Chapter 88. A Chance for a Toxic Viewer to Rehabilitate
Chapter 88. A Chance for a Toxic Viewer to Rehabilitate
The morning sunlight seeped through the gaps in the curtains.
Her phone alarm once again blared mercilessly.
"Uuugh...!"
Lee Chae-hyun buried her face in her pillow and let out a small moan.
"Ah... I really don't wanna go..."
She always grumbled about having to get up in the morning.
But today was on a completely different level.
Her body was heavy, her head was heavy, and her heart... was so, so heavy.
"It's probably not gonna be an outright firing..."
The effects of the alcohol had already completely worn off.
She'd never believed the saying that you could sober up in an instant.
'The moment those words left the General Manager's mouth... the drunkenness just vanished...'
She forced herself out from under the covers.
She sighed in the shower, sighed getting dressed, and sighed again as she left the house.
"I wanna quit... no, it's probably not that..."
After all that eager anticipation of working in the same space as the Saintess...!
She shook her head.
'Well, I probably won't die!'
She took a few deep breaths in front of the foundation building and slowly stepped inside.
She rode the elevator up.
The hallway was quiet, and only the sound of her heels broke the silence.
"Hoo..."
─ Knock knock...!
She knocked on the door of the office shared by the Chairman and the General Manager.
"Come in."
A familiar, composed woman's voice.
The foundation's General Manager, Laila.
At the sound of her voice, she opened the door and went inside.
"Chairman, General Manager, good morning..."
She wasn't scared of anything else.
She was terrified that her light, Laila, might look at her with eyes full of loathing.
"Chae-hyun, welcome!"
...She was smiling so brightly.
The smile was so natural, as if nothing had happened, just like always.
'...?'
"Hehe, you drank so much yesterday. Are you feeling okay?"
Saying that, Laila approached Chae-hyun.
The moment she placed a hand on her shoulder, a warm energy swirled around her, and her condition became perfectly normal.
'...Huh?'
She had walked in fully prepared for an awkward silence, a strange exchange of glances, or a cold, dismissive brush-off.
But her light, her darkness, her joy—General Manager Laila—greeted her with such a warm smile.
"I-I'm fine..."
Song Hoon, on the other hand, didn't say a word.
This wasn't the man who said he'd smack his manager on the head every time he saw her.
'Why was he watching for the Saintess's reaction?'
She was confused.
A bizarre mix of relief and anxiety, emotion and terror.
But one thing was certain.
Still, she couldn't put into words how relieved she was not to find a gaze of disgust aimed at her.
"Our 'Saintess's Foot Wiper' is awfully quiet today. Something different from usual?"
'!!!'
They knew everything after all!
But then Laila waved her hand dismissively and chuckled.
"It's okay. Do you really think we look like the kind of people who'd do anything bad to you?"
"Not at all!"
"We're thinking of entrusting you with a very important task."
Laila came up behind Lee Chae-hyun and lightly hugged her shoulders.
And in that position, she whispered softly into her ear.
'Haaa... I could die happy right now...'
"You'll do it, of course, right?"
"Yessshh..."
Laila gave a mysterious smile and patted her shoulder, bringing Chae-hyun back to her senses.
"Chae-hyun, you have a pretty face and good proportions, so I think you'll look great on camera."
"Huh?"
Having no idea what that meant, she looked over at Song Hoon beside her.
But he was taking a sip of coffee and avoiding her gaze.
'Huh?'
---
Before we'd set the dinner appointment with Lee Chae-hyun, the four of us had gathered in the conference room.
Me, Laila, and the foundation's representative and legal director.
The representative, seated, was the first to speak up.
"How about we try running advertisements directly from the foundation's side now?"
We weren't even selling a product...
"Advertisements?"
I tilted my head at the representative's unexpected suggestion.
"Hmm... Aren't we a foundation that doesn't generate profit, solely dedicated to helping people in need, 100%?"
At my words, the legal director and the representative exchanged glances.
"Chairman, no matter how idealistic the foundation's purpose is, operations require money."
The legal director nodded in agreement, chiming in after the representative.
"Welfare, medical care, volunteer activities—none of it is possible without funds."
"That's true, but the money we took from the cartel isn't a small amount."
That was also true, and the money Emir brought this time was a large sum, too.
Not just cash, but plenty of gold bars that could be liquidated.
But these two wouldn't have brought this up without thinking it through.
"...Is there a reason you're bringing up the advertisement talk now?"
At that question, the representative immediately continued.
"Didn't our foundation announce support for veteran war heroes and, on your stream this time, support for soldiers, Chairman?"
