Lawsuit and Channel Creation
Lawsuit and Channel Creation
The Director had stepped out to make a phone call, and returned to the reception room three minutes later.
After about five more minutes, two people opened the door and entered.
The two were dressed in black suits just like the Director,
and they looked quite young for lawyers at an entertainment agency.
The two handed me their business cards one by one,
and introduced themselves as the chief attorney and deputy chief attorney of the legal team.
I guess titles really do make an impression.
Just the words "chief" and "deputy chief" being attached gave off an incredible presence.
As I sat there trembling under the pressure,
A-ra leaned close to my ear and spoke quietly.
"The chief attorney was a presiding judge at the High Court."
'A... a presiding judge?'
They said she had been a presiding judge at the High Court, the kind that could knock a bird out of the sky.
I was pretty sure a High Court presiding judge was a vice-ministerial-level official in the government hierarchy.
To hire someone with that kind of background not at a law firm, but at an entertainment agency—
just how much money did they have?
After exchanging brief greetings,
the two took their seats and began reading through the materials that had been prepared in advance.
The fluttering sound of turning pages
and the sound of tapping on a tablet PC filled the reception room.
After reading through everything—the CCTV footage, the community posts, even the comments—
the two lawyers let out a sigh.
Seeing it all laid out like that, the sheer volume was enormous.
Though when I had read through it myself, it hadn't seemed that much.
I was spacing out with that thought
when the chief attorney suddenly called my name.
"You're Mr. Yoo Seong-hwan, correct? May I call you Seong-hwan-ssi?"
"Yes, yes. That's fine, attorney-nim."
"What outcome would you like to see for these people, Seong-hwan-ssi?"
"Well..."
What outcome would I like to see...
At first, I hadn't wanted to file lawsuits against people who came to me out of fondness.
But after listening to what A-ra and the Director said,
I realized those people hadn't shown me any consideration and had crossed the line,
and anger surged up inside me.
When people met me on the street and asked for a photo or an autograph, I had gladly done it with a smile.
Since it had come to this, I'd decided to just enjoy it.
But coming all the way to the convenience store where I worked to ask for autographs and photos—
that was more than just a nuisance; it was completely thoughtless behavior.
If I didn't press charges, crazy people might even show up at my school later.
Hadn't I decided to set a precedent this time
to prevent anything like this from happening again?
I shook my head from side to side and lightly slapped my cheeks.
Then, I steadied my resolve once more and spoke to the attorneys.
"I want them to be punished severely."
"If that's what you want, Seong-hwan-ssi, we'll do our best to make sure they end up eating prison food."
"Pr... prison food..."
When I reacted to the mention of prison food, the two attorneys looked at me and smiled.
No, rather than smiling, it was more like dogs who had just been given permission to destroy a toy.
When they're on your side, they're reassuring—but how many people could be more terrifying than those two as enemies?
"For now, the people who were inside the convenience store were caught in the act, so that won't take long.
We've decided to handle them in coordination with the store owner... What might be a bit more difficult are the cyber obscenity and insult charges on the internet side..."
"Ah, regarding the community side, please only press charges against the person who uploaded the photos and the serious offenders. For the minor ones, please go with leniency."
"Pardon? Are you sure? Since we're doing this anyway, wouldn't it be better to go after all of them?"
Her voice was thick with concern for me, someone she had only just met.
She seemed worried that leaving it like this might spiral into something bigger later.
"I have my own thoughts on that matter."
"Well... if that's what you want, Seong-hwan-ssi..."
She didn't seem fully convinced, but she seemed to understand.
Rather than filing lawsuits indiscriminately and damaging my reputation online,
the approach I had in mind was better.
After all, A-ra and the Director had vouched for it.
***
Since I was a complete layman when it came to legal matters, I didn't have much to say,
and A-ra, as my guardian, handled the discussions with the attorneys.
To sum up the conclusions: a hardline response against the sexual assailant.
For those who had committed sexual harassment within the community, we would press cyber obscenity charges,
and we decided not to pursue charges for defamation such as insult or spreading false information.
When it came to false information, most of the rumors circulating were related to sexual harassment, with only a very small number of unrelated rumors.
Things like, "Looking at his appearance, hasn't he had plastic surgery?"—
rumors like that.
Those comments had been bombarded with dislikes, and through the fans' "goroshi" operations,
most of the rumor generators had already withdrawn from the community.
In fact, the posts and comments that had written those rumors
were filled with such pathetically vicious insults
that it almost made me feel sorry for them.
"So we'll proceed in this direction, then?"
"Yes. I'll be counting on you."
"I'll have them direct all contact through my side, so you two, Seong-hwan-ssi and A-ra-ssi, just rest easy.
It makes no sense for the victims to live more anxiously than the perpetrators, doesn't it?"
"As expected of the chief attorney. Those are wise words indeed."
The Director nodded vigorously in agreement.
Of course, I thought the same thing,
but as if things could ever be that easy.
It would probably keep resurfacing in my mind over and over until the case was finished.
After all the consultations were done, we went down to the first floor.
Since it was Sunday and no one was around,
there wasn't really anyone to be introduced to,
and we decided to head home.
"Well then, let us know as soon as you create the channel."
"Understood. I'll contact you right away."
I bowed my head deeply.
They had shown me such consideration and even lent me the strength of the legal team,
and all I could do in return was bow my head in thanks.
