Chapter 71
Chapter 71
“I didn’t just stumble into Haberkan’s lair for no reason. I was working through a hidden quest, and that eventually led me there. Along the way, I picked up a lot of intel, like what kind of bastard Haberkan was, what his patterns were, and how to take him down.”“Hearing that... it’s reminding me of the first time I watched your video, Do-Jin. I remember thinking to myself, Wow, how is this guy toying with a boss monster he’s never even seen before? But now it all makes sense!”
Do-Jin gave a lazy shrug and leaned back slightly. “I mean, seriously. You think I could’ve just walked in and beat the crap out of something that size without knowing anything? I already had every bit of info I needed before even going in. That’s the only reason it looked easy.”
Yoo Jung-Hyun nodded, looking genuinely convinced. “So that’s why you said it wouldn’t have made a difference whether the Bloodshed Guild was there or not. You still could’ve killed him.”
“Exactly. But I know how people are. The moment you say something like that, people are gonna go, ‘Well if you were that confident, why didn’t you just kill him again after the reset?’ So let me clarify. Once Haberkan hits Phase Two, the fight turns into a nightmare.”
“Unmanageable, you mean?”
“Yeah. Sure, he’s just some regular-ass dungeon boss now. But back when he still had the ‘first of its kind’ or ‘hidden’ tag, there was always some insane mechanic waiting to fuck you over. In Haberkan’s case, it was him breaking out of the nest and going full-on berserk.”
Do-Jin casually held up three fingers. “I had to hit up three different villages just to complete that hidden quest. Even if they were a bit spread out, if Haberkan evolved and started healing, he would’ve turned all of them into smoking piles of rubble in no time. Based on what the quest hinted at, if you didn’t take him out the moment he hit Phase Two, you were fucked. There’s no other way around it.”
It was technically a lie, but not entirely. Haberkan really did go completely off the rails in Phase Two, and it was also true that every single town in his path ended up reduced to rubble, not just the three closest villages. That was how a flawless lie was built, by burying one well-placed piece of bullshit beneath a pile of undeniable truth.
With that neatly packaged story, Do-Jin walked away with two solid excuses. First, they weren’t needed. He could’ve soloed the bastard just fine. Second, if he hadn’t stepped in, the boss would’ve escaped and torched half the map.
Jung-Hyun understood what he was doing and helped spell it out for the viewers. “So it wasn’t about stealing the kill. You stepped in because you had no choice. Otherwise, it would’ve turned into a major catastrophe.”
Of course, there’d still be haters, but those types would rip on people no matter what they do. Do-Jin knew better than to waste time trying to please everyone.
Not everyone needs to like me. That’s impossible anyway... I’ll just take the win and move on.
In his past life, he didn’t have the guts to be hated, so he lived like a loser, hiding in the shadows and playing games just to avoid being noticed. Not this time, however.
A grin full of mischief tugged at Do-Jin’s lips. “That’s only half the reason.”
“Half? Are you saying there’s another reason?”
“Yeah. It’s a personal grudge.”
What the hell, man?
she thought, looking like she wanted to cry. Jung-Hyun had no idea how to react to this anymore. She’d been in show business for five years now, but this was the first time she had to deal with such an unpredictable guest. Meanwhile, Do-Jin looked like a kid reminiscing about a fun memory.
“Come on, someone who pissed me off is crawling around on the ground. How am I supposed to just ignore that? I jumped in, smashed the monster, and proved to them that I could solo what they couldn’t even beat as a group. Of course, I had to teabag him right then and there.”
“Tea... teabagging?”
“Oh, sorry. It’s probably not the kind of word I should be throwing around on a show like this. I don’t know, saying that I mocked or humiliated him sounds too soft... I’m kind of bad with words, so uh, can we edit that part out?”
Watching him casually walk back his own words like it was nothing, Jung-Hyun had only one thought. This dude is fucking insane.
She wasn’t the only one who thought that. The chat on the livestream was absolutely losing its mind.
└ Okay fr, you can’t not teabag the bastard. If the guy who pissed you off is crawling on the floor, are you really gonna walk away?
└ This mofo’s unhinged. He really said screw the public image, ran in solo, cleaned house, and left no survivors. What an absolute menace.
└ Skills? Check. Motive? Check. Reason? Sure. But at the end of the day, he just wanted to make some asshole eat shit, and he did. Real.
└ Tons of people are watching this live and he’s still asking for an edit. Dude... Do-Jin is maxing his charm. Being this badass and cute should not be allowed.
