Oops, My Hand Slipped

Minji had never lived her life worrying about things like that. The human named Lee Minji was the kind of person who could be called a community addict without any room for excuses. She was the type who poured more than six hours a day into lurking on communities, wasting some of that time writing shitposts or terror threads. At least once she started streaming as a streamer, that time had gradually decreased, but even then she couldn't quit completely. No matter how busy or exhausted she was, she could never let go of the communities in the end. Thanks to that—or because of it—she ended up oversleeping after staying up late browsing communities. Even on days she had plans with others, she couldn't break the habit and often got smacked on the back. In the end, the conclusion was simple: if she just quit the communities, Minji's lifestyle would return to something perfectly normal and healthy. Suha, who had known this from the start, had told her several times to quit, but Minji's stubbornness was like iron wire, so there was no way she'd listen.

Of course, Minji had things to say. A normal person wouldn't, but since Minji wasn't normal, she did. According to Minji, lurking in communities was like drifting through an ocean of information. For a streamer who couldn't afford to fall behind on trends, scouting communities was basic. As a bonus, you could see viewers' objective evaluations. Someone might say it'd be better to just watch YouTube Shorts instead. And honestly, that was true. But if you said that, Minji would fire back that communities let you access a wider variety of information. Sure, there were minor issues like low average quality or strong underground tendencies since all sorts of people gathered there, but when you weighed the pros, those cons weren't that important. At least, that was Minji's personal opinion.

Anyway, from Minji's perspective, communities had a few other positive functions.

"Hmm..."

One of those functions was quickly grasping the core of a conversation after hearing just a few words. To troll effectively, you first had to understand what topics were trending in the community, so it was a skill she'd naturally developed. On the flip side, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if you had no intention of trolling, it wasn't a skill you'd develop, making it a somewhat ambiguous claim to call it a "community advantage." Well, that wasn't important right now.

"Um, sorry, but what's going on right now?"

After roughly grasping the situation, it seemed like something involving her and Yeoru had become controversial. Looking at the chat, it didn't seem like there was any problem on her end. The problem was on Yeoru's side.

Yeoru, huh.

"...But why are you guys making a fuss? This isn't even Yeoru's stream."

Normally she'd be excited at the chance to troll, but she wasn't in the mood right now. She'd learned how surprisingly tough being a streamer was, and she didn't particularly dislike Yeoru either. So she was planning to just watch as long as it didn't affect her, but why were they causing chaos?

But listening more, it didn't seem completely unrelated.

"Haa... what the hell is this now.."

As the situation started taking a weird turn, the headache that had subsided seemed to return. Ow, my head. It really felt like someone was squeezing it. Ack, ugh. Shit, seriously save me, ugh. Guys, I'm really sorry, but can we talk about this later? Honestly, I'm not that interested in it. I only turned on the stream because I have to do the try anyway. It's not like I turned it on to get sympathy while listening to this nonsense.

Whether Minji liked it or not, the viewers started interpreting her condition however they pleased.

They were turning a dumbass who'd gone out wearing only padding over underwear and caught a cold into a tragic heroine whose health had been ruined by a conglomerate's tyranny.

"Ah, shit.."

At this point, Minji's patience was finally reaching its limit. For someone who originally had zero patience, enduring this much while sick was actually impressive.

"That's enough—"

Of course, she had no intention of enduring any more, so Minji was about to unleash her temper on the viewers who were rambling as they pleased when—

"Hello? What the hell is going on?"

After checking the messages, Minji immediately called Suha. With the stream mic ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠muted and only a single line left saying [Stepping out for a bit], she—

The viewers waiting for Seongna to return were abandoned once again, but since this wasn't the first or second time, it was probably fine.

Of course, most of the people who came to Seongna's stream right now were trolls who'd shown up because of the controversy, so a normal stream was impossible anyway. All because of people who stuck their noses in with some half-baked sense of justice over something the person involved had already brushed off. It was ridiculous. They weren't even the parties involved, yet they crossed the line with the plausible excuse of "throwing stones at the villain." With so many idiots like this, it was no wonder people said the internet was full of keyboard trash.

["Phew, I don't have a complete grasp of the situation either, but it all started because of one post that went up on the community."]

Without a moment's hesitation, Minji clicked the site address Suha sent. What unfolded before her eyes was an exposé post targeting "Yeoru," written by a user with the nickname Senbing.

"This dumbass female streamer finally caused trouble."

It was the moment when what Minji had roughly expected became confirmed. Since the only thing that could make Yeoru the bad guy and herself the victim was this.

["Yeah, because of that, Yeoru's fans are going crazy asking for evidence. That person named Senbing.."]

"They dragged me into it, right?"

["..Huh? How did you.."]

"I figured they would."

Others might not believe it, but Minji's brain was actually quite sharp. The problem was that it rarely operated, but once it started running, it reached a level where being called "brilliant" wouldn't be strange. From Minji's perspective, her stream had drawn an excessive amount of aggro. It wasn't just because she was the victim between Yeoru and Senbing—there was an atmosphere like they were demanding something from her.

