It’s a best-friend V-log, but we’re not actually best friends - Chapter 20

Eun-Sol spoke seriously, then covered his own mouth. At that, Min Baek-Ha was left speechless.

What he had done—changing his pheromones in that moment—was meant to stimulate an omega.

On top of that, since he still couldn’t control it perfectly, it had probably been stronger than intended.

Since they were both dominants, he thought it would have some effect—but apparently, it hadn’t worked at all. It felt like all his energy had just drained away.

“…I’ve got a long way to go.”

Letting out a faint sigh, Baek-Ha glanced at Eun-Sol, who was making a big fuss to himself about whether he should report it somewhere.

“What? What’s far? The Board of Education?”

“……”

Eun-Sol looked like he was seriously considering it. Seeing that made Baek-Ha feel oddly frustrated, but he didn’t show it.

“Just talking to myself. And there’s no need to go anywhere. It’s not ‘killing intent,’ it’s stimulation phero—”

Baek-Ha stopped mid-sentence when he met Eun-Sol’s innocent eyes. Then he turned his head away.

“…It’s just… something like that.”

“…What is? Why’d you stop talking halfway?”

‘Is he crazy?’

Eun-Sol frowned. Saying something halfway and stopping like that just left him feeling deflated.

He was about to say something else to Baek-Ha when the bell for the end of second period rang.

“Second period’s over—”

—BANG!

The classroom door slammed open, followed by the sound of someone rushing in like a charging bull. Eun-Sol’s round shoulders jerked upward in surprise. Both he and Baek-Ha turned toward the noise.

Standing at the door was Yoon Chang-Soo, holding a roll of toilet paper.

“You guys… I saw everything.”

Panting, Chang-Soo stepped into the classroom and continued meaningfully,

“You were mentioned on Crub Shot. You two really are—”

“Hey!! Eun-Sol! Min Baek-Ha!! What are you going to do?”

Kim Soo-Yeon, in her gym clothes, shoved Chang-Soo aside as she cut him off mid-sentence. Other students followed behind, their eyes full of curiosity as they bombarded Eun-Sol and Baek-Ha with questions.

“Ah, damn! I was going to ask first!”

“Yo, this is insane. At this rate, there’ll be a whole thread about you guys on MET U’s community.”

“What’s a thread?”

“Ah, you know. If you guys blow up, it’ll feel like you’re celebrities.”

Eun-Sol and Baek-Ha exchanged glances.

Not long after, both of their faces turned pale.

From then on, every break time, students gathered around them and completely drained their energy.

Meanwhile, Kim Soo-Yeon, eyes sparkling, asked eagerly,

“When are you doing the announcement broadcast? Did you decide on a channel name?”

Eun-Sol and Baek-Ha blinked blankly, having not thought about it at all.

“What, you haven’t decided anything? The announcement broadcast is easy—you just go live. But you should’ve picked a channel name.”

She had a point. Eun-Sol nodded in agreement. He thought about it briefly, but unfortunately, his imagination wasn’t that great. As he struggled, everyone’s attention focused on him.

Then suddenly, Eun-Sol snapped his fingers and smiled brightly.

“Friend Vlog! How about it?”

“…What are we going to do about his sense, seriously.”

“…Is it… that bad?”

Eun-Sol’s expression quickly fell, and Kim Soo-Yeon and Yoon Chang-Soo exchanged serious whispers.

Watching quietly from the side, Baek-Ha spoke coolly,

“It’s not bad. If you’re so great, why don’t you come up with something?”

“Hey, relax. I was just about to come up with something amazing.”

As Kim Soo-Yeon grinned playfully, Baek-Ha thought for a moment before speaking.

“How about ‘Besties’?”

“That’s good.”

“Besties Vlog? It even sounds cute.”

“Besties”—it felt fresh and adorable.

Eun-Sol nodded enthusiastically, a soft smile spreading across his face. When their eyes met, Baek-Ha smiled too.

There was still the announcement broadcast to do, and many obstacles ahead—

But maybe because he was doing it with his best friend,

Once he set aside his worries, his chest felt pleasantly ticklish, and he started looking forward to how fun it would be.

And just a little…

He felt excited.

***

Not long after deciding on the channel name, Min Baek-Ha got his mother’s permission faster than Eun-Sol expected.

Seeing him proudly show even a written pledge, Eun-Sol laughed so hard. When Baek-Ha suddenly held out a white sheet of paper in front of his house, Eun-Sol instinctively leaned his head back in confusion.

Baek-Ha smirked and said,

“Mom agreed in one second.”

Lowering his gaze, Eun-Sol scanned the neatly written text on the paper. The straight, elegant handwriting stood out. When he looked up again, Baek-Ha was wearing a smug expression.

It looked so childish and innocent that Eun-Sol couldn’t stop laughing. Without saying anything, he just held his stomach and laughed, while Baek-Ha stared at him like he was crazy.

The reason Eun-Sol had told him to get permission was because his mother worried a lot. Even if he skipped just one meal, she’d ask if he was sick and try to take him to the ER.

But hearing that she agreed in one second made Eun-Sol think maybe he had worried for nothing.

Seventeen years old, first year of high school.

An age where it’s not too late to have big dreams—no, an early age.

Having a dream in itself was something to be happy about.

For Min Baek-Ha, who had been living empty before, finally finding a dream—

Eun-Sol couldn’t even imagine how happy his mother must have been.

Smiling, Eun-Sol scrunched his nose and met Baek-Ha’s eyes.

“Alright, let’s decide what to do for the announcement broadcast.”

And so, today became the day of their first announcement broadcast together.

It had been surprisingly hard to pick a date because of exams.

Eun-Sol and Baek-Ha were good students—top 10 in their grade. But that didn’t mean they only studied.

When they played, they really played.

Just like any other high school boys, they went to PC cafés, sang at karaoke, and even stayed up all night playing soccer after school.

Anyway, when choosing the broadcast date, they somehow both settled—almost as if planned—on the Wednesday right before exams.

Today.

Eun-Sol suggested they keep it simple and just stream from their classroom after school, and Baek-Ha agreed.

The classroom after school was as quiet as ever. The only difference was that the cold lingering chill had passed, replaced by a warm spring breeze.

“Are we uploading the raw live too?”

And the space that had always been slightly lonely because he was alone—

was now filled by his friend, Min Baek-Ha.

Eun-Sol, who had set up the tripod by the window like usual, turned his head back. Baek-Ha was sitting on a desk, hands resting between his spread legs.

Even though the classroom felt wide and empty with no students, having his closest friend there made it feel full. Thinking about it himself, Eun-Sol found it ridiculous and let out a small laugh.

“No, I’ll edit the raw footage before uploading it.”

Baek-Ha, watching the slight smile on his lips, tilted his head.

“Really? Then where do you watch the raw?”

“You don’t. You can’t. MET U blocked that.”

“Why?”

Baek-Ha didn’t understand and asked for an explanation. Eun-Sol paused for a moment, then turned his head slightly.

“In the early days, people would illegally record streams and upload them to other platforms. Not the creators—the subscribers.”

“Why?”

“Probably to promote creators they liked. But people said it was the wrong way to do it. It did bring more users to MET U, though… but it’s still illegal.”

“Ah.”

Baek-Ha nodded, understanding.

Eun-Sol continued explaining—how now only the creator and designated admins could see the raw footage, while edited videos had fewer restrictions, which sometimes drew people back to the platform.

After finishing, Eun-Sol suddenly stopped speaking and stared at Baek-Ha.

Maybe because Baek-Ha’s panic attacks were still etched in his mind—

Even though doing things together with a friend should be exciting, a small worry quietly began to grow inside him.