Translator: SourKimchi
Click–
The door of Room 312 slowly began to open.
Noh Jeong-hui watched the scene unfold, holding her breath.
Her heart was pounding like crazy.
The gap widened just enough for a finger to slip through, and then the man inside poked his face out.
He was wearing a bathrobe.
Wet hair.
A face still flushed with leftover drink.
And the moment he saw Noh Jeong-hui standing at the door, his eyes went wide and unsteady.
"...What?"
"...Oppa, why are you coming out of there?"
The man's face froze right where it was.
Watching it all through the video call, Park Ji-hun stared at his monitor in silence.
The chat, on the other hand, exploded a beat later.
-Kasungi : huh?
-SseomyeonMaster : hold on
-MuteRoom : guess that's the boyfriend?
-agei : it really is the boyfriend?
Noh Jeong-hui's lips trembled faintly.
As the door opened wider, the inside of the room slowly came into view.
Rumpled bedsheets.
Beer cans strewn across the table.
A pair of women's heels kicked off carelessly on the floor.
And an unfamiliar woman's voice drifting out from inside.
"Oppa, what's taking you so long? Just bring it over already."
That one line froze the air in the hallway.
Her younger brother, Noh Chan-young, was the first to react.
He stepped forward as if to put himself between the man and Noh Jeong-hui.
"Wow."
It was just one short word, but his voice had already gone ice-cold.
Noh Jeong-hui couldn't say a thing.
The scene in front of her was so vivid that, if anything, her head felt completely empty.
The woman walked out from inside the room.
She was in a short dress.
She looked back and forth between Noh Jeong-hui and Noh Chan-young, then turned to the man frozen at the door and asked with a frown.
"Oppa, who is that woman?"
The man couldn't open his mouth.
No, he couldn't bring himself to.
At that moment, it was Noh Jeong-hui who spoke first.
"I'm his girlfriend."
Her voice shook, but she stayed composed.
And after a very brief silence.
"...No. His ex-girlfriend now."
The chat flipped right out.
-dwm9911 : holy shit she's savage
-AjuKara : "ex-girlfriend" she said, insane
-Boseok : ahh that's so satisfying
-Kaeteu : sorry i took the boyfriend's side earlier
-Kkoka : ok this is legit chilling
The face of the woman who'd been in the room changed in an instant.
She glared at the man, then asked again as if she couldn't believe it.
"...What?"
Noh Jeong-hui looked the man straight in the eye and said it again.
"I was his girlfriend. Up until a minute ago."
The woman stared at the man.
The man looked away.
That brief silence was answer enough.
Smack–!
A sharp sound rang out down the hallway.
The woman had slapped the man across the face.
"Are you out of your damn mind, you bastard?"
The man clutched the struck cheek but still couldn't say a word.
Noh Chan-young let out a dumbfounded scoff.
"Wow, that's really something. Two-timing both of them, huh?"
Noh Jeong-hui's eyes had reddened around the rims, but in the end she didn't cry.
Instead, she drew in a very slow breath, and then she spoke to the man.
"Don't ever contact me again."
The instant those words landed, the chat on the other side of the video call went into an unstoppable frenzy.
-SseomyeonMaster : it's over
-LegendDrumBarrel : cathartic af
-MuteRoom : that guy's life is over after today
-agei : wait, he actually got everything right tho
-Kasungi : what even is this stream fr
Noh Jeong-hui didn't look at the man anymore.
She turned away just like that, and Noh Chan-young fell in right behind his noona.
Just before she left the hallway, Noh Jeong-hui's hand trembled as she gripped her phone tighter.
Park Ji-hun's low voice came through from the other end of her earphones.
"That's enough now. Hang up."
At those words, Noh Jeong-hui briefly closed her eyes and opened them again.
"...Yes."
The video call ended.
***
With the video call over, Park Ji-hun leaned back against his chair without a word.
Maybe it was because all the tension that had held until moments ago drained out at once.
His temples throbbed.
The inside of his ears felt muffled.
Park Ji-hun slowly breathed in, then let it out.
"...Hah."
A short breath slipped out.
But there was no time to rest.
Because one side of the broadcast screen was flashing like mad.
Ding-ding–
Ding-ding–
Water Drop donation alerts went off one after another.
[MuteRoom-nim has gifted 20 Water Drops.]
[agei-nim has gifted 50 Water Drops.]
[dwm9911-nim has gifted 100 Water Drops.]
Park Ji-hun scanned the chat with a dazed look.
-MuteRoom : today's stream was insanely good
-agei : all-time best, that was so much fun
-dwm9911 : got so into it my hand hit donate by itself lol
-AjuKara : wow legit so fun, damn
-Boseok : no but if he really got all that right that's creepy
-LegendDrumBarrel : i'm still kinda on the fence tho
-MuteRoom : so when do i get my Spirit Reading?? (try #5)
The chat scrolled up without a moment's pause.
Some fired off Water Drops saying it had been fun, while others clamored for a Spirit Reading of their own.
It seemed new viewers had snowballed in while the video call dragged on.
Park Ji-hun stared blankly at the top right of his screen.
[Current Viewers: 2,138]
"...What?"
The word burst out of him.
He'd been caught completely off guard.
It was only his second day streaming.
A stream that, not long ago, had been hovering at 500 or 600 had somehow swelled past 2,000 people.
