Chapter 85
CHAPTER 85
Chapter 85
MONSTER
The indie game company that had marked streamer Seojun as a potential advertising model was holding another meeting today.
Once again.
The topic of today’s meeting was streamer Seojun, whose live viewership had continued skyrocketing until it hit eighteen thousand viewers.
“Listen carefully.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know what a sense for peaks is?”
“A sense for peaks?”
“Yeah.”
Why was he suddenly talking about that?
Park Hyuksoo froze.
People always said small company CEOs survived by putting on solo circus acts.
And honestly, their CEO really did feel more like an unemployed neighborhood guy than an executive.
He knew a little about everything, but had no real specialization.
Though technically that wasn’t true. When it came to games, his skill was exceptional.
That was probably why he had earned enough money at his previous company to start one himself.
Still, the thought currently running through Hyuksoo’s mind was:
‘What kind of nonsense is our great CEO about to unleash now?’
The reason he alone kept getting dragged into meetings wasn’t anything special either.
Apparently the other employees found it difficult.
Their CEO, that is.
Even though the company ran in such a slapdash manner, at least their attitude toward this game was sincere.
“So what exactly is a sense for peaks?”
“You’ve never invested in stocks?”
“No.”
“Hm. Kids these days should really invest if they want to make money.”
“I don’t fall for gaslighting like that. Assets naturally rise and fall repeatedly, and what you’re talking about is just the representative gaslighting people say during bull markets.”
“You brat. You know your stuff.”
“No, I don’t.”
“……”
“Anyway, listen carefully. A sense for peaks means this.”
“When I buy, that’s exactly when it hits the peak.”
That sounded like something said by a man who’d lost a lot of money.
Had he gotten trapped at the top many times?
“Like you said, asset markets repeat rises and falls.”
“So?”
“Then what about this streamer right now? Is he at the peak or not?”
So that was what he was getting at.
“Eighteen thousand viewers. That’s basically upper mid-tier. Actually, even among those, it’s pretty high.”
“Right.”
“And he hasn’t been streaming for long.”
“Exactly.”
“And most of his current viewers are gathered because of the war event content. Before that, he only had three to four thousand viewers.”
“Correct. So?”
“A bubble.”
Right.
A bubble.
Once the war ended, things would obviously cool down again.
Everyone knew that.
“Well, I was joking earlier, but if we’re being serious, wouldn’t it be better to contact him when his viewer count drops a bit more?”
“If we contact him now, he’ll definitely charge more.”
Surely even the streamer himself didn’t think all eighteen thousand viewers were his loyal regulars.
Still, compared to when he had ten thousand viewers, he’d definitely ask for a higher price.
And there was nothing wrong with valuing himself highly.
But they were trying to time things as efficiently as possible too.
If his live viewers dropped below ten thousand, the savings would be substantial.
“And if we save money well, we could target another team too.”
“We should’ve just signed him from the start…”
Watching the streamer repeatedly pull off insane moments had made them regret it.
They should’ve grabbed him earlier.
“Well… there’s nothing we can do now. We were trying to find a better approach…”
They had no choice but to be cautious.
If this game failed, the company would go straight into bankruptcy.
“Ah. But there’s one problem.”
“What?”
“The game opens shortly after the war event ends. What if the bubble still hasn’t popped by then?”
And a few weeks later, Rios.
Releasing right after the war event was unavoidable if they wanted the public’s attention focused on them.
Otherwise they’d have to wait another month, and paying salaries was already tight.
Naturally, plenty of competitors were aiming for that timing too.
Which made advertising even more important.
“No way.”
“Is there any event left that could attract even more attention during the war?”
“I honestly don’t know how things’ll turn out anymore, but I’m pretty sure something like yesterday’s twelve-match winning streak in PvP won’t happen again.”
“But that really was legendary.”
“Seeing that just makes me want him even more.”
“He really does have some crazy talent. Everywhere he goes, he causes a scene.”
