[That one’s a total b*tch]
[She’s like a Monday morning]
[I want to beat her up, what should we do?]
[Should’ve just hit her before Daeju arrived]
The Daeju-dan was in an agitated state after eavesdropping on the conversation between Daeju and Sujin.
They were so agitated that the chat activity in their private group of just 7 members was moving as fast as if dozens of people were typing simultaneously. As viewers who were used to watching streams under the name Daeju-dan, they were unmatched experts at channeling their anger into chat messages.
But even they couldn’t fully vent their anger through chat alone.
Because while usually typing in chat would give them relief knowing Daeju was reading it, Daeju wasn’t in this chat room – there were only 7 toxic viewers filled with rage.
Rather, their anger was compounding into a kind of madness.
And the one fueling their anger was none other than Daeju himself.
[F*ck, something feels off about Daeju’s attitude]
[He better not be gullible enough to accept that fake-ass apology]
[Come to think of it, she’ll look like the nice one for calling Daeju out to apologize…]
[There’s no such thing as a nice person among those who create situations requiring apologies.]
[Daeju… please smack her head…!]
The conversation between Daeju and Sujin was practically a one-sided confession.
Sujin listed out all her past wrongdoings in a trembling voice, and this had been going on for 10 minutes.
It was enough to make the listener tired of hearing about how many wrongs one person could commit.
Moreover, that trembling voice wasn’t from guilt but from noticing the sidelong glares from the Daeju-dan surrounding her.
She wasn’t trembling because she felt sorry towards Daeju or was ashamed of her past.
[F*ck it, let’s just say it. This b*tch is totally faking it]
[I want to, but wouldn’t that make him really distrustful and lock himself in his room? Not when Daeju’s all dressed up and emotionally prepared]
[I didn’t raise Daeju to be that weak]
[Daeju is our baby, we need to protect him]
[Bullshit]
While the content varied, it all boiled down to bullying. In many different ways.
Come to think of it, it wasn’t much different from what the Daeju-dan usually did, but there was a big difference in how Daeju felt about it.
Even among the Daeju-dan, new feelings about Daeju were emerging.
A feeling of pity.
[At least we pay to do it]
[We were pretty harsh though, weren’t we?]
[After this is over, I’m just going to be a mindless fan, only praising]
[We were pretty mean with our chat messages to Daeju]
[Should we seven at least try to write nice messages to Daeju…?]
Though the messages were playful, the expressions of the women who wrote them looked bitter.
Everyone has their stories, but when it came to Daeju, emotions stirred a bit differently.
The only one awkwardly smiling here was Daeju alone.
His smile, when he should be the one looking most upset, seemed almost enlightened.
[Ah he’s smiling… Looks like he might forgive her?]
[Please be satisfying, please be satisfying, please be satisfying…]
[When you expect something… that’s when you get betrayed…]
[If Daeju forgives her, I’m going to execute justice with a Falcon Punch to the crown]
[lololol Are you crazy?]
[I’m just… executing justice on behalf of Daeju…]
[This crazy woman….crazy woman…]
Some Daeju-dan members even openly declared violence.
Unaware of this, Daeju was watching Sujin speak with her head bowed and an expression full of contemplation.
[This won’t do. I’ll create my own satisfaction.]
[Oh lolol]
***
I was contemplating.
I could forgive her.
In the past, I would never have thought about forgiveness.
But now that I’m receiving perhaps more love than I deserve from many people, and am happy because of it.
There was nothing I couldn’t forgive.
But something felt lacking.
Somewhere in Daeju’s heart, that’s how it felt.
And in the midst of such contemplation, there was a clinking sound.
“Ah.. the spoon…”
It seems one of the women sitting at the table to the right dropped her spoon.
Even though she could have gotten a new one, she deliberately walked over to pick up the spoon that had fallen near Sujin.
And instead of just picking it up, she raised her hand, then brought it down to grab Sujin’s head and hit her.
With a thud.
At that clear sound, I bit my lips tightly.
Because I felt like laughing.
It was even funnier because Sujin, who actually got hit, was trying to hold back her anger with a grimace instead of bursting out in anger like I expected.
The woman who picked up the spoon was also funny with her inexplicably satisfied expression like she’d accomplished something.
“I’m sorry… had to pick up the spoon…”
“…It’s… okay…”
I was moved by how she tried to contain her anger despite her clenched teeth making it hard to pronounce words.
Let’s forgive her.
“Wow look at that impact, it just beat 30% of Korean games.”[1]
“Khu…”
I almost burst out laughing again at the unexpected joke that barely sounded like words.
I didn’t want to hear it, but the tables weren’t far apart so those words reached my ears.
I tried to hold back my laughter with a fake cough.
