Can't Breathe? Ah!! So the Viewers Were Framing Me!! (3)
"First, I will now announce my Code of Ethics and Practice Guidelines. Protecting only my own freedom of the press, unfair reporting…, collecting information by improper means…, zero privacy protection, never correcting false reports, and actively stoking conflict and discrimination. I will do my utmost to put these into practice."
I read out the RP oath I'd prepared so carefully.
I really thought I'd nailed it.
But why was the reaction like this? It was the complete opposite of what I'd expected.
"Why am I the bad guy?"
I could put up with anything else, but I could not stand being called bad. After how honestly I'd lived?
Someone who lied as little as me… who spoke so straight… yeah, people as consistently truthful as me were rare.
"I'm not a bad person. Why am I bad?"
What was so chill-inducing? These people jumped to conclusions and made wild leaps way too fast. They constantly described things I'd never intended as if I'd actually done them.
This had to be another one of those times. But humans were creatures of curiosity.
I wanted to know why. I needed to know. Whatever it was, it had poked my curiosity awake.
"Why? Anyone want to explain? I'll give you a hamburger. I genuinely don't know."
Hamburgers really were incredible.
Suddenly it was like a whole faculty of PhDs had shown up. Papers came pouring in.
I skipped anything too long and focused on the ones that were short enough and actually made sense.
"I deliberately name-dropped her to set up a dogpile… then kill her with a reporter RP…? That is not what this is!! What kind of insane conspiracy theory is that."
It truly made no sense.
So according to them, I'd deliberately brought up Nem-mo to dogpile her… planted the reporter bait in advance, mentioned Nem-mo a little, then just happened to whip out a reporter RP at the perfect moment to dig into Nem-mo and Subcontract Captain's relationship.
That was a coincidence stacked on a coincidence stacked on another coincidence. And let me be perfectly clear.
I was not smart enough to think that many steps ahead!!
But being overestimated this hard actually felt pretty good. Ehehehe.
Oh? That was it? You should've just said so. Heheh.
So that was how my viewers saw me. Hehe.
"I see!!"
Ehehehe. Getting treated like a genius felt amazing.
They thought that hard about me? Ehehehe.
I couldn't stop laughing. I just sat there laughing for a while. What was I supposed to do when I was this happy!!
"Ahahaha. Ahahaha!!"
Only after I'd laughed myself out could I pull it together.
Once I did, I checked the chat atmosphere first thing.
"That's not it!! I'll prove it to you in the game."
I just had to prove them wrong. Easy enough.
Same as always — no tension, nice and slow.
"It's not hard. Not hard at all. Anyway."
I'd shown them my whole heart… so now I opened the community café.
Been a while since I'd checked the café. Games could wait. The café was the kind of thing that kept getting postponed if I didn't look now.
"Time for a long-overdue café tour."
I logged into the café. It was so peaceful in there. People posting what they'd eaten, reposting comedy threads, or asking when I was coming back.
Ah, and every so often someone writing fan stories.
People recommending games. People analyzing game stories.
"This is nice."
Hmm… the chat was doing all the overreacting. They were acting like they were just waiting for me to slip up.
Honestly. Grown-up Seona could see right through that kind of thing.
Well, not because I'd grown — because I'd been taught. Be extremely careful, they'd said. One verbal slip and people would spin it into the wildest theories, so watch every word twice over.
Ah, of course, if you were entertaining, even mistakes were fine. No — even actual crimes got a pass. Streaming wasn't a documentary, right? People watched to have fun. Did you really need to know how clean the person was? That was most people's mindset.
But a streamer who never messed up and also wasn't fun? No one watched them.
Those people ended up as well-liked but still-tiny named small-timers. Because they were missing the one essential thing about streaming — entertainment. They had everything else… it was kind of sad.
"There you go again. No. That was a real compliment."
I waved my hands as I said it. How was I supposed to keep them from twisting my words?
Every single thing I said, they found a way to nitpick. Was there any way to break out of this?
"Hmm… no idea."
Still beyond my current growth level. I gave up fast and refocused on the stream.
Looking through the café was always fascinating.
"Whoa… this is actually long."
There were so many people pouring real passion into this.
If I absolutely had to play this game, would it feel like… a lifelong wish? They were practically begging me to try it.
From the full story to the important parts… a few key points and a short plot outline that looked deliberately written for someone who, as they well knew, would never actually read the story.
