Translator: SourKimchi
Monday morning.
A single article, carried by a digital entertainment outlet centered on the Internet Broadcast community, spread fast.
[Issue] 'Akasha,' Jeong Ha-yeon Who Set the Internet Broadcast Scene Ablaze, Confirmed to Join Project Band ZXCV...... Plans to Continue Solo Broadcasting
Jeong Ha-yeon, far better known to Internet Broadcast viewers as 'Akasha,' had signed on as the final member of the project band ZXCV.
According to sources, Jeong Ha-yeon planned to balance band activities with her solo broadcasting, and the specifics would be revealed at a later date.
The moment the article dropped, viewers who'd caught the Spirit Reading special two days earlier started carrying the link into the communities.
A few of them posted screencaps from the broadcast alongside it, and the reactions piled on fast.
-whoa she actually got in
-word is jeong ha-yeon is ZXCV's last member
-who even is jeong ha-yeon
⤷ocean streamer akasha
-oh THAT'S who she is?
-weird seeing her real name in a headline
-anyone remember her old piano streams?
-honestly not bad if she's keeping the streams
-don't get your hopes up lol she'll just hand-sync it
-lmaooo they literally brought her in as a figurehead
-a band with an ex-female-cam-streamer lol the aggro's guaranteed at least
It had started as an Akasha story.
But before the reactions could run more than a few lines deep, the center of the conversation started tilting somewhere else.
-heard she made up her mind after that spirit reading the other day, that true?
⤷yep, anyone who watched the stream knows
-what even IS that PerpetualJobSeeker stream
-got chills watching him call the cheating-boyfriend catch AND the Croco thing
-between akasha and all this, that stream's the one that actually shook the whole scene up, no?
Someone in the community put together a rundown of every Spirit Reading PerpetualJobSeeker had done so far and posted it.
-29YearOldJobless : told him not to go to the interview → the bus he was gonna take crashed
-BonelessRamyeon : boyfriend's got another woman → caught cheating red-handed
-agei : warned of a stock crash → Novagen Therapeutics plunged
(omitted)
-Croco : warned about a connections-based scam → crypto evidence broke
-Akasha : found out about an unofficial offer → joined the band ZXCV
Once the rundown went up, the reactions ran even hotter.
-hold on, he called ALL of that?
-this is way past just "good at fortune-telling"
-so jealous of everyone who caught it live
-where do you go to get a spirit reading?
-where do you even sign up for a reservation?
-how much's the divination fee?
-does he have socials, where do the announcements drop?
Inquiry threads flooded every community.
Posts asking how the reservations worked, how much the divination fee was, when the next broadcast would go live, they went up without a pause.
Even people who had never watched a single broadcast started hunting down clips and Replay links to share.
The reaction showed up in the numbers right away.
PerpetualJobSeeker's social media follower count had started climbing steeply.
Views on his broadcast clips and Replay traffic had noticeably swelled too.
A name that, until just recently, had only circulated within Ocean was now starting to spread across the entire Internet Broadcast scene.
***
Ocean's operations team had been slammed since Monday morning.
Across desks lit up with banks of monitors, the clatter of keyboards and the click of mice overlapped again and again.
One person scanned a screen with a half-finished coffee parked beside them; another kept refreshing the real-time metrics that had just updated.
Then one of the staff muttered.
"......what the hell is this."
The coworker beside him asked without looking up.
"What is it?"
"PerpetualJobSeeker's stream."
A short answer, and the monitor swung around.
The graph had spiked sharply upward.
The live viewer count had hit 30,000 the instant he went live.
Even after the broadcast ended, the influx of new viewers didn't let up.
Clip creation count.
New signups.
Follower growth.
Water Drop purchases.
Even watch time.
Every last one of them was spiking abnormally.
"Is this a glitch?"
"Nope. The payment logs are totally clean too."
"Wasn't the mood on that stream the other day super heavy?"
"That's exactly why they latched on harder. The more intense it is, the more entertaining."
One of the staff let out a disbelieving laugh.
"The streamers are practically dying from the pressure, and the viewer count just keeps climbing."
"The forums are nothing but PerpetualJobSeeker too. That Spirit Reading stream's getting mentioned more than Akasha joining ZXCV."
"Is this even okay? Private life, past, whatever, he just blurts out everything he sees. One wrong move and it's a lawsuit on the spot."
"As long as none of it splashes back on us. The viewers love it. The more intense it is, the more they pile in, and it makes money. Which is exactly what makes it such a headache."
Just then the operations lead cut in abruptly.
"PerpetualJobSeeker, he's still a regular streamer right now, right?"
"Yes, sir. He only started broadcasting a little while ago."
"Other platforms are gonna catch the scent and come running, then."
"Catch the scent? They're probably already making calls."
The operations lead frowned.
"What's his revenue share?"
"He's regular tier right now, so 60/40."
The operations lead's expression hardened.
"Best is 70/30, Partner is 80/20, right?"
"Yes."
Someone said carefully.
"For someone at PerpetualJobSeeker's level, isn't keeping him on regular tier the stranger call?"
The operations lead didn't answer right away.
Instead, he looked down at the screen with PerpetualJobSeeker's broadcast metrics on it for a while.
Even to his eye, the PerpetualJobSeeker of right now was no longer regular-streamer weight class.
And it wasn't just the special broadcast. His everyday solo broadcast numbers had been unusually strong too.
The Water Drop volume in particular was enough to go toe-to-toe with most Female Cam Streamer broadcasts.
Soon the operations lead said, curtly.
"Pull the data. We're going up right now."
Data hastily assembled in hand, the operations lead came out and headed straight for the CEO's office.
Standing in front of the door, he gave a light knock.
Knock knock.
"Come in."
The operations lead opened the door, stepped inside, and set the data on the table.
