Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: The Ordinary Guy Wants to Become a Donation Bug
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As soon as I got home, I flopped down onto the rocking chair in the corner of the living room and collapsed. There was nothing quite like a mask for hiding the true essence of an ordinary guy like me from others.
"...Sigh."
To seize control of the conversation, I needed to hide my expressions.
A hesitant tone.
Constantly anxious eyes.
Lips drying up like old tree bark—those were suicidal moves in any negotiation.
"You've worked hard too, Yun-ah."
"No need to mention it. And Seol-hwa requested a meeting."
She must have heard about it.
About me acquiring a game company.
Even though Jin Seol-hwa was far away, she knew everything I was up to here. It might seem stalkerish at first glance, but it absolutely wasn't. Right now, the funds from DJ Investment and Selig were all flowing through one person—me.
She had to know what the CEO was doing to prepare countermeasures on her end.
She was known to the world as the CEO, but strictly speaking, she was my secretary.
If anything happened to me, DJ Investment and Selig would crumble in an instant.
That was why Im Yun-ah had come to Korea.
"CEO Do-jun, it's been a while."
A while? Try just three days.
The daily meetings we'd been holding had recently been put on hold.
"I-is that so? How has Seol-hwa been?"
After that, I got a detailed rundown of what she was doing in the U.S.
Selig's Deadly Mite treatment had smoothly entered mass production, and the U.S. government was extremely satisfied. Plus, the new drugs they planned to release afterward.
"That's a relief. The Minister of Health and Welfare stopped by, right?"
It was all over the TV news.
To Koreans reveling in national pride, the scoop that a top-tier government official—one of the elite ten fingers—had visited Selig was huge.
And with lavish gifts to boot.
Jin Seol-hwa spoke with a beaming smile.
"Thanks to our recently developed Deadly Mite treatment, tick-related casualties in Texas have dropped by a whopping 70%. The government's approval ratings have risen 11% as a result..."
"Really?"
"Yes. Because of that, the positive outlook is that they can safely complete a second term in the next election."
Texas—what a place.
A single farm there was three times the size of Seoul.
In other words, the sheer size of those farms dwarfed what we call the capital here.
Land prices for just one farm? A trillion won.
A true superpower—everything's massive.
"This has allowed Selig to take another step forward. And DJ Investment has recruited a new talent."
"New talent?"
"I sent the details via fax."
"Ah..."
A single sheet of paper came out of the fax.
It looked like a resume, and as I scanned it... holy crap.
This was beyond impressive.
Someone like this was working for the DJ Investment I set up?
"W-who is this? Isn't this a heavyweight?"
"Yes. She's both my rival and my colleague."
There must be some complicated backstory.
Prying too much felt awkward.
Her name was Olivia.
Her education? Top of her class at Harvard in economics—the dream university. And that was just the start. Right after graduation, she wrote legends on Wall Street.
Most notably, her paper on the Subprime Mortgage Crisis had once stirred up a massive storm in the U.S.
'Olivia was the one who sharply criticized America's darkest financial history, known as its worst crisis!'
I could only gape in awe.
Jin Seol-hwa might not look it, but she was Stanford-educated with real combat experience as a soldier who'd crisscrossed regions in a PMC. Even someone like her was a godsend.
And now, an even more cheat-level character had landed in my lap.
Is this for real, or am I dreaming?
'In game terms, it's like pulling a graduation-level weapon in the early game. Haha, what kind of luck did I hit the jackpot on?'
A full hour of epic explanation.
I nodded along, listening intently to every word.
"That's everything."
"You've worked hard. A lot's happened in such a short time."
Truly, a ton had gone down.
Major incidents aside, even the minor ones couldn't be ignored.
Jin Seol-hwa was transcending the image of a mere entrepreneur, slowly forging connections in U.S. politics.
"How have you been, CEO?"
"Haha, well..."
I let out a sigh and quietly recounted everything that had happened so far.
Jin Seol-hwa, who had been listening silently, suddenly lit up and nodded in agreement.
"You've decided on your next venture, CEO. Web novels? I occasionally enjoy webtoons myself."
"R-really?"
Her enthusiasm left me flustered.
Especially in front of someone Stanford-educated...
"The boundaries between cultures are fading unlike in the past. What you're doing isn't just limited to games. Novels get adapted into dramas, and games have received rave reviews from Japan, the world's top animation powerhouse. You're pushing forward a comprehensive entertainment business..."
"N-no, I didn't plan it on that grand a scale..."
She shook her head.
Not in disappointment, but with anticipation for what was to come.
"You'll pull it off, CEO. In my eyes, your business instincts surpass mine and Olivia's by far."
She kept lavishing praise, leaving me unsure where to look.
Was she overestimating me?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Jin-seong, the most famous 'Bukppudeupppu' from Internet Broadcasting, sat down at his computer and took a deep breath.
Today was the day he'd promised to play Otherworld Witch Raising.
"Phew... Gotta convince the fans, huh?"
The moment he hit the broadcast start button, viewers surged exponentially.
3,700.
7,200.
17,400.
33,600.
61,800.
True to his title as Internet Broadcasting's president, his fanbase was no joke.
The incoming viewers welcomed him enthusiastically.
💬 Comments — Viewer Whoa! Streaming at this hour? Finally getting your act together? — Viewer Starcraft again today? — Viewer Enough Starcraft. Do some night streams or Valorant occasionally... — Viewer Agreed. — Viewer Agreed. — Viewer Agreed. — Viewer Jin-seong, missed you. What happened yesterday? No stream. A flood of chats from viewers.
