[TS] Malicious Sniper

Just as I was wrapping up the broadcast, someone tapped my shoulder.

“Um, Lady?”

I was wearing earphones, so I couldn’t hear well, but I definitely caught the part where someone called me ‘Lady’.

In that moment, chills ran down my spine, and I reflexively turned my head.

There stood Kim Jihye, with light brown bobbed hair, holding a plate of sliced apples.

As soon as I saw that, I quickly tilted my body back and lowered the angle of the cam.

I also moved my resting right arm to press the mic button and turned it off.

I thought I had reacted as fast as I could.

But no matter how I looked at it, with the angle of the camera, there was a pretty high chance that Kim Jihye was on-screen.

I didn’t even know how long she had been behind me or why she was in my room.

“Why did you come into my room?”

I asked with a cold voice, thinking I was facing an uncomfortable and troublesome situation.

Kim Jihye trembled and couldn’t immediately answer my question.

Seeing her show such weakness, I let out a small sigh.

In a way, this was partly my fault.

I should have said in advance not to come in if there was no response when she knocked.

I should’ve thought that Kim Jihye might come into my room after I asked her about using the fridge when she had sliced apples for me last time.

If it was only Kim Jihye who had done something wrong, I would have comfortably scolded her.

But for now, what was important was to handle the situation rather than berate Kim Jihye.

“Jihye, how old do I look?”

“You look really young!”

Just looking at Kim Jihye’s cheerful reply to such a sudden question made my head hurt.

I could only see her pure intent of wanting to serve apples, so I felt like I couldn’t scold her further.

After all, wasn’t it just a minor broadcasting accident?

Of course, it could be a problem if Kim Jihye’s face was shown in the broadcast.

But that could be dealt with later.

“I’m 25 years old.”

“Wow! I thought you were 22!”

“Don’t butter me up; it won’t help.”

“Yes.”

“Phew… For now, just wait in the living room. Don’t go anywhere.”

Upon hearing me say to wait in the living room, Kim Jihye quickly set down the plate she was holding on my desk and dashed out of the room.

“Phew…”

As I took a deep breath to calm my confused mind from the unexpected intrusion by Kim Jihye, I began to gather my thoughts.

I made a mental note not to be flustered no matter what was happening in the chat room as I slowly shifted my gaze.

[Lady? Lady? Lady? Lady? Lady?]

[Heeung… Master… Heeung… Master… Heeung… Master…]

[Clarification clarification clarification clarification clarification clarification clarification clarification]

[Rich Lady… but doing League of Legends?]

[Gap Moe is crazy]

[In reality, I’m a rich lady, but in this world, I’m a League of Legends challenger streamer?]

[And I’m goddess-level pretty]

[Seriously, why is this person so perfect?]

[Where do you find such a person? Ah, lol]

[Again, adding a character that’s breaking the writer’s sense of realism]

[But did the host just bail?]

[Streamer Barcode, awaken! Awaken!]

I had expected a flood of messages that I wouldn’t be able to read, but surprisingly, the situation in the chat room wasn’t too bad.

Of course, just because it wasn’t bad didn’t mean it was good either.

For a while, I pondered how to explain the ‘controversy’ that just happened.

I knew better than anyone that a slight misstatement would only breed more controversy.

It was quite common for streamers who tried to ‘clarify’ things with a lame black screen video to plummet.

From the perspective of a third party, it was hard to understand why they justified themselves so poorly.

But now that I was the one who had to explain the controversy, I understood all too well why they made wrong judgments.

Even if I tried not to worry, my hands were shaking like crazy. Was it because I was nervous?

Well, to be honest, the only controversy to worry about was that I was called ‘Lady’, and I knew I wouldn’t fall from that.

Still, it didn’t hurt to be cautious.

After sufficient consideration, I decided how to phrase my explanation and turned the mic back on.

“Ah. Aah.”

