Chapter 42

[Han Jimin]: Boss, I think you need to look at this.

Han Jimin had sent him a message early in the morning.

"What is it?"

After checking what Han Jimin sent, Seojun felt his thoughts grow complicated.

Han Jimin had captured a screen and sent it to him—it was the analytics page from iTube that analyzed channel viewers.

The first thing that caught his eye was the steadily increasing inflow of viewers despite the channel not even being a month old yet.

The growth trend was so obvious that he understood why she described it as being chosen by the algorithm.

However.

[Jin Seojun]: It definitely is strange.

[Han Jimin]: Right? Seriously, what is this?

In the viewer analysis chart at the bottom right, the proportion of foreign viewers among new channel visitors was absurdly high.

'Not sure if this is good or bad.'

People said that no ordinary person could understand iTube's algorithm.

That included veteran streamers as well.

Even today, the mysterious iTube algorithm has guided me to this video.

You didn't find the video. The video found you.

Nobody searched for this video and entered.

And so on.

They were all popular phrases showing just how arbitrary the algorithm was.

If you simplified it to the extreme, it probably just recommended videos people clicked on and continued watching, but the core principles behind iTube weren't nearly that straightforward.

Seojun stared at the problematic screenshot.

[Lee Geonyeong]: Uh, what? I just woke up. Why are there so many foreigners...

[Han Jimin]: Hmm, Boss, I think we really need to figure out the cause of this.

[Jin Seojun]: If the algorithm is starting to recommend us mainly to foreign viewers, that could become a problem, right?

[Han Jimin]: Probably. But I don't think we're big enough to distort the algorithm or anything, so there's probably another cause.

[Lee Geonyeong]: Then maybe one of the viewers promoted the channel somewhere? You said there were a lot of foreign viewers in yesterday's stream because of the sparring arena too.

"Is that it?"

Fortunately, it didn't seem to be a particularly serious issue.

It might even be an opportunity.

Seojun began thinking it through together with them.

Just because he had entrusted them with the channel didn't mean he intended to stop involving himself completely.

[Han Jimin]: A community site?

[Lee Geonyeong]: If someone promoted it in a community, the influx is way too huge. It's almost at the level of when the collab video with Alpaca exploded.

Ah.

Seojun thought he understood the reason.

Wasn't there only one place lately that could promote his channel to that extent?

Seojun entered MovieSoft's official account and played the teaser video he had checked yesterday.

"So it was this."

When he scrolled down to the comments section, his video link was sitting there prominently as a pinned comment.

Seojun informed them of the discovery.

200

[Lee Geonyeong]: Holy shit kkkkk

[Lee Geonyeong]: Is this hyung's class? The official account actually did that much for you?

[Han Jimin]: The overseas market on iTube is massive, so this is definitely a good thing. Should we look into English subtitles?

The two of them seemed excited.

Seojun simply chimed in every now and then while watching them handle the channel operations on their own.

When it came to iTube, they definitely knew more than he did.

Then he noticed an email from MovieSoft.

The contents were a proposal to rewrite the contract, along with subtitle files for the iTube videos.

"Huh."

The slightly funny part was that MovieSoft had carefully explained the reason behind this favor for Seojun's sake, but the entire thing stemmed from a misunderstanding.

"Well, works for me."

Intentional or not, the result was all that mattered.

"They even included contact information for subtitle production companies... and they're covering all the costs?"

The amount wasn't enormous, but it was still something to be grateful for.

Not to mention they had increased the advertisement fee by fifty percent.

Seojun shared the good news with the editors.

After chatting for a while longer, Han Jimin suddenly brought up something unexpected in a private message.

[Han Jimin]: Boss, since advertisements are going to start coming in, don't you think you'll need a manager?

[Jin Seojun]: A manager?

Come to think of it, he hadn't considered a manager at all.

Up until now, Taewoo's help with the housework—no, with all kinds of advice—had been more than enough.

'I probably will need one in the future.'

Especially for filtering advertisements and negotiating contracts.

[Han Jimin]: Yeah. I've done manager work before. Since Byeokgal-nim is already busy making thumbnails, I wanted to help out by doing whatever I can.

[Han Jimin]: You can even use me unpaid as part of channel management! I own one-fourth of the channel too, after all! It's owner mentality!

Well, she technically was an owner.

Still.

Thumbnails?

Ah.

Only then did Seojun realize that when he handed over full authority regarding iTube, he had never separately discussed thumbnail payments.

Why had Lee Geonyeong quietly taken on extra work without saying anything?

After telling Han Jimin they should discuss things properly in person later, Seojun called Lee Geonyeong.

"King of Brick Extortion."

-Yes, hyung.

"So, about the thumbnails."

-Ah, hyung!

"Yes?"

Lee Geonyeong hurriedly interrupted him.

Then he spoke energetically.

-I'll just do the thumbnails for free!

"Why?"

-Well, compared to noona, my skills are lacking anyway. I just want to contribute somehow, even if it's something small. Plus, I enjoy making them.

"Ah."

The moment Seojun heard that, he thought he had really chosen the right people.

Normally, when people secured a good position, some would become complacent or start cutting corners.

But Han Jimin and Lee Geonyeong were different.

Instead, they tried helping by doing things they technically didn't even need to do.

He could genuinely feel that they truly wanted to work together with him.

