Chapter 65: Showcase (1)

When Sharaout suddenly appeared, I had no choice but to head to the Chicken Box office.

The broadcast, originally scheduled for 7 PM, was postponed to 9 PM.

It couldn’t be helped, as Sharaout had sent me 1 million won last time and said, “You’ll hang out with me when I come to Korea, right?”

I didn’t expect him to come to Korea this quickly.

It turned out it was all part of Sharaout’s plan!

It was bothersome, but a promise was a promise.

Sharaout’s voice over the phone had been so bright that I couldn’t bring myself to refuse.

When I arrived at the Chicken Box office, a familiar man was sitting there.

As soon as he saw me enter the office, he ran over and playfully grabbed my collar, saying,

“Did you come here to choose your own grave?”

“Dong-su hyung, you know I love you, right?”

“Then you’re buying dinner today. Got it?”

“Of course. Thanks to you, I even got a prize. How could I not?”

Lately, I’ve been meeting Dong-su hyung a lot.

He’s someone I’m always grateful and sorry to see.

After exchanging friendly greetings with Dong-su hyung, I slowly turned my gaze.

Sung-jae was there too. I see him as often as Dong-su hyung now, so it’s comforting.

However, there was one face I didn’t recognize.

No, I had seen him in the game, but it was my first time seeing him in person.

Glossy blond hair and a model-like appearance.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Honestly, what does it matter if I evaluate a guy’s looks, but anyway, a handsome foreigner stood up.

Not only was his face handsome, but he was also tall.

I’m 181 cm, so I’m not that short, but he looked a whole hand taller than me.

Sharaout.

I knew he was handsome, but seeing him in person, he looked even more handsome.

The atmosphere he exuded was different.

“Oh, Chan-sik!”

Sharaout beamed brightly and hugged me tightly.

…Is it because he’s a foreigner that his reactions are so big?

“H, Hello?”

I patted Sharaout’s back, slightly flustered.

Watching us, Dong-su hyung laughed and said,

“Hey. Sharaout seems to really like you. He was thrilled when he heard you were coming.”

“He doesn’t like guys, does he?”

“No, he’s really into women. It’s well known.”

I guess that’s a relief.

Anyway, even though Sharaout and I couldn’t communicate well, his enthusiastic reactions made me smile.

He gave off a good first impression.

Friendly, handsome, and seemingly good-natured.

People would call someone like him an ‘insider.’ If Dong-su hyung had grown up abroad, he’d probably feel a bit like this.

That’s probably why they became friends.

“Let’s go for some chimaek.”

“Dong-su hyung, it’s not even dinner time yet. Plus, I have to stream later.”

“Hey, how many times do I have to tell you? Beer is a beverage, got it?”

“Chimaek, sounds good. Good.”

“…Sharaout speaks Korean better than I thought? Didn’t he say he couldn’t speak Korean?”

“He just didn’t use it much. Sharaout was streaming back then, remember?”

That’s true.

It’s natural for one’s viewers to be more important.

I would have done the same.

“Sharaout comes to Korea about three times a year. He really likes it here.”

I didn’t know he liked it that much.

We left the office and headed to a chicken restaurant very close by.

A chicken restaurant located in the same building as the Chicken Box office.

It’s close and the food is decent.

It’s also a place we streamers go to for a light meal when we have business at the company.

After entering the restaurant and ordering chicken and beer, I asked Dong-su hyung,

“But why did Sharaout come to Korea?”

“Oh, there’s a new game release event. Sharaout is the main promotional model.”

“What game… Ah!”

“You know it?”

“Living Dead 2. The new release event is happening in Korea, right? I remember it’s at BEXCO in Busan.”

.

The sequel to the Living Dead series, which was extremely popular in Korea, and one of the most anticipated releases of the year.

As the name suggests, it’s a zombie game.

A game about escaping a zombie-infested apocalypse world.

It’s a series praised for leveraging the strengths of the PC version of the game.

I wanted to try it out once it was released, and it turns out the event is this week.

Time flies.

Seeing my recognition, Dong-su hyung nodded slightly impressed.

“You know it? He came to Korea for that. He took a break from streaming to come, so he’s planning to have fun.”

“Hey, Chan-sik, you’ll hang out with me, right?”

…He’s surprisingly good at Korean.

His Korean is good enough for most conversations, aside from being a bit awkward.

I took a sip of the beer served in front of me and sighed.

“I’m busy.”

“Oh, come on. Anyway… Right, you said you were forming a crew this time, didn’t you? Why didn’t you tell me? I thought you’d join our crew.”

“I can’t keep imposing on you forever.”

“What do you mean imposing? You grew on your own.”

Despite saying that, Dong-su hyung took a refreshing gulp of beer.

He speaks like that, but he seems a bit disappointed inside.

However, he waved it off like it was nothing.

“Okay, what’s important about a crew? It’s enough to stay close as brothers. You won’t stop doing joint streams with me just because you formed a crew, right?” 𝙧

“Of course not.”

“Or maybe later we could have our crews compete. That’d make some interesting content.”

“Oh. A crew? My crew is pretty good at games too.”

“Then we could have a three-way competition again.”

