Going Live
Naturally, Dojin rejected all proposals from the broadcasting stations.
They had already sponsored a filming location once because of Jang Beom-su.
How much had they suffered back then?
He had no desire to deal with the obnoxious behavior of a camera crew ever again.
Maybe a major broadcasting station would be slightly different, he thought, but unless there was a compelling reason to do it, he wanted nothing to do with such tedious hassles.
"The casting calls just won't stop. I see why people call television producers leeches," Seung-wan said as she walked into the office after finishing a call in the hallway.
Her face looked quite exhausted, which was no surprise given that she had already received over ten such calls today alone.
Whenever she rejected their various persuasions and pleas and hung up, someone of a higher rank would slyly call back.
With this repeating for three days straight, the mental stress on Seung-wan was immense.
"I'm sorry, Seung-wan. I should have been the one handling these rejections."
"No, it's fine. The more I talk to them, the more I think it's better that I take the calls instead of you, Dojin. These people are incredibly skilled at manipulating others."
Seung-wan then went on to describe what she had experienced so far.
"If you reject them flat out, they play the pity card. They say their bosses are breathing down their necks, and that they might get fired. But the moment you show even a tiny crack? They start throwing all kinds of terms at you and drive the conversation as if the casting is already finalized. One wrong answer, and it instantly becomes a verbal contract."
*Gulp.*
Dojin swallowed hard at Seung-wan's words.
He now fully understood why she said it was better for her to handle the calls.
If there was one thing Dojin was weak against, it was this kind of conversation.
Perhaps because he had grown up with nothing, he found it difficult to coldly cut off people who pleaded or whined.
Why else would he have agreed to help a guy like Jang Beom-su in the first place?
Still, he had improved a lot compared to the past.
Keep this in mind. If I act like a pushover again, I might lose Do-hee again.
Before his regression, if he had resolutely cut off his in-laws, his wife wouldn't have left him.
If so, Do-hee wouldn't have despaired of life and committed suicide...
Is it because everything has been going so well since I regressed? I'm getting soft and overly sympathetic again.
Recalling the resolve he had when he first met Do-hee, Dojin steeled his heart.
He didn't need to become a bloodless, tearless monster, but he absolutely needed enough coldness to protect himself and those around him.
With that thought, Dojin realized what he had to do right away.
"Let's do a live broadcast."
"A live stream? On YouTube?"
Seung-wan's eyes widened at Dojin's unexpected suggestion.
They had kept live streaming in mind when setting up Dojin's studio, but they had never actually used it until now. Yet, Dojin was the one bringing it up first.
"Yes. We've drawn too much attention. If we let time pass like this, cyber wreckers will start latching onto us."
If those online thugs, who only cared about milking views regardless of the truth, got involved, there was no telling what kind of rumors would spread.
With the broadcasting stations already showing interest, they might even get contacted by mainstream news outlets next.
"If we clarify during the live stream that there was no fabrication and reveal the original CCTV footage, the controversy surrounding the manipulation should die down."
"What about the other issue?" Seung-wan asked.
Currently, there were two major talking points about the video: whether it was fabricated, and whether it was a ghost video.
If the possibility of fabrication decreased due to Dojin's explanation, the ghost video angle would naturally gain more traction.
However, Dojin wasn't too worried about that.
"We don't need to worry about that. People in our country are sensitive to video manipulation, but they don't care all that much about ghost videos."
Even if there was an initial reaction, the interest would soon fade as if nothing had happened.
After all, rather than staring at a video where you couldn't even tell if a ghost was captured, people would prefer to watch a celebrity fancam one more time.
"Understood. Then when do you plan to do the live stream?"
"Should we post an announcement today and go live tomorrow?"
"That sounds about right. Oh, but Kkulnyang-i and Dunyang-i are scheduled to visit tomorrow."
Ever since Kkulnyang-i's son and Dunyang-i's cat had fallen head over heels for Meok-bo and Jam-bo respectively, the two had been visiting Sekki House once every week or two. It seemed tomorrow was that day.
"Well, I don't think it matters."
"True, Do-hee will be here anyway."
They were frequent visitors, and since their primary purpose was the cats rather than Dojin, Do-hee's presence alone would be enough.
