episode_0034

“Jihu… Are we broke?”

“Yeah, we’re totally broke.”

They made kimchi pancakes together.

Using up all the leftover pancake mix, they managed to make them, albeit small in size due to the shortage of flour.

And there was only one egg left.

“This is breakfast? Are we that strapped for cash?”

“Well, we’ll have to tighten our belts from now on.”

₩3092. When Jiwon saw the amount in the bank account, she was surprised.

“Where the hell did 100 won go?”

“I saved 100 won.”

It wasn’t a large sum, but thinking about saving for the future, I mentioned that I had saved it.

“But still, the portions are so stingy. I’m not trying to diet.”

“We’re not completely out of money, and we have plenty of food! So, give me a little more!”

Jiwon demanded more side dishes angrily.

They could probably last another three days, but just in case something unexpected happened, it seemed wise to save a bit.

“Underwear expenses… sushi, and other miscellaneous items.”

“These are expenses incurred by you, any objections?”

Upon hearing my words, Jiwon lowered her head and muttered.

“Well… at least I’m a manly man… A little meat is fine, right?”

“In manly bingo, if there’s no meat with the side dishes, you don’t eat rice…”

This guy muttering under his breath is so annoying.

Thinking that if I let it continue like this, I would lose my temper completely today, I ended up taking out the braised fish stew from the fridge.

“Indeed! Our Kang Jihu! You had a hidden weapon in your arsenal!”

Saying that, Jiwon scooped rice as much as the braised fish stew onto a plate and started eating.

The kid talks a good game.

After finishing the meal, I asked Jiwon what she planned to do next.

“I… will probably laze around a bit and then play games on the computer.”

Truly living a routine life…

I’ve been doing the same lately, so I couldn’t say anything.

At least I wanted to suggest moving around and doing something productive.

Well, it’s not my place to say.

After finishing the meal, Jiwon placed the dishes she had eaten on the sink to soak, intending to do the dishes, but later she said she would do them.

At least her conscience is alive; she helps a bit with the housework.

“Jihu, what are you going to do now?”

I showed her my bag in response to Jiwon’s question and nodded.

In response, Jiwon said, “Ah,” and told me to come back soon.

Since the weekend was over, it was time to go to school.

With my bag in hand, I went outside.

The weather was nice today. Maybe luck is on my side today?

While walking, I spotted a vending machine.

Thinking of buying a bottle of water before going, I inserted a thousand won, but as the water came out, the thousand won bill came back out too.

“What?! What?!”

Surprised, I took the thousand won.

Damn, my luck is insane today.

Is today really my lucky day…?

**

“Damn it.”

Seems like it’s a lucky day after all.

Entering the classroom, I saw ‘Class Canceled’ written in big letters on the board.

I thought the professor would have a full lecture today, so I planned to come in late in the evening.

Professor! Why can’t you teach when I’m here in the classroom!

No wonder things were going so well today… Was it because of this?

I bought water… Why can’t I drink it?

I tried to attend the lecture… Why can’t I see the lecture content?

After sighing for a while, I decided to just leave and go back home, feeling defeated. As I got up to leave, Jiwon started contacting me.

“Jihu! I got it!”

“Let’s go for a walk as ‘Dog Twenty-Eight’!”

What kind of nonsense is this?

Not understanding what Jiwon was talking about, I decided to go back home first and listen carefully.

If she’s cursing out of boredom, I’ll have to seriously scold her.

Thinking this way, I headed back home.

At home, Jiwon was wearing cat ears and a tail around her waist, looking at me.

“Oh, you’re back?”

“What the hell is this?”

I tilted my head and asked, “What on earth are you doing?”

Jiwon said it was when he failed at being a dog.

“So, what’s this ‘being a dog’ all about?”

I was genuinely curious. What could ‘being a dog’ possibly mean?

If it was just cursing, I was ready to give him a smack. But seeing Jiwon working hard on something, I couldn’t just let it go.

“Dogdeok! Deogil! Shipdeogi! Deokpali! Abbreviated as dog eighteen!”

“So, what does that mean?”

“It’s our team name! How about that? Cool, right!”

Asking for an explanation only left me more confused.

After listening to his reasoning for a while, I finally grasped some understanding.

