Can't Breathe? Ah!! The Viewers Were Trolling Me!! (2)

I'd already gotten permission. Time for a reporter to read the code of conduct, right?

Reporters have their own philosophy, too… you know, that thing. Like the Hippocratic Oath. Or a prosecutor's oath. Or the Nightingale Pledge. There's got to be one.

"Oh… oh!! There it is."

Found it. Code of Ethics and Practice Guidelines.

Defend freedom of the press, fair reporting… legitimate newsgathering… protect privacy, correct misinformation, do not stoke conflict or discrimination.

Oh no. This was real trouble. Real, genuine trouble.

These were exactly the bad things I'd been about to do!!

I'd planned to mass-produce fake news and throw Seona Server into chaos.

D… does that mean I can't be a real reporter?

Ah!! Wait. Seona Server is a lawless zone.

All I had to do was write a brand-new true press code of ethics and practice guidelines starting now.

I decide what real journalism looks like on our GTA server. This place is a free-for-all, after all.

I'd been thinking like an idiot for nothing.

"In that case…"

I opened Notepad and started typing hard.

"Defend freedom of the press, unfair reporting… illegitimate newsgathering… ehehehe, I just have to write the opposite of everything. Super easy."

Maybe it was because smart people had wrung their brains dry making the original, but flipping every line produced exactly the kind of reporter I wanted.

Ah, I was a Hong Gil-dong style reporter. Kind, honest, and cool to the weak—but merciless and terrifying to the wicked.

That kind of cool reporter.

"Ehehehe. Ehehehe. Working for Seona Server again. Seona Server has no one but Seona."

Anyway, the script for today was already done… so I should go live, right?

I hit the stream button right away.

A thought hit me—maybe I should check the cafe for the first time in a while? Between games, I barely did cafe tours on stream anymore.

If anything, skimming a few posts and talking about them already ate the whole time.

Read it at home? That was hard now. I didn't have free time spilling out of my pockets the way I used to.

Time was brutally short. I had to draw, too. That was the biggest problem.

An hour of paper drawing practice at home, then another hour after stream once I got back… time was completely, utterly insufficient.

"Hello, everyone!! I've brought a really good concept today."

Heh. Was this the kind of person I was? Getting a standing ovation just for bringing a script… this felt wrong.

Like the kid who always scored a 10 on tests getting praised for a 40… that awkward situation.

Like the straight-A student (another 100 this time) going, "Oh, you must have studied really hard," to my face.

How low had the bar been.

"Um, I just got mirror therapy."

"Um, I realized how unprepared you all think I am. I actually prep a ton, you know."

Heh heh. Grown-up Seona was scary.

She was trying to absorb even this now? Doing things she never would have dared think about back in the day.

Wait!! Back in the day? I lowered my gaze and checked the viewer count.

Somewhere along the way I'd become a streamer who didn't obsess over viewer numbers. Obsessing over content instead… should I like that… or not… either way, both were a continuous parade of suffering.

"Ooh? What the—?! Is this a bug?"

Why were 800 people watching? I hadn't even been live for ten minutes. What? What was this? An error? A bug? What?

"No, it's not that. Guys. Why did my viewer count go up? Why are so many of you watching me? Why? What's the reason? Anyone who can explain."

I asked with genuine, full sincerity.

Why were so many people watching? What even was this? I couldn't understand it, so I scratched the back of my head.

"W… wait a second."

I pulled up the famous quote from AncientJjangjjang-nim that I'd saved.

I'd saved it because someday I wanted to prove it wrong—because I really wanted to change it.

A flood of opinions poured in. So nothing had changed yet. A shame.

I'd thought I had, but still… then again—positive thinking.

Good mindset. Injecting… beep… beeep.

"They say habits from age three last till eighty, right? I am changing. The interval is just a little long. Thank you, everyone."

I shot to my feet and bowed at the waist.

Honestly, they deserved the thanks. I didn't rewatch my own VODs either. If someone didn't write a timeline for me, I wouldn't watch either.

Huh? They were saying weird things again. Ah. Ah. Of course, I did have graduation goals.

Meaning, uh. First, hit one million on YouTube, thirty thousand concurrent. Until I earned enough to buy a Seoul apartment.

And for Pyeong-nim as an alpha… Pyeong-nim too… Pyeong-nim to Gyeonggi-do… Seoul was too expensive. A new build instead… those were expensive too. No. When you spend, you spend.

"Um, I can't graduate yet. My office costs. To hit a million on YouTube… how much is left."

Anyway!! Growth. Growth… I'd only talked about it, but I'd actually grown? I'd grown so coolly!!

"Wait, YouTube. Uh!! Seventy thousand what—!! Why did I grow this much? What? Nine hundred thirty thousand left? Huh? This is disorienting."

"Cry? Why? If I cry, what. I'm busy. I prepped so much today, I've got a whooole lot to do. When am I supposed to cry, wipe, and go game? Yeah. Time is precious. Cry for me instead. Post it on the cafe and we'll all watch together. I'll see how heartbroken you cried. Yeah. I'll watch."

