Chapter 61: Actually, That's (1)
Na In-pil.
In Kim Tae-yang's mory, the guy was, to put it bluntly, an attention-seeker to the core.
He was always walking around with his phone, filming everything under the sun under the guise of making vlogs.
He would film pretty female students and upload them to NuTube.
The view counts were decent enough that he had quite a few subscribers, but the videos were fild without consent.
After soone posted a callout comnt, the channel ended up getting deleted. Na In-pil was so shaken by that fact that he went around saying he'd rather die, and didn't co to school for two days.
The identity of the person who posted the callout comnt was never revealed, but Na In-pil had his target. None other than , Kim Tae-yang.
"Hey! Samcheolli! It was you, you son of a b*tch!"
During break ti, as Kim Tae-yang lay face-down on his desk desperately wishing for the break to end quickly — Na In-pil suddenly kicked him.
Crack!
"Agh! Why…… Why are you doing this?"
"Why?! There's no one else it could be! You're the only one who'd post that callout!"
"It wasn't ……."
"F*ck! You coward!"
Na In-pil kept kicking and kicking.
Na In-pil had bullied and hit Kim Tae-yang before, but never a beating this severe! Kim Tae-yang crumpled to the floor, covering his head with both hands, unable to even breathe properly under the barrage of kicks.
The one who stopped Na In-pil was none other than Kang Hae-san.
"Hey, Na In-pil."
"……What?"
"The hell. What do you think you're doing to Samcheolli?"
Kim Tae-yang, too, briefly thought that maybe Kang Hae-san was on his side. Na In-pil stuttered in surprise.
"No, I an, this guy shot down my NuTube channel and—."
"Who told you to hit him?"
"……."
"Samcheolli is our toy."
And just like that, Kim Tae-yang's pathetic shred of hope crumbled. Na In-pil stumbled back in a panic. Kang Hae-san was one thing, but standing behind him were those three.
"Sorry about that, Hae-san."
"What do you have to do when you break soone else's stuff?"
"……What?"
"Pay for it. Samcheolli belongs to ."
Kang Hae-san held out his hand.
"You hit him about ten tis? Ten thousand won per hit. One hundred thousand won total."
Na In-pil hesitated, then handed over a hundred thousand won. Pleased to have earned a hundred thousand won without lifting a finger, Kang Hae-san let these words slip out of his mouth.
"Want to hit him more?"
"What?"
"Ten thousand won per hit. Deal?"
It was absurd. Just what kind of existence was Kim Tae-yang to these people?!
Na In-pil's eyes wavered. His deliberation didn't last long.
"Deal! I've always wanted to film so action footage."
"Figured. Hehehe."
"Samcheolli! Get over here!"
mory synchronization 85%. As mories of the violence the perpetrators had inflicted on Kim Tae-yang surfaced, my heart grew heavy.
Kim Tae-yang. This guy……. How did you hold on all this ti?
***
[Inpil TV — Na In-pil's Mission!]
Split a log with a kitchen knife! Prize money: 100 million won!
The prize was a hundred million won, but no one was stepping up. Most people were aiming for five million. Soone ca forward with bravado. Judging by the school uniform, they looked like a high schooler.
"You'll actually give the money if I succeed, right?"
"Of course. I'm Na In-pil. Don't you trust ?"
"Ah, sure I do."
The high schooler picked up the kitchen knife.
"Now, everyone! The brave shall claim a hundred million! Our first challenger has stepped up!"
└ Looks like a delinquent.
└ Classic delinquent face.
└ Get lost, delinquent.
└ Get lost.
"Student, are you a delinquent? The reactions aren't great."
"I'm not a delinquent."
Na In-pil rushed to defend the student.
"I genuinely hate delinquents. Absolutely despise school violence! Even when I was in school, whenever delinquents bullied soone, I was always the first one to step in!"
└ Definitely a delinquent.
└ Oh god, the PTSD is hitting.
└ Get lost, delinquent!
Seeing the poor reaction, Na In-pil turned to the student.
"Do you have any tattoos?"
"No."
