Episode 27
When a game company selects a streamer for advertising, they usually base it on iTube.
The reason is that the sheer difference in viewership scale between Travel and iTube is massive.
A streamer with 5,000 live viewers but 1 million Tube views, versus a streamer with 10,000 live viewers but 100,000 Tube views.
Which one would be better for promotion was as clear as day.
Of course, there are a few exceptions.
If the viewer base had high loyalty, or if they had a high follower count and re-watched Travel VODs often with strong purchasing power, high prices could be set even with low iTube subscribers.
Of course.
‘Neither of those applies to me.’
iTube subscribers?
I don’t even have a channel yet.
No, forget a channel—I don’t even have an account.
My viewer base is only three days old.
‘I think I heard that when launching a new game, they do a massive advertising push.’
That doesn’t apply either.
“How about it, Seojun? Will you accept our offer?”
“Thank you for the good offer. Honestly, I want to sign right away, but...”
“...but?”
“I’m a bit taken aback and have a question. Why are you offering me such favorable terms?”
Ten million won.
It’s not a lot.
Of course, by major standards.
For the current Seojun, even one million won would be a good deal.
Just getting an ad at all is something to be thankful for.
“Haha. You’re a very cautious person, Seojun.”
“I’m just curious.”
Is there such a thing as kindness without cost?
Seojun was smiling leisurely, but he was also prepared to call off the contract if necessary.
While cooperating, of course.
And although Kim Yun-chan may not have, Eve Paimo seemed to have read that look from Seojun.
“Hmm, I suppose I need to convince you.”
Eve Paimo chuckled heartily.
His slightly wrinkled blue eyes curved pleasantly.
“Simply put, it’s an investment. Team Leader Kim Yun-chan here and I are people who have watched all of your gameplay without missing a single one.”
Beside him, Kim Yun-chan nodded.
“We judged that you, Seojun, will achieve tremendous growth in the future. So we wanted to establish a relationship at the company level in advance. Actually, even if the teaser video is delayed a bit, it’s not a big problem. Moreover, by the time the beta test comes around, we figured you will have grown even more. Simply put, it’s a win-win.”
How honest.
Now I understand.
So this is buttering me up.
Getting on my good side in advance.
And it’s also a gift.
“Yes. It’s literally just us. Because people from other companies don’t know.”
Kim Yun-chan chimed in from the side.
“I’m the president, so what.”
Eve Paimo laughed heartily.
And Seojun was shocked.
He was the president?
Kim Yun-chan reached out, turned the contract around, and began explaining the various clauses to Seojun.
It was all just as they had said.
As the explanation was coming to an end, Eve Paimo said to Seojun.
“Seojun. The ad can be done with Dawn of the Assassin Guild, but may I recommend a game?”
“What is it?”
“It’s For the Sake of the Blade.”
For the Sake of the Blade.
It was a martial arts action game created by Movie Soft, featuring a story set in a fictional continent.
“With your skills, Seojun, you’ll surely show incredible gameplay there. I want to see that.”
Already, Eve Paimo had prioritized watching Seojun’s gameplay over promoting his company’s game.
“I’ll think about it seriously. By the way, which country are you from, President?”
“Ah, I’m French.”
“Really? You speak Korean very well.”
“I studied abroad in Korea for a short while.”
“I see. Is frankness a French virtue?”
“No. I just thought being honest would be better for you, Seojun.”
How very honest.
As expected of a president, he reads people well.
Seojun smiled, took the contract, and stood up.
“Thank you.”
“We should be thanking you.”
“But what if someone other than me collects all the Fragments of Order within a week? What will you do?”
Seojun suddenly thought of Lee Dong-su.
“Hmm. I don’t think it will be easy, but there is one user with potential. Fortunately, he doesn’t stream, so I’m planning to ask him just not to reveal it.”
Neither of them had any idea they were talking about the same person.
