Chapter 107
[Streaming begins]
Seojun’s stream came on at 5:50, earlier than usual.
[(Homework) Collaboration with Streamer Kim Taewoo]
A new type of game.
Practically his first sponsored broadcast.
‘Come to think of it, is this the first time I’ve actually played a game together with someone in a collaboration?’
Today’s outcome might not matter much, but because it was a mix of unfamiliar things, Seojun found it fun.
“Hello.”
He would be playing all kinds of games from now on, and it wasn’t easy for viewers to watch every single one.
A main game.
It’s the game that takes up the largest portion of a streamer’s airtime, and even a variety game streamer needed one.
But.
‘I have no intention of being tied down to just one.’
There are so many games in the world.
He just wanted to stream whatever he felt like playing.
He didn’t want to broadcast while making excuses about it being work, or about the viewers, or worrying about income.
That said, he didn’t want to become a stream that nobody watched either.
So.
He had to make people seek out Jin Seojun himself, not just Jin Seojun playing some particular game.
‘How can I do that?’
He didn’t know yet.
But if he kept at it, steadily, continuing to stream, wouldn’t he figure it out someday?
“Am I not the Heavenly Demon anymore? Yes.”
The Demon Cult doesn’t even exist anymore.
-So resolute lololololol
-Maintaining the concept outside of Hero for Hire is a bit lololol
-Abandoned Demon Cultist sobbing lololololololololololololololololol
If his main game were Hero for Hire, who knew, but otherwise it wouldn’t be good for the Heavenly Demon image to be stamped on him too strongly.
“What’s a Heavenly Demon anyway? I really don’t know.”
That’s why, even when he put on an act against game users, he intentionally kept his speech patterns around his viewers.
So that people wouldn’t see streamer Jin Seojun and game user HeavenlyDemon14 too much as the same person.
-Blatanly drawing the line lololololol
-I dunno
-Oh, I said I really don't know lolololol If you keep following me, I'll report you! Cult!
Still, there was no need to forcibly stop talk of Hero for Hire.
Once the game started, people would naturally talk about the stream anyway.
“Alright, shall I accept the invitation then? Ah, you don’t need to tell me through chat.”
Someone had been typing a very long message for a while explaining how to go to another streamer’s lobby.
They were clearly teasing him.
Seojun skillfully found the invitation window with a single notification and opened it.
[Kim Taewoo has invited you to his lobby.]
-You’ve clearly mastered it
-Keyah!!!! Host!!!
-In the old days, I had to personally ask Alpaca because I couldn’t find this lolololol
-He was a professor, but his credibility plummeted
The space, which had been a blank white room with some basic furniture like a chair, was replaced.
‘I should change my lobby too.’
A lobby was a place often used as a meeting square when inviting other streamers.
That’s because there aren’t many spaces in the game designed to be suitable for chatting before or after a collaboration.
So streamers put quite a bit of effort into decorating their lobbies.
Like streamer Alpaca, whose lobby background is a high mountain range where a real alpaca’s habitat is recreated, even complete with an alpaca.
“You’re here.”
“Hello.”
“Me too. Hello, everyone.”
And right now, Taewoo’s lobby was simply designed to look like a quiet resort.
An emerald sea and a beach.
And a hotel visible along a wooden path over the sea.
“Oh.”
Seojun let out a small gasp of admiration.
It really felt like arriving at an actual resort.
-A Neanderthal seeing fire for the first time lolololololol
-Aaah, this is what civilization is
-Host, change your lobby too lololol
-But is Neanderthal correct?
Seojun looked around and spoke.
“Isn’t it Homo erectus?”
The first human to use fire.
But he didn’t see how that was relevant.
The reason he hadn’t changed his lobby was simply because nothing in the store interested him.
It definitely wasn’t because he’d put it off worrying that changing and setting a background would be difficult.
That’s too much, honestly.
“What are you talking about?”
“Ah. The viewers are calling me a Neanderthal seeing fire for the first time.”
“Heh heh. How do you like my lobby, this one’s?”
“It’s nice. But is it a mass-produced product?”
Chat was saying someone had the exact same one.
Taewoo made a pitiful face, pretending to be sad.
“Yeah. Because no one would make me one…….”
But he was caught immediately.
“Lies? Chat says they sent you an email and you ignored it.”
Why was he pretending to be pitiful then?
Taewoo’s expression immediately changed.
“Who is it. Quick, all loyal subjects of our channel, leave that place and come over here.”
“They said they won’t come because they aren’t loyal subjects.”
“Mm…….”
“That’s true.”
“Ah, damn. Anyway, come over here quickly.”
They said no.
If they were going to do that, they would’ve been in your channel from the start, Taewoo.
“Anyway.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you install the game?”
“Of course.”
The exact release time when the game became playable was 6 o’clock.
One minute left.
‘Given it’s an indie game, the number of users who pre-download it and jump right in the moment it releases must be low.’
A famous developer can sometimes draw gamers’ attention even before production starts.
Even if a distributor pushes it massively, certain it’ll be a success, awareness can be built.
But this game was neither.
So their advertisement was bound to be crucial.
‘The reason they insisted on scheduling the broadcast on release day, when they could’ve just set it after it came out and they saw what kind of game it was…….’
Maybe confidence?
That might be why.
Anyway.
“Everyone, this game is available on Stream.”
Seojun said that while watching the passing of time.
“Starting now.”
He launched the game.
[Two Heads are Better]
The game’s logo appeared first, then the start screen.
The start screen was split into two parts, and on the right side was Seojun’s name.
“Do I just send an invite?”
“I think so?”
