The World I Was Supporting Was Real

Episode 1. Starting with 060…

When I close my eyes, there are faint memories of the old days that come to mind.

Memories of the past, now all faded, tinged with sepia tones.

In the early years of elementary school, when my parents were away, my only friend was, of course, the TV.

The computer was too slow to play games, and since I moved schools often, there were no friends to play with at the playground.

The crude games with poor UI, likely made with Flash, that played on that cheap TV.

The voice playful of the host.

“Oh no, friends! At this rate, our hero will be defeated! You need to cheer for the hero by calling right now!”

And the number they always repeated twice.

060~ ~ *~

060~ ~ *~

“Call 060–* right now and press 3 repeatedly! Without friends, the hero can’t muster the strength! We’ll draw one of the participating friends to give away the latest game console, so don’t miss this chance! “

060–*.

I had heard it so many times that the number was ingrained in my mind, and without much thought, I called.

In an empty house, holding the receiver and pressing 3 repeatedly to help the hero on the screen was one of the few amusements for a friendless child like me.

“Great! Thanks to you pressing 3 repeatedly, the hero was able to pass the trial safely! Haha! It’s all thanks to you, young friends!!”

After that, there was a time when they announced the prize winners by the last digits of the phone number, but—

Honestly, I didn’t care about the prizes.

I was just happy to have shared the hero’s trial on the screen. I was happy that he gained strength because I pressed 3 repeatedly.

Looking back now, it seems like a kind of hero complex or euphoria. I believed that other kids acted with the same thoughts.

—Of course, there was a harsh price to pay for reigning as a hero for that short period.

“Mom, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to…!”

“What did you do to make the phone bill so high? That’s it. We need to cancel the cable TV.”

“But if I don’t cheer, he can’t pass the trial…”

“Those are all scammers! And do you think you’re something special? If you don’t do it, others will. Why did you have to get involved and cause this mess!!!”

That day, when I got spanked so hard that my bottom felt like it was on fire, my childhood desire to be a hero was wounded.

I don’t blame my mother. I think she thoroughly carried out the ‘necessary education.’

It didn’t take long to realize that it was a malicious scam broadcast trying to swindle innocent children out of their pocket money with a predetermined process, regardless of the 3 presses.

So why am I recalling this bitter memory?

Because—

* * *

[If you don’t support, this family’s fate will be a mess ㅠㅠ Please quickly support and give strength to the Milia family!!]

“Huh, really.”

I scoffed as I casually read the challenge comic section.

Asking for support, what kind of era is this to draw such a comic?

It wasn’t even something like a famous author conducting a reader-participation comic with some philosophy. It was just a depiction of a family about to be killed by a band of thieves, asking for support to cheer them on.

Of course, there were hardly any comments, and the few that existed were far from kind.

[Merndalonia: Is the author an idiot? Haha Come back after rethinking the story.]

[skxm7888: Begging for support is so annoying, I’ll never support this toon. Thumbs upㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Hangbungimamajo: Came for the pretty drawings, but it’s just a childish begging comic…..]

[Leifa: Is this your doodle pad? If you want support, draw properly instead of pulling this kind of stunt.]

Honestly, this was mild.

The problem was the next episode.

The scene where the family was killed by the band of thieves was drawn in such unnecessary detail.

‘Ugh…’

Just a series of unpleasant scenes.

It wasn’t of a quality to satisfy gore fans, nor was it a scene necessary for the story.

The highlight was the author’s note at the bottom.

[Because not a single person supported, this poor family was massacred ㅠㅠ It’s really unfortunate…!!!]

Naturally, the comments were a mess… not even close.

Just a couple of comments with a tone of pity.

It wasn’t a comic that attracted much attention in the first place. I happened to come across it by chance.

‘It’s really hard to attract attention these days.’

In a world where you can watch comics just by web surfing, I thought it wasn’t strange to try to attract attention.

But what was the point of having a battle of wills with the readers like this?

I thought about leaving a sharp comment on the mindset a creator should not have… but I soon gave up. It wouldn’t benefit me anyway.

‘…’

Normally, I would have just closed the page, turned on YouTube, or gone to play a game.

But for some reason, reading this comic brought back faded memories of the past.

I remember the time when I made a similar call and ended up with a huge phone bill, getting beaten up so badly that the dust flew on a rainy day.

There were quite a few episodes piled up.

Shall I check what happens next?

So, I clicked the ‘Next Episode’ button.

* * *

The content of the comic was truly a spectacle.

Various characters appeared besides the ‘Milia family’, but the pattern did not change at all.

Using sponsorship as an excuse, it showed characters in danger, and by this time, not even malicious comments were posted, so there was no way there would have been any sponsorship, and it just kept repeating scenes of them being brutally killed.

In the midst of most of the characters being massacred, the only survivor, a girl named ‘Erin’, was shown running away to survive somehow, which seemed to be the latest part serialized so far.

Of course, there was no meaningful plot development. As if the author had a determination to capture the end of misery porn with their own hands, several cuts were continuously showing her suffering from having nothing to eat, as if they were copy-pasted.

The expression ‘as if they were copy-pasted’ was used because it wasn’t actually copy-pasted. The author drew Erin’s suffering from hunger in different angles and scenes without missing a single cut.

‘… … .’

After a long pause, I placed my hands on the keyboard and started typing.

[ Igogodon: LOL what happens if I donate? Do you give water? ]

When I posted the comment, I didn’t think much of it. I even thought I might forget about it by tomorrow.

‘Huh?’

――It hadn’t even been three seconds before a reply came in.

ㄴ [ PleaseGiveMoney (Author): If you donate 1,000 won, we will give Erin water! The development of the story changes depending on the donation amount! ]

What? Was the author just lurking on the site?

It’s not strange for them to be online since they get notifications when comments are posted, but still…

‘A thousand won…’

Much cheaper than the phone bill I paid back in the day to save the protagonist from a trial. Considering inflation, it was even more of a pittance.

Yeah. This much is not bad as a sign of respect for the author who kept the concept going this far.

I clicked the ‘Donate’ button and paid 1,000 won.

[ Payment completed. ]

[ Igogodon (Donation / 1,000 won): With this, give Erin water go go go ]

Once again, the reply came almost at the speed of light.

[ PleaseGiveMoney (Author): Thank you! The next update is scheduled for next week! Erin can drink water all thanks to Igogodon! Thank you for supporting Erin! ]

“Great! Thanks to everyone hitting the button three times, the protagonist safely passed the trial! Haha! It’s all thanks to you, kids!!”

‘Brings back memories.’

Feeling the bitter scent of old memories in my mouth, I closed the window.