“Hah, hah….”
A woman hurriedly walks down an alley.
Her hobby as a streamer on Twitch is rewatching the broadcasts of her fellow streamer, Kayak.
That’s right, her name is Haryeong. Once known as the empress of Twitch, she was.
Now, Haryeong was walking with a look of unease on her face.
In the sparsely populated alley, as the sun slowly disappeared in the late evening, she hastened her steps.
The reason Haryeong was in such a rush without any real plans was because of a presence chasing after her.
– Thud, thud
The sound of footsteps can be heard. The sound of sneakers meeting the ground.
It was a sound familiar to Haryeong, yet it still sent chills down her spine.
The sound quickened as she walked faster and slowed as she steadied her pace.
Yes, Haryeong was currently being chased by someone. There was no concrete evidence, but the circumstances suggested so.
Recently, she had been feeling strongly that someone was following her every time she went outside.
If it were just a feeling, she’d brush it off as being overly sensitive today. But there was more than just feelings to support her anxiety.
Eerie emails flooding her inbox for the past few days, and the doorbell ringing periodically while she was alone—all leading to nothing when she checked.
All of this overlapped in Haryeong’s mind, conjuring one word:
Stalker. A stalker had latched onto Haryeong.
It wasn’t all that strange. For streamers, especially those famous, having a stalker was quite common.
It wasn’t just female streamers either; male streamers also faced stalkers.
A horrific crime that occurs regardless of gender. It’s particularly malicious considering that those suffering can rarely find true justice unless the situation escalates.
She had heard several accounts of fellow streamers falling victim to such circumstances. Haryeong, too, had thought that as someone who revealed her face and streamed, such a thing might happen one day. She had even resolved to deal with it when the time came.
“I have to deal with this,” she resolved.
But when the moment actually arrived, whether she had steeled herself or not seemed unimportant. After all, reality and ideals are always different.
She had also taken some self-defense classes, learning a bit of jiu-jitsu, but now, in a state of half-panic, all that training felt utterly useless.
Haryeong kept moving, not looking back, but checking the reflection in a roadside mirror to assess her pursuer’s appearance.
He was wearing a black cap pulled down low and a baseball jacket. His build wasn’t particularly bulky.
He was somewhat slender, maybe a little over 170 cm tall. Even if he wasn’t particularly tall or muscular, he seemed bigger than Haryeong.
The upper half of his face, including his eyes and eyebrows, was completely concealed by his cap, and the lower half was hidden behind a white mask.
“Let’s run away.”
After confirming his presence again, the fear that had been lurking within her surged even more.
All that occupied her mind was the thought of escaping. To put it bluntly, even if Haryeong had learned self-defense, there was no way a delicate woman like her could defeat a muscular adult man.
Even in the dojo where she learned self-defense, they had taught techniques with the hope that she wouldn’t have to use them often, saying the best choice was to run away and not get caught in the first place.
Before she could be caught and face something terrible, she thought to run away. Haryeong held back tears from overwhelming fear and hurried her steps.
“Is he trying to follow me home?”
From the look of determination on the man behind her, it seemed that way.
If Haryeong headed straight home, her address might get exposed, but in her mind, it felt like her place had been compromised for a while now.
Get inside the house. First, get inside and bunker down. If she called the police now, it might provoke the stalker, so she should request personal protection once safely inside.
Just as Haryeong made up her mind and was about to leave the alley, the man suddenly picked up speed.
Haryeong, ahead, also quickened her pace as he did.
“Stop right there!”
The man had already closed the distance to her. He reached out towards Haryeong and approached her briskly, suddenly yelling fiercely.
“Help! Please, someone help me!”
Haryeong was running away with tears streaming down her face.
A heart-pounding chase ensued. Perhaps it was the survival instinct kicking in during such a dire moment, but fortunately, Haryeong successfully made it into the office complex where she lived without being caught by the man.
And just in time, there was the security guard patrolling near the building entrance.
“Um, um, someone is chasing me! There’s a weird person after me…!”
