Chapter 70: “Why should I?”

The sudden controversy over Kayak’s age.

Kayak, a top contributor in the Abyss Gallery, a prominent user, and a famous female streamer, turned out to be just barely over twenty (as the gallery phrased it).

During the time she was actively involved in the gallery—creating it, working with the “30 Crusaders,” and streaming without a camera or microphone—it was three to four years ago.

At that time, the revelation that Kayak was likely just a high school student created a significant stir.

However, initially, right after Kayak’s age was revealed due to Lilyang’s comment, the situation wasn’t as dramatic.

After all, age was a minor factor. It wasn’t as if Kayak’s face had been revealed, her relationship status exposed, or her past tainted by accusations of school violence.

The reaction was mostly that people thought she was older—at least in her late twenties. But that was about it. There wasn’t anything inherently unbelievable about Kayak being twenty-one. Most of the gallery’s regulars had also joined the community during their school years, so why should Kayak have been any different?

Granted, Kayak’s case was somewhat unique as she was a rare combination of being a female gallery member and a younger one.

The buzz seemed to settle with Kayak being nicknamed “Young High Schooler Eoseun” (a term combining a title with the notion of a younger high schooler).

Until that post surfaced.

“If Kayak is twenty-one, what about the post from three years ago? Wasn’t that when the server shutdown notice was posted, and she uploaded a picture drinking soju?”

A small spark. Yet, it didn’t take long for that spark to become a raging flame.

The reason was simple: the opportunity had always been there, waiting to be seized.

Even within the Abyss Gallery, there had always been people who disliked Kayak. Their voices were quieter, but they existed.

This tendency was particularly strong among more recent entrants—those who hadn’t endured the tough times with Kayak but had joined later when Abyss became a trendy game.

As the saying goes, “fans create haters.” This aversion often stemmed from resistance to the idolization of Kayak by the old-timers, including frequent nostalgia posts and sudden reverential praise for her.

This starkly contrasted the gallery’s stance before Kayak’s arrival, where any mention of gallery broadcasters was met with disdain and outright rejection.

Another contributing factor was that those who admired Kayak often included influential users, such as moderators and admins.

The transient users accused Kayak of having questionable connections with these influential figures.

“What, did she sleep with the admins and mods? Just kidding, LOL.”

“Posting pictures of herself drinking soju as a teenager—what a wannabe, geez.”

“Probably dating a guy who wears Under Armour with neon pants.”

“My gut tells me she’s just like Soo-jin, the girl who used to throw eraser bits at me in school.”

The narrative spiraled, accusing Kayak of everything from underage drinking to being a delinquent, a bully, and even questioning her virginity.

People from neighboring communities joined in, seizing the opportunity to bash Kayak. Some were fans of rival streamers who felt overshadowed by her meteoric rise.

The situation was on the verge of chaos.

It was at this moment that Yushia, a former gallery moderator who had stepped down to focus on managing Kayak’s VTuber content, decided to call her.

“Manager, is something wrong—”

“Boss, we have a huge problem!”

Kayak’s voice was slightly groggy, likely because the call came earlier than her usual work hours.

Yushia briefly felt guilty for possibly waking her, but it wasn’t the time for that. She needed to report what was happening.

Yushia, though flustered, tried her best to summarize the current situation concisely for Kayak.

“What should we do, boss? It’s complete chaos right now.”

However, contrary to Yushia’s urgency, a calm voice came from the other end of the line.

“Yaaawn… it’s no big deal, really.”

“Pardon?”

“I didn’t actually show myself drinking soju as a minor on a live stream, right?

At most, it was just a photo.

I’ll just say I was feeling so sad back then and wanted attention, so I pretended to drink.

If you come up with a reason, that’s the end of it.

As for the other so-called controversies… Can we even call them that?

Those things don’t even warrant an explanation.

Just leave them be—they’re not worth addressing.”

“You really had a plan for everything, didn’t you, boss?”

The rustling sound accompanied by Kayak’s calm voice made Yushia feel as if she’d been overreacting.

‘Now that I think about it, she’s right…’

Yushia suddenly felt embarrassed.

Kayak, the person directly involved, was unfazed after hearing the story, while Yushia, the editor, felt like she had been swayed by public opinion.

“Boss, are you really only twenty-one?”

“…Yes.”

Yushia, who was twenty-five, was four years older than Kayak.

Another editor, Kim Jae joon, was thirty-three—exactly twelve years older than Kayak.

Despite her young age, Yushia thought Kayak was remarkably mature.