“So, I watched a movie, and isn’t it too much like The Truman Show? So, like, let’s put cameras in our house like Oh Junwoo Show and upload it to YouTube?”

“It’s the era of YouTube now, Jihoo! Let’s try sitting on our money cushion once!”

Really… When I hear Jiwon’s words, I can’t help but think of one thing.

Quietly placing my hand on Jiwon’s shoulder,

I covered my eyes with one hand and said, “I’m sorry… I… I’m really sorry.”

Just talking about finding a job and telling him to work…

It messed things up like this.

I should probably look into a nearby mental hospital quickly.

Despite my words, Jiwon got angry and said it wouldn’t be that bad, but…

“I don’t like it.”

“That’s totally like a jobless vlog, isn’t it?”

“It’s not a jobless vlog! It’s capturing our real lives!”

Though it sounded nicely packaged, how is that different from hidden camera pranks?

Finally sighing, I looked at Jiwon.

“Absolutely.. Absolutely no Oh Junwoo Show, Jiwon.”

In response to me, Jiwon made a slightly sulky face and said, “Okay… Dogpali.”

“Damn, am I a dogpali?”

“I’ll be a shipdeogi. We’re Ship Pal Duo from now on! Okay?”

I hope he gives up…

Sighing, I looked at Jiwon, eventually asking what the point of the cat ears and tail he had on was.

“If this dog eighteen fails, I’ll do it.”

Then he showed me the OBS live program on his laptop screen.

“Should I go to Twitch? Or YouTube? No… Since I’ve become a busty woman, let’s go to Pupcon…”

“Please don’t.”

I’m sorry… I messed up.

I really messed up, so please don’t, I pleaded, ultimately stopping him from going to Pupcon TV after explaining everything.

In short, in case dog eighteen fails, he wanted to try broadcasting as a woman.

“Jihoo, what did I say before about the difference between men and women?”

I pondered Jiwon’s words. He seemed to have talked about broadcasting before, but I couldn’t remember what he said.

As I thought about what he said…

“You said before that if I shake my chest as a blonde woman, donations pour in.”

“While shaking a man’s crotch would make the broadcast explode, even a slight shake of a woman’s chest leads to donations pouring in!”

“If I were a blonde beauty with big breasts, I said I’d succeed! Not blonde, but with this face and these breasts, wouldn’t it be possible?”

And so began the second round of persuasion with Jiwon…

**

In the end, I couldn’t stop him from broadcasting.

He said he wanted to do it, and if it fails, he’ll learn his lesson and give up, I thought.

Until the broadcast ended, I decided to step out for a bit and went to a cafe near our house to watch Jiwon’s stream on Twitch.

Surely, after making noise with zero viewers for about an hour, he’d quit.

That’s what I thought, as I watched to see what Jiwon was up to.

About 10 minutes passed, and Jiwon’s stream came on, showing the main screen of a fighting game, which he started playing.

He wasn’t exceptionally skilled, but he was good enough to entertain a few times.

He played the game for about 30 minutes.

– Haha, this person is really making me crack up.

– Talking like that, what a guy.

– Ah, it’s not supposed to be like that.

What was expected to be around 0 viewers suddenly became 10.

The peak viewers reached 20.

“Hello, I’m the new streamer, nice to meet you!”

As soon as the closing statement was made, the broadcast ended.

Having 20 viewers isn’t bad at all…

What’s this? It seemed like a complete disaster was looming, but they’re subtly handling it?

Lost in thoughts about the support for a while,

[Ah, he’s on!]

A short text message from the supporter, Jiwooni, came through.

What’s this guy up to? That thought crossed their mind.

At least it’s better than being alone, right?

It should be fine… Or is it really?

As a boyfriend, should I view this positively?

After much contemplation, another text message from Jiwooni arrived.

[I’m struggling… Buy me something delicious today.]

Sigh… I don’t know… Maybe I should just go home and prepare dinner.

Getting up from their seat, they decided to head back home.

Please… I hope they don’t mention doing a live stream.

With worries and doubts, they returned home.

This won’t become a problem later, will it…?

They say this kind of job is tough on your mental health.

I’m starting to feel sorry, wondering if they’re pushing themselves because of me.

Please… I hope they don’t think it’s hard because of me…