Chapter 28 : The Heavenly Voice (2)

An unexpected donation.

Kim Hayun and Rydel furrowed their brows slightly.

Click.

With a click of the mouse, the user “ㅇㅇ,” who had sent a malicious donation, was immediately permanently banned.

There was no benefit in leaving such provocative donations unchecked.

Once banned, the user could not send any more donations or chat in the stream until they were unbanned.

However,”Did they get caught, lol?”

“Honestly, aren’t they just telling the truth?”

“If Rydel’s excited about singing with a guy, that’s a big upvote.”

“The fact is, Silver-Hair is an alpha male, lol.”

“Cancel the collab now.”

The problem was the chats that followed.

They were completely different from the usual stream chats and started to feel out of place.

Something felt off.

It wasn’t just the usual trolls that occasionally showed up.

The fact that a large-scale troll wave was coming in meant something was wrong.

Now that I thought about it,I remembered how unusually quickly the viewer count had risen right after the stream started today.

With this kind of chat coming in, at least it wasn’t a good sign.

‘What happened?’

Rydel’s fan cafe.

Ever since the announcement that she was doing a singing stream with “Silver-Hair,” stories had started to pop up, both in the community and the fan cafe, questioning whether the collaboration with “Silver-Hair” was becoming too frequent.

Of course, this was only the third collaboration.

It wasn’t something that needed an overreaction.

After all, hadn’t they already had several legendary broadcasts together?

The opinion on Silver-Hair in the fan cafe wasn’t all that bad.

Even if there were some opposing views, it was just people questioning whether a singing stream with a guy was a bit too much, asking “isn’t this a bit too much?”

However,”ㅠㅠㅠㅠ She seduced him with her singing.”

“My horns hurt so much.”

“Kingly feelings… something’s off… If they start getting cozy during the collab, I won’t be able to stand it.”

“Silver-Hair is lucky… doing a duet with Rydel, lol.”

Trolls had found the perfect bait to chew on.

“Stop overreacting and stop creating a bad atmosphere in the chat.”

“How are we supposed to enjoy the broadcast if it’s like this even before the collab?”

“What’s the big deal about singing a little together?”

“Seriously, stop hating.”

Trolls, people with subtle complaints, and those telling them to stop hating.

All kinds of chats mixed together, and in an instant, the chat turned into a garbage dump.

“Everyone, just a moment.”

Kim Hayun and Rydel were flustered, cold sweat dripping down their backs.

Rydel finished reading the chat and assessing the situation.

It seemed strange that something would explode after just a few collaborations, but the real problem wasn’t the collaboration itself—it was the singing stream.

Apparently, rumors were spreading that she and Silver-Hair had fallen for each other… and that they were singing love songs together.

‘This is giving me a headache…’

The moment she saw the messages, a headache hit her.

It was so absurd that she didn’t even know where to begin with the rebuttal.

‘Why is Silver-Hair my boyfriend all of a sudden?’

She’d never even had a boyfriend in the first place.

It was a bit sad that she was single—but at least, as a female streamer, she didn’t have to worry about the whole boyfriend controversy, and that was her only comfort.

Now, being criticized so ridiculously, she felt a sense of unfairness rising deep within her.

“Everyone, stop saying nonsense. First of all, Silver-Hair is…”

Rydel stopped mid-sentence, feeling something was off.

A chill ran down her spine—the familiar, unpleasant feeling of realizing things had gone horribly wrong.

‘Didn’t I mention in the announcement that Silver-Hair is a woman?’

Rydel quickly went into the fan cafe and looked over the announcement she had written.

The broadcast time was moved up by an hour due to a special guest appearance. (with Silver-Hair♡)

‘……’

It was a mistake.

A clear mistake.

She made a mistake that even a fool wouldn’t make.

Though she hadn’t explicitly written it, she had planned to hint that Silver-Hair was a woman.

If it had been a female collaboration, this wouldn’t have exploded like it did.

‘Why did I put a heart on there…?’

But, she didn’t write the hint that Silver-Hair was a woman. Instead, she added a heart.

There’s something that should’ve been there, and something that shouldn’t have been.

Rydel felt like ripping her hair out.

‘My mind… I wasn’t thinking straight today.’

It had been a busier day than usual.

She met Silver-Hair in the morning, lost focus because of her cuteness, shared chicken and chatted, and then moved the broadcast time up by an hour from usual.

With less time to prepare for the broadcast, she ended up leaving out something she meant to write in the announcement.

Especially adding the heart—it was fatal.

If she had written a hint that Silver-Hair was a woman and added the cute heart, there wouldn’t have been a problem.

But she didn’t mention that Silver-Hair was a woman.

Now, it really looked like Silver-Hair was her boyfriend.

Most people already thought Silver-Hair was a man.

