Chapter 65
[Jin Seo-jun: So is it over now?]
[Han Ji-min: Yep]
[Lee Geon-yeong: Good night, everyone]
Thus ended the meeting of the Seodongbu.
Seo-jun closed the chat room and entered the community.
The reason was to check the post by streamer Bang-ju that he had heard about through an email.
"What’s this TOP10."
Just from the word itself, one could naturally assume it was something good, but he needed to check further.
Seo-jun entered the integrated page of the game webzine community Adventure, not a page dedicated to a single game.
Then something embedded on the right side caught his eye.
[Today's TOP10]
"Looks like a board where they collect popular posts based on the overall community posts."
Seo-jun pressed the 'see more' button below to check more posts.
It didn't seem to live up to its name.
Although it was called TOP10, there were more than 10 posts.
"All sorts of game talk is here."
Mostly, games that he had heard of somewhere dominated.
And among them, the most overwhelming game was Hyeop-eul Wihayeo.
Out of the top 50 posts, 30 were taken by the Hyeop-eul Wihayeo community, that is, No-hyeop.
"The battlefield is this big."
Of course, the fact that there were no major overlapping events with other games at this time seemed to play a part.
No, that probably was the biggest reason.
During the Lios season, they say all 50 posts are plastered with Lios talk.
"Is the meeting over?"
"Yeah."
Tae-woo burst through the door.
"Chicken’s here. Come out, man."
He hadn't even said what menu he wanted, but he ordered well on his own.
Seo-jun smiled contentedly.
"What are you looking at? Top Ten?"
"Ah, right."
Only then did Seo-jun remember the reason he had entered this place and began scrolling back up, checking the author names, from where he had scrolled all the way down.
"What are you looking for? It's mostly battlefield talk now, so boring. Are you looking for talk about you?"
Roughly correct.
"Since they said it was on here, maybe it's at 10th place."
"10th place? Even major streamers have a hard time getting there in the current situation. Did you do some novel shit again?"
"No. I just played the game normally, but..."
As he scrolled up, Seo-jun felt something unusual.
No matter how much he scrolled up, he couldn't see Bang-ju.
If it goes like this.
"1st place? Looks like this is it."
Oh.
[1st place] [Hyeop-eul Wihayeo] [Today's battlefield. A moment like a fabrication!]
It was a post written by the nickname Bang-ju.
As befitting 1st place, the view count and recommendation count were no joke.
"Is it you? The view count's already over 150,000. No one can stop Bang-ju of the battlefield."
Tae-woo also seemed to know about Bang-ju.
What on earth did he write? Seo-jun clicked on the post with curiosity.
And after reading it all, Seo-jun laughed.
Appropriate clip placement, and appropriate dialogue.
It was a post with a very well-done situation explanation.
'Didn't he say he'd take it down immediately if I wanted?'
In Seo-jun's view, there was absolutely no reason to take down this community post.
The reactions weren't bad, and it wasn't written badly about him.
"Hah. Did something like that happen to you? Why does that user Baek-ho look pitiful. Hehe."
Tae-woo, who had been checking alongside him, also laughed heartily.
"I told you you play the game weirdly. Anyway. Check out the comment reactions."
"I don't think it's particularly weird?"
"What?"
"Look at this."
Scrolling down, he found a perfectly fitting comment.
-LOLOL Cheonma villain was so damn funny LOLOL
└Why are you doing this
└In Hyeop-eul Wihayeo, this is the average
"It says it's the average."
"……."
"……."
After a brief silence, Tae-woo shook his head.
"This is why I don't play this game."
To be honest.
He felt a bit of self-loathing.
Just a little bit.
-This is the Demon Cult!
-He's really freaking good. How did he know to strike that?
└Because he's the Heavenly Demon!
└Seo-jun, he's the Heavenly Demon! Seo-jun, he's the Heavenly Demon! Seo-jun, he's the Heavenly Demon!
└What kind of fandom is becoming like real cultists tsk tsk
└Maybe you're also a 3-minute curry squad?
-Demon cultists vs Curry squad, my heart swells!
-If it goes like this, I seriously think he'll just take 16th place? LOLOL
└Totally fucking possible
└Seeing his fight with Baek-ho, even if he meets rankers, he might just bully them
-The stream is fun LOLOLOL
Tae-woo, who saw this, spoke.
"Just how big are you trying to get! Stop growing!"
* * *
MONSTER. The garage, the headquarters of an indie game development company making a game, was lit up with the light of overtime work.
"Boss, an email came."
"What email?"
"You know, the one where we asked that streamer directly. If he's good at horror games."
"Ah, that? That was fast."
They had agonized a lot over scouting a streamer to place ads.
The reason was that if this project failed, the company would be finished.
Thus, advertising was that important.
For a famous franchise game, most streamers will play it even without ads, and just adding events is enough.
They had absolutely no recognition.
There was probably no user, aside from themselves, who knew of this company's existence and that this game was being made.
It is the fate of indie games.
"Then, is there no future for indie games? That's not true. Am I right!"
The boss suddenly stood up from his seat, put his hands behind his back, and wandered around.
