Chapter 27

Usually, when game companies selected streamers to sponsor with advertisements, they based their decisions on YouTube metrics.

That was because the scale of viewers between Travel and YouTube was fundamentally different.

A streamer with 5,000 live viewers but 1 million YouTube views.

And a streamer with 10,000 live viewers but only 100,000 YouTube views.

It was obvious which side would be better for promotion.

Of course, there were a few exceptions.

If the viewers were highly loyal, if the follower count was high, if a lot of people watched the Travel replays, or if the audience had strong purchasing power, then even a streamer with low YouTube subscribers could negotiate a high price.

But of course—

'None of that applies to me.'

YouTube subscribers?

He didn't even have a channel yet.

Forget a channel—he didn't even have an account.

And his viewer base? He had only been streaming for three days.

'I think I heard they spend huge amounts on advertising whenever they launch a new title…'

But even that didn't explain this.

"What do you think, Seo Jun? Will you accept our proposal?"

"Thank you for the good offer. Honestly, I'd like to sign the contract, but…"

"…But?"

"I can't help but feel suspicious. Specifically, why you're offering me conditions this favorable."

Ten million won.

It wasn't an enormous amount.

But that was by major-streamer standards.

For the current Seo Jun, even one million won would've been excellent treatment.

He should've been grateful just to receive an ad offer at all.

"Haha. Seo Jun is quite a cautious person."

"I'm just curious."

Was there really such a thing as goodwill without a price?

Seo Jun kept smiling calmly, but if things turned strange, he was fully prepared to tear up the contract.

He had no intention of cooperating blindly.

And perhaps sensing that attitude from Seo Jun, Kim Woonchan and Eve Fimo exchanged glances.

"Hm, I suppose we need to properly convince you."

Eve Fimo chuckled lightly.

His slightly curved blue eyes narrowed pleasantly.

"To put it simply, this is an investment. Both I and Team Leader Kim here have watched every one of your streams without missing a single one."

Beside him, Kim Woonchan nodded.

"We judged that Seo Jun-nim is someone who will achieve enormous growth in the future. That's why we wanted to establish a relationship with you beforehand from the company's side. Honestly, even if the teaser video gets delayed a little, it won't cause any major problems. And by the time the beta test arrives, we believe Seo Jun-nim will have grown far more. In simple terms, it's prepayment."

Straightforward.

Now it finally made sense.

So this was basically putting paint on the future wall early.

They were trying to get on his good side in advance.

And it was also a gift.

"Yes. Honestly, it's only us right now. People from other companies don't know yet."

Kim Woonchan spoke up from the side.

"I'm the president anyway, so what's the problem?"

Eve Fimo grinned shamelessly.

And Seo Jun was shocked.

He was the president?

Kim Woonchan unfolded the contract and began explaining the detailed clauses to Seo Jun.

Everything was exactly as they had said.

As the explanation came to an end, Eve Fimo spoke to Seo Jun again.

"Seo Jun. You can do the advertisement with Dawn of the Assassins if you want, but may I recommend a game?"

"Which one?"

"For the Law."

It was an outlaw action game created by Movie Soft, set in a fictional continent.

"With your skill, Seo Jun, I'm sure you'll show incredible gameplay there. I want to see that."

At this point, Eve Fimo had already become more interested in watching Seo Jun's gameplay than promoting the company's games.

"I'll seriously think about it. But what country are you from, President?"

"Ah, I'm French."

"Really? Your Korean is incredibly good."

"I studied abroad in Korea for a while."

"I see. Is honesty considered a virtue among French people?"

"No. I simply thought honesty would work better with you, Seo Jun."

Seriously, he was blunt.

As expected of a company president—he knew how to read people.

Smiling, Seo Jun picked up the contract and stood up.

"Thank you."

"No, we should be the grateful ones."

"But what happens if someone other than me manages to gather all the Fragments of Order within the week?"

Suddenly, Seo Jun thought of Lee Dongsu.

