Chapter 45
Chapter 45: Chapter 45
Translated by: ShawnSuh
Edited by: SootyOwl
Shortly after Min Sung clicked a certain image, a video player on the web browser popped up. Since the show wasn’t starting for another five minutes, there was a picture indicating that the show was on standby. On the other hand, the audience exploded as Min Sung’s nickname appeared in the chat window.
‘There he is!’
‘The man himself!’
‘Looks like Hannah’s putting on some weight tonight lol’
‘The cruelty that is HoSungLee.’
‘The badass!’
‘Is that really him??’
Paying no attention to the messages directed at him in the chat, Min Sung stared into the monitor and waited patiently for the show to begin. Shortly after, Hannah Lee, being the professional that she was, started the show right on the dot.
“Hello everyone!” she greeted her audience as she put on background music. Then, noticing the champion’s nickname in the chat, she put on a startled look and said, “Back so soon, HoSungLee? Should I be scared? Haha!”
Seeing the chat blowing up with messages about HoSungLee, the BJ sighed and said, “Hey, cutie. Be gentle with me today, OK?”
Watching the BJ speak into the camera in an enticing manner, Min Sung chuckled. There was sexual innuendo in the way she spoke, which was definitely one of the major contributing factors to her drawing in more viewers. In some sense, she was rather competent at her job, and the fact that she was one of the most popular BJs on the internet was proof of that.
“Now that I think about it, you don’t say anything unless you have a request. What’s with that, HoSungLee?” the BJ said, putting her face close to the camera and adding with a cute expression on her face, “Hmmm? C’mooon! Don’t be shyyy!”
At that, Min Sung furrowed his brow and said in the chat, ‘Aren’t you going to eat?’
“Hmph! The delivery guy isn’t even here yet,” the BJ said, pouting her lips as if disappointed by Min Sung’s reaction. At that moment, her doorbell rang. “Ah! Speak of the devil! Stay right there, HoSungLee. Don’t you go anywhere!”
With that, she rushed to the door with quick, short steps. Upon returning to her desk, she laid the food out in front of the camera and prepared to start eating. Meanwhile, the chat window was still getting flooded with messages about HoSungLee.
‘HoSungLee! At it again!?’
‘Is he gonna smother her with balloons again? Lol’
‘If only I could afford as many moon balloons as this guy. I’d love to be smothered by Hannah.’
‘Somebody just got out of the military lol’
‘LOL’
‘Ya’ll buncha perverts lol’
While the chat was getting filled with lewd messages, the BJ finished setting up the desk with a variety of street food: tteokbokki, fritters, soondae, dumplings, and fishcakes.
“You boys better behave before I kick you out!” the BJ said. At which point, the messages in the chat became noticeably more appropriate.
“HoSungLee! You got any special requests for me today?” the BJ asked in a charming yet confident manner.
‘Still confident, huh? All right. I’ll play your game. Perhaps I went a little too easy on you,’ Min Sung thought, his eyes gleaming dangerously as he typed into the chat.
‘HoSungLee: 50,000 if you eat all that and drink one hundred bottles of Yakult in addition to it.’
Seeing Min Sung’s request, the BJ’s face grew pale.
“One hundred bottles of Yakult!? C’mon, HoSungLee! Who could possibly drink that many!?”
With his arms crossed, Min Sung remained unfazed and waited for her reply patiently. Meanwhile, the chat window was blowing up with messages.
‘The savage strikes again!’
‘One hundred bottles of Yakult? That’s just crazy talk.’
‘I love you Hannah, but I don’t know about this.’
‘C’mon man! Where’s your faith!? You can do it Hannah! Think about the number of balloons you’ll end up with!’
After brief contemplation, the BJ shook her head and said, “I’ll settle for fifty. One hundred is seriously pushing it. Think about it! Who would drink one hundred bottles of Yakult back to back!?”
At that moment, a message appeared in the chat.
[HoSungLee has left the room.]
“Eh!? No! No! OK! You win! I take it back! Come back! Come baaaack!” the BJ shouted desperately, waving both of her hands like a fly. Unfortunately, since Min Sung had already left the server, the BJs desperate cry went unheard by the champion, who nonchalantly browsed the website in search of another muk-bang server.
To further add to Hannah Lee’s dismay, she wasn’t the only muk-bang BJ around. The biggest selling point of a muk-bang BJ was their inhuman ability to eat tremendous amounts of food. However, while Min Sung was looking for another muk-bang server, a series of alarms sounded off, indicating he had received direct messages. Annoyed by the sound, Min Sung clicked on the notification and checked the messages.
‘HoSungLee! Hannah’s up for the challenge!’
‘Please come back!’
‘Hey! She’s gonna do it! Lol!’
‘You’re missing out!’
Seeing that his inbox was being flooded with incoming messages, Min Sung gave Hannah Lee’s server another chance. When he joined the server again, he saw the BJ had already prepared a tower of Yakult bottles in front of her. All one hundred of them.
“Wow, HoSungLee. That was cruel, you know that? You didn’t even hesitate a second! All right! Here you have it! Yakult! All one hundred bottles of it! Happy now? You just watch. I’m gonna do this, damn it!” the BJ said, springing up from her seat and balling her hand into a tight fist with determination.
“Let’s go!”
Then, returning to her seat quietly, she started eating.
