Chapter 167: Gift (2)
The first thing Sang-Hyeon heard when he first came to Ahsung was, "I'll be informal with you."
It was normal there to speak without greetings. They were even more intense than senior figures in the sports industry. It took him by surprise. However, Sang-Hyeon quickly understood the dynamics of the place. No, perhaps he understood the way society as a whole operated.
"Are you good at English?"
"No... not at all..."
"... What about Korean?"
"Sorry?"
"Do you not know how to speak Korean either? Why can't you talk properly?"
"I'm sorry."
"You better learn to speak properly. This isn't school."
"Yes, sir."
"Do you think we can have miscommunication when there are millions on the line with every click?"
"No, sir."
The newcomers who entered had to quickly adapt and adjust. It was a situation where they had to suppress their excitement. No other expression could adequately replace the saying, 'Taming the road.' This place was like a modern-day wilderness. Untamed livestock would devour the humans. It was to avoid being consumed, to survive.
"Here."
Tok.
The supervisor threw a textbook that was all in English.
"Memorize this in six months. You'll hear these terminologies more than you'll see your own food."
He looked at the crumpled book. It was filled with business terminologies in English. It was all printed out one by one and held together with a simple cover. The author was...
'Park Tae-Hyun.'
It was the supervisor standing in front of him.
"Yes, sir."
He was bullied more than the others because he had no college degree and got the job through connections. Thankfully, it wasn't just Sang-Hyeon getting treated this way.
"Fuuuck. How does this make sense? Why are they making us memorize all of this? They're doing it on purpose, right?"
"They didn't even do this back in 2020..."
"Maybe it's catching on again."
Three guys and one girl complained while smoking.
"They suddenly spoke to me in English. Fuck, I couldn't understand a single term even though I studied overseas."
"Me too... even their pronunciation is good..."
"It's like trade lingo, right? I don't think studying overseas is enough to understand it. Maybe if you studied it as a major or something..."
The newcomers found the language barrier hard to overcome and felt discouraged. Almost every newcomer in every department was having trouble with it, all except one.
"Hey, Ju-Hyeok. I think you need to come take a look at this!"
"Ah, yes sir, Supervisor Kim!"
Tak.
One worker finished his cigarette and ran off. Only one worker got things done while others couldn't.
***
He was once again pulling off something impressive in front of Sang-Hyeon, speaking fluent sentences with an upper-class accent. His eloquence didn't sound like something he had learned superficially. It gave off the impression of a well-developed linguistic ability. The other person seemed to be taken aback.
“Actually, you won’t need that translator beside you. You can talk to me directly, Mr. ...”
“Wielsma.”
“Ok, Mr. Wielsma. Nice to meet you. I’m his manager, Kim.”
The first thing Ju-Hyeok did was clear the annoying translator away. He wanted to get rid of their shield.
“First of all. Thanks for the great opportunity. We really appreciate your offer. However...”
After expressing gratitude for the opportunity, he went straight to the point. When it came to the main topic, it inevitably involved a proposed amount that was relatively low. This wouldn't make him feel good, of course. It was always natural for the initial offer to be on the lower side. Foreign companies, in particular, were known for their intense price negotiations. It was just a process that had to be gone through.
Sang-Hyeon, who was observing, couldn't help but be thankful that Ju-Hyeok hadn't used those negotiation skills against him in determining their own value.
Ju-Hyeok was like a giant serpent at the negotiation table. The other party was an armed individual who had just lost their interpreter as a shield. They were left to face Ju-Hyeok alone, wielding only their own sword. It was an overwhelming sight for anyone watching. The unfortunate foreign mercenary was a militia member who couldn't properly wield their sword.
Sang-Hyeon's gaze shifted to the remaining two employees behind him. 'Actually... they’re the main players.'
He recognized that they had fallen into the trap. The foreigner wasn't in charge, nor were they adequately prepared. They had been bound by the serpent's coils without exerting significant force, helplessly withering to the bone.
Swiftly, Ju-Hyeok wrote the desired numbers on the contract.
***
"Phew."
The long talk was over. The employees of Green Diamond left with dark looks on their faces.
"What are we going to do about our budget..."
"Man, I don't know!"
Ju-Hyeok looked at his watch and smiled.
"... That took what, an hour?"
"Ju-Hyeok... I didn't think you'd be so good?"
Manager Oh, sitting beside them, was impressed.
"I was just born in the US. That's all."
"N-No, your English was great, but... you knew all of their patterns!"
"Ju-Hyeok studied for his masters in the US as well. His studies were also in that area... so he's bright when it comes to it."
Manager Oh was impressed during Fantasia's negotiation, but this time he was surprised. It was understandable because he witnessed for the first time how incredible Ju-Hyeok was when he did his main job.
"When I worked in the office, I was in charge of internationals."
"Wow, I see. Sang-Hyeon, are you good at English as well?"
"No, I can only listen and talk a little. Just basic conversation..."
Since Sang-Hyeon got his office job through connections, he studied hard to improve his English. As a result, he was somewhat proficient at it. Unlike Ju-Hyeok though, he couldn't continue long conversations or express himself freely. It was like a dream for him to speak like Ju-Hyeok.
Roll.
While Sang-Hyeon was impressed by Ju-Hyeok's abilities, he looked at the contract again.