There were still a few people stubbornly shit-talking him, clenching their teeth and refusing to let it go, but their comments were getting buried fast under the flood of hype and praise. At this point, not just the interviewer but even the on-site producer, Hwang Woo-Young, had fully accepted their fate.
—Jung-Hyun, if things start to get out of hand, we’ll pretend we need a break and cut the feed. Don’t stress about managing the fallout. Just keep asking the questions. Start with the whole personal grudge thing.
As Woo-Young relayed that message to her, her thoughts burned on the inside. Fine. Like that bastard said, they could just patch the main broadcast with some editing magic. Controversy or not, if it went viral, it was a win.
Meanwhile, Jung-Hyun felt as if she were walking barefoot over broken glass. Who’s gonna take the heat for it? Me, obviously. Thanks a lot, Woo-Young...
But what choice did she have? In this show business, the interviewer couldn’t just ignore the director.
“Uh... this might be a slightly sensitive question, but could you tell us more about the personal grudge you mentioned?” she asked very carefully.
Do-Jin didn’t even blink as he instantly responded, “A grudge is a grudge. I had beef with the Bloodshed Guild Master, the one they call Blood King. We had a run-in a while back, not that he’d even remember it.”
Of course he didn’t remember. Blood King hadn’t even done the evil deed yet, at least, not from his side of the timeline. To Do-Jin, however, this wasn’t so much a lie as it was a weird form of traumatic storytelling.
He’s probably pissed right now. The guy’s getting dragged through the mud by the same public opinion he used to manipulate like a puppet master. That thought made Do-Jin let out a chuckle before his expression settled into something a bit more subtle.
“It really wasn’t anything big. Honestly, I don’t even know why I let it get under my skin so much back then. But hey, when you get the chance, you have to take your revenge, right? That’s just how I am. I’ve always been the type who goes an eye for a hammer, a tooth for a pickaxe.”
“Hahaha... wow. That’s definitely something our editors should remember to take out.”
└ Look at Jung-Hyun, she’s given up LMAOOO.
└ I mean, if a guest casually says they wanna stab someone in the eye and smash their teeth with a hammer, yeah, I’d mentally shut down too.
└ Okay but what did Blood King even do to piss him off that bad? Why isn’t he actually saying anything?
└ Come on, use your brain. From how he’s talking, it was probably something super petty. Like. ‘I got slapped while hunting rabbits as a newbie’ type of story. You can’t drop that on stream without losing all your street cred
The guest was unhinged, the interviewer was just trying to survive, and the chat was completely off the rails. Nothing about this interview was going according to plan.
***
Once the production crew realized this man was a runaway train with no brakes, they quickly tried to steer things toward a light, friendly vibe.
Do-Jin had no intention of playing along, and he made that painfully clear. “So... are there any other controversies about me I should know about?”
For the guest to ask the host if there was any dirt left on him was certainly absurd. Yoo Jung-Hyun was so caught off guard, all she could do was crane her neck forward and blurt out, “Pardon?”
Do-Jin just blinked at her with a face so innocent it was suspicious. “I mean, I’ve been too busy playing the game to really keep up with that kind of stuff. So I figured I’d ask,” he said with a shrug, his tone sounding almost too casual.
“If there’s any drama that’s just based on misunderstandings, I’d like to clear the air. Honestly, aside from the whole Haberkan thing, even when I was dealing with the Floating Continent and that hidden dungeon I just cleared, the only people involved were, like, two friends. So I can’t imagine there’s much to be controversial about. But hey, you never know, right?”
Jung-Hyun was speechless.
On the surface, it sounded like a reasonable, polite question. To her trained ears, it sounded more like, So the Haberkan shit’s done, yeah? What’s next? Floating Continent? The hidden dungeon? Not much you can bitch about there, either. But hey, if there’s anything you wanna nitpick, go ahead and say it.
He smiled like a saint, all the while giving off the vibe of a bear that was ready to bite the arm of whoever poked it too hard. Jung-Hyun had the sinking feeling that if she stuck to the script, she’d just get dragged in deeper. It looked like the producer was also picking up on the same thing.
A quiet directive buzzed in through her earpiece.
—Jung-Hyun, say your condition’s acting up and ask for a quick break. We’ll switch the stream to standby and pick back up after a breather.
It was an obvious and clumsy excuse, but she was more than happy to run with it. Gratefully, she nodded and followed the instruction. The shoot was momentarily paused.
