Gender Swap: The Introvert’s Broadcast

In fact, I was really embarrassed.
It wasn’t anything special, but I got so startled by a video donation that I fell backward.
I really didn’t want anyone to find out, especially people I knew.
But—

“The door’s open…”

Still, one has to live, right?
My back was throbbing terribly.
And so, I said—

Screech—

The door opened.
And a woman came into view.
I had seen her online many times, but it was my first time seeing her in person.
By the way...

‘...She really looks like someone you’d have a hard time approaching casually.’

She had an intimidating presence, almost impossible to talk to if you saw her casually on the street.
And she had dyed her hair white, to top it off.

“Hello...?”
Ibaek said as he stared at me lying on the floor.

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Whoa, who’s this?]
[Is this Ibaek’s voice?]
[Ibaek ㅎㅇ]
[Twispookjjikmareupne: Are you okay...?]
ㄴForced exit!
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Take it easy for a bit.]
[Wow, this is it, haha.]

And just when we were looking at each other—

Ding-ding-

A donation came in, completely unexpected.

[ㅇㅇ donated 10,000 won!]
–Ibaek, Da-ma’s head is really hurting, so quickly help him get up.

The mechanical voice read the donation message, and after a moment—

“Are you okay?”
“…No.”

Ibaek came over and gently helped me up.
I was relieved.
If no one had been around, I might have been lying there all day.

“Should we go to the hospital right away? You don’t look so good.”
“No, no, it’s not that bad. I’m just feeling a bit dizzy.”

I felt a lot better once I got up from the floor.
I guess lying down on the bed for a bit might help, though.

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Seriously, take it easy, haha.]
[Twispookjjikmareupne: That jerk should get banned right away. This stuff happens when you unban people like him.]
[But are you really okay? Last time you ended up sick and had to cancel the stream.]
[Honestly, not sure if you're okay...]
[How about getting checked out?]
[Really, getting checked out might be a good idea.]

With Ibaek helping, we made our way to the bed inside the pension.
Normally, I’d go by myself, but I was way too dizzy to walk alone.

Plop-

Once I was in bed, Ibaek stood there, staring at me.
I guess since I hadn’t said anything, he was unsure if he should sit down or not.

“Ibaek, sit anywhere you like. And, uh, could you bring me my phone?”
“Ah, yes.”

I felt a little bad asking Ibaek to do something like that, but there was nothing I could do.
It was too hard for me to get up.

‘I’ll buy him something delicious later.’

Thinking that, I lay back down.
Then—

“Here you go.”

Ibaek handed me my phone.

“Thanks. You can sit anywhere near me, and feel free to relax.”
“Okay.”

I took the phone Ibaek gave me and adjusted the angle.

“Ugh...”
My head was still dizzy, but I could manage this.
Groaning a bit, I set the phone where it needed to go and lay back down on the bed again.
I was tired.

Still, I couldn’t shake off the worry.

‘...I shouldn’t just sleep like this.’

Even though there’d be no real harm in sleeping right now, the stream was still on.
I could just turn it off and sleep, but... I didn’t want to end the stream.
It had been a while since I last streamed, and the viewers were really enjoying it, so...

What should I do?

As I was thinking about it, I had a sudden idea.
Normally, I wouldn’t have considered it, but in this particular situation, it seemed like it might work.

“Ibaek...?”
“Yes?”
“Uh, could you maybe... take over the stream for me? As you can see, I’m like this.”

“I don’t mind, but... are you sure?”
Ibaek seemed worried, probably because he knew how his streams were often seen as less entertaining.
He seemed hesitant to take over my account and stream under my name.

But—

“It’s fine. You’re good at streaming, Ibaek.”
“Ah... Really?”
“I watch your streams sometimes. They’re fun.”

That part was actually true.
Although there was a meme that Ibaek’s streams were boring, he still had about a thousand viewers on average.
If the streams were really boring, he wouldn’t have had those numbers.

“Ah... Then, I’ll give it a try.”
“Okay, I’m counting on you.”

I handed the stream over to Ibaek.

