Chapter 2
League of Streaming.
On his way home, Seo Jun looked it up.
‘Average live viewers 300,000? Isn’t that almost regular pro league levels?’
Seo Jun had heard from Tae-woo that the tournament was popular, but he hadn’t expected this many people to watch.
But after digging a little more, he quickly realized that while 300k was indeed a lot, calling it pro league level was his own clear misconception.
‘Ah, regular pro leagues easily hit a million just in Korea.’
The finals, including overseas viewers, are said to draw 15 million in real-time.
And that’s just the Korean league.
The popularity of capsule games had surpassed Seo Jun’s imagination.
They say the craze is even spreading to adults who normally can’t afford the time to play.
Seo Jun had deliberately avoided capsule-related topics until now, so he didn’t know the details.
‘So many people… ended up playing.’
Even seven years ago, he hadn’t been that interested in the virtual reality market.
But he at least knew that the popularity back then wasn’t on this level.
After arriving home, Seo Jun asked an expert.
A current streamer, to be precise.
“Hey, you know about the League of Streaming?”
It was his friend.
At Seo Jun’s question, Tae-woo, who was on the sofa holding his phone, answered.
“Huh? Of course I do. I entered last year and got speed-eliminated. Heh. Man, I really wanted last year’s grand prize. What a shame.”
He said he got eliminated at lightspeed, yet he’s talking about winning.
Seo Jun clicked his tongue inwardly.
“What was it?”
“A car. On top of that, the MVP got a freaking supercar. Pretty big prizes, right? Since so many people watch, companies sponsor it.”
“Ah, I looked it up, so I know how many watch.”
“You know? Why would you suddenly look that up? You, who had zero interest in virtual reality?”
“I don’t know.”
For the past seven years, he’d lived just fine without virtual reality.
And he could keep living just fine.
So why had he looked up the League of Streaming?
‘Damn it.’
Truth is, he knew.
Only, before, he’d had no way, so he’d simply been looking away.
The virtual reality he’d experienced seven years ago.
It was fun. Fun enough to want to go back.
Isn’t that enough?
‘It’s not like I’m spending a hundred million.’
Thanks to Oh Ji-hye’s consideration, he could borrow it for free until the tournament ended.
He’s not throwing away several years.
‘There’s no reason not to.’
Seo Jun sat down beside Tae-woo.
From now on, he should worry about the ‘how’ more than the ‘why.’
“Tae-woo.”
Seo Jun’s eyes began to gleam.
“Huh?”
“What are the conditions to enter the League of Streaming?”
“What’s with that now. Sigh. Well, first of all, the organizers haven’t specified, but obviously you have to be a streamer. And when applying, popular mid-tier streamers usually get in regardless.”
“What if you’re not popular?”
“Then it’s a lottery. Viewers want somewhat known streamers too, so it can’t be helped. Not that they never pick unpopular streamers.”
If you do get picked, you’ve hit the jackpot.
Tae-woo muttered that.
“Then how do you succeed as a streamer?”
“You serious?”
“Serious.”
Tae-woo fell into thought for a moment, then got up and sat upright with his back straight.
The serious expression he rarely showed felt awkward.
“I don’t know either.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Hey, you know what I get told the most?”
Seo Jun shrugged.
“No clue.”
“People saying they’re jealous that I make money playing games. That I live life on easy mode. That I never struggle.”
“…….”
“But everyone doesn’t know that for four out of the seven years I’ve streamed, I plugged away eight hours every single day even when I averaged under 100 viewers? Hmm, I think I made enough for my electricity bill each month? Something like that. And for a year after graduating, I felt like I was basically mooching off you.”
“Did you.”
With virtual reality, the viewer pool had grown, but the proportion of streamers grew just as much, if not more.
The biggest complaint for such streamers could be said to be viewer inflow.
“Even then, I consider myself really lucky. Four years and it could have gone nowhere. If it pops, it’s a jackpot. But we never know when it’ll pop. Because we don’t know the way. What if you hold out for ten years and it still doesn’t?”
Tae-woo continued.
“Someone who blew up overnight and hit ten million in a year also went through a dark age of five years where they didn’t even gain a thousand viewers. You might hold out like that and still never make it…”
Of course, there must be various unwritten rules within all that.