"It's because of that, right? That, what was it, that [Idiot] file?"

["Uh, yeah... I don't know if that was the exact title, but it'll be because of that file."]

She hadn't quite grasped what it was about, but if it was this, she could understand.

["Senbing must've been desperate too. They were like, 'The evidence is with Seongna, so ask that person' and basically begged."]

"No, what the hell did that crazy bastard do to drag me into this? They should solve their own problems with Yeoru, why the fuck are they bothering me."

"It's annoying. I'm just going to say I don't have it. I'm not interested either."

["Hmm, Minji. I get that you're annoyed, but this has gotten pretty big..."]

"Why? What is it?"

At Suha's hesitant appearance, Minji tilted her head. No, she was the one who had the file anyway. If she said she didn't have it, that should be the end of it, right?

["That file... you're not the only one who has it."]

"Ah."

But now that she thought about it, she'd received that file from someone else too. With that realization, everything changed. Senbing had probably started by dragging Yeoru into a mud fight, and Yeoru would naturally have denied it. In the process, Senbing revealed that the victim Seongna had the evidence, which turned her stream into complete chaos. So if she said she didn't have that evidence? First, Senbing would fall straight into the abyss. They'd get hit hard with defamation and all sorts of backlash. But the problem was that she wasn't the only one who had the file.

["If you say you don't have it and then it spreads from someone else... it could get really annoying."]

Just like Suha said, if someone spread the file and it came out that they'd shared it with her, things would get seriously messy. She'd end up getting dragged into it with Yeoru and suffering for no reason. God, this was so fucking annoying.

"Ah... Senbing, you son of a bitch.."

Minji clutched her head as the headache surged. Her already imperfect physical condition combined with the situation getting tangled made it feel twice as bad.

["So I... sigh, I didn't want to say this, but it might be better for you to just reveal it as is..."]

"You want me to make the file public?"

["Yeah.. Then Yeoru would be... finished, but you're clearly the victim, so you wouldn't suffer any damage."]

In the end, it was like she held Yeoru's lifeline in her hands. Killing her was simple, but saving her meant she also had to take a risk. Ugh, feeling like even her mind was tangled up, Minji roughly ran her hands through her hair.

"What do you think is better?"

["H-huh? Me?"]

"Just, since you're the senior in the industry, Suha. I want to hear your advice."

["I.."]

For a very brief moment, an awkward silence flowed between them. It was truly only for a moment. Before Minji could even feel the awkward atmosphere, Suha opened her mouth.

["I think it's better to just reveal it as is. I'm sorry for Yeoru, but I don't want even the slightest damage to come to you, Minji."]

"Really?"

["It might be selfish. Still.. you're the victim. There's no reason for you to feel guilty. You don't have to carry that. Right?"]

She spoke quite firmly, but Suha's voice was trembling heavily. Even though she'd said they weren't anything to each other anymore, that was only what she'd thought alone—Yeoru had once been a close little sister. The fact that that little sister was caught up in a controversy that would make it hard for her to establish herself in the industry was extremely uncomfortable for Suha. Giving advice to put the final period on that controversy in the worst possible way wasn't an easy thing either.

"I see..."

Of course, the choice was Minji's. Suha had already done her part. She'd told her what would happen depending on what choice Minji made, and even added her own emotionally charged advice on top. Minji closed her eyes. And then—

"They say people change when they're sick, but why am I thinking so complicated. This isn't like me."

She smiled brightly enough to show all her gums.

["Huh..?"]

"Okay, decision made. I'll be right back, Suha!"

["W-wait..! What do you mean you decided—"]

Beep

Before Suha could finish, Minji hung up and ran to her computer. After skimming through the chaotic chat and donations, Minji unmuted her mic.

"Hello everyone, I'm back."

The viewers rushed at her the moment she opened her mouth.

"It seems like you're all doing this because of the exposé post that went up on the community. I needed some time to understand the situation too, so... yes, I checked it."

Minji didn't care about that kind of reaction at all. After all, streaming without caring about viewers and doing whatever she wanted was her specialty.

"From what I saw, someone named Senbing exposed Yeoru. They seem to be claiming the evidence is with me. I only have one thing to say about that."

Victim? Guilt toward Yeoru? When had she ever lived worrying about things like that? What she cared about was always—

"Everyone, can you see the screen right now?"

Just for fun.

"I think ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what you're talking about is this file. This one, this one."

Seongna's mouse pointed at the file labeled [Idiot]. The file that contained the relationship between Yeoru and Senbing, the most important key in this situation. And Seongna—

"Whoops."

She deleted it with her own hands.

"My hand slipped?"

"Alright, if you came here because you were curious about the file, you can leave now. It's not with me anymore."

There. She neither hid the file's existence nor made it public. A world where no one gets hurt is complete. Though she wouldn't mind if Senbing got a little hurt.