"Right. What was it."
He, unfazed by the familiar situation, went about his work and gave a perfunctory answer.
"Dracula Survival?"
"Yes, that."
Dracula Survival.
A game with a really simple plot, but it was incredibly fun.
But the reason this game became popular was not only the fun of playing it, but also the fun of watching it.
"There are many others. Promoted through broadcasts, word of mouth. More streamers play the game. More people watch."
It's a virtuous cycle.
"Yes, yes. That's why I'm currently searching, isn't it? We can't modify the game any further here."
"Alright. I actually asked the other staff too."
"And?"
"A few said that streamer Seo-jun would be good. If he gets scared easily, that's best."
"So, what should we do?"
"First, what did the email say?"
"It says he's good at horror games as a streamer."
Saying he's good at horror games as a streamer means he gets scared easily.
"That's really unexpected? Is he surprisingly timid?"
He definitely seemed like nothing short of a psychopath.
"He fits perfectly. Rising recently. Bad at horror games. Has a colleague for chemistry."
"Plus, a person who usually seems subtly cold getting scared would produce a doubly funny scene. Hehe. He's truly the optimal talent."
It was half decided.
"Okay. Then when should we contact him? After the list is all sorted?"
"Let's do it later. Right now, his viewer count seems a bit inflated because of Hyeop-eul Wihayeo. If we wait until it drops a bit more and then make the offer, we could save the budget, don't you think?"
"Okay."
"Later, when the battlefield ends, the viewer count will probably go down somewhat. It's not like subscriber numbers jump in a day, and viewer counts increase tremendously in a week, right."
* * *
The next day.
Han Ji-min had sent the email and slept like a log.
Today too, she got up from her bed with a peaceful heart.
After being betrayed by someone she had raised up, more than financial loss, it was solely the sense of betrayal that made her burn up inside, tossing and turning for hours, unable to sleep properly.
Now, she felt refreshed.
"Hehehe. Heh. Hehehe."
Lying on the bed, Han Ji-min turned on her phone and went into iTube.
It was her morning routine.
That is,
[The dude who can't just pass a pebble lol] - views 12k
[Didn't you say go down!] - views 7k
[Why the mafia game is scary] - views 5k
[Save me] - views 11k
"Ah. So refreshing. Really. Hah."
She couldn't contain her laughter.
She wasn't usually the type to feel joy at others' misfortune, but it's a different story when it's the misfortune of an enemy.
The owner of the iTube channel whose view counts had dropped miserably was Han Ji-min's former employer.
A situation where average views that used to be around 100k had dropped to a tenth.
Since it was a channel she had raised, it might be bitter, but unexpectedly she didn't feel that at all; only a cathartic feeling.
"As expected. I guess the viewers feel it all too."
Even though there were few comments, it seemed they were giving feedback with some fan sentiment.
-The editing style feels somewhat inconsistent. It used to be clean and good before.
Han Ji-min checked other comments the commenter had left on this channel.
-Why don't you upload videos regularly like this?
-Please correct the spelling. 1:37 2:14.
-Today's video is boring.
It precisely states the reasons the average views dropped.
"What does that bastard think when he sees this?"
Editing of lower quality and a different style from usual.
The upload cycle, once daily, had become chaotic.
Channel management was completely absent.
"He must have tried to save money and ended up like this."
It's obvious.
After all, the reason he had fired her was also money.
Tsk, even though he'd never done channel management.
Once it crashes like that, even if it recovers, it'll take a long time to get algorithm recommendations.
Though it might not recover at all.
"Phew. I should stop doing this now."
She had laughed her fill. It was cathartic.
"Just until tomorrow, one more time."
Yeah. Just until tomorrow.
"Anyway, I really didn't expect growth this fast. Even though the boss keeps driving issues."
50k subscribers!
The upward trend was insane.
And above all.
[Lee Geon-yeong: I organized all of yesterday's broadcast points]
[Lee Geon-yeong: (file)]
[Han Ji-min: Thanks]
The work is so easy.
Before, she had made one video a day.
Because uploading one video a day greatly increases the chance of being chosen by the algorithm.
A different editor? It was unthinkable until she established herself and made profits.
But now.
She makes a video every two days, and the colleague editor notes everything from the thumbnail to editing points.
That doesn't mean she's slacking off.
Having a share in the channel literally means being an owner.
She couldn't lack a sense of ownership.
Moreover, if she could gauge how much profit would come from the current view counts alone, she had no choice but to work harder!
"A 10-minute video earns 4 won per view."
Even roughly calculating, it's at least 12 million won a month.
Among that, Han Ji-min's share is 25%.
That's 3 million won. And adding the base salary of 1.5 million, it's 4.5 million won.
"Since it's 25%, it's a bit lower than when it was at its peak before."
Anyway, that peak didn't even last more than three months.
In contrast, this is the first month.
"This is crazy."
She must grow this channel further. With everything she can do.
"But wait a sec. The subscriber count is weird?"
The subscriber count she had checked the previous day was definitely 50k.
But why is it 100k after waking up!