“Still, if I had to pick the single most important thing, wouldn’t it be fun?”
Tae-woo began his explanation.
To succeed with a gaming stream, you need either fun or skill.
However, surprisingly, pure skill-based streams don’t pull many viewers, he said.
That’s because there are plenty of alternatives like pro broadcasts or edited videos.
“So it’s hard to succeed on skill alone. Not saying it’s impossible, but. Take a look at this.”
Tae-woo found an article and showed it to Seo Jun.
[Game streamers must focus less on the ‘game’ and more on the ‘streamer.’ Surprisingly, the game itself doesn’t carry as much weight.]
This was one piece of advice from a famous streamer with 100% objectivity test insight.
As Seo Jun looked this over carefully, Tae-woo asked again.
“You really interested in being a streamer?”
“I just got interested.”
“Heh. After hearing what I just said? I’m not going to talk you out of it, but what are you banking on?”
Seo Jun closed his eyes and thought.
What am I banking on?
For the past seven years, he hadn’t been able to properly connect to virtual reality, but Seo Jun was confident.
‘In most cases, they won’t be better than me.’
In many kinds of games, swords are the main weapon, and even if they don’t use a sword, it didn’t matter.
Even if he only had memories, Seo Jun had literally weathered all sorts of storms in his previous life.
He slowly opened his eyes, and stifling a laugh, spoke.
Even saying it himself, it sounded ridiculous.
“I suppose… skill?”
“I told you, just being good doesn’t make you a streamer.”
“Then, just how good do I have to be?”
Tae-woo deliberated, then spoke.
“If you’re better than Shin Ha-yeon, then probably. No, if you’re better than Shin Ha-yeon, you’re guaranteed to succeed. I promise. You know who she is, right?”
Shin Ha-yeon.
She was a famous female pro gamer. More popular than most top-tier celebrities, to the extent that virtual reality meant Shin Ha-yeon, and Shin Ha-yeon meant virtual reality. She was practically an icon of virtual reality.
The reason was, naturally, the overwhelming skill she displayed in the pro league.
“I see.”
After some deliberation, Seo Jun made his decision.
For now, let’s just give it a shot.
That day, Seo Jun sent Oh Ji-hye a message saying he would borrow the capsule.
* * *
“So… you bought it because you’re confident you’re better than Shin Ha-yeon?”
“Yeah.”
“Crazy bastard. Just go pro then.”
“That’s too dangerous, so I can’t.”
“Are you seriously insane.”
* * *
Oh Ji-hye’s reply and delivery were fast.
Not even a day passed.
As if she’d been waiting.
If there was one minor problem.
“Ugh. Just, move aside for a sec, I need to connect a wire. Did I not tell you to call the technician to install the capsule? Or at least not mess with it first until my stream is over!”
Seo Jun silently bowed his head and listened to Tae-woo’s scolding as he installed the capsule.
“Look here. When your phone broke last time and you washed it with soap, did I not tell you then that you’re hopeless with machines?”
That might have happened.
“How can you almost break this thing because you can’t install one piece properly! Hah! Anyone can see this looks crazy expensive!”
With nothing much to say, Seo Jun simply kept brushing his hand over the capsule now sitting in the corner of his room.
Tae-woo glared at Seo Jun, and after plugging in the final cable, he flopped onto the nearby bed.
“Whew, it’s done now. Installation’s finished. You have a biometric account?”
“Yes.”
“Then you can connect right now, probably.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Thanks, my ass. Anyway, this looks like a high-end model. Isn’t a model this expensive overkill for streaming?”
“Well. Don’t worry about that.”
I borrowed it.
“Sigh, so where are you gonna stream?”
“Trable.”
Trable was currently the dominant game streaming platform.
“Same place as me. Anyway, let me see your match record. Just how good were you 7 years ago to be this confident? You installed My V-R, right?”
“Here.”
Seo Jun turned on his phone and opened the app Tae-woo mentioned.
Then on the screen, information about Seo Jun’s virtual reality ID appeared.
It was a management app that displayed everything from creation date, to game play time, and match records.
“Huh? Are my eyes deceiving me? I see a fresh, brand-new account that hasn’t even been two days old? Since when did you start living without any concept of time, sir?”
“Ah, that? I had an old one, but I deleted it and made a new one.”