Hmm… why was I the villain here? A rational human making the optimal choice with logical judgment seemed right to me.

Again, again they were dogpiling me.

Nothing I could do. This was probably also growing pains. Once it passed, it'd be a memory.

"Anyway so, to summarize. What was it? Ah, GTA only through today. Today is important. A really important day. I planned something with Nemmo-nim. She's thinking about it right now. She said she'd get back to me."

The moment I finished, a flood of "gasp"s rolled in with a donation.

"Whitewash? What whitewash? Does Nemmo-nim not wash either?"

Community? Huh? Was this a big deal? Whenever community talk came up, it was usually a big deal.

Get involved and the emails started flooding in, people raided the cafe, that kind of thing.

Was Nemmo-nim that kind of person? What kind of controversy was it.

That people would blow up this hard? I got curious. I'd been watching chat for a while when I heard the shocking news.

"A boyfriend? She got caught with a boyfriend?"

My eyes went wide. No, wait. That thing…

I squeezed my eyes shut and thought. There was that important thing.

"Ah. That. What was it. Ah… so. Ah!! Did she take the Oath of Celibacy? Did she do that one? Did Nemmo-nim take that oath? If she didn't, there's no problem. How is it a bad thing if you never signed a contract. I did it. I took that one and got donations pouring in. Back then I really wanted to spam oaths, you know. Take one oath and they'd go 'good job, you're so precious' and dump donations on me… any more left."

I just spectated the chat. Honestly the speed was so fast I couldn't read it.

I'd thought I was used to high speed and could keep up, but this was the first time it'd been even faster.

"Tsk…"

I rubbed both eyes. I couldn't do this one. No matter how I thought about it. Couldn't.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I can keep that oath."

I really was sorry. Under normal circumstances I'd want to do it for them… but if I played Jong-game with my personality, it'd be the same as running a speedrun of killing my stream.

What was this one even saying. More importantly. Kos?

"Kos? Kos-nim. Huh? I feel like I should remember. Kos? Kos. Why is that familiar? I've heard that name somewhere. Uh… uh… wait. Kos? Kos? Ah!!! Subcontract Captain. That's Subcontract Captain, right? You were the captain back when I was a subcontractor. Right? Right?"

It came back. When I played Rust, he'd been the Subcontract Captain.

Was he doing well? Hearing the name after so long felt nice.

"Is Kos-nim doing well? Back when I played Rust he was my Subcontract Captain."

Ah… a lot of people didn't know because it was a term I'd invented myself.

Obviously for these people I should say "small-fry manager." That would land, right?

"So. On servers like Rust, structurally you're doomed to be a supporting cast, right? You know that? The person who systematically manages that—I tried making that role. So I'm the subcontractor. Big-corp subcontract. Then I grind and gather. Then I hand it over to the Subcontract Captain. Then the Subcontract Captain grinds and builds the base. You get the vibe, right?"

Huh? Why was this sad? Chat had turned into a sea of tears.

People saying they were going to go yell at Motteok-nim, people making Kos-nim into the villain.

That wasn't how it was supposed to go.

"No. It's not like that. He worked hard. Yeah. Better ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than 'boo.' Go with cool, the best. If you're going to say anything. You know I have a need for recognition."

As expected, a bunch of contrarians. Honestly I hadn't expected much either. Ehehehe. I'd grown a ridiculous amount myself, after all.

I knew almost everything now. I'd studied, learned, and used so much across so many situations.

High-level Seona can't be stopped~!!

"I was in a good mood, can we keep it wholesome… uh… days like this are rare. Our room doesn't have a washing machine. We have to go to the coin laundry to run it."

What even was whitewashing. How did you do it.

You had to tell me first so I could do it or not!! How was I supposed to know.

I was just curious about Shape World. Wasn't this interesting? I was curious.

Why were they this angry? This wouldn't do. I had to make them less angry.

How could I make their anger go away?

I spent five minutes looking at viewer ideas and thinking.

I came up with the best idea.

First, the facts in the current situation: the two of them had declared they had no relationship whatsoever. Just close colleagues. And they'd even said they'd sue over the false rumors. If they'd gone that far, well, it was probably ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠really not true.

And yet Subcontract Captain's name was still taboo, and just mentioning him made people lose it.

That much was fact.

In that case.

"Should we invite Subcontract Captain to our Seona Server? How about it? Yeah, see with your own two eyes that the two of them are nothing to each other. Wouldn't that cool everyone off? Big bro. I'll definitely bring Subcontract Captain and confirm for you that their relationship is nothing. How about it? Anger gone?"

Half liked it, half worried.

But the two of them said no, right? Then it wasn't true.

"What is whitewashing? Seriously? No, according to chat, you said it was overblown. Just a coincidence. Both of them said no, right? They're saying they'll sue!! Then neither of them has any real problem. I'll ask separately. Subcontract Captain. Yeah. Their relationship is nothing anyway, right? Right? Anger gone now?"

What on earth was whitewashing? I'd thought I'd grown, but I was still lacking.

I was freshly reminded that a real human always has more to learn.