Chapter 67. A Game of Nerves
Chapter 67. A Game of Nerves
As soon as the stream ended, email alerts started ringing off the hook, as if they'd been waiting for it.
I opened them roughly and checked the subject lines. Most were from law firms and private attorneys.
Every one of them had attached a clean résumé, their experience, and a polite proposal.
- We offer representation for a civil suit regarding the spreading of false information.
- [Legal Consultation Proposal] We offer representation for a civil suit. Experience...
Most of the content was the same.
Lots of experience dealing with cases like this, track records proving actual results.
Some even wrote that they'd cover incidental expenses like stamp fees and service fees themselves.
"I could use all of them. Did I even need to choose?"
"Hero, but what about the people who got caught?"
"They'll be dealt with according to the law."
The kind of bastards who mobbed someone like this without evidence were the same types everywhere else.
Leniency? No such thing.
If they left malicious comments, they should have been prepared to take responsibility.
"Why? Laila, were you thinking of leniency...?"
"Absolutely not. People like that really need to be taught a lesson."
Three hours passed after I'd announced it on the stream beforehand, and I closed the mail.
Then, since there were so many people, I sent them all the same reply: let's set a time, date, and place and gather together.
If a lawyer couldn't make it that day, that was too bad, but it couldn't be helped.
"It is a weekend... but if they want to make money, they'll show up."
---
Song Hoon's statement was an issue on every community.
And the communities where office workers gathered weren't any different.
[ Author: Anonymous (Lawyer) ]
[ Title: I sent a representation proposal too lololol ]
[ Body: For starters, defamation and insult crimes have a ridiculously high win rate ]
└ Jealous...
└ I should've studied law too...
└ If it's not too rude, just in message, just one time...
└ Hey, I sent a proposal too lololol
└ Our firm sent a ton under the firm's name lolololol
└ This was literally a money-printing event lololol
└ Wow, even if you usually got 20-30%, I've never seen 90% in my life
└ Of all days, I'd already scheduled a meeting with another client that day T_TT_T but I couldn't participate in the event!!!!
└ lolololololol That's rough
There were a few who expressed concern, but it wasn't a big issue.
[ Author: Anonymous (New Company) ]
[ Title: But isn't there any problem with doing it like that? ]
[ Body: Lawyer big bros, let me know... I don't know much about this ]
└ It's fine
└ Yeah, he didn't mention a specific law firm or a lawyer's name, so it's okay
└ Openly recruiting isn't a problem, and there's nothing like threatening statements toward the perpetrators, so it's fine
Then again, someone else was curious about the severity of their punishment.
[ Author: Anonymous (New Company) ]
[ Title: How's that punishment gonna turn out? Just a fine and done? ]
[ Body: Curious ]
└ First of all, since everything turned out to be lies, defamation + spreading false information come as a package
└ But on top of that, there's an Information and Communications Network Act violation mixed in, and even insult crime too, lol
└ And since the target was a public figure who's an S-rank Hunter, the compensation amount was going to be fucking huge, right?
└ Wow... seeing the comment above, they're completely fucked lololol
└ Satisfying as hell, you malicious-commenter bastards lololololol
└ Hero-ham, you're not going to do something boring like granting them leniency, right?
└ That would be a total backstab for real
It was the Age of the Great Accusation... no, the Age of Great Accusations.
---
I rented out an entire lower-level auditorium at a hotel.
"Wow... I haven't been to a place like this since my training center days."
"Senior, this is my first time coming to a place like this too."
"Who in the world hires lawyers like this...?"
Famous companies or entertainment agencies handled their affairs with a pre-existing law firm.
Or the companies had their own internal legal teams.
So gathering every possible lawyer without discriminating between law firms and private attorneys was a first in history.
At that moment, as I climbed onto the platform, the eyes of the lawyers who had been chatting amongst themselves locked onto me.
"Nice to meet you. I am Song Hoon, your client."
I told them all of my requirements.
And I kept emphasizing the policy of proceeding to the end without leniency or settlement.
And additionally, I took questions from the lawyers gathered in the room.
"Does the client's plan also include a response toward the press outlets?"
"Hmm... I think that'll be fine."
They said the reporter who took the tip and wrote the article would be dismissed on their own.
And since the press outlet said they'd proceed with additional legal notice, I had no intention of going after the press as well.
"Please just take care of the people who spread the rumor first."
This time, I asked them the questions.
"By the way, what do we do if they can't pay the fine or settlement money?"