"Yes."
"Well, the thing is... that has started to link back to voices criticizing the government."
"They're being criticized?"
"Yes, along the lines of, 'What was the government doing while a single individual spent hundreds of billions?' It's growing increasingly intense in the media, online communities, social groups, and so on."
As he spoke, the legal director subtly pushed a tablet over to show me.
On the screen were headlines from various news articles.
[ The War Heroes the Government Forgot — Is This Acceptable? ]
[ A Foundation More Reliable Than the Nation: Personal Glorification or Government Criticism? ]
The articles were peppered with subtly uncomfortable angles like these.
I could see how it might be taken that way.
"Then maybe they should've done their damn jobs before people had to speak up..."
"And there are also some high-ranking officials subtly expressing displeasure towards our foundation..."
"What?"
"...Or we've gotten indirect feelers from others saying they'd like to participate in the volunteer work themselves sometime."
These bastards still haven't come to their senses.
I gave them a warning.
"Just so you know, if anyone in our foundation gets tempted for no reason, takes money, or does anything shady..."
"..."
"I'll twist their damn wrists off."
"O-of course...! We deemed it not even worth listening to and ignored it immediately!"
At some point, I was gonna rip a pillar out from the National Assembly or somewhere.
"Okay, then back to the topic from earlier. How and who would we use for the advertisement?"
The legal director answered this question first.
"Naturally, we're thinking of a celebrity or public figure with a clean, controversy-free image. A socially trusted image is crucial, after all."
"But we're not a corporation, and the foundation was just established... Would people like that even come to film an ad? I'm not very familiar with this field."
"Chairman, you're currently the 'Unknown Hunter,' surpassing even S-rank. You're practically a walking nation."
I waved off his words dismissively.
A hunter with national-level power, like something out of a novel...
A walking nation, he said...
"Haha, anyway, agencies trying to establish any kind of connection with you, Chairman, will jump at the chance even if they have to slash their advertising fees. Just to get their foot in the door."
At his words, Laila, who had been sitting quietly beside me, nodded.
"That's right. Corporations are desperate to associate themselves with the Hero. And since the veteran support project, the foundation's image has soared dramatically."
"Yes, we can receive their sponsorships, and we just use it transparently where it's needed. That actually makes for a more persuasive message."
Hearing them out, I thought it might be worth a try.
"So, where would this advertisement go?"
"Actually..."
The representative put on a meaningful expression.
"Chairman, you remember that incident recently where you almost got entangled with a politician over nothing?"
"...You mean that? The thing at the elder's house?"
"Yes. And there was that media outlet that provided us with information. We're considering placing an advertisement with them."
"Sounds good. They were the first to issue a formal apology when that school violence controversy blew up last time, and they were quite helpful this time too."
---
Later, after finishing dinner with Lee Chae-hyun, we returned home.
We were sitting together on the sofa, quiet for a moment.
"Laila."
"Yes?"
"You said there was a really good method. What was it?"
"What if we use her as the model for our foundation's advertisement?"
"......Who?"
"Lee Chae-hyun."
I definitely hadn't drunk that much alcohol.
Yet for a moment, my brain froze as if it had hit an error.
The Internet Lü Bu, the malicious viewer who had furiously clawed at Laila and me in the chat window...
But offline, she was the timid employee who quietly turned her head away when our eyes met.
"Use her as a model? An advertising model?"
"Yes, she has a pretty face and good proportions, doesn't she? And for an ad framed as public interest, I think an ordinary person would be better."
A person so extremely introverted her MBTI 'I' would surpass capital letters.
Someone lumped together into a solid mass of 'I'...
"You're setting her up as an advertising model for the entire nation to see...?"
I slowly realized this situation was heading in an absolutely insane direction.
But Laila, as if refusing to back down, cupped my cheeks with both hands and met my eyes.
"It would be done in a style where she, who actually received help from the foundation and became an employee, tells her story directly."
"..."
"Wouldn't that increase our credibility even more?"
I could picture it in my head.
The free time during a school trip, suddenly hearing the MC's voice ring out.
The sheer horror when they'd say, 'Alright, let's have the quietest person in the class!'
The unwanted call-out in front of hundreds, the blank expression, the footsteps moving forward while your brain and body feel completely disconnected.
"Laila, you..."
Her face was calm, her voice absolutely devoid of any emotional wavering.
There's no way a woman this perceptive wouldn't know what she was doing.
Yet, she tossed it out like it was nothing.
"You're a really scary woman..."
"Hehe... I'm just giving a 'malicious viewer' a chance to rehabilitate, you know?"