Please Vote
Please vote for me.
I really am going to report my heart out. Nem-mo, just you wait. I'll pick out only the absolute best bits and announce them to the world.
“Well then, since I've given notice, we'll be heading out.”
I immediately hopped into the car waiting behind Nem-mo—then hopped right back out.
“Captain Subcontract! Why aren't you coming!!”
“I'm on my way.”
No way, Captain Subcontract was actually trash-tier? Or wait… huh?
“Are you interested? Interested in Princess Nem-mo? Do you want to take care of her and spoil her rotten? Ehehehe.”
I clapped both hands over my mouth and laughed. I just manufactured controversy with my own two hands. Ehehe. The spirit of a true journalist has descended upon me.
Huh. I didn't know that. I was a lawsuit target too? No way, people can cut me some slack, right? Even broadcasters don't get a free pass? These people are seriously terrifying.
“A… a lawsuit? Th-then I'll just hire Yu & Seon Legal Services. It's the best law firm around. They've got star lawyer Yu Seona, former prosecutor, former judge… the lawyer is the absolute best.”
“I never said any of that.”
“Then who did say it?”
“It wasn't me. I know nothing about it. Senior, please don't suspect me.”
“Ah!! Right, we swore our oath!! That's right.”
That's right. Before we started, we swore an oath together. We decided to believe in each other no matter what. Unconditionally. No matter what happened, we would believe. What we were doing was justice, and justice was the law. We were the pencils of Seona's server, and that was a good thing. We were the media itself. We had sworn that cool oath.
But… I couldn't help the suspicion creeping in… wait, what?
“Guys, what is this?”
I suddenly got kicked. This had never happened before. What the hell?
“I'm a victim too!! Hold on a second.”
I got kicked too. What is this? Are they updating or something? But I don't know anything about that!!
I checked Discord first. Nothing like that was going on. Was it just me who got kicked?
“Ah, was it only me who got kicked?”
I tried reconnecting. But no matter how many times I tried, I couldn't get back in. Why!! What's the reason!! An unprecedented disaster where the server owner gets banned?! Dun dun dun?!
“What is it? What on earth is going on?”
Who should I even ask? Pyeong-nim? Neoul? Ah… Neoul was the right call. Right now the highest-ranking person on the server was Neoul.
I immediately called Neoul on Discord.
“Neoul. What's the situation right now?”
“I still don't really know either. I'll contact you right away once I confirm anything.”
“Ah. Understood. So… was it only me who got kicked?”
“No. Looks like everyone got kicked.”
“Aha…!! Got it.”
As long as it wasn't just me, that was fine. If everyone got kicked together, well… these things happen. We're a small private server. No specialists here. We have to put up with this much. Honestly, it's more surprising that the server never had problems until now.
“Alright then. Everyone got kicked, apparently. Shall we check the cafe?”
Ah, I had so much planned, and now everything just floated off into the void. But being able to keep the stream going even in a situation like this is what makes a real pro. I've grown, after all. Let's smooth this over properly.
“Ah, before that, just a moment.”
I called Nem-mo on Discord first.
“Hello…??”
“Nem-mo!! Our server is sick right now so we can't get in!! I'll let you know once the server's back to normal!! Just in case you were waiting, I wanted to tell you ahead of time.”
“I-I was watching the stream, yong.”
“Aha!! Then I'll leave you a message later once the server's up!!”
“Yes… thank you, yong.”
Next was Kos. Hmm… I was about to call Kos on Discord when I saw a message already waiting.
“I saw the stream. Got it. Then shall we check the cafe some more?”
While we're at it, I should properly look through the cafe.
“What punishment? And what even is laundry. Post about it. Tell me what laundry is. I'll read it. This is your chance.”
I spoke with complete sincerity. I was ready to learn. So teach me. I thought I'd learned a lot about streaming, but I was still lacking.
Deep, thoughtful posts started flooding into the cafe one after another. The more I read, the more it sank into my bones. I was a real idiot.
Laundry was the act of cleaning up the image of someone who had done bad things or gotten into controversy. No wonder I didn't know. This was a world that had nothing to do with me. Me, a small-time streamer, doing laundry for someone? A day like that was never going to come. I was too busy just taking care of myself!!
“I see.”
