Chapter 150: As the Taegeukgi Flies (3)

The incident where I defeated Xiaohu with two clean hits became an important event that etched my name into the minds of Twipod global streamers.

On a public stage, I single-handedly crushed the pride of both the Japanese and Chinese sides, and in the subsequent finals, I effortlessly took down the American representative fighting game streamer.

The finals were supposed to be a best-of-five match, but it only took three minutes.

Of course, it was a complete victory for me.

The surprise event hosted by 3K at the Twipod Global Party ended with my flawless victory, followed by a mini awards ceremony.

“Oh, Shia! You have always been an inspiring player to me.”

At the award ceremony, a white man with a kind expression spoke to me in awkward Korean.

“Thank you.”

“Kamsha…hamnida, thank you.”

One thousand dollars.

If used sparingly, this amount could last a year.

…Though I might be exaggerating.

With the way I’ve been eating lately, it might not even last half a year.

Jin-hyuk has been eating a lot to bulk up with his new workout routine, after all.

After the simple awards ceremony, the host handed me the microphone with a smile.

He said something in English, but I couldn’t understand a word.

Luckily, I had Sung-jae, my walking human translator.

“Does the performance you showed today have any significant meaning? Like an international message or a personal belief? You seemed to treat the Chinese and Japanese players quite harshly.”

He was right, so I didn’t have much to say.

I couldn’t exactly tell someone so serious, “I just did it for the viewers.”

But I had already planned everything when I provoked the streamers from those two countries earlier.

They say a single word can repay a thousand debts.

For streamers like me, maintaining a certain image is crucial.

There was only one image I needed to emphasize at this moment.

After taking a deep breath, I quickly spoke.

“Personally, I didn’t have any significant ill feelings. However, there are still unresolved issues between Japan and Korea, and I guess I acted out of anger without realizing it. I served my full term in the Korean army, and I’m also a patriot.”

There was no need to mention any specific issues.

Just the image.

National pride, and the image of a villain protecting that pride.

Sung-jae quickly translated my words. The streamers in the room began nodding, buzzing in agreement.

Only the Japanese streamers seemed uncomfortable with my remarks.

Good.

I had established a justification for dealing with Japan.

Next was China.

With a smile, I continued.

“The reason I made such offensive remarks to Xiaohu, the Chinese representative in today’s event, was because he insulted my dear friend, the streamer Cerberus.”

“What kind of insult was it?”

“Discriminatory remarks that are hard to even repeat. I value loyalty as much as patriotism. When my friends are insulted, I make sure to repay the favor. Of course, doing something bad to someone who did something bad isn’t justified. But if it’s legal and within the rules… I’m always willing to stand up for my comrades.”

There are countless ways to exploit the image of a villain.

In Korea, my image was of someone who is gentle but relentless against the strong.

My appearance on cemented my image as a generally gentle person, showing endless kindness to my allies.

Of course, that image didn’t wash away my arrogant and vicious behavior.

But it did supplement the “justification.”

An insult without reason is just the act of a madman, but an insult with a reason elicits a “That’s understandable” response.

As long as I don’t abuse it, that is.

Though the words I spoke to justify my actions, most of them were sincere.

When Sung-jae translated my words, the reaction was immediate.

“Holy fuck! What an awesome guy!”

“Sia! Sia! Sia!”

“You make me crazy! Hey, come on!”

A huge black streamer named Big Mac, who had greeted me earlier, began roaring, flexing his muscles at me.

…Did it work?

As I stared at them in bewilderment, the host widened his eyes and then burst into laughter, saying something.

Sung-jae quickly translated the host’s words.

“He says he wishes he had a friend like you.”

– “Haha, this villain… you’re just… too cool.”

– “Were you born for broadcasting?”

– “Look at those perfect lines, haha.”

– “Hey! Look at Big Mac going wild, haha. He usually streams with a macho style. Seems like he’s totally smitten.”

– “Hahaha.”

– “There are tons of posts about our villain on international Reddit. Edited clips of his amazing skills and recent remarks are going viral.”

– “He’s really world-class.”

– “Totally world-class.”

Reddit is a community site overseas.

Seeing my story trending there, I felt like I got my reward for coming here today.

After the whirlwind of the awards ceremony, as I stepped off the stage, I was suddenly ambushed by a giant.

“Oh, Chan-sik! You so crazy.”

It was Big Mac, with Shoutout following behind him, extending a hand and grinning at me.

“Big Mac says he’s crazy about you. He didn’t know there was a guy like you in Korea. Chan-sik, if someone else curses at me, will you do what you did today?”

“Shoutout, do you even have to ask? Of course.”

It was the moment when I was upgraded from a local madman to a world-class madman.

…This wasn’t the intention behind my trip to the U.S., though.

As I was about to be smothered by Big Mac’s thick muscles, Shoutout looked at Dong-su, Na-young, and me, and spoke.

