My Sincerest Apologies
“W-What on earth is this?”
The broadcast report Hye-yeon thrust before her eyes was nothing short of staggering.
“This is completely absurd! What am I supposed to do about having huge breasts, cut them off? And why would spirit pills ever be registered as dietary supplements? They don't have the slightest effect on ordinary mortals anyway!”
“…Right. Besides, children can't even tune into our stream in the first place because they haven't been implanted with biometric ID chips yet. This is pure, venomous slander. They know full well what spirit pills are, yet they deliberately spun them as 'supplements' just to orchestrate a public outrage.”
The comment section beneath the news article was an utter circus.
Hye-yeon's hands trembled with fury as she scrolled down the feed.
“These wretched sons of bitches! No matter how many I clean out, there's no end to them! Look, they posted a dozen more while I was refreshing!”
Cho-young stared at her companion in mild alarm. Wait a second. That smear of dried blood on her cheek... Is that from beating up malicious commenters in real life?
Wherever adoring fans gathered, haters naturally festered in the shadows. How could there not be an army of envious scoundrels burning with bitter jealousy over Cho-young's meteoric ascent? To them, this scandalous smear piece was the golden opportunity they had been drooling for, a free pass to hammer their keyboards with unrestrained vitriol.
It was hardly surprising. Cyber hyenas had always been cut from the exact same cloth.
“…Is that why you told me not to turn on the stream?”
“Yeah. The Sect Master told us to suspend operations for the time being.”
“Sect Master Pa Hae-sol?”
“We have to lie low until we uncover who orchestrated this disgusting sabotage. If your channel gets permanently banned, the collateral damage to all the sect leaders will be catastrophic.”
“My conscience is completely clear, though. Can't I just go live anyway?”
“I wouldn't recommend it. After that sudden shutdown you pulled a week ago, public sentiment among your viewers is pretty sour too, you know?”
Ah. Cho-young winced. Right. I did pull the plug out of nowhere, didn't I?
“To be honest, that's what made this balloon into such an uncontrollable mess.”
According to Hye-yeon, the ember that set off this blaze had been ignited the very day Cho-young vanished without warning.
At first, it had simply been the usual skirmish between loyal fans and opportunistic trolls. But the balance tipped entirely in merely two days.
Smelling blood around a rising streamer under coordinated attack, a vulture of a broadcast reporter had eagerly swallowed the bait and aired the smear piece. Instantly, Cho-young's existence was blasted into the public consciousness of millions.
The shockwaves were massive. Ordinary citizens who had never set foot in the cultivation realm flooded Cho-young's video feeds, hammering out wave after wave of hateful comments.
Every single one read as if synchronized by an invisible conductor, fueling suspicions of a paid cyber-brigade. But with Cho-young remaining entirely silent, not a single moderation effort had taken place to purge the filth.
“I see.”
Cho-young absorbed the entire landscape after reviewing the mountain of news clips and forum screenshots Hye-yeon had compiled with manic dedication.
“So basically, they're desperate to watch me crash and burn?”
“Cho-young, times like this require a cool, level head and... Wait. Why on earth are you smiling?”
Hye-yeon's face contorted in sheer horror as she caught the grin blooming across Cho-young's lips.
“W-What crazy scheme are you cooking up now?! I explicitly told you not to do anything reckless, remember?!”
“If watching me crash and burn is what they crave, I might as well give the audience exactly what they ordered. Back before I became a cultivator, this sort of thing was the hottest sensation on the web. Though it's been sixty-two years since then, so maybe today's folks won't find it as hilarious.”
“…Huh?”
A short while later, Cho-young's broadcast pinged online.
However, the feed displayed nothing but an ominous, pitch-black screen.
At last, Cho-young materialized on the feed.
Her dark hair was deliberately disheveled, and comical streaks of painted tear stains ran down her pale, porcelain cheeks.
Folding her waist in an exaggerated, ninety-degree bow, she spoke into the microphone.
“…I am truly sorry.”
A blindingly bright chroma-key green screen stretched behind her.
She wore a formal black suit.
Granted, the buttons were groaning under terrifying tension, threatening to violently rupture across her colossal, I-cup bosom at any second, but it was unquestionably a formal suit.
“I am deeply sorry for having huge breasts.”
“I am sincerely sorry that my overgrown bust has disrupted the wholesome emotional development of innocent children who are physically barred from even viewing my broadcast. I will deeply reflect upon my actions.”
“Furthermore, I deeply apologize for the sudden broadcast termination one week ago. I vanished without offering a single word of explanation, disappearing for an entire seven days. I will step back to self-reflect and properly boil.”
“To prevent such an incident from ever recurring, I will take ample time to deeply contemplate my actions before returning.”
Cho-young heaved a solemn sigh before adding, “…Possessing an oversized bust was entirely my fault. In our future streams, I will wrap tight bandages around my chest and bind it flat before greeting you all.”
“Hye-yeon, didn't you mention you had something to say as well? Go on.”
Shuffling forward with exaggerated hesitance, Hye-yeon stepped into the frame.
Dressed in a somber black suit, her customary bold makeup had been wiped almost clean, leaving her looking conspicuously pale and sickly.
“…I am truly sorry,” Hye-yeon murmured, bowing low. “I apologize for failing to properly guide and instruct my fellow streamer. I am deeply half-boiling my actions.”
“Furthermore,” Hye-yeon pressed on, her eyes narrowing slightly, “I apologize for contemplating beating malicious commenters into soft-boiled paste. I am truly half-boiling—no, deeply reflecting on my thoughts. I will take time during our broadcast hiatus to properly boil myself before returning.”
Side by side, Cho-young and Hye-yeon folded at the waist in unison.
“We are truly sorr—”
PING—!!
At that precise instant, the topmost button on Cho-young's straining jacket gave up the ghost. It ricocheted off the fabric and skipped across the floorboards with a crystal-clear clatter.
“……y!”
BEEP—!!
Panicking, Cho-young smashed the cutoff switch, severing the feed in a split second.
Fortunately, because she had remained bent deeply forward at ninety degrees, none of the flesh exposed beneath the popped seam had been displayed to the camera.
Even so, by that very night...
Are
You
Jealous?
Turning a crisis into a blessing.
It was, in the truest sense of the phrase, an absolute triumph forged from calamity.