Chapter 127: Luck Favors the Fortunate (1)

“Yeah, pour us another drink!”

“When else would we get a drink from a celebrity?”

“Ah! The food must be great because this drink tastes amazing today!”

“Auntie! Bring us another bottle of Jin Isul!”

The company dinner prepared by SD Corporation heated up quickly.

All 30 participants decided to join the dinner, and as soon as they shared their drinks, they began to talk about old memories.

Not only did they have delicious Korean beef as appetizers, but also memories as the best appetizers.

Would it be strange if the alcohol didn’t get to you in this place?

I smiled with effort, sweat trickling down my back.

“Haha, brothers, thank you so much for forgiving me so easily.”

“You brat.”

“Dalma-hyung, didn’t you say you were going to punch Shia as soon as you saw him?”

“Hahaha! But when I saw his face, my anger melted away. Hey, thanks to Shia, I have so many stories to tell my nephews these days! They love hearing about how I fought with streamer Shia. They think their uncle is cool!”

“Oh, me too.”

“I also tell my academy students old stories when I’m bored. When I tell them I fought with Shia, they are all amazed. Haha.”

Was it the alcohol, or was it the passage of time?

I couldn’t feel any anger in their expressions towards me.

Rather, they seemed comfortable.

The first thing Dalma-hyung wanted to tell me was just a thank you.

Thanks to me, he could share old memories with his nephews.

I couldn’t say anything in response.

To be honest, this game isn’t that old.

But it was the pioneer of virtual reality games, had been in service for quite a long time, and was a game full of many stories.

More than just a game.

If I had to categorize it, it would be in the realm of emotions.

“Haha, hyungs, I should have greeted each of you separately… But I’m really glad to meet you all like this.”

“Oooh!”

“Kan!”

“Ah! I’ve been watching your streams diligently since the old days, Kan-nim. Please continue to make good broadcasts!”

The familiar broadcaster to these people could only be Dong-su hyung, not me or Heo-su.

Unlike us, Dong-su hyung was a famous broadcaster since the old days of .

The rankers gathered here were representative of the generation.

For them, the first superstar was not me but Dong-su hyung.

“Dong-su hyung is still a good person. I always wanted to be just like him back in the day.”

“Hey, you too?”

“Isn’t that obvious? I wanted to be like Dong-su hyung. In fact, when I first became friends with Dong-su hyung, I boasted a lot to my school friends.”

Unlike me, who spent most of my school time as an outsider, Heo-su actually lived a thoroughly insider life.

Except for treating me harshly, that guy is quite polite.

He respects elders well and never makes mistakes when meeting people for the first time.

In some ways, he is a much softer type of tough guy than me.

I chuckled and lifted the soju glass in front of me.

“Let’s have a drink.”

Heo-su frowned slightly, then raised his glass to clink with mine.

Soon, the bitter alcohol slid down my throat.

Hmm, the drink tastes pretty good today.

Maybe it’s because there are a lot of people?

“But you also liked Dong-su hyung, didn’t you?”

“So what? I stabbed him in the back… Such betrayal can never be forgiven, no matter the reason.”

“…Probably.”

“What?”

“I would have done the same.”

Is he drunk?

Why is he suddenly speaking so kindly?

Heo-su drank another glass of soju by himself, sighed, and spoke.

“When launches, how are you planning to handle your broadcasts?”

“Hmm.”

would proceed with updates in the same order as .

But there was no guarantee it would be exactly the same as in the past.

The content consumption rate would be several times faster than back then, and it might not burn as brightly for as long.

That’s why I had already planned ahead.

“This time, I must definitely take down the Apocalypse Dragon. Right? I’ll probably focus solely on that for a while once the service starts.”

“If only I had been there during the Apocalypse Dragon raid, we would have defeated it regardless of your betrayal. Right?”

“Are you crazy? If you had been there, you would have overdone it and wiped out the whole raid.”

“I would have done better than you.”

Heo-su cleverly used a mix of carrot and stick.

But no way. I wasn’t going to be swayed by such sweet talk.

I lightly gave him the finger and looked around with a smile.

Still, everyone seemed to be in good spirits.

Well, coming here, playing with old characters after a long time, and having a million won deposited into their account…

I’d be overjoyed too.

For them, today was nothing short of a sweet break.

As I was drinking and chatting with Heo-su, someone spoke up.

“Are you having fun?”

“Oh, Sung-su hyung.”

“Hello, CEO.”

“Oh, Heo-su, you can call me casually too. You’re the same age as Chan-sik, right? Just call me hyung.”

“Can I really do that?”

“Of course.”

Sung-su hyung, holding only a soju glass, sat at our table.

He didn’t act like a CEO at all.

Sung-su hyung soon looked at me, smiled, and held out his glass.

“Pour me a drink too.”

“Yes, hyung.”

Trickle.

Clear soju filled his glass, and we clinked our glasses again.

He gulped down the soju and then spoke to me.

“By the way, Producer Sung contacted me recently.”

“Oh, Producer Sung?”

The head producer of , Producer Sung.

The company that invested the most money in was Sung-su hyung’s SD Corporation.