"Hm. I don't think that'll be easy, but there is one user with potential. Thankfully he isn't a streamer, so we're planning to simply ask him not to reveal anything."

Neither side realized they were talking about the same person.

For the Law.

And because Seo Jun agreed to cooperate, there was no longer any need to ask Lee Dongsu for help.

After all, Lee Dongsu was only playing Dawn of the Assassins because of Seo Jun in the first place.

"I see. Then I look forward to working with you in the future."

Eve Fimo clasped Seo Jun's hand and grinned.

"We're also looking forward to the synergy Movie Soft and Seo Jun-nim will create together."

As requested, instead of defeating the ruler, Seo Jun began enjoying various activities within Dawn of the Assassins.

As always, he continued ignoring missions and quests while doing whatever he wanted.

And once people noticed there were no signs of Seo Jun attempting the ruler clear, several streamers began thinking the same thing.

Wouldn't it be huge if I uncovered the Fragment of Order information first?

As that thought spread, a small trend of people challenging the ruler began to form.

And the employer of editor Han Jimin thought the same thing as well.

The problem was—

"That bitch."

Han Jimin let out a deep sigh that sounded like her soul was escaping as she slumped heavily into her chair.

[Fix it a bit more so it feels more like this streamer.]

[I fixed it already, so check it.][1]

[?][1]

[Look at your messages.][1]

No response.

Even after several hours, it still hadn't been read.

It had been like this for a month now.

She gently pressed her eyes with her right hand.

"Haaah… They say there's no blood, tears, family, or friends when money gets involved."

Han Jimin felt like grabbing her former friend—and former employer—by the collar and shaking her.

"I should've quit when she started nitpicking weird little things."

A year and a half ago, Han Jimin had just begun learning video editing.

By chance, she discovered a tiny streamer.

After enjoying the streams for a while, she heard that the streamer struggled with YouTube because they had to edit everything alone.

With the thought of growing together, Han Jimin sent over some edited work she had made, and that became the start of their partnership.

The small-time streamer couldn't provide Han Jimin with a stable salary.

Instead, they proposed that when they earned little, they would both earn little together, and when they earned well, they would both earn well together—splitting the YouTube revenue 50:50.

"Back then, we only made a verbal promise."

What was the point of regretting it now?

For the first six months, Han Jimin had thrown herself into editing like a madwoman despite their terrible financial situation.

At the time, the channel only had 217 subscribers.

There was no way it could generate income.

Even so, Han Jimin and the streamer stayed full of determination, enduring the difficult times together.

Barely sleeping, Han Jimin made one video a day and steadily grew the YouTube channel.

As her editing skills improved, the channel slowly began riding the algorithm, and after six months, it hit 30,000 subscribers and finally started earning money.

"Things were good until then."

Han Jimin's life became more comfortable, and another peaceful eight months passed.

Before they knew it, the channel was approaching 100,000 subscribers.

The live broadcasts also grew thanks to YouTube.

And as the income increased, they began hiring more editors.

That was when the problem started.

"People can really be petty."

Han Jimin stared at the monitor on her desk.

A video of someone she had worked beside for almost a year and a half was playing.

A month ago, she had fought with the employer she once believed was her friend.

The reason?

That Han Jimin, "just an editor," was supposedly taking too large a share.

Even though she was basically the one who had built the channel.

"Hah. Guess managing a channel must look easy to them."

She shut off the editing program.

It felt like it was finally time to end the relationship.

This month's earnings hadn't even been sent to her yet.

A bitter taste filled her mouth.

"Huh? Wants me to edit it to feel more like that streamer? As if my skills are even capable of that, damn it."

She had believed they were friends.

They survived difficult times together and had become closer than anyone else.

That was why she never expected such betrayal.

The sense of betrayal made her teeth grind, and she wanted to cry.

"What do I even have left now?"

In reality, because editing work kept her so busy, she barely spent money, so she had some savings built up.

And her editing skills.

Her chest felt heavy.

It felt like the past year and a half of her life had been denied entirely.