Even Rydel had assumed he was a man until they met in person.

The misunderstanding piled on and on, and a disaster had occurred.

“I only planned the collaboration because her voice is so beautiful…!”

That was truly all there was to it.

Yoo Seoyeon’s voice was as clear as a jade bead, and since there was a singing broadcast scheduled for today, Rydel hastily invited her.

“If she were a man, I never would’ve done this!”

If she were a man, Rydel wouldn’t have invited her to a singing broadcast at all.

“After all, 94% of my viewers are male. Why would I want to let them hear a man’s voice?”

Rydel’s broadcast was laid-back and casual, and since Kim Hayun was attractive, the channel was overwhelmingly male, with 94% of viewers being men.

The remaining 6% were likely young viewers watching under their mothers’ accounts.

Finding female viewers in Rydel’s broadcast would be harder than finding hair on a bald head.

So, in this kind of broadcast, letting listeners hear a male voice would just be a supply with no demand.

“U-Um, everyone… I’ll explain what happened…”

While feeling frustrated with her own stupidity, Rydel’s mind was working quickly.

“What if I just boldly say he’s a man?”

If Yoo Seoyeon — Silver-Hair — really were a man, that would be absolutely insane.

But since Yoo Seoyeon was a woman, Rydel considered stubbornly insisting that she was a man and acting like it was no big deal.

When the chat heated up and people started reacting, Yoo Seoyeon suddenly appeared.

Viewers, confused by the sudden appearance of a woman, were left stunned.

In short, it was a perfect bait-and-switch prank strategy.

‘No, don’t go too far. You could get caught later.’

It would be great for the broadcast, but there was a risk that only the part where she insists she’s a man or says “What’s wrong with broadcasting with a man?” could get edited and spread.

It’s always easier to incite than to refute.

For the sake of one good broadcast, it would cause more harm than good to do something like that.

‘Yeah, I should just say she’s a woman.’

This seemed like the most ideal solution.

There was nothing to hide.

Yoo Seoyeon was originally a woman.

The original plan was to announce the collaboration with a woman, but she had mistakenly posted it wrong.

The heart emoji was meant to hint at her being a woman.

This was the excuse she could use, right?

With her thoughts organized, Rydel spoke up.

“Ahem. Everyone, I forgot to mention in the announcement, but actually, Silver-Hair is…”

“Ah, hello?”

At that moment, a voice suddenly appeared on the broadcast.

“??? Who is this?”

“What is this? A woman’s voice??????”

“Who’s collaborating now?”

“Who are you?????”

“I’ve never heard this voice before?”

“But the voice is really… alluring….”

It was Yoo Seoyeon’s voice.

***

“Wow….”

Rydel watched the broadcast, swallowing nervously.

Originally, Rydel had said there would be a singing broadcast today, and I was scheduled to appear as a guest for the collaboration.

“Just doing a collaboration will help improve the broadcast quality.”

“I’ll give out donations like last time, so it might help with the finances too.”

This was also Rydel’s small gesture of consideration.

It was groundwork for my broadcasting debut.

As she said, I could improve my broadcast skills and also make money.

Two birds with one stone, hitting two goals with one action.

Although it would be in front of many people,I was still going to appear as a guest on someone else’s broadcast, so it was less pressure than starting my own broadcast.

No, it should have been less pressure.

“Is this really okay?”

Looking at the chaotic chat, I felt lost.

Rydel hadn’t mentioned my gender, and that was the source of the misunderstanding.

The keyword “singing collaboration with a man” had drawn all sorts of trolling.

Rydel also seemed flustered, her face showing clear signs of a mistake.

“Hmm. I feel like I should do something?”

I took out the microphone I had prepared earlier and launched the voice connection program—Voice Code.

Since I had prepared for the collaboration in advance, with just one press of a button, the connection was made immediately.

“Ah, hello?”

I made sure not to mess up, and my voice appeared on Yoo Seoyeon’s broadcast.

“Mm.”

Now, what should I say?

I started speaking to clear up the misunderstanding, but I hadn’t thought of what to say next.

‘Ah.’

A scene from a movie popped into my head.

I cleared my throat and tried to channel a bit of an Iron Man vibe.

“Uh, I… I’m Silver Hair Silver Hair.”

Thanks to the chaotic atmosphere, there was a slight awkwardness, with me nervously biting my tongue.

“Silver Hair Silver Hair is a woman????”

“Legend, legend, hahaha!”

“Why does her voice sound so good?”

“Is she an aspiring voice actor?”

“I love Silver Hair Silver Hair!

I love Silver Hair Silver Hair!

I love Silver Hair Silver Hair!

I love Silver Hair Silver Hair!”

“So cute hahaha.”

“If she did ASMR, my ears would melt.”

It seemed like the viewers were relatively satisfied.