Chapter 18

Sssssizzle!

Beef was placed onto the blazing hot grill.

Garlic, mushrooms, green onions, and kimchi also found their spots on the grill.

Sizzle, sizzle.

As the meat juices thickened and bubbled, delicious sounds filled the air one after another.

"I'm starving. That looks so good."

Taewoo spoke as he sat down next to Seojun.

Seojun nodded in agreement.

Ever since entering virtual reality, Seojun had been especially hungry all the time.

'Most students gain weight during their senior year of high school.'

The reason was that mental activities like studying surprisingly didn't consume that many calories.

No matter how hard the brain worked, it only burned around 1.5 kcal per minute, while even light walking consumed about 4 kcal per minute.

Intense exercise could burn up to 10 kcal.

Since students constantly studying felt like they were expending enormous amounts of energy, they often ended up eating more than they actually burned.

'Virtual reality is the opposite.'

Although it was a mental activity, unlike studying, it didn't create the sensation of heavy calorie consumption, so most people didn't experience severe hunger like Seojun did.

Seojun believed the cause was his low synchronization rate.

People with high synchronization rates reportedly felt no fatigue even after spending all day inside virtual reality.

That meant their brains were naturally suited to VR, allowing energy to be used more efficiently.

Which meant Seojun inevitably consumed far more energy.

The fact that streaming in reality like this felt significantly more comfortable already said enough.

"Hello, everyone."

Taewoo waved toward the streaming camera set up at the end of the table.

Ta-ha.That looks insanely good.I'm drooling.Give me meat too.

Everyone checked the chat through their own phones.

The current viewer count was in the mid twenty-thousands.

At peak hours, Alpaca had said they briefly surpassed thirty thousand viewers.

That alone showed just how massive the stream had become.

The stream category had now been changed to mukbang.

All that remained was to eat comfortably, chat casually, and end the stream.

So this is why you took the day off today?Taewoo, finish eating and turn your stream on. Streaming comes before health.Ta-ha.Why are you there anyway?

Messages that were likely from Taewoo's viewers flooded the chat.

He was a mid-sized streamer himself, so plenty of the current twenty-thousand viewers were undoubtedly his audience too.

While flipping the meat, Alpaca spoke.

"You're asking why Taewoo's here? Honestly, I also thought it was crazy how small the world is, but apparently Mr. Seojun and Taewoo are close friends. The collab proposal actually came through Taewoo."

Oh?Taewoo, if you had a friend this awesome you should've brought him on stream way earlier LMAO.LOLLLLL.

"That's right. I'm the one who guided him down the path of streaming."

Taewoo tried to drape an arm around Seojun's shoulder, but Seojun slapped it away.

He parried him here too LMAOOOO.Taewoo got stunned LOL.This is so interesting. How did you guys meet?

Seojun answered.

"We met in high school and became friends. Then after graduation we started living together…"

But the reaction was strange.

LMAOOOOOOOO.HOLY SHIT, that roommate was Seojun?! LMAOOOOOOOO."That guy" LMAOOO.

The viewers who knew Taewoo were busy laughing, while those who didn't had no idea what was happening.

The other three also turned to look at Taewoo.

?? What's going on?Why are only you guys laughing?

Taewoo suddenly looked flustered.

"No, guys, it's not even that funny. Right? Haha. Hey. My viewers seriously need to learn self-control."

['NoChance' donated 1,000 won! – Travel Clip]

A video donation started playing.

Usually called "vid donos," they were donations that played Travel clips or copyright-safe iTube videos.

The clip the viewer sent was one of Taewoo's own clips.

The video began, and Taewoo started speaking.

[Guys, remember how I said I have a roommate? Normally he's super calm and mature, but sometimes he does stuff so weird it makes me wonder if he's even the same person.]

It looked like Taewoo had just started his stream.

[Yep yep, it's the same guy who once scrubbed his phone with soap. Anyway, yesterday he did something else. Pffft— I streamed for a really long time yesterday, right?]

This time Alpaca and Lee Suhan looked toward Seojun.

Apparently that had happened too.

[So after ending the stream, my capsule was overheating, and I thought I'd need to keep the cooler running longer, so I asked him to cool it down while I went to shower.]

[Then after I came back from showering, this guy was crouched next to the capsule fanning it by hand. With a dead serious expression. LMAO. Guys, this isn't fake, it's real. Sure, using an electric fan would've made sense. I'll admit that.]

NO WAY THIS IS REAL LMAOOOOOOOO.Is he mentally okay?With this, the suspicions that the donation bait earlier was staged are completely gone LMAO.Seriously, just don't let him touch electronics LOL.Breaking news) Lee Suhan just went to check if his capsule is broken LMAOOOO.There are tons more legendary stories like this LOL.

Under the table, Seojun firmly stomped on Taewoo's foot while calmly picking up a perfectly cooked piece of meat.

"Tsk. Just eat already."

Seojun listened to various stories from Taewoo and Alpaca about the struggles of being streamers.

And he also heard the success story of Alpaca and Lee Suhan.

Apparently, Lee Suhan had originally been one of Alpaca's early viewers.

At the time, Alpaca couldn't even afford an editor, so he had simply created a channel and abandoned it.

