Translator: SourKimchi
In the end, Do-yun refused to take the Spirit Reading, said something urgent had come up, and left his seat.
Chae-rin, frowning, slipped out of the studio too.
-MubangYongpae : something to hide or what?
-MasterDoc : right lol kinda sus
-Ertel : wait they got consent for this first right?
-BongcheonFireFist : it's an official broadcast no way they skipped that
-FrogKing : do-yun bailed halfway too, said he didn't wanna watch
-Ericser : idk this just feels off lol something gonna blow up later?
-SsomyeonMaster : the rule from the start was you don't have to watch if you don't want to
-ChickenBox : so croco and akasha are still going for it? lol
-RainbowSign : whoa staying in after all that means they're going all the way
The chat's attention drifted naturally toward Croco.
Croco twisted the corner of his mouth into a smirk.
"Wow, the mood in here is no joke."
It was a casual remark, but the tension didn't ease.
Park Ji-hun spoke, utterly unbothered.
"Next, Croco."
At those two words, the chat flared up again.
-JadeStoneS : do-yun won't watch and look how unbothered he is lmaooo
-ChickenBox : guess he's saying he's fine getting the Spirit Reading
-Ertel : love the backbone
-BongcheonFireFist : would be hilarious if croco chickened out too lol
-FrogKing : that bastard's all bravado he'll def say he'll do it
-RainbowSign : no way croco's got something too?
Croco scanned the chat and let out a dry scoff.
"I've got nothing weighing on me. Big deal, I'll just do it. Right?"
He gave a deliberate, exaggerated shrug.
"Why's everyone so scared? If you've got nothing to hide, you just go for it. Like me."
Chae-rin had crumbled and Do-yun had given up, but Croco still seemed to be enjoying the whole situation.
He swept a hand back through his hair and shoved his face toward the camera.
"What about me? You see anything on me?"
The chat reacted instantly.
-FrogKing : that grin's about to disappear too
-Ertel : my vote: he keeps up the act till the very end
-ChickenBox : would've loved to see that croco bastard get sent to Naraq lol [TL Note: "Naraq" (lit. "abyss/hell") is streamer slang for a reputation collapse or cancellation.]
-BongcheonFireFist : whole mood's a disaster and he's the only one having fun lol
-ChewyButterChip : guys like that always blow up over the thing you'd never expect
Park Ji-hun stared at Croco without a word.
As the seconds dragged on, the viewers slowly began to sense the mood turning strange too.
-SquishyCheese : huh? staring that hard means he's seeing something even bigger?
-DaeNari : doing that at this exact moment is creepy
-SsomyeonMaster : got a bad feeling about this
Just as Croco opened his mouth to speak again, Park Ji-hun got there first.
"You like meeting people, huh."
Croco snorted a laugh.
"Well, I'm popular. Everybody and their mother wants to meet up."
He went on as if it were nothing.
"Older guys, younger guys, seniors, company heads. Somebody introduces me to somebody, then somebody else. You grow by meeting people."
Park Ji-hun's voice was calm.
It was the voice of a man simply saying what he saw.
"Still, you ought to be choosier about who you meet."
The corner of Croco's mouth stiffened, just barely.
"Why make such a big deal out of it? Meet enough people and you run into all kinds."
-Ertel : relationship stuff this time?
-RainbowSign : something off with one of his connections?
-ChickenBox : what's gonna come out this time lol
And in that instant, the voice of an unfamiliar man flowed out of Park Ji-hun's mouth.
"Croco, no, Jun-tae, listen, this is nothing, seriously. You said yourself this thing's gonna blow up huge, right? So put a little in while you're at it. Hm? What's so bad about just calling a good thing good? Am I wrong?"
A short silence.
Croco blinked hard.
"......How do you know that?"
"The pot grows fast. Throw a little more on and we all cash in big together. You trust your hyung, right?"
"Wh, what the hell are you talking about? Are you possessed or something?!"
As Croco recoiled, Park Ji-hun spoke.
"That's the conversation you had yesterday, isn't it. Listen carefully."
Park Ji-hun's gaze stabbed straight into Croco.
"Those people, they're going to push you out front."
Croco burst out laughing, as if it were absurd.
"Ha! That's all this is about? Anyone could say something like that. I don't know where you dug it up, but......."
"Right. And that's exactly how you get played."
Something flickered in Croco's eyes, just for a moment.
Park Ji-hun didn't stop.
"You still think you'll be fine as long as you don't touch it yourself."
Croco shot back reflexively.
"I'm not the one running it!"
"That's the dumbest thing you could think."
Park Ji-hun's voice stayed low and unshakable.
"There's one guy who sets up the scheme, one who handles the money, and one whose only job is to run when it goes down."
"......"
"But the one who takes all the heat is the figurehead."
Croco's expression hardened.
"They'll put your name on it, your face on it, and use you to pull in your own fans' money. And when it blows up, they'll pin every bit of it on you."
