Chapter 109: People Should Play in the Big Pond (3)

The crazy broadcast had ended.

The broadcast was truly insane.

Only crazy people watched a broadcast filled with crazy people.

So, it was indeed a crazy broadcast.

The amount of donations that poured in during the 30-minute stream was a staggering 6 million won.

There were so many donations that the stream ended while I was reading them out.

No, to be precise, I didn’t even get to read them all.

The stream ended because of the other celebrities’ schedules.

Oh, to be exact…

“You all need to get ready to go home. Right, Si-woo hyung?”

“…Honestly, is there such a thing as leaving work on time at a broadcast station?”

“Oh, we need to go eat too! This group will probably meet up often now… Hyung, do you want to join us for dinner?”

Before I knew it, I had made dinner plans.

With Hae-chul hyung’s cheerful demeanor, PD Sung grinned and waved his hand.

“Our precious cast members want to bond, so I shouldn’t intrude. Oh, should I give you our corporate card?”

A corporate card, huh.

It seems like the scale changes when it’s a broadcast station.

Great.

Thanks to the other cast members, I received a ton of donations from today’s stream, so it’s okay if I cover dinner, right?

I raised my hand slightly and said to everyone,

“Um… Since we got a lot of donations today, I’ll pay for dinner. How about that?”

The other four looked at me simultaneously and cheered.

“Yeah!”

“Even your personality is amazing!”

“Let’s eat well, Shia-nim?”

“Ah, please just call me Chan-sik comfortably. Everyone except Joo-hyun… you’re all older than me, right?”

“Shall we?”

“It’s fine with us!”

The other three clapped their hands in agreement.

Then Joo-hyun tilted her head and approached me again, asking,

“Then, what should I call you?”

“Joo-hyun… whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Even though Joo-hyun was the youngest of the team, she was the most challenging among the other three.

Not only because I couldn’t figure out what she was thinking, but she also gave off the impression that she watched my stream often.

She was like that during the stream earlier too.

While the others were awkward because they weren’t familiar with the trending memes, Joo-hyun’s energy was genuine.

It was an energy you can’t get from just watching a stream for a day or two.

Her face was indescribably cute and pretty, but the words that came out of her mouth were overwhelming.

“Uhm.”

Joo-hyun frowned slightly as she stared intently at my face, then nodded as if she’d made a decision.

“Can I call you Chan-sik oppa?”

“O-Oppa?”

“Yes, I want to call you Shia oppa too, but I think calling you Chan-sik oppa will help us get closer faster.”

She had asked about my underwear color earlier, I think.

But a top-tier female idol calling me oppa…

It felt strange but also really good.

I couldn’t help but smile.

And Se-yeon nuna didn’t miss the chance to capture that moment.

Click!

“Yes.”

Se-yeon nuna suddenly took a photo of my face with her phone, then smiled mischievously and said to me,

“I’ll send this to Na-young right away.”

“I want to get closer to Na-young too, Chan-sik oppa.”

This place really felt like another world.

I barely managed to hold back my tears and said to Se-yeon nuna,

“…Eat all the delicious food you want today, nuna. Is there anything you want to eat?”

“Hmm, there’s a really good meat restaurant in front of the broadcast station. I haven’t had greasy food lately, so I’m craving it.”

“Haha, order anything you want today, nuna.”

“I also want to eat yukhoe… Ah, should we have a light drink of soju? How’s everyone’s schedule?”

At her words, everyone responded in unison.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing.”

“I think I need to ask my manager, sunbae.”

Except for Joo-hyun, everyone answered readily.

Usually, these busy people are always free at times like this.

Moreover, even Joo-hyun’s attendance was confirmed thanks to Se-yeon nuna.

“Your manager is Ho-sik oppa, right?”

“Yes, sunbae.”

“I’ll talk to him. He used to be my manager too. Even the CEO can’t say anything. Hae-chul oppa and I are here too.”

“Alright.”

