Chapter 41

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: penny

Chapter: 41

Chapter Title: Lan Mei (2)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Could she be here to declare victory or something?

If I couldn't hold back and responded, was she planning to use that as material to pin down or something?

With a slightly trembling heart, I opened the message window, and a short line appeared before my eyes.

What the hell is this culture thief saying?

Cautiously activating Clam's auto-translation feature, Lan Mei's words began to appear in the chat window translated into Korean.

"...?"

What is this? Some new concept of teasing?

No matter how much I thought about it, it was hard to guess her intent, so I decided to stay silent and not respond for now.

Then, a speech bubble indicating the other person was typing started flashing.

She typed, deleted, typed, deleted.

After repeating that several times, Lan Mei's next message finally uploaded to the chat.

"...?"

Honestly, it was an approach I hadn't even considered. But on the other hand, her behavior felt extremely suspicious.

No, after all that psychological warfare, now this...?

I responded with a neutral reply to test the waters, and Lan Mei started spamming speech bubbles again.

It was frustratingly slow, to the point where I wondered if it was an intentional concept.

This cunning girl is finally showing her true colors!

As I braced myself like "bring it on if you dare," Lan Mei unleashed another speech bubble barrage and kept expressing her thanks.

'Hmm...'

Something felt off. It didn't seem like intentional psychological warfare... her attitude was consistent, with no hostility at all?

Prodding the conversation further, I got the feeling that Lan Mei wasn't treating me as an enemy or rival.

No, then why did she do it?

Cautiously probing that, Lan Mei, after a moment's hesitation, provided the answer.

"... "

No, it's not wrong, exactly.

But it felt like that cold, uniquely Chinese business mindset, making it hard to add anything.

Anyway, so Lan Mei saw me as the top cute fashion influencer and did that? When I asked about it, the response was:

'Hmm.'

No wonder she kept mindlessly copying... She actually has pretty good taste.

But that didn't erase all the annoyance I felt.

Just maybe, was there a next step?

No, have you ever seen such a devilish family!

That means she's sucked all the juice out and now plans to crush me with her 12 million followers?

It really was a more dangerous mindset than I imagined.

'Dare to threaten me?'

As I pondered whether to show the dignity of the great pharaoh, Lan Mei, seeing my reaction, hurriedly corrected herself, even with typos.

For someone saying that, she sure copied well...

I got the general idea, but it still felt off. Honestly, the annoyance hadn't fully faded.

This time, I decided to be bold and upfront.

I straight-up asked what she'd do if I found the post copies unpleasant.

A more straightforward apology than expected came back, leaving me hesitating, but in real time, Lan Mei's posts started vanishing at a terrifying speed.

Surprised in turn, I hurriedly stopped her, and in the end, only about a third of her posts survived.

That single scene alone made me feel like I understood how extreme her life had been up to now.

'Hmm.'

Like the heir to a copy ninja family that gets weeded out if they can't imitate?

Having roughly pieced together her family situation for convenience, I decided to test the sincerity in Lan Mei's apology.

If she truly felt sorry toward me, she ought to prove her innocence with tears if necessary.

And so, I gave her one instruction in the most concise sentence possible, and shortly after, a post went up on Lan Mei's account.

'Hmm...'

I half-expected her not to, but she actually posted it.

She had some extreme tendencies, but at this point, it seemed like just bad family upbringing—no real malice from her.

No way, compliant even to this point?

She seemed a bit airheaded, so I tried various things, and Lan Mei followed my instructions without a single complaint.

Is she the type accustomed to taking orders from the start?

She didn't seem dumb... Honestly, she came off a bit like a pushover.

This girl, how far would she go if asked?

Now feeling a spark of interest, I began issuing another instruction to Lan Mei.

A week passed like that, and I finally decided to forgive Lan Mei, who had proven her sincerity.

Thanks to her consistent unsolicited shoutouts, Yi-rin Shin's followers had risen a lot, and domestic interest had spiked too.

At first I wondered what this weirdo was doing, but now it felt like I'd gained an obedient guard dog—not a bad feeling at all.

On top of that, the maid outfit photo from last time kept skyrocketing, finally pushing my followers past the 1 million mark.

Innate cuteness level is just unbeatable, huh?

The like and comment ratios were incredibly high too, landing me proudly on this month's recommended influencer list.

"Heh heh."

If I had 12 million followers, every post would get reactions incomparable to Lan Mei's.

With that conviction, my mood lifted even more.

We didn't really compete, but at this point, could I call it my tentative victory?

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

As always, spewing random nonsense stream-of-consciousness style, I binged the channel when one post caught my eye.

It was a post from 'Kim Geun-cheong,' one of Yi-rin-chan's veteran elders.

Kim Geun-cheong.

From the channel's early days, he appeared out of nowhere, delivering official schedules or unreleased info ahead of time—a reliable source.

His speech and personality suggested age, earning him nicknames like elder or gramps among channel users, one of the old-timers.

'Hmm.'

What's his real identity?

Despite constantly bringing such info without bans, speculation runs that he's at least an insider, maybe a big shot.

Essentially the official liaison connecting Yi-rin-chan owner Shin Yi-rin and the channel, one of the most mysterious users.

For some reason, he'd been replying to me nicely for a while, sparking rumors I was his granddaughter or grandchild.

Of course, we were strangers in reality, so it was just a fleeting rumor.

'Ah.'

Come to think of it, if Thief Crab has an observer friend, wouldn't he know Kim Geun-cheong's identity?

Given his trolling tendencies, he probably tried observing him.

Sure enough, under my suspicious gaze, Thief Crab went silent for a while.

After some deliberation, Thief Crab finally started giving me an honest answer.