At the age of twenty-nine, with the status of a job seeker.
Man, Ahn Sang Tae woke up once again today.
The time was 2 PM. It was far too late for a job seeker to get up, but that didn’t matter to him anymore.
It had already been four years since he became both a job seeker and a house security guard.
Yes, that means he was unemployed.
In the dark room blocked by blackout curtains, Sang Tae blinked awake, scratched his calf, and plopped down in front of his computer.
The familiar whirring of an old computer fan filled the room. Slowly, the computer screen lit up, becoming the only source of light in the dark space.
Just two years ago, he used to go out and work at part-time jobs occasionally, but now, that was long gone. Everything felt tiresome and boring.
But even in his slothful state, he recently developed a routine.
That routine was to post in an online community. To be exact, he was diligently engaging in a community called ‘Abyss Gallery.’
That was the reason he sat in front of his computer as soon as he woke up. He needed to check the trending posts that went up while he was asleep and read the responses to his own posts.
Even though it was the internet, he was somehow leading a busy life. This, too, counted as external activity. Communicating with others online, how could it not be considered socializing?
If his mother heard that, she would likely be distraught. Her only son was out there writing bizarre posts all day instead of looking for a job.
Sang Tae had also been feeling lately that his mother’s gaze towards him was quite intense, so he had been deliberately adjusting his routine to minimize contact. During the hours she was awake or coming back from work, he would be asleep, and vice versa.
Maybe his mother had realized his intentions, as she had been purposefully avoiding him lately. Whenever they did meet, it was painfully awkward.
“I’ll finish this one important thing, and then I’ll look for a job and submit my resume…”
Sang Tae knew full well that his current life was wrong.
However, the harsh internet world was desperately in need of him right now.
He couldn’t help but go along with it. If he didn’t do this noble job, who would?
“Saving a person’s life.”
It was about protecting one woman.
Currently, Sang Tae had taken on such a monumental mission in the community.
It was a job no one recognized. There was no reward or compensation. Yet, it had to be done.
Like the Dark Knight, he was protecting someone shining brighter than anyone else in the lowest and darkest of places.
It was.
Finally connecting to the community, Sang Tae clenched his fist as if to resolve himself for the day.
“Watch me, Kayak. I’m here to protect the Abyss gallery, and you!”
Then Sang Tae started replying to all the irritating posts that had popped up overnight.
“What’s up with the idiots saying Kayak is pretty? LOL.”
“Anyone saying she looks just like Camilla is just sickening. LOL.”
– Kayak’s Broth #1: Nah, Kayak is pretty without even looking!
“Nah, here comes the Kayak squad again. LOL.”
“When’s this guy getting his armband cut off?”
What can I say? Sang Tae was the gallery’s beloved guardian and had recently been appointed as a manager due to a lack of manpower.
He dealt with those who dared to insult Kayak, the very face of the gallery, and lightly punished those who slandered him.
“Where on Earth do they see Kayak as ugly?”
Sang Tae firmly believed that Kayak was either the same person as Camilla or had looks comparable to hers.
There were others in the gallery who also believed Kayak was Camilla, but that was only half of the crowd.
The other half constantly labeled those who believed Kayak was Camilla as delusional.
It was an attack from factions that simply didn’t like Kayak. They seized the opportunity with the sudden outburst of face controversy to manipulate public opinion.
On top of that, with the rampant sexual harassment and harsh insults that popped up when VPNs were turned on, Sang Tae hurriedly dealt with those, fearing Kayak might see them.
Individual preferences were unavoidable. However, what Sang Tae couldn’t understand was something else.
There were those who weren’t purely hateful towards Kayak but only raised suspicions, asserting themselves as fans yet saying it didn’t seem right.
Why question something so obvious? Sang Tae found their reactions hard to comprehend.
At the same time, he felt a sense of fulfillment.
As a manager and pioneer, it felt somewhat like enlightening the ignorant from a higher ground.
Hours passed like this.
Before he knew it, the sun was setting. Just as Sang Tae wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead after fending off waves of attacks from other communities,
“Kayak is live! What the hell! LOL.”
“Did Kayak go live?! OMG.”
“What’s going on?”
“Stop fighting and go watch the broadcast! LOL.”
The broadcast he never thought would go live actually turned on.
*
“Camilla Weakens is live!”
It was a totally unexpected broadcast that started without any particular title at a completely random time.
Even though it wasn’t the usual time for Kayak to start her stream, people began flocking to her broadcast rapidly.