With unanimous agreement, the most important dinner meeting was concluded, and we stood up.

PD Sung also stood up with us and saw us off to the first floor of the broadcast station.

“Shia-nim.”

Before we left the station, PD Sung grabbed my hand again and nodded.

It was a bit overwhelming.

But PD Sung grasped my hand tightly and nodded once more.

“See you at the shoot!”

“Y-Yes.”

“Then, enjoy your meal and see you all with bright faces.”

My first adventure at the broadcast station ended with PD Sung and the staff’s enthusiastic farewell, and now it was time for dinner.

“Great.”

As soon as we stepped out of the broadcast station, Se-yeon nuna, already wearing a cap, looked at me with a satisfied expression.

Then she smiled and said,

“Shall we empty Chan-sik’s wallet properly this time? We got free drinks last time too…”

“Don’t you have any conscience?”

Hae-chul hyung’s sudden remark.

However, Se-yeon nuna shook her head as if it were obvious and answered,

“Of course, there’s nothing. I was just saying it feels great to get free food again.”

Looking at her, I thought Se-yeon nuna really had a way with words.

I smiled slightly and nodded, but then I felt something off.

Joo-hyun had suddenly disappeared.

“Where’s Joo-hyun?”

Se-yeon nuna narrowed her eyes and said to me,

“What, trying to hit on her already? Last time you tried with me, and now it’s Joo-hyun? You really are something…”

She’s making me sound so unfairly guilty.

“No, it’s not that…”

“Joo-hyun’s manager decided to take her to the restaurant separately. As you know… she has a lot of fanatical fans. That’s just how it is with idols. Don’t worry, your new girlfriend will arrive on time.” ɽ

…I should just give up.

### 6.

The enjoyable dinner gathering had ended.

The price of the meat consumed by the five of us was a whopping 1.5 million won.

What was shocking was that the other cast members deliberately slowed down for my sake.

Honestly, I’d never had such an expensive dinner before, but it didn’t matter.

Whether it was during the collab with Se-yeon nuna or the surprise 30-minute broadcast, they all led to a flood of donations because of them.

Moreover, Se-yeon nuna didn’t take a single cent when she was invited as a guest.

She even said, “Why would I take money from my younger brother?”

When you think about it, there are a lot of good-hearted people among the crazy ones.

…Though the sample size is still small.

Anyway, with the dinner over, Hae-chul hyung took me home with the help of a designated driver.

Before going in, I bought a chicken from the local chicken place and went inside.

To my surprise, Jin-hyuk was waiting for me without streaming.

“What’s up?”

“Oh! You’re back, hyung? This smell… It’s chicken!”

“Get lost. I bought it to eat by myself.”

“Hyung, isn’t this tsundere concept you’re pushing a bit too much? You need to be careful with that image these days.”

He had a knack for this.

Especially whenever I bought food, he magically wasn’t streaming.

You could say he was born lucky when it came to food.

I grabbed a can of beer from the fridge and returned to the living room.

Jin-hyuk had already set up everything.

When it comes to eating, he moves really fast.

I had eaten plenty of meat, but I was slightly unsatisfied.

Since I didn’t drink as much as I thought I would, I craved chicken.

Thinking about chicken while eating Korean beef…

Well, chicken is great.

So, while enjoying chicken and beer with Jin-hyuk, we had a light conversation.

That’s right.

I had something to tell Jin-hyuk.

“Jin-hyuk.”

“Yes, hyung?”

“Shall we move to a bigger place?”

The current place wasn’t small for two people.

But like Dong-su hyung, I wanted a small studio for casual streaming sometimes.

The room barely fit a capsule and a bed, making it hard to add any other furniture.

Of course, I could sleep in the capsule, but staying in it all day was too much.

If I slept there too, my muscles would scream every time I got up to eat.

Hearing this, Jin-hyuk widened his eyes in surprise.

“A new place? All of a sudden?”

“It’s on my wish list. Don’t dismiss it.”

“I like this place… More importantly, we don’t have much money right now.”

