The Rumor That Broke the Stream
***
By the time Chapter 6 ended, I stretched my arms with a big yawn.
“Uuuuugh!! I made it through safely.”
Stream time: 23 hours and 52 minutes. Thanks to not sleeping or eating at all, I’d managed a 24-hour clear.
“……?”
The viewers’ reactions were strange. People who had just been betting on whether I could clear it in 24 hours were now telling me to run.
I checked the viewer count for a moment.
Viewer count: 119,000
“……!”
I blinked rapidly, thinking I’d misread it, but the number didn’t change. In fact, it kept rising.
“W-what’s going on?!”
The viewer count that should have been around 1,000 had become a hundred times that. Some kind of controversy…
“Ah…”
The team leader must have started spreading it publicly. The clip had apparently leaked into the Monster Two fan cafe. Out of curiosity, I opened my email inbox.
Email inbox +999
“……”
Good thing I had the follow limit on. Otherwise the chat would’ve exploded again. I needed to get out of here fast.
“Alright, I’m logging off now.”
After hitting the stream end button, I flopped straight onto my bed.
‘Ugh, I’m exhausted…’
A 24-hour stream really wasn’t easy. Good thing I’d been working out, otherwise I would’ve passed out hours ago.
‘So sleepy…’
My eyes were starting to close.
‘I really need to sleep now…’
Creak.
“Oppa, Mom said we’re going to Grandma’s next week.”
“……”
Someone had opened my door without permission. Irritation surged through me.
“Close it. I need to sleep.”
“Are we going or not? Answer that first.”
“We’re going, we’re going…”
I hadn’t really heard what she said, but getting her out was the priority.
“Okay.”
Ha-im left the room and I drifted back to sleep. The viewers must’ve been satisfied after a 24-hour stream, right?
***
Right now, the Haeyeon Guild was in an emergency state.
“What the hell happened?! A drug scandal?!”
Bang!
Guildmaster Mi-yeon slammed her desk, and the guild members trembled.
“I-I’m sorry! We never expected something like this to happen so suddenly…”
“Who’s the media outlet that spread this rumor?!”
“I-it’s an outlet called Disco…”
Crunch!
Mi-yeon clenched her fists so hard her knuckles turned white. Disco was a top-tier credible news outlet that mainly covered Awakeners. Even if they posted a rebuttal, Disco would just release a follow-up article. It would be pointless.
Mi-yeon looked around. The most important person involved in this incident was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s the suspect in this situation right now?!”
“W-well, she lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital…”
Squeeze!
Of all times, she had to be unconscious! Nothing was going right.
“The moment that girl wakes up, schedule a press conference! And run drug tests on everyone in the guild—no, everyone affiliated with Haeyeon!”
“Yes!”
The meeting ended quickly. Once everyone left, Mi-yeon, now alone, pressed a hand to her forehead.
‘Why now of all times…!’
Right now, Monster Two was explosively popular even overseas, and the guild had received countless advertisement offers under its name. Clothing ads, car ads—every single one from high-end brands.
‘With a drug scandal breaking, the ads will obviously get canceled, and if we factor in the penalty fees…’
Mi-yeon stopped thinking. She already had a mountain of problems to deal with.
When she left the conference room, she saw Rona. Rona was leaning against the wall with a smile on her face.
“You look strangely happy.”
“Of course. That bastard’s finally getting kicked out.”
Rona did a little victory dance in front of Mi-yeon. She was thrilled that the annoying guy was gone.
“You know you’re involved in this too, right?”
“Come on, what does it have to do with me? You’re the one who’ll take responsibility as the guildmaster.”
“……”
Mi-yeon had nothing to say. From Rona’s perspective it was just a drug suspicion, but as guildmaster, she would have to take full responsibility.
Rona walked away with light, cheerful steps. Watching her retreating figure, Mi-yeon let out a sigh. She was so envious.
Ring ring~
Her phone rang in her pocket. When she took it out, the caller was her father—the person she least wanted to hear from right now.
She held the phone to her ear and heard the charismatic voice of an elderly man.
- “I heard some interesting news today.”
“……”
Only three hours since the article dropped, and the news had already reached the chairman of Haeyeon Corporation. Mi-yeon brushed her hair back.
- “Looks like you made a mistake, unlike yourself.”
“You didn’t call just to lecture me, did you?”
- “Of course not. You’ll have to handle this yourself.”
His voice was full of amusement. He seemed genuinely pleased that she had messed up.
“Get to the point.”
- “Alright. Clear your schedule next week. Your little sister is coming.”
“Really?”
She couldn’t believe that her sister who ran away twenty-five years ago was returning home.
“What happened? I thought she’d never come back…”
- “Sigh, your mother begged and pleaded.”
The fact that it took their parents begging to see her face after twenty-five years showed just how broken their family was.
“You should’ve just allowed the marriage earlier.”
“You think that’s easy? Anyone who knows the truth of the incident would say the same thing!”
“Tsk, I get it, but still…”
Their beloved late-born youngest daughter got pregnant in her senior year of high school and announced she was marrying the father immediately? Any parent would have opposed that marriage.
“So, are you going to invite the guy who’s going to be your brother-in-law too?”
- “…I suppose we have to.”
“Don’t give him a hard time. It’ll only damage the chaebol image even more.”
- “……”
The chaebol image was already suffering because of the drama. It couldn’t get any worse.
“Then I’ll be going now. I have a lot of work to do.”
After hanging up, Mi-yeon headed toward her office. She was looking forward to meeting her sister for the first time in twenty-five years.