Chapter 115: Fierce Negotiations (2)
Fantasia threw their tablet into their bag as if they were forfeiting. Only then did the tense situation die down.
"We erased it. Let's go with something higher than 20 million."
“Kya,”?Manager Oh was the first to display his awe. He patted Ju-Hyeok on his shoulder. "Hey! You're amazing!"
"It was nothing... haha."
"I can tell why Ahsung is doing so well. It scares me to think that there are multiple employees like you. We're not even in the same industry, but it still scares me."
"... Ahsung?" Fantasia's supervisor asked Manager Oh.
"Ah, yeah. These two were from there. Everyone knows this, didn't you?"
"Ah..."
The supervisor became flustered and didn't know their backgrounds at all. He hadn’t been paid enough to put in the research.
Manager Oh smirked.
What about Ju-Hyeok who was receiving the same amount? He had a different attitude toward his work. For Ju-Hyeok, this work was going to be his life. For Fantasia's employees, this was simply a job. Their different attitudes produced the current results.
"This guy. Tsk. How could you not know? Anyways, Supervisor Kim, how much can you do?"
“Sigh,” the two let out a deep breath. "Umm... We agree with what you said, and we're going to raise the amount. But..."
‘But?’
Lasers were coming out from Ju-Hyeok and Sang-Hyeon's eyes.
The supervisor spoke with sweat trickling down, "You're probably already aware, but we don't have any power to make any decisions. We need to be able to convince the higher-ups. So... if we have a better reason... or some kind of evidence we can present as employees, it'll make this a whole lot easier."
Manager Oh nodded beside them.
"That's right. The monologue was great, but... it did seem like a child's dream. As you know, that doesn't do well in businesses, especially with the higher-ups."
Manager Oh pointed up at the ceiling with his thumb.
"Hmm..."
Ju-Hyeok started thinking. He was so close. What could he do to deliver the final blow?
Then, Sang-Hyeon brought his phone out.
"How's this?"
"...?"
‘What is this?’
Ju-Hyeok and Manager Oh looked around.
"It's my YouTube channel."
"Hmm... Right, it is. So what?"
Tap, tap.
Sang-Hyeon tapped on the subscriber count.
"Fantasia talked about their own standards. That was probably based on my subscriber count, which was around 53,000 back then."
"Hmm... That's right... Oh?!"
Manager Oh and Ju-Hyeok shouted in surprise simultaneously. The subscriber count Sang-Hyeon displayed was 81,000. In one day, his subscriber count grew by 30,000.
"W-What the... how's this possible?"
"My editor finally uploaded a video this morning."
No, it wasn't even a full day. It was only a couple of hours since the video was uploaded.
"What? Was a video uploaded in the morning? What was the video? How did you suddenly gain 30,000 subscribers?!"
The Fantasia employees whispered to each other in disbelief as Manager Oh shouted in shock. However, all their doubts disappeared after they saw the title of the videos.
[Die-Almond EP.1 Beating The World Record: Begin!]
[Die-Almond EP.2 Kimchi Stew Mukbang Before Beating The Record]
[Die-Almond EP.3 Beating The World Record: Success!]
Beating the world record. The videos contained history being rewritten.
"Did the subscriber count go up because of these videos? Alright, should we take a look?" Manager Oh asked Fantasia and put up the video.
***
Flap.
The dark curtains in the room covered the warm sunlight. Ji-Ah's room was enveloped in darkness even in the middle of the day.
"Sigh."
She was in bed after working for three nights in a row. She was glad she purchased a sunproof curtain when her pay came in because it allowed her to sleep during broad daylight hours. She got up shortly after closing her eyes.
"Sigh."
She rubbed her eyes with a frown on her face.
"What happened to me?"
It sounded like a complaint, but she had a faint smile.
"All this for that Almond guy..."
There were things she needed to confirm before sleeping. It wasn't a big deal, but she didn't want to leave anything to chance when it came to Almond.
She picked up her cell phone beside the bed. The light from her cellphone shone on Ji-Ah's tired face.
Thump—?
Her heart was racing. Her physical body felt dead, but her mind was rushing. Did she have too much caffeine? Or was it because these were the videos she put the most effort into?
"Let's check the reactions before sleeping."
Ji-Ah's hands shook as she was about to check the reactions.
***
[Die-Almond EP.1 Beating The World Record: Begin!]
[Die-Almond EP.2 Kimchi Stew Mukbang Before Beating The Record]
[Die-Almond EP.3 Beating The World Record: Success!]
The three videos highlighted the day Almond completed his journey to Diamond. That particular day, he streamed longer than usual because there were lots to cover.
The videos were in a new format titled Die-Almond since there was a specific goal to them, which was to beat JeonJaPa's record. These videos were different from the earlier ones. Because of that, Ji-Ah wanted to check the results to see what people thought. She waited for the live premiere and read the chat.
— Almond in the morning? I can't resist a healthy breakfast!
— LOL Today's breakfast is almond flakes!
— Almonduuuuu
— Perfect for my road to work. But why is it a live premiere?
— Die-Almond, LOL!
— Me, a jobless bum, came as soon as the notification came up, but it's still ten minutes before the reveal?!
— Release it already!
— I timed it to watch on the toilet, but it's still ten minutes remaining? No...
