Gender Swap: The Introvert’s Broadcast

The fried rice I made was done with care.
It would be nice if they enjoyed it.
I carefully watched for any reaction.
And after a brief moment—

“Oh, it’s delicious!”
“Phew, I was nervous you’d say it was bad.”
“Come on, I know you’re good at cooking.”

Though I could count the dishes I know on both hands, if Yeram felt that way, then I guess that’s what matters.
After hearing Yeram’s feedback, I lay down on the bed.
I had to go to work later.
Today, I had asked for time off because I went to Seongsu-dong with Yeram, but tomorrow I definitely had to go in.

“Then, after you’re done eating, turn off the lights.”
“Okay.”

I glanced at Yeram eating before closing my eyes.

Rain.
Some people might like it, while others might hate it—but from the perspective of someone running a business, it was hardly ideal weather.
If it was midsummer and rain brought cooler air, then maybe, but now it didn’t help with shop revenue at all.
That’s the way it was.

“Wow... it's completely soaked.”
“Yeah.”

The delivery package in front of the café was soaked through, and its original shape was hard to recognize.
If it had been drinks inside, it might’ve been okay, but it contained a microwave.
A microwave for reheating food.
The one that the boss had bought after the old one stopped working, a big purchase at that.

“Well, let’s call the boss.”
“…Okay.”

I picked up the phone and dialed the saved contact.

Rrring-@@novelbin@@

The phone rang, and after a moment—

“Oh, what’s up?”
“I, uh, have something to tell you.”
“What’s up? I’m busy right now. Just get to the point.”
I quickly delivered the message in the way the boss wanted.

“The new microwave we ordered got soaked by the rain and is broken.”

“…Hmm. Wait a sec.”
I heard some rustling sounds from the other side of the phone, then—

“I just ordered another one. Use that one. I’m busy now, so I’ll hang up. You deal with it.”
Click.

The phone cut off.
I was stunned.
I’d never met anyone so cool about things.
A microwave isn’t exactly cheap, but they didn’t even ask for details and just ordered another one right away.
And all of this was heard by Shin Ye-hwa.

“…Well, that was easy to handle.”
“I thought they might say something, but…”
“The boss is just a bit cool about things. If we break something by accident, we’ll have to compensate, but…”

As I spoke with Shin Ye-hwa, I started moving quickly.
I wiped down the coffee machine, took out the beans, and got to work opening up for business.
Then, customers began to enter.
I worked quickly while waiting for the end of my shift.

How much time had passed?

“Alright, I’ll be heading out now.”
“Oh, okay, take care.”

Finally, it was quitting time.
Personally, I don’t think it’s a great habit to leave exactly when your shift ends, but today I couldn’t hold it in.
I thought I’d be okay after resting yesterday, but—

“Ahhh.”

Did taking just one day off mess up my routine?
I sighed, feeling the absurdity of the human body, and quickly made my way home.

Ding-ding-

When I got home, everything was exactly as I had left it in the morning.
It seemed like Yeram hadn’t come home yet.
Normally, she would either go to the café or head home right away.

‘Is she working or something?’

Well, Yeram’s not an elementary school kid, so I figured she could handle it.
She probably went with friends to a study room, I thought.
With that in mind, I sat down in the chair and started the stream.

[Stream has started!]

With the message that the stream had begun, the chat window appeared on the right side of the screen.
Soon, viewers began to join.
At first, the stream had a maximum of around twenty viewers, but now—

[Viewer count: 56]

56 viewers.
And this was only three minutes after the stream had started.

“Hi, everyone.”

It felt a bit too early to jump into a game, so I decided to kill some time sitting in my chair.
I was still a bit tired from just finishing my shift.

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: What’s going on today?]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: You’re streaming this early?]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: Exciting.]
[For real, streaming so early today.]
[Usually, people post about how hard work was, then start streaming an hour later as the unspoken rule.]
[Oh ho.]
[It’s not whining, it’s just pointing out that in modern society, you have to work to make money.]
[As expected, social insights from Da-pyeong, lol.]

