Chapter 154: If You Can't Bite, Don't Bark

I was enjoying a well-deserved break.

Of course, on internet communities, there were daily posts about how I was just lazing around, with constant threats to start broadcasting if I didn’t want to die.

But!

No way, I was just lying on my bed, rolling around.

I watched some streams from other streamers and played the games I wanted to.

Since the end times of were approaching, I played intensely alone.

Challenger 1,000 points.

With this, I thought I could end the season comfortably as a Challenger.

Oh, and my ‘declaration of war’ video circulating on the internet was getting a hot response on MeTube every day.

A war with no negotiations against haters.

Moreover, not only me but also famous celebrities and MeTubers with significant influence joined in, making the scale enormous.

They were even considering making a public service advertisement……

The small stone I threw had created a huge ripple effect.

“Phew.”

I put my phone down for a moment and exhaled.

Maybe because I had been reading novels on my phone all day since yesterday, my eyes felt a bit dry.

Doing whatever I wanted all day, exercising, eating……

Could this place be heaven?

“Jin-hyuk.”

“Yes, hyung?”

“Let’s go furniture shopping next week.”

“To the IKEA store?”

“Yeah.”

“Sounds good.”

“Sung-jae said he’d lend us his car, so we can use that to get around.”

Oh, and we finally signed the contract for our new home.

Originally, we were planning to do it next year, but since our current house sold faster than expected, we decided to move.

It would have been great if we could go furniture shopping this week, but unfortunately, Jin-hyuk had a schedule in the countryside.

“You said you were going to be an MC at a game tournament held in the countryside, right?”

“Thanks to you, hyung.”

“Have a good trip. Bring back something delicious. Busan?”

“Yeah.”

Since it’s Busan, he could come back quickly by KTX, so it wasn’t a big worry.

I waved to Jin-hyuk and lay back on the sofa.

Since I had done everything, should I take a nap?

Ring ring.

But then.

I got an urgent call from Sung-jae, who had said he wouldn’t call at all this week.

I had never seen Sung-jae break his word, so it was highly likely that something urgent had come up.

Damn.

Just when I thought I could relax!

“Hello.”

As I sighed and answered the phone, Sung-jae on the other end also sighed and spoke.

– Phew… I’m sorry, Chan-sik.

“…No, it’s fine. Being busy is good. What’s the matter today?”

– Something urgent has come up. Have you logged into the Twipod streamer module today?

“No…”

– I think you should log in now.

What had happened?

I frowned and immediately used my phone to log into the Twipod streamer module.

And a moment later.

I spoke in a hollow voice.

“What’s going on?”

– 30 minutes ago, we received an official letter from Twipod Korea. Streamer nickname ‘Shia’s’ channel is…

“Suspended for 2 weeks?”

– Yes.

[Your account has been suspended for 2 weeks.]

[The detailed reason for the suspension has been sent via email, and you are prohibited from broadcasting until November 21, 2030.]

[Please adhere to the broadcasting terms and conditions.]

It was an unexpected blow.

I couldn’t help but be shocked and doubted my eyes.

Sung-jae calmly continued to speak to me, who was momentarily in a panic.

– The reason for the suspension is violent and aggressive content… but, well, that’s it.

“They’ve let me broadcast just fine until now?”

-…I don’t know.

Seeing Sung-jae dragging his words like that, it seemed he had some idea.

But Sung-jae still hadn’t said much to me.

He usually reacted like that when he had a suspicion but no proof.

I took a deep breath and slowly nodded.

I roughly understood the reason.

“Twipod Korea’s management still seems to hold a grudge against me?”

– It seems so.

I had been behaving myself lately.

Since ‘that incident,’ my relationship with Twipod Korea had been deteriorating.

It had only gotten worse, with no chance of improvement.

They had treated me just formally without showing any gesture of resolving their emotions.

In such a situation, there was no reason for me to approach them first.

I slowly nodded while continuing to speak to Sung-jae.

“It’s hard to understand why they suddenly did this.”

Sung-jae paused for a moment and then answered cautiously.

– There were some signs.

“What kind of…?”

– There has been continuous pressure on Chicken Box-affiliated streamers.

The influence of Chicken Box-affiliated streamers within Twipod was growing daily.

They were building a stronger influence than Twipod Korea itself.

In addition, I was trying to exert influence by creating a crew, which probably made them quite scared.

Originally, Twipod Korea was an organization corrupted by power.

Should I say it was remarkably localized to Korea?

I quickly calculated in my head. Then I smirked and spoke.

