The sun bloomed like a flower in early spring. Its golden petals beamed over the city landscape, accompanied by a warm, pink horizon which marked the beginning of a new day. With the balcony open, a soft, fresh breeze whisked into the apartment, and because it was still so early, the only sound that could be heard was the chirping of the birds who were ready to start their day.
In other parts of the apartment building, people would just be starting to wake up or night shift workers would be preparing to go home. However, there were three men in one apartment who were still wide awake despite not getting any sleep, drinking beer as they studied the content on a laptop.
Xu Wei had crafted a meticulous spreadsheet that included every single person who commented on Shin Han's situation, carefully organized into who had malicious intent and whose words received more traction. When he clicked on a name, it would open another document with screen-shotted evidence of what they said or did regarding Shin Han online.
Shin Han felt sick as the other man scrolled through the document, showcasing his work. "I didn't even think of this…"
Xu Wei glanced over to Shin Bao, who had also contributed to the evidence by providing the screen shots he'd shown him the previous days as well as a screen recording of all of Shin Han's conversations with 'Grey'. He scrolled to the top of the list and clicked on Grey's name to show Shin Han.
He finally addressed what he had been thinking this entire time. "Although I can make their lives hell in the game, the game is not real life."
Shin Han nodded. "I know."
Xu Wei shook his head and stated. "I'm going to play around with them on that game, but it won't help you at all unless we release this."
Then, he looked toward Shin Bao and added. "I understand why you wanted me to step in. If we released this today, no one would believe Shin Han, and they'd think he forged it. Even if they did believe him, Shin Han's life hasn't been affected enough for it to be a big deal."
Shin Han snapped his head toward his little brother. "What does he mean?"
Shin Bao glanced at Xu Wei, then he set his beer down and looked away.
He had learned from Xu Ya.
Don't interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake; instead, let them dig their graves deeper until their lies implode on them.
That was how Xu Ya dealt with one of the rich kids who was bullying Xu Wei, she let him beat Xu Wei up for three weeks as she and Shin Bao secretly collected evidence. Photos of Xu Wei's bruises, Shin Bao secretly hiding behind a garbage can with her while taking videos on an old camera, and even voice recordings from a recorder they stored in Xu Wei's backpack without him knowing.
It's because she had tried to go to the principal when Xu Wei was hit the first time, and he pushed it under the rug and ended up giving both boys detention. Both of them, Xu Wei only defended himself. Then, the second time, she told Xu Wei not to defend himself and went to the boy's parents, who just threw some money at her like she was too dirty for them to touch.
When she had the evidence, she went to the police with it, sent it to the school board, and even threatened to go to news stations with it. The parents quickly pulled their son out of that school and settled with Xu Ya, and Xu Wei didn't have to deal with him anymore.
Besides, they had learned once before that speaking out too early can even make you look more guilty.
Seeing that Shin Bao wasn't going to say anything, Xu Wei did. He leaned forward and scrolled through the spreadsheet, and asked. "What do you think would happen if you said something right now?"
Shin Han opened his mouth to respond, but he didn't end up saying anything. His identity was already online…
Xu Wei answered for him. "You might be able to clear your image, but the bastards that started it won't be affected much. They might disappear for a few months, but when they come back, most people would have forgotten about it or forgave them if they seem to have changed."
He looked at Shin Bao, who finally spoke up with his theory. "She could claim it was a misunderstanding between partners, Grey could claim that he stayed silent because he didn't want to ruin his relationship further, and both would claim they had nothing to do with your doxxing and thus nothing to do with what's happening now. If they had stepped up when you were being doxxed, I wouldn't have asked Xu Wei to get on game and play around with them."
Shin Han asked. "Why are we playing with them, then?"
Xu Wei locked eyes with him and simply stated. "To vent your anger while we let the situation sink in, and to start ruining their reputation."
Shin Bao hummed. "Since it started on game, Xu Wei will make them wish they never signed up. Since it's drifted off line, we're hitting two birds with one stone. It's also a fact that both of them make money off the game, and their older brother does, too."
"You're…" Shin Han glanced at the laptop again. "Fucking crazy."
A small smile bloomed on Xu Wei's face, and he said. "If you invested years of your life into something that gave you both friends and money, how would you feel if you lost it all?" He looked away and added. "It would tear you apart from the inside out, the loneliness of being abandoned by a community you were a part of for years, it's something that even those who don't play MMOs understand. You would have wasted years and come out with nothing. No friendships, a ruined reputation, no more income…"
Shin Bao's gaze lingered on Xu Wei for a few moments, then he closed the laptop without saying anything, letting his words linger in the air as the other man drank his beer.
He didn't think Xu Wei would so accurately understand what he was going to do until he asked him to send him everything. He was really fit to be Xu Ya's younger brother. Even if he acted like he was angry about being involved, the person who knew how to destroy people like them could only be himself.
In fact, Shin Bao was going to collect the evidence on his own. He just wanted Xu Wei to trample on them in-game to vent his anger, destroy the guild they spent so much money on, force their characters to the low-level maps…
They were both a little fucked up.
However, Shin Han had the right to feel that they were being crazy because they absolutely were. But if the other side didn't lie, didn't bring it to the public, or at least defend Shin Han when he was getting doxxed, neither man would have gone this hard.
Being doxxed when the other party has thousands of people on their side, it was only a matter of time before Shin Han's life was affected.
Shin Bao had already been talking to a Realtor, but he didn't expect his brother to go running to Xu Wei instead of him, and Xu Wei's offer to let him stay despite only just having moved in wasn't in his expectations either.
He glanced at the man who had now begun vaping inside the apartment, not caring about the menthol smell lingering, staring off into the distance with unfocused eyes.
Maybe Xu Wei would be able to vent some of his own anger through this instead of allowing it to continue to bubble under the surface.
Finally, Shin Bao said. "Don't worry about going back to the apartment today, I'll order some furniture…" He poked Xu Wei's arm. "How do you feel about a day bed that can be either a bed or a couch?"
Xu Wei glanced over at Shin Bao and shrugged. "That's fine. You can even buy a bed, I'll make room."
Shin Bao hummed. "How about 2 day beds?"
"Are you planning to move in, too?"
"Why not?"
"You're a bit annoying."
"It'll only be for a little bit. The dorm always smells weird."
Xu Wei thought about it. It would be less awkward if Shin Bao were around, too. Besides…
He glanced over at Shin Bao. "You're paying for food."
Shin Bao agreed with a small hum.
Xu Wei added. "You'll cook, too."
"What am I, your housemaid?"
"I didn't ask you to pay rent!"
Shin Han raised his hand to stop the two from breaking out into another spat. "I'll cook."
With that, Xu Wei gained two new roommates.