Chapter 2

League of Streaming.

On the way home, Seo Jun looked it up.

'An average of 300,000 live viewers? Isn't that practically official tournament level?'

He already knew from Tae Woo that the tournament was fairly popular, but he hadn't expected this many people to watch it.

However, after digging a little deeper, he quickly realized that even though 300,000 viewers was certainly huge, comparing it to an official league was still completely mistaken.

'Ah… official tournaments pull over a million viewers in Korea alone by default.'

Apparently, the finals drew fifteen million live viewers worldwide.

For the Korean league alone.

The popularity of capsule gaming had far exceeded Seo Jun's imagination.

He had heard the craze had spread even to adults too busy to play games themselves.

Seo Jun simply hadn't known the details because he had deliberately avoided anything related to capsules until now.

'So many people… really got into it.'

Even seven years ago, he hadn't paid much attention to the virtual reality market.

Still, he knew it had never been this popular.

After arriving home, Seo Jun decided to ask an expert.

Namely, an active streamer.

"Hey, do you know about League of Streaming?"

His friend answered from the sofa while holding his phone.

"Huh? Of course I know it. I joined last year and got instantly destroyed. Heh. Man, I really wanted last year's grand prize too. What a shame."

Talking about winning after getting eliminated at light speed?

Seo Jun clicked his tongue inwardly.

"What was the prize?"

"A car. And the MVP got a freaking supercar. The prizes are insane, right? Tons of companies sponsor it because so many people watch."

"Ah, I already looked up how many people watch."

"You did? Why the hell would you suddenly search that up? You never cared about virtual reality at all."

"I don't know either."

For the past seven years, he had lived perfectly fine without virtual reality.

And he could continue living fine without it.

So why had he looked up LiOS?

'Damn it.'

The truth was, he already knew the answer.

Until now, he had simply looked away because there was no solution.

The virtual reality he experienced seven years ago—

It had been fun.

Fun enough to make him want to go back.

Wasn't that reason enough?

'And it's not like I'm spending 100 million won myself.'

Thanks to Oh Ji Hye's consideration, he could borrow the capsule for free until the tournament ended.

It wasn't like he was throwing away years of his life.

'There's no reason not to do it.'

Seo Jun sat down beside Tae Woo.

From this point on, the question was no longer "why."

It was "how."

"Tae Woo."

Seo Jun's eyes began to gleam.

"Hm?"

"What are the requirements for joining LiOS?"

"What's that about? Sigh… Well, the organizers haven't officially stated it, but obviously you have to be a streamer. And when applications open, mid-level streamers with decent popularity usually get accepted."

"What if you're unpopular?"

"Then it's basically luck. Viewers want somewhat recognizable streamers, so it can't be helped. Though it's not like unknown streamers never get picked."

If you got in, you hit the jackpot.

Tae Woo muttered that under his breath.

"Then how do you become a successful streamer?"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Tae Woo thought for a moment before standing up and sitting properly with his back straightened.

The serious expression he rarely showed felt strangely awkward.

"I don't know."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Hey, know what people tell me the most?"

Seo Jun shrugged.

"How would I know?"

'Must be nice earning money while playing games. Your life's easy. No hardship at all.'

"…"

"But nobody knows that for four out of the seven years I've streamed, I averaged under a hundred viewers while still streaming eight hours every single day. Hm… maybe I earned enough to cover electricity bills? Something like that. Honestly, after graduation it kinda felt like I was freeloading off you for a year."

"Really."

As virtual reality exploded, the viewer base expanded too.

But the number of streamers increased just as much—if not even more.

And the biggest struggle for streamers was attracting viewers.

"Even so, I think I've been insanely lucky. It could've taken longer than four years. If you make it big, it's huge. But nobody knows when that breakthrough will happen. We don't know the method. What if you grind for ten years and still never make it?"

Tae Woo continued.

"There are people who exploded and hit ten million subscribers in a year, but before that they went through five years where they couldn't even gain a thousand followers. And even after enduring all that, you still might never make it…"

Of course, there were probably various patterns and rules hidden within it all.

