Chapter 25: Kwon Se-ah’s Unusual Apology Broadcast

“Oh my, oh my? To think you’ve prepared such a long payment history… Young Miss, it seems you wouldn’t even need to do a broadcast.”

Elodie said, fiddling with the thick pile of documents.

“That’s because you don’t know internet communities well, Elodie unnie.”

“But isn’t Heretic’s claim that you have a special account and enjoyed privileges, thus not competing fairly?”

“That’s right. Logically speaking, yes. But public opinion on internet communities doesn’t roll along as precisely and logically as if measured with a ruler.”

What was important in this kind of story was a change in atmosphere.

“Even if I upload this payment history, there will be many people who stubbornly refuse to believe it.

Because I’ve already been branded as a bad person in the community. Even if they see this history, they’ll say I brought it from another game, that I photoshopped it, or that the stones I used seem more than what I paid for, so I must have an operator account.

They’ll endlessly nitpick and drag it out, it’s obvious.”

“Those are truly troublesome people…”

“That’s why I need solid proof and a complete reversal of the atmosphere.”

There were still 14 people in the clan who believed in me.

They believed in me, but they didn’t particularly talk about me in the gallery.

Communities have an atmosphere, and no matter how right and logical something is, if it deviates from that atmosphere, it’s common to be collectively lynched.

In fact, it’s not just communities; the society we live in is always like this.

It’s not for nothing that there are trolls who enjoy making public opinion worse with forced defenses.

“And I have no intention of ending this by logically saying I was wrong and you were wrong, so let’s call it even and go our separate ways, you know? Since they stabbed me first, I’m going to give them thorough revenge.”

I had no intention of just receiving an apology and letting it end.

Because of Heretic, I experienced an absurd sense of depression and powerlessness I’d never felt before in my life, and even fell over!

“But… come to think of it, it’s a bit strange.”

“What is it, Young Miss?”

Actually, when I think about it, there were far worse things when I worked at the administrative welfare center.

Even when I dealt with the grandfather who showed up with a gas canister, shouting that we should all burn to death because his basic living allowance was suspended, my mental state wasn’t shaken this much.

…It’s really strange.

Is it because I became a woman?

“It’s nothing. I must be mistaken.”

The important thing right now wasn’t the story about depression, so I decided to think more about this later.

***

Kwon Se-ah posted on the Galaxy Train gallery that she would do an explanation broadcast on Saturday at 8 PM.

The reaction, naturally, was not good.

Kwon Se-ah, regardless, steeled herself and sharpened her knives.

The youngest daughter of a chaebol family could do many things besides just having a lot of ‘money’.

「Let’s watch the explanation broadcast together!」

【Viewer Count 35,341】

Heretic was enjoying this atmosphere like a festival.

And she turned on her broadcast to laugh at Kwon Se-ah, and quite a lot of people flocked to her stream.

「I intend to seriously address various allegations.」

【Viewer Count 2,448】

The viewer count difference between the two was more than 10 times.

It was actually a natural thing.

‘People who want to criticize Kwon Se-ah’ find it safer and more enjoyable to do so on Heretic’s broadcast rather than going into Kwon Se-ah’s broadcast and getting their chat messages recorded.

“Ah~! Aren’t you so excited to see what kind of lies she’ll tell?”

– For real lol

– Just looking at the FID, it’s obviously an operator account lol

– Did you see the popular post? Someone calculated it further, and to farm like LaBelleAr, you’d have to grind for about 150 days?

– I heard she was pulling operator account trashy sh*t elsewhere too.

Heretic’s lips twitched.

Looking at this atmosphere, it didn’t seem like Kwon Se-ah would be able to do a proper explanation broadcast, no matter how she thought about it.

“Ah! It’s starting!! It’s starting! Wow, she even put up a countdown?”

At 8 PM, Kwon Se-ah’s broadcast started a countdown from the number 5.

– Sigh, what a fuss lol

– What, is this a premiere? F*ck

– Loooool, this is hilarious 

And so, amidst many people laughing, the number finally became 1.

When the black screen changed, a man in a gray shirt was sitting there with a serious expression.

“Good evening, Pioneers.”

Nearly 40,000 people, including Heretic, did not know the identity of the man who greeted them with fairly good pronunciation.

But a long explanation wasn’t needed.

【Honkai Korea Branch Manager – Shin Jong-hak】

– Branch Manager???

