Karaoke Annihilation Over a Petty Fee

"What the heck is wrong with this guy? Why does he keep acting like the streamer's a beggar? How rich is he anyway?"

"I can't even stand looking at him. He's recording the streamer, too! He doesn't even realize that his own ugly behavior is being live-streamed, and he thinks he's the one 'exposing' someone else. Hah!"

The viewers in the stream were indignant on my behalf.

Meanwhile, Owen was completely unaware this was happening.

He had no idea. Seeing me avoid his camera, he reached out and grabbed me by the shoulders, pulling me in like we were buddies.

"Come on, then! Say hi to your old classmate. You transferred schools without a word back then. What was up with that, huh? Were you too embarrassed to tell me you dropped out of school to be a trash collector?

"I always knew you were just poor trash, Alex, but everyone else didn't believe me."

I don't like being touched, so I pushed him off without making it too obvious.

Owen was already unsteady on his feet from all his drinking. Just the slight shove made him fall flat on his butt.

Humiliated, he flew into a rage. He scrambled back onto his feet and jabbed a finger at me, snarling, "You should be honored I even called you an old classmate of mine! How dare you push me? Who the hell do you think you are?"

He raised his arm high to throw a punch at me, but a drunk like him was a piece of cake to deal with. I caught his hand easily and shoved him down again.

This time, his face landed right next to the 50-dollar bill he'd thrown at me earlier.

"It's been a while, Owen. Even if I'm just a gig driver now, that's not a reason for you to push me around—or to stiff me on the payment.

"If you'd spoken nicely, I might've waived the fee altogether for old times' sake. But you kept talking to me like I'm some kind of beggar, so you're going to have to cough up every single cent you owe me. Or else…"

Having climbed back onto his feet again, Owen sneered and laughed. "Or else what? What can a gig driver like you do, huh? You're going to call your deliverymen buddies to come and sue me?

"Sure, I'm loaded, but I'm not giving you any more money! What can you do about it, huh?"

The taunting look on his face stirred up a wave of anger in me.

Back when we were in high school, Owen had never liked me. Even though he was the richest guy in class, most of our classmates preferred hanging out with me instead because I had good grades and got along well with them.

That was one of the reasons why he hated me. He saw it as a threat to his status.

But I never thought he'd still be so hung up on it after all these years.

"I'm going to prove it to you right now, Alex—this isn't school anymore. Out in the real world, grades are the most useless thing ever. Only money and connections matter, and a broke gig driver like you shouldn't even think about trying to challenge me!"

Owen made a call, and the security guards at the entrance of Diamond Club began making their way over with bats in hand.

"We have laws in today's society. Is he seriously going to get those guards to beat the streamer up?"

"You know what? I think that's exactly what he plans to do. Quick. We need to record the stream so the streamer can use it as evidence later."

Scoffing, Owen declared, "It's not too late for you to apologize, Alex."

I decided to stop hiding the imposing bearing I'd developed from being in a high position for many years now. Sneering back at him, I remarked, "Oh? There are laws in this country, you know. Go ahead. Let's see what happens if you lay a finger on me."

For a moment, Owen seemed shaken by my demeanor, even stuttering a little. But once he saw the approaching guards, he regained his bravado and retorted, "So what if I hit you?"

"There are thousands of ways I can make life miserable for someone like you. Believe it or not, but a single call from me is enough to guarantee that you'll never find another job in your life!"

By then, the security guards had reached us.

Owen pointed at the money on the ground. "See that 50-dollar bill? I only gave it to you out of consideration for us being old classmates. If you keep bothering me, then you can't blame me for what happens next."

He proceeded to spit on the bill before adding, "Pick it up. It's yours."

Shaking with rage, I was about to march right up and teach him a lesson, but the security guards held me back.

Owen pointed his phone at me again. "Hurry up and pick it up. Haven't you been hounding me for money this whole time?"

He was about to say more when his phone rang. He immediately switched to a sycophantic tone, nodding politely as he declared he'd be right there.

Before leaving, he didn't forget to instruct the security guards. "Be sure to record him in his pathetic state later and send everything to me."

More comments flooded the live stream.

"Damn it! Is the streamer about to get beaten up? There are so many of them. Should we call the police?"

"Will the police even take it seriously? What if we get in trouble because they say it's a false report?"

"But I seriously can't stand how arrogant that man is. He just wouldn't stop insulting the streamer for being poor and broke."

"Don't take it seriously, man. It's obvious this is all scripted."

Meanwhile, the guards started surrounding me.