"Does the client have a desired severity of punishment in mind?"
"I don't know the law well... but just go with the maximum within the legal limit."
"In that case, since settlement money falls under civil matters, we can pursue compulsory execution, seizure, and make them a credit defaulter. For the fine, since it's a criminal matter, they can be placed in a labor prison, like going to jail."
"That's very good."
It was quite satisfying.
If they were in a situation where they couldn't pay such things, they shouldn't have committed such acts.
Weren't adults supposed to be able to take responsibility for themselves?
"What about if the accused is a minor?"
"Please deal with them the same way."
A minor who couldn't take responsibility for themselves? Their parents had to take responsibility, what else could you do.
"Today's conversation was truly beneficial."
"For the client's restoration of honor, we will take responsibility to the end and set it right."
Exchanging greetings, I stepped down from the platform.
And, listening to their words, I headed home in a good mood.
---
[ World's Strongest Hero : I'll butcher a chicken with the same knife I'd use on a cow ]
[Title, holy shit lolololololol]
[Fucking hilarious lolololol]
[Come to think of it, I've never seen anyone use that many lawyers just to catch malicious commenters lolol]
More donations than usual came pouring in.
No one liked the kind of people who were always busy bad-mouthing others while hiding behind anonymity.
"I believe there isn't anyone among you."
[No way lolololol]
[But there definitely is]
[The guys about to get sued are probably nervous as hell watching this stream, bet?]
"And there's one more group subject to punishment."
[Who?]
[Are you going to wreck the press together with them?]
"No, the wrecker bastards who knew nothing and made a business off my face for their videos."
They were bastards just as despicable as the malicious commenters.
Even after the explanation was finished, their videos weren't taken down.
On the contrary, they were milking views by pinning them to the main page of their channels.
[But does NeoTube handle that kind of thing well?]
[Since they're a foreign company, I dunno if they'll accept it well]
[Yeah, isn't it easier to just directly request them to take the video down?]
My video had gone up, and I'd seen other videos before.
Videos that didn't just deliver facts, but presented their own words as if they were the truth.
"Looking into it, these guys have a lot of controversies too, huh?"
They deliberately set out to ruin a person, and there was a time they targeted and bankrupted a company and business that did nothing wrong.
"I'll make sure their doors close."
[Deleting a channel won't be easy, you know?]
[Usually, foreign companies are fucking picky about that kind of thing]
I knew that.
But this was exactly what connections were for.
I'd already quietly asked a friend living in the United States for a little help.
"And today, I'd like to let you all know about a very important notice."
[Is it a big one?]
[What is it?]
[anticipating anticipting anticipting]
I'd prepared a little event for the viewers watching me.
"If you tip me off about a post that spread false information, I plan to give you a Gifticon with a bit of gratitude."
The world these days was truly scary.
Because even if you deleted a post you wrote, there was usually at least one person who captured it.
Hence, sometimes the past posts influencers had written got dug back up.
"If an actual acquaintance did it, I'll keep their anonymity strictly guarded, so send a tip. In that case, I'll make sure to compensate them for sure."
I wondered, if a friend found out about this kind of behavior of theirs... would they hide you?
"Please send the link to the false post and a screenshot of the posted content by email."
[Just you wait, fucker lolololololol]
[Mom, we're having a chicken party tonight!!!!]
[Your son's going to go bring home some chicken...!]
"And the lawyers said something seemed odd."
No matter how I thought about it, it was strange.
The slanderous posts about me had gone up almost simultaneously.
Dozens of posts went up that were hard to believe had been written by just one or two people.
[That's a bit weird...]
[But is there anywhere that would be plausible?]
[No matter how I think about it, I can't think of anything but that there...]
"If you guys are a group, I'm thinking of making a nice offer."
Just one person.
Even if just one among them had a change of heart, it was very good for me.
Seeing that all they did was spread false information, it wasn't some kind of massive evil conspiracy.
"If you happen to be an insider..."
The charges listed on the complaint, and the fact that they damaged the honor of a public figure who was an S-rank Hunter—I threw out bait they couldn't help but swallow, a sweet one.
"Blab everything first and fast. Then, just that one bastard's punishment severity will be a little weakened."
The lawyers and the netizens weren't their problem anymore.
If you were an individual, you had to suspect your friends; if you were a group, you had to suspect an insider.
"You'd better decide fast, right? Life is short."
Now, they'd start killing each other.