The Chairman
Even after catching only a tiny glimpse of it, the moment they heard the call between Kang Seongjin and the nouveau riche man, the viewers went absolutely wild.
Everyone had assumed it would end there, with him being branded an illegal scammer and that particular piece of bait going out with a whimper.
But then the nouveau riche man said he was being unfairly wronged and tried to produce more proof, and the viewers’ attention snapped right back.
It didn’t matter what the truth was anymore.
Whether he was a scammer or a rich man.
What mattered was that the story was still going.
Thanks to that, the viewers who had already settled on the “scammer” conclusion found themselves with a new question.
Unlike before, the opinions were split.
And it made sense. If he really was someone doing something illegal, there was no way he could stay this calm and brazen. Among viewers of American broadcasts, there were plenty of people who reported others over nothing at all, and the nouveau riche man almost certainly knew that.
There was no conclusion to be drawn yet.
The topic moved on to the next possibility.
The viewers watched anxiously, hoping for the answer to come quickly.
Some time after the call ended, Kang Seongjin checked his phone, picked up the outdoor camera, and headed outside.
After waiting outside for a moment, a Rolls-Royce pulled up and stopped in front of Kang Seongjin.
In an instant, the chat and the community exploded.
After all, a Rolls-Royce had come to meet him right at Kang Seongjin’s front door.
At the very least, whether he was illegal or not, he was definitely rich.
***
Kang Seongjin had honestly felt sorry at first.
He got dragged into something pointless because of us.
It seemed like, because of them, the nouveau riche hyung had been dragged into some filthy mess for no reason.
And while he was on the phone, that guilt only grew.
The verdict still wasn’t out, but the chances that the man was a scammer were getting higher.
And he was getting cursed at by tens of thousands of people.
As a BJ, how many scammers had he seen? One, two? No matter what those people did, it didn’t change the fact that they were still valuable supporters.
And then the nouveau riche hyung sent his address.
Holy shit.
That was the moment he could no longer contain his excitement.
The odds had swung toward the hyung not being a scammer after all. Fortunately, public opinion was starting to shift too.
But what made him happiest was that the whole thing had blown up even bigger, plastering itself all over the community and pushing his stream to the highest viewer count in its history.
This was the kind of number that was hard to hit even if you screamed your lungs out like a lunatic and stirred up a whole circus.
It was nothing short of a windfall.
What a reversal of fortune.
Hyung, thank you...
At that point, even if the hyung really had been involved in something illegal, he was ready to cover for him somehow.
How was anyone supposed to prove he was rich? In the end, it was all a matter of belief.
If he threw himself into the defense with enough conviction, at least it wouldn’t end in a hard confirmation that he was a criminal.
He sent the address to the hyung and waited out front.
A little while later—
“Damn.”
The curse burst out of him before he could stop it.
He was just too happy.
The car that stopped in front of him was a Rolls-Royce.
The ultimate symbol of luxury cars.
Whatever else happened, the broadcast was going to become a bigger sensation again.
At this point, a million views on YouTube were basically guaranteed.
Hyung...
He was younger than him, but from this moment on, Kang Seongjin would treat him as his hyung no matter what.
He climbed into the car.
“Man... I’m already cursing. Hyungs, are you insane? These options are absolutely ridiculous. This has to be fully loaded. Ah, the person sitting up front? Cough. That’s private, right?”
“The chairman said I could at least answer simple questions.”
“Huh? The chairman?”
“That’s right. I’m the chief secretary who serves the chairman.”
It was a total jackpot. An absolute jackpot.
The chat was in chaos too.
By then, the talk of him being a scammer had already vanished.
The public mood had fully turned.
“Guys, I looked it up, and a fully loaded version of this thing is around 700 to 800 million won. Right?”
“That’s correct. In this case, the chairman ordered it new, but bought this one as a used car to use while waiting for delivery.”
“Wow... that’s insane. May I ask what year it is?”
