****
Going back in time to yesterday.
“Is there anything to talk about?”
“What, punk.”
Alpaca was having a conversation with Lee Su-han, his editor and manager.
“The person doing the joint broadcast this time, I heard it's only been two days since they started broadcasting.
But I'm asking if there is even any source material to unpack on stream.”
Namely, about the joint broadcast with the new streamer.
Lee Su-han said, harboring doubts.
Usually, the rookie discovery content mainly targeted streamers who were just starting to rise.
Regardless of whether it was a tournament, a joint broadcast with someone, or any other occasion, it was when a small-time streamer was just beginning to receive attention.
Alpaca would invite the streamer to liven up his own broadcast content and help them out at the same time.
The majority of the viewers of the streamer invited in that manner consisted of new viewers.
It was content that created a bond with those new viewers by digging up the streamer's past actions, simply put, their dark history from their small-time days, to provide laughter.
That was precisely the rookie discovery content.
The period it took for each streamer to receive the spotlight varied immensely.
But.
A streamer who had only been broadcasting for two days was a first.
“But Su-han-ah, there's one thing you're misunderstanding.”
“What is it?”
“That person is coming with the vibe of an Expert Showcase.”
“Expert Showcase? You've never done anything like that before.
No, more than that, a second-day streamer…
Ah!”
Lee Su-han clapped his hands as if he had realized something.
“A famous expert started broadcasting! What game expert is it?”
Alpaca let out a sigh.
If he had only watched today's broadcast, he would have known the whole story.
However, it was impossible to ask him, who was in charge of Alpaca's Itube management, manager duties, and editing work, to watch every single broadcast.
But
“Assassin's Dawn.”
“What? An expert in that kind of game.
Pfft.”
Lee Su-han had not missed his broadcast because he was busy, but rather had simply not watched it.
Specifically, because he was hooked on the game called 'The League'.
It had already been several years.
“I knew you would say that. But your mind will probably change if you watch the video too, you know?”
As Alpaca fiddled with his phone and showed signs of displaying something, Lee Su-han snorted.
“Seriously. At best, it's just good play in an assassination game. Not watching. Not buying.”
‘You have to watch it when editing anyway.’
Alpaca swallowed the remaining words inwardly.
“What's so fun and difficult about PvE.
Huh?
The characteristic of those games is that anyone can clear them if they put in just a little effort.”
To easily summarize the meaning of PvE (Player Vs Environment), it referred to a user fighting against an AI.
It was the opposite of PvP.
From the past until now, Alpaca had eagerly told him to try Assassin's Dawn, but Lee Su-han had refused, saying that fighting against machines was not fun at all.
“Well, anyway, you're saying it's like an Expert Showcase, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then do whatever you want. I should run one more match.”
It was when Lee Su-han was entering his room.
“Ah, right.”
Alpaca recalled what he had forgotten.
Namely, the reason why he had brought up doing a joint broadcast in the first place.
“Can you lend your capsule to the streamer coming tomorrow?”
“What? There is a spare capsule.”
Lee Su-han said, hardening his face.
“He said it has to be your capsule. You recently changed to the most expensive one, right?
It's because his assimilation rate is a bit low.”
“How can an expert have a low assimilation rate?”
Assimilation rate.
A numerical value for how much one perceived the virtual reality world to be like reality.
The stereotype that one had to have a high assimilation rate to be good at capsule games was half, no, mostly true.
As a side note, there were cases where this numerical value exceeded 100.
When they fell deeply into a fantasy world that was more real than reality, completed their dive, and came out of the capsule, they actually felt a sense of foreignness.
Just like a diver suffering from decompression sickness when coming up to the surface.
This was called Phantom Diving Sickness, and the characteristic of people suffering from such symptoms was that they showed tremendous performance in the virtual reality world with a high assimilation rate.
Lee Su-han contemplated for a moment and answered shortly.
“Ah, I don't want to.
No way.”
“Why.”
“You want me to let someone who is worse at games than me use my brand-new favorite horse that I haven't even used much?”
Lee Su-han was a skilled person who maintained a high tier in The League while playing the game in his spare time.
“That person is probably better than you.”
