Every country has different nicknames for women's chatter, they say.
In Korean proverbs, there's a saying that when three women gather, dishes break. And in English-speaking countries, there's the term "girl talk" too.
As for other maxims... well, there are many that put women down, so let's set those aside.
Anyway, it's not necessarily a bad thing.
No matter how equal men and women are in today's world, physical and mental differences stemming from genetic variations inevitably exist.
For instance, women have more of the FOXP2 language gene protein, which is why they typically acquire language earlier than boys.
Of course, there are individual differences based on inherited genetics, parenting styles, and environment.
But that's how it is in most cases.
Take Gabi, for example. Her language scores were always better than mine.
Korean, English, and even second foreign languages.
Of course, we both maintained top grades in exams, but I remember Gabi particularly excelled in literature.
And she was quite talkative too.
When we had conversations, Gabi initiated them 99% of the time.
But apparently, what Gabi used to say back then was just the tip of the iceberg.
With Jaemin, she chatted away, completely losing track of time.
Jaemin was still communicating with viewers since she was streaming, but the main content of this gathering was the chatter with Gabi.
"How did you meet Noel? How long have you been friends?"
"We've been together since kindergarten. We lived in the same neighborhood, so we always went to the same schools, and coincidentally were assigned to the same classes. Oh, but we went to different universities since our majors diverged."
"Ah, so you're childhood friends. You must have been heartbroken when contact was cut off."
"You have no idea. At first, I thought she was just busy with assignments, but then she changed her phone number, and I thought she'd cut me off completely. I never imagined her parents would lock her up and turn her into a shut-in..."
"Ah... It really seems like her parents wanted Noel to be born a boy. Maybe they were even more upset because she didn't go to the university they wanted."
"Who knows. Noel went to a pre—wait, should I be talking about this on stream? Anyway, it was a prestigious university. Maybe that wasn't enough to satisfy them."
After breaking the ice with my story, the two soon shifted to discussing their interests like favorite foods and songs.
Having done nothing but study all my life, with gaming as my only stress relief, I couldn't join in and just blankly stared at the viewers' chat.
The camera was focused on Jaemin, but I could see the phone screen from my angle.
Thanks to that, I could satisfy my curiosity about what the viewers were saying.
- JoHanna: They're really enjoying their chat lol
- HSoo20: For real, no one can stop Jaemin when she gets going...
- Dupin0392: But that's why we watch lol. She'll be in the middle of CS and suddenly start arguing with viewers about whether sundae goes with soybean paste or chili sauce lol
- MainBaseTripleNexus: Sundae is best with salt, you tasteless fools
- Chromi: ? Sundae should be dipped in tteokbokki sauce, amateurs
- Clotho: It's both, youngsters
They were chatting along with the rapidly changing conversation topics, catching and running with whatever tangents came up.
Maybe I'd be better suited to chatting with them.
I've become more accustomed to text than speech.
But it would be rude to take out my phone at the dining table with others.
So I couldn't chat with them, even though I could easily join Celesti's stream.
So I just let Gabi and Jaemin talk while quietly sipping my water.
Then a particular chat caught my eye.
- Hellix9383: I think there's an issue with that soup restaurant we went to earlier
- Average50: Oh? Why?
- TearingApart: After Jaemin and Noel left, someone posted a video of a server talking to themselves on SNS
- InfiPanDanLaWi: For real, the timing of that video was uncanny
- AlkalineLemon: They said they were filming because the employee was rude
- RioChampSpam: Maybe they were just excited to see Jaemin and Noel together and happened to catch this lol
They were talking about the soup restaurant we visited before coming to the tteokbokki place.
It wasn't a particularly memorable place, but we hadn't left with bad feelings either.
From what they were saying, though, it seemed there was some unpleasant aftermath.
And Jaemin, being a professional streamer, didn't miss it.
"Oh, did something happen at the soup restaurant?"
- SurpriseWitnessWorshipper: Maybe it's better not to know, it seems like it's over already
- TearingApart: Yeah but the kids already mentioned it and Jaemin saw it...
- QueenLexia: If she hadn't seen anything, we could have just moved on, but now that she has, it would be weirder not to explain
"Soup restaurant? The place we tried to go earlier?"
"Yeah. We left because there wasn't space for a wheelchair. But it seems there's another story. Can someone share the link?"
- TearingApart: (This link has been blocked.)
- TearingApart: Oh, link censorship lol
- QueenLexia: lol One down
"It's okay. I can see it with admin privileges."