And the fact that, now that Seojun was cooperating, there was no longer any need to ask Lee Dong-su.
Because Lee Dong-su had only been playing Dawn of the Assassin Guild because of Seojun in the first place.
“I see. Then I look forward to working with you.”
Eve Paimo grasped Seojun’s hand and grinned.
“We too will look forward to the synergy that Movie Soft and you, Seojun, will create.”
* * *
As requested, instead of hunting the Ruler, Seojun began enjoying the game by doing various activities within Dawn of the Assassin Guild.
He still ignored missions and quests and did as he pleased, unchanged.
And when Seojun showed no sign of hunting the Ruler, some streamers had this thought.
If I find out the information on the Fragments of Order first, wouldn’t that be a jackpot?
As that thought spread, a faint trend of challenging the Ruler was formed.
And Han Ji-min’s employer, an iTube editor, had the same thought.
The problem was.
“That bitch.”
Han Ji-min let out a sigh that could scrape the floor and buried herself deep into her chair.
[Fix it so it feels a bit more like this streamer.]
[I fixed it, so check it.][1]
[Hey][1]
[Look at it][1]
Even after two days, she hasn’t read them.
It’s been like this for a month.
She pressed her eyes firmly with her right hand.
“Haah. They say there’s no blood, no tears, no family, no friends in front of money.”
Han Ji-min wanted to chew up and spit out her friend and employer, with whom she had shared dreams and worries about the future.
“I should have known when she kept finding fault over strange things.”
A year and a half ago, Han Ji-min had just started learning video editing.
And she stumbled upon a small-time streamer, and while enjoying the broadcast, heard that the streamer was struggling with iTube because she was editing alone.
With the idea of growing together, she sent her work to the small streamer, and from then on, their partnership began.
The small streamer, unable to give Han Ji-min a stable salary, suggested splitting the iTube revenue 50:50, so they would both struggle when earnings were low and both prosper when they were high.
“I shouldn’t have made a verbal promise back then.”
What good is regret now?
For the first half year, even in really difficult circumstances, Han Ji-min poured herself into editing like crazy.
At that time, there were 217 subscribers.
There was no way there was any revenue.
Nevertheless, Han Ji-min and the streamer hit it off and endured the hard times together.
Han Ji-min built up the iTube channel, making one video a day while barely sleeping.
As Han Ji-min’s editing skills improved, the channel gradually started to ride the algorithm, and about half a year later, it hit 30,000 subscribers and began generating revenue.
“It was good up until then.”
Han Ji-min’s life became more comfortable, and another smooth eight months passed.
The channel was now on the verge of 100,000 subscribers.
Live broadcasts also saw an increase in viewers thanks to iTube.
And as the income grew, they looked for another editor, but a problem arose.
“People are so petty.”
Han Ji-min stared at the monitor on her desk.
There was a video of a person she had seen so many times over nearly a year and a half.
A month ago, she had fought with the employer she believed was a friend.
The reason was that Han Ji-min, as an editor, was taking too much.
When in fact, it was she who had built the channel.
“Sigh. She must think managing the channel is easy.”
She closed the editing program.
It seemed like she needed to end this relationship.
She wasn’t even sending this month’s revenue.
It left a bitter taste.
“What? ‘Fix it so it feels like this streamer’? You know damn well I can’t do that with my skills, fuck.”
She had believed she was a friend.
She thought they had become closer than anyone while struggling through tough times together.
So she never expected to be betrayed like this.
The sense of betrayal made her blood boil, and she wanted to cry.
“What do I have left now?”
A lump sum of money that she saved because she was too busy editing to spend it.
And my editing skills?
Her vision blurred.
It felt like the entire one year and six months were being denied.
Still, she shouldn’t stop working.
For the first time in a long while, she went to an editor recruitment site.
And there, she found a post.
“…”
Ironically, it was the streamer from the video her former employer had sent her.
A person whose skill was incomparable to anyone else.