“Yeah, he made a pretty interesting proposal.”

“Hmm?”

“I think you’ll really like it.”

And soon, a very intriguing story came out of Sung-su hyung’s mouth.

Heo-su, who listened to the story with me, suddenly put his hand on my shoulder and said.

“…Can I appear as a special guest on that program too?”

“Wait a bit, man.”

“The company is also considering it positively. What do you think?”

I nodded naturally at the question.

“Of course, I like it.”

2.

The dinner that felt like it would kill me ended at 4 a.m.

Honestly, I didn’t expect it to go on for so long.

All 30 participants lasted until the third round.

They had unbelievable stamina.

Thus, the special ad shoot for ended, and time quickly passed until the second filming day of arrived.

Again, the coordinators styled me from head to toe and completed my makeup before arriving at the VRN Broadcasting Station studio.

The place was busy with preparations for filming.

Once again, I was the first to arrive.

“Chan-sik! You’re here?”

As I was looking around the filming set, Producer Sung greeted me warmly.

I smiled and offered him a handshake.

“How have you been?”

“Haha! The ratings are much better than expected. The reruns are also doing extremely well, and the higher-ups are actively supporting us. We’ve got a lot of ads coming in.”

“Oh! Is that a positive factor for the contract?”

“Of course. By the way, did you hear anything from the SD Corporation CEO?”

That intriguing story I heard from Sung-su hyung during the last ad shoot.

It seemed that what Producer Sung was referring to was the same story.

“He mentioned it to me.”

“Good. Currently, only you know about it, Chan-sik. We’re planning to announce it during the shoot.”

“I’ll keep it a secret.”

“Oh, and when is the special guest we invited arriving today?”

“Let’s see… Ah, here he comes.”

For today’s filming, we had deliberately invited a special guest.

Someone who could be quite a helpful assistant in this broadcast.

Although I had been seeing him a bit too often lately, there was no one more suitable for today’s concept than this guy.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Wow.”

“…He’s handsome.”

His clean and cool appearance elicited admiration from the surrounding people.

As much as I hated to admit it, he really was handsome.

Once again, Heo-su had made his appearance.

Producer Sung nodded slightly as he watched Heo-su walking towards us.

“With looks like that, he could have easily made it as an actor or an idol.”

“Ahem.”

“…Of course, Chan-sik, you also have an outstanding appearance, but he really is handsome.”

For Producer Sung, who had seen many celebrities, to say this, it meant Heo-su’s appearance was practically validated.

This time, when he returned to Korea, he brought a bunch of Chinese fans with him. Rumor had it that among them were children of Chinese conglomerates and Communist Party officials.

Just by watching his broadcast, you could tell that his Chinese support was no joke.

Damn looks-obsessed society!

“Cerberus-nim, thank you for taking the time to join us.”

“I just returned to Korea, so I have to get out and about!”

“We couldn’t set a separate appearance fee…”

“I’ll take whatever you offer.”

“Great, I’ll get the payment processed with the higher-ups as soon as today’s filming ends. The writers will come by to brief you on today’s concept. I hope you enjoy filming today.”

In fact, there was another reason why Heo-su participated in today’s filming of almost for free.

After a brief chat with Heo-su, Producer Sung left to finalize the preparations for filming.

Watching Producer Sung’s back as he walked away, I said to Heo-su.

“I’m really sick of it, can you stop following me around?”

Heo-su responded with a fist bump.

“No, I’m not following you. I’m following the money.”

“Then why do our paths keep crossing?”

Heo-su then dropped a famous quote.

“Right now, there’s money wherever you go. Do you think you’re the only one who likes money?”

“…You’ve earned much more than me… you greedy pig.”

“Oh, no.”

There was no need to continue the conversation.

Any unnecessary energy spent would only make me tired.

I sighed, then sat in the chair prepared for the cast, waiting for the others to arrive.

After about 15 minutes, the existing four cast members appeared all at once.

They looked like they had eaten something without me.

Heo-su, watching them, whispered in my ear.

“Hey, are you being bullied?”

“…Shut up.”

“Chan-sik, we’ve been calling you since earlier. Why didn’t you answer? We were eating at the restaurant right in front.”

Hae-cheol hyung, who had somehow reached us, said with a sullen expression.

“Oh, I left my phone in the car.”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“It can’t be helped.”

After saying that, I introduced Heo-su to the cast.

Hae-cheol hyung and Jun-sik hyung admired Heo-su, and Sae-yeon noona handed him her business card with much fuss.

She asked if he had any thoughts about working together, something she had never asked me.

It stung a bit.

But the most surprising reaction came from Joo-hyun.

Unlike the others, she looked at Heo-su with a dissatisfied expression.

“No matter how I look at it, my Chan-sik oppa looks much more villainous and mean. He doesn’t seem like a villain.”

…Hey, is that a compliment?

Anyway.

All the cast gathered, and the filming began immediately.

Producer Sung quickly gathered all the cast members and started explaining the shoot.

The most important thing was the game we would be playing today.

The game we would play in the second filming of was.

“The much-talked-about ! That’s the game we’ll be playing today. Haha, isn’t nostalgia great?”

It was the beta version of .