“It should be about a year old.”
“Even then, the used price must be ridiculous... If it’s not rude, could I ask what kind of new cars he ordered?”
“I think I can answer that much. There are six in total. For owner-driven cars, there are Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Rolls-Royce. For chauffeur-driven cars, there are Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Maybach.”
“...Excuse me?”
“They’ll be delivered soon.”
“...”
He was speechless.
Even after seeing the Rolls-Royce, he still couldn’t tell whether that was even possible.
For a BJ who made a lot of money, this was still a world he had never seen before.
Who ordered six cars at once? And not just any cars—supercars that ordinary people could only dream about.
The question just burst out of him.
“...What exactly does the chairman do?”
“That seems like something the chairman himself should answer. My part ends here, I think.”
“...Guys, he’s insane.”
The chat was already exploding.
Even he could feel his heart pounding, so how could the viewers be any different?
Maybe because it was all so far beyond the world they knew, there were still plenty of people who refused to believe it even after seeing the Rolls-Royce.
Everyone looked like they couldn’t believe it.
He felt the same way.
He wasn’t completely disbelieving it, but he needed to watch a little longer.
Talk was something anyone could do.
If he hadn’t seen it himself, he wasn’t going to believe it. That was his position.
What the hell are this Rolls-Royce and this driver...?
Still, he couldn’t just dismiss it outright, because there was already one thing he had confirmed with his own eyes.
Ah, his head was spinning.
By now, whether the stream was a hit or not no longer mattered.
He himself was too curious.
What kind of person was this?
“This is...”
The car had arrived at the underground parking lot of Lotte World Tower.
It was so famous that he already knew what was above it.
Signiel, a place where a single unit cost at least several billion won.
Even ordinary people knew the name.
He got out of the car and headed toward the elevator.
The chief secretary pressed floor 70.
“S-sorry, but if we’re going to Signiel, shouldn’t we transfer somewhere in the middle?”
He wondered if the man had made a mistake.
Maybe he wasn’t used to it because the house belonged to the nouveau riche hyung’s place.
But the answer came without a flicker of concern.
“That’s how it works for a normal residence.”
“...”
He was already tired of being shocked.
Then a thought occurred to him.
So...
The nouveau riche hyung’s place wasn’t a normal residence, then?
Could he be staying in the hotel?
He didn’t know the exact details.
He only knew that Signiel Hotel was also operated in Lotte Tower.
The chat was flooded with question marks too.
He wanted to check the community posts as well.
The chat was going crazy.
This time, he honestly agreed with them.
If he had been watching, he would’ve typed something similar too.
This was absolutely insane.
So insane that every filthy curse word he knew came to mind.
“The chairman should be waiting for you. From here on out, please turn the camera toward him.”
“Ah, yes...”
Just as the elevator doors opened at the chief secretary’s instruction, there stood a man who looked like the nouveau riche hyung.
He was wearing a mask.
He looked completely ordinary.
He was led inside in a daze.
“Ah...”
He lost his words.
Damn it, how was he supposed to describe this in words?
He was overwhelmed.
***
I was watching the broadcast.
I’d confirmed that he’d gotten into the elevator, so I went down to meet him.
After greeting each other awkwardly, I invited him inside.
Once he saw the interior, he went so blank and dazed that the expression fit perfectly.
When I checked my phone, the chat had even gone silent for a moment.
“Are you okay?”
“C-chairman, you should speak casually to me...”
“I’m younger than you.”
“Huh? What do you mean? You’re the hyung.”
“...”
“No, that was rude of me, and my manners are disgusting. I’ll call you chairman.”
“...No, just call me however you’re comfortable.”
“Yes, chairman.”
“...”
He didn’t seem to be in his right mind.
The chat wasn’t either.
In the span of a heartbeat, he’d gone from being a scammer to being Chairman.
And that was after they had only seen a tiny part of his home.