However, when looking with extremely objective eyes, Alpaca knew that the streamer named Jin Seo-jun would be better.
Even if it was PvE, there were not many people who could imitate such movements.
The problem was that Lee Su-han was a guy who would not even try to watch the video, and would not admit it even after watching.
‘Sigh.
I'll have to tell him to use mine.’
His capsule was not bad either.
No matter how naturally Seo-jun would win, he could not very well tell him to fight with his editor just to borrow a capsule.
However, at Lee Su-han's question, Alpaca suddenly felt goosebumps as another thought dominated his mind.
‘Come to think of it, even though his assimilation rate is low...
that means he showed such play in an unsuitable state.’
Wow.
Then how much better does he fight in reality?
Maybe a gangster?
No, since he uses a sword…
Yakuza?
An imagination of a man with a large scar on his face, wearing a floral shirt and holding a raw fish knife, was drawn in Alpaca's mind.
<><><>
“Hello.
I am streamer Alpaca.”
The eyes of Alpaca, who opened the door with a slightly trembling hand, grew wide.
It was because Seo-jun's face closely resembled the avatar he had shown in virtual reality.
‘I thought he would have just adjusted it moderately like other people since they said the avatar scanned the real face, but it was really exactly as scanned!’
Fortunately, unlike his imagination, Seo-jun's face was that of a neat and handsome young man.
To the extent that he felt guilty for having such strange imaginations the previous day.
“Yes, hello.
I am streamer Jin Seo-jun.”
Meanwhile, Seo-jun was also looking around.
Because he was curious about what the studio of a long-running streamer in his early thirties looked like.
“Hyung, it's been a long time. I came too.”
“Tae-woo, it's been a long time too. Come, this way.”
Seo-jun shook hands with Alpaca and then followed the guidance into a spacious living room.
From the outside, it looked like an ordinary home, but it felt like the work space and resting space were thoroughly separated.
As he and Tae-woo sat on the sofa, Alpaca went to the kitchen to make coffee, and as a closed room opened, a man with a fierce impression appeared.
“Hello. I am the editor, Lee Su-han.”
Lee Su-han grinned while stretching out his hand to Seo-jun.
“I am streamer Jin Seo-jun. Nice to meet you.”
Seo-jun felt power in the tightly clasped hand. Was it a battle of nerves?
“I heard your assimilation rate is low.”
“Yes.”
“But I heard you are good at games.”
“Well, I'm on the better side.”
While making a short and brief joint broadcast teaser video yesterday, Lee Su-han was able to examine Seo-jun's play.
And he was feeling a competitive spirit at the unexpectedly good skill.
*Thud.*
The subtle tension was broken.
It was because Alpaca placed the cups down on the table with a clatter.
Alpaca glared at Lee Su-han out of the corner of his eye and sat Seo-jun in his seat.
“Now, now. Since we've greeted each other, let's talk about the broadcast. Have you seen the teaser video?”
Seo-jun nodded.
The video uploaded along with the joint broadcast announcement on Alpaca's fan cafe and Itube.
While splendidly recreating Seo-jun's play, the video that captured fun by intersecting it with the scene of Alpaca boasting was brief, but it was perfect for promotional purposes.
“Thanks to Seo-jun-nim, the reaction is hot. Since you definitely have the skills, the video comes to life, and there's a pleasure in watching, kya.”
Whether that reaction was real or not would be revealed a bit later.
“The editor did everything. It's nothing.”
Lee Su-han scratched the back of his neck, showing an awkward smile at the compliment.
“Hahaha. No, it's not. But while editing, I saw that you are good at games, is it really only been two days since you played the game?”
“Hmm, no. If possible, you have to keep it a secret, but actually, I played it briefly in the past.”
Seo-jun thought that there was no need to hide the fact itself that he had played games in the past.
“If it was in the past, when?”
“I played The League briefly seven years ago.”
Alpaca was hooked on the mention of seven years ago, and Lee Su-han was hooked on the sound of 'The League'.
“Were you good back then too? What was your tier?”
A gleam arose in Lee Su-han's eyes.
Tier was an English word meaning rank.
