I'll Need at Least a Hundred Million Won
But that wasn't the end of the video.
Hwindung-i, who had invaded Cheongdung-i's home and started a scuffle, had finally dragged Cheongdung-i out of the nest.
"The outside camera! Hurry up and play the outside footage!"
"Yes, sir!"
At the association president's command, the employee holding the mouse hurriedly played another video file.
The nest had been designed with two cameras in total.
One captured the interior, while the other filmed the exterior, including the entrance.
Fortunately, the birds that had left the nest settled down right within the frame of the exterior camera.
Wait, can you really call that 'settling down'?
Cheongdung-i was lying flat on the ground, and Hwindung-i was circling around him.
Then, Hwindung-i would give him a light nudge.
"Kee, keeyak!"
Roll.
Another nudge.
"Keeyak!"
Roll.
Every time Hwindung-i's talon touched his body, Cheongdung-i rolled over once in the opposite direction.
There was absolutely no room for debate.
Cheongdung-i was being bullied by Hwindung-i.
The only problem was that this reality was so glaringly obvious that it was shattering the sanity of everyone gathered in the room.
"..."
"..."
"This is the raw, unedited footage, right?"
"Incredibly... yes, it seems so."
The employee answering President Kang Chan-seong's question sounded just as dumbfounded.
The absolute truths that he and his seniors had believed in for years were crumbling to dust.
A goshawk enforcing military-style hazing...?
To make matters worse, Hwindung-i and Cheongdung-i weren't even the same species.
Hwindung-i was a goshawk, belonging to the order Falconiformes, while Cheongdung-i was a honey buzzard, classified under the order Accipitriformes.
Since they were both birds of prey and had "hawk" or "buzzard" in their names, the viewers of Dojin's channel regarded them as cousins. But scientifically speaking, the difference between the two was as vast as the difference between a lemur and a gorilla.
It wasn't for nothing that the experts in this room were doubting their own eyes.
Under normal circumstances, those two shouldn't even be able to coexist like this.
If a gorilla caught a lemur, it would have torn it apart on the spot.
Of course, since both Hwindung-i and Cheongdung-i were apex predators, it might not go that far, but normally, Cheongdung-i should have been driven away, beaten half to death.
"...Would it be impossible for us to go and see them in person?"
"You know how it is, sir. The moment we show up, Hwindung-i won't even come near the place."
"Ugh..."
At the employee's words, Chan-seong let out a low groan.
All birds of prey were naturally wary, but Hwindung-i was exceptionally guarded.
He only showed affection to his owner, Dojin, and was incredibly cold to everyone else.
The fact that he had directly attacked an intruder who climbed over the wall proved he was not a bird to be trifled with.
"We have no choice. Let's put off making a judgment on this video for now and wait for the next one."
"Um... Excuse me, President."
The employee in charge of playing the video stopped the association president, who was trying to escape reality after witnessing such a shocking sight.
"...Is there something else?" Chan-seong asked, his expression growing uneasy.
The look on the employee's face was highly unusual.
And as expected, his bad feeling was spot on.
"A new video has just been uploaded to Mr. Dojin's channel."
"...A video?"
"Yes. It was uploaded just a moment ago, and the title is... rather concerning."
"What's the title that has you making such a fuss?"
"The title of the video is 'Bullying'."
"..."
At the employee's words, the faces of everyone in the room went blank.
Their gazes naturally drifted back to the video they had just been watching.
A moment later, as if on cue, they all pulled out their smartphones at the same time, accessed Dojin's channel, Sekki House Life in a Closed School, and clicked on the latest upload.
Soon, familiar sounds echoed from all corners of the conference room.
"Kee, keeyak!"
"Kyah!"
The cries from the video they had just watched together now rang out from their individual phones.
As the screen transitioned from the inside of the nest to the outside, Cheongdung-i's ordeal intensified.
After a period of what looked like military-style hazing, Hwindung-i finally left, and Cheongdung-i slowly stood up.
And then...
"Kee, keeyak..."
"Is... is he crying?"
"Oh my..."
Of course, he wasn't actually crying.
Cheongdung-i had simply buried his head under his wing.
However, performing such an action right after that bullying session made it look exactly like he was weeping.
Even the association members, who had already seen the raw footage, couldn't help but feel pity for Cheongdung-i.
"H-Hang in there, buddy..."
The youngest member of the association, who had recently been discharged from the military, naturally cheered for Cheongdung-i.
Similar reactions were exploding in the video's comment section.
"How's the atmosphere?"
"...It's almost scary. Some people are even accusing us of turning a eye to school violence."
"..."
Dojin gave an awkward laugh at Seungwan's words.
He recalled how flustered he had been when he first saw the footage.