However, the next day, contrary to his plans, Dojin had to prepare for a joint broadcast with Kkulnyang-i and Dunyang-i.
Upon hearing about Dojin's live stream, the two had eagerly asked to join.
"Controversies like this rarely quiet down when the creator tries to explain it all by themselves," Kkulnyang-i said.
"Exactly," Dunyang-i added. "When uploading cat content, we sometimes capture unbelievable footage too. Back then, no matter how much I explained, there were always people insisting it was fake."
When even Seung-wan nodded in agreement with their words, Dojin ultimately had to prepare two more chairs.
Once the pre-announced time arrived, Seung-wan spoke up.
"Going live in ten seconds."
Dojin nodded at Seung-wan's words and cleared his throat.
Unlike the other two, who had plenty of live streaming experience, this was his first time, so he was slightly nervous.
Seung-wan had been a bit worried seeing him like that, but once the broadcast started, her worries melted away.
Dojin began the stream so calmly that it made her wonder if he had even been nervous at all.
"Hello, I'm the YouTuber The Baek."
As soon as Dojin finished his greeting, Kkulnyang-i and Dunyang-i spoke up from either side of him.
"Hello, I'm Kkulnyang-i."
"And I'm Cheong-ryong's butler, Dunyang-i."
The two introducing themselves without Dojin's prompting was part of a pre-arranged script.
They were far more famous than Dojin in the pet YouTuber community and had already appeared in his channel's videos a few times, so this felt natural.
They had only just introduced themselves, but the chat window was already exploding.
Honestly, this was to be expected.
It was surprising enough that his first live stream was a collaboration, but his first guests were the number one and number three cat channels in the country. It was a combination that made it impossible for the response to be quiet.
"The guests for my very first live stream are quite illustrious, aren't they? I didn't expect things to get this big either. I'm just incredibly grateful to both of them."
"Oh, not at all. I've been wanting to do a live stream for a while now, but I didn't have a good excuse. This worked out perfectly," Kkulnyang-i replied smoothly.
Having lost all the cats she raised, she had stopped communicating with her viewers, so her words sent the chat into another frenzy.
Most of the messages were expressions of support and sorrow, and Kkulnyang-i expressed her gratitude by mentioning a few of those comments.
"It's been a very long time since my last live stream after sending Baekho away as well," Dunyang-i said. "As some of you may know, our Cheong-ryong hasn't been in good shape lately, but he has recovered a lot here. I think he'll be fully healthy again soon."
The atmosphere, which had just begun to settle, boiled over once again at Dunyang-i's words.
Like Kkulnyang-i, she managed to read the rapidly scrolling chat window and answer questions.
"Ah, you're asking what Cheong-ryong is doing right now? He's sleeping in the playroom at Sekki House. Together with Jam-bo."
As Dunyang-i looked at Dojin, he moved his mouse to bring up the playroom's CCTV feed onto the broadcast screen.
On the CCTV screen, Cheong-ryong was loafing as usual.
The only difference was that he was resting his chin on Jam-bo. Thanks to this, Cheong-ryong's face, which would normally be hidden in that posture, was fully visible on the screen.
Seeing this, Dunyang-i's subscribers, who had tuned in after hearing the news, went wild.
Before coming to Sekki House, Cheong-ryong wouldn't even show his face to Dunyang-i. Her worry that something might happen to him hadn't been for nothing.
But after meeting Jam-bo, he was eating his food well and had recovered to the point where he would occasionally call out to Dunyang-i.
Just then, Cheong-ryong suddenly raised his head.
Jam-bo, who was tucked under his chin, had sneezed in his sleep.
Cheong-ryong watched him intently for a moment, then gently pulled Jam-bo closer with his front paws, cradled him in his arms, and lay down on his side.
It seemed that loafing while holding Jam-bo was too difficult.
"Oh my goodness! Cheong-ryong lay down on his side..."
"Incredible! Dunyang-i, Cheong-ryong must really like Jam-bo."
"I know. Until recently, he would just lean against him and sleep."
Seeing the handsome Russian Blue sleeping while hugging a palm-sized kitten, Dojin and the two YouTubers couldn't help but react.
Needless to say, the chat window exploded.
A moment later, Dojin switched the screen to show Samsaek-i.
