Chapter 6 : First Vlog (3)

“Kyaaa!”

A beautiful girl is falling from the sky.

A scene that every guy must have dreamed of at least once was unfolding right in front of me.

Of course, this wasn’t some anime story—she was literally falling.

I instinctively stepped down to a lower stair and braced my lower body against the ground.

Then, I spread my arms wide, preparing for the impact.

“Ugh—”

Thud.

Yoo Chaeryeong, who had lost her balance, crashed straight into my chest.

I caught her in my arms, preventing both of us from falling further due to the shift in balance.

She must’ve been scared too, as she instinctively wrapped her arms tightly around my waist.

If it weren’t for her large chest cushioning the blow, it might’ve actually hurt a bit.

Big breasts really are useful, huh.

“You okay? You dummy. I told you to be careful.”

“Y-Yeah… sorry…”

She suddenly went quiet.

The fact that this usually loud girl went silent meant she was really flustered.

I thought of scolding her more, but stopped myself.

She probably knew she messed up better than anyone else.

“You little spaz. If you were even slightly heavier, we might’ve been found as corpses down there.”

“Heh… true…”

Still, we had climbed up a decent number of stairs.

It was well over the height of a second-story building—if we’d tumbled all the way down, we’d have been seriously hurt.

Chaeryeong seemed to feel embarrassed, probably because she knew it was her fault.

Her face turned bright red, and instead of making excuses, she just nodded silently.

“…S-So, uh, when are we gonna, you know… let go?”

“What? Ah…”

In response to her question, I loosened the grip I hadn’t realized I was still holding onto.

It wasn’t intentional, but I’d been hugging her quite tightly for longer than expected.

Both of us had been holding each other so closely that our bodies were practically pressed together.

“…Sorry.”

“N-No! Don’t apologize. You helped me! And besides, we’re… um… y’know… dating and all…”

She cracked on the first syllable, and her voice trailed off weakly.

As soon as I let go, she flailed and pulled away like a puppy scrambling to escape.

She looked so flustered it was obvious—and honestly, it made me feel a bit down.

Was it really that unpleasant to be in my arms?

She seemed like she couldn’t wait to get away from me.

…Well, it’s probably just acting anyway.

Hugging a guy friend must be disgusting for her.

Even when we were drawing earlier, I figured she only did it because she had to—thinking that made me feel even worse.

But since the camera was still rolling, I tried my best to act like it was no big deal.

You knew this, didn’t you?

That she never saw you as a guy.

No point in feeling hurt all over again now.

After pulling away from me, she let out a rough sigh.

Then, forcing a smile on her lips, she seemed to return to her usual pace.

“…Still, we got at least one good shot, right? Yeah. That was nice.”

She nodded to herself, pleased.

That line about the “picture” is probably going to be edited out anyway. But whatever.

“Yeah. As long as you’re not hurt, that’s what matters.”

I wasn’t the sensitive type to begin with, more on the dense side—so I just let it slide.

Honestly, anyone with a sensitive personality wouldn’t last long around Yoo Chaeryeong.

It’s not like this is the first or second time, after all.

She glanced at me carefully and asked:

“…So, are we doing it?”

“Huh? Doing what?”

Is there more to do?

Here?

I tilted my head, not understanding what she meant.

“Rock-paper-scissors to go up the stairs. Aren’t we doing it?”

“Hell no!”

“Really not? Why not…”

We just nearly fell because of that, you idiot.

All I could do was clutch my head in exasperation at her genuinely disappointed face.

***

“Rock-paper-scissors! Kyaaa! I wooooon!”

Chaeryeong won with paper and took five steps up, reaching the front of the student council building.

I filmed her excitedly running up from below.

…Why does she get so hyped over something like that?

Well, I always knew she had a strong competitive streak.

At this point, maybe I should just let her win every game.

“Someone might think you doubled your life savings or something.”

I gave up on the already-lost game and walked the rest of the way up the stairs.

Not even the slightest bit bitter.

Nope.

It’s not like I wanted to win and go up anyway. Totally not.

“Loser. Can’t even win at rock-paper-scissors.”

“Yeah yeah. Good for you. Maybe you should take the midterms with rock-paper-scissors too?”

“Don’t bring up studying like that, that’s dirty! I’m not confident about this test…”

Chaeryeong wasn’t a bad student.

But comparing our grades since high school, I’d always had the upper hand by far.

Even in college, I chose a school that matched her scores, not mine.

“Did you all know? This cameraman here goes to school on a scholarship?”

“That’s like one of those pointless facts you get on the League login screen.”

“Huh? What’s that?”

“Never mind.”

As expected of a Korean, receiving compliments feels awkward.

It’s not like being a bit good at studying is anything special, so I quickly turn the camera and film the student center instead.

Then I steer the conversation toward her.

