Even Excuses Are Exhausting
Gang Seongjin watched for a long while before finally leaving the house.
I told them I was fine when they offered to drive me back.
I had to talk to the viewers about this feeling while it was still fresh.
Once I stepped outside, Seoul looked like the city I knew.
“This is insane, guys.”
Yeah. This was reality.
Everything I’d just experienced had been too unreal.
The distance wasn’t far, but it might as well have been a completely different world.
“Honestly, guys, at this point you have to admit it. I didn’t just look at the real estate registry. I checked the car plates too, and made sure the names matched.”
I meant every word.
The filthy-rich bastard had proven everything he possibly could.
If you still didn’t believe it after seeing that, then what exactly were you supposed to do—turn yourself in to the prosecution?
That would’ve been a bit much.
Even the viewers who’d gone through it with me were starting to accept it.
“I did hear that a lot of people got rich from crypto this time around. But to make a fortune betting on the drop? Man, he must really be amazing. Or insanely lucky.”
I was jealous.
If even I felt that way, what about the viewers?
“What does he look like? Hmm… from a glance, he just seemed like an ordinary college student. If I’d seen him outside, I probably wouldn’t have felt anything special.”
He didn’t look all that special.
But still.
“From where I was standing, he was a crazy charismatic bastard. He practically radiated aura, I’m telling you. He felt like someone from another world.”
Well, that was from outside.
Once you saw him inside the penthouse, there was no way he was an ordinary person.
He had such overwhelming presence it was ridiculous.
Hadn’t I even shouted, from the bottom of my heart, that he was my hyung?
He’d done everything he could. Now it was my turn to do my part.
“I hope Theo apologizes. And that person called Hyeni, too. Honestly, I think Hyeni could even face defamation charges. At this point, apologizing is probably the only slim chance they’ve got of getting leniency.”
It was about time to wrap things up.
“I really do feel sorry for the filthy-rich hyung. He even sent Star Balloons, and all he got back was misunderstanding and abuse. Anyone who insulted his family should really reflect on themselves. Anyway, I’m going to end it here. See you next broadcast.”
The stream cut off earlier than expected.
With the filthy-rich hyung’s proof pushing their dopamine to the max, there was no way the viewers were just going to go to sleep.
They’d find some way to keep that high going.
They’d go looking for the people involved in all this.
They probably wanted even bigger stimulation now.
All I had to do was use that to my advantage.
Go on, then. Try getting hit from the other side for once.
***
After I ended the broadcast, the community exploded.
These were viewers who had watched the whole thing from the side.
To them, the filthy-rich bastard was practically an object of admiration.
And yet he’d been cornered over something unfair and forced to prove himself—it made them feel like they were the ones suffering the injustice.
The first thing they did was look up Hyeni’s channel.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t live.
So they started leaving messages on her channel. They were demands wrapped in profanity.
Apologize now.
And get the hell out of America TV.
But it wasn’t enough.
There was no immediate response.
The viewers who still couldn’t cool off went beyond Hyeni’s channel and stormed the room where Theo was live.
There were so many new viewers that they outnumbered the original ones.
They were absolutely furious.
The chat was plastered with insults.
At that point, conversation was impossible.
Maybe Theo knew that too, because he couldn’t just ignore it, and I could see his expression hardening.
-Guys, I know you’re angry, but please calm down a bit. I’m not involved in this incident. Still, since the Excel team made a mistake, I’ll apologize on their behalf.
He stood up reluctantly and apologized.
-There. Happy now? Everyone out. From here on, anyone disrupting the broadcast gets blocked.
Of course, the viewers only got angrier.
Anyone could see it was him dodging responsibility. His attitude was shameless, too.
-Come on. If you want to pick a fight, pick it with Hyeni. What did I do wrong?
And then, unbelievably, he started getting mad.
[What a fucking lunatic.]
[What are the people sponsoring this bastard even doing?]
[Obviously some illegal trash.]
[This is disgusting.]
-Block them all already. What more do you want me to do here?
The criticism that had seemed like it would go on forever began to taper off once he blocked dozens of them.
They realized that no matter how much they cursed here, it wouldn’t affect him at all.
