reality Oppa was attending acting school but for a VTuber—no, for a streamer in general requires you to act to some degree.

Even when you were going through tough times, you had to react when donations came in.

Even on days when you felt completely drained and wanted to sleep, you had to act cute.

I tried my best to handle it very professionally and skillfully.

「Chat, does that even make sense logically? Like hello?」

「I was naturally very grateful that Han Taemin-nim cheered for us~」

「But it seems like he watches a lot of other CLOSER videos too, not just mine. I watched the whole interview.」

Since Oppa had actually answered about the group as a whole frequently, there were plenty of escape routes.

「It’s all because you all cheered so hard that we got to know actors like that too, right? Hahahaha.」

Inside the chat window,

People who had seen Taemin oppa’s interview and those who hadn’t were mixed together, talking amongst themselves.

As expected, people who didn’t use communities that much still didn’t seem to know what the issue was about.

「Hmm… should we all watch it together then? Is it okay to watch this though?」

I sent a quick message to the staff managing the stream, and soon got a sign that it was okay to watch.

「Ah, they approved it. Now where’s the link…」

When I clicked on the video, Oppa’s face showed up wearing glasses in a sweatsuit appeared large as a thumbnail.

Messages going ‘omg’ started flooding in.

These guys always go ‘omg’ at everything.

「Now how about we watch a video of actor Han Taemin-nim cheering for Luka-tan?」

People who had already seen it spam-clicked the PArmySmack emote, while the rest who were seeing it for the first time were, as expected.

[This is viral marketing. Yeah]

[but the man is fr soooooo frigging hottt…ughhhhhh]

[Do you have to look that good to appear on Luka-tan’s stream?]

Hey, you guys asked me to show it, I just did as you said.

When the misdirected arrow came back to me, I was dumbfounded and let out a hollow laugh.

「I listen to… Boundary… by CLOSER… pretty often.」

Chaos erupted every time stories about me or CLOSER came out of Oppa’s mouth.

[kyaa!]

[so that’s how…]

[If Han Taemin is the average Pink Army face, +1~]

[not bad~]

Yeah, yeah. Just play around and have fun among yourselves.

It didn’t seem bad to set aside time specifically to let them go around with this bait.

I thought it would really suck if they kept coming to talk about Oppa while I was gaming or doing other things.

「Han Taemin-nim! Are you watching?」

As a finishing touch, I sent a video message to Oppa who was probably watching this.

「Thank you so much for your support~ Please continue to love CLOSER~」

Despite speaking in the most business-like tone possible, PArmyAngy and PArmyGrr poured out.

…This was an unavoidable part.

「Okay, that’s enough of this! Time to practice the game we were supposed to do today!」

The CLOSER Overwatch collab scheduled for this weekend.

It was originally six players on a team but after the patch, now only five people were needed which was perfect for us.

「Your Luka-tan is definitely going DPS.」

Of course, if Fumurin started talking about ranks and told me to switch, there was nothing I could do, but I was determined to try DPS.

After waiting in a long queue, we finally got a match.

「Ah! Why won’t these hit!?」

The bullets missed like they were bugged, none landing on the enemy team.

After dying again and again with 7 deaths now displayed, I could barely hold back my frustration.

「Ugh… maybe it’s because I haven’t played in so long.」

Why won’t these hit?

It wasn’t this bad when I played before.

Since I was dead anyway, I thought I’d check the chat quickly, but my expression hardened.

「Ugh… my Taemin oppa fr likes this kinda stuff…?」

Who the hell are you supposed to be, calling Taemin oppa, your oppa?

For the record, Oppa doesn’t have any siblings, just so you know.

And this kinda stuff…?

The heck do you mean by this kinda stuff…?!

I thought I’d gotten used to all kinds of annoying messages by now.

But this Han Taemin-brand invasion, like some new mutant virus, succeeded in pissing me the fuck off.