"But if I had to pick the single most important thing, it'd obviously be entertainment, wouldn't it?"

Tae Woo began explaining.

To succeed as a game streamer, you needed either entertaining personality or skill.

But surprisingly, pure skill-based streams didn't attract many viewers.

Because there were already plenty of alternatives—professional broadcasts and edited highlight videos.

"So succeeding through skill alone is hard. Not impossible, but look at this."

Tae Woo pulled up an article and showed it to Seo Jun.

[Game streamers should focus more on the word "streamer" than "game." Surprisingly, the game itself isn't actually that important.]

It was advice from a famous streamer known for brutally objective commentary.

As Seo Jun read carefully, Tae Woo asked again.

"Are you seriously interested in becoming a streamer?"

"I just became interested."

"Heh, after hearing all that? I'm not gonna stop you, but what exactly are you relying on?"

Seo Jun closed his eyes and thought.

What was he relying on?

Even though he hadn't been able to properly enter virtual reality for the past seven years, there was one thing he could confidently say.

'Most people probably wouldn't be better than me.'

Most games centered around swords.

And even if they didn't, it hardly mattered.

Even if all he retained were memories, Seo Jun had still lived through countless battles and hardships in his previous life.

Slowly opening his eyes, he spoke while suppressing a laugh.

Because even to himself, it sounded absurd.

"Probably… skill?"

"I told you, being good alone doesn't make you a streamer."

"Then how good do I need to be?"

After thinking carefully, Tae Woo answered.

"You'd probably need to be better than Shin Ha Yeon. No—if you're better than Shin Ha Yeon, you'll definitely succeed. I guarantee it. You know who she is, right?"

Shin Ha Yeon.

She was a famous female pro gamer.

More popular than most top-tier celebrities, to the point where people said "virtual reality means Shin Ha Yeon, and Shin Ha Yeon means virtual reality."

She was practically the icon of virtual reality itself.

The reason was naturally the overwhelming skill she displayed in the professional league.

"I see."

After thinking it over, Seo Jun finally made his decision.

For now… he'd give it a try.

That same day, Seo Jun sent Oh Ji Hye a message saying he would borrow the capsule.

"So… you bought this because you're confident you're better than Shin Ha Yeon?"

"Yeah."

"You're insane. If that's true, go pro."

"That's too dangerous."

"You're seriously out of your mind."

Oh Ji Hye's reply—and the delivery—were fast.

It hadn't even taken a full day.

Almost as if she had been waiting for it.

The only minor problem was—

"Ugh, move aside for a second. I need to connect the cables. Didn't I tell you to call a professional installer? Or at the very least wait until my stream ended before touching it?!"

Seo Jun silently lowered his head while listening to Tae Woo scold him as he installed the capsule.

"Hey, remember when your phone broke and you tried washing it with soap? Didn't I tell you back then you were hopeless with machines?"

That… might have happened.

"How do you nearly break something this expensive just trying to install it?! Huh?! It screams expensive at first glance!"

Seo Jun didn't really have anything to say, so he just kept dusting the capsule sitting in the corner of the room with his hand.

Tae Woo glared at him, then plugged in the final cable and collapsed dramatically onto the nearby bed.

"Whew. Finally done. Installation complete. So, your biometric account?"

"I've got one."

"Then you should be able to log in immediately."

"Right. Thanks."

"For what? Anyway, this looks like a high-end model. Isn't this overkill just for streaming?"

"Well. Don't worry about that."

It's borrowed.

"Sigh. Then where are you gonna stream from?"

"Travel."

Travel was currently the undisputed king of game streaming platforms.

"So the same platform as me. Anyway, let me see your record. Just how good were you seven years ago to be this confident? You installed MyVR, right?"

"Here."

Seo Jun turned on his phone and opened the app Tae Woo mentioned.

Information about Seo Jun's virtual reality ID appeared on the screen.

Creation date, total playtime, match records—everything was displayed in this management app.

"Huh? Are my eyes broken? I'm seeing a freshly made newbie account that's not even two days old. Since when did you start living without a sense of time?"

"Oh, that? I had an old one before, but I deleted it and made a new account."

