Chapter 56: Why Should I Apologize?
The stream was silent for several seconds.
The smile on Karina’s face was starting to look strained. She laughed awkwardly. "F, you really like to joke around."
[F: I’m not the type to joke around.]
And just like that, the smile completely vanished from Karina’s face.
Of course, the viewers in her stream couldn’t stand to see their goddess insulted like that. One by one, they began to denounce F.
[F, do you have any taste? Do you even know what sounds good?]
[F, we only called you over to watch our Karina because you’re a big shot. We were trying to save you from lowering your standards in that small-time streamer’s channel. And what do you do? You come over here and say our Karina’s singing is terrible.]
[What’s with your attitude, F? That’s going too far. If you don’t like it, then leave.]
This was incredibly satisfying for Sophie Wexler’s fans to watch. They had been feeling utterly stifled just moments ago.
Especially after seeing F send gifts, it almost felt like he had betrayed their Sue.
But now, they could finally breathe easy!
[Hahahahaha, I knew it! F does have taste after all. If it sounds bad, it sounds bad. Why be afraid of people saying it?]
[Who was it that asked F to come over here? Why are you trying to chase him away now? Is it because he told the truth?]
「Meanwhile, on the other side.」
Sophie Wexler looked at her own chaotic stream chat, which was full of trolls trying to stir up trouble and people taking advantage of the chaos.
Comments about plagiarism were popping up one after another.
The Entertainment District admin said they were still working on public relations, but the other party had spent too much money. There was a force seemingly determined to slander Sophie Wexler.
Viewers who didn’t know the full story were already in a complete mess.
Sophie Wexler even saw that the record companies that had messaged her about potential collaborations had all sent her new messages.
[Sue Shiver, given that your work may have been plagiarized from Karina, a major streamer on another platform, we may have to postpone our collaboration until everything is cleared up.]
That was one of the more tactful ones. Others were even more direct: [Sue Shiver, regarding the plagiarism issue, we have decided to cancel our collaboration for the time being.]
Several companies sent similar messages, one after another, all expressing their intent to withdraw the collaboration offers.
Sophie Wexler couldn’t help but laugh.
’I was hesitating over which one to choose before,’ she thought. ’Well, this is great. No need to struggle with the decision anymore. I don’t have to pick any of them.’
[Entertainment District Admin: Miss Wexler, we’ve already collected the evidence and sent it to the relevant departments for inspection. Their song was definitely released later than yours. It will be verified in due time.]
Before he could send the next message, Sophie Wexler replied: [How long will it take?]
[Entertainment District Admin: A week at the earliest.]
Sophie Wexler looked at the message in her comms channel. "That’s too slow."
Although she wasn’t familiar with the entertainment industry in the Galaxy, she had been on Aethel long enough to understand some of its inner workings.
A week was more than enough time for any negative news to fester. And with someone pulling the strings behind the scenes, a flood of slander would wash over her.
They could twist black into white.
Even if the official verification results came out and she could explain things, the public’s initial impression would have already been formed, and it would be very difficult to change.
The ’plagiarist’ label would stick to her forever.
Sophie Wexler’s gaze darkened. She then asked the admin: [Can the streams from two different platforms interact?]
Sophie Wexler: [I mean, so that viewers can see both of our streams on the same page.]
She added an explanation, afraid he wouldn’t understand.
[Entertainment District Admin: You mean opening a joint broadcast on StarNet?]
’So that’s what they call a joint broadcast here.’
[Entertainment District Admin: Yes, you can. You just need to start a stream and invite her directly on StarNet.]
Although the platforms’ systems aren’t interconnected, the entire StarNet is shared, so you can invite her stream to connect to it.
However.
[Entertainment District Admin: Miss Wexler, why are you asking this?]
Sophie Wexler: [Nothing much. Just going to observe that Karina’s stream.]
The Entertainment District admin stared at the message, completely dumbfounded. ’Huh??’
’Is Miss Wexler going to confront her?’
’Please don’t. On our own platform, I can at least control the comments, delete some, kick people out, and so on.’
’But on StarNet, I don’t have that kind of authority.’
’Given the current online crusade against Miss Wexler for plagiarism, if she puts her stream up there, she’s going to get absolutely flamed.’
Before he could try to stop her, Sophie Wexler had already done it. Her stream went live directly on StarNet.
The next second, an invitation link popped up in Karina’s stream.
Seeing this, she raised an eyebrow in surprise. She hadn’t expected that small-time streamer to have the guts to start a joint broadcast on StarNet, let alone invite her.
After all, the song she was currently singing was plagiarized from her, so she didn’t accept the invitation link right away.
Instead, she messaged someone from her own platform: [Are you sure there won’t be any problems with the plagiarism issue?]
[Karina: She’s inviting me to a joint broadcast on StarNet now.]
[Staff: Don’t worry, it’s absolutely fine. They won’t be able to find anything out anytime soon. When the time comes, I’ll just find another topic to replace this one, and everyone’s attention will shift. Who’s going to care what the final result is?]
[Staff: She probably couldn’t handle the pressure from public opinion and is coming to apologize to you.]
[Staff: It’s fine. Accept it. I’ll send in a troll army for you.]
Seeing this, Karina’s confidence was restored. [Okay.]
She closed her communicator and looked back at her stream, where a flood of people were telling her to accept the invitation.
Karina smiled and clicked it. "She’s probably here to apologize to me. I’ll accept."
Sophie Wexler had gone on StarNet first, and the viewers in her stream were still complaining to her about F.
[F is such a fence-sitter! He just goes wherever the wind blows, running off to someone else’s stream.]
[I declare, from this moment on, we are stripping him of his ’top supporter’ status! We’re never praising him again!]
[Yeah, revoke his fan card!]
Sophie Wexler laughed as she read the chat. "Don’t say that. Everyone has the right to choose what they want to watch. He probably just prefers someone else’s style."
’Just because he sent me gifts doesn’t mean I own him,’ she thought.
Just as she was speaking, her stream flickered. The screen split in two, and another stream appeared beside hers.
Compared to her side, which only showed her hands, the other side was completely different. The first thing viewers saw was a flawless face.
After seeing her, the other person smiled and waved. "Hello there."
"I never expected you to connect with me in a joint broadcast on StarNet."
"Are you here to apologize to me about the plagiarism?" she asked, slowly blinking a couple of times.
Sophie Wexler let out a soft laugh. "Apologize?"
"Why should I apologize?"
Viewers in Karina’s stream: [LMAO, because you plagiarized our Nana, of course.]
[You still have the nerve to connect to our Nana’s stream? Didn’t you see that even your number one supporter doesn’t like you and came over to our Nana’s side?]
As for F having just called their singing terrible, they didn’t mention a single word about it. Of course not—how could they mock her if they did?
Cillian Forrest had been about to leave after posting his comment, but who would have thought that Sophie Wexler’s stream would suddenly connect.
Glancing at the comments flying across the screen, he could even imagine the look on Sophie Wexler’s face when she saw them.
’She must think I have absolutely no taste.’
Cillian Forrest: "..."
He almost instantly exited Karina’s stream and immediately jumped into Sophie Wexler’s!