Chapter 35: What's Important Right Now

༺ What’s Important Right Now ༻[unnie.]

I logged on Voicecord and checked our friend server, then I sent a DM to Hanbit unnie, the same person I had asked for advice a while ago.

[y]

Her answer came in an instant.

Maybe she was taking a break from her work, that was why she replied right away.

I thought about writing a long message, but explaining from the beginning was both annoying and exhausting, so I decided to just tell her the core issue directly.

[you remember the oppa i have ‘some’ relationship with, who i talked about before…?]

Now that I actually said that, it felt embarrassing.

After scratching the innocent keyboard, I pulled myself together and continued.

[Eh. What’s wrong? Is it not working out?]

[That’s not it…]

[Huh? Wait, are you two already dating?]

She sent a cute emoji with an exclamation mark on it, depicting how surprised she was.

[no! we’re not there yet…]

[Oohh… Does ‘yet’ mean it’s going to happen soon?]

Wait, if we were to keep this up, I wouldn’t get to talk about the important part! I needed to get to the point!

[it looks like… i’ll be going to that Oppa’s house, you know?]

For a while there was no response in the chat.

W-What’s wrong…? Up until now her answers came as fast as lightning… Fuck, I’m scared now…

[Luka-tan.]

[huh?]

[Don’t forget to bring condoms.]

[ah! unniee!]

I thought she was about to say something big, but she blurted that indecent remark without any hesitation instead.

[Wow… Luka. I thought you were a baby, but you actually hit the jackpot already. Woah. Do the other girls know?]

[noo! they don’t know! i only told you, unnie! dont. tell. anyone!]

[Fine, but this is really great, Luka. I guess it was true that a well-behaved cat would go up to the stove first… Anyway, were you the one who offered to go to his house?]

[so, what actually happened was…]

I told her what had happened in the group project during the day and how I was going to install the headset at his house.

[So, you’re going to corrupt a normie into a VR otaku?]

[…who knows, he might like it…]

Since he apparently looked up about it on his own, he was probably interested in it.

I know it sounded like wishful thinking on my part, but there was still hope! …Right?

Besides, wouldn’t it be easier for me to tell him that I was a popular Vtuber if he ended up liking VR content?

It would just be really great for me because I wouldn’t be so anxious about him being weirded out by VR stuff.

[Wait, if he’s really interested, won’t he go around hitting on girls there?]

Hanbit unnie’s words left me dazed for a moment, as if I’d been hit on the head.

[Like, VRWorld is a place for cliques to socialize, it isn’t really a game.]

[you have a point, but…]

[Since he invited you to his house, he’s probably a player. He’ll probably invite some random girls to his world in VRWorld, lmao]

I was about to chat ‘m-my oppa doesn’t do that, you know?’ when a sudden realization hit me and immediately deleted the sentence.

[oppa is not that kind of person. he is that handsome, but he doesn’t even hang out with girls, so why would he go to VR to do that?]

Still, I had to deny her words.

[Well, now that you mention it. You got a point there. But it would be really amazing if it was true.]

[wdym?]

[I’m not saying you’re bad or lacking, but logically speaking, isn’t Luka-tan an outlier?]

[that’s right…]

I had already been humiliated once.

[That’s kind of weird… Later, when you two are more used to each other, try to ask him that question, it’ll bring you two closer.]

[what question?]

[‘What part of me do you like?’ If you think that’s embarrassing to say, try suggesting something like, ‘Let’s talk about the good parts and bad parts of each other.’]

Oooh…!

Finally, real advice!

I knew that consulting a dating expert like Hanbit unnie was a good move!

Having no knack for saying things indirectly, I quickly copied Hanbit unnie’s words in my notepad.

[but unnie.]

[Hm?]

Before we wrap up the conversation, I should ask one more question.

[what should i do when i go to a guy’s place for the first time?]

Like, should I buy a gift at least…?

But, since I was going to lend him my headset and help him with the setup, should I also buy him a gift?

It just felt wrong somehow.

Like, as if I was a fan trying to give tributes to her oshi…

[Well, I already told you to bring some condoms. Also, if there are places that you need to wax, take care of that.]

[…anything else?]

[Right, pay attention to your underwear.]

Taemin oppa really wasn’t the type of person who’d do such a thing, but I decided to just write down her words as they were.

* * *

Doah would come to my house tomorrow at 5 pm after school.

I rolled my eyes, taking in the sight of my room, and let out a deep sigh.

“…Ah. I’m screwed.”

My room screamed of a typical male’s room, reeking of the scent of a single guy living by himself.

There were leftovers from delivery at the table, and cola bottles, devoid of any fizz, rolled around the floor.

I’d need to do a good amount of cleaning before I’d even think of welcoming a guest, but the guest this time was Doah, not just any ordinary person.

My literal oshi, Luka-nim.

“Anyway, I need to take that thing off first.”

What I was referring to was a large poster of Luka taped right next to the wardrobe.

