Chapter 135
The Rios operations team of Surface Korea, soon to be hit by the tournament.
Assistant Manager Lee Yeong-ju.
Her fate for today was sealed. The enemy of office workers.
Overtime.
But she, unlike an office worker facing overtime at quitting time, loudly exclaimed in an excited voice.
“Video setup complete! It will be premiered in 30 minutes.”
“Good work. Everyone, you’re dismissed now.”
“Understood. Wow! But Team Leader, maybe not everyone?”
“Ah, right. Manager Kim will stay and handle today's schedule, and the rest, let’s dismiss.”
Three days had passed since the Point internal war ended.
In the meantime, the operations team recruited the remaining streamers and made a roster reveal video.
And today was the roster announcement day. After that, there was just the simple matter of team leaders filming evaluations of their team members on the official account.
Tomorrow, the auction begins.
‘The promotion had been sufficient for weeks.’
Other minor balance issues were matters for the streamers to handle themselves at the auction.
Big problems, like with Seojun, they had already taken care of.
“Good work, Manager Kim. Haha. Alright, going home on time.”
“Could you please stop?”
“Huh? What?”
“Since that day, you keep coming with a meaningful and smug face, smiling all the time. I'm sorry. I did wrong. I was wrong. Sorry.”
Manager Kim begged as if fed up.
“Pfft.”
“Hey, I'm doing the work Assistant Manager Lee was supposed to do today. Stop workplace bullying!”
“Okay~. Good work!”
Lee Yeong-ju left the office and entered the elevator.
“Ugh.”
Manager Kim grumbled to himself.
Why did he have to beat Spoon.
And with a 10% assimilation rate at that!
Is that even a game? Isn't that dangerous?
“Good work, hehe. Who told you to bet on it?”
“Well, who would have known he'd win with Eric in a one-on-one.”
“Assistant Manager Lee knew.”
“That's... true.”
The team leader, ready to leave, passed behind Manager Kim and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Well, the opinion that it's still unknown has resurfaced, so Manager Kim might have been right.”
“Because of that assimilation rate?”
“Something like that. No one knows what 10% assimilation rate is like, but what's certain is that it's really, really low.”
“That's true.”
“Probably there are heroes hard to play and other various penalties as well.”
“So?”
“So I was thinking, how about making another bet with Assistant Manager Lee on whether he can put up an A-class performance or not...”
At the team leader's suggestion to have a round two with Assistant Manager Lee, Manager Kim decided there was no need to listen further.
“Goodbye, Team Leader.”
Once bitten, twice shy.
Look at him instigating fights between others.
That's malicious.
Come to think of it.
Now that I think about it, the team leader was the overall manager running Rios, where streamers fight each other.
* * *
A subsidiary of Surface and a game distribution platform.
From the executive office of Stream Korea, Chief Han came out.
“...Yes, understood.”
Chief Han returned to his seat and recalled the earlier conversation.
-Hey, Executive Director, how was the matter of that streamer's exclusive contract decided?
-We just decided to wait until Crown makes the first move.
-Just wait? Even though clear results came out this time?
-Yes, well, that's what they said.
-Hmm, Crown might be making behind-the-scenes contact, and even if we move first, there's nothing bad about it, right.
-In the first place, this was Crown's idea, and we're just following along. They said let's just watch and respond. Or would you like to leak the contract they're preparing over there, Chief?
-Hahaha...
-That's how it happened.
-Yes, understood.
“Can't be helped.”
As Chief Han sat down, the youngest member of the team asked.
“What did the Executive Director say?”
“He just said it came out well.”
“That's expected. It has the highest sales among the games released this time! Chief, we can look forward to bonuses, right?”
“Probably?”
“Then how about a company dinner today?”
“No, why do you like company dinners so much?”
Even the youngest team member, at that.
“Because of free drinks and free meat?”
“Ah.”
That made sense.
