Chapter 10
A scam.
His uncle was trying to scam him.
He said as much.
"I-I can't believe it..."
They were family.
How could family deceive family and try to profit from it?
"Whether you believe it or not is your choice. All I can tell you is that your fortune came out that way."
"....."
-Yuhung, believe him!
-He's the real deal! Seriously!
-I'm serious! He got everything right earlier!!
-Doesn't he have his own stream?
The chat was in an uproar too.
Normally, with a story like this, the viewers would have told them to quit talking nonsense.
But this time was different.
-He even got the part about your uncle telling you to invest right!
-Don't go down a dangerous path for no reason, seriously, Yuhung, let's just walk the flower path together;;;
The viewers were in an uproar.
The coworkers watched in silence.
Yuhung squeezed her eyes shut.
"...Okay... okay."
Her only choice was to believe him.
***
"You worked hard!!"
The broadcast ended without any real issues.
There hadn't really been much that could cause a problem in the first place.
The only thing I was worried about was Yuhung, who came at the end.
That person gets scammed by their uncle and falls into despair, becoming a wreck.
They're a good person who donates a lot, so I can't just let that slide.
"But you're really amazing. I didn't know you'd be able to figure out the viewers' past and future too."
"I've got to do at least this much to make a living."
Hong Soo-yeon smiled brightly.
Maybe word had gotten out, because the live viewers had already climbed past five thousand.
At this rate, she was delighted, saying it might not be the highest ever, but it would definitely make the top ten.
"It even showed up in the real-time search rankings."
Hong Si-yeon, who was beside me, showed me her phone.
It was there, sure enough.
Currently 7th.
I refreshed it, and it moved back up the rankings.
"What will you do? It looks like everyone wants you to do a stream of your own."
"I've come this far, so I can't back out now."
"Understood. Then what about the studio...?"
"No. I'll just do it from home."
You don't really need anything else special for streaming, do you?
I figure a camera and a microphone are all I'd need.
"You know how to set it up, right?"
"That's easy enough."
"Then I'll have it sent to your place."
.
.
.
For one broadcast appearance, I got paid quite a bit.
Not only the appearance fee, but also a company incentive.
And on top of that, streaming equipment too.
The setup wasn't particularly difficult either.
I looked it up online and the whole installation process was there.
Though they say it would be better to build a soundproof room for streaming, I wasn't going to be screaming or anything, so it probably wasn't necessary.
"Let's see..."
I logged into Chajajak using the ID Hong Si-yeon had given me.
Members: 0.
Subscribers: 0.
Very clean.
The username Kang Noah... huh? Someone's already using it?
Wow. What a scary world.
Then...
-The Real Kang Noah-
This should work.
I created the account and started the broadcast.
Naturally, there were no viewers.
In that case, let's use Hong Soo-yeon here.
[I've made that account. I'll start the broadcast.]
The moment I sent the message, a subscriber appeared.
Looking at the ID, it was Hong Soo-yeon, Ppuni Hani.
[Ballari has entered.]
[Subokgae has entered.]
[Meleujujjupalgosipda has entered.]
.
.
As expected of a VTuber with over 600,000 subscribers, viewers started showing up quickly the moment she subscribed.
-Is this really Kang Noah?]
-It was fake earlier.
-Please read my fortune too!!
Viewers kept increasing.
A hundred in no time.
Watching the chat race upward, I said,
"I only do ten readings a day."
The moment I said that, an alert went off.
[Meleujujjupalgosipda has gifted 1,000 coins!]
[Please see whether Encia's new album will do well or not!]
Does this one have no intention of hiding it?
Anyway, they've paid the reading fee, so I should take a look.
Encia's future...
I laid out the tarot cards, flipped them over at random, and told her,
"This album will succeed. A huge success, in fact."
-Really?
-Wasn't Encia's singing kind of mediocre?
-She's pretty, but her dancing is kind of...
-You don't know anything.
There was a lot of back-and-forth chatter.
But it'll really do well.
Enough to even make it onto the Billboard charts.
Encia fans and antis were busily arguing in the chat, but I ignored them.
"Then next."
[Kallaril has gifted 500 coins!]
[My wife has been acting a little strange lately... She said she was going to meet a friend and left, but could you tell me whether she's cheating or not?]
His wife is cheating?
"Your wife is working a night shift at a convenience store right now. She's a good woman who quietly works hard without making it obvious your salary isn't enough. Treat her well."
[Kallaril has gifted 10 coins!]
[N-no way!!]
It doesn't matter if you deny it; I can still see it.
"Go check the CU near Exit 1 of Gijang Station."
There was no reply.
Maybe he'd already left.
The chat went quiet.
And then, a moment later, it exploded.
-Shit!! Me too! Read mine too!
-I'm taking an exam soon, so please tell me how it'll go!!
-My father is having surgery soon, so please tell me the outcome!!
[Hansando has gifted 100 coins!]
[When will the stocks I currently have skyrocket?]
[Coolnaejindong has gifted 300 coins!]
[Please tell me where my girlfriend is right now!!]
Among the countless requests.
But I'm the one who gets to choose.
"Coolnaejindong, your girlfriend hasn't been born yet."
That guy is alone.
And he always will be.
"Kritomas, your father's surgery will go well. Don't worry too much."
I gave hope to the son worrying about his father's surgery.
It was roughly like that.
Small things, perhaps, but for the people involved, they were major matters.
