Chapter 72
Chapter 72
As filming resumed, Yoo Jung-Hyun, the news presenter known for her easygoing persona, smiled and tried smoothing things over with the viewers. “I apologize to everyone watching the live stream. Saying I was feeling under the weather... is not exactly the most professional excuse, hey?”Luckily, most of them seemed to get it.
└ LMAO honestly, I’d be dizzy too. No wonder she needed a break.
└ Imagine trying to wrangle a guest this unhinged. No wonder she’s worn out.
└ If I was her, I’d have an stomach ulcer by now...
└ This should count as a workplace injury, frfr.
Seeing the supportive messages flood in, Yoo Jung-Hyun felt a little emotional inside. It kept her going.
“So! During that short break, we went ahead and pulled up the materials Do-Jin asked for. Welcome to our brand new segment: ‘Digging Through the Wiki Controversy Tab!’”
Just like that, she died inside a little more. Even as she tried to hype up the segment, a voice in her head wouldn’t stop whispering, What the actual fuck are we doing right now?
The viewers were just as thrown off as she was. This was a proper, full-blown broadcast backed by a real network. Yet, they were really about to run a no-filter drama segment like this, aimed at a random dude who wasn’t even a public figure. As expected, the comments section blew up again.
└ HUH?
└ What did I just hear??
└ Are we just... jumping straight into this, just like that??
└ So turns out the guest isn’t the only one who’s lost it.
Under normal circumstances, people would be losing their shit, accusing the network of exploiting some poor guy for views. But then again... this segment wasn’t their idea. The guest himself had asked for it.
└ What the actual fuck am I watching right now?
└ I have no idea what’s happening, but this is chaotic as hell and I love it.
└ This is like cable TV trying to cosplay as Twitch. And honestly, I’m kinda into it.
Watching the chat spiral into chaos, Jung-Hyun just gave in completely. “You know what? I don’t care anymore. They’ll probably fix it in editing.”
└ Jung-Hyun your mic’s still on, LOL.
└ She really said her inner thoughts out loud lolol.
At that point, Yoo Jung-Hyun had let go of her sense of control, her pride, even her sanity. All she had left was blind faith in the editing team to somehow fix this mess in post. The chat, watching her give up on live streaming in real time, completely lost it.
“I already got permission from the producer. He told me I could do whatever I wanted as long as I didn’t cause any trouble. So yeah, that means I’m going to do things exactly how I want.” She paused, then turned to Do-Jin. “Alright, Do-Jin. Then shall we dive right into this totally thrown-together segment?”
It was a newly created segment, and odds were high that this would be its first and last appearance. The format was simple and straightforward: Yoo Jung-Hyun, the MC, would read out items from the “Controversy” tab on Do-Jin’s Wiki page, and he would answer them. That was the whole thing.
“Some people are saying your videos seem like they’ve been edited to intentionally leave out certain information. The speculation is that you might be doing it on purpose to hoard that knowledge for yourself. What do you say to that?” Her eyes practically screamed at him to handle this one delicately, maybe even spin it a little to save face.
“It’s true,” Do-Jin said, completely unfazed. Once again, he dropped a bomb no one had seen coming.
Yoo Jung-Hyun’s eyes went wide like she had just witnessed a car crash.
However, Do-Jin kept talking like he hadn’t just thrown her under the bus. “I never uploaded those videos to share guides or spread helpful tips in the first place. Honestly, think about it. If I’ve got a tiny piece of intel that might lead to some hidden content or loot, do you really think I’m going to just hand that over to the internet? One slip and it’s not mine anymore.”
“Uh... well, yeah, when you put it like that, I guess it makes sense.”
Everyone knew that was how people really thought. Do-Jin knew it. Yoo Jung-Hyun knew it. Hell, everyone watching knew it too. Most just didn’t say it out loud. But Do-Jin couldn’t care less about pretending. He didn’t bother hiding the selfish side that everyone had. He just said it like it was.
“If someone out there shares their knowledge out of the kindness of their heart, that’s honestly amazing. But I don’t think the rest of us deserve to be dragged just because we keep things to ourselves. That being said, I’m starting to think it might not hurt to share a little more. If I ever get the time, I’ll consider making some walkthrough videos or something.” He even had the nerve to leave the door open like he was doing them all a favor.
Chat reactions flooded in.
└ But seriously, isn’t this whole thing a bullshit controversy? Who the hell actually shares every single piece of info on hidden content?
