****
*Sizzzzzle.*
Beef was placed on the hotly heated grill.
Garlic, mushrooms, green onions, and kimchi also took their places in the empty spots on the grill.
*Sizzle sizzle.*
The gravy subsided thickly, boiling while making delicious sounds one after another.
“I'm hungry. It looked delicious.”
Tae-woo said as he sat next to Seo-jun.
Seo-jun nodded in agreement with Tae-woo's words.
Seo-jun was particularly hungrier after connecting to virtual reality.
‘Usually, people gained weight during their senior year of high school.’
The reason for this was because mental activities like studying unexpectedly consumed very little calories.
It was said that while the brain consumed only about 1.5 kcal per minute no matter how hard it was used, simply walking lightly consumed 4 kcal per minute.
With intense exercise, one could burn up to 10 kcal, but because the perceived calories burned by examinees who studied constantly had to be high, they ended up eating more compared to the energy they actually used.
‘Virtual reality was the opposite.’
Although it was a mental activity, because the perceived calories burned were not high like studying, most people did not feel intense hunger like Seo-jun.
Seo-jun thought the cause was probably due to his low assimilation rate.
It was said that people with high assimilation rates did not feel fatigue even if they stayed in virtual reality all day.
It meant that the brain was so suited for virtual reality that energy was used efficiently.
If so, Seo-jun inevitably had to use a lot of energy.
Since he felt it was much more comfortable to stream in reality like this now, that said it all.
“Hello, everyone.”
Tae-woo looked at the transmission camera set up at the edge of the table and waved his hand.
- Tae-hi
- Looked f*cking delicious.
- My mouth was watering
- 'Give' me meat too
They looked at the chat window with their respective phones.
The current number of viewers was in the mid-twenty thousands.
Alpaca had told him that during peak times, although it was brief, it had exceeded thirty thousand.
It meant that it hit the jackpot to that extent.
Currently, the Travel broadcast category was changed to Mukbang.
Now, all that was left was to eat comfortably while chatting and then disperse.
- Was this why you had a day off today?
- Tae-woo, let's turn on the broadcast after eating all that. Broadcast was before health.
- Tae-hi
- Why were you joining in there?
Chats from people presumed to be viewers of Tae-woo's broadcast came up.
Since he was also an established streamer, it was certain that many of his viewers were among the twenty thousand viewers watching now.
Alpaca said as he flipped the meat.
“Why was Tae-woo-nim here? I also felt that fate was really fascinating, but they said Seo-jun-nim and Tae-woo-nim were close friends. The contact for the collaborative broadcast offer also came through Tae-woo-nim.”
- Oh?
- Tae-woo, you bastard, if you had such an awesome friend, you should have featured him on your broadcast long ago lolol
- Real lolol
“That's right. I led him onto the path of broadcasting.”
Tae-woo tried to place his hand on Seo-jun's shoulder, but Seo-jun swatted it away and blocked it.
- Was he parrying here too lololol
- He got stunned lolol
- Really fascinating. How did you get to know each other?
Seo-jun answered.
“I met him in high school and we became close. And after graduation, we lived together...”
However, the reaction was strange.
- Oh lolol
- Crazy, that housemate was Seo-jun-nim? lolololololol
- 'That guy' lololol
Viewers who knew Tae-woo were busy laughing, and those who did not know wondered why they were laughing.
And the heads of the remaining three also turned toward Tae-woo.
- ?? What is it
- Why were only you guys laughing
Tae-woo seemed flustered for a moment.
“No, everyone, it wasn't particularly funny. Wasn't that right? Haha. Hey. Viewers of our room, have some tact.”
['NoWay' made a generous donation of 1,000 won! - travel clip]
The video donation turned on.
It was called 'Young-do' for short, which was a form of donation that showed Travel clips or EyeTube videos that had no copyright issues.
The clip the viewer sent just now was Tae-woo's clip.
The video played and Tae-woo began to speak.
“[Guys, didn't I tell you I had a friend I lived with? Normally, he was very calm and mature, but sometimes when I watched him, he did weird things to the point that I wondered if it was the same person, you know?]”
Tae-woo on the screen seemed to have just turned on the broadcast.
“[Yes, yes. He was the guy who washed his phone thoroughly with soap last time. No, what did he do yesterday, *snicker*, I broadcasted for a long time yesterday, wasn't that right?]”
Alpaca and Lee Su-han looked at Seo-jun this time.
Asking if such a thing had happened.
“[So after I ended the broadcast and came out, the capsule was so hot that I thought I would have to keep running the cooler additionally, so I asked him to cool down the capsule a bit and went to wash up, right?]”
“[And after I finished washing and came out, he had been crouching next to the capsule and fanning it. With a serious expression. Huh. No, guys, it wasn't rigged, it was a true story. You would rather run a fan? I acknowledged that.]”
- Was this seriously a true story? lolol
- Were you an idiot?
- With this, the suspicion of rigging to induce donations earlier was completely blown away lol
- Just don't touch anything lolol
- Breaking News) Lee Su-han went to check if his capsule was broken by any chance lol
- There were many other legendary stories lolol
Seo-jun stepped hard on Tae-woo's foot under the table while calmly picking up a well-cooked piece of meat.
“Tsk. Eat quickly.”
<><><>
Seo-jun was able to hear various stories like the difficulties of being a streamer from Tae-woo and Alpaca.
And he also heard the success story of Alpaca and Lee Su-han.