A sense of company loyalty I'd never had before sprang up naturally, and I began to feel like volunteering my services.
Could it be that A-ra had been won over the same way?
"Haa..."
The Director suddenly let out a sigh, and I flinched in surprise.
What was that?
Had I made some kind of mistake?
"A-ra, what on earth did you do in your past life to end up with a husband like Seong-hwan-ssi?"
"...Pardon?"
"Unnie!"
"I mean, to put it bluntly, isn't he a little too good for you, A-ra?"
"Th-that's something I do know—no, I mean, 'too good for me'!"
A-ra, who had nearly admitted it in the moment,
shook her head vigorously, insisting it absolutely wasn't true.
Then she came out with something far too embarrassing to say in the middle of Gangnam.
"Anyone can see we're a match made in heaven!"
"............"
The Director was laughing as if she couldn't believe her ears.
Unable to laugh or cry,
I covered my eyes with both hands and crouched down.
After hearing A-ra's confession—or rather, her not-quite-confession—
my face began to grow so hot it felt like it was burning up,
and I couldn't even see straight.
What was she saying with everyone watching?
How embarrassing.
"A-anyway! Let's go home quickly, Seong-hwan-a."
A-ra grabbed my hand and pulled me up from where I was crouching,
then pushed me into the car that was parked right in front of us.
I rolled down the window to speak to A-ra,
who had opened the passenger door and loaded me into the car.
"A-ra Noona."
"Hm?"
Called out to so suddenly, A-ra tilted her head and turned to look at me.
Just like me,
A-ra couldn't hide her tomato-red face,
and she kept avoiding my eyes.
I had meant to tease her a little,
but seeing that look in her eyes, any desire to tease vanished—
my love for A-ra only deepened further,
and I began to want to repay her feelings.
"I think we're a match made in heaven too."
"R...really?"
When I said it in a quiet whisper, A-ra looked utterly delighted.
Then, she got into the driver's seat, rolled the window up, and pulled me into a soft embrace.
As expected, A-ra's chest cushions...
were remarkably effective.
For reference, A-ra's Ferrari was tinted, so you couldn't see inside from the outside.
"Why does Noona always say exactly the things I love to hear?"
"What about you, Seong-hwan-ah? Why do you always say the things Noona loves to hear?"
"Who knows? Maybe it's because we're a match made in heaven."
I kissed A-ra on the lips.
It was just a light bird kiss, but it was an action filled with more heart than any other.
Then I gently stroked her cheek.
"...Let's save the rest for when we get home."
"Okay!"
A-ra hurriedly started the car
and quickly sped out of the agency building.
For reference, the moment we got home,
A-ra stripped off my clothes and threw me onto the bed.
For the first time in a while, I was thoroughly wrung dry
by A-ra, who had been consumed by beast-like desire.
***
We were lying in bed, having pillow talk.
If there was one thing different from usual,
it was that the topic of conversation was naming a channel.
A-ra had just roughly named hers "A-raTube,"
but I at least wanted a channel name that had some flair,
so A-ra and I were brainstorming together with our collective intelligence.
"How about 'A Man Whose Hobby Is Cooking,' shortened to 'Cooking Hobby Man'?"
"Hmm... the pronunciation sounds a bit weird. Pass."
The problem was
that everything I had proposed so far was getting shot down.
Did I really have that little sense?
I felt a bit dejected.
In times like this, I had to touch her chest.
"Hey! We're in the middle of something important!"
"I want to touch them more..."
"You can touch them after we're done."
I resigned myself to touching them later and continued with the naming.
Since there was no particular need to attract attention,
wouldn't it be fine to just roughly stick my name in there?
Though, if anything, that might draw even more attention.
"This feels like naming a baby."
"A..a baby...? Seong-hwan-a... do you want a baby?"
"How did it end up going there?"
A baby wasn't on my mind right now.
A-ra was only twenty-two, and I was barely twenty now.
We'd already married early—never mind a baby.
We could have one after A-ra had done everything she wanted to do, achieved everything she wanted to achieve—
it wouldn't be too late.
"A-anyway, it's fine to just put your name in there, like I did."
"Well... we can always change it later if we think of something good."
In the end, coming full circle, the QTube channel's name
was set as 'Seong-hwan Tube.'
After creating a new Qgle account and generating the channel,
I sent a text to both the MCN division and the Director letting them know I had created it.
Since they would also need to handle the editing, uploading, and other management,
I sent the email and password as well.
"Hoo... I really am nervous."
"Right? I was the same on my debut day."
"...Comparing an idol debut and QTube is way too big a difference in scale, though..."
I let out a sigh and leaned back comfortably against the chair's backrest, letting it take my weight.
They said they would promote it on the agency's main SNS accounts and the agency-affiliated Qtuber channels,
so a fair number of people would probably gather.
No matter how many people gathered, I just had to work hard doing what I wanted to do.
That was what the QTube channel was for, after all.
"Shall we eat soon?"
"Noona wants galbijjim!"
"Yes, yes. Let's go grocery shopping at the mart."
I gave a wry smile watching A-ra scramble around picking up her scattered clothes to put them on.
For now, should I try filming the galbijjim-making process?
I changed my clothes too, thinking thoughts like that.
The next day, after the promotion had more or less finished, the subscriber count of my QTube channel, which had not uploaded a single video, was already surpassing two million.