That person was looking for a freelancer to edit a few videos right away.
And if things went well after talking, they were also considering a dedicated editor.
“You’re going to share revenue too? Fine, let’s see if you’ll put it in writing. If you plan to exploit me without a contract, I won’t let it slide.”
Han Ji-min sent an email to Seojun.
* * *
-You’re hunting the Ruler tomorrow? Finally lololol
-The real one is going.
-Seeing other streamers fail so far made me realize that the streamer is on another level.
-Finally ㅠㅠㅠ
-Honestly, with those skills, doing pickpocketing and minigames was crossing the line.
-For real, if that’s the case, give me those skills
“Okay everyone, see you tomorrow.”
-Damn!
-Bye!
-Bye!
Click.
Seojun turned off the stream and got out of the capsule.
After washing up, he sat in front of his computer and checked his email.
[We’ve finished the teaser video.]
[(Ad) ★929th 1st place / 996th 2nd place winner★, ‘1st place prediction number’ free event!! This time it might be your turn.]
[If you only do Dawn of the Assassin Guild on your stream, the stream might die, so as a fan, let me give you one piece of advice...]
[Report. mijhvn0216 used foul language.]
The first email he saw was from Movie Soft, saying the teaser video was finished so he could do as he pleased.
The rest were mostly ads and emails from viewers giving unsolicited advice about his streams.
There were no editor application emails.
“Tsk.”
On the first and second days after he publicly recruited an editor, a few videos were uploaded.
But none of them were to Seojun’s liking.
No matter how much of a fan they were, he couldn’t pick an editor with insufficient skills.
“For now, I’ve secured two videos to upload to iTube.”
One was the collaboration video helped by Lee Su-han, Alpaca’s editor, and the other was the edited version of the first broadcast commissioned from an editor recruitment site.
Seojun played the video he received from an editor named Han Ji-min.
His impression was.
“It’s clean and without unnecessary fluff. Is she experienced?”
A voice came from behind Seojun.
“Yeah.”
Having already sensed Tae-woo’s arrival by the sound, Seojun replied.
“You’re going to sign an exclusive contract with her?”
“Hmm...”
Seojun wanted to entrust the entire channel to an editor.
Because he judged that to be more efficient.
And he had heard from Lee Su-han that for that, it was much better if the editor was a fan who watched all the broadcasts.
“We’re talking. I’ve entrusted her with a few for now, and her skills are definitely good.”
“Really? If you can get her, make sure you do.”
If he couldn’t find an editor, he planned to look into joining an MCN.
“Okay. But I’ll wait a little longer. I don’t know if she’ll accept the offer.”
The two stared intently at the monitor for a moment.
“That’s true. Or look around yourself. You could personally scout someone from among the people who uploaded fan videos.”
Tae-woo said that, patted the chair Seojun was sitting in, and went to his own room.
Tae-woo always checked in on Seojun after every broadcast to see if he was doing well.
Following Tae-woo’s advice, Seojun went on iTube.
And searched.
“What should I search?”
Nameless.
Unrivaled.
Ruler.
Streamer fan video.
And so on.
No matter how much he searched, nothing came up.
Seojun gave up and, just wanting to see how others did it, searched for editor application videos.
Then he saw a familiar iTube account nickname.
[Public Toilet Brick Extortion King]
It was a viewer who had been watching his streams but always remained silent when asked to be a manager.
Seojun examined the video.
With 157 views and a title that was just a period, ‘.’.
The phrase in the description, ‘This is an editor application video for streamer Seojun-nim,’ caught Seojun’s eye.
“Why is it public? And... I don’t think I saw it in the email.”
Seojun checked his inbox and trash again.
In case he had accidentally deleted it.
After checking, it wasn’t something he had missed.
‘Let’s watch it first.’
A while later.
After watching the video, Seojun cupped his chin and fell into thought.
“This is really good. Why didn’t he send an email?”