Expectations for content mixed with questions about his personal reason for skipping yesterday.
"Haha, I had a quick meeting yesterday. Nothing to worry about."
— Viewer Phew, glad to hear it. — Viewer Agreed; Internet Broadcasting without Jin-seong is pointless. — Viewer Tone down the Starcraft. Even good side dishes get old if you eat them every day. — Viewer So why'd you start streaming today? — Viewer Agreed. — Viewer Agreed. He changed the broadcast title first.
He needed to have a serious talk with his fans.
— Broadcast Title [I have an important announcement today. It might make some of you uncomfortable...] — Viewer Huh? Another announcement? — Viewer Day before yesterday announcement, yesterday announcement, today too. — Viewer Fuck, yesterday was no stream. — Viewer Ease up on the hate. You idiots. — Viewer Kick that asshole. Flooding the chat like crazy. {Jinbosungji♡ has been forcibly ejected.} — Viewer Look at that nickname. — Viewer SECS! — Viewer ㅗㅜㅑ — Viewer Thanks! Thanks on the beach! ⭐ Top Comment — Viewer ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Normally, he'd call in a bunch of JNU streamers for an offline match against another university, but not today.
Jin-seong stepped down from his chair and knelt on the floor.
— Viewer Eh? — Viewer Huh? — Viewer Did he do something wrong? — Viewer Hey, you fucker. What's with the random bullshit! The chat exploded in an instant.
Seeing it, he spoke gravely about the current situation.
"Brothers! It's been ten years since I started streaming. I'm past my twenties now. And for the first time, I've accepted sponsorship."
Sponsorship wasn't bad.
But the viewers knew the amount he'd accepted while saying that was beyond imagination.
They'd been watching Internet Broadcasting for years, some over a decade.
It was bound to cause an uproar.
"Running JNU has put us in the red. When I bring in streamers, don't I have to cover their travel?"
— Viewer Agreed. — Viewer Free labor comes back as karma later. — Viewer Honestly, pay what's due. Passion pay had once been a huge issue in Internet Broadcasting.
If they worked, they deserved at least minimum wage.
It was the kind of mistake overeager streamers with high shoulders made.
"As you know, streamers earn more than average folks. Travel money? I've been giving 50k per person so far. For 20 people, that's 10 million gone per broadcast."
— Viewer Eh? — Viewer That much? — Viewer No way, 50k for travel? ⭐ Top Comment — Viewer Whoa! Regular folks work all day for 100k tops? — Viewer Korea's average monthly wage isn't even 2.5 million. — Viewer Damn, that's like 80k a day then? — Viewer ㅇㅅㅇ;; Just as public opinion was swaying his way...
Jin-seong cried out with blood-tearing resolve.
"I'm doing Otherworld Witch Raising now, three times a week, so please understand..."
— Viewer So the sponsorship was an ad after all? — Viewer Doesn't seem like a straight ad. More like a review format? — Viewer Ah, got it. — Viewer Whatever stream our Jin-seong does, true fans will follow. Had his sincerity gotten through?
With the positive response, he couldn't hide his joy.
🎁 GIFT ALERT 🎁 Bukppudeupppu gifted 100,000 Bubble Gifts. Bukppudeupppu gifted 100,000 Bubble Gifts. Bukppudeupppu gifted 100,000 Bubble Gifts. A barrage of Bubble Gifts hit instantly.
The viewers were floored.
That big spender's nickname was legendary.
⭐ Top Comment — Viewer Holy shit, it's Bukppudeupppu! — Viewer God----------------! — Viewer God---------------------! — Viewer Wow, the god has descended. Witnessing this live? — Viewer Whoa! First time seeing 100k bursts. — Viewer ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Surprised over just 100k? This guy's dropped a million before. — Viewer For real? — Viewer Facts. Jin-seong was overwhelmed with emotion.
Even called the president, he'd never gotten this many Bubble Gifts at once before—not even during his third leg scandals.
There was a saying in Internet Broadcasting:
Being born a man is a sin.
To make money, you have to stream as a woman.
It wasn't wrong.
For him with 60k average viewers, 300k was heavenly.
But.
No one knew this was just the beginning.
🎁 GIFT BARRAGE 🎁 Bukppudeupppu gifted 300,000 Bubble Gifts. Bukppudeupppu gifted 300,000 Bubble Gifts. Bukppudeupppu gifted 100,000 Bubble Gifts. Total: 1,000,000 Bubble Gifts
A million in total.
Shock and awe rippled through like waves.
Viewers rubbed their eyes, unable to look away from the chat messages.
— Viewer W-what was that? — Viewer My eyes aren't messing with me, right? ⭐ Top Comment — Viewer Holy, a real million drop? — Viewer Whoa, a big shot sprinkling a million on top of peppers? Never seen it before. — Viewer Nope. First time ever. — Viewer Fuck, dumping 100 million here. Who the hell is Bukppudeupppu? Right now, Jin-seong wasn't the star.
Bukppudeupppu was.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After blasting a million Bubble Gifts at Jin-seong, I let out a deep breath.
To acquire Starlight this time, I desperately needed his help.
A streamer with 60k viewers.
What would happen if someone of that caliber played Otherworld Witch Raising?
'It'll blow up.'
Probably every community in Korea would explode.
In an era where conglomerates handed ads to famous broadcasters.
There was no rule saying I couldn't borrow their power too.
"Shall we get started then?"
"Yes, CEO Do-jun."
Im Yun-ah immediately pulled out her smartphone as soon as I spoke.
"You have the CEO's permission."