“As you all saw, I have no idea who this company is. However, I think I know very well that they are a company that has sold out their conscience and common sense.”
I stopped speaking for a moment and looked at the camera. Then, I turned back to Choi Jin-woo.
His face looked pale.
“Jin-woo.”
“Yes?”
“The footage of the purchasing process, the packaging, the plating, and the receipts… you have it all, right?”
“Yes, of course. We filmed the entire process.”
“Good. We need to be prepared because we don’t know what a company like this might do. Also, make sure to freeze and store this meat immediately.”
“Why?”
“Because we need to use it as evidence if necessary. They might argue that sows are difficult to distinguish just by looking at them. But if you send them to a testing lab, it’s revealed instantly. Fatty acid composition analysis alone shows a clear difference from regular pigs, and looking at the muscle tissue through a microscope immediately reveals the fiber thickness and collagen content.”
“Ah… okay.”
Filming ended there.
Choi Jin-woo turned off the camera and let out a deep sigh.
“Sir, how about we wrap up the broadcast here? The original plan to film the grilling scene… well, we’ve gone way over time, and honestly, it doesn’t feel like the right mood.”
I agreed with him.
It certainly wasn’t the right atmosphere to be joking around while grilling meat. I had lost my appetite from the slight excitement anyway, so I thought it was for the best.
Choi Jin-woo made eye contact with his staff and began packing up the equipment. However, his expression remained serious. It was a stark contrast to his usual bright demeanor whenever a shoot finished.
After waiting a moment, he finally spoke up, unable to hold it in.
“Owner, to be honest… I’m a bit burdened by the idea of releasing this broadcast.”
“Why?”
“I think the fallout is going to be significant.”
I tapped Choi Jin-woo lightly on the shoulder.
“Jin-woo, what did you tell me before? Didn’t you ask me to let you know if there was something big?”
“Yes, I did, but…”
“There won’t be anything bigger than this. When will an opportunity like this, the kind you wanted, ever come again?”
However, Choi Jin-woo’s expression remained dark.
“Owner, my concern isn’t Mega Meat. Do I look like I’m doing this because I’m afraid of them?”
“Then what is the problem?”
He spoke with a troubled look.
“You got everything too perfectly! The Black Pork, the Iberico, the barley-fed pork… even the countries of origin for the imported frozen meat. And even the Mega Meat sow… “
“Is that… a problem?”
“Yes. Viewers and industry insiders who see this video will definitely call it a scripted broadcast. They’ll say things like, ‘Didn’t you plan this in advance?’ or ‘How is that even possible?’ That’s what I’m worried about.”
Choi Jin-woo said while holding his head in his hands.
I could understand where he was coming from. In the world of NewTube, the moment you lose trust, you truly hit rock bottom.
“To be honest, even I couldn’t believe it when I saw it with my own eyes. Who would watch this broadcast and believe it as it is? It’s too unrealistic.”
“That’s right. At first, even I wondered if you knew something beforehand,” the staff member added, nodding in agreement.
The two of them were afraid of the viewers’ suspicion, not Mega Meat. Choi Jin-woo continued to speak with a worried expression.
“The comment section will probably be filled with people saying it’s fake, staged, or a scam. If that happens, the actually important message will get buried… “
It seemed I needed to reassure him.
“Jin-woo, did we actually stage anything?”
“No, of course not. I saw it myself.”
“Then why worry about it? We just told the truth.”
Choi Jin-woo completely misunderstood why I had proposed this broadcast. He had made a one-dimensional calculation where I would show off some skills and viewers would react.
However, I had been far too perfect, exceeding his expectations. It was as if he had asked for a magic trick, and I had performed actual levitation instead. To Choi Jin-woo, this was the biggest problem.
In fact, his thinking wasn’t entirely wrong. People think they like perfection, but in reality, that isn’t always the case. If something is moderately good, they clap and admire it, but if it’s too perfect, they start to doubt it. This is especially true when that perfection transcends their common sense.
Particularly, what if the person showing that perfection is just a neighborhood butcher shop owner who, frustratingly, has nothing to his name? Then, he becomes the most beautiful target for a witch hunt. People only see what they want to see and believe what they want to believe. It was confirmation bias.
The shocking truth that a large company mixed in and sold sow meat? That isn’t what people want to know right now. That is something they will only care about after their primary curiosity is satisfied.