"Bullshit."

"It's true."

It really was.

"Seriously. If you're actually better than Shin Ha Yeon—no, better than me—then I'll do all the housework from now on. But if you're not…"

Oh?

He hadn't even cast the fishing rod, yet the fish had already bitten on its own.

"Then I have to do it?"

"What do you think? Scared?"

Seo Jun answered without the slightest hesitation.

"Deal."

Looks like trying this really was the right choice.

"Hah! No backing out later. I'm not going easy on you just because you're a newbie. You're not starting your stream today, right?"

"Hmm."

"Then get in here already."

After watching Kim Tae Woo head into his room, Seo Jun entered the capsule.

The lid closed.

Seo Jun leaned comfortably against the backrest.

Closing his eyes, he sank into thought.

Streamer.

A field he knew absolutely nothing about.

He wasn't naturally entertaining, nor did he naïvely believe skill alone would solve everything.

So even if someone called what he was doing a stupid waste of time, he wouldn't have much to say in defense.

Still—

The corners of Seo Jun's lips curled upward.

'People usually start out being bad at far more things than they're good at.'

If you never challenged something because you lacked skill, there would be nowhere you could ever go.

[Connecting to the virtual reality world in 10 seconds.]

[10]

[9]

…

[1]

Flash—

The instant his vision darkened, a nostalgic sensation washed over Seo Jun.

Fwoosh!

A brilliant white light pierced through his closed eyelids.

This was the lobby.

An entirely white room containing absolutely nothing.

Streamers usually communicated with viewers here before or after games.

Since Seo Jun's ID had only just been created, the lobby was completely empty.

'Guess I'll have to decorate this place eventually too.'

[#105979 has sent you a friend request.]

A message popped up while he looked around.

Seo Jun accepted the request, and another message immediately appeared.

[Kim Tae Woo has invited you to 'Training Hall.']

As soon as he accepted, the scenery instantly changed.

The place resembled a martial arts dojo.

"You're here?"

Tae Woo approached from a short distance away, dragging along something resembling a white robot doll.

"This is the Training Hall. It's a default game built into the capsule, so you don't even need to download anything."

"Like Minesweeper? We didn't have stuff like this in my day."

"What do you mean 'my day'? Anyway, say hello. This is our dojo AI, Kim Cheol Soo."

Standing behind the doll, Tae Woo grabbed its arms and waved them around like a puppet show.

"He looks cute."

"Heh. Once you get beaten up enough, you'll piss yourself just seeing Cheol Soo's face."

"What kind of nonsense is that?"

Tae Woo smiled meaningfully.

"First, get hit. Then we'll talk. What weapon do you want?"

Obviously—

"A sword."

Tae Woo placed Cheol Soo in front of Seo Jun, then headed to what looked like a storage area and returned with a sword.

"Catch."

Seo Jun grasped the sword.

At the same time, an identical sword materialized in Cheol Soo's hand.

"Now for the explanation."

"…Go ahead."

"Alright. Cheol Soo is a sparring AI. I named him myself. He's gonna fight you. If you can beat Level 7 Cheol Soo, I'll do all the housework."

"We could just fight each other instead."

"I can't hold back properly, so no. Anyway, everyone's on equal conditions here. It's a place that purely tests one-on-one skill. Cheol Soo has levels from 1 to 10. I've beaten up to Level 8 before, and for a beginner…"

Tae Woo shrugged.

"Level 4 should be appropriate."

Then he added—

"That's assuming you really are talented. For reference, pro players can beat Level 9."

Seo Jun shrugged and started fiddling with the settings window floating before him.

"Sounds good for warming up."

This actually seemed fun.

"Hmph. Guess I'll record this. 'A first-time VR player foolishly challenged Level 4 and got demolished.' What do you think? If the video gets good views, I'll generously do a collaboration stream with you."

Seo Jun simply laughed.

"Just sit quietly and watch."

"I am watching. What are you doing? Why aren't you starting?"

"Hmm. It's not working."

"What's not working? You just press 4 and start."

"No, that's not it. Why is Level 10 locked?"

"Hey, you little—"