“We can’t just send our precious friends back to Korea like this.”

“Huh?”

“As they say in Busan… I’ll treat you to a full course today.”

Wow, he even took care of such details?

And so, the Twipod Global Party, filled with talk and events, ended in great success.

6.

The “full course” from Shoutout following the Twipod Global Party was quite enjoyable.

Shoutout and Big Mac treated us to a stay at a luxury hotel and even guided us around tourist spots.

During that time, I had no choice but to endure suffocating conversations with Big Mac.

He wrapped his thick arms around my neck every time he spoke, typical of a macho man.

If Shoutout hadn’t stopped him occasionally, I might have been found dead.

The three-day trip to the U.S. that followed was uneventful and leisurely.

America wasn’t particularly new or exciting.

I guess I’m truly a homebody at heart.

Still, it was a healing trip.

With the luxury hotel, good food, and beautiful scenery, it would have been strange not to feel rejuvenated.

Anyway.

Thus, my short first trip to the U.S. came to an end, and we boarded an evening flight from LA back to Korea.

I flew business class on the way back and slept throughout the flight.

Though I woke up occasionally, I managed to sleep most of the way.

[Our flight will soon land at Incheon International Airport.]

After several naps, the flight we were on arrived in Korea.

It was already 2 a.m.

Since it was late, we headed straight home without any fuss.

After returning, we were driven home not by Sung-jae but by an employee from Chicken Box.

Sung-jae was also tired from the trip, so they arranged for someone else just in case.

And so, Dong-su, Na-young, and I safely ended our U.S. trip.

We went to America to have fun, but all we did was broadcast.

Damn.

I wondered if I was losing the boundary between my daily life and broadcasting.

“Hoo.”

The next morning, I stretched lightly and got out of bed.

It seemed I didn’t need to adjust to the time difference.

I slept soundly as soon as I got home.

“When did you get back, hyung?”

As I walked into the living room and was stretching, Jin-hyuk strutted in, puffing out his chest proudly.

It seemed he was proud of the muscle gains he’d achieved lately, as he emphasized his chest quite ostentatiously.

I nodded at Jin-hyuk and answered.

“Got back early this morning.”

“Hyung, how do I look? Do you think my chest workout is paying off?”

“Hold on. I’ll post a notice on Twipod and get you paired with an Evil Gang health enthusiast. Then you’ll really get a thorough workout.”

“…Sorry.”

There’s no better workout partner than a fitness fanatic from the Health Gallery.

After swiftly dealing with Jin-hyuk, I lay back on the sofa and turned on my phone.

Today was a day off from streaming.

I planned to relax and laze around in bed all day to recover from the travel fatigue.

“Did you have fun?”

Jin-hyuk asked casually while drinking water.

“It was fun.”

“You know the internet blew up while you were away, right?”

“That big?”

“Yeah, even the news covered it. They edited your comments about Japan and broadcasted that. Did you pay the reporters or something?”

I didn’t pay anyone.

Maybe Sung-jae did, but I had no connections with the media.

I slowly nodded at Jin-hyuk’s words.

I had been keeping an eye on the atmosphere in Korea during the trip to the U.S.

The remarks I made at the Twipod Global Party were being constantly reproduced with phrases like “A principled streamer with insightful comments,” “A new generation of patriotism,” and “A star who doesn’t forget history.”

It felt like the god of broadcasting was smiling down on me.

After a brief conversation, Jin-hyuk went back to his room. I continued lying on the sofa, browsing internet communities.

When you have nothing else to do, there’s nothing as entertaining as browsing online communities.

The first place I visited was the Twipod community, Twogether.

It used to be filled only with Korean posts, but now the screen was full of posts in various languages.

Chinese, Japanese, English, and of course, Korean.

You’d think I was a streamer broadcasting simultaneously in four countries.

I clicked on the post with the most recommendations.

[Title: Important Tips to Agitate Chinese and Japanese Netizens!]

Content: Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of Chinese and Japanese people on Twogether and Aktube. It’s annoying that nobodies come and insult our villain when only we should be allowed to. To ensure that only we insult our villain, here’s a response manual. First, for the Chinese…

As the most recommended post, it gave a clear view of the current situation.

Not only on Twogether but also on Aktube, a lot of Chinese and Japanese people were flocking in.

The controversy had grown so big that Mytube even sent a notice stating they would directly inspect Aktube’s content.

Still, it was reassuring to see Evil Gang members stepping up.

Reading the posts, I smirked and started writing a notice with a good mood.

Even though I was taking a break today, I was still a professional streamer.

Let’s announce tomorrow’s content for the first time in a while.

Logging into the admin account, I wrote the notice.

[Title: Just got back from the U.S., you bastards!]

Content: Announcing tomorrow’s content in advance. I’m just giving you the title, so use your imagination. Tomorrow’s stream title is ‘Time to Get Sued,’ haha. Get ready!