The most important issue for people right now is what kind of person Jung Junho is. They will first demand that Jung Junho be thoroughly scrutinized.
But ironically, the more the demands for my verification pour in, the greater the opportunity for a counterattack becomes for me. A paradox where people’s suspicion becomes the stage that proves me. This was the reason I had intended to draw attention from the beginning.
“Jin-woo, that’s exactly what I want. To be honest, I could have intentionally gotten one or two wrong.”
“What?”
“But that wouldn’t be enough. People have to go crazy saying it makes no sense for it to become a real controversy.”
Choi Jin-woo looked like he didn’t understand.
“Why? Wouldn’t that have the opposite effect?”
“No. Think about it. The more people scream, the more people will take interest.”
I stood up abruptly from my seat.
“Jin-woo, the more people raise suspicions, the bigger the stage gets. It might start with comments at first, but if the controversy grows, the press and major media outlets will take interest too.”
“Then, are you saying you’ll do a verification broadcast or an experiment again?”
“I can do it as many times as it takes! Even if I can’t get it right every single time, I’m at least more confident than someone who talks as if they know everything about all the meat in the world!”
I looked Choi Jin-woo straight in the eye.
“If you believe in me, based on what you saw today, what is there to worry about? We didn’t tell any lies.”
“That’s true. Since I saw it myself… “
“Then that’s enough. The more people who doubt it, the better.”
The staff member listening nearby spoke up, putting strength into his brow as if he finally understood my words.
“Hmm… so you’re saying we should use the suspicion of it being scripted to promote the channel.”
“Yes, that’s right. You summarized it perfectly.”
The more people shouted that it was “scripted” or “fake,” the more interest the public would show. They would want to create a high-profile verification program, and every time they did, I could show the same results.
Once could be scripted, but what if the same result came out two or three times in a row? Then, no one would be able to deny it.
And what if the fact that the large company I pointed out was Mega Meat became known?
The more Park Jungnam’s fans attacked me, and the more Mega Meat officials tried to refute it, the faster the incident would grow, like a snowball rolling down a mountainside. If they remained silent, they were admitting it; if they refuted it, they would draw even more attention. It was a perfect dilemma.
—
A few days later, Choi Jin-woo finally released the broadcast.
However, he only uploaded the scenes filmed with me as the first part of the entire footage. Like a veteran producer, he knew how to keep the public’s interest. As we expected, the comment section exploded instantly.
– LOL, what is this nonsense? Isn’t this scripted?
– He can tell the country of origin just by looking at the meat? Does that make sense?
– It’s totally staged. He obviously knew everything beforehand.
– A neighborhood butcher shop owner on the outskirts of Seoul accomplished what modern science can’t do, LOL.
– A pig would grab its own belly and laugh at this.
– I’m in the industry. This is a total lie. You absolutely cannot get all fifteen right.
Posts that went even further began to appear.
– Wait, isn’t this Jung Junho guy in a lawsuit with Mega Meat?
– I saw it on the news. They said Jun-ho’s Butcher Shop sued Mega Meat.
– Ah, so that’s why they made this scripted broadcast to bash Mega Meat.
– Then is that large company Mega Meat by any chance?
– Jung Junho scripted this with intent.
It was true that the broadcast was made to bash Mega Meat, so I could admit to that. However, the fact that it wasn’t scripted was the trap I had set.
– A party to a lawsuit made a fake broadcast to bash the opponent.
– This is truly malicious, LOL. They couldn’t win in court, so they’re playing a media game?
– I feel sorry for Mega Meat, being attacked like this.
– Jun-ho’s Butcher Shop is full of scammers.
Vitriolic posts also poured out in online communities.
– Jun-ho’s Butcher Shop targets Mega Meat with a scripted broadcast. Wow.
– Is it right for a party to a lawsuit to play a media game like this?
– I’m not a fan of Park Jungnam, but this is too much… Jun-ho’s Shop crossed the line.
Park Jungnam’s fans were even more enraged.
– Our CEO Park has no reason to be attacked like this.
– Why don’t they fight fairly in court instead of using such dirty methods?
– Mega Meat’s legal team needs to sue them.
– What are the Mega Meat employees doing?
In the broadcast Choi Jin-woo and I did, the word “Mega Meat” never appeared once. However, people had already connected everything. The fact that I was involved in a lawsuit, the expression “large company,” and the hint about “someone who talks as if they know a bit about meat” were enough.
