Chapter 1: Netkama’s Excuse

“Ugh, it’s cold, it’s cold!”

I was careless.

Since the weather hasn’t been that cold for November, I thought light clothing would be enough.

That complacency killed me.

Doesn’t the phrase “for November” itself imply that an unseasonably warm November is unusual?

The history of warmth a week before the college entrance exam didn’t exist on the Korean peninsula, and this year was no exception.

They say those who forget history have no future.

The words of the elders are always right.

If they had said something wrong, it wouldn’t have been passed down in the first place.

“Blanket, blanket… Blanket!!”

A person who went out in light clothing wouldn’t have left the boiler on at home, so the house was freezing.

Without even changing my clothes, I quickly crawled into the blanket, leaving only my face exposed, and leaned back on the bed.

“Haa… this is life~”

As I surrendered myself to the comfort of the blanket, my body began to relax.

Being in a cozy blanket after wandering in the cold must be as close to heaven as sitting in front of a fan after a warm bath.

As I occupied a piece of heaven on earth, my eyes began to close little by little.

I felt like I could fall asleep happily if I lay down like this.

The thought of giving in to the bed crossed my mind, but I couldn’t do that.

It’s 5 PM, and my broadcast starts at 7 PM.

With only two hours left until work, taking a nap and then starting the broadcast wasn’t realistic for someone who loves to sleep as much as I do.

So, I shook my head hard and chased away the drowsiness.

“Ugh… let’s just stay for 5 minutes, just 5 minutes.”

I compromised with myself and took out my phone.

“Hiro… as always, nothing’s been posted.”

As always, I searched my nickname on the portal site, but there was nothing special.

No, it’s more accurate to say there was no mention at all, rather than nothing special.

It doesn’t make sense for a streamer with only 40-50 viewers to be mentioned in an online community.

But searching their own name in the hope of something is a habit of streamers.

Isn’t streaming a job that people choose because they crave someone’s attention?

Of course, that’s just my personal opinion, and there are always exceptions.

If you disagree, you’re right.

However, let me make one lame excuse: the reason I search my nickname is quite different from wanting attention.

It’s actually the opposite reason.

The main reason was to find out in advance because it would be troublesome to receive attention.

For the same reason, I searched for another word.

“Net…kama… I wonder if anyone else got caught?”

Netkama.

It’s so well-known now that it seems ridiculous to explain it, but if I had to explain it, it’s a word that refers to a man who pretends to be a woman online and deceives men.

And there was an incident last year and one this year.

A streamer with considerable recognition was exposed as a netkama and abandoned everything and ran away.

One of them was thoroughly investigated by someone who revealed everything, and they erased all traces and ran away.

The other’s downfall started with a minor slip of the tongue, when they tried to say “me too” in response to a viewer’s story about the reserve forces, quickly corrected themselves, and everything burned to ashes.

Whatever their fate, the exposure of the two had a greater impact on the internet broadcasting scene than expected.

When someone who was naturally thought to be a woman was revealed to be a netkama, a witch hunt began targeting streamers who didn’t reveal their faces.

Why can’t you show your face?

Why don’t you just turn on the camera without showing your face?

Show us your ID.

Name at least three cosmetic brands right now.

Tell us the order in which you wash your hair.

People threw questions that men couldn’t answer like stones, forcing streamers to prove that they weren’t witches.

Streamers tried to prove they were women in various ways, but in the end, the atmosphere was such that they wouldn’t be believed unless they turned on the camera and showed their actual appearance.

Even those who wanted to satisfy their desire to see their real faces joined in, and indiscriminate witch hunts took place.

But even in the midst of the biting cold wind, someone always seizes the opportunity.

As a result of the witch hunt, some people revealed their real appearance, which became a hot topic, and the indicators of their broadcasts rose sharply, joining the mainstream of internet broadcasting.

Of course, this was the story of a very small number of people who had a very successful outcome, and there were also those who were unfairly hung and burned at the end of the indiscriminate witch hunt.

Not only those who were put on trial for witch hunts because they couldn’t reveal their real appearance, but also those who had their real photos revealed and were clearly women, but lost everything they had built up in an instant.

Because their real appearance didn’t meet the level that viewers expected.

[No matter what the streamer looks like, I like them as a person!]

The viewer who wrote that chat has never been seen again.

It tasted bitter.

At the same time, I was also overcome with the fear that I could become like that in an instant.

So, as for which side I was on, I just continued my usual broadcasts, without any big successes or failures, like most streamers.

Someone somewhere seemed to regret missing the opportunity for a big success, but that was not the case for me.

A prey that survived the witch hunt.

That’s because I was the netkama streamer.

Fortunately, I was just a common small-time streamer, so I was out of the center of the biting wind.

You can’t be interrogated if there’s no one to interrogate you, right?

[Hiro-nim, did you hear? That person was a netkama.]

“Wow, really? Oh my gosh.”

Why did you get caught, you idiot? You’ve put me in danger too.

[It seems like there’s no one to trust in this world.]

“I know, right~”

There’s one more untrustworthy guy here, though.

[Why do they pretend to be women and broadcast instead of revealing they’re men and broadcasting ㅋㅋ]

“Well… it’s hard for men to succeed on their own these days as streamers…”

When I revealed I was a man and broadcasted, not even 5 people watched for months, you son of a bi*ch.

[That’s true.]
[Well, you should’ve been born a woman~]
[lol true]
[Yeah~ It’s your fault for being born a man~ If you don’t like it, be born again~]

“Ha. Ha. Ha…”

F*cking sucks, seriously…

Anyway, as a netkama streamer, I somehow overcame the crisis and have been broadcasting for over a year now.

I’ve been broadcasting diligently with the belief that if I do well on a regular basis, people will believe me even in situations where they can’t trust me, and thanks to that, viewers didn’t seem to suspect me at all when the witch hunt was going on.

As expected, you have to behave properly on a regular basis to survive safely in the storm that uproots everything.

Yeah, that’s right.

Ting.

A text message notification popped up on the phone, which I had been leaving with a cracked screen under the pretext that there was no problem with using it.

I couldn’t see all the contents, but I could tell what it was about just by looking at the first line.

【Invoice issuance notification】

What else could it be but a reminder to pay the money?

This money.

Money.

Money…

It’s sickening, but what can I do? That’s how the world works.

I started a business, and my partner ran away, leaving me with only debt.

I started doing manual labor to make a living, but my body was completely broken, and I couldn’t work anymore.

I was going to get a job at a convenience store, but the fu*king epidemic took away all the jobs.

That’s how unreasonable the world is, but a way to make a living somehow arises, and that’s also how the world works.

I never dreamed that I would be born a man and make a living by acting cute, whining, and flirting with other men while pretending to be a woman…

“50 million won…”

Still.

Still, living like this is better than giving up everything.

I braced myself again, thinking about the debt I had to pay back.

“Let’s hang in there for two more years.

I’ll be able to pay it back.”

The 5 minutes I had initially thought of had long passed.

I broke away from the cozy blanket before it turned from a corner of heaven into a swamp of self-pity and changed my clothes first.

I turned on the boiler to the minimum and sat in front of the computer.

This is my workplace

My job

My battlefield

“The time for emotional labor is coming againㅡ”

But even then, I didn’t fully understand.

Why they say those who forget history have no future.

And that even dark history is history.

*Hako: A derogatory term for a small-scale streamer.