Season 2: Chapter 207: Suspicion (1)
"Great work everyone~!"
The applause to wrap things up prompted Ju-Hyeok, who had been drinking a beverage by the vending machine, to head back to the set. He was carrying several drinks from the vending machine in one hand and didn't go straight to Sang-Hyeon.
First, he greeted the staff members and distributed the cold drinks. While greeting them one by one, the PD grasped his hand.
"Ah, Ju-Hyeok. Thanks to you, we got something interesting out of this. Thank you."
"Oh, I just talked a bit. It's nothing."
"No. You also looked through the match records on the laptop. I can't believe I didn't think of that."
The PD criticized himself and hit his own head.
"If you have a bad head, you suffer. Really."
"It's impossible that you have a bad head, PD. The Avatar of LIL is such a hit."
"Ahaha. Anyway, thank you for today. Let's have a meal together if we get a chance."
"Sure!"
Ju-Hyeok quickly said goodbye and continued to distribute drinks to the other staff. Finally, he finished thanking everyone.
"That guy made a good impression. Very nice, but where is he?"
He felt satisfied and headed toward Sang-Hyeon, who was talking to some unfamiliar people.
"If you continue independently, you might not maximize your potential. These days, most streamers are joining MCUs (multi-channel networks)."
For a moment, Ju-Hyeok didn't understand his own reaction. It acted almost out of instinct. His feet suddenly felt glued to the ground and he hid behind a pillar.
***
Around ten minutes earlier, the filming for The Avatar of LIL finally ended after Zucchini’s execution.
Sang-Hyeon wiped off his sweat and muttered, "Phew. That was long."
It felt like the show had dragged on due to encountering a random troll. He got tired quickly without his usual capsule. Plus, the show going on made it even worse.
"It seems like it'll get good views."
He felt a bit tired, but if the broadcast was a hit that was all that mattered. With that thought, he was about to leave the set when someone approached him.
'What?'
Two men and two women came forward. Four people in total, but none of them seemed to be a couple.
The more formally dressed woman extended a business card first.
"Hello, Sang-Hyeon. We are from Navi Entertainment. I'm Deputy Manager Lee Soo-Hyun."
"Ah…"
An entertainment company? This was an unexpected visit.
"Isn't an entertainment company usually where celebrities are signed?"
"Yes! That's correct."
The woman who introduced herself as the deputy manager smiled brightly and had anticipated this question.
"We are expanding into the streamer market now. Streamers are pretty much real celebrities, aren't they?"
The employee next to her took this moment to join in.
"If you continue independently, you might not maximize your potential. These days, most streamers are joining MCUs (multi-channel networks)."
He rambled on, but Sang-Hyeon wasn't really listening. Due to the industry jargon, he hadn't anticipated this kind of offer and couldn't fully grasp what they were saying.
"Ah, yes. I'm sorry. I'm happy with how things are. I believe the person currently taking care of me is doing just as well as any big company could."
He declined as politely as possible, not wanting any strange rumors to spread since they were from an entertainment company.
"… The person taking care of you?" the deputy manager inquired, wondering if he was already affiliated with a company.
Of course, that wasn't the case. Sang-Hyeon simply explained that he had a manager.
"Oh, that friend?" The deputy manager understood the situation and advised him, "To rise higher, it's necessary to sort out your surroundings, Sang-Hyeon. Being swayed by personal connections isn't good. This is my personal advice from years in the industry."
Smiling slyly, she excused herself and disappeared.
"See you next time."
Sang-Hyeon nodded politely to appear courteous, but the conversation made him uneasy.
'Being swayed by personal connections isn't good.'
Something pricked at his heart.
***
Ju-Hyeok listened intently in the darkening set, picking up their conversation bit by bit.
'A recruitment offer.'
They were clearly from an entertainment company. It wasn't surprising and only a matter of time.
'It's strange that it took them this long to come.'
They hadn't approached because Sang-Hyeon had spoken so positively about having a manager in public, but that couldn't last forever.
"… Sort out your surroundings, Sang-Hyeon. Being swayed by personal connections isn't good. This is my personal advice…"
They already knew about the relationship between Sang-Hyeon and Ju-Hyeok. Despite that, they approached and thought of ways to undermine it.
They would back off for now, but what about later?
Ju-Hyeok felt a tightness in his chest. What was this feeling? He knew that Sang-Hyeon could leave his side at any time. Of course, he knew Sang-Hyeon wouldn't betray him.
'But that's what makes it worse…'
It wasn't the fear of Sang-Hyeon betraying him that troubled Ju-Hyeok. It was because Sang-Hyeon chose Ju-Hyeok out of friendship, loyalty, and a bit of pity. He was sacrificing much greater opportunities because of Ju-Hyeok and there was nothing Ju-Hyeok could do but watch.
That was the real pain.
***
The winter days were short. When the shoot ended, night had already fallen.
The bars near the studio began to twinkle with dazzling lights. People huddled together in small groups, sharing warmth to fend off the cold, laughing and talking, burying themselves in each other's warm embrace.
"The radio forecasts a heavy snowfall across the country tomorrow. It seems this snow will continue over the weekend…"
The radio talked about tomorrow's snow, followed by tedious traffic news. Ju-Hyeok switched off the radio channel.
"… Maybe I should grab some chicken and beer tonight."
Initially, he thought it was the radio speaking. It wasn't.
"Ahahaha. So? Did you cut ties with that friend?"
"Ah, of course. Birds of a feather, right? If you start associating with those types of people, you'll end up at the bottom along with them…"
The radio was filled with discussions about cutting ties with friends for better opportunities.
"Are you not into chicken and beer?"
