Chapter 25

The sound of a photo being taken was heard, and when I turned around, I saw a middle-aged woman in hiking clothes.

“Ah, ah… Uh…”

The woman fidgeted nervously, glancing alternately between the camera and me.

She seemed like she wanted to say something, but she was so flustered that she just kept opening and closing her mouth.

Then, a voice message arrived.

『‘Gyeongsaeng Guburi’ has sponsored 500 won.』

└You f*cking b*tch! I heard the sound of you taking photos! You just took a picture of Gyesekkihoon’s butt, didn’t you?

The woman also heard this voice.

“W-What? That’s not it!”

The woman waved her hands frantically, vehemently denying it.

Her expression looked genuinely wronged.

『‘Gyeongsaeng Guburi’ has sponsored 500 won.』

└If it’s not that, then what is it? Your voice is shaking like crazy because you’re guilty.

『‘Yoho’ has sponsored 10,000 won.』

└A thief’s conscience is guilty, huh ㅡㅡ

『‘Handsome Licker’ has sponsored 500 won.』

└Don’t even think about doing something stupid. 100,000 people are watching the broadcast right now.

『‘Jujijoa’ has sponsored 10,000 won.』

└If you even touch a single hair on Se-hoon, I’ll come find you. Watch yourself.

“N-No… It’s really not like that…”

The woman started to tear up.

Tears were welling up in her eyes.

It didn’t seem like she was acting.

If those were fake tears, she deserved an acting award.

I quickly muted the voice messages to prevent them from leaking out.

“Guys, calm down. Why are you overreacting like this?”

I adjusted the camera angle so the woman’s face wouldn’t be visible.

No need for her face to get exposed unnecessarily.

“She might have just been taking pictures of the scenery. What if you’re accusing an innocent person of being a criminal without any evidence?”

It was exactly as I said.

There was no guarantee she had been filming me.

‘Even if she was secretly filming, it’s not a big deal to me, so I don’t plan to make a fuss…’

…Wait, no.

That was a bit shortsighted.

Letting a criminal act slide isn’t good.

For the sake of prevention, it’s better to give a clear warning.

But I won’t report it.

“R-Really, I didn’t take any pictures… I was just taking photos of some interesting mushrooms… Please believe me…”

The woman, who had approached me at some point, spoke with a tearful face.

I suddenly felt like the villain.

“…Don’t worry. It’s just my viewers causing a fuss. I didn’t suspect you in the first place.”

I spoke as kindly as possible.

Accusing someone of being a sex offender based on mere suspicion and demanding to see their phone gallery wasn’t a good move.

If she was truly innocent, this would be an incredibly unfair situation for her.

“…R-Really?”

Suddenly, the woman’s expression brightened.

My kind tone must have worked.

“Yes. But if you didn’t do anything wrong, act more confidently. Reacting like that just makes you look suspicious.”

“I’m sorry… I was worried about being misunderstood… H-Here…”

The woman unlocked her phone using her fingerprint.

“I really didn’t do it… Please check for yourself…”

She handed me her phone without me even asking.

It seemed like she wanted to prove her innocence herself.

“It’s fine.”

“Huh…? Oh, you don’t need to check…?”

“I’ll just trust you.”

There was no need to check.

If she had been secretly filming me, she wouldn’t have handed over her gallery so confidently.

“But still…”

Glancing at the camera, she continued.

“You seem to be broadcasting… I thought the viewers might not believe me…”

She had a point.

Even now, chat messages were coming in, demanding I check her gallery.

I sighed and took the phone.

I quickly scanned through the gallery.

As she said, there were photos of mushrooms.

‘Red deer horn mushrooms are here too. Anyway, I should apologize.’

Not that I needed to apologize.

The viewers were the ones who needed to apologize.

They had accused an innocent person of being a secret photographer.

“Guys, apologize. She was just taking pictures of mushrooms.”

『‘Gyeongsaeng Guburi’ has sponsored 500 won.』

└I’m sorry.

“Don’t apologize through donations. Do it in the chat. I muted it, so I can’t hear.”

【Gyeongsaeng Guburi】─Sorry.

【Yoho】─Sorry ㅜㅜ

【Min Ji】─I’m sorry…

【Jujijoa】─My bad.

【Maehwa Tree】─Sry sry

【Se-hoon Defense Team】─Sorry…

【Handsome Licker】─I’m sorry…

【Qkrnfl892】─I didn’t suspect her.

