Home / Convenience Store Loser Ends a Livestream Queen / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of Convenience Store Loser Ends a Livestream Queen: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

At 2:00 am, I unboxed the last case of chips.Two entire rows of shelves were empty, and I was the only one working the overnight shift. Restocking, organizing inventory, mopping the floors, taking out the trash—all of it was on me.I'd been working night shifts for a full month now, from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am, without even a single break.Nobody knew much about me, the newest employee. Even the store manager only knew that I was an entry-level transfer from corporate and that I was efficient, didn't cause trouble, and got things done without a fuss.With four thousand stores nationwide, the company was bound to run into management problems at the ground level, making regular personnel rotations essential.I changed into my faded, washed-out store uniform.Just then, my phone buzzed. It was Carter Barrino calling."Louis! Come out for drinks! There's a big shot who's dying to meet you!""I'll pass. I have to watch the store," I said before hanging up, ignoring Carter's pleas.

Chapter 2

Joanna's eyes instantly lit up."Awesome!"She adjusted her position and told her assistant, whom she called Jessica, to crank the ring light to its highest setting so that its harsh white light hit me square in the face.She made a quick gesture toward the camera, then turned back to me with a dazzling smile."Since you don't consider yourself a failure, why don't you share a little about yourself with everyone? How much do you make a month? Care to show everyone your pay stub?"Demanding a pay stub right out of the gate? The live chat loved that.[Hilarious! She's trying to kill him!][I'll guess… 1,500 dollars!][1,400 dollars!][1,300 dollars. Max.][Show the stub! Show the stub!][She's savage! Straight for the jugular!]I tossed the piece of tape into the trash bin and looked at her. "You want to know how much I make?"Then, I turned the question on her, catching her completely off guard. "And how much do you make?"She blinked, then gave a confident laugh. "I took

Chapter 3

After hanging up, I sat on the curb for five minutes. I finished my cigarette and crushed it out against the concrete.The sky was just starting to brighten.I turned into the old part of town, where rows of rundown apartment blocks crowded together. Large sections of tiles had fallen off the exterior walls, and electrical wires twisted overhead like a giant spiderweb.A few old men were squatting at the mouth of the alley playing chess, while a woman on the third floor was hanging quilts out to dry.At the very end of the alley stood a rusted iron gate with no house number.Curling my fingers, I knocked three times. Susanne Bergman, the housekeeper, opened the gate.Beyond the iron gate sat a sprawling old brick house, its rooms wrapped around a small courtyard. It had been renovated from one of the neighborhood's century-old homes, and a pomegranate tree in the courtyard was heavy with bright red fruit.Beneath the tree, a silver car sat quietly.I crossed the courtyard and

Chapter 4

Less than 20 hours later, Joanna came back.This time, it wasn't just one van, but three—one minibus, one equipment van, and one talent van. Three camera rigs, handheld gimbals, a drone for exterior shots, and a professional lighting crew had taken over the entire stretch of sidewalk from the store entrance to halfway down the block.Within a minute, the live stream had over 1.5 million viewers.Joanna stood outside the store entrance with two people behind her. One was a middle-aged man wearing a loud shirt and a thick gold chain. The other was an elderly woman from the countryside, holding a woven shopping bag. She had graying hair, a floral top faded from too many washes, and a pair of worn-out cloth shoes on her feet.She could barely keep her eyes open as she stood under all the blinding ring lights.It was my mother.Joanna faced the camera with the kind of expression you'd expect to see in the finale of a massive reality show. She grabbed Mom by the wrist and dragg

Chapter 5

Joanna didn't answer me. Her hand holding the selfie stick was trembling, and her knuckles had gone white.The comments weren't just scrolling past anymore. The live chat was blowing up. 4.3 million people were watching simultaneously.Some were looking up the phone, and others were searching "Nexus Group", while another group had screenshotted my screen and were zooming in on the text.Then, a comment appeared.[Nexus Group has four thousand convenience stores nationwide, with ten billion dollars in revenue last year.]Immediately, a second followed.[He said he's initiating legal proceedings.]Then a third.[He said, "For infringing upon my rights and those of my mother."]And another.[He's not just a store clerk? Who on earth is he?]In under 30 seconds, the chat went from a wall of "unworthy" to a screen flooded with question marks."You…" Joanna finally spoke, her voice airy and weak. "Who on earth are you?"I ignored her. I helped Mom to her feet, and we walked out