It was said that originally, Lee Su-han was an early viewer of Alpaca.
And Alpaca was in a situation where he had only created the channel and left it abandoned because he had no money to hire an editor at the time.
A small-time streamer whose live broadcast viewers also hung around the hundred level.
That was Alpaca in the past.
To such an Alpaca, Lee Su-han said he saw potential and proposed to grow the EyeTube channel together.
At the time, Lee Su-han was an editor who received high treatment at his company.
This was because due to the nature of capsule games, the viewer's perspective was as dizzying as it was free, and editors who brought this out cleanly and well were rare.
Although Lee Su-han earned much more money now than when he worked at the company because he split the profits obtained from EyeTube in half with Alpaca.
He said it was a choice that carried a big risk at the time.
Fortunately, with the joining of the editor, Alpaca's YouTube grew, and thanks to that, it was said that live broadcast viewers also increased.
“An editor.”
Lee Su-han told Seo-jun that if he could not find a specific editor, he would even edit Seo-jun's videos for him.
Having returned home, Seo-jun went out to the veranda carrying a beer can to clear his complex mind.
Beyond the veranda, the plum tree that Seo-jun had planted came into view.
Seo-jun swept the freezing veranda floor with his hand, imagining the red flowers that the plum tree would bloom gorgeously.
It was just like the day he met his master for the first time.
It was not a very good memory, but for some unknown reason, he calmed down.
“Hmm. What should I do?”
The subject Seo-jun was contemplating right now was precisely EyeTube.
Those he met today were thinking that Seo-jun would naturally start EyeTube.
Because if one wanted to succeed as a streamer, doing EyeTube was unconditionally the right choice.
But
Seo-jun's plan was to somehow enter the Rios tournament, win, obtain only the capsule, and then quit being a streamer.
He had started with that intention in the first place.
The problem was.
Streaming was fun.
Playing games together with people was fun.
Watching his play, reacting in various ways, teasing each other, and being together.
Was fun.
*Psssssh.*
*Pop.*
Seo-jun cracked open the beer can and chugged it.
And he said while calmly looking outside.
“Was I... lonely?”
Perhaps it was so.
Remembering a past life.
It was like having a hometown that one missed for a lifetime but could not return to.
“What should I do?”
It was a day when thoughts deepened.
At times like this, simply.
“I should go to the gym for the first time in a while.”
He had to move his body.
<><><>
Lee Dong-soo was a starting player for a famous professional gaming team.
He woke up early in the morning and arrived at the gym where many celebrities went.
The team Lee Dong-soo belonged to achieved a decent, or in a way, excellent result of runner-up in this world tournament.
However, in the world of sports, if it was not a championship, it was meant to be meaningless.
While preparing for next year, the head coach instructed each player to undergo unconventional special training that was necessary.
The special training given to Lee Dong-soo was to learn how to fight in reality.
‘And physical training as well, while I'm at it.’
Through inquiries, the club's front office found a gym that guaranteed privacy to the extent that many famous celebrities went there, while also teaching martial arts fighters.
Of course, even so, there was nothing particularly special about it.
People who exercised only did their own things quietly and left, and the fighters were noisy but warm-hearted?
“Dong-soo, were you here? Go run on the treadmill.”
The director of the gym looked down at Lee Dong-soo.
He was f*cking tall and huge, and his face also looked fierce.
“No, Director. Today too?”
“Yes. Since this was not virtual reality, your physical strength had to be supported first.”
Lee Dong-soo harbored dissatisfaction at those words.
Even though it had only been two weeks since he started coming here.
“No, even so, doing only basic skills and physical training was too much.”
He could no longer tolerate such treatment.
He was a professional.
And a professional of the second strongest gaming team in the world.
Although there was a difference between virtual reality and reality, it was not an exaggeration to say that with skills like his, he was a master at handling his body.
In plain terms, weren't professionals the ones who adapted while perceiving all the body specs that changed every time in the game?
“I wanted to learn proper real combat. Yes?”
The director snorted.
And waving his hand as if soothing an annoying child, he said.
“Alright, alright. We could just do a rough sparring once today. So go run quickly.”
“Awesome! Then I could choose the sparring partner, right?”
“Do as you wish. You wouldn't beat anyone anyway.”
*Shoo shoo.*
Lee Dong-soo excited and began to run more passionately than usual.
His age was eighteen.
Although he dropped out of school and lived as an outstanding professional player, fundamentally, he was a hot-blooded high school student.
‘Bring it all on.’
Probably the opponent he would face today would also be a martial arts fighter, but he was seriously confident of winning.
It also seemed like his body had gotten much better as he exercised recently.
He began to scan the people while running on the treadmill, wondering who would be good to fight first.
‘As long as the weight class difference wasn't too big...’
It was then.
The entrance door opened, and for some reason, a person who resembled the streamer he saw yesterday walked in.
An obnoxiously handsome face.
It was not just resembling; it was that very person.
The streamer whose play he had watched briefly in clips because his teammate made a fuss about him being so good.
‘He didn't seem that good, though.’
Thanks to his teammate and close hyung, he knew even the detailed parts that he did not want to know about the streamer named Seo-jun.
‘His face was seriously exactly like his avatar. By the way, wasn't he a small-time streamer on his third day of broadcasting? But how did he come here?’
Anyway, it did not matter.
Seeing him greet the director, they seemed close.
His muscles did not particularly look muscular either.
‘Perfect.’
To be his first sparring partner, that was.