“They’re telling me to watch out, that they can suspend me anytime?”

– Simply put… yes.

“Haha.”

Previously, a Chicken Box-affiliated streamer had experienced something similar and moved to another platform.

It seems they still haven’t learned.

– But it seems this wasn’t done solely by Twipod Korea’s decision.

While I was calculating quickly, Sung-jae told me a shocking story.

– According to reliable information, someone pressured Twipod Korea.

“Told them to suspend me?”

If someone had enough power to pressure Twipod Korea to suspend me, it must have been someone quite influential.

Why?

Sung-jae quickly resolved my question.

– Yes, and a call came in a little while ago. It was from the defendant’s parents, asking to settle things amicably.

“Ah.”

So, the situation became clear.

It was likely that a well-off family’s child had been sued by me, leading to this.

Something like that?

How interesting.

“Is it certain?”

– The suspension information came from an insider. It’s probably credible.

Hearing that, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Then I spoke to Sung-jae.

“It’s time to use my cheat card again. I’ll call you back later.”

The best way to counter power is with power.

After ending the call with Sung-jae, I immediately made another call.

Ring ring.

After a few rings, a familiar, warm voice greeted me.

– Oh! What brings you to call me first?

“Have you been well?”

– Same as always. With the launch date moved up, there’s a lot more work to do. How was your trip to America?

“I’m sorry I didn’t contact you as soon as I got back, Sung-su hyung.”

– It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m a bit busy today… What’s up, Chan-sik?

An eye for an eye, and a backer for a backer.

I smiled and replied to Sung-su hyung.

“I got suspended from Twipod. From what I heard…”

2.

A day after my suspension, Chicken Box quickly escalated the situation.

– Shocking report! Anonymous whistleblower from within Twipod Korea exposes coercive actions against streamers!

– Famous streamer Shia, victim of retaliatory action?

– Streamer Shia ‘considering switching platforms positively!’

– Power corruption embedded everywhere in Korea, will this be resolved?

Media play was Sung-jae’s specialty.

Like a fish in water, Sung-jae moved quickly, and articles about me began to appear everywhere.

The price for disturbing my sweet rest was very harsh.

I slowly nodded while looking at the articles that began to spread rapidly.

I took a breath.

Twipod Korea hadn’t made a statement yet, but the suspension would be lifted soon.

Two-week streaming suspension.

The amount of money I could earn in that period was substantial, so I couldn’t just take this retaliatory action lying down.

If I hadn’t achieved my current level of fame, I might have been completely helpless.

Of course, because of this incident, my rest period was completely ruined.

I had to be satisfied with the three days I had rested.

With my name rising and falling in the media again, it wasn’t possible to relax.

Since I had to strike while the iron was hot, I started moving again.

Though I couldn’t stream due to the suspension, I could handle other schedules.

I arrived at VRN’s broadcasting station.

I arrived at the office of a show with the working title .

As soon as I entered the office, PD Son In-wook, who had been waiting for me, greeted me warmly.

“Welcome, we’ve been waiting.”

“Have you been well?”

“It was a sudden visit, so we couldn’t prepare enough, haha… Please, have a seat.”

PD Son, who skillfully pulled out a chair for me, sat in front of me and waved to another staff member.

Soon, the staff brought coffee and a set of documents.

“We could start filming as early as next week, but it would be great if you could make some selections yourself, Chan-sik.”

“What’s this?”

“This is the list of candidates we’ve initially screened.”

Although the program had the public justification of ‘discovering and nurturing promising broadcasters!’, the reality was different.

It was a show to quickly dismiss untalented students while capturing the episodes that occurred in the process.

According to research, the top career aspiration for students was to become a MeTuber.

The number of parents who applied for this program was enormous.

I glanced over the list and nodded lightly.

“Are there any applicants with interesting stories?”

In this program, my role wasn’t important.

What mattered more was having an applicant who could provide sensational content when aired.

As if he had been waiting for this, PD Son nodded.

“I thought you might ask, so I did a second round of selection.”

He said this as he took out a single document from the stack and handed it to me.

As I read the document he handed me, a few notable points stood out.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Sixth grade in elementary school…?”

“A unique kid. Apparently, they see you as their role model, Chan-sik.”

“The reason the parents wanted them to participate is…?”

“They’re curious to see if their child really has talent.”

And a moment later.

I noticed the ‘special notes’ section at the bottom and frowned as I spoke.

“Is this true?”

PD Son nodded in confirmation.

“According to our verification… surprisingly, it is.”

“What a crazy bastard…”