Thirty-Five Thousand Witnesses

PD Kim Dae-yu was trying to talk me into it.

YouTube? Hmm...

It wasn't a bad suggestion. Nothing would kill a fabrication controversy faster than letting people watch me work live. Still. The subscriber count on this so-called Truth TV sat somewhere around fifty thousand. On YouTube, that wasn't particularly influential. I might just be picking at a scab.

And besides...

"That's a decent idea. But if I started streaming, would people actually come watch?"

"It's not even an edited video. Who's going to sit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠through hours of me tinkering away? Honestly, I wouldn't watch it myself."

PD Kim went quiet for a moment, then conceded the point.

"I'll think about it, at least. He doesn't seem like a hugely influential YouTuber, but once flies start swarming like that, more of them tend to follow."

I thanked him and hung up.

A live stream, huh...

Hong Min-gu. He was the owner of the channel Truth TV, and a textbook rage-bait YouTuber. Splicing issues together, twisting them, and milking the views — that was his day's work. His average view count sat around thirty thousand. Honestly, that wasn't much even for a wrecker.

But the video he'd recently uploaded about Kang Cheolwoo of the All-Around Workshop was performing unusually well.

For one of his own videos, that counted as a genuine hit.

These views are actually pretty good.

Then a notification lit up his phone. An article matching a keyword he'd set had just gone up.

"So that's how they're playing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it?"

From Hong Min-gu's perspective, this was a gift. Now he could produce a follow-up and farm even more aggro.

"Alright. Let's send this guy into hell for real."

This time he made the title even more inflammatory. A new investigative video? Unnecessary. Raising suspicions was enough. A lawsuit? That would only draw more aggro — he welcomed it.

Raising suspicions leaves plenty of legal loopholes to slip through, too.

"......This son of a bitch, I swear..."

Taeseok exploded mid-lunch, his spoon stopping halfway to his mouth.

"What's wrong? Something happen?"

"Look at this."

On the phone screen he shoved toward me, that channel's video was up again.

That Truth TV guy, or whatever he called himself, had dropped a follow-up. The content was nothing. The same baseless speculation as last time, warmed over and served again.

Taeseok was worked up, furious.

"Shouldn't we actually sue this guy? We can't just keep letting this slide, right?"

Previous video, 420,000. This one, 210,000. He only had fifty thousand subscribers, but with numbers like these, he might have more reach than I'd given him credit for. If this kept repeating, it wouldn't just be me — Jinpoom and Myeongpoom, the show I was appearing on, would take damage too.

This isn't going to work.

I'd been planning to let it go, if I could. Stirring up unnecessary trouble wasn't in my nature. Once, I could allow. Twice was too many.

I set down my spoon.

"A lawsuit is exactly what they want. They'd be thrilled at the extra aggro."

"......Yeah, that's how those types operate. So what are you going to do? We can't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just sit here and watch, can we?"

I spoke with the voice of someone who had already decided.

"Hyung, once we finish eating, let's go buy a phone stand."

On the way back to the workshop, I bought a broadcasting tripod — the kind streamers typically used outdoors. Hmm... maybe I should set the account up like this. I created a streaming account, more or less, and finished the basic settings following whatever the internet said to do. A little later, I clipped my phone into the stand and hit the start button.

Even if there aren't many viewers at first, that guy already pulled the aggro. Once word gets out, people will come watch to some degree.

"Taeseok-hyung. Am I coming through okay?"

Taeseok flashed an okay sign with his hand. I cleared my throat, a little awkwardly, and spoke.

"Hello. This is Kang Cheolwoo of the All-Around Workshop. Today I'll be showing you the process of making something, unedited, in real time."

Whew... even so, three viewers...

I'd expected it, but the number was even more pathetic than I'd thought. And the chat was dead silent. Not that I could stoop to the same cheap aggro that guy pulled. I quietly did the work I needed to do. The only difference from usual was that I mixed in a comment here and there as I worked.

"The most important thing here is the mixing ratio. The tiniest difference in proportions is what separates a masterpiece from the rest."

You can't fill up on the first spoonful.

Before I knew it, I'd forgotten I was even streaming, and simply made the piece. How much time had passed? Suddenly a flapping sound came from somewhere. I snapped back to attention and looked up — Taeseok was holding a scrap of paper in both hands.

What is he talking about? Did hyung eat something weird...

Twenty-three thousand people? Even decent mid-tier streaming operations struggled to break ten thousand viewers. And this boring stream that had five viewers a few dozen minutes ago now had twenty-three thousand? That was absurd. But looking at the monitor displaying the broadcast, what Taeseok had said was the truth.

What... no, how did this suddenly...

"Ah, everyone, why is getting a solo kill here so hard? You just go in like this and take the solo kill. See? Like this."

Rake took the solo kill with practiced ease, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Not long after, the game was won on his carry. Naturally, the chat exploded.

Korea's most popular game. The living legend of Legend of Valhalla — Rake. His personal stream was a major operation that regularly drew twenty to thirty thousand viewers. And recently, having recovered his peak-era form, the numbers had only grown.

"I'll queue up again."

— Ding-dong.

Then a phone alarm cut straight through the stream audio.

"Ah, sorry. One second."

The alarm from Rake's phone. He normally kept it on silent during streams, but he must have forgotten today. He hurriedly opened it to switch it over. And then.

Huh...? Teacher Kang?

He would have ignored any other notification. Teacher Kang Cheolwoo, he could not ignore. Teacher Kang was practically a benefactor who had extended his professional career.

Wait, but a stream all of a sudden...? What's gotten into him?

As Rake sat there holding his phone, the chat started asking what was going on.

That was when Rake snapped back and spoke.

"Ah, sorry. It's nothing else — I've mentioned him on stream a few times. You all know Teacher Kang Cheolwoo, right? He's my benefactor, and I just got a notification that he started a live stream."

The moment the name Kang Cheolwoo came up, the chat started flying.

A few viewers who'd watched Truth TV's videos typed into chat. And seeing those messages, Rake got angry in a way completely unlike his usual self.

"Skill controversy? Teacher Kang Cheolwoo? Who's spreading this kind of nonsense? That teacher's skills are the real deal — the absolute best. Character? Without Teacher Kang, I wouldn't even be playing professionally right now. From now on, any chat trash-talking Teacher Kang gets an instant ban."

Rake talking like that only made people more curious. He even had veins standing out on his neck as he defended Cheolwoo.

But even after all that, there were still people who didn't believe in Cheolwoo's skills.

These people, I swear...

Rake cancelled the queue he'd been spinning and spoke.

"Ha... this isn't going to work. Then let's just watch together. That's the only way you'll believe it. I'm going to host Teacher Kang's stream."

And a moment later.

Why are there suddenly this many viewers?

Even with the aggro Truth TV had pulled, this viewer count didn't make sense.

What is this even...

I clutched my pounding chest and opened my mouth.

"I can't believe the viewer count just jumped like this. What on earth happened...?"

And a moment later, a familiar name appeared in the chat.

"Ah..."

I was a little flustered. I knew Rake was a successful pro gamer, but I had no idea his personal stream had this many viewers.

Well. Maybe this is actually good.

Honestly, the absurd viewer count was pressure. Looking at it the other way, though, there was no better situation for showing people my skills.

In that case, rather than this...

I couldn't hold these people with boring foundational work like I was doing now. I needed a performance that would truly seize their eyes. I cleared my throat for a moment and spoke.