As vibrant RGB lighting softly enveloped the room, the world on screen was filled with blood and despair. Yoo Ji Min, a popular streamer on Novel TV known by her alias Yuni, clutched her keyboard and mouse, her brow deeply furrowed.
“Ugh, seriously! How am I supposed to clear this?!”
Her cheeks were puffed out in a pout, and her eyes welled up as if she might burst into tears at any moment. In stark contrast to her cute face, the character on her monitor was already meeting a gruesome death for the umpteenth time.
It was an extremely difficult game she was attempting for the first time today. Naturally, it wasn't going well. And the viewers, as if they'd been waiting, began to tease her.
[10,000 won donation! Bingsin_Lover: Seriously, the streamer is so bad lol. I could clear this with my feet.]
[10,000 won donation! Uni_SimpKing: Yuni, left! You have to dodge left! Don't you know that pattern?]
[10,000 won donation! Wallet_Warrior: Guys, if you're frustrated, do it yourselves lol / So Yuni, click the glowing thing in front of you!]
The 10,000 won donation alerts rang out incessantly. Cheap taunts and condescending advice filled a corner of the screen. Yuni—no, Yoo Ji Min—forced a smile and grumbled.
“No, I mean! I know that! But what can I do if my hands won't cooperate! Ugh, seriously, stop with the backseat gaming! I can't concentrate!”
She deliberately exaggerated her 'rage-quit' gestures and nervously tidied her mouse cable. The chat window was flooded with 'lol' and 'awww'. But her true feelings were as cold as ice.
‘Idiots… they really love throwing their money away.’
A quick glance at the streaming program's revenue tally showed '1,500,000 won' clearly displayed. All she did was 'pretend' to be bad at the game and 'pretend' to be annoyed, and this was the result. Could there be an easier way to make money in the world?
‘Stupid simps. They think they're hot stuff.’
While internally spewing all sorts of contemptuous words, she outwardly pouted her lips as if she might end the broadcast at any moment.
“Ugh, seriously! If you keep backseat gaming like that, I'm just going to end the stream! Hmph!”
At her feigned sulk and sudden turn of the head, the chat and donations flared up even more. Yoo Ji Min, unseen, allowed herself a brief, satisfied smile. The feast of fools' money wasn't over yet.
Honestly, she had earned enough money. 1.5 million won. This was money she'd received just by pretending to play a game for a few hours and feigning annoyance. Yoo Ji Min—no, Yuni—glanced at the accumulated donation amount in the corner of the screen and clicked her tongue inwardly.
She was starting to get tired. How much longer did she have to pander to these imbeciles? Just as she was considering the perfect moment to end the stream, a truly infuriating donation caught her eye.
[10,000 won donation! Pro_Gamer77: Wow, Yuni, why are you so bad? Did your fingers break? Lol, is this for real?]
‘Perfect.’
As if on cue, Yuni took her hands off the keyboard and began to tremble her lips. The forced smile she'd worn just moments before vanished completely, replaced by an expression that looked ready to burst into tears at any second.
“No, but still… isn't that a bit too harsh? I'm a person too, I get hurt…”
Even her voice trembled faintly. The sudden shift in atmosphere filled the chat with question marks.
[Chat] ??? Why the sudden change?
[Chat] lolololol She's sulking again
[Chat] Stream ending vibes are strong ㄷㄷ
[Chat] ?? Yuni??
“I'm really hurt… I'll… just end the broadcast here today.”
Drip, drip. Feigning tears, she coldly declared, as if the viewers' reactions didn't matter to her at all.
“What? You don't want me to? No, I'm really too upset to continue broadcasting. I'm going to turn it off for today. Goodbye.”
Without a moment's hesitation, she pressed the 'End Broadcast' button. The screen instantly went dark. She turned off the webcam and microphone power, one after another.
“Hoo—”
As all the lights went out and only the monitor's black screen reflected her, Yoo Ji Min let out a deep sigh, as if shedding a mask. As if she had never been on the verge of tears, only cold contempt remained on her face.
“It's truly disgusting how hard it is to pander to those idiots.”
She leaned back deeply into the chair, muttering to herself. She relaxed her furrowed brow and rotated her stiff neck from side to side. She finally felt like she could breathe. It was just as she was about to stand up and stretch.
Ding-dong—!
Breaking the silence, the doorbell rang.
“…What is it?”