— Wow, the diamond promo videos are being uploaded
— Did this guy really do it? Did he beat JeonJaPa's record?!?
'No way.'
Ji-Ah was starting to get dizzy from the immense number of messages in the chat. Simply reading them made her hyperventilate. Almond was going through this every day. Once again, she was impressed by him.
Ji-Ah sat and waited ten minutes, reading what the users said about the video.
'It's starting.'
Then, the live premiere began.
***
The beginning of the video was similar to the others. The audience wouldn't notice any difference other than a new title. No one came to analyze the editing styles. They were here to watch Almond being promoted to Diamond.
The Diamond promotion matches were such a large event that it didn't matter what editing style she used. Hence, Ji-Ah tried out a different style with these videos.
Most people wouldn't notice the subtle difference until Almond fired his first shot.
— Wow, he's shooting.
— Thump thump
— Kya, look at his pose.
When the action began, the music changed from bass to a cheerful song. Wherever Almond moved was colored in.
— ???
— ?! What's going on?
— Is it a mistake?
— That's cute!
The color followed his movements as if someone was using a pencil crayon. A shade of color followed Almond as he drew his arrow. And in the climax, following the loud bass...
Pang!
— !?
— Damn
— Wow!
— Holy shit
— That's insane
— Crazy!
The color was distinctive despite the chaos. The shot, enveloped in these colors, flew straight ahead. It gave a satisfying feeling that was different from before.
Previously, Almond's arrows took a lot of work to spot. The viewers had to look closer or rely on Ji-Ah's camera angles to see the arrows. However, now anyone could see the protagonist’s arrows flying in spectacular colors.
The arrow passed through countless obstacles and people—
Thwack!
And it reached its target.
Then, the video's color started to fade and turned monotone. Shortly afterward, the target hit by the arrow glowed with the shot's color. Since everything else was monotone, it was easy to spot.
But it wasn't over.
A large X was drawn on top like a big paintbrush was painted over them. This signaled death.
Soon, the screen turned normal again and the camera pointed at Almond.
— Wow!!!
— Holy shit. This is like watching a badass action movie!
— It looks even cooler because I can see where the arrow is going!
— Damn! The editing style has been upgraded!
The video started playing cheerful music after the X as if it predicted the viewers would enjoy the new effects. The bass sped up and Almond fired quickly, matching the beat.
Pang! Pang! Paaang!!
The combination of shots matching the rhythm and the different colors made the scene look like a bunch of fireworks created by the brush. All these fireworks pierced through the opponent's heads.
Pubububung!
These opponents received a big X on them too.
— Wowww!
— Insane.
— Imagine this in a knife fight.
— Daaamn!
— I like this.
— Holy shit!
— Even the editing is different for diamond promo matches.
— It's like a well-made amateur American movie.
More positive reactions poured in.
"Thank goodness."
Ji-Ah’s tired expression turned into a smile. After that, she passed out on her bed with the video still playing.
[Subscribers: 59k]
When she fell asleep, there were already five thousand more subscribers.
***
When Sang-Hyeon showed his subscriber count to Manager Oh, there were already 30,000 more subscribers.
[Subscribers: 81k]
"... Ah, it's over?" Manager Oh muttered as the video finished.
'The video was next level.'
It was an honest thought. Even Fantasia couldn't take their eyes off the screen.
'This is beyond...'
'A single person can produce this well?'
It was a better quality than some of Fantasia's advertisements.
Sang-Hyeon asked the two of them staring blankly at the screen.
"How was it?"
"Sorry?"
Fantasia's supervisor finally snapped out of it and replied. "T-The video is really good."
"I'm not talking about the video."
Sang-Hyeon tapped on his subscriber count and asked again, "Will this be good enough evidence for my future growth? Even during our negotiations, the future we talked about is happening."
Meanwhile, the subscriber count grew to 83,000.
"Two more thousand subscribed while we were watching the video."
"..."
What could they say after seeing this exponential growth? Just...
"We'll come back with good news."
Then, they left.
***
"Wow, good job. Very good," Manager Oh patted them on the shoulder as Fantasia's employees left. "You two are no joke? Huh? You didn't even prepare! How did you do it? Hahaha!"
Sang-Hyeon and Ju-Hyeok were pleased with the outcome as well. Since the other side backed down, there would be good news. The two headed home after Manager Oh treated them to lunch.
"We're going..."
"Alright! Goodbye!" Manager Oh saw them off and went back to the office.?"Phew."
The office was still hot from the negotiations.
"They're passionate youngsters. Hahaha."
He burst out laughing while thinking about what happened earlier.
But afterward...
Tadadak. Tadadak.
The same repetitive job continued.
'I'm bored.'
He felt a sense of emptiness. It was the empty feeling someone felt after returning from a concert: emptiness, depression, or something along those lines.
What was it? Manager Oh leaned comfortably in his chair and looked out into the sunlight.
He felt empty.
Bling!
Then, he got a notification.
[Almond is starting to stream!]
“... Hm? It's 3 P.M.”
Almond was starting his stream earlier than usual. Usually, Manager Oh would have to ignore it.
'I wonder how many more live viewers he got?'
After the increase in Almond’s YouTuber subscribers, Manager Oh became curious about how much the live viewership increased.