Chapter 6

After Joanna ended the live stream, she didn't go back to the agency. She kicked Jessica out of the car and drove off by herself.Jessica later told me that Joanna had made two phone calls from the car.The first was to Tim Talwalker, the owner of the MCN that managed her channel.She'd barely managed to say "Tim, something happened" when he started yelling."Are you out of your damn mind? Do you know who he is? He's the sole heir to Nexus Group! They have four thousand stores nationwide!""I thought he was just a store clerk—""You thought? You thought! You've been doing street interviews for two years, and you tell me you don't know there are certain people you just can't mess with? I just got three fucking calls! Two were from brands wanting to terminate their contracts with you, and the other was the platform asking if we wanted to take your account down ourselves!""Tim, could you please help me—""Help you? How am I supposed to help you? You want me to go to Nexus Group's

Chapter 7

Over the next 48 hours, Joanna did three things.The first thing she did was delete the videos. She took down the replays from both nights' live streams and wiped every clip involving me. She even deleted that smug "VIP guest" teaser she'd posted.After deleting everything, she refreshed the page, only to find that clips of the video had already been reposted across at least 30 platforms.For every clip she deleted, ten more appeared. With no choice left, she reached out to the platforms to file copyright infringement complaints.The customer service responses were very polite."Please provide proof that you are the rights holder for this content."She stared at the message for a long time. The person featured in those videos was me, not her. What right did she have to file a complaint?The second thing she did was post an apology video. There was no team, no , and no beauty filters. She set up her phone herself and sat in front of the white wall in her office.She was bare-fac

Chapter 8

After Joanna posted her apology video, the public backlash didn't die down. In fact, it got even worse.That was because people started digging deeper into her past.An anonymous user went through all her "Street Unfiltered" videos from the last two years, made a compilation, and uploaded it online.It was a long video, running 43 minutes, and every segment followed the same formula.In one of the most recent clips, she stopped a middle-aged delivery driver working late at night. The man hadn't even taken off his helmet, and his face was drenched in sweat.Joanna asked him, "You're still delivering food at your age? Is this just it for the rest of your life?"The man stood helplessly in front of the camera and explained that he had two children to support and a mortgage to pay off."Oh," she simply replied. "So life basically crushed you, huh?"The chat exploded with laughter.Going a little further back, there was one where she stopped a sanitation worker who was sweeping the

Chapter 9

A week later, Joanna showed up outside the convenience store. This time, there were no cameras, no assistants, and no ring lights.She wore a faded, washed-out hoodie and sweatpants. She had minimal makeup on, and dark circles bruised the skin beneath her eyes. Her hair was pulled back into a messy low ponytail, with a few stray strands sticking to her forehead.She stood outside the glass door, looking in.George was stocking shelves behind the register. When he looked up and saw her, his hand holding the scanner froze in midair. He held her gaze through the glass for a few seconds before putting the scanner down. Then he walked over to the door, pushed it open halfway, and planted himself in the doorway."What do you want?""I'm looking for Louis.""He doesn't work at this store anymore.""Where did he go?""I don't know," George answered, his voice as hard as ice.He had been with Nexus Mart for eight years, working his way up from an ordinary store clerk to a manager

Chapter 10

Three months later, Joanna's account disappeared from the internet. It wasn't the platforms that banned her—she had deleted it herself.Before she did, she posted one final video in which she spoke to the camera for 20 minutes. There were no beauty filters, no edits, no clickbait title, and it was still the same white wall behind her.She admitted that for the past two years, she'd paraded around under the banner of "exposing the working-class reality", but what she'd really been doing was something much simpler and much uglier—exploiting working people's suffering for content and views.The delivery driver's desperation, the sanitation worker's silence, and the convenience store clerk who made 1,800 dollars a month—they weren't just content. They were real human beings with dignity.She'd put herself in the position of a judge and used other people's pain to build her own following. But she had never really been judging the "failures". She'd been judging the thing inside herself

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