As long as you didn't hate your coworkers, there was no better place than a company dinner.
Because no one dislikes free stuff.
“I see. But I have an appointment today, so please go without me.”
“With the Monster CEO?”
“Yes, they've probably checked the results too, but I should meet and talk once more.”
Chief Han handed over a card.
Woohoo!
The youngest made strange noises, delighted at receiving the card.
“Then let's all get up.”
It's quitting time.
Chief Han left the company and made a call.
The recipient was CEO Lee of Monster.
[Hello?]
“Hello.”
[Hello, Chief. You know today is the Rios roster reveal, right?]
Seriously, why is this person bringing that up as soon as I call?
Even if they can check it too, shouldn't talk about their game's performance come from the mouth of an insider before Rios?
Everyone in the company acknowledged that the streamer creating an issue contributed the most to the game's success.
So it was even more painful.
Because he had heard directly from CEO Lee.
That there was a streamer whose every moment was a low point.
So it seems like if not now, they'd have to buy him at a high price, but the higher-ups said to wait.
[How about we go to a quiet restaurant like last time and watch together today?]
CEO Lee seemed lighthearted.
He would be.
After all, he had already overcome a major hurdle and succeeded.
“Hahaha.”
[Ah, speaking of which, about this Rios.]
“Yes.”
[It's good news. Good news.]
Ugh, would you stop with the stock talk already.
Making me unnecessarily anxious.
* * *
[Streaming starts.]
Seojun started streaming in front of his desk.
He had no intention of going into the capsule today.
-SeoHa
-sh
-TreHa
-sh
“Hello, everyone. Ah, what am I doing today? I'm bored so I'm going to watch the Rios roster reveal. Because I'm bored.”
Seojun said, leaning back in his chair. It's comfortable.
Maybe it's not bad to stream like this every day?
-Is it really because you're bored? lol
-He can't say 'I'm participating, I'm A'!
-Yeah, right
-Most streamers are getting ready to watch, so it's not that strange
-But you are participating, right?
It was as the viewers said.
Right now, after entering the 'The League' category, most of the streaming screens visible in compact form had the video prepared for premiere.
The same video as the one on Seojun's monitor now.
It was Travel's dedicated Rios account.
“I said no comment on participation. Oh. A lot of viewers have gathered in my room today too.”
[Viewers – 25,000]
Seojun's viewer tier had grown once again.
Beating Spoon and revealing his assimilation rate was a big factor.
Of course, the side effects of rapid growth were not so easy.
That's just how the world works.
-Noob with lower assimilation rate than me, lol
-Can't play other heroes, right? lol
-He definitely said it lower on purpose to get attention!!!!
-Prove it properly. Go to a professional medical center or a center.
These were the chat messages seen here and there.
And in an instant, the manager's sword of justice execution flew at them.
They were guys who had been coming and doing that at the start of every broadcast for the last three days, repeatedly getting banned for a day.
“At this rate, I'm going to memorize all their nicknames.”
Rather than feeling bad, Seojun just found it cute, so he was only banning them for a day.
Come back tomorrow.
Come back stronger.
-Consistent bastards lol
-Shouldn't they think about how well he's doing with that assimilation rate instead of calling him a noob?
-They have no intelligence
-Still, if it's low, it's like a handicap...
There had been a lot of opinions exchanged over the past three days.
Excluding Seojun, the generally known lowest assimilation rate is in the 40s.
So the number 10 was bound to be shocking in many ways.
Starting from whether playing was even possible.
Whether his health was okay, how much discomfort he felt, whether he got motion sickness.
And.
How on earth he could be so good with that assimilation rate.
Maybe he's a game-crazy bastard.
Or a streaming-crazy bastard.
Maybe in reality, he flies around.
Truly countless opinions came and went.
And though no conclusion had been reached yet, fortunately, Seojun's existing viewers had come to one conclusion.