"If you don't have tattoos, you're not a delinquent! Guys, he's still just a kid. Calling him a delinquent isn't right. Say anything slanderous and I'll take legal action."
The chat quieted down at that.
"While we're here, please drop a like and subscribe! Now let introduce sothing great real quick!"
Na In-pil grabbed one of the vitamin drinks stacked in a pile next to the log.
"A brand new vitamin drink. Take a sip and feel your strength surge! A surge in the morning too! Student, co over here. Drink this first, then give it a go."
The high schooler took the vitamin drink and drank it.
"Student! How does it taste?"
"Sweet!"
The student gave a thumbs up. One onlooker in the crowd, apparently knowing what that vitamin drink was, quietly muttered.
"That thing is packed with fructose. Sugar content is a whopping 48%. Drink that and you're on the fast track to diabetes."
Na In-pil shot a glare at the onlooker for a mont. The implication being: I'm making money from an ad deal, so mind your own business. The onlooker flinched and quietly slipped away.
"Now! Let's see what this student can do after drinking the vitamin drink."
The student stood before the log, knife in hand.
"Get ready! On three, you bring it down. One, two, three!"
Thwack!
The kitchen knife the student swung ca down into the log. But the blade only barely bit in, nowhere near the five million won mark.
"Ah, what a sha."
The high schooler scratched his head and stepped away. Next ca a guy with quite a sturdy build.
"Hand the knife."
"Oh! Those are so thick forearms. You must work out a bit?"
"I lift so iron."
The guy drank the vitamin drink and brought the knife down.
Thud!
But the five million won was still a long way off.
└ Gym bro challenge failed.
└ Should've had more protein.
└ Bet he'll be lifting all night after that fructose hit.
The mocking continued. The man who had just attempted it tilted his head, then asked Na In-pil.
"Can I try again?"
"Of course. Are you confident?"
"I think I can do it. The knife's a bit dull, but I'm getting a feel for it."
The man's second attempt! But it was a failure.
"Aah, what a sha. A round of applause for the courageous gentleman!"
After the applause, Na In-pil spoke with a aningful look.
"Now! The log has gotten a bit dug in after two swings. And as you all know, the more it's struck, the duller the blade gets. Which ans it only gets harder as we go on!"
At those words, n with even bigger builds started raising their hands.
Thud! Failure. Thud! Failure.
As failures kept piling up, the reaction grew worse. And then —
Clang!
The kitchen knife finally snapped clean in half.
└ What a joke, like that was ever going to work!
└ Na In-pil's a scamr.
└ Na In-pil's a scamr.
The reaction turned even uglier. But Na In-pil just smiled faintly, as though he had anticipated this too. He had been in this ga a long ti, and he knew that criticism and backlash were just another form of attention.
‘You bury an issue with a bigger issue.’
Bang!
Na In-pil prepared a fresh log and a new kitchen knife.
"Now! Since the original log has been turned into a ss, let's replace it with a new one!"
└ So this was the plan from the start.
└ Na In-pil's a scamr!
└ Scamr to the gutter!
"Ah, guys! You haven't seen this yet, so bear with !"
Na In-pil lifted the new log to show it off. At the very bottom of the log was a label that read: '300 million won!'
"It's because a hundred million wasn't enough to get your focus up! Three hundred million ans laser focus!"
└ Three hundred million, damn!
└ Isn't three hundred million like In-pil's entire yearly inco?
└ Dropping three hundred million on one piece of content?
└ Absolute power move, so cool!
└ Let's get to a million subscribers!
Just as he had expected, an ‘Ooh!’ of excitent erupted from the crowd. Two more briefcases, each holding a hundred million won, were stacked up. At the sight of three hundred million in cash, people's eyes began to roll back.
"Sign up!"
" too!"
Whoosh! Thud! Failure! Whoosh! Thud! Failure!
Two more failures followed, and as the concurrent viewers surpassed a hundred thousand, a smile crept onto Na In-pil's face. That seed like enough to hit the goal.
"Aaand, there were no successful challengers today. Unfortunate, but now—."
"Would I be able to give it a try?"