[70,000,000 won]
It was a higher compensation than his pay from the Lazy Soldier advertisement even though it was a lower-tier advertisement for the sub-channel.
'I'm worth more now.'
The words Ju-Hyeok had said came to mind. They received numerous advertising proposals, and they would eventually become the big shot in this industry.
That meant they would be giants in the industry. Sang-Hyeon wasn't sure of the exact tone to use that term, but if he were to think about the English that Ju-Hyeok had learned, it seemed like an excessive expression for an individual streamer.
'I'm confident in my headshot...'
A smile formed on Sang-Hyeon's lips. It could turn out to be an excessive expression, but it didn't displease him.
***
Sang-Hyeon and Ju-Hyeok loosened their ties as they opened the building window.
"Aaaargh!" Ju-Hyeok let out his pent-up scream.
The people walking stared at them, but because this was a financial street, it didn't seem that weird for workers to cheer after a successful business.
Sang-Hyeon also put his arms in the air, "Yeaaaaaah!"
They screamed in laughter and double-checked the amount on their contract. It was 70 million won.
"Are you sure you're a streamer? Not some commercial model?!"
Ju-Hyeok wasn't wrong. Sang-Hyeon's ad revenue was getting higher than his streaming revenue.
"This is all because I've taken good care of my image, alright?"
"Alright, alright."
Sang-Hyeon nodded with a smirk.
His image and the way other people viewed him. His personality, his looks, and everything about him... They all combined to create an illusion, or as others would call it, an image. It was the most important thing for a streamer.
'So this is what Acorn Jelly was talking about.'
Acorn Jelly told Almond in the past that his image would pay off in the major scene. There was something Manager Oh also said during their meeting as well.
Having worked for a large corporation... That's something our people here really appreciate. Even the person who opened the door to the streaming market in our country had a significant impact because they came from a corporate background.
While saying that, Manager Oh added that it was relatively easy for him to get advertisements for Almond. After all, advertisements were ultimately meant to positively affect a company's image. In the streaming market, Sang-Hyeon's image perfectly suited such companies.
'Ahsung... it was a good place.'
He always thought that in moments like this. Despite enduring so much pain and considering quitting several times a day, there was a sense of fulfillment in persevering and staying there. Somehow, it had become one of the pillars supporting the current Sang-Hyeon. Where else could he have met Ju-Hyeok if not there?
At that moment…
[Editor Seo Ji-Ah]
Bzzt.
A call came from Sang-Hyeon's phone.
"... Ji-Ah?"
It was rare for her to call, especially during this time. Sang-Hyeon scratched his head and picked up the call.
"Hey, Ji-Ah. What's up?"
“A big deal!!”
"A big deal?!"
Ju-Hyeok panicked upon hearing that.
“First... we're first!”
"... First?"
He was confused as to what they had gotten first in. Since it was Ji-Ah, it could only mean one thing.
'YouTube?'
Maybe he was really going to be a big shot after all.
***
Just like there were music rankings for music platforms, there were also video rankings on YouTube. The rankings only included videos that were uploaded in the last three days. Today was the second day that Ji-Ah uploaded a video.
[1.27 million]
They reached 1.27 million views on their second day already. Beneath the video were the following hashtags:
#Game
#Trending
#Rank 1 Trending Video
It was just like Ji-Ah said. They were really number one.
— Congrats on hitting number one!!!
— Finally! Almond is finally world-class!
— Wow, he finally reached first. He was really moving up these days.
— Almond's so cute~
The most recent comments were talking about it as well. People were starting to notice.
— WTF? First one to clear Raina's story?
— Okay, this video deserves to be number one
— Raina... does Almond hitting first make you feel better?
— I watched it because it was trending. But is that really the streamer? He's so good-looking...
└ He's even better looking in person. I saw him on the train.
— Wow, this guy is good. First time seeing him.
— Hey, is this the guy that beat JeonJaPa's record? Wow, he's beating everyone's records.
— Record-breaker Almond
Because the video was the number one trending, there were a lot of new viewers. Like a snowball, the number of views exponentially increased by the minute. The most interesting thing was the top comment.
— He did it first...
A simple comment had an overwhelming number of likes. After seeing the comments' replies, one could understand why it was the top comment.
└ Is that really JeonJaPa???
└ It's really him!!
└ JeonJaPa? Why are you coming out here?!
└ Holy... is that really him?
└ Please stream again!!
└ I hear he has health problems...
└ JeonJaPa is giving Almond a shout-out?!
.
The top comment was from the pro player who set new records in every tournament, JeonJaPa.
'Holy shit...'
Sang-Hyeon's eyes couldn't believe it. He received a comment from the all-time greatest. No wonder this became a hot topic. It was like Messi commenting on a soccer player or Michael Jordan commenting on a basketball player. Thousands of people came to watch the video just to see the comment.
[LIVE: JeonJaPa gave Almond a shout-out...]
[LIVE: JeonJaPa appearing in the comments for Almond?!]
Entire YouTube videos were being created just because of this comment. These videos naturally gave a brief rundown of who Almond was. Almond was getting free marketing from this one comment.
— This is the first time I'm hearing about him. He's pretty fun to watch!
— Wow, Almond's really good. No wonder JeonJaPa commented.
— Damn.
— Our oppa is the best!
The marketing was effective and helped Almond's video reach number one.
'Is this Raina's present?'
He felt proud trying so hard in the story mode.