As if they weren’t streamers, they were still talking about broadcasting even in private.

Jjaeng.

We clinked our glasses lightly and took another swig of beer.

Sharaout devoured a chicken drumstick in an instant, then glanced at me and said slyly,

“Friday. Are you free?”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

Friday was the day of the showcase.

While I was momentarily lost, Dong-su hyung filled in the details of Sharaout’s suggestion.

“Do you want to come with us as a guest? We’re just going to demo the game.”

“Are you going too, hyung?”

“Why do you even ask? Even though I might not look it, I’m an honorary ambassador. You know how popular my content is, right?”

That’s true.

Dong-su hyung’s videos probably ranked among the top for related content.

I grinned broadly, listening to their conversation.

I stayed put, and a golden opportunity just rolled in.

It was worth the trouble of coming out!

2.

When I informed , the developer of , that I would participate in the event, they welcomed me wholeheartedly.

Thanks to the strong recommendations from Sharaout and Dong-su hyung, combined with my own recognition, the game company couldn’t have been happier.

After deciding to participate, I continued broadcasting diligently until Friday.

During the day, Na-young would host her viewers to my channel, and repeating this process led to a rapid increase in subscribers.

Additionally, Actube was steadily growing, so there was nothing to worry about.

Finally, Friday arrived.

I woke up early, took the KTX to Busan, and joined Dong-su hyung and Sharaout’s group, who had arrived early and were already enjoying their trip.

Dong-su hyung took me to his favorite gukbap (rice soup) restaurant.

“Hmm.”

“Honestly, I’m not really into pasta or stuff like that these days. With that money, I could have three bowls of hearty gukbap. Don’t you agree?”

It was a typical comment from a guy whose life was all about broadcasting.

The funny thing was Sharaout sitting next to us, holding a bowl of gukbap with both hands.

Slurp.

Is he really a foreigner?

“Gukbap. Hearty, Dong-su.”

“It’s not Dong-su!”

“Better than Kan, Dong-su.”

Ha.

If we captured this on the stream, it would be hilarious.

Even this skit-like interaction could easily make two YouTube videos.

Of course, I also liked gukbap, so I heartily enjoyed my meal.

I was hungry since I hadn’t eaten breakfast.

After filling up on gukbap, we headed to BEXCO, where the event was prepared.

BEXCO.

A familiar place for many gamers and a venue for numerous game events over the years.

It wasn’t unusual for a foreign game company to choose Korea for its first showcase.

Korean gamers were among the most enthusiastic in the world, and new games were often judged in Korea.

Games that became popular in Korea tended to succeed globally, while those that failed in Korea rarely achieved international success.

Given that was a huge hit in Korea, it wasn’t surprising that the sequel’s showcase was held here.

As we joked around, we arrived at the venue and were greeted by Sung-jae.

“Why are you everywhere, Sung-jae?”

“Oh, since we have two of our company’s streamers here… I had to come, didn’t I? Plus, it’s a good opportunity to meet the organizers personally.”

Though today was the showcase for , the VR Star event would start from tomorrow.

A significant event where VR game developers gathered.

I had received an invitation last time but hadn’t responded due to my hectic schedule.

Sung-jae must have come early for that as well.

Hmm, if today’s event is fun, staying in Busan until tomorrow wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Many virtual reality game companies would participate in VR Star, offering a chance to explore potential games.

It felt like securing a future source of content.

“Ah, you’re all here!”

As we were chatting with Sung-jae, a man with a staff badge around his neck hurried over and bowed.

“I’m Cha Seok-hwan, in charge of the Korean branch of Value.”

“Hi. I’m Sharaout.”

“I’m streamer Kan.”

“I’m streamer Sha.”

“Haha! I’m sorry I couldn’t greet you properly. Why didn’t you inform us before arriving?”

He had a friendly impression.

After a brief introduction, Cha Seok-hwan led us to the demo area.

There were capsules and a giant screen set up.

“The gameplay of the streamers will be broadcast live. We’ve also set up a streamer module, so you can stream directly if you wish.”

“Won’t that reduce the number of viewers for the official broadcast?”

“Since the event is for promotional purposes, as long as it gets exposure, our higher-ups don’t mind.”

What an open-minded approach.

It worked for us.

Promoting through our streams could attract more sponsorships.

Moreover, it would make creating content later easier.

Cha Seok-hwan quickly explained the schedule of the showcase.

After a brief introduction of the streamers, the gameplay would begin.

The showcase was planned for an hour, during which we would play the story mode of .

Though it was called story mode, it wasn’t particularly unique.

The primary goal of the game was to break through zombies and escape to a safe zone.

“You all have great physical skills, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. You can choose the difficulty level among yourselves… That’s about it. There’s not much to prepare. Just have fun playing the game.”

After quickly explaining the rules, Seok-hwan looked at me and smiled.

“I can’t express how happy I am to have you here, Sha. I’m personally a fan.”

He continued to smile and spoke to me in an excited tone.

“I watched your first broadcast with streamer Jin back in the day.”

“That wasn’t really a proper debut broadcast…”

“We’ve prepared melee weapons that you might like. You can look forward to it.”

If it’s the melee weapon I used in …

Oh, could it be?