"Are you streaming that right now? I'm live too!"
Kim Jun-su stared blankly at Ha-rang Lee for a moment, as if just looking at him was enough to make him burst out laughing.
He snapped back to his senses at Ha-rang's words and nodded.
"Sorry for filming without permission. Actually, I'm Black Star, the gaming streamer—"
"How many viewers do you have right now?"
Kim Jun-su had been trying to explain the situation quickly and offer some appropriate compensation before things got messy, but Ha-rang cut him off with a question.
"Pardon? Uh... about 10,000."
"10,000 live viewers? You're a big shot."
Ha-rang didn't know much about the streaming world, but he knew that 10,000 live viewers was impressive.
Of course, today's numbers were higher than usual, but it was still a big deal either way.
Kim Jun-su, who desperately wanted to make a good impression on Ha-rang right now, felt his shoulders tense up with pride.
But that feeling shattered into pieces as his 'delusion' was corrected.
"Listen up, you and your viewers."
Ha-rang rummaged around and pulled something out.
It was his ID card. He covered the back part that would be problematic if shown and angled it so only the gender marker was visible, then shoved it toward the camera.
"I know I look like a beautiful woman... but I'm still a man, you know? A man with a Neo Armstrong Jet Armstrong attached, starting every morning with a vigorous erection just like you guys."
My tastes are totally normal too—I like pretty girls just like me—so stop with the delusions and get lost, you creeps.
His harsh, sex-joke-laced tone contrasted sharply with his angelic face.
An angel on the outside, devil on the inside—what else was to be expected?
At those words, Kim Jun-su and every single one of his viewers fell into total panic.
💬 Stream Chat Exploding— Viewer1What the hell is he saying? So... that face is a guy's?— Viewer2A guy? A guy? What's... a guy?— Viewer3???????— Viewer4No filter, bare face, and that face is a guy's???— Viewer5Is this real? Not even made up—a real guy in the world looks like that???— Viewer6Plastic surgery maybe?— Viewer7Nah, no way that's surgery. Modern medicine can't do that. It's just... natural-born.— Viewer8WTF, that make any sense? Not surgery, born a guy looking like that? Male hormones slacking off big time.— Viewer9Really a guy? Not an ID error? ...Actually, even better!— Viewer10Mommy, I realized my sexual identity today.
The chat went berserk.
With 10,000 viewers spamming in panic, the chat couldn't keep up and eventually crashed.
⭐ Superchat— Crクルping Pong (1,000 won)Those flirty dudes are crowding him, so maybe faking it with a forged ID?⭐ Superchat— Sekiro2WhyNoRelease (1,000 won)LOL make some sense. Forging an ID to dodge hunters? And showing it off? You'd get arrested.⭐ Superchat— NotGenderScam (1,000 won)You never know. Could be a brainless move.
In the end, the Black Star fans—Starless—raised doubts via donations and chatted among themselves.
Ha-rang, hearing that, made a face like I knew it and clicked his tongue.
His body's memories backed it up.
No matter how much he explained or showed his ID, some people just wouldn't believe it.
Humans only believe what they see with their own eyes, after all.
Ha-rang decided not to back down here and go all in.
That way, he could drill it into the roughly 10,000 viewers on this channel—plus extras—that he was a man, build a bit of fame on that, and increase the number of people who knew he wasn't a woman.
That was Ha-rang's plan.
Make the public recognize he was a guy so he could cut out the annoying types who hit on him assuming he was a girl.
Sure, there'd be weird tastes who didn't care if he was a guy with that face, but most would back off.
"Hold the camera steady."
"Huh? What are you—Gah?! What are you doing?!"
Ha-rang started casually pulling off his top.
Kim Jun-su freaked out, shoving the camera away, and the noise made everyone in the PC bang gaming turn and gawk.
"Why aren't you filming?"
Irritated that he'd been told to hold the camera steady but did the opposite, Ha-rang complained. Kim Jun-su yelled back.
"Who wants to ruin their life?!"
He'd stopped midway, but a sudden strip show?
Kim Jun-su could vividly imagine his channel getting banned and himself hauled in for harassment charges. He wanted no part of it.
If he didn't want to give out his number, just say so—why try to bury him like this?
Scary woman—no, man? Anyway, scary person.
The initial love-at-first-sight feelings faded, replaced by embarrassment and bewilderment.
"What's the problem? Male streamers strip freely all the time."
"That's... not the same."
Sure, some male streamers stripped at every chance, drawing weird stuff on their bodies or whatever.
When they got mad during intense games, they'd rip off clothes and get called 'wearing gaming suits.'
But Ha-rang's case was way different from those guys.
Look at those collarbones.
That pale skin, that soft-looking texture.
Man or woman aside, showing that would get any stream banned.
Explaining it was a guy and getting unbanned wouldn't be easy.
To protect his livelihood, Kim Jun-su had no choice but to turn the camera away.
His viewers, naturally, were furious at the choice.