Beside them, Dohee, who was checking the comments, snorted in frustration.
"Ugh! Seriously, these fake-calling parrots! We've said so many times that it's not staged and we only sped up the playback, but they keep screaming 'fake, fake'!"
"We can't help it this time. Honestly, even we doubted our own eyes when we first saw it. If we felt that way after seeing the raw footage, of course they're going to doubt it."
"Still, this is too much... It's like a comment relay. No matter what we do, they just spam 'F-A-K-E' over and over."
With those words, Dohee showed him her screen.
Seungwan scanned the comments and wore a bitter expression.
It wasn't because of the contents of the comments themselves.
It was because seeing Dohee's anger reminded her of her own past self.
You shouldn't view commenters as fellow human beings.
Of course, each and every one of them was indeed a human being just like them.
But if you thought of them that way and reacted, you would only end up getting hurt.
So, at some point, Seungwan had started viewing commenters as a completely different species.
Whether they listened to reason or not, whether they were irrational haters or blind fanatics, she had to treat them all as a new breed of humanity to avoid losing faith in mankind entirely.
Pat, pat.
"Don't waste your energy. People like that are everywhere. Most of them are just trying to get a reaction out of you."
"...Sigh, to think you do this for a living. Seungwan, you're seriously amazing. My respect for you has grown by another millimeter today."
"...And what's the total length of your respect?"
"Hmm? 3.2 centimeters?"
"Why is it so specific? And more importantly, that's way too short!"
Seungwan, whose arm had been resting on Dohee's shoulder to comfort her, immediately wrapped it around her neck in a playful chokehold.
"Ack! Seungwan, save me! Give up, give up! Tap, tap!"
"Tap my foot! Die, you ungrateful bride-to-be!"
Thanks to Seungwan's efforts, Dohee stopped worrying about the comments.
Dojin also decided not to deal with the irrational haters anymore.
If they cross the line, I'll just sue them.
It would cost money, but the mental health of himself and his loved ones was far more important.
As the video faded from the minds of the three, it was actually becoming a hot topic on the internet.
It was shared across various online communities and humor boards, getting edited and transformed into a new meme.
Because of this, not long after, Sekki House received yet another request for filming cooperation from a broadcasting station.
Clang.
The heavy doors of the detention center swung open, and people walked out.
These were individuals who had been detained but were now released on probation or cleared of charges.
The last man to emerge from the group turned back to look at the building.
With a crude tattoo etched on his arm, he spat on the ground in annoyance.
"Ptooey! Damn it, my luck is absolute trash this year."
This was already his second time in a detention center this year.
Ironically, despite being a repeat offender, he was the first of his group to be released.
"You should've played it smart. Tsk, those idiots have as much common sense as they do brains."
There was a reason why this man, Choi Dong-hui, was able to get out faster than anyone else in his crew.
When Na Seok-uk's crew had climbed over the wall, Dong-hui had actually hung back.
When he had first gathered at Seok-uk's call, he thought they would just shout a bit and intimidate people like they used to.
But lo and behold, once they arrived at the destination, the scale of the situation was completely different from what he had expected.
If I just charge in blindly, I'm the one who's going to get my skull cracked.
Of course, he hadn't voiced these thoughts aloud.
In their crowd, if you showed weakness even once, the others would tear you to shreds.
Instead, he had played along just enough while keeping an eye out for an escape route.
He had planned to slip away the moment the police or security guards made a serious move.
But the other idiots hadn't been that smart.
Instead, they had charged ahead as if competing to see who could be the most reckless.
And the result?
Just as he had predicted, only Na Seok-uk's crew got their heads bashed in.
"If you're going to climb a wall, do it quietly. Why grab a bird and make such a damn fuss? Did you want to advertise it to the whole neighborhood? Tsk."
The guy who had been drawing attention with him was just as stupid.
All he had to do was make a little noise to distract them, but he had gone and slapped the security guards.
To make matters worse, he did it right in front of a CCTV camera, leaving no room for excuses, and was immediately arrested on assault charges.
Because the entire crew had been locked up, Choi Dong-hui's investigation had been dragged out as well, and he was only now barely getting released.
"Now, what should I do? Those bastards probably won't get out before the year ends anyway."
Heading toward the nearest bus stop, Dong-hui rubbed his belly.
It was a habit of his whenever he was thinking hard.
Jiggle.
Boasting 120 kilograms of pure fat, his belly wobbled every time he stroked it.
After rubbing his stomach a few times, Choi Dong-hui muttered to himself in contemplation.
"Should I trust that bastard Na Seok-uk one more time?"
When Dong-hui's release was finalized, Na Seok-uk had come to see him.