└ Still, Do-Jin’s channel hides stuff way too blatantly though, like that priest who kidnapped Karin. He edited it so hard you can’t even guess who it was.
└ Top-tier MeTubers are always super paranoid about giving anything away. One slip and the whole power balance flips.
└ Honestly, the ones yelling about “sharing hidden content info” are the real scumbags, lol. Bet they’re the first to hoard all the juicy shit for themselves the second they sniff out something good.
└ Classic freeloading loser behavior. Never donated a single won in their lives, but got the nerve to rant about celebrities who donate millions.
Do-Jin’s brutal honesty, paired with that subtle little promise about possibly sharing guides in the future, actually turned the crowd in his favor, especially his fans. They were loving it like they finally got their stiff neck cracked after days of tension.
The Q&A segment kept going like that for a while, somehow still holding together. Yoo Jung-Hyun leaned toward the screen, reading off the next point with a strained smile.
“There are reports that you massacred Japanese players in the Closed Iron Mine dungeon. Apparently, there’s even video footage to back this claim.”
Do-Jin scoffed like it was barely worth his time. “They started it. I was on my way out after killing the boss, and they tried to PK me, so I wiped the floor with them. I’ve also got the footage, by the way.”
The pathetic attempt at a media stunt by the same bunch of idiots who got wiped out before was crushed instantly.
Yoo Jung-Hyun cleared her throat and pressed on. “There’s another claim that your videos are basically scams, that they’ve misled a bunch of newbies into falling for the mage trap.”
Do-Jin gave her a deadpan look. “I honestly have no idea what they’re talking about. Mage is a strong class. That’s a fact.”
She hesitated, watching the chat scroll faster. “The chat’s... getting intense. People are coming forward live saying they got burned. Are you just ignoring all of it?”
Do-Jin paused for a second, then let out a small sigh. “I mean... come on, that’s not my fault, is it? Though, it looks like quite a few people did get screwed over, so I’ll drop some mage tips later. Happy now?”
He said it like he was doing the world a favor, and somehow, that was enough to turn the tide. What people thought was just some trolling ended up being the one answer that pissed everyone off the most. However, once he said he’d throw out some mage tips later, the vibe in the chat flipped on a dime. Everyone started cheering for Do-Jin like he was some kind of hero.
From that point on, one controversy after another started falling apart. They were minor issues, but the kind that would have spiraled out of control if they were left to fester. All of them were cleaned up in a flash.
“This looks like the last one. Um... It says here that a streamer named ‘Chang-sik the Walking L’ claims he was scammed by you? The details are... what the heck?”
Yoo Jung-Hyun squinted at the text as if she wasn’t sure she was reading it right.
“It says, ‘Do-Jin scammed me out of an item I originally intended to sell for forty million won. By pretending it was worthless, he managed to snag it for just fifteen million. The S-rank axe Do-Jin bought turned out to be a core item in clearing the Lavre Lake Underwater Cave dungeon. Based on this, it’s obvious he lied on purpose...’ or so claims Chang-sik the Walking L.”
Do-Jin let out a tired, almost amused laugh. “Some of the others were kind of iffy, but this one’s just straight-up embarrassing to even respond to. Do people seriously call that a scam?”
“Hmm, not necessarily.”
Do-Jin sighed. “It’s kinda shameful, honestly, but I did it because I was pissed off.”
“You were pissed off?”
“Yeah. I needed that item, so I went to the guy’s stream to buy it at full price. But the dude randomly started trash-talking me for no reason. So I lowballed him out of spite. It wasn’t hard to get him to drop the price, either. Nobody else was going to buy it anyway.”
Yoo Jung-Hyun let out a soft chuckle. Do-Jin turned to her with a look that said, What’s so funny?
She grinned as if she was teasing him and replied, “Oh, nothing. It’s just... I didn’t realize you’ve got kind of a cute side.”
“Uhh... Anyway, that’s the end of my explanation. I’m done.” The camera cut to Do-Jin’s deadpan face.
The chat exploded. Half of it was people gushing about how cute he was. The other half was absolutely dragging Chang-sik the Walking L for being such a pathetic little loser.
***
Ju Kang-Hee watched the entire live interview with Do-Jin on the monitor installed in the car, parked in the underground garage of the KGN building. A faint smile tugged on her lips.