“Please let our game be next…”
“So there’s nothing else left, right?”
“Probably. Even today his viewer count will probably drop a lot.”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, he just started streaming. Let’s see how many viewers he gets.”
At that moment, Park Hyuksoo suddenly had a thought.
The CEO had said that whenever he bought, that was the peak.
Then didn’t that mean if the CEO decided not to buy now… this wasn’t actually the peak?
Wasn’t true peak timing when you regretted not buying earlier and jumped in late?
‘Come on. No way. This is obviously the peak.’
Shaking his head vigorously, Park Hyuksoo brushed away the unlucky thought.
For reference—
He too had lost some money in stocks before.
“Hello, everyone.”
Standing in the lobby, Seojun switched the camera angle toward himself and greeted viewers.
“What did I do today? I just went to school and attended lectures. Is streaming a hobby?”
Honestly, he was enjoying it like a hobby.
It suited him incredibly well, and it was fun.
But he still recognized it as work.
Of course, streamers themselves had to stay comfortable first.
Otherwise viewers noticed immediately, got uncomfortable themselves, and stopped watching.
In that sense, teasing viewers and getting teased back was actually professional behavior.
‘So… streaming was my true calling?’
That was ridiculous.
All this time he’d looked at Taewoo thinking, What’s wrong with this idiot?, only to discover that what the idiot did was actually his natural talent.
“Come on. Why don’t I stream over ten hours a day if it’s just a hobby? What kind of professional mindset is that? Ten hours a day is overwork.”
—True, but we don’t care about that.
—Do you know why viewers are called viewers? Because they don’t work.
—Overwork? Impossible.
—Just stream already.
—Streaming always comes before health. Please remember that.
Was it impossible to expect warmth and humanity from viewers?
“Sigh. Oh, a lot of people came today.”
Viewer count: 7,000.
It kept rising, but there was no telling how high it would go.
Even seven-year veteran Taewoo said the things Seojun had been doing were so absurd that predictions were impossible.
Still, it was inevitable that today’s numbers would be lower than yesterday’s.
—Seriously what else are people supposed to watch if not this?
—Bro really was a hidden master buried in the wilderness
—He’s way too good for this to make sense.
—The Demonic Cult is seriously going to win!
—And there are still idiots dreaming impossible dreams in the middle of all thisㅋㅋㅋ
—Still, the war’s gonna be insanely fun to watch because of this.
The viewer count kept climbing until it finally passed ten thousand.
He wasn’t obsessed with numbers, but it still felt pretty good.
“Alright.”
Time to get started.
“Everyone, after that winning streak yesterday, my reputation score went up a bit, you know?”
Since only the first four matches counted toward contribution points, it didn’t make much difference there.
But reputation points were another matter entirely.
—“A bit” my ass
—That was genuinely legendary.
—I saw it on another stream. It was chaos.
—The true Heavenly Demon.
Starting today, the reputation he’d accumulated would apply.
“So now, even if other people get first place, they have to win more than ten times for every single win I get, right?”
Even though there probably weren’t many people who didn’t already know, Seojun kindly explained anyway.
The reason being—
Not because he wanted to brag… definitely not.
“Anyway, what I’m saying is, first place is basically guaranteed for me now. Do you acknowledge it?”
—Annoying, but can’t deny it.
—I acknowledge the defeat.
—This guy really is the number one under heaven.
—Stamp your fingerprints and sign it! The streamer is the greatest martial artist alive!
Of course, if he lost every remaining match, things could still change.
The Three Realms were full of ridiculous nonsense nobody could predict.
Even so, Seojun was willing to bet everything on the fact that there was absolutely no way he’d fail to win even a single game.
“So basically, the magical girl route is officially impossible now? Hoho.”
Seojun smiled sincerely.
No matter how much confidence you had in yourself, the world was full of variables, and with bad luck things could always go wrong.
But now?
Even if things twisted strangely, there was basically zero chance he’d fall into the “magical girl” punishment anymore.
