Episode 368
Outdoor streaming.
It was a shortened term for broadcasts conducted outdoors.
There weren’t many streamers who made outdoor streaming their main content.
How many things could you even do outdoors?
Of course, there were entertaining types of content.
The most representative was travel.
A handsome, tall streamer would travel all over the world, raise the standing of Koreans, and get cursed out by viewers.
An iTuber who looked ordinary but had extraordinary travel content would gain popularity.
And streamers who adopted the so-called loser concept they learned from that person would also hit it big.
Besides that, there were street singing broadcasts, joining viewers at their tables, and so on.
But sometimes, exceptionally, streamers would do outdoor streams as a group.
That was what happened during T-Star.
“I’m ready.”
“We’ll start with the standby screen. You know that, right?”
There wasn’t even a trace of tension in Seojoon.
Having already done countless types of broadcasts, he was a professional streamer.
After giving the cameraman his final instructions, Seojoon adjusted the settings on his phone and touched the screen.
[Starting stream.]
The screen being broadcast was currently the standby screen.
As always, Seojoon waited for a while.
It was early, but he knew many people would show up.
He had also heard that, even from a distance, unmistakable fans of his were moving around in groups outside.
Just as he expected, the number of viewers surpassed thirty thousand in an instant.
The cameraman watching from the side sighed inwardly.
Even with such a major tournament as T-Star going on, having this many people flock to a stream in less than thirty seconds at this hour was clearly a level above the heavens.
Had there ever been a streamer like this before?
The man in question, Seojoon, merely watched calmly.
He watched the sight of countless people welcoming him and greeting him.
-Seoha!
-Streamer’s outdoor stream!
-Seoha!
-We’re finally meeting for real!
-I missed you, streamer!
The chat rose without end, and people poured in like a flood.
After about a minute, audio began playing over Seojoon’s black screen.
“Hello, everyone.”
Seojoon had begun speaking.
Since he was wearing a microphone designed for outdoor streaming, his voice was even clearer than usual.
“Nice to meet you. You all know what day it is today, right? And what kind of broadcast I’ll be doing?”
-Isn’t he going to run his own booth in the latter half? I don’t know what he’ll do in the first half, though.
-For real, what’s he doing?
-He’ll probably hold a fan meeting.
-Isn’t he just going to walk around giving advice everywhere? LOL
-I don’t think he’ll walk around. It seems like things would get out of control.
-Whatever it is, we’ll finally get to see the Creepy Stories for real now, LOL
Strange comments appeared, saying they would finally learn the truth, and Seojoon felt the need to clear something up first.
“Everyone, the Creepy Stories do not exist in this world.”
Seojoon’s voice was serious.
“Has anyone who revealed those stories ever appeared? No, right?”
The source of all the incitement and fabrications called the Creepy Stories had been kept thoroughly secret.
Even when people tried to find the person who had said those things, or the streamer who had experienced them, everyone claimed they hadn’t seen anything.
-This is even creepier, LOL
-How can there be not even one person who says they saw it directly?
-Even Taewoo, LOL. This isn’t just a case of everyone working together perfectly. It means the streamer really is scary, LOL
“Now then, stop making things up. When am I turning on the broadcast screen? Soon. When you all come in.”
Seojoon was currently in the waiting room.
Each booth was large enough to accommodate a decent-sized lounge, but Seojoon had been given a waiting room in another room inside the building rather than at the event venue itself.
It was somewhere ordinary people couldn’t easily access.
Seojoon gratefully accepted the special treatment.
Then why wasn’t he turning on the screen?
“Yes, I’m not turning it on. I prepared something.”
Clothing.
Comments asking what he had prepared began to appear, but it wasn’t anything special.
Seojoon wasn’t the sort to refuse out of embarrassment unless something was truly strange. So when Hayunho suggested that, since it was a festival, he try cosplaying in something like a costume from a game that fit the concept, Seojoon had simply accepted.
Because it was a festival.
And because he had to get votes from a lot of people.
Of course, if the outfit attracted too much attention and things seemed likely to overheat again, he planned to change into something less conspicuous.
“Haha, some of you noticed. It’s a festival, after all.”
Seojoon lowered his gaze toward his body.
He had cosplayed as his past-life self.
In other words, he was simply wearing martial-arts attire.
He seemed to have gone around dressed like this when he was young.
-Could it be?
-What is it?
-Is that really cosplay? Is it really? The streamer’s cosplaying!!!!
-LOL, the streamer cosplayed too? Is he the Heavenly Demon? Or Kael?!
‘Strictly speaking, I was orthodox. No, not “strictly speaking”—I really was orthodox.’
Anyway.
Comments saying that it looked like cosplay began pouring in like mad.
But as the chat flowed in that direction, some strange people began to appear as well.
The comments were flying by rapidly, but Seojoon’s excellent dynamic vision allowed him to catch the relevant ones.
-Kael! Kael! Kael!
-Brothers, how long are you going to keep talking about the Heavenly Demon? Are you stupid?
-The Judge is something only middle-school-chuunis do.
-I am the true tradition of this channel.
-Get lost.
-You think you can stand before me?
-LOL, both groups are concentrating on typing in the chat right now, aren’t they? LOL Stop looking at your phones!
From the contents of the chat, Seojoon naturally inferred what was happening.
Could it be?
“Are the people cosplaying Kael fighting with the people cosplaying the Heavenly Demon?”
If an actual brawl had broken out, word would have reached Seojoon through another channel, so that wasn’t it.
-Yeah, that’s right.
-We’re waiting in the parking lot, and we’ve gathered here, LOL
-So, streamer! Are you a heretic? Or are you one of Asius’s Judges, like us?!