The CEO, leaning back into the sofa, flipped through the documents one page at a time.
At first there was no real change in his expression.
When he'd checked them through to the end, the CEO looked up.
"PerpetualJobSeeker? These are all the numbers from that Spirit Reading special?"
"Yes."
"The broadcast you said was a problem?"
"Yes."
The CEO set the documents down and asked.
"A problem how."
"We can't control it."
"Control?"
"There's no predicting how far he'll go in exposing someone, or who he'll touch and how. One slip and we could end up on the front page of the news."
The CEO propped his chin on his hand and sank into thought for a moment.
"But it's making money?"
"Yes."
"Community reaction?"
"It's complicated. Loud, though. The noisier it gets, the better the story spreads, after all."
The CEO twisted his lips into a smirk.
"Fair. The bigger the controversy, the bigger the crowd."
The operations lead pressed on, carefully.
"Which means there's a good chance the other platforms are already moving on him."
"What are our terms with him?"
"He's set as a regular streamer right now."
The CEO let out a dry laugh.
"You've still got him on regular tier?"
"It's just that he hasn't been broadcasting very long...."
The CEO ran his eyes over the data one more time, then parted his lips.
"Bump him to Partner immediately. Give him whatever signing bonus he asks for. In exchange, land the exclusive contract."
"Yes, sir."
"Oh, one more thing."
The operations lead stopped mid-step.
"I'd like a Spirit Reading myself. Think that's possible?"
"Even you, sir...... would have to wait in line."
"......"
The CEO was briefly at a loss for words.
The operations lead grew awkward right along with him.
"Then bring it up when you talk contract. Tell him I'd like to see him."
"Sir?"
"That Ocean's CEO would like to meet him quietly, off to the side."
"......ah, yes. Understood."
The operations lead left, and the office fell quiet again.
The CEO looked down at the data on the table one more time, then muttered to himself.
"Still, I'm the CEO here."
***
Monday evening.
The Akasha article had the world in an uproar all day, yet Park Ji-hun's apartment, of all places, was quiet.
Ji-hun, who had lain in bed all day, finally hauled himself up only after the sun had set completely.
Maybe because it was an Off-Broadcast Day, he felt even more sluggish than usual.
He was hungry.
He was rummaging through the fridge when it happened.
His phone rang.
It was Kim Woo-sik.
"What."
"Yo, you alive?"
"I picked up, didn't I. What."
"Let's grab a drink. Quit holing up in your place."
"Can't be bothered."
"Then should I just come over to yours?"
"......where."
"The Street-Tent Bar we always hit up."
Ji-hun let out a short sigh, threw on a zip-up hoodie, and headed out.
The Street-Tent Bar was already packed with people.
Laughter and the clink of glasses drifted in through the clear plastic sheeting, all tangled together.
Woo-sik, seated at a spot toward the back, flicked a hand to wave him over.
"What took you so long."
"Be grateful I came at all."
"You see the Akasha article?"
"More or less."
The moment Ji-hun sat down, he reached for the soju glass first.
Woo-sik slid a plate of food over, snickering.
"The scene you caused on that special, man. I swear my heart nearly dropped watching it."
"You're the one who told me to be honest."
"Yeah, but still. It made the news and turned everything upside down."
"......shut up."
They were trading this and that over drinks when it happened.
The plastic flap at the entrance stirred, and then a familiar face stepped inside.
Ji-hun's hand stopped.
He was in a suit, but he looked like a wreck.
One side of his shirt collar sat crooked, and the shadows under his eyes had settled in dark, like a man who hadn't slept in days.
His face was noticeably gaunt, too.
Woo-sik frowned and asked.
"Someone you know?"
Ji-hun stared at the man and spoke.
"......Nathan?"
Kim Tae-jun flinched for a second, then came closer.
He smiled awkwardly and asked.
"Would it be all right if I joined you?"
Ji-hun said nothing and only set his soju glass down.
Kim Tae-jun took the empty seat across from him.
An awkward silence stretched for a moment.
Woo-sik spoke up first.
"Nathan, that's the Chairman of your stream, the third-generation chaebol heir, right?"
Kim Tae-jun answered before Ji-hun could.
"Yes. That's the Nathan, all right."
Ji-hun spoke in an icy voice.
"How did you know to come here?"
"I came because there's something I need to say to you."
"Let's hear it, then."
Kim Tae-jun, still smiling awkwardly, drank a cup of water and went on.
"I've been having a rough time lately."
Ji-hun said nothing.
Reading the room, Kim Tae-jun said.
"I need help."
This time, too, there was no answer.
Hesitating, Kim Tae-jun asked in a desperate voice.
"Is there really no way?"
Ji-hun's gaze settled into something cold.
"You know my broadcast rules."
Kim Tae-jun gritted his teeth.
After a moment's silence, he said carefully.
"Could you step outside for a minute?"
Ji-hun didn't move.
"It'll only take a minute."
After watching him for a while, Ji-hun finally rose from his seat.
Woo-sik looked back and forth between the two of them, dumbfounded.
"Hey, what's going on? Should I come too?"
"It's fine. I'll be right back."
Out beyond the Street-Tent Bar, the night air was cool.
Without a word, Kim Tae-jun walked toward a car parked at the curb. It was a foreign luxury car, completely out of place in a neighborhood like this.
Ji-hun stayed standing a few steps off, watching him.
Kim Tae-jun caught his breath for a moment in front of the trunk.
Then he opened it without hesitation.
Inside sat a single black bag.
Kim Tae-jun lifted it out and worked the lock open himself.
Click.
The bag was packed tight with bundles of 50,000-won notes.
"It's 100 million."
Ji-hun looked at Kim Tae-jun without a word.
Kim Tae-jun forced his lips apart.
"Please. Help me."