Gender Reversed Geum Taeyang - Chapter 56

Chapter 56 – Gossip

My legs are trembling.

If I panic now, everything will be over. I need to calm down.

Throughout my life, I’ve been most careful with my words. Because once you make a mistake, you can’t take it back.

I admit I didn’t have particularly good feelings about Lee Junhyuk. To be more precise, I should say he became unlikeable after hearing that phone call earlier.

Though he’s someone I gave up on from the start, Ari is definitely a good woman. No, rather than just good, she’s an overwhelming woman. Her personality, looks, and intelligence.

Even though I tend to meddle in things, I didn’t really plan to get involved in others’ love lives…

Just as a man… I guess I developed some antipathy seeing how he treated Ari like that.

I’ve always been someone who filters what I say before speaking, no matter how annoying or irritating things get.

I wasn’t someone who would blurt out such controversial things just because I felt some antipathy.

Maybe my filtering ability has deteriorated since I haven’t had much interaction with anyone lately except those really close to me.

… Anyway, this is all Geum Taeyang’s fault! It’s because Geum Taeyang’s instincts have taken over me!

Damn. When backed into a corner, I’m making strange excuses to escape reality.

-??? Did Rete fight with her boyfriend???

-Must have fought because she’s hanging out with Geum Taeyang

-Maybe the host just misinterpreted things

-Our Taeyang doesn’t know boundaries well because he has no friends….

Cold sweat runs down my neck.

The lighting I’m using for the first time today illuminates a single streak of sweat.

-OMG

-LOL he looks so flustered

-What’s with that expression management LOL

-The sweat running down his neck is so real

-Keep making those slip-ups

“What… did I…”

While I’m desperately trying to find excuses.

With a loud click, the soundproof booth’s door opens.

-???

-Is that Rete?????

-Who is it??

-Damn she still looks good even like that LOL

-First time seeing Rete like this

-Going to clip this

Ari appears on stream in disheveled clothes and messy hair with a blanket wrapped around her – an appearance never before seen on her own broadcasts – at the perfect timing.

Isn’t it the way of heroes to appear late?

Since she usually only shows her perfect side, viewers’ attention instantly shifted to Ari.

That attention will probably return to me soon, but this is better than nothing. I’ll take any breather I can get!

“Taeyang, can I come in?”

Her low voice sounds somewhat ominous, but… at least I’ve bought some time, so it should be fine.

… Right?

###

-Look at Rete’s fierce expression

-Geum Taeyang is so obviously nervous

-He’s screwed!

The viewers were predicting a catastrophe seeing Ari sitting in the chair.

… And I wasn’t much different.

Ari pulled up the guest chair from the soundproof booth and sat next to me.

At first, I thought she came to save me from this difficult situation, but…

Objectively speaking, this problem originated from my slip of the tongue, and besides, her boyfriend would be more important to her than me.

Unlike me who hasn’t even known Ari for two full months, he bears the title of childhood friend, making the comparison even starker.

So Ari’s continued silence since earlier… could be a sign of a not-so-good outcome.

Her usually strict, serious, and solemn expression seems scary today.

“R-Rete-nim, this is… I didn’t mean to say that…”

“…Huh? What?”

“?”

Her unexpected response to my attempt at an excuse.

Forget about being angry or not, does she not even know what happened?

“Uh… well, that…”

“Pfft! Why are you so nervous? It’s not like you did something terrible.”

-Oh boring

-What’s going on

-Isn’t this pretty serious though??

-Looking at how much she’s laughing, guess it’s not that serious??

Right. It does feel like I did something terrible though.

While I’m confused by this incomprehensible response, Ari looks at me with a face full of happiness and.

Starts writing letters on my hand with her finger from a position hidden by the desk.

‘It’s okay’

Though having a beautiful woman fiddle with my palm isn’t okay for my mental state.

Anyway, Ari seemed to have some kind of plan.

###

“Why are you so scared when you just stated facts?”

Yuhan’s expression, the viewers’ reactions. They’re quite peculiar.

Facts or not, the issue is that he leaked private conversations between Junhyuk and me, but.

So what? Of the two parties involved, Junhyuk doesn’t care about broadcasts anyway.

I was just happy that I could help Yuhan like this.

How could I say anything about such a trivial matter when I’ve committed far greater sins against Yuhan?