【Big Girl】─I was staying neutral.

Apologies poured in through the chat.

I showed the chat window to the woman.

“Ah… Everyone, it’s okay, you don’t need to apologize… Secret photography is such a big issue these days. I understand why you reacted that way…”

The woman didn’t get angry even after being falsely accused.

She seemed like a genuinely kind person.

Or maybe just timid?

Either way, she didn’t seem like a bad person.

Most people wouldn’t have let this slide so easily.

“And thank you again… This has happened to me before, and back then, they called the police without even checking the facts… They even took my phone by force…”

The woman spoke with a genuinely touched expression.

And then.

A young woman came running up the mountain, panting, and shouted at us in a clear voice.

“Mom! What’s going on!?”

She seemed to be the woman’s daughter.

***

Incidents seem to attract more incidents.

Another incident had occurred.

The daughter, presumably, rushed over to us and started interrogating the woman next to me about what had happened.

Then she flew into a rage and started picking a fight with me.

All based on a fragmentary explanation.

Of course, it was a minor incident that was quickly resolved.

The woman calmed her daughter down and explained the situation properly from the beginning.

Once she understood the situation, the daughter immediately bowed her head and apologized.

“I’m sorry. I should have listened to the whole story… My mom went through something like this before, so I guess I panicked. I’m really sorry.”

Her attitude completely changed after hearing the explanation.

Just moments ago, she had been like a wild beast.

‘Her personality is completely different from her mom’s.’

Even her appearance was nothing like her mother’s.

They didn’t resemble each other at all.

Anyway, well…

Misunderstandings can happen.

My viewers had just misunderstood earlier too.

So I decided to accept the apology.

“It’s fine. F*ck.”

But I was still annoyed, so I threw in a little curse.

I’m not that nice, after all.

“……”

“Oh, I’m sorry… My daughter has such a fiery temper… Yoo-na, apologize properly!”

The middle-aged woman also apologized for her daughter’s behavior.

The daughter looked flustered.

Was it because I cursed at her?

Well, you shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.

You messed up first, you b*tch.

I swallowed any additional curses.

***

As it turned out, this mother and daughter were residents of our village.

‘So they’re our neighbors. I’ve never seen them before.’

It wasn’t strange that we hadn’t met.

Our house is a bit isolated, after all.

That’s why there are many neighbors I don’t know.

By city standards.

It’s so remote that you wouldn’t even think of them as neighbors.

In the countryside, though, if you live in the same village, you’re neighbors.

Anyway.

The middle-aged woman thanked me and said she wanted to invite me over for a meal sometime.

Like, let’s have a meal together later.

It was probably just a polite gesture.

So I didn’t refuse.

‘Even if they really invite me, their house is closer than others, so it wouldn’t be a burden.’

The house where the mother and daughter lived was relatively close to ours.

A house with a blue-striped roof.

It wasn’t far enough to drive, so it was a distance you could walk back and forth for exercise.

“Then I’ll head up first. See you later.”

The middle-aged woman bid me farewell.

Her daughter just nodded beside her.

The mother and daughter started climbing the mountain again.

“Yoo-na, when we invite that young man over for a meal later, apologize properly. Got it?”

“Ugh…”

“And if you get the chance, try to make a good impression. He seems like a really good person.”

“Whatever…”

“Whatever? Do you know how hard it is to find a guy like him these days?”

“Ugh, stop…”

I heard everything, but I pretended not to.

***

Around the time Gye Se-hoon was hiking.

A post appeared on Ins Gallery.

It was about the slowly cooling topic of Gye Se-hoon.

[Author: ㅇㅇ]

─I’ll tell you about Gye Se-hoon’s broadcast.

There are still a lot of idiots who haven’t found it yet.

I feel bad for you, so I’ll give you three special hints.

1. The platform is a new one.

2. The nickname is related to his real name.

3. The thumbnail has a black background.

With these hints, you should find it in 3 minutes.

If you still can’t find it and start whining, I’ll smash your head.

└Is this for real?

└If it’s a new platform, is it Churu?

└F*ck, give more hints!

·

·

·

└Found it, f*ck lol

└The platform is Churu, and the nickname is Hoon World.

└They reversed his name, lol

└Let’s go~

·

·

·

└You f*cking b*tch! What’s with the viewer limit, huh?

Unless existing viewers leave.

Only one person among them could enter Gye Se-hoon’s broadcast.

The current viewer count was nine.