Still, she couldn't stop working.

For the first time in a long while, she entered an editor recruitment site.

And there, she found a certain post.

"…"

Ironically, it was the streamer from the videos her former employer had sent her.

Someone whose skill couldn't even be compared to anyone else's.

That streamer was looking for freelancers to edit highlight videos.

And if things went well after talking, he was considering hiring a dedicated editor.

"So you also split profits? Fine. Next time let's actually write a contract. If you think you can just brush it off afterward, don't even dream about it."

Han Jimin sent an email to Seo Jun for now.

– You're finally beating the ruler tomorrow? Let's goooo

– The real thing is coming.

– Watching other streamers fail this whole time really shows how insane his skill gap is.

– It's finally happening ㄷㄷ

– Honestly, using skill like that for pickpocketing and mini-games was crossing the line.

– Then give me that skill instead lol

"Alright everyone, then I'll see you tomorrow."

– BYE!

– Good stream!

Seo Jun turned off the stream and exited the capsule.

After washing up, he sat in front of his computer and checked his email.

[The teaser video has been completed.]

[(Advertisement) ★1st place in draw #929 / 2nd place in draw #996★, "Predicted Winning Numbers" free event!! This time it could be your turn]

[If you only keep playing Dawn of the Assassins on stream, viewers might get tired of it, so as a fan I'd like to give one suggestion…]

[Reporting this. mijhvn0216 used profanity.]

First, he saw the email from Movie Soft saying the teaser video had been completed as promised.

Then came various ads and viewer emails full of backseating advice.

There were no editor recruitment emails.

On the first and second days after recruiting editors, several videos had been uploaded.

But none of them suited Seo Jun's taste.

No matter how talented they were, he couldn't hire editors who lacked skill.

"At least I've secured two videos to upload on YouTube for now."

One was a highlight video edited by Alpaca's editor, Lee Suhan.

The other was an edited version of his first stream commissioned from an editor recruitment site.

Seo Jun opened a video sent by an editor named Han Jimin.

His impression was—

'Clean and polished without any unnecessary fluff. An experienced editor?'

A voice came from behind Seo Jun.

Already noticing Taewoo's presence instinctively, Seo Jun replied.

"If it's this person, are you signing an exclusive contract?"

Seo Jun wanted to entrust the entire channel to one editor.

He judged that would be more efficient.

And according to what he'd heard from Suhan, it was far better if the editor watched all the streams personally.

"We're still talking. I sent over a few clips first, but their skill is definitely good."

"Really? Then make sure you catch them if you can."

If he couldn't find an editor, he was considering joining an MCN instead.

"Yeah. But I'll wait a little longer first. Besides, there's no guarantee they'll accept."

Taewoo stared blankly at the monitor for a moment.

"True. Or just search directly. Scout one of the people who uploaded fan edits of your streams yourself."

After saying that, Taewoo tapped Seo Jun's chair and returned to his room.

He always checked whether Seo Jun was doing well after every stream.

Following Taewoo's advice, Seo Jun entered YouTube.

And searched.

"What should I search for?"

Unknown.

Martial arts.

Ruler.

Streamer fan edit.

No matter what he searched, nothing came up.

Eventually giving up, Seo Jun simply searched for editor recruitment videos because he wanted to see what other people were doing.

Then a familiar YouTube nickname caught his eye.

[ConstructionSiteBathroomBrickThief]

He constantly watched Seo Jun's streams, yet always ignored the manager's requests.

Seo Jun clicked the video.

157 views.

A title simply labeled "Unlisted."

In the description, the phrase "Editor recruitment video for streamer Seo Jun" caught his attention.

"Why is it unlisted? And… I don't think I saw an email from them."

Seo Jun reopened both his inbox and trash folder.

He wondered if he'd accidentally deleted it.

After checking, it turned out he hadn't missed anything.

'Let's watch it first.'

Some time later.

After finishing the video, Seo Jun rested his chin on his hand and fell into thought.

'This is insanely good though? Why didn't they send an email?'