Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Darling's Obsession
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Ppangit broadcasted with boundless energy and joy, fueled by the coins Lee Hyunwoo kept showering on her.
Thanks to that, viewers flooded in more than usual.
As the audience swelled, fan sign-ups poured in, along with recommendations and favorites.
It was a perfect virtuous cycle.
For a regular broadcaster like Ppangit to get promoted to Best Broadcaster, she needed high viewer counts, fan sign-ups, recommendations, favorites, and more.
At this rate, she'd hit Best Broadcaster status in no time.
Ppangit amped up her lively voice even more as she kept the stream going.
"You're doing great."
Lee Hyunwoo watched Ppangit's room with a satisfied smile.
Then he briefly took his hands off the mouse and keyboard.
Hmm, at this pace, two or three a day is the max, huh?
Lee Hyunwoo aimed to rake in big money through coin cashbacks.
But based on the current pattern, even if he found more broadcasters for cashback deals, four or five would be the limit.
Blindly showering coins would draw suspicion from others, after all.
He had to linger in each room for at least two hours, chat with the broadcasters, throw his weight around a bit, and then drop the coins.
Of course, part of him genuinely enjoyed the process and hated to miss out.
But that's still too few.
He'd set a cap of one million coins per broadcaster per month.
Anything more would attract too much attention.
One million each to three broadcasters made three million coins total.
A 15 percent cashback on that came out to 45 million won.
Not chump change by any means.
No—in fact, it was more money than he'd ever touched before.
But to Lee Hyunwoo, with his infinite coins, it felt small.
There was so much he wanted to do and buy.
A house, a car, luxury goods, overseas trips, and more.
How many things had he given up on because of money?
He wanted at least 100 million won a month, no less.
100 million a month... that's roughly seven million coins. Need seven broadcasters.
He could expand cashback deals anytime he wanted and earn even more.
There were over a thousand broadcasters, after all.
But Lee Hyunwoo didn't want to make it too obvious.
The more people involved, the bigger the rumors.
Plus, more broadcasters meant more coins he'd have to drop.
Infinite coins meant dropping them wasn't an issue.
The problem came after.
Five million or ten million coins a month.
That's 50 or 100 billion won in cash equivalent—people would talk.
No matter how he sliced it, seven million was the hard limit.
Won't be able to stick to the same streams every day.
To expand deals, he'd need to rotate through more rooms.
But time was finite.
He couldn't just drop coins and bail; he had to pretend to enjoy the streams.
Two hours minimum per room meant six hours for just three streams a day.
He'd have to schedule them by day.
As those thoughts swirled, his smartphone buzzed with an incoming video call.
It was Darling's number, the one he'd saved just earlier.
"She already ended her stream?"
He'd heard she broadcasted until evening.
Lee Hyunwoo cleared his throat while pondering that, double-checked what to say, and turned down the computer volume.
"Hello..."
"Why'd you take so long to pick up? What are you doing right now?"
Whoa.
Before Lee Hyunwoo could finish, Darling unleashed a torrent of angry words.
This was their first call ever, and she'd never even seen his face.
Yet her tone was like that of a girlfriend of three years.
A clingy, obsessive one at that.
"Just chilling. More importantly, sis, you done with your stream already?"
"'Just chilling'? You're watching some other girl, aren't you? Why no response for so long? Why ignore my stream goodbye? Why stop dropping coins?"
"Ah, I was eating and showering, so I wasn't at the PC. Was gonna head out, but you seemed to hate when I left your room, so I kept it on."
Why am I even making excuses? Lee Hyunwoo thought, but his survival instincts kicked in as he scrambled for more.
"Really?"
"Of course. Why would I lie?"
"Fine, I'll believe you. Since I trust you, you won't search for Ppangit or Yeoujjing's streams, right?"
Shit.
Did she already know?
Lee Hyunwoo felt a bead of sweat trickle down, even though it wasn't hot.
What excuse...?
No.
This wasn't right.
He had no reason or need to play the submissive role.
I'm the one paying. I'm the boss.
Darling had come on too strong and fierce, throwing him off momentarily.
Lee Hyunwoo steeled himself and decided to push back hard.
"Do whatever. But sis... you're kinda pissing me off right now. I pulled a Phone Date ticket just to make this call happen. No hello, no thanks—just yelling about picking up late and grilling me like an interrogation. You planning to keep this going or what?"