A tiny streamer with barely a hundred live viewers.

That had been the old Alpaca.

But Lee Suhan saw potential in him and suggested they grow the iTube channel together.

Back then, Lee Suhan had been a highly valued editor at his company.

Because of the nature of capsule games, viewers had completely free camera perspectives, which often made streams chaotic, and editors capable of organizing and polishing that footage cleanly were extremely rare.

Since he split the iTube revenue fifty-fifty with Alpaca, Lee Suhan now earned far more money than he did back when he worked at a company.

But at the time, he said it had been a huge risk.

Fortunately, with the editor joining him, Alpaca's iTube channel grew, and thanks to that, his livestream viewership also increased.

"An editor, huh…"

Lee Suhan even told Seojun that if he couldn't find an editor himself, Suhan would edit Seojun's videos too.

After returning home, Seojun grabbed a can of beer and stepped out onto the veranda to clear his thoughts.

Beyond the railing stood the plum tree Seojun had planted.

He imagined that plum tree blooming brilliantly with red flowers someday as he ran his hand across the cold floor of the veranda.

It felt just like the day he first met Master.

Not exactly a great memory.

But for some reason, it calmed him down.

"Hm. What should I do?"

The thing troubling Seojun right now was iTube.

The people he met today naturally assumed he would start an iTube channel.

After all, if you wanted to succeed as a streamer, running an iTube channel was practically mandatory.

But—

Seojun's original plan had simply been to somehow enter the Rios Tournament, win it, obtain a capsule, and then quit streaming.

That had been his intention from the start.

The problem was—

Streaming was fun.

Playing games together with people was fun.

Watching people react to his gameplay in all sorts of ways, teasing each other, sharing the experience together—

It was fun.

Pssshhh.

Click.

Seojun opened the beer can and gulped it down.

Then he quietly stared outside and muttered,

"Was I… lonely?"

Maybe he had been.

Remembering a previous life—

It was like carrying a hometown you could never return to, while missing it forever.

"What should I do…"

It was one of those days where his thoughts grew heavy.

At times like this, the answer was simple.

"Guess I should hit the gym again for the first time in a while."

He needed to move his body.

**

Lee Dongsu was a starting player for a famous professional gaming team.

He woke up early in the morning and arrived at a gym frequented by many celebrities.

The team Dongsu belonged to had achieved runner-up at the latest world championship.

A respectable result—

Or honestly, an incredible one.

But in the world of sports, anything short of first place meant nothing.

The coach, already preparing for next year, assigned each player an intense special training regimen tailored to them.

The training given to Lee Dongsu was to learn how to fight in reality.

'And build stamina while I'm at it.'

Through extensive searching, the team's management had found a gym that taught professional fighters while also guaranteeing enough privacy for celebrities to attend.

Of course, that didn't make the place especially glamorous.

Most people simply minded their own business and exercised quietly.

The fighters were loud, sure, but warmhearted.

"Dongsu, you're here? Go run on the treadmill."

The gym owner looked down at Lee Dongsu.

The man was absurdly tall and massive, with a rough, intimidating face.

"Come on, Coach. Again today?"

"Yep. This isn't virtual reality. Your physical stamina has to come first."

Dongsu frowned at that response.

Even if he had only been attending this place for two weeks—

"Still, only doing basics and conditioning is too much."

He couldn't tolerate this treatment anymore.

He was a professional.

A pro player from the second-strongest gaming team in the world.

Sure, there was a difference between virtual reality and reality, but at his level, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he had mastered controlling his body.

After all, weren't professionals the people who constantly adapted to completely different physical stats every single game?

"I want to learn real combat properly. Seriously."

The gym owner snorted.

Then, like he was humoring an annoying child, he waved a hand dismissively.

"Alright, alright. We'll do a sparring session today or something. So hurry up and get on the treadmill."

"Yes!"

Dongsu grinned excitedly.

"Then I can pick my sparring partner, right?"

"Do whatever you want. You won't beat any of them anyway."

Shoo, shoo.

Excited, Dongsu started running harder than usual.

He was eighteen years old.

Even though he had dropped out of school and was living as a successful professional gamer, fundamentally he was still a hot-blooded high school boy.

'Bring it on.'

His opponent today would probably be a fighter too, but Dongsu genuinely believed he could win.

Lately, thanks to training, he felt like his body had improved dramatically.

As he ran, he started scanning the people around the gym, thinking about who he should fight first.

'As long as the weight difference isn't too huge…'

At that moment—

The entrance door opened, and someone who oddly resembled the streamer he had seen yesterday walked in.

Annoyingly handsome face.

Not just similar.

It was him.

The streamer whose clips he had briefly watched because one of his teammates kept making such a huge fuss about how good he was.

'He wasn't that good though.'

Thanks to a close older teammate, Dongsu knew more detailed information about the streamer named Seojun than he ever wanted to.

'His face really is exactly like his avatar. Wait, wasn't he some tiny streamer on his third day? Then how did he end up here?'

Still, it didn't matter.

Judging from how he greeted the gym owner, they seemed acquainted.

And he didn't look especially muscular either.

'Perfect.'

As a first sparring opponent, that was.