Just then. A hand went up from the crowd. That hand belonged to . The Poison Demon.
I stepped forward with steady strides. On my face I wore a Human Skin Mask purchased from the Black Market. The face of soone around thirty. My outfit was nothing remarkable.
"Ah, just as I was wrapping things up."
└ Give the old guy a chance.
└ Another person blinded by the three hundred million.
└ Sir. You'll snap your wrist.
Na In-pil, reading the chat, shook his head.
"Ah, I'm afraid it'd be quite difficult."
"I'll give you five million as an entry fee. Is it still too difficult?"
"Excuse ?!"
Na In-pil's eyes went wide.
"I'll give you five million. Just let have one try."
"Let see it."
I took off the gold necklace I had on. Sothing I had retrieved from the Tower.
"Pure gold. Should be well over five million."
Na In-pil bit the necklace on cara, then checked the viewers' reaction.
└ The old man's lost it.
└ He's betting five million on a single shot?
└ Respect for that, honestly.
└ Wait, can you zoom in on that necklace? Sothing's off.
└ It's not just any gold necklace! That's definitely from the Tower.
└ If it's from the Tower, minimum ten tis the value.
└ Fifty million won!
└ In-pil just scored big!
└ Sir. Sir, if you don't know what you're doing, just keep quiet. Tsk tsk.
The chat erupted at the claim that the necklace I had handed over was actually worth fifty million. Na In-pil's eyes lit up.
└ Fifty million as an entry fee? Sniff sniff.
└ Obviously staged. No question.
Na In-pil, having read the chat, turned to .
"Look, we didn't rig anything here, right?!"
"That's right. I've never seen you before."
After Na In-pil firmly established for the viewers that nothing had been staged — he gave an assertive nod and called out.
"Everyone saw that?! Alright! No take-backs — you know that, right?"
"Of course."
"Five million in, three hundred million out! Viewers, let's all say it together! Deaaaaal!"
└ Deal!
└ Deal!
└ Deal!
Na In-pil's catchphrase scrolled up in a cascade, and applause erupted from the crowd. But I didn't stop there.
"Let's raise it higher than three hundred million."
"What are you talking about?!"
"I paid five million. Let's make it five hundred million."
"Co on, you can't just do that!"
└ In-pil's scared!
└ In-pil's scared!
Chat flooded with claims that Na In-pil was shaken by my bold bet, and before long the crowd joined in as one voice.
"In-pil's scared! In-pil's scared!"
Caught with no way out, Na In-pil forced the words out.
"Ah, the thing is, I don't have five hundred million. Even this three hundred million here is borrowed money."
"Then bet sothing else."
"Like what?"
"Put up the Inpil TV channel."
"Excuse ?"
I was proposing a showdown with his channel of five hundred thousand subscribers on the line.
└ Channel deletion run!
└ My mouth is actually watering now!
"That's a bit……."
Na In-pil still showed reluctance.
"Three hundred million plus the Inpil TV channel! In exchange, I'll use this."
Grab!
What I picked up was — the kitchen knife that was already snapped in half.
└ Ooh! A hero appears!
└ The old man's crazy.
└ Gambling addict.
└ The Golden Tower has ruined the world. Everyone's strung out on dopamine.
└ I'm having a great ti though?
With my proposal, the chat was already going into overdrive, and the crowd was burning hot with excitent.
└ In-pil's scared!
└ In-pil's scared!
"In-pil's scared! In-pil's scared!"
Na In-pil's expression — that of soone with no other choice.
"Fine! Viewers, do you actually want a channel deletion run?!"
"In-pil's scared! In-pil's scared!"
"Hey! You're really doing it with that broken knife, right?"
"Of course."
"In-pil's scared! In-pil's scared!"
"Ah, screw it, whatever! Deal!"
"Yeaaaaaah!"
└ Deal!
└ Deal!
An enormous roar of cheers poured out. The stakes had grown as high as they could go. But Na In-pil felt no fear whatsoever.
'You know what kind of wood this log is.'
This was a log hand-picked from a timber yard.
'Even a proper axe would need several swings to get through it. There's absolutely no way a broken kitchen knife can split it.'