— ViewerHey! Turn the damn camera back!— ViewerWhy do you get the good view alone? Don't be a dick don't be a dick don't be a dick!⭐ Superchat— Mon-Tue-Wed-Thu-Fri-Gold-Gold-Gold (100,000 won)How much? How much will it take? How much do you want? How much to share the fun with us?
The Starless were livid.
But it was a matter of his livelihood—not a one-off stream—so no matter how much they donated, Kim Jun-su ignored them.
This isn't that kind of stream!
With that resolve, he resisted Ha-rang's antics.
"Tch."
Clicking his tongue in dissatisfaction, Ha-rang lifted the hem of his shirt instead of fully stripping, as if saying fine, you check and testify then.
"Gasp..."
Confronted with the truth right in front of his eyes, Kim Jun-su was speechless.
"Really... a guy?"
It wasn't small pecs or anything.
It was the flat, distinctly male chest he saw every shower.
And when clothed, it wasn't obvious, but... those were some solid muscles.
The original owner of this body had worked out hard to escape the otokonoko label.
But as if mocking those efforts, his shoulders stayed narrow, never reaching a manly build.
Even clothed, you couldn't tell he'd worked out.
"How is he a guy..."
The person I'd fallen for at first sight was a guy?
Realizing that, Kim Jun-su felt his brain break.
That face, that figure—how could it be a guy?
His pure heart trampled, tears welled up in Kim Jun-su's eyes.
Sure, some deep pervs might even prefer it.
But not him.
No matter how girly and beautiful... a guy's still a guy.
His burning passion cooled to ice, body and mind shriveling up.
It wasn't on purpose, his own delusion—hell, he still couldn't fully believe it.
If it was just mocking hunters he hated, that'd be better.
That face, that looks, so close to his ideal... a guy?
Feeling utterly ridiculed, Kim Jun-su clutched his face.
"Why me..."
Watching him, Ha-rang looked exasperated.
He's acting like he wants to cry or slap someone... who should really be pissed here?
"Excuse me, sir? I'm the one who wants to cry from dealing with this crap all the time."
Stop moping and disrupting business, or get out.
He'd wanted to hype himself up more on a stream with tons of viewers and etch into the world that he was a guy, but this was enough.
It'd spread on its own now; he could correct misconceptions from there.
Might be fun to try consistent personal streams.
The original owner of this angelic face, Heavenly Ha-rang in short, had feared standing before crowds since childhood bullying.
He hated being mistaken for a girl and especially dreaded exposing skin like just now.
Back in school, they'd forcibly stripped him to 'confirm' he was a guy and tormented him.
He'd never dreamed of being a celebrity.
The public terrified him because of that trauma.
The opposite of Ugly Ha-rang—forced into seclusion, treated like a criminal everywhere despite innocence.
But now, Ugly Ha-rang had become Heavenly Ha-rang, fearless about revealing himself.
In fact...
People reacting like this to my looks.
He was secretly enjoying it.
How could he not?
Ugly Ha-rang had worn a mask to the bank to avoid misunderstandings and been pegged as a robber.
But now?
The world was going wild over his looks—in a good way.
He couldn't help wanting to bask in more of that.
And as fame and buzz grew, fewer misconceptions would follow. Win-win.
That's why he was considering streams—something unthinkable in his Ugly Ha-rang days.
But... he'd need to learn setups and gear.
"Hey."
A perfect 'helper' was right in front of him.
"...Yes?"
"You feel bad about this, right?"
"Uh, y-yeah..."
Shoving a camera in his face, mistaking him for a girl—total package of rudeness.
He still couldn't believe that face was a guy's... but even if it was a girl, an apology was due.
Using that guilt,
"Then help me try streaming. Internet broadcasts or whatever."
Ha-rang decided to leech off the big corp.
Not a bad deal for Kim Jun-su either.
"I get these mix-ups a lot. If I get famous enough for people to recognize me, I won't need to keep explaining I'm a guy. Not into celebrity stuff, so streaming it is."
He'd thought about it before; now was the time to try.
Help with gear setup or whatever—Ha-rang's shameless yet confident, justified request made Kim Jun-su pause, then nod.
Guilt aside, it screamed broadcast gold.
Just chatting with him as a guest? Instant hit.
Overseas, fake otokonoko girl streamers milked the niche till caught, tanking their popularity.
Proof of massive demand.
And this was real, not fake?
Setup help to collabs—content heaven.
Different from Black Star's usual style, but streamers did anything for views short of dying.
No rule ex-pro gamers only play games.
"When should I help?"
Heartbreak gone, replaced by pro streamer's mindset.
Never falling for that face again.
It's a guy anyway.
Pure business from here.
So he vowed—then Ha-rang propped his chin on a finger, tilting his head thoughtfully, straight out of a manga.
Don't you dare, heart.
His vow meaningless, Kim Jun-su pounded his chest, blood tears flowing.
Ignoring him, Ha-rang finished calculating and spoke.
"Tomorrow evening work?"
"Perfect."
You idiot, collabs tomorrow!
Too late—reason screamed after the fact.