The Famous Shit-Stirrer
"Total amount: 35,481,200 won. Payment received."
At the front desk of Seoul's Daehan University Hospital administration office, a staff member spoke in a businesslike tone to the blonde girl standing there.
Bzzz─ Next came the vibration in her hand, and the girl glanced at her phone screen with a shadowed expression.
March remaining repayment target: 42,500,000 won. If shortfall, overdue interest will...
"......"
"Would you like a cash receipt?"
The usual drain of hospital bills from her balance, and the tiresome debt collection alerts blaring nonstop. In response, the girl—no, Angel—shoved her phone weakly into her pocket and answered the staff member's question.
"...No. It's fine."
This month had been razor-thin too. If the settlement payout had been even a little short, she wouldn't have been able to cover the debt, let alone her little brother's hospital bills properly.
Of course, this was probably BK Entertainment deliberately tweaking the settlement to keep it just barely enough.
They were holding her little brother's rare disease hostage, using it to turn her into an obedient hunting dog. But it was the only option she had left, so even knowing it was a rotten rope, she had no choice but to cling to it.
"From today, I'm taking over the new media division too."
"......"
A few days ago, CEO Kim Young-ho had returned as her boss. It was sudden, but considering how much she'd relied on the new media division, it wasn't that strange.
He'd told her with bloodshot eyes:
"That goddamn bitch has to be buried for good."
"Make sure she can never make a comeback. Clip her wings and turn her into a total cripple."
Blind rage directed at Eunha Seong. It was an emotion she couldn't comprehend. But she didn't need to. She was the desperate one here, and there was no reason to talk back and stir up trouble.
"To do that, we need to escalate things. A much bigger controversy than before. That way, even that self-righteous prick will have to pretend to care."
So, she just did as she was told. She invited dozens of big corporate streamers and set up a Minecraft server. There wasn't much bigger content in internet broadcasting than a streamer server.
"......"
It wasn't something she wanted to do. But it was something she had to do. Not just for herself, but for her little brother's life.
If she refused... she didn't even want to imagine what would happen.
"...It's fine. This time, I'm not the one doing it."
And there was a sliver of hope. 'That person' would surely drag Eunha Seong into some kind of controversy, one way or another. An uncontrollable bomb, maybe, but enough to create the pretext.
Yeah. She wasn't dropping her personally.
"......"
It was just self-consolation, but right now, even that felt desperately needed. Without it, she really might collapse.
[Yume]
"......"
Angel pulled out her phone as she left the hospital. After hesitating for a long while, she finally sent a short message to Eunha Seong.
* * *
Earsplitting noise that could shatter eardrums. It was the kind of reaction you'd expect from third-rate novel extras, but surprisingly, this was a 1 million-sub NewTuber.
Well... it was kinda delicious in its own way. When else would you get to see a 1 million-sub NewTuber acting like this? Sure, it was a bit loud, but for the price of witnessing black history live, it was a bargain.
She continued, sounding utterly incredulous.
"It's 500k now."
"...Unnie?"
There followed a moment where Latte unnie let out a shriek close to a banshee's wail. For the dignity of a 1 million-sub NewTuber, I'll skip the details.
...Anyway. Leaving the calmed-down Latte unnie behind, I continued the conversation.
"By the way, didn't unnie get an invite?"
"...What the heck happened?"
To my question, Latte unnie dodged for no reason.
"Don't change the subject."
"What exactly did you say?"
After hemming and hawing for a bit, she finally confessed her sin in a tiny voice.
'Angel-nim's tits are fucking tiny...' she said...
"......"
Ah. I got the picture. So the gist was: 'Latte, you shouldn't exist.'
This insane H-cup monster VTuber bitch. Shaking her fat sacks right in front of her while teasing? And to Angel, who's rumored for her small chest. Even an angel called Angel would lose her shit at that. Unless you're some saintly adult, how do you endure that titty-flashing?
'...Not sure if that's really why, though.'
She didn't seem like the type to nitpick over that. Though you can't fully judge a personality from a few chats.
Anyway, embarrassed, Latte unnie switched topics again and asked me.
"Of course I'm joining? It's not an opportunity like this every day."
It was a shame unnie didn't get invited, but no reason not to join. Just participating would let me network with tons of streamers—a rare chance. With 2 million-sub VTuber Angel hosting personally, the invited streamers were heavyweights too.
But contrary to my thoughts, Latte unnie was unexpectedly negative.
"Me? Why?"
"Obviously."
I'm higher level than you, unnie. Wanna lose? ...The words nearly slipped out, but if I said it, she'd bawl like a 1000-year-old elf, so I swallowed them quietly.
Latte unnie hurried on with her explanation.
"Low-quality? What do you mean?"
"......?"
Now I was getting curious. Who the hell was this that Latte unnie was trying so hard to keep me away from?
Unnie continued.
"...Not my favorite nickname."
It was a familiar one. Stuck on me since debut because red pill controversies never stopped on stream. Now it's kinda solidified as RP, but... the first time I exposed a red pill on broadcast, it was terrifying.
"So what about it?"
"King of Shit-Stirring...?"
Come to think of it, I'd heard of them. At 1 million-sub level, it'd be weirder if I hadn't.
And with Latte unnie's next words, I recalled one streamer buried deep in my memory.
He was a famous shit-stirrer in this scene.
* * *
At that moment.
MadDog's broadcast.
"Homosexuality is just a mental illness, right, everyone???"
"No, fuck, it's true, right?? A guy shoving his dick in another guy's shithole—if that's not mental illness, what is???"
Broadcasts packed with extreme wording and provocative topics. But not a single viewer blamed him for it.
They were agreeing with his statements and reveling together. And this wasn't unusual for his stream.
For MadDog, who always did provocative broadcasts, this level was everyday stuff.
[● 15,641]
Provocative topics and unfiltered speech. That was streamer MadDog's style.
Ching!
Then came the coin sound. Followed by flashy effects, a viewer's donation message popped up on screen.
— Zenith's Seong Eunha debuted as a VTuber, you see it?
"Wait, really?? Why the hell would she do VTuber?"
Zenith, and VTuber. Two words that clashed completely, leaving MadDog in cognitive dissonance, stunned speechless.
Ching!
Seizing the gap, another coin sound rang out, and a video donation started playing on his stream.
A pretty face flashed on screen for an instant. Short as it was, everyone recognized the famous person.
Seong Eunha.
"......"
MadDog's eyes gleamed with interest.