“Excuse me? Someone’s chasing you?”
Haryeong nearly clung to the security guard as he was startled, supporting her while shining his flashlight in the direction she had come from.
However, where the flashlight’s beam illuminated, there was nothing left. The stalker who had been fiercely pursuing Haryeong had already vanished without a trace.
*
“That sounds terrible.”
Haryeong finally managed to narrate her harrowing experience. There was something odd about her wanting to meet at her house right from the start.
Haryeong was usually quite considerate; when setting up plans, she would look for a place halfway between our residences and choose somewhere slightly closer to herself.
So when she abruptly invited me to her home, I couldn’t help but think something was up.
“Thanks for telling me; it must have been really hard to share.”
It was fortunate that she hadn’t been caught by the stalker and that it ended as an attempted incident, but it must have still been quite a shocking experience for her.
It wouldn’t be strange for it to remain as a trauma. Just recalling the memory of that day’s events and sharing it must have been exhausting enough.
“No, it wasn’t that scary! It wasn’t too far to my house, and I’m pretty fast at running—”
She raised her voice, trying to put on an energetic expression.
Yet, her fingertips were subtly trembling, and there was a peculiar shadow on her face, which made it clear that she was deliberately putting on a brave front to avoid worrying me.
Even without interpreting these physical reactions, it was simple to understand.
If it hadn’t genuinely affected her, she wouldn’t have brought it up with me at all.
If she did bring it up, it would likely be in a casual way, as in, “this happened”—rather than the serious tone she was using now.
The fact that she was directly sharing this with me indicated that she was in a vulnerable state and unconsciously asking for my help.
Thinking about it, Haryeong had said it had been quite some time since she moved to the city alone from the countryside. Her parents were living in the countryside, were elderly, and she mentioned having very few friends as an only child.
I mentioned before that I don’t have many friends being an only child.
Looking at it this way, it seems like I rely on Haryeong quite a bit. She talks to me honestly and directly.
As I said before, knowing someone needs me and that I can help them creates a warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart, so I didn’t feel too bad about it.
Anyway, calming down the anxious Haryeong comes first. Her dark circles suggest she hasn’t slept well since then.
I approached Haryeong, still in my seated position, and hugged her tightly.
“You’ve worked hard. It must have been really scary, right? I’ll take care of everything, so don’t worry.”
“Waaah…”
After patting her back a few times, Haryeong buried her face in my chest and started to cry softly.
Feeling my chest getting damp, I thought, “Hmm, this is a new outfit.”
I hope her nose doesn’t run…
*
“Do you want to sleep a bit? Should I cook something for you?”
“N-no, I’m fine.”
Now that Haryeong had regained her senses, she couldn’t look directly into Kayak’s eyes. An adult crying and seeking comfort from someone else like a baby?
And Kayak is younger than Haryeong! Haryeong is older than Kayak!
In truth, the dignity of being the elder had long since vanished. Kayak had already jumped in to resolve the earlier broadcasting issue too.
I’m just grateful that she rushed over like this. Haryeong was hesitant to contact her, worried about being a burden, but for her to come right away like this…
“Have you talked to the police?”
“Well, the thing is… there’s no solid evidence, and they say it doesn’t seem serious enough, so they won’t help.”
Of all the places for a stalker to chase her, it had to be a blind spot with no CCTV.
The doorbell ringing each time doesn’t count as evidence, and the emails she got from the stalker were indistinguishable from those sent by dozens of malicious viewers. Even the security guard who she sought help from hadn’t seen a trace of the stalker.
“It’s frustrating, isn’t it? The police must be short-staffed too.”
“Yeah… I guess I’ll have to stay indoors for a while. I’m even thinking about moving…”
Kayak, with her arms crossed and eyes closed in thought, finally spoke up.
“There’s a temporary solution I can suggest. Would you like to hear it?”
“A solution…?”
Haryeong’s eyes widened, and Kayak continued.
“Why don’t you live with me for a while?”
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