The link shared by a viewer showed a video of us, apparently filmed by someone dining at the soup restaurant earlier.
Fortunately, everyone's faces were blurred, but it wasn't hard to tell who was who.
After all, with my hair color and wheelchair, I couldn't help but stand out.
["Would it be okay if I leave the wheelchair somewhere else?"]
["That looks expensive, and we can't be responsible if someone takes it."]
["Hmm, then we have no choice. Let's go, Noel."]
["Celesti, I'm sorry. It's because of me."]
["No, it's fine. It can't be helped since it's crowded."]
The video showed us leaving the soup restaurant.
Up to that point, it was just a normal video of us leaving because there was no space for the wheelchair.
But the employee's words that followed were difficult to simply brush off:
["Ugh, is disability a privilege or what? Trying to get special treatment."]
["Huh? Danbi, what happened?"]
["No, that person in the wheelchair just now. You know how some people think special treatment is their right? It's already crowded, and they're asking if we can move furniture that's hard to move, or if they should leave their wheelchair somewhere else, talking like that."]
["Oh my, they said that?"]
["They didn't curse outright, but you know those electric wheelchairs are expensive. The implication was like, 'Can you take responsibility if this gets lost?' That kind of tone."]
["Wow..."]
The colleague's sigh after hearing what the employee said about our conversation before we left.
That was exactly what I wanted to say.
Did I really say something like that?
Did they really interpret it that way?
I felt wronged, but I couldn't cry foul.
Words can be interpreted differently by different people.
No matter how well-intentioned my words were, I might have expressed myself poorly, leading to such a misunderstanding.
"It's a misunderstanding. I absolutely didn't mean it that way... When they said I couldn't approach the table while sitting in my wheelchair, I offered to leave the wheelchair elsewhere and sit in a chair. But they said there was a risk of theft, so we just left. If there was any misunderstanding..."
"No, Noel, you didn't say anything wrong. It was just a misunderstanding. When people are busy working, they can get irritated and misinterpret things. Everyone, please don't be too harsh on them."
Seriously, being with Jaemin means having a mountain of things to explain.
At least this time, Jaemin stepped up to defend me.
- TearingApart: For real, Noel did nothing wrong
- QueenLexia: Like Jaemin said, they were probably just stressed from work
- SilverPanthea: When you're irritated, even kind words can sound strange...
- Flashlight3722: It's frustrating how everyone's pretending to be nice... that person was just twisted
- SOLMEE: The real problem is how openly they gossiped lol They should have at least made sure no one could hear
- SweetPotato: They probably thought it didn't matter since we couldn't hear them lol but surprise, someone was filming
- BLM7758: They say daytime words are heard by birds, and evening words make me want ramen lol These days there are CCTVs everywhere and anyone could be pointing a phone at you
- SilverPanthea: Isn't it "evening words"?
- ColdNoodleRice: Recommend some good ramen for mixing with rice
- TearingApart: Snack noodles are the standard
- Ovvee: That's viral marketing, the trend is sesame ramen
- ColdNoodleRice: Taste amateurs, the best ramens for rice are mushroom soup ramen and cold noodle nest ramen
- ColdNoodleRice: Oops, wrong account
- QueenLexia: lol Caught using multiple accounts, huh?
Perhaps that's why all the viewers took our side.
Maybe I was in the wrong.
Whether they were blindly supporting me or had made their own judgment, I don't know.
But having so many people believe in me made my heart swell.
I'd never experienced anything like this before.
When I had to explain about the cheating accusations, I was alone. When I needed to prove to Gabi that I was Yoon Noel, I had to do it by myself.
But this time, without any effort on my part, viewers stepped forward as witnesses.
Yes, many people had been watching the whole scene, so that served as proof.
Still, I was so grateful that I unexpectedly choked up.
How strange.
I thought my tears had dried up from all the beatings from my father.
Who knew I'd get teary-eyed over something like this?
"Noel, I wasn't there, but... people are saying it wasn't your fault. Don't cry. It's okay."
As my lips trembled, Gabi was the first to pat my back comfortingly.
That should have calmed me down.
Instead, the tears that had welled up in my eyes streamed down.
"No, I'm just grateful to everyone... I've only ever been criticized, so having people defend me is just too..."
This must be because I've become a woman.
That's why my emotions are exploding uncontrollably.
...In the end, that could be my fault too.
But at least I didn't do anything wrong this time.
That's what matters.