At first, Seok-uk had glared at him with resentment for leaving alone, but once he realized his own situation, he quickly changed his tune.
"Once you get out of here, could you go find where that bitch Na Dohee... no, my sister, lives?"
It was the first time Choi Dong-hui had ever heard a polite request from a piece of trash like Na Seok-uk.
Considering how Seok-uk usually spat out curses with every breath, this was as polite as he could possibly get.
Unlike Seok-uk, who was carefully reading his expression, Choi Dong-hui crossed his legs and spoke arrogantly.
In their world, it was a given that if you showed any weakness, you would be sucked dry to the bone.
"Why? Still haven't given up? You don't actually think your sister is going to pay your fine, do you?"
Twitch!
Na Seok-uk's eyebrow twitched at the insolent attitude of Choi Dong-hui, who had always fawned over him until now.
But that was all.
He desperately suppressed his anger and continued.
"Of course that bitch doesn't have that kind of money. The one you need to meet isn't her, but her sugar daddy."
"Ah, the owner of that house?"
Dong-hui nodded in understanding at Seok-uk's words.
Indeed, if the guy lived in a place like that and could afford to hire a security team, paying off Seok-uk's fine would be pocket change.
Assuming he was willing to do it, of course.
"But even if you ask him, I don't think he'll just hand over the money. Who in their right mind would be such a sucker to pay the fine for a bastard who climbed over their own wall?"
Twitch.
At the word "bastard," Seok-uk's face contorted again.
This time, however, he didn't bother hiding his temper.
"What did you just say, you little shit?"
"...Ahem, I'm just saying. Honestly, if you were in his shoes, would you pay it?"
Faced with Seok-uk's murderous aura, Dong-hui took a step back.
While it was true that he held all the cards in this situation, they were still inside the detention center, and Na Seok-uk was standing right in front of him.
If things went south, he could easily get beaten to a pulp, so he had to play it safe.
At least until his safety was guaranteed.
"...Sigh, let's keep it civil. I know exactly what you're thinking, but you know I'm a guy with nothing to lose, right? The bitch I've been leeching off of is my own sister. If I can bleed my own blood relative dry, what do you think I'd do to a stranger's skull... you get it?"
Gulp.
Dong-hui swallowed hard at Seok-uk's words.
Though spoken calmly, that was a clear ultimatum.
If he crossed the line any further, that brainless thug would truly crack his skull open.
"...Just tell me. What do you want me to do?"
When Dong-hui finally tucked his tail, Seok-uk nodded in satisfaction.
"Tell that bastard to pay up since he's dating my sister."
"Pay up?"
When Dong-hui asked what he meant, Seok-uk clicked his tongue in frustration.
"That guy must have a family and connections. Do you really think he bought that place and hired security with his own hard-earned money? He's definitely a rich kid. And a rich kid like that is dating Na Dohee. But if his family finds out what a mess our family is, do you think they'll let them stay together?"
"Ah!"
Dong-hui let out an exclamation of understanding.
At the same time, he looked at Seok-uk with utter disbelief.
In other words, this bastard was trying to extort money in exchange for keeping his own trashy existence a secret.
If the guy wanted to keep dating his sister, that is.
No, knowing this guy, he'd probably keep blackmailing him even if they broke up.
He would make up all sorts of lies and frame them.
A piece of trash like Na Seok-uk was a mad dog that ran even wilder when dealing with people who had a lot to lose.
"Keep looking at me like that, and I'll break one of your bones right here."
"...Ahem, so I just need to ask him to pay the fine?"
Seok-uk let out a scoff at Dong-hui's question.
"Why would I only ask for that? Think about the mental distress I suffered from getting locked up here, and the money I couldn't extort. Adding all that up, I need to get at least a hundred million won."
"O-One hundred million?"
"Yeah. And while you're at it, make sure to show your face to Dohee. If she gets scared when she sees you, that guy's pride will kick in, and he'll open his wallet much faster."
Recalling the conversation, Dong-hui shuddered.
He had always thought of himself as a bit unhinged, but a genuine psychopath was truly on another level.
"Still, a ten-million-won commission for just one job isn't bad."
The condition Na Seok-uk had offered Choi Dong-hui was ten percent of the extorted money.
If they actually succeeded in squeezing a hundred million won out of the guy, ten million won would land right in his hands.
With that kind of money, he could start the used car business he had been planning.
Ten million won was enough to buy three or four wrecked, flooded, or accident-damaged cars.
If he just patched up the exteriors to look clean and ripped off some gullible buyers, he could easily double or triple his initial capital in no time.
"Well then, shall I head over today?"
Recalling the location of Sekki House, Dong-hui began searching for bus routes on his phone.