“Don’t bullshit me.”
“I’m serious.”
It was true.
“Yeah, right. If you really are better than Shin Ha-yeon, no, if you’re better than me, then I’ll do all the housework from now on. But if not.”
Oh?
The fish took the bait on its own before I even cast a line.
“You want me to do it?”
“How about it. If you’re scared…”
Seo Jun answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“Deal.”
I sure made the right call taking on this challenge.
“Ha! No take-backs? I won’t go easy ‘cause you’re a newbie. You’re not planning to start streaming today, are you?”
“No.”
“Get in right now.”
* * *
After watching Kim Tae-woo’s back as he headed to his own room, Seo Jun entered the capsule.
The lid closed, and Seo Jun leaned back comfortably.
Closing his eyes, he fell into thought.
Streamer.
A field he knows nothing about.
He’s not the naturally funny type, and he wasn’t naively thinking it’d work out on skill alone.
So, even if someone called his current actions a foolish waste of time, he’d have nothing to say.
Even so.
The corners of Seo Jun’s lips rose.
‘People start out with far more things they’re bad at than things they’re good at.’
If you don’t challenge something just because you’re bad at it, there’ll be nowhere you can go.
[Accessing the virtual reality world in 10 seconds.]
[10]
[9]
.
.
.
.
[1]
Flash—
In an instant, his vision darkened, and at the same time, a long-missed sensation enveloped Seo Jun.
Whoosh!
A pure white light passed through his closed eyelids.
This was the lobby. A white room with nothing in it.
Streamers usually communicate with viewers here before or after starting a game.
Since Seo Jun’s ID had just been created, the lobby had nothing placed in it.
‘I should fill up this place with something too.’
While he was looking around, a message popped up.
[#105979 has sent you a friend request.]
As Seo Jun accepted the friend request, messages popped up one after another.
[Kim Tae-woo has invited you to ‘Training Grounds’.]
Upon accepting that as well, the background changed in an instant. It had the atmosphere of a martial arts dojo.
“You’re here?”
A little distance away, Tae-woo was coming over, dragging a white robot-like dummy.
“This is the Training Grounds. It’s a default game pre-installed on the capsule even if you don’t download any games.”
“Like Minesweeper? They didn’t have this back in my day.”
“Back in your day, my ass. Say hello. This is our dojo’s AI, Kim Cheol-su.”
From behind Kim Cheol-su, Tae-woo grabbed its hand and wiggled it like a puppet show.
“Looks cute.”
“Heh heh. Once you keep getting smacked, you’ll flinch just seeing Cheol-su’s face.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Tae-woo smiled meaningfully.
“Get hit first. Let’s talk after you’ve been hit. What weapon do you want?”
Obviously.
“Sword.”
Tae-woo set Cheol-su in front of Seo Jun, went to something like a storage area, and brought out a sword.
“Catch.”
Seo Jun gripped the sword.
Then, as he looked forward, a sword materialized in Cheol-su’s hand as well.
“Shall I explain now?”
“…Yes.”
“Good. Cheol-su is a sparring AI. That’s the name I gave it. It’s going to fight you. If you manage to beat the level 7 Cheol-su, I’ll do the housework.”
“I could just fight you, you know.”
“I can’t hold back properly, so it won’t work. Anyway, in here, all conditions are equal. It’s a place where you can test pure one-on-one skill. Cheol-su goes from level 1 to 10. I’ve beaten up to level 8. For a beginner… level 4 would be appropriate for a start, I think.”
Tae-woo shrugged.
“That’s under the assumption that you really have talent, mind you. For reference, pros beat level 9 too.”
Seo Jun shrugged as well, then began tapping at the settings window that appeared before his eyes.
“This’ll be a good warm-up.”
Seems like fun.
“Pfft, I ought to record this. Title: ‘Friend who’s new to virtual reality dares to challenge level 4, gets beaten to tears.’ How’s that? If the video gets good views, I’ll grant you a very special collab stream.”
Seo Jun just smiled back.
“Just sit quietly and watch.”
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
“I’m watching. What are you doing? Aren’t you going to start?”
“Hm, it’s not working?”
“What’s not working? You just press 4 and start.”
“No, I mean, why is level 10 locked?”
“Hey, what the—.”