Unaware that Kayak felt awkwardly smiling after the question about her age, Yushia continued.

“Unbelievable…”

Kayak was casually browsing through the community while having breakfast.

She could sense the gravity of the situation Yushia had mentioned.

It felt as if there was a coordinated group effort to discredit her, given the overwhelming activity.

“Did they use a bot or something?”

Any post criticizing Kayak would immediately get an influx of likes—lots of them.

This propelled them to the featured section, where even more people could see them.

The only consolation was that the number of dislikes matched the likes, indicating that there were still reasonable people in the community fighting on her behalf.

How long that would last, though, was uncertain.

For a streamer, the content of the posts didn’t even matter—just the emergence of such suspicions was damaging.

It meant a tarnished reputation, which was exactly the goal.

From that perspective, the attack was highly effective.

Still, despite everything, Kayak felt completely at ease.

For one, she hadn’t done anything wrong.

On top of that, she realized this was something bound to happen eventually.

Even if it hadn’t been now, she was aware that her rapid rise would draw such attention.

She understood all too well the unprovoked hostility, jealousy, and envy that successful individuals attract.

After all, there was a time when she herself had acted similarly.

Back when she wasn’t doing well, wasting her days unproductively in online communities, becoming a faceless internet ghost.

From that experience, she could tell that the people angrily targeting her now were likely not genuinely upset with her.

Most of them just needed someone to vent their frustration on or a target for their baseless emotions.

In truth, this kind of thing happened all the time.

The online world, unlike reality, disregards established boundaries and moral principles.

Such incidents were far from rare.

This time, the target just happened to be her.

It wasn’t anything extraordinary.

“If they were going to change things, couldn’t they have fixed this problem too…”

Kayak mumbled with slight discontent.

Sure, being turned into a woman with Camilla’s appearance wasn’t bad.

But if they went to the trouble of even making her an ID, couldn’t they have predicted and adjusted her age to prevent issues like this?

If she were twenty-three, like Lilyang, or better yet, twenty-four, wouldn’t that have been so much better?

None of this nuisance would’ve arisen.

Although being physically younger and technically “rejuvenated” had its perks, the inconvenience of the current situation far outweighed them.

Still, since Abyss had become a top-tier game, this level of hassle was something she had to accept.

With that thought, she started her stream.

Kayak’s stream went live right in the midst of intense rumors swirling about her.

<Kaybang On>

<MinorsDrinkingViolenceFakeVirginManipulationKayakIsHereLOL>

<She’s streaming now?>

It was an unexpected timing.

The broadcast covering the post-dinner gathering had already concluded, and with Kayak not going live, people assumed she would wait for the controversy to die down before showing up again.

Nobody expected her to stream so suddenly.

The malicious users, busy spamming posts on forums, eagerly flocked to her stream and began to wreak havoc.

[Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello!]

[Is this the stream of Kayak, who enjoyed drinking and partying as a minor and held orgies with forum moderators?]

[Is it true you used to be a delinquent who bullied kids?]

[Wow, so many toxic people here. Should’ve waited longer to start the stream.]

[Just the clout-chasing viral queen Kayak, LOL.]

[Promoting her stream on forums to get famous faster, huh?]

[So what’s your cup size? What’s your cup size? What’s your cup size? What’s your cup size? What’s your cup size?]

[Manager!!! Ban all these jerks immediately!]

<Someone has donated 1,000 won!>

-s*x, s*x, body hair

<Someone has donated 1,000 won!>

-Turn on your cam and apologize naked, and we’ll forgive you.

It was absolute chaos.

The chat was flooded with insults, sexual harassment, and comments meant purely to provoke her.

The viewer count skyrocketed, and the chat moved so quickly it was impossible to read.

A handful of viewers, presumably her fans, desperately called for a manager, but no action was taken.

Whether the manager was away or deliberately ignoring it, no one could tell.

As the trolls completely took over the stream, doubling her usual viewer count, Kayak finally spoke up.

“So many people here. I wonder what brought you all here. Oh, to demand an explanation, is that it? An explanation…”

A faint chuckle came through the mic and into the stream.

[Laughing?]

[She’s lost it, LOL. Good luck.]

[Explain, explain, explain, explain, explain!]

[Is it all true? Are the allegations real? Do you admit it? Is it true?]

“It’s just so funny, you know. This demand for an explanation… An explanation? You want me to explain?”

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound, and Kayak’s voice grew louder.

This voice was different from her usual one, which was slightly lazy and soft.

It was low, serious, and carried a tone of extreme annoyance.

“Why should I?”