Bab 8: Clickbaiting her audience

A new channel was created on B-tube. It was called Sun Young-mi.

Ji-ho put a link to the channel on Koka and asked her followers to wait for a surprise she was preparing for them.

~Sun Young-mi? Jessica is using her real name, everyone.

The comment was liked by Ji-ho.

~Ahhh! Young-mi, good luck!

~what surprise? Send more lewds, Jessica.

~This stupid girl left company Y when no one in their rights minds would hire her. Is she going to put on a 'show' for us? <3

~Maybe an announcement is coming up. Please, declare openly the name of the man who leaked your pics.

~Woah!!! She changed the name of her Koka handle. Sun Young-mi, why are you doing this?? Do you think that we won't remember everything you've done as Jessica if you just change your name?

Ji-ho read some of the comments and put her phone on silent. She was going to get a beauty nap and then head over to a small recording studio that had agreed to let her use their system for a live performance. They'd even waived away a fee because Jessica was giving them free publicity.

The young woman snoozed peacefully and dreamt about a younger version of herself still alive in this world.

______

In another corner of the city, a 24-year-old rapper and singer was drinking a fancy cocktail with his 19-year-old girlfriend. He had blond hair cropped short and gave off the aura of a bad boy.

"Blue, what are we going to do if that slut tells everyone it was us who did it?" Iris, the popular lead singer of the group called INO asked her boyfriend.

It was Iris who had leaked the pictures in a fit of jealousy after finding them in a folder on her boyfriend's laptop. Blue pretended he had no idea why they were still there and that he didn't care about Jessica even a little bit. But the damage was already done. The leaked pictures could not be taken back.

"Baby, if she was going to do that then she had a chance during the press conference. Stop worrying about it," he told Iris with some irritation in his tone. After what she'd done with Jessica's images, he was starting to lose interest in her. What kind of psycho would do that to another girl and have no remorse about the pain she would have to endure? Blue was no saint but even he was starting to feel bad for Jessica.

The girl had been only 17 years old, eager to please and oh so innocent. Blue had liked that about her. The breakup only happened because Jessica had been unwilling to put out, and he just couldn't do a relationship where he didn't have access to his girlfriend's body.

"But she said she's making an announcement tonight!" Iris pouted prettily. She had shoulder-length hair dyed pink and the sexiest body among her peers in the industry.

"She didn't say that," Blue replied curtly. "A surprise is not an announcement."

"Oppa! You're using that tone with me again," Iris sulked. "Why are you mad at me?"

Blue finished his drink and smiled tightly at his girlfriend. He could sense a childish tantrum incoming.

"Iris, why don't we go back to the room and watch something together? Oppa needs to relax a bit."

His girlfriend smiled happily at his attempt to assuage her. "Okay, but I get to choose what we watch."

______

At exactly 06:00, a live video began to play on Sun Young-mi's channel. It was titled - Announcement of his name (Clickbait!!). The video was dark and there was a half an hour count down on it.

~What? What? What? Are my eyes seeing right?

~What's this misleading title??

~So is it a clickbait or not, Young-mi?! Get out here and tell us before this aunty beats you!

~Ahhhh!

~I don't want to watch the video because it clearly says it's clickbait but what if it isn't?

~This better be good. I won't support Young-mi if I find that this is clickbait.

~waiting waiting waiting

~waiting +10

~waiting +20

~waiting +30

The audience was lively as they waited for the countdown to get to 00:00. Unbeknownst to them, a lot of celebrities had also tuned in to see what the fuss was about. Jessica was now a household name so whatever she did became hot news. The link to her channel was forwarded multiple times and the viewership was at an unprecedented number.

~ it is almost time!!

The countdown reached 00:00 and the live video changed from darkness to Sun Young-mi's smiling face.

"Hey, everybody! Thank you for tuning in to my live broadcast! Can you guess where I am? If you're guessing that I'm in a recording studio then you're correct!"

Ji-ho had visited a beauty salon and changed her hair color from the original blonde to a black shade that made her beautiful skin look pale and smooth in contrast. She ditched the flashy idol clothing and wore a baby blue cable knot sweater that brought out Young-mi's youth.

~Jessica looks so different!

~I like it!

"And if you're wondering why I'm at a recording studio, it's a simple answer. I'm here to record a cover song for my channel!"

Jessica was a mediocre singer. Everyone knew that. Some of her supporters were already groaning at what was going to be a mediocre performance. She was just giving her enemies more ammo to attack with.

~A cover? Haha, I didn't know that Jessica could sing.

~ please don't ruin any of my favourite songs.

~The clickbait was real...

Ji-ho didn't give the audience any time to start leaving. The music immediately began and it shocked everyone who was watching.

~ WILDFLOWER??

~ oh my god noooo

~ she's going to ruin it!!!

Wildflower was the theme song for the hottest period drama that was being serialised in the country. Seung-ho played the lead character as a young prince ousted from his kingdom by the queen mother. The drama was its end with only two more episodes to be broadcasted. It had the highest ratings that a drama had ever received. And the song wildflower, sung by Lim, a famous singer known for ballad songs, was currently number one on the charts. Lim had a rich and husky voice that complimented the tone of the song so much that the public could not imagine anyone else singing it. It was going to be a disaster of epic proportions.

~please Young-mi, think about your future!

~my heart can't take this.

~stupid stupid stupid couldn't pick another song????

Ji-ho wasn't afraid. She had been trained in both contemporary and operatic singing by her mother. She apologised in her heart to the song writer and producer who would after a year come up with the more emotional and feminine rendition of the song he had written for Lim. Ji-ho was stealing it from him with the self promise of compensating him somehow in the future.

While the intro played, her eyes quickly darted to the viewership count and it hadn't changed yet. It was scary how fast the number was rising.