Chapter 48: Misfortune comes Unexpectedly

Recently, the atmosphere at Aiver had significantly improved thanks to the successful launch of the internet

broadcasting platform, Cheese.

Initially, due to poor service and issues with view bots, the users’ sentiment had almost plunged into despair, but

these problems were successfully resolved, leading to a fortunate turnaround.

“I’m off now. Good luck.”

In such a mood, Team Leader Yang Jae-min, who currently oversees service management for Cheese, stood up from

his seat without looking back, even though it was still early.

He had a girlfriend he started dating late in life, and today was the day of their date.

“Team Leader, are you leaving already? Are you abandoning the employees left behind?”

“If you’re jealous, you can become the team leader.”

No matter how much Aiver advocated for a flexible working system, the remaining employees had every reason to

voice their dissatisfaction when he casually mentioned leaving while they were swamped with work.

One employee, stepping up, joked while genuinely expressing their frustration, but Jae-min simply brushed it off and

walked out of the department.

“Damn, he makes us do all the work and takes all the credit for himself.”

“Hey, keep it down; he might hear you.”

“That’s why you need connections to get ahead… Tsk.”

Watching him leave, the subordinates busily grumbled among themselves. In a way, this could be seen as a typical

case of a power vacuum, but even if Yang Jae-min was aware of it, he was someone who would just scoff and move

on.

He wasn’t in his current position because of his abilities; he was close to Director Baek Jin-seung, who was one of the

top three influential figures at Aiver.

The employees, who knew this, had anticipated this situation ever since they heard he became the team’s overall

leader, but knowing it changed nothing.

All they could do was sulk behind their incompetent boss while fulfilling their duties.

“Lulu~♪”

Meanwhile, after clocking out, Jae-min hummed a tune as he headed to the parking lot outside the building.

Spotting a red foreign car in the distance, he stroked his chin with a greasy smile, satisfied.

Clunk. Vroom.

He got in and drove straight out of the company, heading to a franchise café located near Aiver’s headquarters.

Shake. Shake.

As he exited the intersection and approached, he spotted a woman in a flashy outfit waving at him. It was none other

than his girlfriend, Yu Si-young, who was 14 years younger than him.

“Oppa! Why are you so late?”

Climbing into the car with a coffee in hand, she immediately scolded Jae-min in a voice that seemed ready to tear.

Seeing his girlfriend like this made Jae-min a bit annoyed, but today, her revealing outfit brought a smile to his face,

easing his irritation.

“Sorry, I wanted to leave work, but my subordinates were making a fuss about me going alone.”

“Really? They’re stopping you from leaving? Are they crazy?”

“That’s probably why they haven’t been promoted yet. Just endure it.”

If anyone from his team had overheard this conversation, they would have clutched their necks in disbelief, but

unfortunately, that situation couldn’t occur.

Thus, Jae-min thought of it as an investment for the night and headed to the expensive omakase restaurant he had

reserved in advance.

“Should we wrap up the singing here? I feel like my voice will give out if I sing any longer…”

“What should I do… I should send a donation to remind you to take care of your voice.”

“…”

Meanwhile, sitting in the passenger seat, Si-young busied herself with her phone, watching a livestream featuring a

handsome man while expressing her disappointment, leaving Jae-min feeling like he was driving alone.

Lately, every time she got in the car, it felt like he could hear that voice, making him slightly uncomfortable.

It would be fine if she were just watching a funny streaming concept, but the man she was watching had a neat

appearance, resembling a character from a popular webtoon.

“What’s so good about those guys?”

To him, who believed that men typically mature mentally in their 30s to 40s and become more attractive, the

streamer in the video just looked like a rookie.

“Um… Si-young, I’m sorry, but could you use your earphones? I’m driving…”

“Sorry, I forgot to charge them before coming out. Can you just lower the volume?”

“Uh, yeah…”

He was trying to indirectly ask her to turn off the video, but oblivious to his hint, Si-young simply lowered the

volume a bit and leaned closer to her phone screen, as if ready to dive back into it.

This behavior was incredibly irritating to Jae-min.

“Hehe, Oppa. Doesn’t this guy sing really well? He plays the guitar amazingly too!”

“Y-Yeah?”

Unaware of his true feelings, she proudly showed him the scene of the man in the video playing the guitar and

singing while they were stopped at a traffic light.

