Chapter 375
After the indie developer’s producer closed the door, he approached Seojun and offered his hand.
“Hello, Streamer.”
After exchanging greetings, Seojun led the producer to the sofa in the waiting room and took a seat.
Once they were facing each other, Seojun got straight to the point.
“Did you have something you wanted to say?”
Not a single person had visited Seojun’s waiting room the previous day.
The streamers acquainted with him had been busy preparing their own booths, and there was no reason for any of the other staff to come by.
The only one keeping him company was the cameraman who followed Seojun around.
So this was his first guest.
I have nothing to give him.
“Ah, well, you see…”
Still, it seemed like he had brought a present.
“Please, speak comfortably.”
If the other man really had the proposal Seojun was expecting, there was no way he could avoid hesitating.
What kind of lunatic asked another streamer participating in the event to advertise their booth?
If not for the image Seojun had built up, it was obvious he would not even have attempted to come all the way to the waiting room.
So Seojun created as comfortable an atmosphere as possible, allowing him to speak first.
He adjusted his posture so that it was neither too stiff nor too relaxed.
He gave a gentle smile and slightly relaxed the tension in his eyes.
“Ah, well, you see…”
“Yes.”
“Hmm…”
“Yes.”
“Hmmmm…”
What was this?
Seojun sank into thought without letting anything show on his face.
‘Did he bring an even stranger, more unreasonable proposal?’
But perhaps Seojun’s effort to hide his thoughts had paid off, because the producer finally opened his mouth.
“Do you happen to have any plans this morning?”
Plans? He did.
“No, I don’t.”
A booth-conquering run.
There was probably nothing to gain from saying that first.
“Ah! What a relief!”
“What’s so fortunate about it?”
“Ah, well, you see…”
“Yes.”
“Would you perhaps be interested in accepting an advertisement?”
Hmm.
The corners of Seojun’s mouth, which had risen to create a comfortable atmosphere, shifted ever so slightly.
The result was an expression filled with satisfaction.
Just as he had expected.
“What kind of advertisement?”
“I won’t take up much of your time. I’d just like you to come by once—just once—and try out our booth, Mr. Seojun.”
“While streaming?”
Was he asking something too obvious?
As Seojun continued smiling pleasantly with satisfaction and threw out the question jokingly, the producer’s face grew more and more resolute.
Was he steeling himself for something?
Was there really anything to steel himself for?
“Phew…”
“What is it?”
“It would be ideal if you could turn on your stream, but it’s fine even if you don’t. Even if you do that, we won’t reduce the advertising fee we’ve prepared.”
“What?”
“Even if you don’t stream and simply come by once, it would certainly be an enormous help. The boss instructed us to somehow ride Mr. Seojun’s coin just once.”
“…”
What was he talking about?
If they were not going to reduce the advertising fee even without a stream, did that mean they had set an extremely low fee to begin with?
“Ah, the advertising fee is ten million won for one appearance.”
That was not the case.
It was a fairly large sum.
There was no condition requiring him to upload a video, and a single booth experience would take less than an hour.
Ten million won was not exactly a reasonable conversion, but how much would that be per hour?
And on top of that, he did not even have to stream?
“Excuse me, Developer?”
“Yes.”
“Could it be that…”
Seojun almost asked if the boss had suffered a head injury, but came to his senses at the last moment.
“That coin thing, seriously…”
“Yes?”
“No, I was just wondering if all indie game developers liked coins so much.”
“I don’t do coins, though?”
“Never mind.”
Seojun sighed.
This was not the first time he had encountered something incomprehensible.
Good things were good things.
But when it occurred to Seojun that the reason they were acting so deferentially might be because the booth’s content was strange, he immediately took out his phone and asked for the name of the game.
After learning through the Tstar community that it was perfectly normal, Seojun’s feelings became even more complicated.
“You really don’t have to turn on your stream. You don’t even have to mention us. Just coming by and trying it once would turn the booth into a holy site, so…”
“Are you going to cosplay Kael?”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
That was Seojun’s second “Never mind.”
People cosplaying Kael usually clasped their hands together and acted like fanatics, which was why he had asked.
“Phew.”
“Would it be difficult for you to visit the other booths as well?”
“It would be tiring, but it’s not impossible. My image is so bad that people would probably just say I was taking the morning off to extort money like this.”
“Haha…”
“Let me see the advertising contract.”
“Yes, sir.”
Seojun took the paper and read through it slowly.
There was nothing difficult about it.
The requirements were simple.
“I’ll stream it as well. The committee approved it, right?”
“Yes! The other streamers who aren’t operating booths have already received plenty of offers and done advertisements. There’s no grounds for us to stop you. You have free time, after all. Thank you!”
“However, I’ll visit your booth once, but I’ll have to play the game in my capsule.”
“Ah, understood. Because of synchronization, right?”
“Yes. That’s one reason, and I also don’t want to take someone else’s capsule spot.”
“Our booth doesn’t have a waiting line, though…”
“No.”
After his third evasive “No,” Seojun swallowed a deep sigh inwardly.
“Yes! Understood. We can accommodate everything! Then when will you come?”
* * *
After signing the contract and seeing the producer out, Seojun immediately turned on his stream.
It was twenty minutes before opening.
“Good to see you all.”
Everyone waiting would be coming in.
That was what it seemed like from the previous day.
