Chapter 56: The Real Ones Have Appeared (1)

Once the fan meeting plans were set, preparations progressed rapidly.

In fact, there wasn’t much I had to worry about.

Chicken Box took care of most of the issues.

Since I personally coordinated the capsule room and the venue, Chicken Box said they didn’t have to exert much effort either.

Starting at 3 PM, we planned to spend two hours interacting and playing games with the viewers.

Then, from 5 PM, we would have a dinner at the buffet on the ground floor for an hour and a half before heading straight to the capsule room.

By participating in the streamer collaboration scheduled for 7:30 PM, the day’s agenda would be completed.

The four streamers participating in the streamer competition had been decided.

My younger brother, Jin-hyuk, and Dong-su hyung.

And the last streamer to join was a player no one could have expected.

A famous streamer from the American Twipod, Shoutout.

A streamer specializing in FPS, known for his talent and physical skills.

I was always impressed every time I watched his videos.

There were rumors that he was good at any game involving guns, and it was true.

He joined because of his usual friendship with Dong-su hyung, and from what I heard, he expressed his willingness to participate first.

I didn’t really care.

The only thing that slightly bothered me was that the cute and terrible antics of our Evil Gang would be broadcasted in the US as well.

Hmm.

Not just slightly.

It bothered me a lot.

Moreover, I heard that the number of people who knew my name abroad had increased significantly.

They said that the videos from were being continuously spread on MTube?

The number of subscribers to my channel, Aktube, had sharply increased after the national pride content, reaching 500,000.

At this rate, it’s highly likely to surpass one million before the end of the year.

Anyway, since the editor manages Aktube well, I decided not to worry about it.

All I had to do was produce good video content.

In the midst of these hectic days, the fan meeting was suddenly just a day away.

A peaceful morning, just like any other.

I woke up early in the morning and went to exercise. When I returned, Jin-hyuk was waiting for me with sparkling eyes.

“Aren’t you sleeping?”

“Why do you keep trying to make me sleep, hyung?”

“Because I don’t want to see your face. Would you want to see a guy’s face early in the morning?”

“Why are you so angry in the morning, hyung…?”

“I’m practicing getting into character. How is it? Does it feel real?”

“Hyung, your acting skills have improved lately.”

“What acting skills? I was being serious.”

Jin-hyuk pouted.

If it were the old days, he would have complained, but recently, thanks to me setting him straight, he had become very obedient.

Last Friday, he talked back to me once, so after that, I hosted for him continuously for three days after the broadcast.

Since then, he had become so well-behaved and was now a good brother who listened well.

I guess I have to host regularly whenever he tries to act up.

It’s very effective.

I drank a cup of water and looked at Jin-hyuk.

“Are you well-prepared for the game tomorrow? I heard your viewers are pretty good.”

“Who said that?”

“My viewers mentioned it. They said your team has quite a few rankers. Did you do that on purpose?”

“…Absolutely not. It just happened that way.”

I heard that many seasoned players of joined Jin-hyuk’s team.

It was evident that they had a bad intention to beat me somehow, but I decided to find it cute.

Then, Jin-hyuk looked at me and cautiously suggested.

“Hyung, how about we make a pact?”

“What kind of pact?”

“Once the game starts, let’s form a tacit alliance. Let’s not attack each other’s teams.”

“Hmm.”

“The game company also put up a prize for this event. Wouldn’t it be great if we brothers took first and second place?”

To be precise, Chicken Box did the sales pitch.

They proposed to the company that services to sponsor the event they were preparing.

The game company welcomed the event organized by the streamers and offered a prize of 10 million won.

Honestly, we just thought of it as broadcast content to make videos, but the company stepped in to scale it up.

The prizes were set at 5 million won for first place, 3 million won for second place, and 2 million won for third place.

It was probably because the American Twipod streamer, Shoutout, joined.

It’s not an enormous amount of money, but considering there wasn’t a prize initially, it certainly had a different significance.

But I smiled and told Jin-hyuk.

“Jin-hyuk.”

“Huh?”

“You’re not suggesting this because of the money, right?”

“…Honestly, how nice would it be if we both took 8 million won. It’s not like the money comes from the ground.”

“Why are you so unnecessarily realistic about things like this?”

Since when did he start thinking about money?

I could clearly see his cunning thoughts.

“You say we’ll team up, but you’ll be the first to stab me in the back. Am I wrong?”

Jin-hyuk flinched for a moment.

Then he looked at me with trembling eyes and asked.

“How did you know? Wow, I’m really surprised. Hyung, are you a mind reader? Did you learn some kind of insight technique?”

Oh, you rascal.

“How did I know? Because you’re my brother. Actually, it seems to run in the family.”

Our parents gave us natural physical abilities, but it didn’t seem like they gave us a conscience.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible to think like that and still have such a brazen expression.

It was a moment when it became clear again that Jin-hyuk was the rival I had to be most wary of.

“That’s creepy.”

“Look forward to tomorrow. I’m going to crush your team first.”

“Come on…”

“Our team’s goal isn’t first place.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Our goal was to be the craziest players in the area, not to think about first place.

We just needed to enjoy the game like maniacs.