This person was smart enough to include a three-line summary, too.
But the timing was unfortunate. I already had a game planned for today, and I couldn't even promise I'd remember this post tomorrow.
I closed the café and said, full of energy:
"Going to play a game. Today I'm a reporter. Ah, one second."
Right. Right. Looking through the café, I'd almost forgotten to call Subcontract Captain.
"One moment, everyone. Hang out among yourselves. I'll wrap this up quick."
The moment Nem-mo entered the server, she was hit with a shocking rumor.
"Ah… um… yeah. I already told you it has nothing to do with me, right~?"
It was that Kos had shown up. The two of them had explained everything away as pure coincidence.
It had all started when someone dug up Nem-mo's secret account. Alongside the photos she posted often were new ones.
Nothing dramatic. Night skies, the ocean, food brags.
If anything, they looked like the quiet snapshots of an ordinary, peaceful day.
The secret account itself seemed fine.
But among the handful of people it followed, someone also found Kos's secret account.
An undeniable slip — an ID he'd once used on a side account — had gotten him caught in the most ridiculous way.
The poster claimed Kos's secret account had uploaded backgrounds that looked like they'd been shot on the same day, in the same place.
That tiny seed of suspicion spread like wildfire. Matching six-month hiatuses. An official tweet saying, "Ate something spicy, my stomach hurts."
Then a spicy food photo appearing on the secret account. Both of them.
They never mentioned each other, and yet everything lined up a little too well.
Or Nem-mo would slip and say Kos's real name on stream.
All of it, they insisted, was coincidence.
Obsessive viewers went back through Nem-mo and Kos's VODs hunting for evidence.
And the single biggest coincidence of all —
came out of a completely throwaway story.
Nem-mo's puppy story. "I saw a dog on the street today, it was so cute."
Viewers became convinced that puppy was Kos's dog.
But it was all circumstantial.
The two of them insisted it really was coincidence. Truly coincidence.
Whether they were coincidences or a couple — no one knew except the two of them.
"Kos! Oh!! Nem-mo's here. Hello."
"Ah… hello~."
"Ohh!! Staying in character today too. Good, good. I'm doing reporter RP today."
"Ah… okay~."
"This gentleman here is no longer Subcontract Captain — he's my subordinate, new reporter Kos. Say hello."
"Ah… hello~."
"H-hello."
"Huh? You two are super awkward. First time meeting or something?"
Once again, pure coincidence. The coincidence named Seona had brought the two of them face to face.
Looking at Nem-mo, Seona said:
"Ah, right. Nem-mo. Nem-mo. Did you know Kos streams on cam?"
"Ah, yeah~."
"Right!! I was so shocked. I just assumed he was a VTuber or a no-cam streamer, but he was on cam? You knew?"
"Well… wouldn't you know that if you just clicked his stream once?"
"Whoa!!"
Seona suddenly bounced her shoulders, firing off delighted little gasps.
"Why… why? Boss, what's going on?"
"No!! Subcontract Captain has such a good character!! I already knew he was a good guy, but…!!"
"All of a sudden? Me?"
"Yes!! A major corporation watching his stream, you know. Did she even follow him? That's huge. For real!! Not empty words — she actually clicked in and watched. That's what good character looks like. I like you!! That's the vibe."
"Hahahahaha. Thank you. Haha. So that's what that was. Ah, I guess I do have good character."
"Exactly. You can feel the good character. But. You can't do that. On this server, good character is evil. Being bad is good. Seona. Wait, no. Ehehehe."
"Could you maybe turn on a blinker before you swerve like that?"
At Kos's words, Seona snapped right back to herself.
"Yes!! Then I'll explain it to Nem-mo."
"What is it~?"
"I will now announce a journalist's Code of Ethics and Practice Guidelines. Protecting only my own freedom of the press, unfair reporting…, collecting information by improper means…, zero privacy protection, never correcting false reports, and actively stoking conflict and discrimination. I will do my utmost to put these into practice. Nem-mo, even if it makes you uncomfortable, I will fight to defend my freedom of the press."
"I will fight."
"Good. You've learned well. You're the ace. The ace. Subcontract Captain is the ace~!!"
"Thank you."
"Alright then, Nem-mo. You heard that, right? I'm going to interview you now."
Seona said it with absolute confidence, looking straight at Nem-mo.