[Seems like if the broadcaster stays in virtual reality too long, other gamers suffer, so the capsule tells him to log off quickly!]
It was a bit disappointing.
In that world inside the capsule, I only remember helping others.
“Oh, it's starting.”
As they chatted as usual, time flew by.
[Rios Player Roster Reveal!]
[1 second ago]
Maybe because it's a premiere, the chat window over there is visible.
-lol, now they're all screwed
Seojun caught, even among the fast-scrolling chats, a message from a user with the Travel nickname Kim Tae-woo.
Incidentally, Tae-woo was currently preparing to broadcast in the next room.
For the upcoming conversation between team leaders.
‘Crazy bastard.’
As expected.
You really need to choose your friends well.
-Let's go!
-I think I saw Tae-woo that son of a bitch, but maybe it's my imagination?
-It's starting
-Who got picked?
Exciting background music started playing.
And after mixing various letters through about 3 seconds of editing, the reveal began.
[E!]
The streamer's face appears briefly, then immediately shows gameplay.
Six people were introduced like that.
Ha Yun-ho was among them.
Above Ha Yun-ho's name, 'Team Leader' was visible in small letters.
In order, D, C, B appeared.
Finally.
[A!]
-It's A
-Broadcaster, you're up now
-For real lol
-What video did they bring?
“Oh, I'm first.”
Seojun came out first among the A's.
Maybe because he's a rookie, 'new!' was attached above his name in a cute and lively font.
-Kyaa, so handsome
-Why is it only the broadcaster's face that's huge? Look, they zoomed in because he's handsome, damn
-This kind of unfairness is widespread, I tell you.
-This is the life of a super handsome guy...
Then Seojun's gameplay appears.
-Kyaa
-4-second judgement sword, crazy
At the end, they briefly showed Eric's ultimate appearing on all sides, then moved on.
“It came out well.”
The video that quickly revealed a total of 30 players from A to E ended by showing one caster and three commentators.
And the screen naturally transitioned to a live broadcast.
[Hello! I'm Bang-ju, the commentator in charge of today's Eve Festival!]
Bang-ju took one of the commentary spots, beating out former pros.
-Wow!!
-Long time no see, Bang-ju
-Like someone who came here after finishing Co-op, he's having a sweet time lol
-Broadcaster <-- that someone
-Honeybee bastards lol
[Now! At the Eve Festival, we'll take some time to hear one-line reviews or strategies about the players. I'll let you know that the team leaders received the roster yesterday and had time to organize their thoughts as I introduce them! Please come out!]
The faces of six people appeared on screen as if in a video call.
He knew Tae-woo and Ha Yun-ho, but wasn't sure about the other four.
[Ah. It's really great to meet the team leaders who will lead our tournament. How do you feel about participating as a team leader?]
[Hello. I feel very nice!]
[For calling me to this place, I, Ha Yun-ho, am infinitely honored...]
[Mom, I'm on TV!]
By the way, the one who said 'Mom, I'm on TV' was Tae-woo.
-Crazy bastards lol
-It's dizzying already
-This is the taste lol
-Those guys are all experienced, so they don't know tension lol
Bang-ju was not flustered.
Because Bang-ju was also experienced.
Also, no matter how big the scale, being a streamer tournament, this kind of minor antics has always been there.
[Then shall we go right away? Now, the first player is? Drumroll. Ah! The man whose capsule adjusts the balance. Streamer Seojun!]
When Bang-ju flipped the slide on the center screen, a photo with Seojun's face plastered large, which had been used during the player reveal earlier, appeared.
The phrase written underneath was 'The man whose capsule adjusts the balance,' and Bang-ju had simply read it.
[Now, player Jin Seojun is a rookie and unranked, yet was assigned to A. Team leaders, what do you think of Seojun? I'd like to hear.]
And at the same time.
[I won't buy.]
[I think it's better not to buy.]
In order, Kim Tae-woo and Ha Yun-ho said.