‘Well, if I knew I’d have to struggle to set up the phone, I wouldn’t have bothered.’

I lay back feeling a bit unfair, then checked the chat.

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: What? Ibaek taking over the stream? This is crazy.]
[No-fun-Ibaek in the house, lol]
[Just turn on the cam, and the male viewers will show up.]
[But, wow, he’s really pretty, lol]
[Hwan-hee: What happened to Da-ma?]
[Da-ma died.]
[Hwan-hee: ?]
[Seriously, he’s dead, lol.]

Seeing all the weird messages in the chat, I quickly typed a response.

[Du-gong: He’s not dead.]
[Du-gong: Also, if Ibaek does anything weird while taking over the stream, I’ll ban him.]
[Ah.]
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Take a nap, haha.]
[Why are you on your phone when you handed the stream over?]
[Ugh, stop talking, you jerk.]
Forced exit!

Hearing that, I began to enjoy reading the chat while lying down.
To be honest, it was more fun using the manager privileges to read the chat.

‘...It’s more fun because it’s my stream.’

If it were any other stream, I’d have a problem banning people, but this was my stream.
I could ban anyone who annoyed me right away.
Is this what power feels like?
I thought it was funny and continued watching the stream.

I was curious to see how Ibaek would manage it.

‘Well, I sent him the account info via text. He should be able to set everything up himself.’

The number of viewers was still higher on my stream, but I couldn’t underestimate Ibaek’s experience.
He had been streaming for at least four years, so he knew his way around.

As I lay back, watching on my phone—

Vrrr—

The screen flickered, then the computer screen started streaming to the broadcast.

Apparently, he had turned on the stream using the pension’s computer.

‘I came to a nice pension with good computers, but I didn’t expect things to go like this.’

I wasn’t sure if I should be happy or not.
I thought about it and then put on my earphones, focusing on the broadcast.

-Cough, can everyone hear me?

Ibaek’s unique soft voice filled my ears.

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Hey hey]
[When did Ibaek get so many viewers?]
[10,000 viewers? Ibaek’s kinda rare, lol.]
[Ibaek hey]
[The situation escalated so quickly, this is crazy, lol.]
[Is Da-ma lying down behind?]

-Oh, yeah. Da-ma’s lying down behind.

Ibaek said that and moved aside a bit, showing me lying on the bed behind him.

Swish—

He waved his hand vaguely.
He probably wanted to greet me properly, but he didn’t have the strength to do that.

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Look at that, he didn’t even greet properly.]
[Ibaek should at least greet, tsk tsk tsk.]
[This is why bad things happen to you, jerk.]
[These jerks making fun of him are hilarious, lol.]
[If you’re sick, you can wave your hand a little, it’s okay, lol.]
[Hwan-hee: If you’re sick, don’t watch your phone.]

It seemed like more teasing was about to start, so I typed a response.

[Du-gong: I can’t sleep while leaving the stream to someone else.]
[Du-gong: I have to see how he does the stream.]
[Du-gong: It would be too much of a hassle to just sleep.]

With that said, I didn’t think there’d be more teasing.

-Ah, you can sleep if you want.

[Du-gong: I’m fine.]
[Du-gong: I’m not even tired anyway.]

After typing that, I started watching the stream, curious about how Ibaek would handle it.
It was just pure curiosity.
I had never paid close attention to how someone else managed their stream.

-The setup is very different from my home, so I can’t do anything too fancy. I guess... I’ll play Minecraft.

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: I like this, haha.]
[Let’s go, let’s go.]
[Minecraft is fun, for sure.]
[At least I know he’s gonna play well, lol.]
[Hwan-hee: Go go.]

Ibaek said that and logged into Minecraft.

Ding-ding-

As he entered the server—

-Huh? It’s Ibaek.

Someone with a familiar nickname greeted Ibaek.

[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Hahahaha.]
[What a jerk.]
[Rejected Da-ma’s call but is playing Minecraft, tsk tsk.]
[Mangming: That jerk is hopeless, seriously.]
[Hahahaha.]
[What to do: Playing Minecraft, haha.]