‘I underestimated the viewers too much.’
He never imagined they’d come up with punishments like that.
And he especially never imagined they’d actually get selected.
—Congratulations.
—Ahㅋㅋㅋ it’s really over now.
—I mean, it’s honestly disappointing, but if you pulled off a twelve-win streak we gotta let it slide.
—After watching that, I willingly accept it~
—Imagine how hard he must’ve worked.
Good thing he managed to dodge it.
Though honestly, even if he hadn’t dodged it, nothing would’ve changed.
And quite a few viewers had no idea what people were even talking about.
—Wait what are they talking about?
—What magical girl?
—New viewers adorable.
—Hurry up and do the rerun already.
[‘MagicalGirl’ donated 20,000 won!]
[travel-clip]
—So there was history behind this.
—No wonder he was grinding so desperately.
—It was a battle fought with his entire soul
The clip was edited perfectly, letting everyone understand instantly.
And once one donation started things off, other donations exploded one after another as if they’d been waiting.
[‘PreviousBroadcast’ donated 100,000 won!]
[This is the viewing fee!]
[‘JustBecause’ donated 30,000 won!]
[The streamer panicking because he was terrified of the punishment instead of the faction warㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[‘Yesterday’ donated 40,000 won!]
[You ended the stream way too quickly yesterday ㅇㅇ]
Since he hadn’t done a post-stream chatting session or cooldown stream afterward, the donations were actually lower than expected considering the aftermath.
Still, people had apparently been waiting to support him.
“Everyone, thank you for the donations. Anyway, the punishment issue is settled now. Then let’s jump in.”
As he launched the game, the background instantly folded away and reopened.
Countless users appeared.
Switching to his personal channel, Seojun opened the war interface and checked the reputation points.
[Reputation: 72,637]
—Reliable.
—The hope of the Demonic Cult.
—He’s worth fourteen people by himself
—I was reading forums yesterday and the fact people are genuinely saying the Demonic Cult might actually win is hilarious
—This year’s Demonic Cult is different!
—Orthodox faction stans crying
—Don’t call them the Orthodox faction anymore, call them the Answerless faction
—The Demonic Cult started looking likely to win because the streamer desperately tried to avoid becoming a magical girl
—The Orthodox faction will still win though, right?
Reading chat, Seojun narrowed his eyes and checked the time.
6:57 PM.
The battlefield opened in three minutes.
Today’s game mode was a standard 4v4 occupation battle.
But because streamers revealed which region they’d be playing in, it wasn’t exactly “standard.”
“The Orthodox faction will win? Is that really true?”
The countdown began.
2 minutes remaining.
—Then who do you think’s winning?
—Even if you carry, your teammates are kinda…
—Don’t underestimate the Unorthodox faction.
1 minute.
—Anywhere the streamer defends is probably impossible to break through now.
—Just go around him.
—Why even bother attacking the Demonic Cult at this point? The Orthodox faction’s obviously gonna win anyway. Just leave them alone~
—So where are you going today?
“Today? I’m heading toward the Orthodox faction side.”
Seojun pointed to the area where the Demonic Cult and Orthodox faction territories connected on the map.
30 seconds.
—So are you defending or attacking?
—I wonder if they even planned any strategy.
—They probably got excited thinking they could finally win for once
—But the streamer’s just gonna do whatever he wants alone anyway their only hope immediately shattered.
—Honestly, considering he never listens to viewers, it feels possible
—Whose side are you people even on?!
“Who knows? Maybe I’ll do something, maybe I won’t. I’ll just do whatever I feel like.”
A complete bluff.
10 seconds.
“The Demonic Cult leadership in tears right now.”
Even after Seojun had carefully matched the number of streamers on each side, people still only mocked them.
Because the Demonic Cult had never won before.
“Alright then.”
Finally, it became 7 PM.
“Today, let’s go hunt the Orthodox faction.”
At the Orthodox faction frontline—
For the first time, Seojun chose to attack.