-You’re the heretics. The Heavenly Demon has descended! All demons bow down!
Seojoon became interested.
“Hahahaha. Who’s winning? Ah, I turned on the broadcast right before you started fighting? Hmm.”
He couldn’t stand to see two people fighting.
Even if he was the reason they were fighting.
[‘KnowWhat?’ donated 300,000 won!]
[The streamer is the kind of bastard who won’t stop a fight when one breaks out and will instead egg them on, LOL. He’ll even harass the people fighting.]
“Insults get you banned for an hour, but since something entertaining happened this once, I’ll let it slide. Now, the battle of pride between the two cosplay factions will be decided according to which one I choose, right? But I don’t want that.”
What fun would it be if Seojoon simply chose one side and declared it the winner?
“I’m not a dictator, you know.”
Countless question marks immediately flooded the chat.
Seojoon didn’t understand why, but he didn’t change the subject just yet.
“So! We’ll see which team gathers more people—the Heavenly Demon team or the Kael team—and which side passes the first test more often! Then I’ll decide on my costume for the final day accordingly!”
Seojoon told them that anyone coming in cosplay should visit his booth and add their nickname directly to the list.
-Nice!
-The streamer’s costume will be decided by which side gets more people! This is something we can’t let slide.
-Isn’t the Heavenly Demon faction overwhelmingly disadvantaged?
-Wait, but... then?
“Yes, some of you noticed, but what I had prepared was a Sword God outfit. Unfortunately, I’m taking it off right now.”
He would have to show them the cosplay outfit later, wouldn’t he?
“Today, I’ll go with an ordinary outfit.”
Thanks to Seojoon’s declaration, the people cosplaying the Heavenly Demon and Kael instantly became traitors.
It was the exact moment when the donation saying that Seojoon would torment the people fighting came true.
* * *
“Boooo!”
“What do you mean, Kael? Kael!”
“The Heavenly Demon too! It should’ve just been the Sword God!”
“Why’d you fight and make it so we can’t see the streamer’s cosplay?”
Everyone in line sent them playful boos.
But there was no way those boos could reach the cosplay groups.
“If our brothers gather in greater numbers...”
“Then we can properly educate them. Of course the Heavenly Demon will draw more people.”
“You think we’ll lose to the Heavenly Demon? What era is this, the Sword-Defying Faction?”
“Haha, the Sword God himself is merely another title of the Heavenly Demon, as the saying goes.”
“Brother? Charge!”
It was a fellow viewer right beside them who brought them back to reality.
“Just get in line. Move to the back.”
Everyone burst out laughing.
* * *
““Three!””
-33333
-Let’s go! (From the corner of my room)
-There have to be people in this chat who are also standing in line, right? I’m jealous.
““Two!””
-22222
-Iiiiiii
-Eeeeeee
““One! Enter!””
People began scanning their QR codes one by one and entering the building.
A massive exhibition hall.
The first place everyone looked for was obvious.
“Where’s the streamer? Where’s his booth?”
Seojoon still had the broadcast screen set to standby.
So there was no way to know where he was.
But the reason they were going to his booth was—
“We have to get the merchandise first. Run! Find it!”
“Can those Heavenly Demon and Kael guys even buy any? Hahahaha.”
“Whoa, is that it? There’s already a line forming.”
The merchandise.
They found what they assumed was Seojoon’s booth.
As Seojoon had let slip, it was near the center of the venue, but at a glance it didn’t look like his booth at all—so much so that people could easily walk right past it without noticing.
However, it was the only booth near the center without a game company banner.
“Whoa! Is this it?”
“Can we only buy one piece of merchandise? And what’s that?”
“What?”
“That banner above the merchandise.”
“Hmm?”
[All products bear the streamer’s 100% handwritten signature.]
“Why are there four of those banners? And they’re actual banners, too?”
“Since none of this makes sense, this must be the streamer’s booth!”
“R-Really?”
“Let’s line up here. That line over there looks like it’s for something else.”
The viewers who had found Seojoon’s booth looked around as they joined the line.
They were hoping to catch even a glimpse of Seojoon.
They could see him during the afternoon session, but a fan’s heart wanted to see him one more time whenever possible.
“Are those the challengers?”
What the two male and female fans spotted was, just as they had expected, the challengers’ line.
And the challengers, apparently unable to calm their excitement, were striking up conversations with the people in front of and behind them whom they had never seen before.
“Hello.”
Since they assumed everyone was a fellow viewer, the barrier to starting a conversation was probably lower as well.
“Hello.”
“Do you have something hidden in that bag that’ll let you beat the streamer and win a prize?”
“I do have something, but I don’t know if it’ll be enough to win a prize.”
“True, but even if you only pass the first test, you get to meet the streamer one-on-one. On that stage.”
“Sigh... The streamer takes an absurd amount of time off, but I really want to see him.”
“Me too. That’s why I came.”
“Passing the first test should be doable, right?”
“Yes. The streamer surprisingly likes his viewers, so I think he designed it so that anyone with the right qualifications could meet him.”
That was the general public opinion at the moment.
It was probably why the line was already growing so long.
Meeting someone one-on-one as long as they had a certain level of qualification seemed like excessive kindness for Seojoon.
“Haha. If you do well, you might even win thirty million won. There must be at least one thing the streamer can’t do.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Still, there are only three chances. Hmm, but it is the streamer we’re talking about.”
“Oh, they say it starts in three minutes.”
“Do you think half of us will survive?”
“Let’s prepare to meet him. He’s vicious, but every now and then, he can be a kind streamer.”
And then, the first Judges began to appear on the stage.
Along with the Wall of Lamentation.
“Huh?”