**Isn’t that right?**

—

**2.**

Another day passed like that, and finally, the fan meeting was only five hours away.

As soon as I woke up in the morning, I was besieged by employees sent by Chicken Box.

Why do they have to bother me so much for a simple fan meeting?

From makeup to clothes.

I intended to meet the viewers in a comfortable state, but it seemed like that wouldn’t be possible.

After putting on the clothes sponsored by the company and completing the makeup from head to toe, I could finally head to the fan meeting venue.

The fan meeting venue was just a building not far from my house.

I arrived at the venue at 1 PM.

I arrived two hours earlier than scheduled, and there, I witnessed a scene I couldn’t understand.

“…Who are those people?”

“Let’s go inside and talk.”

Female students holding strange placards were camping in front of the building.

When they saw me, they immediately cheered.

“Wow! It’s him!”

“Is that the guy? Did our oppa come here to see him today?”

“He’s handsome.”

“Not as much as our oppa.”

From what I heard, it was clear they didn’t come to see me.

Some of the female students didn’t seem interested in me at all and were chatting among themselves.

I looked at them strangely and then got on the elevator with Mr. Sung-jae and went upstairs.

“Is there an event here? They don’t seem to be my fans.”

Mr. Sung-jae smiled awkwardly and spoke cautiously.

“There are no other events in this convention hall today except ours.”

“From what I saw earlier, they seemed to be idol fans.”

“Uh… could you take a look at this list for a moment?”

Mr. Sung-jae said this and showed me the list of viewers attending today.

When I looked at his tablet PC, Mr. Sung-jae emphasized a name while continuing to speak.

“Those people downstairs are probably fans of this person. It’s a familiar name, right?”

“…Is it the person I know?”

“I called to confirm, and it is indeed him. He was really happy when I called…”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“He asked to keep it a secret.”

“Then how did those people find out… Wow.”

It was only natural that I was surprised.

The name highlighted on the list.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Kim Hae-chul.

There are many Kim Hae-chuls in the world, but there’s only one Kim Hae-chul I remember clearly.

A famous idol who appears on various variety shows.

He was quite well-known among gamers as well.

There were often articles about him spending most of his days off playing games, and he was quite recognized among gamers for frequently playing with some streamers. �

An idol still leading a large fandom.

Recently, he left the idol group and was successfully standing alone.

But such a man participating in my fan meeting?

…Honestly, it’s hard to believe.

“Mr. Sung-jae, this isn’t something you set up on purpose, is it? There could be talks about celebrity favoritism.”

Work is work, and private matters are private.

If a celebrity won a spot in my fan meeting, there would be talks no matter the truth.

Mr. Sung-jae smiled as if to say not to worry.

“I anticipated such controversy and recorded a video of the draw process. You don’t need to worry.”

“Whew.”

“Given Mr. Kim Hae-chul’s status, we asked him to arrive earlier than other viewers.”

“When is he supposed to arrive?”

“Probably around now…”

At that moment.

Even though we were on a high floor, we heard tremendous screams from below.

“Kyaaaaaa!”

“Oppaaaaa!”

I nodded my head hearing that noise.

“Seems like he’s here.”

“Indeed.”

After a few minutes?

A man stepped out of the elevator, smiling brightly, and walked towards us.

This was my first time seeing a celebrity in person.

He widened his eyes as soon as he saw me and spoke in an excited voice.

“Awesome!”

Wait a minute.

His reaction seemed odd.

“Awesome!”

“Uh, hello?”

“Awesome! It’s insane. To think I’d get to see our Dark Lord in person!”

I heard he was famously eccentric, but I didn’t expect him to be eccentric in this way.

Maybe because he’s a celebrity, his reactions felt more intense.

In a way, it wasn’t much different from a streamer’s reaction.

I extended my hand towards Hae-chul and smiled.

“Nice to meet you. I’m the streamer Shia, Kim Chan-sik.”

Hae-chul calmed down slightly and smiled.

“I’m Kim Hae-chul, haha! I heard a lot about you from Dong-su. I’ve always wanted to meet you, and here we are!”

The conversation felt lively from the start.

It seems like Dong-su hyung is close with him…

How far does Dong-su hyung’s network extend?

Well, considering he hasn’t left a top spot in a large company for years, it makes sense.

Hae-chul looked at me with a friendly smile.

Seeing a handsome person smile like that felt a bit annoying.

He glanced at Mr. Sung-jae and then leaned in to whisper in my ear.

“Is there a segment today where you whisper curses into ears? I applied because I wanted to experience that… I’m looking forward to it.”

“Uh, yes.”

Even if he’s a celebrity, it seems like he’s still part of the Evil Gang.

As I reluctantly nodded, he smiled contentedly and moved away from my ear.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he spoke cheerfully.

“Since we have nothing else to do, shall we talk about games? I love , but I’m also a huge fan of .”

He truly had a unique character.

The term “eccentric” was probably coined for someone like him.

Maybe because I’m a weirdo, I attract people like this.

With the first attendee having arrived, viewers started to appear gradually.

“Pant pant, hyung, today’s underwear…”

“Hyung, just once, let me taste the swearing…”

…Oh, god.

I hope this fan meeting doesn’t get reported to the police.

Please.