Who could it be at this hour? She hadn't ordered any food, and no one was supposed to visit. Yoo Ji Min frowned for a moment, then shuffled in her slippers towards the front door. With an annoyed expression, she reached for the doorknob directly instead of checking the intercom screen.
***
In front of the door, where the irritating echo of the doorbell had just faded, Lee Dongwoo stared at the firmly closed door with cold, sunken eyes. His heart burned with vengeance, but his mind was as cold as ice.
A moment later, a rustling sound came from inside, and then the door slowly opened a crack. Through the narrow opening, a face that was both familiar and unfamiliar appeared. No, it was now a hateful face. Yoo Ji Min.
“Who…?”
Yoo Ji Min, who had been peering out with a wary gaze, instantly looked bewildered. A man she had never seen before. And one who exuded an unsettling aura.
“You, what are you doing! Who are you to just barge into someone's house—”
Her cry to close the door was lost in the air. Dongwoo pushed his body through the open crack without hesitation. His physical abilities, honed in another world, easily overwhelmed the strength of an ordinary woman.
“Argh! What the hell are you doing?!”
Towards Yoo Ji Min, who stumbled back, losing her balance, Dongwoo flashed a chilling, twisted smile. Then, without hesitation, he swung his right fist.
Thwack—!
With a dull thud, his fist accurately struck Yoo Ji Min's abdomen. The impact shook her internal organs, hidden beneath the soft-looking flesh above her slender waist.
“Gah…!”
With a choked gasp, Yoo Ji Min's eyes rolled back, showing only white. The streamer who had been acting cute and annoyed on screen just moments ago was nowhere to be seen.
Dongwoo looked down indifferently at her body as it collapsed helplessly. Her slender body, twitching on the floor, resembled a bug.
“Found you, you fucking bitch.”
His voice, cold as ice, settled on the floor. Dongwoo poked the fallen Yoo Ji Min with the tip of his foot. It had been a week since he returned to Earth.
He had moved solely for revenge. He had tracked down the whereabouts of those despicable bastards who had driven his father and sister to their deaths. And finally, he had found his first target.
‘They've all grown up and are living well. Each with a respectable job, no less.’
Yoo Ji Min. She was one of the girls from the bully group who had tormented him during his school days. Her distinctive pretty face, a glamorous figure nearing an F-cup, and a personality that loved extravagant adornment.
Using all of that, she was currently working as a successful personal broadcast streamer. While putting on disgusting acts and sucking money out of fools.
Dongwoo slowly bent down and roughly grabbed Yoo Ji Min by her hair. As her head was forced back, her exposed nape looked unusually pale.
“You're the first one I found. Consider yourself lucky.”
There wasn't a trace of emotion in his voice. Only cold murderous intent gleamed.
“First… I'll make you my sex slave. I'll return the pain you inflicted on my father and Minji, slowly, very slowly.”
Into the ear of the limp Yoo Ji Min, his words seeped in like a whisper from hell. Several hours passed like that.
“Ugh…”
With a faint groan, a hazy consciousness emerged from the darkness. Her head throbbed as if it would split, and a heavy ache lingered in her lower abdomen.
‘What was it…? Someone rang the doorbell…’
Yoo Ji Min, fumbling through her last memories in a daze, suddenly snapped awake.
‘That's right, some crazy bastard broke into the house the moment I opened the door… and hit my stomach…!’
A wave of nausea surged through her. She tried to quickly sit up, but her body wouldn't obey. Her limbs felt heavy, as if weighted down by iron.
“Wha… what is this…?”
Only then did she instinctively realize something was wrong. She frantically examined her body. And was horrified.
Clank—
A cold metallic sensation on her wrists and ankles. What came into view were gleaming chains. They were firmly secured to something like a wall or bedpost, completely immobilizing her. What was this situation? Kidnapped? Robbed? Her mind went blank.
“F**k, what is this?! Let me go! Aren't you going to let me go right now?!”
A scream, mixed with fear and rage, burst out. She struggled to break free, but the chains didn't budge. Instead, the more she moved, the more they dug into her skin, only adding to the searing pain.
Forgetting that this was even her own home, she screamed like a madwoman.
That's when it happened.
Creak—
With the sound of the bedroom door opening, a shadow fell over her. A figure that was both familiar and strange. It was the very man who had rung the doorbell and struck her in the stomach. The man looked down at the struggling Yoo Ji Min with cold eyes and spoke in a low voice.
“If you're awake, be quiet. Why is your mouth so filthy?”
There was no anger or agitation in his voice. Only an icy chill permeated it.