Chapter 8

Halli Galli Is Murder to Me

The uselessly tall, perverted otaku bastard was still grinning while staring at his phone.

To think he was enjoying that embarrassing video that much, and considering that most of the people who came to my stream had joined because of that clip—

Just how many perverts are there in this world?

Shiver.

I got goosebumps just thinking about it.

Calm down.

This bastard still does not suspect at all that I am Lilith.

But that does not mean I can let my guard down. Even the King of Carelessness, who strutted around calling himself the strongest Archer, ended up dying because of that.

At times like this, I need to draw a clear line.

I am absolutely! Absolutely not Lilith.

I am someone who has absolutely nothing to do with that crazy bitch pretending to be a vampire.

“...Oppa. Honestly, isn’t that kind of vulgar?”

“Hm? What is?”

“That VTuber or whatever. It’s childish.”

“Childish? This girl is hilarious.”

“All streams are garbage anyway. They’re bad for education too.”

Woojin took his eyes off his phone and stared at me.

“...Hey. Why do you sound like my mom? You’re fourteen.”

Kgh.

What I had just said was definitely the kind of old-fogey statement this YOUNG and MZ generation could never accept.

But what can I do? The die has already been cast. If I stop now, I’m finished! Soldiers! From this point on, we cross the Rubicon!

Once I started trashing her, I had to keep trashing her to the bitter end or he would get suspicious.

“E-Especially this girl called Lilith or whatever. How can she make such vulgar sounds on a stream without any shame? This is what you call a cyber whore!”

“Hey, you don’t have to go that far.”

“What do you mean, too far? It’s obvious she’s doing it on purpose because she wants attention. Trashy. Totally trashy.”

Kgh. Cough.

My mouth was savagely insulting Lilith, but every sharp blade was stabbing straight into my own heart.

Is this what they call self-inflicted damage?

“Hmm. You’re surprisingly interested in this girl, huh? Judging by how worked up you’re getting.”

“W-What are you talking about! Interested in what!”

“Didn’t you see that study saying people who hate gays are sometimes secretly gay themselves? People tend to overcompensate when they want to hide that they actually like something—”

“I-I’m not!”

“Fine, if you say so.”

He gave a light shrug, but I only became even more flustered.

Why is this bastard so damn accurate?!

If I criticize too much, it’s suspicious. If I do not criticize at all, it’s suspicious.

What kind of rhythm am I supposed to dance to here?

But there is no helping it.

Because I am not Lilith.

Absolutely, absolutely not!

“Anyway, I watch stuff like this a lot after working out these days. Well, this stream goes until late at night, so I can’t watch for too long.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. If I want to work out again the next day, I have to go to bed early. Otherwise my body can’t take it.”

Oh right. This guy was in a sports club.

“Heh. Weakling.”

“...You’re calling me a weakling? With those skinny little arms and legs?”

“I work out hard too!”

“Sure, sure. There, there. Good job.”

“I’m not a baby. I’m fourteen. There’s only a three-year difference between us.”

“Ha. The very fact that you’re getting this worked up arguing about it proves you’re a baby. Do you know what real adults say when they get asked for ID? Nothing. They actually like it.”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

Fortunately, Woojin did not seem particularly suspicious.

I suppose changing my voice tone completely when I streamed as Lilith had paid off.

After all, I was acting as a vampire princess hundreds of years old.

Low, elegant, and full of arrogance.

It was worlds apart from the bratty voice I used while fooling around with my cousin like this.

There was no way he would ever dream they belonged to the same person.

Still, even so, letting him keep watching this was dangerous. Better to change the subject.

“Enough. Why did you come here just to watch this garbage?”

I pushed the phone away.

“Hm?”

“Didn’t you come to play with me?”

“Oh, right.”

Only then did Shin Woojin start rummaging through his bag.

All the snacks had been confiscated at the entrance, but the bag was not completely empty.

What he pulled out was a large paper box. Along with the textbook used as camouflage, it was one of only two items that had survived Ms. Sejin’s brutal inspection.

“Let’s play this.”

“...What is it?”

“You don’t know? Halli Galli. It’s a board game.”

A board... game?

“What is this, so childish. What kind of board game is this? Isn’t this something little kids play?”

“Childish, my ass. Board games are fun too. And lots of adults play them.”

“I’m a digital person.”

“Huh? Do you play computer games? Do you have a Shtoom ID?”

“Of course I...”

What gamer in the world does not have a Shtoom account? Why would you even—

Wait.

This is a sting operation.

Come to think of it, I had revealed my Shtoom ID on Lilith’s stream before.

If this guy searched it and compared the account—

Just thinking about it made me dizzy.

“...What’s Shtoom?”

“You don’t even know Shtoom? Hah. You really are still a baby.”

“Hey!”

“Ahem. A baby daring to say ‘hey’ to her older brother.”

“Tch. Then let’s just play whatever this Halli Galli or Harley Quinn game is.”

“What? I thought you said it was childish.”

“If I say we’re playing, then we’re playing!”

“Good grief, your mood changes by the minute. You really are a baby.”

If I wanted to steer the conversation away from Shtoom, I had no choice but to play whatever board game he brought.

Woojin quickly explained the rules.

“The rules are simple, right? Ask if you don’t understand.”

“...This much is easy.”

There was a bell in the middle that you hit with a ding, and you flipped over fruit cards one at a time.

When the same fruit added up to five, you rang the bell.

Whoever rang first took all the cards.

Honestly, compared to the computer games I played, it looked boring.

I would rather play one of the dogshit games the viewers had gifted me.

