7
Chapter 7
"...What?"
Yuna frowned upon receiving the text.
Not because she was in a bad mood, but simply because it was a bit absurd.
There was a rather fascinating aspect to the text Parang sent.
To summarize, it was a request to promote her own stream on Yuna's stream. An ultimate nuisance of a request, the absolute peak of imposing.
But looking at the details? It was extremely logical and neat, leaving no room for refutation.
Are the deep-sea Monster Fishes actually dangerous? Yes. Yuna almost died.
The danger posed by the deep-sea Monster Fishes? It is right that it should be made known.
How to let people know? Showing them directly while explaining how terrifying they are is the most surefire method.
Who is capable of doing that? Hunter Yoo Parang is practically the only one.
What do people enjoy watching the most these days? Internet streams.
Who can pour viewers into Parang's stream like a flood? Yuna.
This was Parang's argument up to this point.
Every event, the claims stemming from them, and the evidence all fit together perfectly.
Furthermore, it was a request from her lifesaver.
This was simply a request that Yuna had no choice but to grant.
It was even a stream featuring live commentary while directly hunting down unknown monstrosities living in the deep sea.
Unless the hosting was incredibly boring, there was no way it wouldn't be a hit.
Parang's hosting skills were even above average. Hadn't she managed a clean stream just by talking to herself, without even communicating with the chat?
"Mmm...."
Still, there were parts that troubled her. She would need broadcasting equipment, and no matter how much promotion she gave, the number of gathered viewers would probably be small.
Wait.
"I'm agonizing over this kind of issue? Me?"
Yuna muttered to herself.
Am I really hesitating right now to help the person who saved my life?
That was absolutely unacceptable. She wasn't even asking her to hand over her entire stream, just to give a simple shoutout.
Her pride was even a bit hurt. It was because of the thought that she was merely this kind of person. Yuna might have acted selfishly in the past, but she had always strictly observed human decency.
She immediately grabbed her phone and furiously began typing out a text message.
[ Hello, Hunter Yoo Parang. I also completely agree with the necessity of the stream you proposed. Therefore, during my upcoming stream...
...how about we do this. ]
After finishing the message, Yuna rubbed her chin for a moment. Even so, she owed her a life debt, so just giving a tiny bit of promotion (it was already far beyond a tiny bit) and calling it a day seemed far too insincere.
If she really just gave a shoutout, Yuna's name would weep. Yuna immediately began drafting a lengthy text message.
Is there something more I could do...
"Ah."
[ In addition, if it's alright with you, Hunter Yoo Parang, I would like to provide broadcasting equipment that I've crafted myself. The items I can support you with include a microphone, a camera... If you need anything else, the following items as well... ]
This much is needed to repay the favor. S-rank Production Hunter Shin Yuna pressed the send button with a satisfied expression.
A reply arrived not long after.
[ Thank you. I think we can proceed just as you suggested. ]
Just like that, a secret agreement was established between an S-rank Production Hunter and Earth's strongest Undersea Hunter.
Yuna immediately sent out emails to the Production Hunters she knew. Ten A-ranks and three S-ranks. They were all close friends of hers.
"Uh, hello? Yeah, it's me. Ah, so about that..."
Since she was doing it anyway, even if not the whole world, she wanted to turn at least South Korea upside down.
When else in her life would she ever have her life saved like this again?
And then, a week later on July 10th. The following announcement was posted on the notice tab of the channel Shin Yuna managed.
[ (7/10 Channel Notice) Event Announcement – Shin Yuna is giving away A-rank Artifacts! ]
[ Hello everyone, this is Streaming Hunter Shin Yuna. It's nothing else but, after the incident that occurred during my previous diving content, I got to talk with Hunter Yoo Parang and...
...ended up deciding on this. Therefore, for those who watch Hunter Yoo Parang's stream on July 27th from start to finish and verify it, we will hold a drawing to give ten people an A-rank Artifact that I crafted myself.
*You can personally select the Artifact's type.
*For further details, please inquire at [email protected]. ]
And every Hunter in South Korea was flipped completely upside down.
[ Holy shit, did you guys see the notice Shin Yuna posted? ]
[ Author: Moss of Mother Nature ]
(Screenshot of the notice posted on the channel)
No way, she's giving away A-rank Artifacts? An S-rank Production Type, no less? Is this real?
- Wait, fuck, not even B-rank or C-rank, but 10 A-ranks? Just for watching a single stream?
- Who is this person?
└ Shin Yuna, she's an S-rank Production Hunter who streams.
└ What about the person named Yoo Parang?
└ The one who saved Shin Yuna when she had an accident during her stream.
└ Wait, what kind of accident was it?
└ She was exploring the deep sea in a Submarine and almost sank straight down.
└ ?? Fuck?
- Wow, holy shit, an A-rank LOL. She's giving away Artifacts, not just normal gear LOL.
- You can choose the type, so isn't this practically a custom order? A chance to put in a custom order for an A-rank Artifact with an S-rank Production Type LOL.
The news spread like wildfire.
[ Come to think of it, this is a true gathering of madness ]
[ Author: Peunpeun ]
(Screenshot of the notice posted on the channel. Only the A-rank Artifact part is enlarged.)