The chat was lively.
It seemed like everyone had a lot of energy at this time.
But I was curious about something.

‘I wonder if people would watch if I stream in the early morning.’

People might be asleep in the early morning, but some might be awake since their day and night schedules are flipped.
I don’t usually check the gallery early in the morning, so I wasn’t sure.

“By the way, I was thinking, do you think there’ll be people watching if I stream in the early morning?”

I casually tossed out the question.
And then—

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: Early morning streams are fun too, haha]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: There are people awake at that time]
[Early morning streams are a blast]
[Hwanhee: Streaming in the early morning is a bit much]
[Hwanhee: My routine is normal, so]
[Early morning might be better for me]
[Kang Hoo-min: I can stream anytime.]
[As expected, Kang, the tireless chat moderator, always on duty, lol.]
[Haha.]
[Even if I stream early, there will still be people watching.]

As I read the comments, it seemed like it might be okay.
There wasn’t any strong opposition from anyone.

“Hmm, then should I stream until early morning tonight? I’m curious about the kind of people who watch that time.”

I had to work tomorrow, but I don’t usually sleep for long, so I could recover with a quick nap.
Of course, I didn’t need to stay up until morning, but... I was curious.
What kinds of people would be up at that time?

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: Oh, sounds good]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: I can stream in the early morning too]
[Let’s do it]
[This is going to be so fun, haha]
[Be careful though, there are a lot of beast-like people up in the early morning]
[Beast-like (multiple criminal records)]
[Actually, there’s no separate money pot for Da-ma, lol]
[Money pot, lol]
[Kang Hoo-min: Beast-like, true.]
[As expected, Siddhartha, enlightened in the ways of the world, lol.]

Alright, I decided to stream until early morning today, and quickly mentioned what happened yesterday.
Since it was something that happened, I couldn’t just skip it.

“I went to pick up Yeram yesterday, and it wasn’t even a walk, but while I was going…”

[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: What the heck, haha]
[You dropped the chicken from the taxi, lol]
[Is this for real?]
[Of course, it’s real, why would it be fake?]
[What a waste of chicken]
[Kang Hoo-min: Just wash it and eat it]

“What do you mean wash it? The batter already soaked up all the muddy water.”

[If it’s soaked, hit the C button to block it, lol]
[You can block the penetration if you turn your back, haven’t you played FIFA?]
[Ugh, that’s sick, lol]
[🗡️Omniscient Cthulhu: Washing it is a bit too much]
[Hwanhee: So when are you playing games?]
[Games are fun though]

As I chatted and joked around, people started to ask for the game to begin.

“Wait a bit, I’ll play Reore soon.”

But not yet.
I still had some things I wanted to say.
Right then, a new donation popped up in the chat.

[SoccerIsHard donated 10,000 won!]

Let’s play Reore, let’s play Reore, let’s play Reore
A viewer, asking for the game to start, donated money.

“Thanks for the donation, but I said I’ll start later. Please wait.”

I couldn’t just give in to this kind of childish demand.
The quality of the stream might drop because of it.
I’m not in a rush for money.
As I was thinking about that, another donation came in.

[SoccerIsHard donated 10,000 won!]

Please, I have an appointment in two hours, so I need to play now.
Another 10,000-won donation.
It felt a bit uncomfortable.
I had clearly said not to pressure me.

“Look... If you send another donation like this, I’ll block you.”

I hated being told what to do by others.
Even if they gave money, I wouldn’t do something I didn’t want to.
But then—

[SoccerIsHard donated 80,000 won!]

I’m just bored...
Another donation came in, this time a bigger amount.

‘...Should I?’

I was about to start the game anyway.
But if I started now, it felt like I would be playing just because this person donated.
How could I start naturally?
While I was contemplating, a specific person in the chat caught my attention.