– ??? Isn’t this the person who gave a congratulatory speech at the Galaxy Train opening event?

– What is this? Is this an official broadcast?

– Huh???

“Pioneers! I am truly sorry. I sincerely apologize that you could not fully enjoy the joy of the 1.1 update, which you rightfully deserve, due to concerns that fair competition was compromised.”

Even if the story is the same, it changes depending on who the messenger is.

Kwon Se-ah knew this better than anyone, so she used her head a little.

It was very easy to talk to the branch manager with the help of Chief Secretary Lee Eun-byul.

“I am Shin Jong-hak, the branch manager of Honkai Korea. Some of you Pioneers may recognize my face.

The rumor that fair competition has been compromised is a factor that both our branch and headquarters consider more seriously than any other matter.

Therefore, I have arranged this meeting to resolve the suspicions and anxieties of the Korean server Pioneers.”

From the branch manager’s perspective, this incident needed to be resolved cleanly.

It was for the same reason that casinos don’t deliberately allow thugs.

Galaxy Train must be able to provide ‘fair competition.’

That image had to continuously exist for whale users to pour in money indefinitely.

– What’s with the super serious setup?

– ???

– Isn’t Heretic f*cked now?

– No, f*ck; isn’t a branch manager a really high-ranking person?

“First, I will briefly explain how this broadcast came to be organized. Pioneer LaBelleAr recognized the problematic situation and requested various evidentiary materials to quell the controversy.

However, our branch judged that having one user inform you all about this matter tends to treat the issue too lightly, so we decided to explain the situation directly at the company level.”

“Wha… What? What is this old man saying right now?”

Heretic instinctively felt her mouth go dry.

Her fingers stiffened, and she clicked the mouse.

– Isn’t it just that LaBelleAr isn’t an operator account?

– No clue.

– Just a forced defense 

– It’s obviously an operator account, so the company is doing a forced defense for them lol

At this moment, the viewer count in her room was subtly decreasing.

“First, I will explain some misunderstandings regarding Pioneer LaBelleAr.”

When Branch Manager Shin Jong-hak pressed a button once, the broadcast screen changed.

“Pioneer LaBelleAr is currently under suspicion of possessing a large amount of ‘Glittering Dreams’ through abnormal routes or special privileges.

However, after checking the logs, it has been confirmed that they were acquired purely through payment.”
─ Click!

On the left side of the broadcast screen, Kwon Se-ah’s payment history was shown in detail, and on the right side, the ‘log’ of the ‘LaBelleAr’ account was written in detail.

“I believe many Pioneers will be able to understand the data on the left immediately, so I will explain the right side.

In our Galaxy Train, we record many of your actions as Pioneers in real time. This is called a log. In the log you are currently seeing… Yes, as you can see, at 5:34 PM, she used a Visa card to purchase Glittering Dreams… Yes, that’s right. This is called 1 truck, isn’t it? The record of purchasing 1 truck remains.”

(TL NOTE: “1 truck” is gacha game slang for a large bundle of premium currency.)

– What, was she just rich?

– No, isn’t this f*cking fabricated???

– You think it’s fabricated? The old guys who played Thor used to spend 20 million a month on dignity maintenance lol

– For real, since they’re monthly pass parasites, they’ve never seen rich people spend money lol

– Loooool, saying she has infinite free stones was a forced diss from the start

The atmosphere in Heretic’s chat window began to change in an instant.

「I intend to seriously address various allegations.」

【Viewer Count 10,321】

Conversely, Kwon Se-ah’s broadcast began to attract more and more viewers.

“N-no… The company can manipulate things like this however they want, and ordinary users wouldn’t know—”

“The said payment history and log files have been uploaded to our official announcements with Pioneer LaBelleAr’s consent, so Pioneers are free to check them at any time.”

– There’s no way it’s fabricated, right?

– Why would the company fabricate this? Are you an idiot???

– Ah~~ How strange~~ Why am I not 1st place! Aha! The 1st place is an operator~!!

– Heretic, You’re f*cked in life lol]

Heretic felt her world shake so much that she momentarily couldn’t breathe.

“N-no! Excuse me! Right! Maybe she spent a lot of money! But the things I sniped about haven’t all been explained, have they? What about the FID and the figure! In the first place! Uh!! Since she’s an operator, isn’t the company, uh!! The branch manager coming out to shield her like this!!!”

– That’s a bit pathetic, Heretic lol

– Hmm… But it’s not wrong, is it?