The kid who saves an S-rank Production Type's life and casually asks them to promote her stream,
And the one who replies, "Ah, then while we're promoting it, should we toss out an Artifact?" They both just seem crazy yep - Toss out? [- This is the real madness LOL - Ah LOL She saved her life LOL - Knowing Shin Yuna's personality, it's entirely possible she did all that and secretly slipped her an S-rank Artifact on the side. *Is just giving one a bit too stingy?* Yuna thought while browsing the community. An S-rank Artifact had already been crafted by two S-ranks working together for a week and handed over to Hunter Yoo Parang. Seeing that she seemed to use an air Harpoon a lot when catching Monster Fishes, they made it into a Harpoon-shaped Artifact. She had watched Parang's Monster Fish hunt in person beforehand for the stream on July 27th. And she was certain. *This will work.* There was the downside that attaching a camera to her forehead made the viewpoint dizzying and grasping the situation difficult, but... this was a job with 13 Production Hunters attached to it. By increasing the number of cameras, they succeeded in reconstructing videos filmed from multiple angles in real-time to make it look like an FPS game screen. It was an application of the principle where navigation systems combine videos from cameras installed all over a vehicle to create a top-view image. The final quality of the filmed video was immense. It felt like playing a first-person game in real-time. And so, July 27th arrived. 13 Production Hunters including Yuna, along with the broadcast team's Manager, gathered at the control tower (which was decided to be Yuna's house) and swallowed a tense silence. [LIVE - (A-rank Artifact Event) Live Monster Fish Catching] Real-time Viewers: 130,472. 130,000. 130,000 people were watching Parang's stream.
"Is it true they're giving away an A-rank Artifact if we watch this?"
People who were lured in by the A-rank Artifact.
"If it's Monster Fishes, is she catching the one we saw last time?"
People drawn in by the keyword Monster Fish hunting.
"What is this stream that 130,000 people are watching?"
People who naturally tagged along.
"It is the Streamer's command! Firepower up!"
Shin Yuna's Death Squad.
All of them gathered to make 130,000.
One thousandth of South Korea's population.
That massive number of people flocked to Parang's stream.
Cylo Corporation's super-server computer easily withstood this load.
And the very first thing the 130,000 viewers who flocked to Parang's stream encountered was a screen filming the ocean from a pier.
And in the center of it, there was Parang, wearing a Bodysuit that completely covered her body below the neck and holding a Harpoon 1.5 times her height.
Because of the crown (it was a camera) worn on her Head, she even gave off the feeling of a princess of an undersea kingdom.
She even exuded an indescribable spirit. Just like a warrior....
And with everyone's attention on her, Parang opened her mouth.
"Hello, ahem!! Hello-- no, greetings. Everyone. I am Hunter Yoo Parang."
"Huh?"
Everyone watching the stream popped a question mark above their heads from their respective spots.
Parang felt as if a bright red exclamation mark had popped up above her own Head.
*Gasp... gasp...!!*
She felt like she was going crazy from nervousness. Are 130,000 people really looking at me right now? My face isn't red, is it? I think my voice just cracked?
No, it's true that the more people gather the better, but 130,000.
For Parang, who hadn't streamed even once in her entire life, it was a completely overwhelming sense of tension.
Parang looked at the screen in front of her.
Herself standing on the pier, and the chats scrolling up at an incredibly fast speed next to it.
This is the firepower generated by a staggering 130,000 people. Although the number of people actually typing in the chat might not even be 30,000, that is still an incredibly large number.
"We are actually giving away A-rank Artifacts to ten people. After the stream ends, a QR code will be broadcasted to link you to a verification site, and you just need to verify that you watched for at least two hours there."
She delivered her prepared lines with a trembling voice.
And then, her words cut off. For a whopping 30 seconds.
She had stood blankly in front of the camera for 30 seconds, completely frozen and unable to do anything.
Stuttering and clearly showing her nervousness in front of an audience of 130,000 people.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a massive broadcasting accident.
However, Yuna, who was watching this situation from the control room, actually had a relaxed expression.
It was something she had already expected, and a problem that would soon be resolved.
She already knew this from the rehearsals. Parang had such severe stage fright that she would get nervous just filming a video with a camera when no one was watching.
Yuna leisurely checked the viewer count.
128,000 people.
Even though she had just made such a fatal mistake, the viewers weren't leaving.
Why? Because of the Artifact.
It was worth going out of her way to offer a huge reward.
An A-rank Artifact was an item worth braving a 130,000 to 10 competition ratio for.
Especially if that challenge simply involved sitting still and watching a stream.
There were probably 100,000 people doing something else with just the stream left on in the background right now.
The remaining 30,000 were probably feeling their anticipation cool down like ice.
But it didn't matter.
Her stage fright was strictly limited to the land.
Never mind the 100,000 doing other things, she would definitely be able to capture those 30,000 people.
A rookie streamer securing 30,000 regular viewers on their very first broadcast.
A chuckle escaped her.
"If you feel like you can't do it, just dive into the water and proceed. That would be much better."
Meanwhile, Parang recalled Yuna's advice and barely managed to snap out of it.
'Right. Let's dive into the ocean.'
"Phew... I'll explain the rest as we go down."
From her position standing with her back to the pier, Parang jumped backwards into a backflip.
And then she entered the water, starting from her straight fingertips. It was a flawless dive that didn't create a single bubble.
Soon after, the camera's viewpoint switched to her first-person perspective underwater.