“Who said we’re moving right away? We’ll save up and then move. You’re making quite a bit these days too.”

Jin-hyuk nodded slightly.

“Honestly, after you got out of the army, my channel’s revenue skyrocketed.”

Jin-hyuk was probably one of the biggest beneficiaries of my fame.

Rumor had it that he was being evaluated as a top-tier streamer himself.

Unlike me, he had a mild-mannered gaming expert image.

Some even called us the ‘good personality brothers.’

In any case, our bank balances were getting more comfortable by the day.

Though my income made up most of it.

“I’m in for the move. Where will we go?”

“We’ll figure that out later.”

While enjoying chicken and beer and talking about the future with Jin-hyuk, the phone rang from where I’d tossed it on the sofa.

In my experience, calls at this hour never brought good news.

“Pass me my phone, will you?”

Jin-hyuk handed it over, chicken drumstick still in his mouth.

Seeing the caller ID only made my anxiety grow.

It was Sung-jae.

Why was it that Sung-jae always called at this hour?

I put down my beer, sighed, and answered the call.

“Yes, Sung-jae.”

Sung-jae’s soft voice came through the phone.

-You were hard to reach all day today.

“Ah, I’ve been very busy.”

-I understand. I should have accompanied you to the broadcast station today, but I couldn’t let you know because I was too busy.

I hadn’t touched my phone all day, from the broadcast station to the restaurant.

Sung-jae asked a few more questions about how I was doing before getting to the point.

-The Northeast Asia Streamer Tournament. Let’s call it the NEAST.

“Yes.”

The Northeast Asia Streamer Tournament, which had been indefinitely postponed due to issues on the Chinese side.

It seemed there was an update.

-They sent word to our Chicken Box that they want to hold it next Friday. They specifically asked for your participation, Chan-sik.

“Me?”

-Currently, the advertisement is also being broadcasted in China. Of course, it will soon be replaced with advertisements featuring Chinese players…

I hadn’t expected the impact of the advertisement I filmed to be this huge.

But next Friday, huh.

I thought for a moment and had no choice but to show reluctance.

“That’s the day we shoot ‘Young Folks.'”

-So, we need to discuss countermeasures for that.

The basic rule is a semifinals tournament.

In other words, it meant I had to play two matches.

As if waiting for my response, Sung-jae continued.

-The draw resulted in our first match being against Japanese streamers.

“When did the draw take place?”

-Well… it’s just how things are handled in China. The continent does what the continent does.

I see.

The continent does what the continent does.

I thought it was a very apt expression.

As I quickly accepted it, Sung-jae immediately moved on to the next part.

-The chosen games for this streamer tournament are three: League of Storm, Samurai Wars, and Three Kingdoms Heroes. The semifinals will be a best-of-three format, with one of the three selected games being randomly chosen for each match. According to the official document they sent us, that’s the plan.

It was a set of rules that reeked of unfairness.

Samurai Wars was a famous Japanese game, even in Korea, and Three Kingdoms Heroes was a game called a traditional Chinese game.

It’s a fighting game where heroes from the Three Kingdoms era—Wei, Shu, and Wu—battle it out.

And League of Storm needs no explanation…

I furrowed my brow and responded.

“Is Samurai Wars still alive?”

-It’s barely hanging on these days.

“The selected games put Korea at a disadvantage…”

Especially Three Kingdoms Heroes, which I hadn’t even experienced, making it even more problematic.

At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to participate in the semifinals due to the schedule.

However, I had Sung-jae, the best think tank, on my side.

-I have a plan in mind. Would you like to hear it?

“Oh, sure.”

Sung-jae took a moment to breathe and then spoke confidently.

-There’s no need to choose between two rabbits.

“And?”

-Let’s create a way to catch both rabbits at once. The semifinals include winning bonuses, so let’s aim to capture both rabbits.

And soon, a solid, comforting idea, like a bowl of gukbap, flowed from Sung-jae’s mouth.