Jae-min pretended not to show his irritation and replied, but Si-young took it a step further.

“Yeah. His name is Cosmo, and I saw him in a recent collaboration. He’s really handsome. Thanks to that, his

viewership has increased a lot! I also discovered him through YouTube.”

“I don’t know if he’s that good-looking from a guy’s perspective. Isn’t he a bit too skinny?”

As he listened to her unsolicited story about how she got into his stream, Jae-min made a timid attempt to protest,

but Si-young grimaced and expressed her displeasure outright.

“What are you talking about? He’s just handsome. You know that male jealousy is ugly, right?”

“Jealousy? What do I have to be jealous of? Why would I be jealous of a guy who looks like some kind of parasite?”

Jae-min’s mood quickly soured, and he openly belittled the streamer in the video this time.

Little did he know that this was the catalyst.

“Oh, really? You, a parachute employee who got into the company through connections, have so much to brag about?”

“What? Hey, what are you talking about…?”

“Did I say anything wrong? Are you jealous of a kid who’s more than a decade younger than you? Ugh, it’s annoying.”

In a way, the fault might lie with her, but Si-young, feeling slighted, kicked the air as if to vent her frustrations and

unbuckled her seatbelt.

“Pull over. I want to go home.”

“Hey, where do you think you’re going? We have a dinner reservation…”

“I don’t care; I’ve lost my appetite. Just drop me off so I can take a taxi.”

Even though he had reserved an omakase meal costing 300,000 won per person, Si-young seemed to disregard that

completely, insisting he stop the car.

Clenching his teeth, Jae-min approached the curb and parked the car, letting her out.

“Don’t text me until I contact you. Seriously, you’re just getting older but still so narrow-minded.”

“…”

Just like when she left the company, she didn’t look back as she got out of the car, deliberately pouring out her

complaints one last time before flagging down a taxi that had just arrived.

Left alone, Jae-min clenched his fists tightly and searched for the streamer she had been watching on Cheese.

“Cosmo.”

To his surprise, the follower count wasn’t very high, and when he checked on YouTube, the subscriber count was just

over 100,000.

He was frustrated that he had been distracted by such a streamer and that he had been affected by someone like him.

It seemed he had made a decision; he promptly picked up his phone and reached out to someone.

“Assistant Park, I need you to look into this streamer I just mentioned.”

Even if he buried a streamer like this, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

“Hehe~.”

One day, Seohwa finished her work as usual and quickly got ready to enjoy Woo-ju’s live stream, entering her bedroom.

On a small tray she had prepared were a glass of beer and an assortment of cheeses.

As she thought about indulging in these while relieving the fatigue of the day and watching Woo-ju’s broadcast, her

lips were already curling into a smile.

Where could there be more pleasure than this in the world?

“…Huh?”

As she was about to click on the only subscribed broadcast banner, excitedly ready to connect with the cheese, she

sensed something was off.

Normally, when live, there should be a red dot and the word ‘LIVE’ beneath the broadcast, but for some reason, only

the streamer’s profile picture was visible, as if the broadcast were offline.

‘Did I misread the time?’

She tilted her head, wondering if it was still before the broadcast start time of 6 PM, and checked her phone.

However, the clock indicated it was 6:08 PM. What on earth was going on?

‘If he was running late, he would have at least made an announcement.’

The streamer, Cosmo, had never missed a live broadcast due to personal reasons, let alone been late.

Well, to be precise, he had been late exactly twice, but that was only because of a 5-minute delay related to broadcast

setup. He had even consistently made prior announcements about potential delays.

So why was he 8 minutes late without any notification?

While it was possible for anyone to be late, Seohwa felt a sense of unease and called Woo-ju.

• Ah, hello? Seohwa noona!?

“Woo-ju, I’m sorry for calling out of the blue. I was wondering if something happened since today’s broadcast is late…”

Fortunately, Woo-ju answered quickly, but for some reason, his voice sounded quite urgent to Seohwa’s ears.

After explaining the reason for her sudden call, she heard an unexpected response from him after a brief pause.

• I’m sorry, noona. Actually… I was about to start the broadcast, but I just received an email saying I’ve been permanently banned.

“…What?”

Seohwa doubted her ears at the thunderous news.

What did he just say?