Park Ji-hun tightened his grip on the mouse.
'Since when did this many people pile in?'
All the while, the Water Drop alerts kept going off.
Ding-ding–
Ding-ding–
[Shaker-nim has gifted 50 Water Drops.]
-Shaker : paying my Viewing Fee!
[AjuKara-nim has gifted 30 Water Drops.]
-AjuKara : bookmarked, subscribed, and turned on notifs! this is so much fun!
Park Ji-hun watched it all and slowly shook his head.
Even now the Water Drop donations were backed up nearly 30 seconds deep.
The alerts showed no sign of letting up.
Until just moments ago, they'd been words he tossed out without a second thought, simply because he happened to see them.
But now it was different.
People were going wild over his every word, getting absorbed, throwing money at him.
The stream was holding people in its grip.
"...This."
Park Ji-hun muttered under his breath.
Even in the middle of it all, the Water Drop alerts kept going off.
Ding-ding–
[Kaeteu-nim has gifted 100 Water Drops.]
-Kaeteu : i'll pay my Viewing Fee too!
As he read the donation messages, the corners of Park Ji-hun's mouth turned up.
"...This could actually make real money."
The moment he said it, the chat started going wild all over again.
-MuteRoom : finally figured it out lol now do me too (try #6)
-Kaeteu : i'll money-beat you with donations so read me too [TL Note: "Money Beating" (돈쭐), fan slang for burying a streamer in donations as a show of support]
-agei : if it's first-come, then 1 starting here
-dwm9911 : 2
-SseomyeonMaster : 3
-bvk0014 : i'm still on the fence
-SseomyeonMaster : then leave lol
Park Ji-hun watched the flood of chat for a moment, then slowly straightened up in his seat.
The cold sensation still hadn't fully faded.
His head was tired, but his mind, if anything, was growing clearer.
'All right.'
This wasn't just some knack for reading other people's fortunes.
Played right, it was something that could bring in real money.
He'd confirmed the money was there; what he needed now were rules of his own.
***
'I need to set some rules.'
Things couldn't go on like this.
He couldn't just read for anyone and everyone at random, and at the same time it wasn't the kind of thing he should let slide for free.
Park Ji-hun slowly stroked his chin.
'A shaman takes a Divination Fee, after all.'
Come to think of it, it wasn't strange at all.
For readings this on the mark, it would be stranger to charge nothing.
'So how much should I set the Divination Fee at?'
Looking at the chat, even if he named 1,000 Water Drops, the people willing to pay would still pay.
'Make it 1,000?'
That was the moment.
Wmmmmm–
The inside of his temples suddenly started to ring.
A headache like an awl driving into his skull came rushing in.
"...Ngh."
Park Ji-hun's brow scrunched up hard.
'So 1,000's a no?'
He shook his head from side to side.
'Then am I supposed to read for free?'
Wmmm–
Once again his head rang.
His vision swam.
Park Ji-hun gritted his teeth.
'So free is a no too, then.'
In that instant it clicked.
Charging too much wouldn't do, and charging nothing wouldn't do either.
A Spirit Reading had to come with a price that fit it exactly.
Park Ji-hun slowly sank into thought.
'...How about 500?'
This time there was no headache.
The throbbing in his temples went quiet, as if it had never been there.
The heavy ringing that had been pressing on his head was gone too.
Park Ji-hun's gaze settled.
'500.'
That was his Divination Fee.
Park Ji-hun let out a small snort of a laugh.
"Right. Nothing in this world comes free."
He looked back at the chat.
It was still plastered with people begging for a Spirit Reading.
A few were already firing off Water Drops to make their case.
'Still, would it really hurt to read just one person for free?'
Sometimes there really might be someone who, for no reason at all, he just couldn't ignore.
Someone like 29YearOldJobless from last time, born with a fate that could have died the very next day.
'Every time I go live, I'll read one person for free. That much should be fine, right?'
Thankfully, there was no headache.
Once he'd settled the rules in his head, he pulled the mic in toward him.
"Too loud."
At that, the chat paused for a moment.
Only for a moment, though; soon everyone started buzzing again.
-agei : please do my Spirit Reading too :(
-MuteRoom : i've been asking for mine since way back!! (try #11)
-Shaker : how much will it take? i'll pay
-dwm9911 : if it's about money i can pay too you know?
Park Ji-hun spoke in a low, level voice.
"Starting next stream, I'm charging a Divination Fee. 500 Water Drops. Exactly 500."
The chat stirred.
Some said it was too expensive, others made a fuss that it was too cheap.
But Ji-hun paid them no mind and went on.
"And every stream, I'll read one person for free. But I'm the one who decides who."
The chat turned rowdy.
-gkp40 : there's a free one too?
-MuteRoom : should i donate now?
-Shaker : does donating get me a Reservation?
After thinking it over for a moment, Ji-hun opened his mouth.
"Reservations are first-come, first-served."
That was the moment.
Ding-ding–
Ding-ding–
Ding-ding–
Ding-ding–
[MuteRoom-nim has gifted 500 Water Drops.]
[agei-nim has gifted 500 Water Drops.]
[dwm9911-nim has gifted 500 Water Drops.]
[Kaeteu-nim has gifted 500 Water Drops.]
[SseomyeonMaster-nim has gifted 500 Water Drops.]
As if they'd been waiting for it, the donation alerts began going off one after another.