***
Jung-Hyun let out a quiet breath of relief and began gathering her thoughts. Even if he was just a regular guy with no clue how broadcasting worked, what did he just pull? That shit wasn’t cool. I’m just here trying to do my job...
She turned to say something to Do-Jin. “Excuse me, I get that this might be your first time on a—”
However, she didn’t even get halfway through as Woo-Young came storming in, cutting her off with zero hesitation.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” The barely-restrained rage in his voice made Jung-Hyun shut her mouth and step aside.
Do-Jin, still sitting there, just looked up with that same dumb look on his face, playing innocent like nothing happened. “What’d I do?”
The producer’s face was already flushed red. “Who the hell does interviews like that? Even if you didn’t get a script beforehand, you’re supposed to go along with the interviewer’s pacing so the whole thing doesn’t fall apart. More than that, where the hell is your manager? I’ve been looking all over and she’s nowhere.”
My manager? Oh, you mean Ji-Hyun? Of course I ditched her. The second shit hit the fan, she’d be the first one running around trying to throw on the brakes. No way in hell will I let her roam free.
“She had something urgent and I guess she left early,” Do-Jin replied smoothly.
“You’re telling me your manager bailed mid-shoot and just left her celebrity here all by himself? Are you serious?”
“Her celebrity? Who, me?” Do-Jin pointed at himself like he actually needed to ask. “Come on, now that’s a stretch. I’m just a dude who plays games. I don’t know jack about interviews. I figured we’d just shoot the breeze based on whatever’s in the question sheet. That was the idea anyway. Did I misread the room?”
Woo-Young’s face contorted with frustration, but he held himself back. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to snap, but it was more like he couldn’t afford to. If this segment went up in flames, he’d be eating shit for months. His only option was to get this pain-in-the-ass guest back on track and finish the filming.
“Alright... Do-Jin, if this is because we didn’t send over the follow-up questions on time, then sorry. And if the stuff we asked rubbed you the wrong way, then yeah, that too. But come on, man. If something pissed you off, you could’ve just said it or told us to cut. How could you be pulling this kind of stunt without a word? Do you know what that makes us look like?”
He took a breath and lowered his voice, trying to sound diplomatic. “So far, we’re still good. People are laughing, nothing’s exploded yet. So from here on, let’s keep it clean, yeah? No more drama. We’ll watch our mouths and skip anything you don’t wanna talk about. You just play it chill. Deal?”
Do-Jin let out an awkward chuckle. “I think you got me wrong. Do I really look like some unhinged asshole who’d start shit live in front of thousands of people?”
Yes, you fucking do, Hwang wanted to scream.
That answer was sitting right at the tip of his tongue. Because even now, he could see that dangerous little flicker behind Do-Jin’s eyes. The kind of look that said, Push me one more inch and I’ll blow this whole thing up.
So he swallowed it down and waved the white flag. “Fine. What do you want, then? If we can manage it on set, we’ll make it work. Just promise me you won’t go completely off the rails unless the interviewer’s asking the damn question.”
Only then did that weird glint in Do-Jin’s eyes fade. “Well, since you’re being real about it, let me ask just one thing.”
When Do-Jin told him what it was, Woo-Young’s expression twisted. It wasn’t because he was pissed but because he was genuinely confused.
“You want us to front-load all the scandal questions? Why the hell would you want that?”
He had just asked for all the potentially problematic or controversial questions to be shoved right up front in the interview. Was he planning to start shit again? It kind of sounded like it, but at the same time, it also didn’t feel like that.
Do-Jin answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “It’s just that dragging out a bunch of half-assed controversies and trying to clear my name one by one sounds lame as hell. But if I just talk about them naturally here, it won’t seem like a big deal. It’ll pass easy.”
Then say that from the start, you crazy bastard. We could’ve worked with that from the beginning, Hwang thought with his face still scrunched up.
When he looked into Do-Jin’s eyes, he finally understood. Woo-Young could tell that this guy was a rebel to his core, and he hated being manipulated.
“Alright. We’ll do it your way. I’ll go check in with Jung-Hyun and we’ll restart filming.”
As the pounding headache settled in, Woo-Young swore to himself. Screw this whole natural flow and raw realism bullshit. So what if normal people freeze up when they see a script? From now on, everyone’s getting a goddamn script and memorizing it word for word.
That was the moment everything changed. Do-Jin, without even trying, completely flipped this producer’s philosophy on show business. The man had been in the industry for fifteen years, but in the span of one interview, all of that experience went out the window.