The chat filled with comments saying it was nice that he was showing his face right away today instead of displaying a black screen.
Seojun got straight to the point.
“Everyone, I’ve received an advertisement. It’s not PPL, either. It’s a blatant pre-roll advertisement. A booth advertisement, at that.”
Question marks began appearing, so Seojun explained in a little more detail.
“I’m going to go enjoy another booth. And I’m getting paid for it.”
He just had to be confident.
If he showed weakness and worried about how people felt, they would only pounce on him.
It was the law of the wild.
-Oh, come on ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-You crazy bastard ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Is this why you left your morning open?
-I’ve never seen, and don’t think I’ll ever be able to see, a wage slave this shamelessly born from capitalism ㅋㅋㅋ
See?
Wouldn’t everyone laugh simply because they found it absurd?
If he had worried about what people thought, they would surely have come out seriously, saying that this was not right.
Of course, Seojun did feel a little wronged.
He had not wanted or aimed for an advertisement from the start. It had simply fallen into his lap.
But it did not matter.
“You’re asking where I got the advertisement? That will remain a secret until we start.”
-???
-When are you doing it?
-I want to go with you and check out that booth too.
-For real, it’ll be more fun if we go there first and try it ourselves.
“We’ll do it forty minutes after opening. And I’ll give you a hint: it’s an indie game booth.”
The reason he had revealed that information was simple.
[‘Surely Not’ donated 200,000 won!]
[Is this bastard trying to undermine the other major game companies’ booths? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
“Hmm… Ban.”
Donating money did not earn anyone special treatment.
Feeling a little pricked by the comment, Seojun handed the matter over to his manager, then shut off the chat that had become plastered with comments calling him a coward.
He turned off the stream as well.
The next stream would be in fifty minutes.
* * *
Tstar’s average daily attendance was 45,000.
And yesterday, over 100,000 viewers had visited.
Even though that many people had come to the venue, not every area was packed with people.
The fact that the venue could accommodate 100,000 people meant that 100,000 was an appropriate number.
Therefore, if visitors gathered in places such as the center and increased the density there, the density in other areas would inevitably drop, leaving them relatively quiet.
That did not mean there was no one there, though.
“Is it leisurely again today?”
Pado—the streamer from The League Challenger who had once been run over by Seojun—straightened his back and rose from a plastic event chair.
He was just below the level of a mid-tier streamer, but his booth was operating on the outskirts of the venue.
Normally, unless they had connections with a major game company, only major streamers could get a spot in the center.
In any case, fans who came for a fan meeting would find them on their own, since the distance was not particularly far, so the location was not a major issue.
Even if the booths in the center were spread out in every direction, those areas would always be swarming with people. There was no reason for Pado to feel wronged or consider it unfair.
“More than anything, this is nice.”
Getting sponsored by a major game company meant there was almost nothing to worry about, but in exchange, one had to work longer.
Wouldn’t it be the best option at an offline event to prepare an appropriate amount and take things easy?
Of course, it would be even better if one had the nerve to openly take the entire morning off, but that was a realm far beyond him.
In all of Travel’s history, only one person had ever reached that realm.
‘Come to think of it, it really is impressive.’
Pado had never been on a team with Seojun, so he had watched the entire historical record and otherwise occasionally kept up with the news.
This time, too, he had merely watched from afar as Seojun appeared and disappeared at Tstar.
‘It certainly was strange.’
In any case.
He was free.
Three minutes had passed since opening, and no one had come yet.
Soon, people driven out in horror by the crowds in the center would begin arriving here one or two at a time, and then Pado’s fans would start showing up as well.
He would just have to hang out with them appropriately.
Another two minutes passed.
Five minutes since opening.
This was around the time when someone who had taken a wrong turn would usually arrive.
Pado knew that well, since this was not his first Tstar.
Yet he could not see anyone who had taken a wrong turn.
He did not think it was anything to worry about.
He simply assumed it was an unusual day.
Then, three minutes later, people began to be pushed out from the center.
“Hmm?”
Except it was not a person but people, and not people but a crowd.
“Uh…?”
Pado, who had not seen Seojun’s brief stream twenty minutes earlier, could not help but be horrified.
A group of people moving together gave off an astonishingly primal sense of intimidation.
As they passed Pado’s booth, the people holding Seojun’s merchandise in one hand were saying things like:
“Ah, where’s the boss going? Show yourself.”
“Hey, mister, you didn’t give him an advertisement here, did you?”
Some even asked Pado directly.
“Why did he only say it was an indie game and then turn off the stream? Ah. We can’t not look for it.”
“It’s a chance to see him one more time. We have to go around.”
Pado stared blankly at the group as it passed.
“What on earth is going on?”
Then the next group passed their booth.
And then another.
The one thing they all had in common was that it was possible to tell exactly where they had visited.
They were holding merchandise in one hand.
Pado naturally moved his hand toward the community and opened a post with an unbelievable title.
[The lines at the central booths are insanely short right now! This is legendary ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
==
Go take advantage of this while you can.
Besides, isn’t it way too hard to find the booth the boss is going to?
==
-Does that matter right now?
-So is the boss at the center?
-Even if only a handful of people get to enjoy the luck of meeting the boss, I’m going!
└Is this for real? ㅋㅋㅋ No, what’s with your teamwork?
-The indie game booths seem pretty fun too.
It was the moment Tstar’s landscape changed.