[Mic test on]

[Hurry up with the clarification]

[If you log off now, it will be legendary]

[If you bail without clarification, you’ll hit rock bottom]

[Kyung, Master has arrived…]

After testing that the mic was working properly, I spoke out the first line I had thought up.

“Everyone, it’s a misunderstanding.”

[Lady has a misunderstanding?]

[Controversy arises, “misunderstanding”]

[Is ‘misunderstanding’ really the best clarification you have?]

[Season 73827845 misunderstood the entrance lobby]

[Streamers always resort to ‘misunderstanding’ when controversy hits]

[Seriously, lol]

[‘Misunderstanding’ is a universal rule, isn’t it?]

While I thought that my first line was perfect,

It seemed to have had only the opposite effect.

Not wanting the situation to spiral further, I completely turned my gaze away from the chat and quietly stated.

“She’s my housekeeper who didn’t know what title to call me, so she called me ‘Lady.’ The reason she entered the room was…”

I slowly continued while moving the cam.

The plate of beautifully sliced apples arranged neatly in a checkerboard pattern began to appear on the screen.

Once I confirmed the focus was on the plate, I continued speaking.

“…to give me apples.”

I thought it was a pretty solid clarification.

I rolled my eyes, scanning through the incoming messages in the chat.

[With a separate housekeeper like that, your house must be huge ㄷㄷ]

[But the housekeeper is also super pretty, what’s up with that?]

[How much practice does it take to slice apples that beautifully?]

[Grade S housekeeper in a working relationship with the Lady ㅗㅜㅑ…]

[Stream live from your phone, let’s see the house ㄱㄱ]

[Seriously, genius isn’t it?]

[Phone stream ㄱ]

I noticed a chat urging me to start a phone stream, but I ignored it.

I figured this was enough clarification and opened my mouth.

“I’ll stop the broadcast here for today.”

[The clarification isn’t even done, and you’re leaving!!]

[Baba]

[Controversy arises, ‘misunderstanding’ midway, ‘no-show’]

[For real, you’re a malicious streamer]

[If you were another streamer, you would’ve fallen by now]

[Baba]

[Are you really going to leave after this?]

[Can you just light a fire and run away?]

At this point, no matter how much I said, there wouldn’t be anything left to clarify.

With a clear mind, I ended the broadcast, got up from my seat, and lay back down on my bed for a moment.

I was a bit tired from Kim Jihye’s sudden intrusion, but it was still too early to sleep.

Forcing my weary body to rise, I trudged heavily out of my room.

When I went downstairs to the first floor, I saw Kim Jihye sitting at the dining table, fidgeting and sipping water from a cup.

I was annoyed that she had entered my room without permission.

But, for some reason, her innocent-looking appearance made me not want to blame her too much.

As I sorted my complicated thoughts, I walked toward the dining table where Kim Jihye was sitting.

*

As Kim Jihye came down to the living room on the first floor, she could feel her heart racing.

Hearing the Lady’s cold voice almost made her lose her mind.

It felt like being a timid herbivore in front of a beast.

‘By the way, was she broadcasting live?’

When she had entered the Lady’s room, she was clearly doing an internet broadcast.

Kim Jihye had learned editing separately because she heard she could make a lot of money on Mutube.

During that self-study, she had naturally come to understand internet broadcasting.

Of course, she was no longer doing Mutube now since she didn’t profit from it.

But back then, she watched internet broadcasts whenever she had some free time.

So, Kim Jihye had realized that what the Lady was doing was ‘internet broadcasting’.

‘That camera-looking thing must definitely be a cam, right?’

‘So, did I just appear on the Lady’s broadcast?’

At that moment, she couldn’t grasp the situation properly due to her shock.

But now that she thought about it, she realized how much trouble she had caused.

Having someone disrupt a live broadcast unexpectedly?

Once her thoughts reached there, she understood why the Lady spoke to her in such a cold voice.