Huh… in the old days I was too busy looking after my own hide, and now I'd become a broadcaster who even had to know about stuff like this. I'm moved. Completely moved. I've grown so much. But the stream is still in the red. YouTube is in the red compared to the revenue, and in the red compared to the content. Donations… are in the black. But if I use donation money to cover the red ink, that's the end of it. Plus I have to think about taxes, so I can't even call it real black ink.
Suddenly I switched into cold, calculating Seona mode. Money really does turn Seona ice-cold!!
Now that I've learned it… let's apply it. And review while I'm at it. They always said the most important part of studying is review. No matter how hard you study, if you don't review it's meaningless. So if I review, right now I'm doing laundry for Nem-mo. Me. How? No idea. Viewers just said so, so that must be it. They're saying that's what I'm doing. Then is continuing the content the right move? According to the viewers, if I see the content all the way through, I'll end up doing laundry for her.
Hmm… I stood at a crossroads of choice. Viewer opinion was split down the middle. Basically, Nem-mo had committed a taboo and people were properly furious. But I could think about it coldly. Why? Because it's not my business. Is it my business? No, it's not. I'm a third party. From a third party's perspective I can judge objectively and accurately.
“Kyaha!!”
Even if everyone else is cursing me out, the path I walk is the correct one!! I'm not the old me anymore!! I can make choices too. Now I'm someone who has to choose. I can't just wait for someone else to choose for me like the old days!!
That grand ambition… would've been amazing if it lasted to the end, but after thinking for a full ten minutes I still couldn't find a clear answer.
“I don't know.”
I just wished someone would decide for me. Yu Seona. Just do this. Do that. That was the comfortable life.
“Alright, everyone. I can't make the choice myself.”
“I still don't know what laundry is. I'll put it to a vote. Is continuing this content the right move? Or should we wrap it up? If we continue the content, that means I'll openly investigate Nem-mo in a bad way. If we wrap it up, then I'll investigate Nem-mo completely legally.”
Either way, I had to see this through to the end. Our family motto: “If you've drawn the sword, at least slice a radish.” Right. I'm slicing a radish. At least one radish has to get sliced.
Hmm… did I mess something up again? Let's review. Continuing the content means doing the secret investigation of Nem-mo I originally planned. Wrapping the content means turning that secret investigation into an official one. What's weird about that?
Laundry is taking a bad image and making it good. So the first option means I become a bad journalist and give Nem-mo a good image, and the second means I become a good journalist and investigate Nem-mo properly. Those are completely different things?
I immediately created a poll. Viewers kept asking what the difference was… it's completely different. Snow falling from the sky and the snow of my eyes share the same name but mean totally different things. It's that kind of concept. They might look the same on the surface. But the meaning they contain is completely different.
“If you don't understand what I'm saying, don't vote!! It's really different. I'll even make an abstain option. I'll gather the abstains and spin a roulette. Whoa!! What was that?”
*Ring ring.*
Suddenly what!! You scared me.
“Yes. Neoul, what's going on?”
“Ah… we're looking into it right now, but it seems like someone hit us with a DDoS.”
“DDoS? What's a DDoS?”
“It's… when someone keeps trying to access the server… honestly I don't really know either. Looks like someone leaked something. Because of that—”
“Why would they do that?”
“That… I don't know.”
“Hmm… did you catch the person who did the DDoS?”
“That… we can't catch them.”
“Even Lawyer Yu Seona from Yu & Seon Law Firm can't catch them?”
Silence settled in.
【If found guilty in court, will you do a “Wow!!”?】
This was a delusion I'd already done before. Back when I was daydreaming about becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court before even founding Yu & Seon. I answered easily.
“That job now belongs to Judge Yu Seona. Not guilty-yot!! Guilty-yot!! Like that, ehehe.”
“Uh… so anyway, we're switching servers right now. It'll probably take some time before everything's ready…”
“Aha. So we can't do it today?”
“Probably not? It's already getting late too.”
“I see. Then we'll have to do it tomorrow.”
“Understood.”
Nothing I can do. I can't talk about what I don't understand. I don't know much about computers. DDoS or whatever, I guess that exists. Anyway, it's not my fault, right? Then it's fine. There's something more important than that.
“Ah~ ah. Neoul. Neoul.”
“Yes?”
“Did you vote on the poll that went up in the cafe? We all have to vote.”
Once again, there was no reply.