The Power of Capital
"Phew..." My entire body felt like lead.
After finishing dinner and dropping Seo-ha off at her lodging, a wave of exhaustion hit me the moment I got back. How long had it been since I spent a day just drifting along without a single worry?
I slumped onto the sofa and idly toyed with my phone.
"Maybe I should write a shitpost. It's been a while."
If I had to choose one of my daily routines that I could never skip, it would definitely be shitposting. Although my mind had been too chaotic lately to keep up with the community, shitposting was the very core of my being.
The reason I became a famous user on the forum wasn't anything special. Flexing my wealth? Showing off my face? Sure, those might have helped a bit. But the real, fundamental reason was my sheer, life-ruining level of activity. Except for when I was sleeping, I poured almost every waking hour of my life into gaming and the forum.
There was a reason everyone called me a "ghost."
I commented on every single post that went up, churned out twenty to thirty shitposts a day, and constantly kept my name at the top of the board. If I went offline for even a single day, at least three or four posts asking where I was would pop up.
And when you have absolutely nothing to do, there's really nothing better than doomscrolling.
As I flicked my thumb down the screen to check the recent posts, one title caught my eye.
"Crazy..."
No wonder she was taking so many photos. She had even completely analyzed everything I was wearing. I had just grabbed whatever caught my eye and thrown it on, but somehow, I had been branded a luxury-obsessed madman.
The comments were even more of a spectacle. They were still piling up in real-time. The important thing was that public opinion had shifted in my favor.
I was more sensitive to community sentiment than anyone. Because of that, I had been aware that my image on the forum was starting to get a bit precarious. But to think a single post could completely flip the script.
Thanks to this, a significant portion of the negative sentiment toward me would probably dissolve. Of course, that didn't mean I had any intention of changing my online persona.
Shitposts incoming.
After firing off five or six mildly annoying shitposts just like I always did, comments began to flood in at a rapid pace. Now that a new topic of conversation was circulating, the place was buzzing.
But making a big deal out of it here would be amateur hour. At times like this, you had to act even more normal. That was one of the survival strategies that had kept me alive on the internet for so long.
"Hey, you bastards!! Stop it!!!"
Pfft. The woman on my phone screen began to scream in despair. A notification had popped up, prompting me to tune into a familiar stream for the first time in a while. It was a stream I used to watch religiously, but my attendance had been poor lately due to personal matters.
The "No-Stream-End Roulette," which only happened once a month. It was a system where viewers paid to spin a wheel, and depending on the probability, the streamer had to extend the broadcast by the resulting amount of time. You could think of it as the biggest festival of this channel.
[Beginner No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 1-minute extension
[Beginner No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 15-minute extension
[Beginner No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 1-minute extension
[Intermediate No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 10-hour extension
"No!!!!! Ten hours for ten bucks? That's not even minimum wage, you motherfckers!!!"
Why did I stop watching internet streams? Was it because they weren't fun? Absolutely not. The more you liked a streamer, or the more entertaining the broadcast was, the more frustrating it became to communicate solely through chat. Eventually, you start donating, and the more you donate, the more attention you get from both the streamer and the other viewers.
If you talk trash in chat, you get cursed out, but if it's accompanied by some "financial therapy," it gets elevated to high-tier humor. That feeling of being the main character of the stream. It was strangely addictive.
Of course, it didn't last. After passing her early days as a small-time streamer, her channel grew more and more popular by the day. Now, she had become what people called a "mega-streamer." As the viewer count and donations skyrocketed, the amount of attention I received naturally dwindled. And back then, I didn't have the money to spend even more.
"Ah, spinning the Royal No-Stream-End Roulette at a time like this would be so much fun..."
I muttered with a tinge of regret as I stared at the screen.
Wait. Come to think of it, there was nothing stopping me from spinning it myself.
I had more money than I knew what to do with. I hadn't spent any large sums since that fateful day, but the hundreds of millions of dollars sleeping in my bank account were definitely mine. A few tens of thousands of dollars? Spending that wouldn't even make a dent. Who could possibly complain about how I chose to spend my own money?
Controlling my trembling fingers, I navigated to the top-up screen.
Tap. After registering my quick-pay method, I typed in $50,000 as if I were using a cheat code for infinite game currency. I calmed my ragged breathing, completed the security verification, and tapped the confirm button...
Ding!
Top-up complete!
With a cheerful chime, my available balance instantly shot up to $50,000.
Ah, so when there are too many zeros, they actually spill off the edge of the screen.
Muttering a pointless observation, I finished preparing my assault.
It was showtime.
"Is it over? It's over, right?!"
The No-Stream-End Roulette, held only once a month. It was also known as "Harvest Day." The viewers must have been waiting for this day with bated breath, gathering their energy like a Spirit Bomb.
Although the donation fire-power had been slowly declining over time, the influx of new viewers drawn in by the no-stream-end content had caused the channel's size to grow exponentially. It would be a lie to say I wasn't a bit disappointed by the drop in donations, but the moment I let that show, the content would lose its charm. I had to pretend to be happy that the donations were slow... pretend to be relieved...
"Phew... Yes, guys. Let's just keep it like this! Look how peaceful and nice—"
Blare!
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 12-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 12-hour extension
The [ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette]. It cost a whopping $500 per spin, but it guaranteed a minimum of a 12-hour extension. It was a roulette wheel designed exclusively for the whales. Of course, since the price was so murderous, it rarely ever got spun.
"...Huh...?"
Hot Potato. It was a familiar handle. I distinctly remembered him being one of my viewers from the very early days of my channel.
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 24-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 24-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 18-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 12-hour extension
"Gasp?!"
Under the merciless bombardment of roulette spins, an undignified gasp escaped my lips. The legendary $500 roulette wheel was being spun into a frenzy by a single individual.
"You son of a bitch!!!"
I screamed at the top of my lungs. This was it, right? The perfect YouTube content. I tightly grabbed hold of the lifeline that had descended upon my slowly stagnating stream.
"Stop!!!!!! Let's talk this out, you crazy bastard!!!"
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 12-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 12-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 24-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 12-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 12-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 18-hour extension
"Aaaaaaaah!!!"
I let out an unidentifiable shriek that was a chaotic mix of pure ecstasy and utter despair. He had already spent $6,000 on the roulette wheel alone. I had to keep this guy hooked no matter what.
"Are you loaded?! Are you insane?! Why are you throwing your money on the ground like this?!"
I wailed continuously, twisting my face into a comical expression. The core of any No-Stream-End Roulette reaction was the screaming. Did the viewers here spend money on my no-stream-end because they genuinely wanted to watch me for a long time? Sadly, not at all. These people were just sadists who wanted to watch me suffer. Meeting those expectations was the easy part.
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 24-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 24-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 12-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 12-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 12-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 12-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 24-hour extension
[ROYAL No-Stream-End Roulette] Spin! 18-hour extension
"Heh...!"
My face reflected on the screen was as pale as if I had just seen a ghost. The money was great, but at this rate, I was going to be streaming for an entire month straight. I simply lost my words and let my jaw drop.
Ten thousand dollars. That was the amount a single person had spent in that incredibly short span of time.
The viewer count had nearly doubled from 2,500. Not only that, but the chat window was on the verge of exploding.
"......"
I stared blankly at the screen with half-closed eyes.
1st Place: Hot Potato — $10,000.00
Hehehe...! I didn't even know anymore. They say a good thing is a good thing. Haha, this was great. I got my YouTube content, and I made a ton of money...
"Hot Potato, do you want to throw hands in real life?"
And so, that night—where everyone was happy—drifted away.