“Ugh…”

The cold voice the Lady used while glaring at her still lingered in Kim Jihye’s ears.

Feeling chills from that cold voice, Kim Jihye shook slightly.

In that tense atmosphere, how long did she wait?

Scuffle—

She heard someone coming down the stairs.

Before long, the Lady sat down right across from her.

“…”

“…”

Heavy silence fell.

Kim Jihye waited, forgetting even to breathe.

Until the Lady opened her mouth.

“Jihye, how old am I?”

“Uh? Ah, you’re 25…”

“And how old are you, Jihye?”

“I’m 22…”

After a brief moment of confirming each other’s ages, Kim Jihye felt so embarrassed that she couldn’t lift her head.

There was only a 3-year age gap, but she had called her ‘Lady’ while she was broadcasting.

How flustered must the Lady have felt?

Because of me…

Fool, fool, fool.

I’m such an idiot.

“You didn’t do anything too wrong, so lift your head.”

“Yes…”

Kim Jihye looked as pitiful as a dog soaked in the rain as she cautiously lifted her head.

Although I told her to lift her head, Kim Jihye, unable to meet my gaze, kept her eyes down.

Having acted without permission, she wouldn’t have anything to say if she got fired from her cleaning job.

“By the way, Jihye, do you know what I was doing?”

“I don’t know the details, but it looked like you were doing an internet broadcast. If not, I’m sorry!”

“Hmm… So you’re aware.”

After coming out with the acknowledgment that I was streaming, she rested her chin on her hand and looked at me.

Her brilliant red irises and brown pupils had a captivating charm that felt like they would suck you in just by looking into them.

She stayed in that state and began to fall into silence again.

Kim Jihye stopped breathing while waiting for me to speak.

*

I didn’t want the fact that I was broadcasting to leak outside.

I wish she didn’t know, but now that she did, I had to do something about it.

So, I had no choice but to fall into thought, resting my chin on my hand.

What’s the best plan for this situation? What’s the best choice?

There was no longer a way for us to remain just as housekeeper and employer as we had before.

Kim Jihye visited my residence four times a month.

She would deep clean each time and would receive 500,000 won each visit.

This was the key point in the contract I had with Kim Jihye.

As I mentally decided how to resolve this, I called out to Kim Jihye, who was lost in thought.

“Jihye.”

“Yes!”

“Let’s renew our contract.”

“Huh?”

I pulled out my smartphone to write a new contract for the electronic contract.

Since I had already prepared one once before, it didn’t take long for me to write it up.

Once the new contract was prepared, I sent it to Kim Jihye’s email through the electronic contract site.

“Check the email.”

“Yes…”

Her voice was lifeless, so it seemed like she had some doubts.

But I wasn’t the type of person who was a ruthless employer.

In fact, I would give more if I took care of her; I wouldn’t be a pain.

“This… This contract seems too excessive!”

“Why? Is the salary a bit lacking?”

“Was the original housekeeper’s salary this high…?”

“I don’t know well since it’s my first time hiring someone. But I think it’s higher than average.”

From her reaction, it seemed like it wasn’t such a low price.

I could see Kim Jihye’s eyes flickering as she checked the contract.

After a while of staring at the contract intensely, Kim Jihye finally spoke up.

“Could you give me a little time? This… this contract seems too much coming from my sister…”

“Are you suspicious?”

“… Yes.”

“So you won’t sign the contract?”

Hearing my words, Kim Jihye looked like she was about to cry as she pondered.

Since it seemed like she was taking a long time to think, I offered her a piece of advice so she could choose comfortably.

“If you don’t sign today, it will be forgotten.”

“I’ll do it!”

“What will you do?”

“I’ll, I’ll agree to the housekeeper contract…”

Was my last piece of advice the decisive factor?

In the end, Kim Jihye started filling in the blanks on the housekeeper contract.

I watched her with a warm smile and quietly thought to myself.

‘I’ll have to train her as a manager later.’

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