They’d come looking for dopamine, only to pile up more anger and end up frustrated instead.
Then, all of a sudden—
[Hey, Hyeni just went live.]
[Let’s go to Hyeni’s room.]
[She’s wearing black.]
[The title says, “I Have Something to Say.” This is going to be legendary.]
[That bastard is really selling out his own Excel team. Disgusting.]
[Wait and see.]
Hyeni’s broadcast came online out of nowhere.
The title was “I Have Something to Say.”
At a glance, it was the kind of title that promised more than enough dopamine.
The viewers fled in an instant.
All of them moved over to Hyeni’s stream.
Her broadcast was just a black screen.
I could hear her sniffling.
[Now she’s crying.]
[Who’d think she was the victim, huh?]
[Disgusting.]
[Get the hell out of America TV, please.]
[You nervous? Because you’re getting exposed?]
[Please say something already.]
[Where the hell does she live? I want to kill her.]
The anger had reached its peak.
Crying wasn’t going to solve anything.
Soon the black screen was removed, and Hyeni appeared with her eyes swollen shut.
She was dressed in black.
She stood up from her seat, looked at the screen, and bowed.
-S-sob. I’m s-sorry…
[Bitch, who said we wanted an apology?]
[Get lost, just fuck off already.]
[Didn’t you sell your body or something?]
[What are women’s tears? A survival strategy.]
-The people hurt because of me… sob. The reason I exposed everything in last week’s broadcast was because Theo-nim, during a slanderous dinner gathering...
[What the hell...?]
[She’s exposing him again?]
[The dopamine is insane.]
[That son of a bitch acted like he didn’t know a thing.]
[God, this is fucking disgusting.]
[I want to kill him.]
-I couldn’t think to record it at the time, so I gathered what evidence I could. There are phone calls with my fellow female streamers, and if you listen closely, you’ll hear Theo-nim saying it himself at the time...
Another nuclear bomb dropped on America TV.
-I sincerely apologize to the filthy-rich gentleman, and I’ve decided to quit broadcasting. To all the fans who’ve supported me until now, thank you, and I’m sorry.
Before anyone could even process what was happening, the broadcast ended.
Once again, the viewer count in Theo’s room surged.
Even more than before.
He had the highest viewer count on America TV.
But this time was different.
His expression was stiff, and on top of that, he was trembling faintly.
-Guys, I think there’s been some sort of misunderstanding... Ha. I’ll come back once everything’s cleared up. I think I need to talk to those people.
And just like that, he ended the stream.
The community, of course, went absolutely crazy—and so did Theo’s channel.
Then, over the next few days, Theo couldn’t go live.
More accurately, every time he tried, the chat was instantly flooded with downfall comments.
He did apologize late, but by then—
[Get lost, you bastard.]
[Downfall.]
[You think we’re going to believe you?]
[If you were going to apologize, you should’ve done it sooner.]
[What a fucking lunatic.]
It was far too late.
***
Several days had passed since I’d exposed my house on stream.
The community was in chaos.
America TV was, too.
Theo said he was taking time off to reflect, and disappeared into an indefinite hiatus.
Hyeni asked for my number through Gang Seongjin hyung.
Pretty obvious she wanted to apologize.
I didn’t give it to her.
Hyeni wasn’t my type.
Look at me now—turns out I’m the kind of guy who can flat-out say a female streamer isn’t his type.
I handed the viewers’ line-crossing abuse, and Hyeni and Theo’s smear campaign, over to a law firm.
Even aside from that, America TV wasn’t my whole life. I had things I needed to do, too.
“So today we’re just meeting to work out the basic conditions?”
“That’s right. There probably won’t be anything too difficult. What matters is the rough scale of the investment.”
Today I was meeting a famous chef I’d be collaborating with.
The goal was to open the restaurant as soon as possible.
I needed a decent business card, after all.
I’d originally planned to visit my parents’ home after opening the place, but it looked like that would take longer than expected, so I decided to go before then.
Guess they say I’m good at investing, huh.
Even excuses were starting to feel exhausting.
I’d just tell them the truth.
Well, a slightly reduced version of it.
Maybe say I made anywhere from a few hundred million to a few billion won?
That alone would probably make everyone faint on the spot.