When I started Suspecting my Wife of Cheating, I Somehow Ended up Living in the Middle of Nowhere - Episode 26

Early in the morning, the doorbell rang. When I opened the door, there was a pink-haired girl bowing deeply on the ground.

What the heck?! What is happening!? Has my mind finally started showing me hallucinations?
My wife’s affair, the divorce, my father’s violence toward my mother, her hospitalization, moving to the countryside, and finding out my daughters were YouTubers…

One event after another kept unfolding right before my eyes, constantly changing my life. My heart just couldn’t keep up anymore.
That’s why I must be seeing such bizarre hallucinations.

Even Doctor Jung and Doctor Freud wouldn’t have seen this coming!
Open the door and boom — pink hair, bowing down!

If I had my dreams interpreted, it would probably reveal just how messed up my mental state is right now.

I don’t know how long I stood there frozen. My hand was still gripping the doorknob.

“Dad! Please let her inside! The neighbors will start gossiping!”
My elder daughter’s mature words snapped me back to reality. I called out to the pink-haired girl and invited her inside.

After seating the pink-haired girl at the living room table and serving her tea, she kept bowing her head, saying, “I’m so sorry.”

For now, I sat across the table to hear her out. My daughters sat a little ways off, watching quietly from some cushions.

The pink-haired YouTuber kept glancing nervously at my daughters.

“Um, about that scene at the door…”
“Yes! I’m so sorry!”

The conversation was going nowhere. Things were getting complicated.

“I’m a small, independent YouTuber,” she explained.

A small independent YouTuber…?

“My subscriber count was high for a while, but growth completely stalled, and now I’m pretty much waiting for my channel to die… I got worried about my future, so when I saw the ad for this village offering free rent, I jumped at the chance…”

This sounded worlds away from the glamorous world I imagined of YouTubers.

“I figured I’d stay as long as I could and, if it didn’t work out, I’d just figure something out later…”

She still looked like she was just barely twenty years old…
Is this what today’s youth are like? I couldn’t help but worry.

“And…?”

Surely she didn’t come all this way just to confess that.

“Yes! Um, thanks to KumaKumaMyu and Nyatan appearing on my channel, my subscribers skyrocketed! I came to thank you and…”
She glanced over at my daughters again.

“I know it’s incredibly presumptuous, but I was hoping we could continue collaborating…”

Even I know what a “collab” is. It means appearing in each other’s videos, right?

“That’s for my daughters to decide…”
“Absolutely! But first, I wanted to ask for your permission, sir…”

Why did this feel oddly similar to asking for a daughter’s hand in marriage?

As I hesitated, the pink-haired YouTuber dropped to the floor again in a deep bow.

“I’m terribly sorry to be so forward, but please! Please collaborate with me!”

She seemed desperate, like her livelihood depended on it.

“Big Sis, can’t we help her out?”
I asked my elder daughter, feeling pity for the pink-haired girl.

“Hmmm… when it comes to videos, Chii-chan is the main one, not me…”
“Eh!? Me!?”

Chieri flailed in panic as the conversation was suddenly thrown her way.

“I didn’t even know you were doing something like that, Chieri. I’m impressed, and I’m sure it wasn’t easy… but there’s someone here who’s clearly in trouble…”

“Wait, wait! I’m not reluctant! And it’s not like I was trying hard!”

I couldn’t quite grasp what was happening.

“I really do love playing guitar. I just uploaded practice videos for myself… somehow, the settings were wrong and they were public… and it accidentally started gaining views…”

She kept waving her hands nervously — clearly telling the truth.

“People treated it like a ‘forgotten private video’ or something, and it went viral. Before I knew it, I had over 100,000 subscribers…”

I glanced at the pink-haired YouTuber.

“Yes… that’s totally possible. And 100,000 is amazing!”

Apparently, it was a big deal.

“Then people started sending requests. I played them, and got comments like, ‘It’s so cute how she’s trying so hard even though she’s bad,’ which made me mad, so I practiced like crazy… then I started getting actual advice from people…”

I looked again at the pink-haired girl.

“Fighting with viewers — that’s classic livestream ‘pro wrestling’.”

Apparently, it’s a thing — mock arguments between streamers and viewers to keep engagement up.

Though in Chieri’s case, it sounded more like genuine frustration rather than playing it up.
Still, maybe her viewers were good people, teasing her just enough and getting genuine reactions.
I could imagine it vividly.

“Dad, aren’t you mad that we’ve been doing this?”

My elder daughter asked. Chieri nodded beside her.

“I was surprised. But you two are my precious daughters — of course you’d be popular. My only concern is keeping weirdos away.”

I had heard about stalkers and online creeps. I had to protect them!

“Thank you, Dad!”
My elder daughter threw herself into my arms. She was very expressive — I wonder who she gets it from?

“…Thank you.”
Chieri was more reserved. Maybe she had been hiding this from me out of guilt, which explained her distant behavior recently.

“Since we’re family, let’s be honest about everything…”

I decided to ask about something that had been on my mind.

“Those three grandsons of the village chief… they seem to be showing interest in you two. What do you think about that?”

That was what I really wanted to know.

“Umm… after everything with Mom’s boyfriend, guys kinda scare me…”
My elder daughter clung tighter to my neck — seemed she had a mild fear of men now.

“Annoying,” Chieri said bluntly. But it seemed she felt the same way.

“If they push too hard, tell me. I’ll talk to the village chief.”

“But Dad, you’re getting jobs from him, right? Wouldn’t that cause problems?”

Apparently, my elder daughter was worrying about me in the weirdest ways.

“Nothing’s more important than you two. I’d give up the house if I had to! As long as the three of us are together, we’ll figure it out!”

“Thank you!”
“…”

Hugging both my daughters, we reaffirmed our bond.

When I glanced back at the pink-haired YouTuber, I realized she was crying.

“Families are so wonderful… I’m so jealous!”

Hey, you’re not much older than my daughters, you know. Your parents must still be around.

“Anyway, about the collab…”

The pink-haired YouTuber — “Cecilun” — looked up at us from her bowing posture.

“Please, at least lift your head.”

Having an older girl groveling like that must have made my daughters uncomfortable. My elder daughter hurried to help her up.

“If it’s okay with me… right, Chii-chan? Right?”

Seems like my elder daughter was the type to cave under pressure. I worried a little about her future.

“…As long as it’s about the village.”

Chieri folded her arms, skeptical, but seeing her sister’s attitude, she relented.

Hearing that, the pink-haired YouTuber skipped happily away, bowing deeply (almost 180 degrees!) as she left.

Being in the entertainment world is tough…

(Ding-dong)

Just when I thought Cecilun had left, the doorbell rang again.
Had she forgotten something!?

I was debating whether to answer via intercom or just go to the door directly when the bell rang again.
So restless — but maybe it was just her age (early 20s, if I remember right).

“Alright, alright. Did you forget something?”

I opened the door with a big smile to avoid making her feel embarrassed.