"What? Was that you talking?" Ju-Hyeok finally recognized Sang-Hyeon's voice and asked back.
It was unusual for Sang-Hyeon to suggest having drinks, so he didn’t expect it.
"Yeah. Turn off that radio. Let's just listen to some music instead. Why act like an old man?"
"You're almost there yourself, dude."
Laughter filled the car for a moment.
"Where should we go for chicken and beer?"
"Just around our neighborhood. Let's park the car and walk somewhere nearby."
"Um… No, I'm kind of tired today."
Ju-Hyeok declined by shaking his head.
"Ah… okay, got it."
Sang-Hyeon seemed slightly disappointed and gazed back outside.
***
They went straight home without a special meal and went to bed, welcoming the next day.
As soon as he woke up, Sang-Hyeon turned on his phone out of habit.
"Ugh…"
He checked for reactions to last night's live broadcast of The Avatar of LIL. Searching for the Avatar of LIL brought up a variety of posts.
[Last night's The Avatar of LIL Sori skill analysis]
[Popcorn vs. Almond was legendary]
[Popcorn is practically washed]
Among others, The Avatar of LIL wasn't typically a show that became a hot topic from a live broadcast alone. It often garnered more attention after an edited version was uploaded. Still, being mentioned quite a bit among LIL Pro users was a good outcome.
The most liked post was this one:
[Anyone who saw the show last night and didn't buy Sori is a true noob lol]
The post seemingly encouraged others to buy Sori. It had a lot of comments.
— lol right, who wouldn't buy her
— Police small business OP
└ … cursing while buying her, the story of my life.
└ lol lol lol
└ ah lol can I fight with a knife when everyone else has guns lol
Overall, the reactions were positive perhaps because of the data someone brought up.
[Current sales figures for Sori are record-breaking]
The post talked about the incredible sales figures for the newly released champion Sori, stating that its initial sales made it into the top ten all-time best sellers.
— wow
— She's really OP
— They priced her so high, and yet… ??
└ Cries in poverty
└ So expensive, are her arrows tipped with gold?
— Sigh... Gonna blow my part-time paycheck on this lol
└ Welcome to being poor in magic lol
└ lol lol lol
Champions could be bought with game money after a while, but they were only exclusively available with cash purchases for a certain period after their release. This period could stretch up to nearly six months if the champion was popular. With various skins and bundle sales, getting everything could be quite expensive.
'Anyway, the reaction is good.'
Sang-Hyeon thought this while lying in bed and finally got up.
"Ugh."
He felt stiff all over, maybe because of yesterday's fatigue.
"I've gotten too used to my custom capsule."
***
[Avatar of LIL PD: Wow, the initial sales figures are record-breaking this time!]
Around lunchtime, Ju-Hyeok received such a message.
"Oh. Sori's selling well this time?"
Sang-Hyeon was watching TV on the sofa and nodded.
"Yeah. I saw it on the community this morning."
"Oh, really?"
Today, it seemed Ju-Hyeok woke up late and hadn't checked the community.
"..."
Ju-Hyeok headed to the kitchen after a brief awkward silence and said, "That's good news. If you... no, if we sell well, Police might offer you something again in the future."
Thump. Thump. Thump.
He started chopping green onions to cook something.
"As a streamer who has gained a lot of popularity through LIL, having a good relationship with this PD will obviously be beneficial."
“Hmm.”
Sang-Hyeon seemed like he had something to say, but chose not to continue.
"Right."
Ju-Hyeok prepared his usual dish, soft tofu stew.
Later in the afternoon, it was almost time for Almond to start streaming.
"Huh? But…"
Ju-Hyeok was browsing the community while preparing for the stream.
"The reactions are quite different from this morning?"
Ju-Hyeok was looking at the posts Sang-Hyeon had seen in the morning.
Big: Anyone who watched Avatar of LIL last night and didn't buy Sori is a true noob lol
The post made it to the Big board.
'This made it to Big?'
The content wasn't funny or provocative enough to warrant such attention. The reason became clear soon enough. As time passed and people who played a game or two with Sori started commenting, public opinion began to shift.
— Is it just me or does this champion not work well? She feels kinda lame.
The first skeptical comments emerged.
└ Seriously, the reload delay feels worse than having no attack speed boost.
└ So it wasn't just me.
Slowly, the downsides of Sori started to surface. These things couldn't be understood just by watching Almond's play.
— Ah… I feel scammed… Police bastards…
— So, am I actually supposed to shoot this bow??? Why is there no aim assist ffs, how am I supposed to do this?
└ It was literally about shooting the bow lol
└ Archer medalist exclusive, please~ Take this post down~
— Nuts must've poisoned LIL…
Players began to realize that Sori had quite a few drawbacks as a champion.
The post went Big because of these comments.
— So the noob was you all along lol
└ Seriously lol
└ Lol
└ 222222
└ Why say there's no noob when it's you? lol
Regardless, the current consensus among those who played Sori was that she wasn't as good as they thought. In fact, some even claimed her to be unusable.
Naturally, these people began to seek out a certain person.
Big: So how did Almond do that with her??
The question arose. How exactly did Almond manage to win with Sori?
Some players even began to grow suspicious.
— Is this some super account trick?
└ What's special about the account?
└ It's just skill lol
— the bow is Almond himself…
└ No matter what, this is bs
└ That's just an advertisement broadcast, you idiots. It's all staged.
"Wow…" Sang-Hyeon had been following the community comments with Ju-Hyeok and muttered, "Looks like we've got the content for today’s stream."
Shortly afterward…
Ding!
A notification rang out that Almond's stream had started.