It wasn’t official merchandise, just a high-quality illustration that I printed out and hung on my wall.

Well, I didn’t only have bootleg merch though.

There was this Luka’s desk mat, a limited merch with only 300 pieces ever sold. It held a special place on my desk as one of my most cherished items.

Sayonara to this too.

What else besides these two…?

Luckily, I didn’t get a dakimakura of hers or something like that.

Like, I was seriously contemplating on whether or not I should make a custom order for one of those.

If I kept such a thing in my home, I’d have to throw it in the trash because there was no place to hide it in this house.

After finishing the first round of cleaning, I pulled my computer chair back.

“Haa…”

A major cleaning after a long time was pretty tough, as expected.

I pressed the power button and an illustration of Luka, making a V sign forward, appeared on the monitor.

If Doah were to help me set up VRWorld, she would definitely touch my computer.

But my computer itself was a ticking time bomb.

Both my bookmarks and my YouTube recommendations were filled with Luka.

For my wallpaper, I simply changed it to the picture of a beach.

Bye bye Luka-tan… for now…

Wait, did I need to say bye bye to her when she’d be coming to my house anyway?

Now that I think about it, the fact that I had to hide all these things from the person herself felt weird.

Once I had hidden the files and histories well on my computer, I opened Twitch.

Because it was almost time for Luka to start her stream.

It was Wednesday, and she had promised to stream until dawn today.

After browsing and reading the news for a while, when the clock hit 8, I immediately joined the stream.

「Helloo~~~」

It hadn’t been more than 10 minutes since she started the stream, but the viewers had already surpassed the four-digit mark.

[luhai~~~]

[Luhai! Luhai! Luhai! Luhai! Luhai! Luhai! Luhai! Luhai! Luhai!]

[Luka-nim! Today’s stream will last until dawn, right!?]

After a long time, I joined the ranks and typed in the chat full of greetings.

「Yeah~ That’s right~ I’ll be with Pink Army until very late tonight as promised~」

The chat erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

「We’ll be doing zatsu for a while first, then I’ll play a game that you guys have been recommending to me. When it reaches dawn, I’ll play a rhythm game or some other casual games.」1T/N: Zatsu is what ‘just chatting’ or ‘free talk’ is commonly referred to as in the VTuber community.

That was a solid line-up. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ɴøᴠel Fɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

It seemed like the perfect combination to play gacha games while watching her.

As she continued talking about life and whatnot, Luka suddenly asked a question to her chat.

「Chat, so if you go to someone’s house for the first time, you’d usually buy them a gift, right? You know, like a housewarming gift? So, what kind of gift do you normally bring?」

A variety of answers poured in.

「Toilet roll, mood lamp. More more. Give me more ideas please. Oh! A diffuser is nice!」

「Ah. A friend of mine said they’re moving out on their own and invited me over, so I’m thinking about what gift would be nice to bring for them.」

I also wanted to answer in the chat, but I’ve never done something like preparing a housewarming gift.

The only two times I went to a friend’s place, I was drunk and they dragged me there themselves.

If anything, rather than thinking of giving that friend of mine a gift, I just thought to myself whether it was appropriate or not for him to invite someone to that cramped hellhole in the first place.

Who in their right mind would voluntarily choose to visit that hellhole?

That was bad enough, but if you decided to sleepover in that place? Now, that was when the true hell began.

It’d mean that two people had to sleep in a single bed together, or one of them had to sleep on the floor.

Both options sounded like hell.

「Okay then~ Now let’s try the game you recommended~ Woaah~~」

After about an hour and a half, Luka finally turned on the aforementioned game.

This was a story-based pixel game.

Since the game’s story was quite interesting, I grabbed a bag of potato chips before immersing myself in it. Doah’s dubbing enhanced the experience.

「You wanted to kill me… that badly…?」

Woah. Fuck. Oh no. That.

Before I knew it, the story had reached its climax.

The mentally broken protagonist asked the heroine.

Ah. Hurry. Press the spacebar. Luka-tan.

I really felt like I was going to run out of breath.

But Luka didn’t show us the next line.

「Cough cough. Ah, let me get some water for a moment, Chat. Honestly, my throat has been parched since earlier, but I’ve been holding back because you all were so engrossed in it.」

「Really, I’ll just get some water and be right back, okay?」

Some people who felt the same way as I did booed, but in the end, the majority agreed that she should get the water quickly.

Dubbing over a game was by no means an easy task.

Because you had to keep on reading lines for hours.

[Luka-nim! Come back quickly!]

[I give you 5 seconds!]

[ah! damn i’m curious! hurry back!]

– Riiiiing

Staring at the chat when Luka had left, I picked up my phone when it vibrated.

[oppa. do you like vanilla scents? – Kim Doah]

No, Doah! Fuck!

Whether I liked vanilla or not wasn’t important right now!

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T/N: Zatsu is what ‘just chatting’ or ‘free talk’ is commonly referred to as in the VTuber community.

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