And… there’s another reason why I don’t feel negative about this incident.

Recently, I’ve started noticing things I hadn’t paid attention to before.

Most of them involve Junhyuk’s attitude towards me.

While I can clearly see he has great affection for me, I felt like I was always being treated as the inferior party.

Small things started to feel unpleasant, and things that didn’t bother me before became uncomfortable.

Yuhan, my ‘friend’, always thought of me first and helped me.

I couldn’t even remember having any special interactions with Junhyuk.

While I was just building up complaints in my heart.

Hundreds of people learned about those complaints.

Among the chat messages blaming Yuhan, there were comments questioning if someone who claims to be a boyfriend would really act like that.

Though I absolutely hate gossip.

Now somehow… my mouth started moving.

“What? This is how we couple have always been?”

Words suggesting I don’t see what the problem is.

I know the problems better than anyone.

“Junhyuk has always valued health.”

Which could be interpreted as him only caring about himself.

Since I confirmed that his excuse about not coming because he might catch my illness was true.

“Come on, you can handle a cold by yourself anyway. Though it was much more comfortable having Yuhan rush over since morning.”

The difference between the two men becomes starkly clear.

There’s a saying that women are naturally oblivious.

Objectively speaking, I’m quite perceptive*¹.

But that’s not important right now.

They don’t know how perceptive I am anyway.

The chat’s public opinion shifts.

There are comments covering up Yuhan’s slip or even saying he did well.

And.

Occasionally, cautiously.

Junhyuk gets mentioned.

It’s regrettable but can’t be helped.

Setting aside my personal feelings.

I can’t let Yuhan get into trouble.

Junhyuk will understand. He’s a good person at heart after all.

Yuhan’s hand touches mine.

I tried to pull away from the moist touch, but he quickly catches it again.

He must have been very nervous, as I can feel the dampness from his sweat. It feels intoxicating.

‘Thank you’

The words written with his finger.

When I turn my head, Yuhan is smiling at me with an innocent face.

Though I sensed something dangerous in his eyes… it must just be my imagination.

###

The viewers were feeling an inexplicable disconnect.

More precisely, the viewers who came to watch Rete.

They could somewhat understand her being friendly with this delinquent-like man. They could tell Geum Taeyang was a pretty good person.

Even her recently diversified expressions could be explained. People’s personalities aren’t unchangeable after all.

But when those two aspects appeared on one screen, it created a strange situation.

The Rete they had seen through broadcasts so far had an image of someone who knew how to maintain boundaries and only had eyes for her boyfriend.

Now it’s different.

She’s laughing and chatting happily with another man who has taken on Geum Taeyang’s concept.

She plays light pranks, makes silly jokes, and even speaks roughly sometimes.

She sometimes stares blankly at Geum Taeyang like someone completely smitten.

Her usually neat appearance is gone, replaced by a disheveled look as she continues the broadcast.

It’s questionable if she’s even the same person who showed displeasure towards Geum Taeyang just over a month ago. Everything is different from then.

The conversation topics are drifting to strange places too.

“So where do you want to go first?”

“Hmm… the aquarium? Or maybe the zoo? Wouldn’t that make for pretty good content?”

After bringing up NewTube, they started making date plans together under the pretext of filming content.

-There’s one famous aquarium in Seoul, how about there

-Finally NewTube content coming ㅠㅠ

-Let’s properly leech off that big company, host

Though this definitely isn’t a normal situation, other viewers’ reactions were nothing special.

One viewer started to type:

-Is it okay to go on dates with another man when you have a boyfriend?

Then after watching the screen for a moment, deleted the entire message.

Though they couldn’t understand why, or if she originally liked this kind of thing.

Somehow watching these two became enjoyable.

She had been absorbed into this Geum Taeyang who occasionally appeared on Rete’s broadcasts.

The viewer count at the end of the broadcast was 7,500.

That was the combined result including Rete’s viewers.

-Today’s stream was solid

-Real good late-night stream

-Upload something to NewTube quick

The chat was clean even without moderation, and the response to the broadcast was heavenly. Everyone enjoyed today’s broadcast.

‘Rete’s boyfriend’ who was mentioned early in the broadcast was forgotten by everyone by the end.

He was only imprinted in viewers’ minds along with negative perceptions.

(End of Chapter)

T.N. 1. Lol

2. Finally the NT*R stream (sort of)