– 11.2K viewers.
It was an extraordinary number, one that hadn’t appeared even during Kayak’s peak tournament days.
But this wasn’t a good sign. It felt like an invasion from various communities that had caught wind of her stream.
[Hello hello hello hello hello]
[Did you go to the venue on your day off?]
[Heh]
[What’s your relationship with Lee Jun Hyuk?]
[Is it true you’re debuting as a pro?]
[O]
[H]
[S]
[K]
[(Dancing dinosaur emoji)(Dancing dinosaur emoji)]
[Stop manipulating public opinion, you brat!]
[Ming]
[Do you look just like Camilla?]
[Do you cosplay as Camilla all the time?]
[SYO]
[O]
[O]
[(Camilla giving a thumbs-up ASCII art)]
[Teacher, should we just kick these people out?]
[Turn on the cam, turn on the cam, turn on the cam, turn on the cam, turn on the cam, turn on the cam, turn on the cam, turn on the cam]
[How can you ask a no-cam streamer to show their face? That’s just too much! Those gallery people, ugh!]
[Thumbs up Mila says it’s okay~]
[Those murder gallery brats are back trying to drown people, LOL]
[Guess I gotta enable subscriber-only mode and chat-only mode]
[O O O O]
[OLRL]
The native viewers who had been following Kayak’s streams from the start were fiercely resisting.
However, just like before, typing obscure letters to filter out the bad messages was impossible. The opposing side had significant firepower.
As a result, the chat became a chaotic mess. It was a scene rarely seen in Kayak’s stream, which usually had a large but well-managed audience.
The rapidly scrolling chat made it hard to discern any coherent content, and even the messages that popped up now and then mostly mocked Kayak.
A collective soliloquy. Those chats held no meaning whatsoever. Just a bunch of giggling people hurling stones at a frog for fun.
What was curious was that no sanctions were being imposed.
The manager who usually monitored the chat and Kayak, the owner of the stream, showed no signs of reaction.
As if they had stepped out, the broadcast screen remained black, and neither the speed of the chat scroll nor anything else seemed to concern them.
Like invaders do, those trolls didn’t think too deeply. They just rushed in together and threw stones, and that was all there was to it.
As Kayak showed no reactions, they got even more excited and started rampaging. Whether more people were joining through the community or not, the viewers kept increasing, and donations began tickling Kayak as well.
The donations kept rolling in, and through them, Kayak was gently scratched.
<User ㅇㅇ donated 1000 won!>
– Is it true that you’re seriously crazy?
<User ㅇㅇ donated 1000 won!>
– Actually, I didn’t even go to the live event, just played games with a Pro from my room. If Kayak’s getting misunderstood, that would be so sad, lol.
<User ㅇㅇ donated 1000 won!>
– Just quit the broadcast already.
That was when something finally appeared on the broadcast, which had been silent and still until now.
A soft shuffling sound. It meant someone was now in front of the microphone broadcasting.
As the Owner of the room returned, both groups reacted fiercely. The trolls started throwing stones more aggressively, while the Fans were worried sick about her getting hurt, chatting away.
As the chat scrolled by at an unreadable speed and the viewer count surged past 15,000, something changed on the broadcast screen.
It was as if something flickered into view from a dark place into a bright one.
This wasn’t the usual game screen or desktop we were used to seeing.
The confused viewers quickly realized that the camera was streaming something live. Whenever Kayak occasionally used a handcam, this kind of screen would appear.
The camera filled the entire broadcast screen, showcasing someone’s room.
An empty computer chair, a single bed tucked away in the back, curtains with cute patterns, clean wallpaper…
The speed of the chat, already fast, picked up even more. For a moment, an overwhelming amount of chat input caused the chat window to freeze, only to explode back into motion.
Then it happened. Just as everyone was eagerly waiting for the camera to turn on and catch a glimpse of the face,
A rustling noise and suddenly a figure popped out.
A woman, struggling while emerging from under the desk. Eventually, she smoothly climbed up and sat on the chair, a woman with snowy white hair and blue eyes.
She frowned and leaned her face closer to the camera.
“Is this working…? Am I being seen?”
Then she started waving her hands around, trying to check if the stream was functioning well and to confirm the capabilities of the camera.
At that sight, the chat that had temporarily slowed down started spewing messages once again, either at the same speed as before or perhaps even faster.
The woman in front of the camera bore a resemblance to Camilla.
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