Mainly in games, it was used when dividing the stages of items or the grades of players.
“Silver.”
Silver was the tier where the majority of ordinary users were placed.
“I don't think so. There's no way you suddenly became good after playing the game after a long time.”
“Well...”
Seo-jun shrugged his shoulders.
Lee Su-han eventually accepted it. Since the person himself said no, what of it.
However, it was true that the current skill of Seo-jun seen through the video was on a level similar to his.
So.
“Seo-jun-nim. Would you like to face off with me in the Training Ground once?”
Lee Su-han wanted to clash with Seo-jun once.
After speaking, Lee Su-han rolled his eyes and examined the reaction.
Seo-jun showed a troubled look, and.
Tae-woo, who was beside him, actually welcomed it and asked.
While wearing a meaningful smile, that is.
“Training Ground with Seo-jun? Why?”
“Because I want to compete in skills.”
“With him?”
“Yeah.”
Hahaha!
Suddenly, Tae-woo burst into laughter.
Lee Su-han stared unpleasantly at him, who was laughing for some unknown reason, and Alpaca, who had been lost in thought, raised his head and stared at Tae-woo.
And Seo-jun felt like he knew why he was laughing.
“Hyung-nim. Don't do that.”
“Huh?”
“Anyway, don't do it. Pfft.”
“...?”
Before he knew it, Tae-woo was looking at Seo-jun. With a playful smile.
Seo-jun recognized the meaning of that gaze.
It meant whether he could speak.
Seo-jun nodded his head as a sign of permission, since Tae-woo was close friends with them and even if the story leaked, there would be no evidence.
“This is also a secret, but if you want to fight him in the Training Ground, just challenge Level 10.”
It was practically a statement that Seo-jun was unknown.
The eyes of Alpaca and Lee Su-han, who understood the meaning, were dyed with shock.
“Is… is that true?”
“Of course.”
Tae-woo pulled out his phone as if he had been waiting, played the video, and handed it to Alpaca, and Lee Su-han stood up abruptly to watch the video and went to Alpaca's side.
And the exclamations that burst out.
“Wow.”
“Oh.”
“This?”
“That's Shin Ha-yeon, though?”
“We've invited someone even more amazing than I thought.”
“I suddenly feel burdened about the joint broadcast today?”
“Wait, he didn't get hit even once, did he?”
“It's seriously one-sided.”
“Kya.”
“The final coolness is insane.”
Alpaca looked back and forth between the video and Seo-jun with eyes containing a bit more conviction, murmured 'seven years ago', and fell back into thought, and Lee Su-han spoke toward Seo-jun after finishing the video.
“I shall serve you as my hyung-nim.”
The gaze of Lee Su-han, who had been looking at him as a competitor until just now, completely changed.
“Yes?”
“If you're good at games, you're the hyung-nim.”
Seo-jun gasped in embarrassment.
Come to think of it, it would not be strange if he were treated as an elder rather than a hyung-nim, but.
Seo-jun struck Kim Tae-woo, who was giggling for no reason.
He simply wanted to strike him.
And Lee Su-han checked the clock and tapped Alpaca's shoulder.
“Hey, you, what are you doing? It's almost hyung-nim's broadcast time.”
“Uh?
It's nothing.
Now!
Let's go start the broadcast.
Here, my capsule...”
“Please come this way, hyung-nim. I will escort you comfortably.”
Alpaca looked at Lee Su-han, who was taking Seo-jun to the workroom where his capsule was, with absurd eyes.
‘I have to redo the settings, you bastard.’
Seo-jun entered the workroom following Lee Su-han, and Alpaca let out a sigh and walked to his broadcasting room.
And he changed the setting values of the capsule.
He also prepared the ingredients for the get-together that would follow after the game ended and the broadcast was closed.
Although his broadcast had many spontaneous parts, he tended to do such preparations meticulously.
By the way,
‘Even if it was an AI, to think he defeated Shin Ha-yeon.’
Alpaca somehow wanted to continue his relationship with Seo-jun even after this broadcast ended.
And if Seo-jun was indeed that user he was guessing...
‘No.
I went too far.’
Alpaca shook his head and entered the capsule.