He furrowed his brow and spoke in a low tone.
Darling switched gears instantly.
Her raised eyebrows drooped as she unleashed a flood of cutesy aegyo.
"Nooo... I was just so jealous... Sorry if it felt that way. Mad? Huh? Super mad? Don't be maaaad. I'm sooo sorry."
Damn.
With her face and figure pulling that voice, it was straight-up fraud.
Any anger would've melted away. Lee Hyunwoo, who hadn't even been mad to begin with, grinned like an automatic door sliding open.
"Ah! You just smiled, didn't you? You smiled! Ehehehe. Unemployed looks way handsomer when he smiles. So no more getting mad from now on. Promise?"
"Depends on how you act going forward, sis."
"Hmph, that won't work anymore anyway. Anyway, when are you using the Food Date ticket? I have Thursday off. Wanna meet then? Pleeease?"
Darling brought up the Food Date ticket he'd gotten by buying out the gacha board.
Lee Hyunwoo recalled the night he'd messaged Yeoujjing.
"Sounds good. Thursday works."
"Yesss! Hehe, I'll dress super cute that day."
"What? Haha. You're already pretty on stream—what if you're even prettier and I faint?"
Laughter burst out at Darling's tail-wagging aegyo on the smartphone screen.
Money really was the best.
A beauty he'd never dare approach in real life was fawning over him like this.
As the Phone Date wound down, Lee Hyunwoo dropped the line he'd been waiting to say.
About the cashback deal.
"No, that's kinda..."
As expected from a semi-major broadcaster.
Earning decent money already, she wasn't biting on his offer.
Even after he specified one million coins a month.
Still, Lee Hyunwoo persuaded her earnestly.
"It's just like doing 15 percent Reverse Fan wallpaper stickers. Same rate, same action—the only difference is coins turning into cash."
"But that doesn't qualify for tax deductions. One big reason for Reverse Fan tributes is to cut taxes."
This woman—he'd thought she was all emotions.
Surprisingly sharp when it counted.
Truly cunning.
She appealed to feelings when cornered, switched to logic when money was at stake.
But the real boss was always the sugar daddy: Lee Hyunwoo.
He drew a firm line, no compromises.
"If not, no biggie. I just won't drop coins in your room anymore."
"What...? Why... whyyy...? You have tons of money. So why insist on cashback?"
Third time she'd asked the same thing.
He'd brushed it off vaguely before.
But repetition sparked a solid excuse.
"Money's plenty, but monthly disposable income is fixed. Cashback lets me drop more."
"So you'll drop that much extra on me?"
"No. I said one million a month. No more."
Darling's face darkened at his reply.
The scary expression from her stream earlier.
"You're gonna drop it on other girls, huh?"
"That's my call."
"What?! How can you say that? Hyunwoo, you're my fan! My Hardcore Fan! So why drop coins in other girls' rooms? No! I hate it! Don't! Don't do it! I can't stand seeing that! Don't! Don't do iiiiiit!"
Darling's obsession kicked in again.
"Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't."
She chanted "don't" like a curse.
It wasn't just creepy now—it was genuinely terrifying.
Was she mentally ill?
Had he picked the wrong broadcaster?
Too dazzled by her looks and body, he'd misjudged.
But it was too late to turn back now.
"Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't."
"Argh, shit! Stop repeating the same damn thing!"
"Won't stop till you swear no coins to other girls. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't. Don't."
"Fuck!"
Lee Hyunwoo hung up with a curse.
Once she calmed, they could talk rationally again.
From earlier, she could be rational—she just chose not to.
Bzzz—the smartphone vibrated.
Darling calling back.
Not in the mood for round two, Lee Hyunwoo swiped to decline.
He opened KakaoTalk to send a cool-off message.
Bzzz—another call.
Decline again.
Bzzz—mid-typing, yet another.
Lee Hyunwoo set the phone down and fired up PC KakaoTalk.
Finally, he sent the message.
The calls stopped.
The read receipt vanished, then replies poured in from Darling.
A massive message spam.
KakaoTalk kept buzzing endlessly.
Only then did Lee Hyunwoo understand why Darling's Hardcore Fan stalking scandal had made headlines and hit the incidents page.
This wasn't just like mental illness.
It was mental illness. Straight up.