Taewoo, who had been staring into empty space beside him, responded and continued.
“So should I invite you?”
“Forget it. I’ll invite you.”
Seojun answered.
“Why?”
“Just because?”
“No, why?”
He really meant just because.
“Pfft. This is what they call a persecution complex.”
“?”
“You thought I was looking down on you because you’re bad with machines, didn’t you?”
Starting the needling already.
But Taewoo.
This is a cooperative game, you know?
-lololololololol
-They’re trying to fight before it’s even begun
-Picking a fight over something so pointless, they really are close friends, I acknowledge it lolololol
Seojun ignored him lightly and invited Taewoo.
“Done.”
“Okay. Got it. Oh, it’s up.”
Seojun and Taewoo’s names appeared on the screen that had been split in two.
Then the start game button at the bottom became clearer and lit up, as if activated.
Seojun shrugged and said.
“Looks like you can only start the game this way. If you don’t have a friend, this is totally…….”
Taewoo cut him off with a laugh.
“Hey, you can’t say things like that.”
Huh?
Ah.
Friend.
-ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-A game you can’t play without a friend
-Stop hitting me
-lololololololololololol Viewer friends who don't have friends were unexpectedly sniped, startled lololololol
-Game’s highest spec requirement: friend
-No multiplayer? No multiplayer? No multiplayer? No multiplayer? No multiplayer? No multiplayer?
Seojun acknowledged his mistake.
He had failed to respect the concept of his viewers, who were always lamenting they had no friends.
Of course, among those who lament having no friends, there’s no one who isn’t actually popular, but he should just let it slide.
“Sorry. In that case, everyone, you can just play with your lover. Right?”
“Whoa. Are you doing this on purpose?”
-???
-Are you for real?
-Sigh... Host, what's your address...
-No matter how much of a Sword God you are, you can seriously die
Meanwhile, in Taewoo’s chat.
-Why are we taking splash damage too? lolololololololololol
-Stop the collab immediately!
-*chuckle* Kids these days have absolutely no business ethics... *drip*
-lololololololololol
Shaking his head, Taewoo thought he’d never seen anyone as good at teasing people as his friend.
“Shall I start?”
“Go ahead.”
[Jin Seojun – 19,000 viewers]
[Kim Taewoo – 15,000 viewers]
* * *
[Two Heads are Better]
The game began like a movie, the title appearing first against a dark background.
The screen gradually brightened.
The currently lit background was a cramped office with only two single desks.
The angle of the camera was from a corner of the office, looking upward.
Bang!
The door swung open and two people entered, their faces obscured in darkness so they couldn’t be seen clearly.
They started talking, jabbing fingers at each other.
What they were saying couldn’t be heard and their expressions were hard to see, but it wasn’t difficult to notice the hostile atmosphere.
[…….]
[……!]
[……!]
Soon, one person shook their head, grabbed an overcoat that had been hanging on a chair, and left.
The person left behind scratched their head in irritation, turned off the computer and the lights, packed up roughly, and headed out.
Creeeak.
‘What’s this?’
The door closed.
And the camera began to slowly move.
From bottom to top. In a wide spiral around the outer edge, to show the whole office.
At the same time, sunlight streaming through the window made the office brighten and darken repeatedly, showing the passage of time speeding by.
And so the office lay abandoned for weeks.
A half-eaten bag of snacks, socks, a mess of power strips, bottles of alcohol.
What kind of space was this?
That curiosity was soon answered when the camera, circling the room, paused briefly to show a whiteboard.
Countless character photos pinned to the large whiteboard and an outline for some story.
It could only be a game.
“Looks like they were developing a game.”
Seojun murmured quietly.
He couldn’t move his body, but his voice came out.
He could see the chat too.
-Probably so
-What a mess lolololol
-Indie game development, I guess lololololololol they do fight a lot originally lololol
After slowly showing the space like that, the screen moved to the front of the monitor.
And then.
Flash!
Suddenly, the monitor directly in front of them turned on.
Then the mouse cursor started moving on its own, as if hacked.
-What the lolololol so scary
-I've had that happen. It wasn't hacking, it was a faulty mouse!
-Me too!
Then the mouse cursor, which had been searching through folders, opened a file.
Suddenly, countless windows with dark backgrounds began appearing and disappearing on the monitor.
-You call that faulty?
-How faulty does a mouse have to be for a computer to do that lolololololololol
-That's a bit scary?
On the monitor, countless windows kept opening and closing, repeating.
Then.
Flash!
The monitor turned off and on again.
And the background that appeared was different from before.
Had a game launched?
Inside it, a character rendered in pixels was plodding along a path in a two-dimensional world.
Plod, plod.
“It looks like the character we saw on the whiteboard earlier. The one with a circle around it and marked as the protagonist.”
The photo on the whiteboard hadn’t been 2D, but maybe that was because it was the title screen now.
Plod, plod.
-Oh
-Who turned on the game!?
-Are you the main character?
Beneath it, the words ‘press start’ were blinking.
Plod, plod.
The appearance of the presumed protagonist walking along was simple.
A typical hero wearing somewhat sleek-looking heavy armor.
When that hero reached about the middle of the monitor.
Screeeech!
Suddenly, with a tremendously loud grating sound, the hero halted and began turning its head.
A frontal face, rarely seen in 2D pixel graphics.
It felt like making direct eye contact with the hero.
-??
-What is this, horror?
-Why that scary sound...
‘I don’t think it was this kind of horror.’
Seojun smiled and waited.
Fortunately, his guess was correct.
Through a gap in the window, a distinctly special-looking green wind softly rustled the curtains as it entered and came to a stop before the monitor.