The Chat's Warmth, But I Must Sleep Now
I had just wrapped up the day’s stream when my phone lit up with an incoming call from the prosecution office. The number was unfamiliar, and the caller’s voice was calm, professional, and a little tense. I answered on instinct, still half-lost in the glow of the chat log.
“Excuse me, is this Noel?” the woman asked, her tone soft but steady. “We received your contact information from the viewers. We’re calling regarding the agreement you made with our office.”
I blinked, already bracing for what was coming. Two million won. I could almost feel the weight of that number in my pocket right then.
Before I could answer, she continued, voice dropping into something quieter, almost pained. “I’m sorry. My son… he caused you a lot of trouble. I never imagined he would hurt someone so deeply. You’ve been through enough, but you’re still my child. I can’t pretend I don’t know what happened. I swear I will never let this happen again. If you can just give me one chance to make amends… I would be truly grateful.”
Her voice cracked on the last word. I heard the guilt, the exhaustion, the way she had been carrying this weight for months. And strangely, it made me feel even worse than the original crime had. I had never intended to drag her into this, but here I was, the one whose life was upended while hers remained behind bars. The least I could do was listen.
“I’ll accept,” I said, my voice flat but sincere. “Just… take care of yourself.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.” Relief flooded her tone, and I could picture the way her shoulders had been set in a permanent slump. A moment later she added, “We’re transferring the funds right away. It should appear in your account by tomorrow morning.”
The next thing I knew, a notification pinged on my bank app. Two million won. I stared at the screen, mouth slightly open, while my viewers kept chatting around me.
“Still no sleep?” Tti-hwak-jjit typed, the usual blunt gamer energy in his words. “You’ve been streaming all night tonight?”
SilverPantheon chimed in next. “Thinking about it, the boss never goes to bed before six.”
“Nopelzump asked: ?? The boss is an owl?”
“Yeah,” SilverPantheon confirmed. “He goes to bed around six, then the stream kicks in at dawn.”
“Sa-cheon-dang-ga-dang-rang-kwon: How do you even know that?”
“Because I’m an owl too…”
I was still half-dazed, but the chat was already urging me to wrap up. They were right, of course. I usually crashed by five in the afternoon. By ten o’clock the viewers were starting to get concerned, the same way they always did when my sleep schedule slipped.
I had noticed it over the past month—my life had become a mess of naps and all-nighters. The body, it seemed, refused to fall back into the old rhythm. Daytime sleep, because the world stayed bright, left me less rested. So I stayed awake longer, slept deeper, and somehow the entire day kept shifting. Yesterday I had passed out at ten. Tonight I was even later.
The chat kept going, voices piling up like stones.
“Brain concussion punch, boss lady lol” — SilverPantheon again.
“Thinking about it, I wonder if that’s when he finally passed out… right before you went to bed?” Achatjeokjeongapjeokjeong said thoughtfully.
They were understanding fast. Which was good, because I hadn’t actually told them I had been diagnosed with a concussion. Or had I? Was it Celesty who mentioned it? The memory felt slippery.
I let the silence stretch just long enough to give them the impression that yes, it had happened. “Yeah, that’s basically what happened. I passed out and woke up to morning light. Guess my internal clock decided to switch to a morning person.”
Tti-hwak-jzit snorted. “Concussion isn’t the same as just sleeping… the doctor said concussion, right?”
“Brain concussion punch on the boss lol” — SilverPantheon again.
Achatjeokjeongapjeokjeong: “Thinking back, the time he passed out yesterday… must have been when you were heading to bed?”
The chat swallowed the story whole. No one pressed for more details. I almost felt bad for lying, but the truth would only make the man who attacked me look less guilty, and I refused to do that. Some lines, I decided, were better left blurred.
I yawned, rubbing my eyes. “Anyway, I’m starting to feel sleepy now. I’ll turn the stream back on as soon as I wake up in the morning, so don’t worry too much. But… did Celesty actually say I have a concussion?”
“Celesty only mentioned that the boss got attacked and taken to the hospital,” SilverPantheon corrected gently.
Tti-hwak-jzit added, “Articles are already out… reporters were asking questions left and right.”
“Bao-ban-chan-na-mu: It’s a pretty charged story, huh? The strict older brother who got sued finally snapped and tried to attack a disabled person.”