‘You idiot.’
The corner of Na In-pil's mouth stretched into a long smile.
***
"Just to be safe, let check if you have an Artificial Dantian."
Na In-pil patted down my body. For a mont, the impulse to snap this guy's neck surged up inside .
"Nothing! You can see the cara's rolling, right? I'm officially confirming he's not a Climber!"
He nodded with total confidence.
"Alright then, go ahead and give it a try!"
I stood before the log, the broken knife in hand.
"Viewers! I've made a big score! I'll be using this pure gold necklace for a subscriber giveaway!"
Na In-pil was chattering away, completely beside himself.
Pfft.
I let out a quiet laugh, and brought the knife down.
Slice—!
"Viewers! On the day we hit six hundred thousand, I'll sell this necklace and hold a raffle event—. Huh?!"
Na In-pil, who hadn't even bothered to watch attempt it — was staring at the chat when his eyes went wide.
└ ?
└ ?
└ Huh?? lol
└ Slice lmaooo
└ In-pil's done for?
└ It's been fun lol
"What the——?"
Na In-pil slowly turned his head. What entered his eyes was a log cleanly split in two — and , grinning from ear to ear.
"……V-viewers, signing off."
He tried to wrap things up in a hurry. Not a chance.
Whoosh—!
I snatched his phone.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"You have to keep your promise."
"What promise?!"
"Boooo—!"
The crowd's booing rang out.
"F*ck! No! This channel is my life!"
"Boooooo!"
"We said no take-backs."
"No, but still—!"
The chat was now being flooded at lightning speed.
└ In-pil to the gutter!
└ Gut
└ Oh—
└ Oh——
└ ter!
Na In-pil gulped. He knew it instinctively. If he didn't keep his promise here, he was done. Hadn't NuTubers with hundreds of thousands — even millions — of subscribers been instantly ruined by a single lie or false claim? There was only one way out.
Thud.
"Look. I'm sorry. Please, just let off the hook this once."
"And why would I do that?"
"Ah, seriously! Seriously, just this once. Okay? Just once."
Na In-pil on his knees, groveling shalessly.
【Kim Tae-yang is overflowing with happiness. 2,000,000 Happiness】
Na In-pil shuffled forward on his knees and clung to my leg.
"Please! Sir. Please!"
Groveling with a pathetic expression on his face. He then stood up and whispered into my ear.
"Right now all I have is the three hundred million…… This was seriously borrowed from my uncles! If I can't pay it back, I'm dead."
"Well, none of my business. Go ahead and delete the channel right now."
Na In-pil quickly shook his head. In that mont, a peculiar glint flashed through his eyes. Then he schooled his features into sothing resembling desperation and spoke.
"I can't do that. This channel is everything to . Instead of deleting the channel, I'll get you five hundred million sohow. But…… could we perhaps move sowhere?"
"Move?"
"Yes. There are too many eyes here. Sowhere quiet."
"You'll keep your promise?"
"Of course."
"Let's go, then."
I agreed without hesitation. Na In-pil flashed a sly smile.
Hmph.
The sches of guys like this were plain as day to .
***
I rode in his car as we moved. After I returned his phone, Na In-pil kept running his mouth on the stream.
"Ah, guys. This is really getting wrapped up nicely with a proper settlent. Hey! Deleting the channel is seriously too harsh. Stop flooding with hate!"
But the 'To the gutter!' ssages kept on coming. Na In-pil eventually killed the stream.
"Damn these little sh*ts."
I sat quietly in the backseat of his car, arms crossed.
"In-pil-ssi, where exactly are we going?"
"We need a notary for the settlent agreent, don't we? Damn it…… just sit tight."
Where Na In-pil stopped the car — was in front of a rundown building. He got out of the car and beckoned to .
"Follow ."
"Do they do notarizations in a place like this?"
"They do everything these days. Just co on in."
Na In-pil strode up the stairs. I looked at the faded sign hanging on the building.
'Happy Loan Office.'
Been a while, this place. …… Was the uncle he borrowed money from a loan shark? A laugh escaped before I could stop it.
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