This time, the subscribers of Kkulnyang-i's channel reacted.
Having successfully steered the mood of the live viewers, Dojin comfortably continued the broadcast.
He shared the story of how he first met Bo-ri and her kittens, as well as Ttorang-i, and they also talked about how he first met the two guests.
Eventually, the topic circled back to the video of the pets opening the door in the middle of the night.
And then came the hot topic.
"So, you're saying this video isn't fabricated?"
"There was no fabrication," Dojin said. "We were incredibly shocked when we first saw this footage too. As you can see from the original CCTV recording here, all we did was stitch the clips together."
Dojin revealed the original CCTV footage, which people were calling the "ghost video."
Instantly, the chat window froze.
The comments that had been scrolling endlessly, arguing over whether it was fake or not, suddenly stopped as if frozen in time.
But that was only for a brief moment.
Seeing the reaction in the chat, Dojin drove the final nail in the coffin.
"This is the analysis report we requested from a video forensics lab. We sent them the original CCTV footage to verify if it had been edited. As you can see, the result came back as 'No Editing Detected'."
Dojin displayed the attached email on the screen.
It contained various technical details, but the conclusion was a certificate confirming that no editing had taken place.
Once he showed this, the occasional accusations of fabrication stopped appearing in the chat.
It also helped that Dojin drew a firm line, warning that he would no longer tolerate malicious rumors.
With that topic concluded, the three wrapped up the live stream.
Once they confirmed the broadcast had ended, all three slumped in their seats.
"Whew, that was exhausting."
"Live streaming really is tough."
Kkulnyang-i and Dunyang-i were in better shape, at least. They still had the energy to speak.
Dojin, who didn't even have the strength for that, just lay sprawled across the broadcasting table, barely breathing.
After about ten minutes, the three finally managed to regain their composure.
"...Thank you for today."
"No, thank you. We had fun too. It's definitely better doing it with three people than alone."
"I know, right? I thought we had only been going for about thirty minutes, but two hours have already passed. When I stream alone, every minute feels like an hour."
Kkulnyang-i nodded in agreement with Dunyang-i's words.
Dojin shook his head in amazement at their conversation.
To him, it felt like at least four or five hours had passed. Seeing how they behaved right after the broadcast, he realized that experienced streamers were truly on another level.
"Next time you visit, I'll treat you to some beef. We can't go to restaurants because of COVID-19, but if we grill it out on our playground, it'll taste better than most restaurants."
"Oh! Really? I'll look forward to it."
"Why don't we set a date right now? How about next Friday?"
"Works for me. Is that fine with you, Kkulnyang-i?"
"I'm good with that too. I'll have to feed Jun-sang a light lunch that day."
With those words, the two left Sekki House.
Since the broadcast had run longer than expected, they wanted to head home and rest. It seemed live streaming was a burden even for experienced veterans like them.
Thanks to them, however, people stopped doubting the authenticity of the video.
Dojin thought the issue was completely resolved.
But a few days later, Sekki House began to suffer intrusions from unexpected visitors.
At 2:00 AM, Dojin was awakened by a call from the security staff.
He asked in a raspy, sleep-deprived voice, "...Who is it this time?"
"They call themselves the Mystery Lab... Apparently, they're YouTubers who mainly cover paranormal phenomena."
"...How many of them?"
"A YouTuber, an editor, and a friend. A total of three people climbed over the walls of Sekki House."
"Sigh..."
Dojin let out an involuntary sigh at the staff member's words.
He had lost count of how many times this had happened.
He had thought the live stream would put the issue to rest, but instead, people were now trespassing into Sekki House, claiming they would uncover the truth themselves.
Most of them were notorious nuisance YouTubers or attention-seeking BJ streamers.
But today's problem was far more serious than he anticipated.
"It's a bit serious this time."
"What? Did they break some equipment?"
It was a highly plausible scenario, given how many of them caused a ruckus trying to film bizarre stealth missions.
However, the words that came out of the staff member's mouth were far worse.
"Seung-wan and Do-hee were caught on camera. Apparently, the YouTuber who broke in went live beforehand, fearing their camera might get confiscated."
"...Those crazy bastards."
A curse finally escaped Dojin's lips.