'Guess I got lucky.'

He had signed the contracts only after personally confirming they were good people, but still—as the saying went, you can know ten fathoms beneath the water but not one fathom beneath a person's heart.

He really had hired well.

-And I'm also worried you'll go bankrupt paying salaries, hehe.

"Don't worry about that."

-I was joking. Anyway, aren't we the Seodongbu!

Seodongbu?

What was that supposed to mean now?

"Anyway, if thumbnail costs ever become necessary, just tell me without 부담."

-Yes sir. Goodbye.

"Yep. You too, King of Extortion."

-Ah, come on, hyung, seriously...

Click.

After ending the call, Seojun searched the meaning of "Seodongbu" online.

It was a newly coined term combining the streamer's name with the Ministry of Labor. It referred to people who did things like video editing or thumbnail production.

Apparently they were calling it Seodongbu by combining Seojun and the Ministry of Labor.

"So that's what it meant..."

Seriously, slang was hard.

"Anyway, guess I should head out now."

Today was the day for another examination.

"No matter how many times I see it, those movements are still amazing."

Oh Jihye, the head of Surface's research lab, said while staring at the screen.

"It really is incredible."

The junior researcher beside her glanced over after approaching.

"I told you."

"Don't look at me like that. Anyone would've had trouble understanding you at first. I mean, who would accept you suddenly offering to lend out something that expensive for free just so someone could enter a streamer tournament?"

That was true.

Oh Jihye nodded.

Then she turned back to the screen.

"Well, at that level of skill, if he really wanted to, it feels like he could make money in virtual reality no matter what he did. Don't you think?"

The free rental under the excuse of a streaming tournament had been bait.

A lure to drag him back into this world again.

Still, she hadn't expected him to fit streaming this well too.

"Seriously. I've watched a few times myself, and it was fun. Feels like a new kind of skill-based broadcast. By the way, you know what that person used to do in the past, right? Earlier player Lee Dongsu was asking about that streamer too. Shin Hayeon, who was beside him, also seemed curious."

"Don't concern yourself with it. Customer information can't be viewed, nor should it be revealed. Try acting familiar again and see what happens. If I hadn't stopped you earlier, you would've spilled everything you knew."

"I'm sorry!"

"Honestly, getting all excited just because you saw a famous player."

"Haha, then I'll get going."

Seeing signs that his superior's nagging was about to intensify, he quickly left the laboratory.

Oh Jihye lost interest just as quickly and began operating the screen to continue Seojun's next test.

Seojun was currently being subjected to all sorts of situations.

The surrounding environment suddenly transformed into a blazing desert, then in the blink of an eye he was buried beneath Arctic glaciers. He experienced intense gravitational acceleration or got thrown into outer space.

The primary purpose of this test, which placed subjects into extreme situations, was to measure physical reactions under stress.

People who wanted to reduce their virtual reality login restrictions—especially professional players—often came to this research lab for testing.

If people passed this test, Surface extended their login time.

Of course, that had nothing to do with Seojun.

'That part can't really be helped.'

Seojun floated around in outer space while thinking.

Soon, the surrounding space itself collapsed inward like sinking tectonic plates, sucking everything toward Seojun.

An overwhelming pressure crushed down on him.

Paaat—

The lights flared brightly, and at the same moment the pressure vanished, Seojun found himself standing in a pure white room.

[Ah, Seojun-nim. The test is now over. Please come out.]

Finished.

'That was anticlimactic.'

After exiting the capsule, Seojun opened the door and crossed over into the room where Oh Jihye was.

He calmly waited while standing beside her as she examined various data.

Oh Jihye opened her mouth.

"Fortunately, your reactions haven't changed compared to before. Actually, they might even be better now. You're really calm."

"Well, if I didn't improve after going through it once, that'd be a problem."

"That only applies to you, Seojun-nim. The other examinations didn't show any issues either, so from now on you'll probably only need to come in once a month for routine checks."

"You said the capsule automatically blocks access and sends a message if abnormalities occur anyway."

"Yes, but still come."

"Understood. Thank you."

"Right. Then can you make it the same date next month?"

"Yes."

"Great. Then I'll see you next month."

Seojun said goodbye and left the research lab.

Now he had to go back home, which was annoying.

Damn it.

'Should I just skip the stream today... yeah right.'

Because of memories from his previous life, Seojun was far too diligent to skip a broadcast just because he felt lazy.

Maybe if there was some desperately anticipated major event coming up for the viewers, he'd consider taking a day off.

Smiling slightly, Seojun exited the research lab.

But someone was waiting for him at the entrance.

"Seeing you again after this morning. Feels nice running into you somewhere other than the gym."

It was the professional gamer, Lee Dongsu.

"Why are you here?"

"It's our team's regular examination day."

Ah.

This was a research lab.

Not a customer center or a hospital.

Still, since the best facilities and technicians were here, professional players underwent their regular examinations at this place.

Naturally, when conducting examinations, they preferred bringing people in all at once, and Seojun had come on the day Oh Jihye summoned him, so it wasn't strange for their schedules to overlap.

"I heard from the doctor earlier that you were coming, hyung, so I waited to grab lunch together. Ah, by the way, noona Hayeon told me to say hi to you. Did you two maybe meet a long time ago—?"

"No."

"Really? Weird. Noona looked super happy to hear about you though."

"I said no."