The chat flared up in an instant.
-SquishyCheese : wait hold on what does this mean
-DaeNari : isn't he saying they're recruiting people under croco's name?
-SsomyeonMaster : he kept telling us to wait for some big thing dropping soon, is that it?
-Ertel : whoa even if you don't know internet broadcasting you can tell this is dangerous
-BongcheonFireFist : no idea what it is but looks like croco's the only one taking the blame if it blows up?
Croco ran his tongue along the inside of his lip.
The composure he'd shown just moments ago was nowhere to be found.
Still, he forced a smile.
"There's a limit to how much aggro you can stir up. You're blowing this way out of proportion. That's not gonna happen. You have no idea how safe this is."
Park Ji-hun answered curtly.
"It's safe for now."
Then he asked at once.
"How long do you think it'll stay safe?"
Croco's expression hardened again.
He hesitated, then abruptly shouted.
"What would you know? Those hyungs aren't the shady guys you're imagining. You have no idea how well they look after me."
The chat raced upward.
-FrogKing : here we go here we go
-SilentRoom : everyone always says exactly that
-Ertel : at first they always say they only met cause the guy was nice lmaooo
The moment those words left his mouth, a brief Vision swept across Park Ji-hun's eyes.
A screen stamped with an unfamiliar logo.
A nameplate planted in front of Croco, reading Director of So-and-So.
A promotional image with Croco's face on it.
Lines of text scrolling rapidly up a chat window.
-trusted that bastard and bought in and got wrecked
-wasn't this the thing you were pushing
-apologize and pay us back
The subscriber count bleeding away fast.
Croco, lips bone-dry, sitting there in blank despair.
As the Vision faded, Park Ji-hun slowly opened his mouth.
"Good-hearted hyungs?"
Croco forced a laugh.
"Yeah, exactly......."
"No. From the very start, all they planned was to push you out front and slip away behind your back."
The chat boiled over.
-DaeNari : whoa so croco was just the cannon fodder?
-SsomyeonMaster : so they were gonna shove croco out front and bolt
-Ertel : coin or stock or whatever it is, hard pass on that
Croco's lips moved.
But no words came out.
"You probably think you bear no responsibility. Investing is a personal choice, after all."
The blunt words landed.
"But the public won't see it that way."
The corners of Croco's eyes trembled.
Park Ji-hun drove the nail home.
"When the whole thing blows up, they'll slip out, and your fans will turn on you."
Croco couldn't laugh anymore.
***
Croco's lips worked for a long while, but in the end no words came.
The face that, just moments ago, had kept up the pretense of total ease had become the face of a man desperately trying not to fall apart.
The chat erupted, lines surging up.
-FrogKing : oh shit look at his face lol
-RainbowSign : took that one right on the chin
-Ertel : PerpetualJobSeeker literally just saved him there
-ChickenBox : hated his cocky act but he almost went straight to Naraq
-BongcheonFireFist : said he wasn't scared and ended up the most shook of all lol
-SquishyCheese : wait but that level was like genuinely almost a disaster right?
-DaeNari : the part about your fans turning on you hits the hardest
-SsomyeonMaster : he basically saw it all the way to getting torn apart on stream
-ChewyButterChip : if it were me i'd delete those contacts on the spot
-SilentRoom : they're not those kinda hyungs <- the moment you say that, it's over lol
-NeonSign : whoa today's streamer special is actually insane
-MoonOrb : but there's still one more left damnnn
Park Ji-hun didn't look at Croco anymore.
His gaze drifted slowly to Akasha.
Akasha held her breath for a moment, then lifted her head.
"So it's my turn now?"
Her voice was calm.
The chat raced up the screen.
-SquishyCheese : akasha seems like she'll be fine tho
-RainbowSign : she's not the type to be doing anything shady behind the scenes right
-ChickenBox : tough personality sure but doesn't seem the type to get tangled in anything weird
-DaeNari : please just let akasha get through this clean
Park Ji-hun's gaze settled on Akasha.
"You still haven't sent the reply."
For a moment, Akasha's expression wavered, ever so slightly.
The chat reacted first.
-FrogKing : huh what reply?
-DaeNari : to who?
-Ertel : is it an ad or a contract
Akasha furrowed her brow.
"What are you talking about? There's nothing for me to reply to."
"An offer came in recently."
Akasha's expression hardened.
"And they asked for an answer by next week."
The chat heaved.
-SquishyCheese : from her face there really is something
-Ertel : an offer??
-DaeNari : wait this is the first i'm hearing of this
-BongcheonFireFist : whoa look at her face
Park Ji-hun asked.
"You still haven't decided, have you."
Akasha pressed her lips tightly shut.
Her eyes wavered.
Park Ji-hun didn't take his eyes off her.
"Take the offer."
Akasha frowned as she spoke.
"You shouldn't go saying things like that when you don't even know."
Park Ji-hun asked back in a cool voice.
"How much do you want me to spell out?"