– Sigh lol, if this is wrong too, are you going to jump off something?

– Ah~~ How strange~~ Why am I not 1st place! Aha! The 1st place is an operator~!!

– Lol, just apologize now 

– But what about the figure? I’m a bit curious lol

Heretic gripped her mouse tightly, trembling.

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Next, as many Pioneers have mentioned, I will briefly explain Pioneer LaBelleAr’s FID.”

When Branch Manager Shin Jong-hak pressed the button, several profiles appeared.

“Contrary to what is known, an FID below 10 or in the 10s does not necessarily mean it’s an operator account or a test account. Accounts 01 and 02 here are indeed accounts we used for Korean server testing, but…”

“See! Then she’s an operator! LaBelleAr is number 03!”

Heretic cried out pathetically.

“Account 03, as well as 07, 08, 05, 11, 13 through 19, are accounts of general players.”

The branch manager clicked the remote a few times to show the accounts of those users.

Their levels were all over the place, and some were even free-to-play users who hadn’t even bought the monthly pass.

“It is true that we used accounts below number 20 for testing when we tested the Korean server, but we deleted a large number of test accounts before the server officially opened. Afterwards… this algorithm is really too simple.

Accounts were not created starting from 21, but rather the system slowly checked numbers starting from 01 and issued FIDs for empty numbers, which led to this misunderstanding.”

This story was actually a lie.

It was true that there were users who were ‘misunderstood as operator accounts’ because of such an algorithm, but Kwon Se-ah’s account had number 03 because Kwon Se-ah was an ‘affiliate’.

However, that didn’t mean she received special privileges.

There was no need to specifically mention this!

[ has donated 1,000 won]

[Sigh, you idiot]

[has donated 1,000 won]

[Heretic-nim~ Heretic-nim~ No matter how I think about it~ It seems like you’re fcked~]

“Ah… No… This is obviously a forced defense…”

Heretic hurriedly searched for the FID shown on the broadcast in her friend add list.

There were no lies on the broadcast.

Numbers 03, 05, 07, 08, 11, 13 through 19 were indeed ordinary users.

“Ah, no… M-my, I, I, I couldn’t possibly be wrong…”

「I intend to seriously address various allegations.」

【Viewer Count 31,004】

While Heretic pathetically denied reality, her viewers were leaving like an ebbing tide, flocking to Kwon Se-ah’s room.

“Yes, then finally, I will tell you about the Modreda figure that many of you have shown great interest in.”

Branch Manager Shin Jong-hak briefly looked somewhere.

“For this part, I believe it will be easier for you to understand if you hear Pioneer LaBelleAr’s explanation directly, rather than me explaining it.”

[– Oh?]

[– What lol, is Hawawa Middle Schooler-jjang coming out?]

Kwon Se-ah had no intention of appearing on the broadcast directly.

Showing her face was a very, very dangerous situation.

However, to make a ‘cute explanation,’ her voice was needed.

This was Elodie’s idea.

“Hello! I’m Pioneer LaBelleAr!”

– Ttiyong!

– What’s with the voice? She’s a totally cheerful young lady?

– Compared to Heretic, it’s like Snow White versus the Witch lol

– Hey lol, did you pick a fight with such a pretty girl?

– Heretic, you f*cking idiot, seriously 

– You tried to force a diss, and now your life is ruined, Heretic lol

In a situation where the atmosphere had completely turned in Kwon Se-ah’s favor, she uttered a small lie.

“The Modreda figure that many of you mentioned! When I was working at the Galaxy Train pop-up store, it was severely damaged and was supposed to be disposed of, but I… it’s really embarrassing, but I took it home.”

“N-no, what kind of excuse is this!!!”

Heretic shrieked.

However, as Elodie had predicted, in a situation where the atmosphere had already reversed, the appearance of ‘the incredibly pretty-voiced Kwon Se-ah’ was a fatal blow in itself.

It was too good for creating the sentiment that the pathetic Heretic was unfairly attacking the ‘beautiful Kwon Se-ah’.

“And um… It’s really embarrassing, but the photo you all saw in the community was really, really taken without thinking it would be captured like that. I’m truly sorry.”

“D-do you believe this kind of excuse? Who believes this! I-it doesn’t make sense! It’s obvious she got the figure in advance because she’s an operator!”

Heretic shouted, but it was meaningless.