—
Min Sung looked into the screen of his computer at the BJ on the floor, unconscious, peachy-colored liquid flowing out of her mouth. Having received a call, the paramedics broke the door open and carried the BJ out. Seeing that, Min Sung let out a deep sigh and said, “Maybe I was pushing it.”
‘This content is temporarily unavailable. Please try again at a later time.’
“…”
After some brief contemplation, Min Sung grabbed the mouse and rewarded the BJ handsomely.
[150,000 Moon Balloons from HoSungLee!]
[HoSungLee has left the room.]
Although the show had ended, the chat window still remained active. Seeing the exorbitant amount of moon balloons, the chat exploded as if it had been hit by a storm. Meanwhile, turning his computer off, Min Sung rose from his seat and said while shaking his head, “I better stay away from this whole muk-bang thing.”
—
Worshipped by his clansmen as a king, Ho Sung was on cloud nine. Just like Min Wook had said, the real reward for defeating the mercenary was the trust of his clansmen. Since the duel, the way in which the clansmen looked at their leader had become noticeably different. As the head of the clan, Ho Sung’s victory in that duel had proved his worthiness to his clansmen. After that, the clansmen became fiercely loyal to their leader.
‘Good thing I didn’t back out! Hehe,’ Ho Sung thought as a smile inadvertently spread across his face. Then, one of the clansmen came up to him with a bottle of soju.
“Sir! Allow me to pour you a glass.”
After delivering his speech as arranged, Ho Sung had rented out an entire bar in order to celebrate his success. As that clansman poured Ho Sung a glass, the rest of the clansmen rose from their seats with shot glasses in their hands. To which, Ho Sung, clearing his throat, raised his glass in response and said, “This clan has only one way to go, and that is up. BUT, I know for a fact that I can’t do this alone. So, I ask you all to be patient with me and help me to push this clan forward. Now, raise your glass!”
At Ho Sung’s command, everyone raised their shot glasses above their heads.
“For the Diamond Clan!” Ho Sung shouted, and the clansmen shouted the chant back in unison. After that, Ho Sung poured the soju down throat in a single gulp.
“Yeah!” Ho Sung let out. The bitterness of the liquid couldn’t be more pleasant. Even winning the lottery or a large sum of money at a casino couldn’t bring him greater joy. Simply put, Ho Sung was having the happiest day of his life since he’d been born. It felt as though every cell in his body was drunk with a sense of achievement.
‘Who would’ve thought that this clan would get this big? I thought my life was over after I met Min Sung, but I guess I was wrong! Man, life really is unpredictable!’ he thought, chuckling. Sticking a cigarette in his mouth, Ho Sung drank blissfully. At that moment…
“Man, things people do for money these days!” Min Wook said, snickering.
“What happened?” Ho Sung asked, looking at Min Wook, who pointed at the news on the TV.
[Tonight, the BJ of a certain internet entertainment platform was admitted into a hospital after consuming an excessive amount of probiotic beverage on camera. Thankfully, one of the viewers at the time called the paramedics, and now, she is on her way to recovery. It has been reported that the BJ consumed the beverage in excess in order to grant a request made by one of the viewers at the time by the name of HoSungLee, who offered to reward her fifty thousand moon balloons for drinking one-hundred bottles of the beverage in addition to the large amount of food she had already consumed.]
Staring at the TV, Ho Sung furrowed his brow and said, “That son of a bitch. Of all names he could’ve used.”
“Right?” Min Wook said, snickering.
“Turn that crap off. Tryin’ to have a drink here!”
At Ho Sung’s command, Min Wook, still snickering, ran toward the TV and turned it off.
—
“What did you just say?” Ji Yoo asked, looking at Soo Hyun Kim, the miscellaneous type who represented the Northern Branch of the Institute, with deep yet sharp and glaring eyes. Sitting on the couch with his legs crossed, Soo Hyun smiled casually and said, “I told you. We have to take Ho Sung Lee out. One of our own has been killed by this individual. So, I think we have the right to hold this man responsible.”
Hearing that, Ji Yoo, deep in thought, clenched her lips tightly. The easiest solution to the problem was to hand Ho Sung Lee over to Soo Hyun. However, there were multiple reasons that kept her from doing so. First, handing Ho Sung Lee over to Soo Hyun meant that the Central Institute would be handing all the underground trading rights within Seoul over to the Northern Branch, which was bound to start a civil war within the Institute. Second, was the mysterious miscellaneous type: Min Sung Kang. The regional branches had yet to know anything about him. Should Min Sung Kang became known to the other four branches, things would surely get complicated. Neither of the choices was advantageous to the Central Institute. Looking at Ji Yoo deep in thought, Soo Hyun chuckled and tilted his head. Then, with a wide, mocking smile on his face, he said confidently, “I gotta say, you’re thinking very long and hard about this. He must be really significant to you in some way.”
Unfortunately, the odds were stacked against the Central Institute. Nevertheless, Ji Yoo had to turn the tables.
“I think I need to give it some more thought. Say, four days. You can expect to hear from me then,” she said, and Soo Hyun, scoffing, rose from his seat and straightened his clothes.
Then, looking down at her as if warning her, he said, “I don’t know why you’re so protective of this… trash, but all right. If that’s what you need. I’ll give you one day. No more,” and left the room. After he left the room, Ji Yoo put her hand on her forehead, which was emanating intense heat.