“To-sa-ha-go-sip-da: Is gaming addiction really okay like this? The spark that grew in the game is now exploding into real-world violence…”
“Sara-gwa-i: This is already giving me whiplash… is this real news?”
“Sol-ba-ban-jeo: Yeah, the game blame switch just flipped on.”
The chat exploded again. Two million won, the guilt, the headlines—everything was too much for my current sleep-deprived brain. I should have gone to bed. Instead I kept reading.
“Game blame, huh,” I muttered. “Yeah, the trigger was the game, but the guy who came after me wasn’t some random troll. He was pissed off because he got sued, and then… well, you know the rest.”
Tti-hwak-jzit: “Yeah, but reporters still love saying ‘it started because of the game.’ Do you think that excuse still works on people?”
“Bao-ban-chan-na-mu: lmao, the generation that got tired of these internet dramas is now grown up adults and still can’t break the habit lol”
Strictly speaking, the game had started the conflict, but I knew the man wouldn’t have turned into a monster if the game had never existed. People can be kind or cruel depending on what life throws at them. Still, the chat was right. This wasn’t a game problem. It was just that among thousands of gamers, this one person had been terrifyingly different.
Then another thought hit me. The articles. The reporters. It felt wrong that they had blown up so fast.
When I had been attacked, the security guard had been right there and handled everything. But the reporters… they had disappeared after a few days. And today, none of them had shown up at the hospital, even though I was discharged early. It was almost as if they had lost interest.
“Interviews never came,” SilverPantheon pointed out. “Maybe it’s because it’s assault instead of murder, so they only printed the facts?”
“Boss apartment security said he cut the entrance shots lol” — SilverPantheon
Tti-hwak-jzit: “Yeah, I heard the reporters are banned from entering for the victim’s protection.”
“Apartment welfare is really nice.”
I sat there, staring at the screen, and finally understood. The security guard had responded the moment I was attacked. The reporters had been kept out. It was almost kind of them. And yet here I was, feeling guilty because of it.
[Onekyu-nim’s sponsor message.]
Security uncle, you’ve been working so hard. Please buy yourself a box of recovery medicine.
“Aigoo, thank you so much for the support. I’ll have to take you up on that.”
Yeah, because I had caused all this extra trouble. The least I could do was make a small gesture back.
[Cat’sMagicMantle-nim’s sponsor message.]
Sob… thank you for protecting our Noel.
“I… thank you for saying that to me. But the security uncle won’t see it, though. Maybe I should write a little note and pass it on to him?”
Tti-hwak-jzit: “lmao just say ‘thank you for putting up with me’ and be done.”
“Podo-ju-su-kkaek-tel: lmao if you greet him in third person it would probably freak him out lol”
“Nong-nong-i-jin-ri: You never said the boss is 144 cm tall? Even in third person it would sound cute lol”
“SilverPantheon: Yeah lol”
“That’s because you guys can’t see my face,” I laughed. “Anyway, this is too personal. Let’s talk about something else.”
The chat was kind, refusing to let me feel embarrassed. They had already listened to my messy story; the least I could do was offer them something light in return. Tomorrow I would stop at the convenience store or the pharmacy on the way home. The pharmacy’s nutritional supplements sounded far more effective than the usual ones.
I was still buzzing from the stream when my eyelids started to droop. The day had been too long, and my body was finally demanding rest. I typed the closing line slowly.
“Well, everyone. I really want to keep chatting with you all night… but my eyes are getting heavy. I’m going to sleep now. Sweet dreams.”
“Sleep well and see you tomorrow!” SilverPantheon
“Go to bed, sleepyhead and boss. I’m going too” — Tti-hwak-jzit
“I should sleep too.”
Half the chat left with goodbyes, the other half stayed until the stream ended. I didn’t mind either way. The feeling of sitting in the same virtual space, even though we lived in different apartments and had never met face to face, was strangely comforting. Like we were part of the same small, loud, slightly chaotic family.
I finally switched off the stream, leaned back in my chair, and felt my shoulders drop for the first time all day. I hadn’t played a single game today, yet the simple act of lying down felt better than the nights I had passed out after grinding just to reach a higher rank. The emptiness that usually followed a long session was gone. Tonight, there was only the soft hum of the apartment and the quiet promise that tomorrow I would be okay.
Sleep came fast, heavy, and dreamless. For once, I didn’t have to earn it.