“Okay, start.”

But once the first round began.

I learned something.

Board games were way more insanely fun than I expected.

Was it because there was physical interaction? The tactile feel was incredible.

“Ungh! Ungh!”

Every time a card flipped over, sweat gathered in my palms.

Two strawberries. Three.

Not yet.

One plum.

“Kgh...”

Now?

No, that makes four. Stay calm.

Then another card flipped, making five strawberries.

Ding—!

“Got it!”

“Wow, you’re pretty good.”

“Hehehe. Of course. Man, do you know who I am!”

“Where did you learn that one?”

To think I had lived without knowing the joy of slamming down on a bell. I had wasted half my life!

“One more round!”

“Oh, nice. Bring it on.”

Ding—!

“Got it again!”

“T-Tch. You got lucky.”

Woojin looked frustrated. Pathetic bastard. Getting destroyed at the game he brought himself.

Though honestly, comparing him and me was a little unfair.

I am, after all, a streamer. My body has been tempered by digital games. Ringing some analog bell like this is nothing.

“Oppa, you seriously suck.”

“What? One more round.”

“It’ll be the same no matter how many rounds we play. Reflexes are something you’re born with.”

“Stop talking bullshit.”

“If you’re mad, then beat me.”

And so one round became two.

I became completely absorbed in the game.

My win rate was about seventy percent. I was absolutely crushing Woojin.

I had hit the bell so many times that my palm was tingling now.

“Ding! Got it again!”

“Wow, seriously. You’re actually good at this.”

“This much is nothing.”

“As expected of our Yua. Good job.”

“Only realizing it now?”

Woojin reached out and messed up my hair.

Normally, I would have gotten annoyed.

But today I let him.

Because I was in a good mood from winning so much.

“Oh, it’s already this late.”

“Hm?”

“I should probably get going.”

“You’re leaving already? It’s Sunday.”

“Ah, sorry. I have something to do today.”

What kind of business could a seventeen-year-old possibly have?

Still, interrogating him in detail would not be the attitude of an adult. At times like this, letting him go gracefully is how you earn respect.

“Hmm... when are you coming again?”

“I don’t know the exact date... but I’ll come again soon. Promise.”

“Promise!”

We hooked our pinkies.

And even pressed our thumbs together like stamping fingerprints.

People in this house really do love thumbprints for some reason.

“Come again soon. Seriously. We’ll play board games again then.”

“Sure. I’ll bring snacks too. This time without getting caught.”

“You’re confident you can get past Ms. Sejin?”

“...Honestly, no.”

“Hehehe. What was that?”

“Tell me about it. Hahaha.”

Thud.

After the front door closed, I muttered as I returned to my room.

“...He’s annoying because he’s a normie, but he really is a good guy.”

Tall, handsome, popular.

A damn normie who has everything.

And yet I do not hate him.

“He’s also the only person who actually plays with me.”

— — —

Shin Woojin stood in the front yard for a while, looking at his cousin’s needlessly enormous house.

The last time he had seen Yua was a month ago.

If it were up to him, he would have visited more often, but Woojin was busy too.

He was an honor student at school, a member of the baseball team, and even the class president.

Quite literally the perfect son every mother compared her child to.

“Haha... you’ve gotten a lot better, Yua.”

To Woojin, Yua was both the only cousin younger than him and the one who worried him the most.

A child who had lost her parents when she was young and been left all alone.

Grandfather had suggested living together, but she insisted on staying in the house where traces of her parents remained, and so she had stayed alone in this huge house.

But perhaps the wound had been too deep, because Yua had been unable to live properly and had spent a long time like a shut-in.

Even the last time he visited, had she not seemed terribly frail?

Of course she did, when she spent every day lying in bed playing with her phone.

Despite being weak, she had also gotten rather chubby, so honestly, he had been a little worried.

Whenever Woojin visited, he did his best to play with her, but she was so lazy about moving despite being young that there was a limit.

And her body was not the only issue.

Maybe because she had spent all her time shut inside the house and had not properly matured, her mental age felt a little... no, quite a bit lower than that of other kids her age.

She somehow knew a surprising amount about old stories and things only adults should know, probably from the internet, but judging by how she acted, she was practically at the level of a lower elementary school student.

She was also bad at controlling her emotions and often got excessively excited over trivial things.

But today, after seeing her again for the first time in a month, she had changed enough to surprise him.

Apparently, she had not been lying when she said she had started exercising. She had slimmed down dramatically, and the lines of her face had become more defined.

He had heard his aunt had been a model.

Now that beauty was finally starting to show.

More than anything.

There was life in her face.

A girl who used to look bored no matter what she did had spent today sparkling with excitement and laughing over a single game of Halli Galli.

Shin Woojin could not have been happier to see it.

Of course, she still got excited easily and was swept around by her emotions, but this was more than enough.

“Hahaha. Calling me bad at it, that brat.”

In truth, Yua’s reflexes were so slow that merely calling them terrible did not even begin to describe them.

And Woojin was a high school baseball player. A batter capable of hitting pitches in the 130-kilometer-per-hour range.

His reflexes and dynamic vision were incomparable to an ordinary person’s, while Yua was even worse than the average person. There was never any real contest between them in the first place.

In other words, if he had wanted to, he could have swept every single round.

But Woojin committed the grave sin absolutely forbidden in sports.

He carefully fixed every match so that Yua would win about seven to three.

‘Oppa, you seriously suck.’

The way she smugly said that was so—

“What a cute brat.”

As expected, cuteness is justice.

That was all that mattered.