It wasn’t that funny of a joke, but it hit just right with the situation and my sense of humor.
“Pff…hoo…”
Laughter kept escaping even though this wasn’t a moment to laugh.
Did she hear?
Sujin was still trembling, trying to control her anger.
Right, when the person in front of me was trying so hard to hold back their anger-
“Wow did you hear that sound? It’s really well-ripened”
“Pfft, hehehehe…”
I finally burst out laughing.
After that?
I accepted the apology and forgave her.
Once I laughed, my mind cleared up, and seeing her get hit somehow made me feel better.
What was interesting was that shortly after Sujin left like she was running away, the other 7 women around gradually got up from their seats, but they all looked at me once before leaving.
It didn’t feel bad, but it gave me a strange feeling.
That’s how I returned home.
“I thought it would be threats or something else just from the text…”
Maybe I need to slightly modify my belief that people can’t be reformed.
And through this experience, I realized that people from the world before I came to this reversed world might also be here.
Could streamers I really enjoyed watching in the previous world be somewhere here too?
Maybe celebrities or even people I know?
Gathering streamers and singers I used to enjoy watching to start an entertainment company – and my family and acquaintances who I’ve lost touch with for various reasons-
Such fantasies suddenly came to mind.
My head felt a bit confused.
Putting that thought aside for now, I looked at my reflection in the mirror.
Though I’d never had a girlfriend, the boyfriend look clothes I bought online looked quite good, and though I’m embarrassed to say it, the hairstyle I copied from a handsome actor’s photo suited me well thanks to the skilled hairdresser.
“Since one worry is gone, and my current look is too good to waste…”
Although I was planning to rest, I turned on the stream.
The title was [New Male Cam Day 1]
A typical attention-grabbing title.
“Hello everyone”
[Master… you don’t have the experience to be clickbaiting…]
[Now even big streamers are clickbaiting ㅠㅠㅠ Oh no all the small streams are dying!]
[Started gradually showing face cam with a mask on, right?]
[Your hair looks nice ㅇㅇ couldn’t say it before when you had that broke-ass hairstyle in case it hurt your feelings]
[Finally did it lolololol]
At the mention of clickbait and my face cam stream, viewers came in far greater numbers than usual, like ghosts.
3,000 people.
Wonder how many would watch if I did a face reveal with clickbait.
I inadvertently gulped.
First, I adjusted the angle roughly so I could get used to face cam.
Still, something about my face looked different from what I saw in the mirror.
Thinking about what the difference was.
“Ah, there’s no lighting…”
A part I hadn’t considered at all came to mind.
Until now, since my face wasn’t showing, I hadn’t paid any attention to things like lighting or camera settings, but looking at the screen I could tell.
My face looked somewhat blurry, and I regretted that my skin appeared in a slightly colder tone than what I saw in the mirror.
[This good without lighting is decent]
[The armchair critics starting again? This level is handsome lololol]
[Is this really Daeju who looked like such a broke-ass before? My voluptuous chest is becoming majestic]
[Voluptuous? lol]
[Flat?]
[ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Our streamer is handsome right? ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
[What’s with that f*cking tone]
[Was it this kind of stream?]
The compliments were especially abundant today.
It felt good, but somehow awkward.
“Ey why are you making me embarrassed, just act like usual.”
[He says it’s good idiot lolol]
[Immediate attack *shiver*]
[But if we curse like usual now, he won’t dress up and stream like this anymore lololol]
[fr he’ll probably dress carelessly if we keep acting up]
[Yeah… thinking about that, I’ll grit my teeth and keep complimenting.]
Regardless of the reason, the stream’s atmosphere proceeded warmly.
Even with a mask on, showing my face meant content wasn’t necessary.
Even now, clips of my masked face cam stream were being sent to various streamers in real-time, bringing back reaction videos.
Most reactions were like:
‘Huh? Isn’t this Daeju-nim? He’s doing face cam?’
‘Wow he’s handsome?’
That was the general flow.
The compliments felt good, but I didn’t feel much impact since I considered it natural.
Not that I had tremendous confidence in my looks.
Logically, when showing it to streamers you don’t know, they wouldn’t suddenly curse and say you’re ugly – they’d compliment you even if just out of awkwardness.
And finally, Yeonhee’s reaction video came in.
“Huh? Yeonhee-nim?”
Seeing a reaction from someone I knew made me a bit nervous.
After all, it was someone I consider close… at least I think we’re close, seeing my changed appearance.
How would she think about seeing me dressed up like this, with my hair changed too.
Yeonhee in her ‘room warrior’ mode had a very strong way of speaking.
* * *
(End of Chapter)
T/N:
- The references to “Korean games” in the joke is about how Korean games often have impact effects when hitting enemies