There were moments when she wondered if she should go upstairs and intervene because it hadn’t just looked like he was walking a tightrope. Rather, it looked like the guy had jumped straight onto a razor’s edge. Yet, in the end, she decided to just watch. This was what he had asked for, and she figured the least she could do was trust him.
As it turned out, that was the right call. Sure, there were a few rough patches, and at one point, the whole shoot had to be put on hold. But at the end of the day, Do-Jin had met every single bit of controversy head-on, completely dismantling each one. From a fan’s perspective, it must’ve been cathartic.
Yeah, he definitely doesn’t give off that goody two-shoes vibe. No... he’s got more of a rebellious, wild and lone-wolf kind of vibe.
If anything, forcing him into some goody-two-shoes image would’ve just killed the flavor.
Kang-Hee tapped the screen, dragging the playback bar back to a particular part of the interview.
「You mentioned earlier that at first, you had no intention of doing any kind of public-facing activity like broadcasting or running a MeTube channel. You also said you were kind of overwhelmed when all this attention suddenly came your way and people started throwing offers at you left and right. And yet, the company you ended up choosing to work with was Rael Entertainment, a relatively new agency. I’m really curious to know what made you decide to go with them specifically.」
「Is there any reason beyond the obvious? They had the best offer. I’m sure other places might’ve matched them in terms of money, but when it came to freedom, no one else came close. And I made the right call.」
「So are you saying you’re happy with your decision?」
「Yeah. They’re clean, professional, they don’t butt in unless I ask them to, and they somehow always seem to know what I need without me even saying anything. Honestly, they’ve been damn near perfect.」
She paused the video. That question hadn’t been planned in advance. There was no way Do-Jin would’ve brought it up himself, not right after stirring the pot.
It had to have been added in during the break when the shoot was temporarily paused.
Right then, what Rael Entertainment needed most was exposure like this. The whole “Hey, we offer great contracts and actually know how to do our jobs. Come work with us” kind of pitch. And Do-Jin had scratched that exact itch perfectly.
“So he’s a fox in wolf’s clothing[1], huh?” Kang-Hee remarked.
Whether it was the sharp mind or the sharper presence, she found herself utterly charmed by Do-Jin in that moment.
“Sorry?” Chun Ji-Hyun asked, not catching what her boss had been referring to.
Kang-Hee glanced at the assistant manager who had been sitting stiff and silent next to her this whole time. Even she looked somewhat adorable now. Chun Ji-Hyun had clearly worked her ass off, and because of that, the company’s image had left one hell of a good impression on Do-Jin. That kind of grit was what led to results like this.
“You’re still driving an SUV right now, yeah?” Kang-Hee asked.
“Uh, yes, ma’am.”
“That must be uncomfortable.”
“No, not at all! It’s totally fine!”
“I wasn’t talking about you. I meant Do-Jin.”
Ji-Hyun had been sitting next to Rael Entertainment’s top brass for hours now and was dangerously close to losing her grip on reality. She almost blurted out, But Do-Jin just games all day, it’s not like he needs a car, but she thankfully managed to bite her tongue. That last bit of self-control ended up scoring her an unexpected reward.
“Did you say the Mercedes was best for the vans? Get one ready,” Kang-Hee ordered the person in the front seat.
“Yes, ma’am.” Her assistant in the front responded without missing a beat and immediately picked up the phone to make arrangements.
Ji-Hyun was starting to feel dizzy from everything that was happening. However, one thing was clear. I’m gonna be commuting in a Mercedes now. She just sat there, dazed, staring at the dashboard and thinking that to herself.
“Oh, and make sure you tell Do-Jin something. I want to get him a proper gift, like something meaningful. Tell him to think about what he wants.”
Even while she was speaking, Kang-Hee’s phone continued to blow up with message after message. Reports were already coming in about the surge of interest in Rael Group products that had been subtly featured on Do-Jin during the interview. All this was taking place before the regular TV broadcast had even aired.
“This time, tell him not to ask for some in-game item. I mean, something he actually needs in real life.”
With those final words, Kang-Hee stepped out of the car and moved quickly and purposefully to handle whatever came next, leaving Ji-Hyun standing there alone, confused. Whether it had been a request or an order, she couldn’t really tell.
“Oh, shit! Do-Jin!” Ji-Hyun shouted as she sprinted after her influencer, her mind still spinning.
1. A Korean idiom that means someone who looks like a brute but is actually clever and calculating. ☜