“Anyway, Yoo Chaeryeong. Could you hurry up and introduce this part?”

“Oh, right! This is the landmark I mentioned earlier—our school’s tallest building. The student center!”

“Saying it like that makes it sound impressive. It’s really just a building on a hill.”

“Hey now, don’t ruin the mood. Just make sure to film it properly.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I answer casually, and she immediately switches back into vlog mode.

She spouts off all sorts of facts about the student center and club rooms—most of which I didn’t even know—and captures the scenery inside.

We eventually return to the front of the building.

“You’re amazing. I noticed earlier, but how do you know so much about the school? We’ve only been going here together for a little over a month.”

“I just naturally pick it up when I chat with the girls.”

“Really? So that’s the power of girl talk, huh?”

I only ever talk about games and nerdy stuff with Kanghoo, so…

Honestly, I didn’t know much about the school at all.

“Anyway, hurry up and film this side. I’m about to do the closing line.”

Finally, it’s over.

My arm, which had been holding the camera all this time, felt like it was about to fall off.

It had to be close to two hours of filming.

Our school is considered pretty big, but if we weren’t shooting a vlog, it wouldn’t have taken nearly this long.

In any case, like she said at the beginning, this was the final stop of today’s shoot.

“So, how was it, everyone? Hope you enjoyed touring around Jeowoon University’s campus with us, your favorite couple!”

“Doubt it was fun. There’s not much to see at school.”

“Shh! Camera guy, quiet! Anyway, that’s it for today’s video. Bye bye~! See you~!”

“Bye~!”

“Please check out our next video too. Please…”

With that desperate plea, the shoot ends.

I finally lower the camera and press the stop button.

Then I groan in pain as the muscle soreness in my arm kicks in.

“Ughhh… I thought I was gonna die… My arm freaking hurts…”

“Good job, Yoon Taeo~ But for our first time, didn’t we do pretty well? We weren’t stiff or anything, and our lines came out smoothly.”

“I guess so. But don’t you think we should be getting more than a million won for this? You expect us to do this for a whole year?”

“If the channel takes off, we’ll split the profits 50-50 anyway. Don’t worry, it’s fine.”

“It really is gonna take off, right?”

“Of course! Don’t you trust my judgment?”

“Only if the person is trustworthy to begin with.”

She takes the camera from me and starts checking the footage we shot.

I’ll be watching everything again when I edit it anyway, but she probably just wanted to see how she came out.

We skip around since it’s over two hours long, checking only the usable parts.

“Yeah, yeah! It’s fun, it’s fun! I’ve got a good feeling about this!”

“Really?”

“My instincts—sharpened by watching a million couple vlogs—are telling me this will work. Don’t worry! Just make sure to edit it well, okay?”

“Sure, I’ll do my best. Gotta earn that paycheck.”

Well, either way, I was glad to see her so excited.

Whether this succeeds or not, if Chaeryeong is this happy, maybe that’s enough.

She scribbles something into her phone’s memo app—probably notes for me—then asks,

“Still, you were good at it. Acting like my boyfriend, I mean. I thought you’d freeze up.”

“Really? Didn’t feel like I was acting like a boyfriend.”

Honestly, it just felt like I was being myself.

Like we were hanging out and chatting as usual.

“Oh? So that means we normally act like a couple too?”

“Don’t be weird. Anyway, I’m hungry. Let’s go eat.”

She says things like that with a smile, completely casually.

Not realizing how much a single line like that can stir someone’s heart.

“But you had fun too, right? Shooting the vlog?”

“…Well, it wasn’t bad.”

Maybe not as much fun as she had, but I do enjoy filming.

And working on a video together with her was definitely interesting.

And well… it did kind of feel like a date with Yoo Chaeryeong, which was nice…

“Right? Right? Ah~ that was fun~! I’m counting on you from now on too, boyfriend~”

She holds out her hand for a handshake, and I cautiously take it.

Thinking to myself that today really wasn’t such a bad day.

***

Three days after we posted our first vlog,

As I was packing up after class, Yoo Chaeryeong came running over to me from afar.

“Yoon Taeo~! Yoon Taeo, Yoon Taeo! This is huge!”

She frantically called my name over and over.

I stared at her with a blank look, wondering what she was freaking out about this time.

“What is it now? Why the fuss?”

Had she really waited that whole time for my class to end?

She looked like a kid who’d just won an award and couldn’t wait to show her mom.

“Just look at this first. Then you’ll know I’m not overreacting. Hooah hooah.”

Still buzzing with excitement, Chaeryeong whipped out her phone, opened the YouTube app…

Switched to the admin view, and shoved the view count graph in my face.

When I saw the number on it, I instinctively stopped breathing.

“…O-One hundred thousand?”

100,386.

That’s how many views our very first vlog had gotten in just three days.