The internet was a breeding ground for inference and speculation, and people began to fit the puzzle pieces together with their own logic. Park Jungnam’s fans started to move systematically. To them, this broadcast was taken as an insult to their idol, beyond simple suspicion of being scripted.
But at the same time, voices from the other side began to emerge little by little.
– But isn’t it too sophisticated for it to be scripted?
– Shouldn’t Park Jungnam try the same test too?
– Just because someone filed a lawsuit doesn’t mean they’re a liar.
As online opinion split, the controversy grew even larger. A clash between the majority, who were convinced it was scripted, and the minority, who thought it might be real. And the media, who had been watching all this quietly, began to stir. There was no way they would miss such a high-profile topic.
The first article was posted two days after the video upload.
[“Telling the country of origin just by looking at meat?”… Controversy over the authenticity of NewTube video]
The article maintained a cautious tone, but the comment section became another battlefield. Now, the controversy moved beyond online communities and into the mainstream media.
Everything was flowing exactly as I had intended. However, everything happening now was merely people’s speculation.
—
Three days later.
Finally, Choi Jin-woo uploaded the second video. This video was something even I hadn’t seen in advance.
I thought I had understood Choi Jin-woo’s personality to some extent by now, but his delicacy and thoroughness far exceeded my expectations.
A gasp of admiration escaped me the moment I saw the video. On the day of filming, he had prepared plastic bags with number tags from one through fifteen. He then filmed the process of going around to each butcher shop and purchasing the meat in a continuous shot without editing.
The footage ran fast, but at important parts, it transitioned to normal speed to clearly show the confirmation of packaging and the payment process. It was perfect transparency that was impossible to refute.
To protect the store information, all business names, interiors, and packaging designs were blurred, but the authenticity of the purchasing process was proven beyond a doubt. However, this thorough blurring actually stimulated people’s curiosity even more. In particular, interest in where the third bag came from increased explosively.
The investigative power of netizens I had seen on the internet was comparable to that of investigative agencies. They were citizens of an IT powerhouse who could break through any blurring if they set their minds to it and could uncover the identity of a hermit living deep in the mountains if they were determined.
Finally, those who absolutely couldn’t stand being curious began to move.
Just one day after the second video was uploaded, a NewTuber called “CSI Internet” posted an analysis video. The title was provocative from the start.
[Purchasing location of the third bag 99% identified! Looking through the blurring]
His analytical skills were truly at a professional level. He meticulously dissected the blurred background of the scene where the third bag was purchased. He analyzed every element, including the spacing and pattern of the ceiling lights, the height and shape of the display cases, and even the size and color of the floor tiles, converting them into data.
“Pay attention here,” he explained, enlarging the screen.
“The silhouette of the lighting in this blurred part perfectly matches a Mega Meat store. In particular, the spacing of these LED lights is identical to the standard Mega Meat store design. And if you look here, you can slightly see the corner of the display case; this unique rounded finish is a design used only by Mega Meat.”
He even narrowed down the analysis range to the most similar store by comparing and analyzing interior photos of various Mega Meat branches. At the end of the video, his conclusion followed with confidence.
“After synthesizing all the evidence, I am 99.9% certain. The third piece of meat was purchased from Mega Meat.”
– Wow, this is at the level of the National Forensic Service, LOL.
– Korean netizens’ reasoning skills are truly the best in the world.
– Then the company Jung Junho targeted really was Mega Meat.
– Shouldn’t Mega Meat answer now?
The complex controversy was settled into a simple issue. It was no longer a speculation. It was accepted as a fact that the large company I pointed out in the broadcast was Mega Meat. People’s interest quickly converged on two points.
First issue: Is Jung Junho’s video scripted?
– I still think it’s scripted. It’s too perfect, so it’s even more suspicious.
– Does it make sense to get all fifteen right? Isn’t it realistically impossible?
– But seeing the second video, it might not be scripted.
– Even experts say they can’t do that…
Second issue: Did Mega Meat actually deceive consumers?
– If it’s true that they sold sow meat mixed in, isn’t that a total scam?
– Would a big corporation really do such a thing? It’s a bit hard to believe.
– Why isn’t Mega Meat refuting this? If it’s false, they should obviously explain.
– Did Park Jungnam know about this? I’m curious about that too.
And someone said:
– One of the two is a fraud.