[ has donated 1,000 won]

[Sigh lol, just a one-trick pony who only knows how to get angry lol]

[has donated 1,000 won]

[Isn’t it possible to take home something that’s going to be disposed of? Haven’t you worked part-time at a convenience store??]

[has donated 1,000 won]

[I knew it when you took 3 million won and then forced a snipe, you f*cking idiot]

– Looking at the photo posted on the homepage, it just didn’t look like something that could be sold?

– In the first place, what woman posts an authentication shot on the internet to show off her underwear?

– For real, she just didn’t know it was being taken and stupidly took it, then got exposed.

– Again, again, another forced diss, again, again~~

“After further detailed review of what Pioneer LaBelleAr stated, it has been confirmed that four Modreda figures were indeed disposed of at the Hansung Department Store pop-up store in Gangnam…”

Heretic could no longer hear Kwon Se-ah’s broadcast.

“Ah, no… This can’t be…”

She genuinely believed Kwon Se-ah was an operator and that she had been trolled.

That’s why she refunded all of the 3 million won donation she received from Kwon Se-ah, who had humiliated her.

Since she had been played with, rather than being humiliated by being given such money, she had gritted her teeth and was determined to f*ck her over.

Heretic was that confident.

If Kwon Se-ah was an operator and had beaten her due to special privileges, then ‘I’ wasn’t bad.

Heretic hadn’t lost because she was worse at the game than Kwon Se-ah, but because she had lost to an unbeatable opponent.

Because she had been forced into 2nd place.

Not because she couldn’t get 1st place.

“Our Galaxy Train operations team values ‘fair competition’ above countless other values. We hope that this broadcast has resolved the misunderstandings and anxieties of you Pioneers—”

Heretic, unaware that the broadcast was ending, was dripping with cold sweat.

“No, no, no… Everyone, h-how can an ordinary user do a broadcast like this… I-it doesn’t make sense! And didn’t you hear? She said she worked at a pop-up store?”

[has donated 1,000 won]

[This girl is just a whiny forced-disser]

[ has donated 1,000 won]

[If a pop-up store part-timer is an operator, then f*ck, am I a major shareholder of a convenience store? Make some sense]

– Stop the forced dissing.

– Sigh, just apologize like a real woman.

– Just so pathetic.

– In the first place, did you think we wouldn’t know you were just using the gallery as fuel for your anger?

– Just~ a one-trick pony~ Get angry for me~ Snipe for me~ Cuss out the pretty girl for me~
Kwon Se-ah’s broadcast ended perfectly.

「Let’s watch the explanation broadcast together!」

【Viewer Count 51,932】

And it was a natural flow for people who supported Kwon Se-ah to come to Heretic’s broadcast, where she was streaming their reactions, to curse at her.

[ has donated 1,000 won]

[So, are you apologizing for this?]

“W-wait, what… The chat is too fa…”

[ has donated 1,000 won]

[Lol, when you were excitedly sniping, you posted and then every hour whined why~~ isn’t she explaining, what are you doing now?]

– I knew this crazy b*tch would do this.

– Apologize! Apologize! Apologize! Apologize! Apologize! Apologize!

– Apologize to the gallery master! Apologize to the gallery master! Apologize to the gallery master! Apologize to the gallery master!

– Just~ Should we go dive off the Han River bridge right away?

“Ugh, uuuugh… Ugh…!”

Heretic’s thoughts stopped.

She couldn’t handle this situation where over 50,000 people suddenly flocked in and threw punches with their insults.

[MikangMakang has donated 1,000 won]

[Heretic-nim, I was a long-time viewer, but honestly, I’m very disappointed today. I’ll be leaving the clan as well.]

“Sh*… Sh*t, what…! People who haven’t even watched my broadcast are talking nonsense about the clan… Huh?”

【Hwamuhwamu】

《Clan Lv. 3》

『Clan Members 4/30』

“Uh… Uh…? Uh…”

Heretic stared at the monitor with a blank expression.

“Aah…”

Only then did Heretic barely realize.

Public opinion on the internet had completely shifted to Kwon Se-ah.

And Heretic had no logic.

She had simply become a pathetic loser who used the internet community as fuel for her anger because she didn’t want to admit she got 2nd place.

[has donated 1,000 won]

[Heretic-nim~ Heretic-nim~ You pulled this sh*t in Seven Heavens too, got sniped, changed all your IDs, and ran away, and you’re doing this here too?]

Kwon Se-ah’s explanation broadcast was over.

But she had one more knife prepared.