It was while I was talking like that.
-DobongSeogangOfficer : Can we talk privately?
DobongSeogangOfficer.
Even the username was no joke.
"DobongSeogangOfficer. Get on Discord."
The message I sent him.
I created a private room, and he joined.
-Actually, I don't know if I should even say this...
"I know what it is. You want to catch the Dobong-gu prowler, right?"
There was no response.
But I could see it.
Inspector Kang Injeong of Criminal Division Team 2 at Dobong-gu Police Station.
He wanted to catch the serial burglar currently operating in Dobong-gu.
-How did you know that...
Hearing his startled voice, I looked into his future.
In his future, the Dobong-gu prowler gets caught.
After seven households are victimized and two people are murdered.
"The culprit is Yang Gyeongsu. Forty-one years old. No prior record."
That's why, even though Dobong Station is investigating with all hands on deck, they haven't been able to identify him as a suspect.
"He currently lives in Unit 101 of Edville in Yangju. His next target will be in four days, at 11 p.m.—Unit 604, Building 201 of Dobong Remian in Dobong-gu."
At this point, they should be able to handle the rest themselves.
Other than that... there were only a few other unremarkable requests.
"All right. That's it for today.
-Please just read mine too!!
-Please!! Just tell me whether my coins will go up or not!!
-My childhood friend, the delinquent next to me, and my junior all seem to like me, so just tell me who I should date and then leave!!
The last one can just die.
***
Kang Injeong, the team leader of Criminal Division Team 2 at Dobong-gu Police Station, was troubled.
A weird guy had appeared on the vtuber stream he secretly enjoyed.
A fortune teller who claimed he could read heaven's secrets and see the future.
At first, he thought, "What a bizarre concept they'd gone with."
But as the broadcast went on, he was shocked.
Wasn't he getting everything right for real?
'At this point, isn't he the real deal?'
Even Kang Injeong, who normally didn't believe in this sort of thing, was starting to think that.
If he was the real thing...
Couldn't they catch that prowler, the biggest problem in Dobong-gu right now?
So he waited.
Until he went live.
And the moment he went live and asked for a reading, he made the request right away.
But then he got it right immediately.
What he was worrying about.
And even where that problem was.
"Team Leader. Team Leader."
"Hm? Ah, right."
"What did the chief say?"
The subordinate detective's worried expression.
Just by looking at his face, he looked scarier than most thugs, but his sense of justice was second to none anywhere.
So...
"Come with me for a minute."
"Huh? Where to? Aren't we supposed to go catch the prowler?"
"We're going to catch him."
Taking his subordinate detective Seo Ikjun with him, he headed to the place the masked man had told him about.
In front of Building 201 of Dobong Remian Apartments in Dobong-gu.
When they arrived there, Seo Ikjun only tilted his head.
It was an upscale apartment complex.
Why on earth had they come to a place like this?
"Follow me."
He went up to the 8th floor with his subordinate.
Then he leaned against the wall by the emergency stairs and held his breath as much as possible while waiting in ambush.
The time he mentioned would be here soon.
-Tap, tap.
Footsteps.
The sound of someone coming up the stairs.
The footsteps stopped on the 7th floor.
Seo Ikjun didn't say another word either.
Only tension.
And a strange excitement.
That was all that surrounded them.
The footsteps sounded again.
The sound of someone going back down the stairs.
The footsteps stopped on the 6th floor, and a moment later, clicking sounds began to echo through the quiet emergency stairwell.
And then.
"Now."
Kang Injeong and Seo Ikjun moved.
And they saw it.
The flustered look on the face of an ordinary-looking man holding lock-picking tools.
.
.
.
The arrest itself wasn't that difficult.
He had a knife, but he wasn't brave enough to take on two detectives who were both over 190 cm tall and weighed more than 100 kg.
The owner of the upscale apartment whose home had nearly been robbed was overjoyed.
"Thank you! Thank you!"
"We're the ones who should apologize. We should have caught him sooner..."
"No! No!! But you're from Dobong Station, right?"
"Huh? Yes."
"I'm on good terms with the chief there... I'll be sure to let him know."
The delighted homeowner.
Seo Ikjun was even happier.
But Kang Injeong couldn't be happy just yet.
Because civilian Kang Noah had been behind catching this guy.
'What on earth is that person?'
It only left him wondering.
But for now, he could at least be satisfied that they'd caught the trash tormenting people's lives in the act.
***
It was near the end of today's broadcast.
A message arrived on Discord.
-DobongSeogangOfficer : Thank you. Thanks to you, we were able to catch him.
"It's fine. If you were a bad person, I wouldn't have helped you, but..."
Kang Injeong was a good person.
Not the kind of police officer people usually imagine, but someone who risks his life to save others.
If I don't help someone like that, who would I help?
-DobongSeogangOfficer : That said, I have something I'd like to ask you in person.
A favor, huh.
Building ties with the police wasn't a bad thing for me either.
Even if I could see the future, there were limits to what I could do as a civilian.
If I could make use of the power of law enforcement, that wouldn't be a bad thing.
"Sounds good."
-DobongSeogangOfficer : Why are you suddenly being polite...?
"I have a feeling things will go on with Detective Kang for quite a while.
And so, two days later.
At a small cafe near my house, I heard the serious request of a rough-looking giant.
"...I want to catch the serial arsonist."
We have to catch that guy.