First Sponsored Stream
After wrapping up the stream peacefully and trying to take a break, I got a call from Yuseol.
"Huh, what's the president calling about?"
I picked up right away.
"Hello?"
"Neru, great job on the stream."
"Ah, y-yes."
It didn't take long to realize that Yuseol, who seemed pretty cool and distant usually, was actually a very caring person. But what was this call about?
"It's about a game ad offer. It's a newly released game..."
"Whoa, really?"
"Yes. It supports duos, so if we split the 2nd gen into pairs for the ad streams, that should work well."
I searched for the game name Yuseol told me: Cheon-sang: The Last Heaven. It looked like a zombie survival game set in real-life Seocho-gu, Seoul. It supported multiplayer matching, and it was currently in alpha testing.
The whole Republic of Korea has been completely overrun by the zombie virus, with Seocho-gu being one of the few areas not fully infected. Survivors built an underground bunker and another city beneath Seocho-gu to stay alive. They call that place Cheon-sang. But the surface is still basically ruins, and the game is about venturing up there to scavenge supplies from all over and survive.
"...President, but I've never played horror games like this."
"Hmm, is that so? Let's give it a try this time. The ad fee is..."
It was too much money to turn down. In the end, I agreed to do the ad.
After an internal meeting, Ren and I were paired for one ad stream, while Luna and Yuzha handled the other.
...
Ad stream day.
Ren and I had received the ad references from Yuseol and were gathered before starting the broadcast.
"Game intro, watch trailer, tutorial, play... nothing too hard. We even have the full script."
"U-um, yeah..."
Ren's worried tone made it seem like something was bothering her.
"What's up? Worried about something?"
"Ah, no. I just... really suck at horror games..."
Ah, that was it. But the reactions viewers want from us are probably exactly that, so no helping it. I hadn't played horror games much either. Though the genre was more survival thriller than straight-up horror, despite the psychological scares.
"Still, you're good at games, Ren. This one needs some control skill too."
"U-um... that's a relief, I guess..."
Anyway, after reviewing all the references, we started the stream together.
Our avatars—me and Ren—were on the stream screen. After some opening chit-chat, we dove into the ad proper.
"Yes, today's game is Cheon-sang: The Last Heaven."
"This game is a zombie survival set against the real streets of Seoul's Seocho-gu."
We followed the script step by step for the intro, smoothly transitioning to the trailer. No mistakes so far—we both nailed it.
Whoa, this is so tense! We tossed in reactions like that a few times, then moved to gameplay.
The tutorial started, unfolding a third-person view of a super eerie street.
"Whoa... this is really Seocho-gu."
Abandoned cars littered the streets, small fires dotted everywhere, and zombies groaned while hunting for prey. The graphics were insanely realistic, though.
"WASD to move, space to jump... basics."
If a zombie hasn't spotted you, press E from behind for a stealth kill. You could also throw empty bottles to make noise and pull aggro. The tutorial didn't feel too tough.
After finishing the tutorial, I checked Ren's stream, and for some reason, she was beating zombies to death. Screaming about how scary they were.
What? There was none of that in my tutorial.
She was whacking zombies with an empty bottle so hard they looked pitiful.
"Kyaa! Stay away! I said stay back!"
The zombie finally dropped dead pathetically. Ren, who'd taken 30 minutes on the tutorial, awkwardly turned on her in-game mic.
"Ahem... ready for duo now...?"
"Ren, zombies detect mic noise here. Screaming is bad news."
"Eek, what do I do?"
What do you mean? Just don't scream. We queued for duo matching. It popped almost immediately.
From the underground hideout, we surfaced and started moving stealthily. The game supported in-game mics, so we muted encored ones.
"Ren, quest popped top right. Let's do that first."
"U-um, got it..."
As newbies, we only had starter gear—no armor or weapons, just basic rations and a bottle of water. We had to sneak into buildings, farm supplies while avoiding zombies, then fight.
Ren's character stuck right behind me, following closely.
"Quest says head to the mart first."
We headed to the ruined mart, where a few zombies lurked between shelves. We crouched, moved quietly.
"Oh, food here."
"Neru, I got a baseball bat!"
"Shh, gotta stealth that zombie ahead."
Ren took the lead, smashing the zombie's head with the bat. The body hit a shelf, cans clattered loudly!
"Grraaawr..."
"Kreeek?"
Unwanted aggro pulled. Thanks to that.
"What do we do?!"
"Get out first! I have an empty bottle."
We escaped the narrow aisle, threw the bottle at the incoming zombies' heads. Crash! They swarmed the noise.
We bolted to the second floor.
"Phew... close call."
"Y-yeah, you're so calm, Neru..."
Second floor was mostly food ingredients, but picked clean by other survivors.
"Still, if you look hard, stuff's here!"
"Yeah. Oh, I got a weapon too!"
I equipped a wooden plank. It looked awkward, but base attack matched Ren's bat. Though it slowed movement due to weight.
Now, to the third floor—quest area with hidden survival supplies. More zombies than downstairs, as expected.
"Can't just sneak and farm quietly, huh?"
"Y-yeah..."
Roughly a dozen visible. I planned the optimal path.
"Ren, follow me."
"U-um!"
Starting from the left corner with least sightlines, we stealth-killed methodically. Midway, spotted an elite zombie with leather armor and shovel. Elites take damage from stealth but don't die in one hit.
Eight left, including the elite. Group fight? We'd get overwhelmed, low win chance.
"Ren, get ready to hit the front one."
"Huh? Oh, got it!"
I threw my last bottle opposite—crash!! Zombies rushed the noise. We ambushed the isolated elite.
Plank and bat whacked hard, but it countered with the shovel. Tough foe.
"Why's it so tanky...!"
"Eek...!"
Ren's bat sometimes hit me too. Realism meant friendly fire even in duos. Benefits? Map pings and radio chat.
"Agh! Ow!"
"S-sorry! Hard to adjust distance..."
Zombies returned, our voices pulling aggro again. We finished the elite. Now: one elite, six normals left.
I bandaged from inventory, rejoined. Ren had all the aggro, fighting solo.
"Neru!! Help! Kyaa!"
She was scratched but not downed, holding well. I flanked, planking from behind.
"Hang on! I'm hitting 'em!"
"It hurts! Need bandages...!"
"You'll live! Not that bad!"
Patterns analyzed. Elite aggro shifted to me from behind hits.
Ren vs. six normals, me vs. elite.
"Ren! See you alive!"
"U-um!"
Solo fights. I watched the elite's tells closely: right shoulder pull back—block, swing. Two-hand grip—dodge spin. Short grip—watch thrust. Dragging shovel—bite incoming.
"Eek! Just take the hit!"
I dodged everything... but poor positioning meant constant whiffs with the plank.
Chat roasted me. Then Ren finished her six and came over.
"Neru! Here to help!"
"U-um, yeah, help!"
Then hellish gankfest. We cleared the mart, farmed nicely.
"Ooh... food, water, even bandages!"
"Elites drop good rewards for sure..."
Back to the extraction point, open the door, extract—done. That wrapped the planned ad reference playthrough.
"That's it for today. It's alpha test now, so give it a try everyone."
"You can play Cheon-sang for free on Steam right now!"
We hit our lines, ended the ad stream successfully.
After closing stream and game, we chatted with Ren.
"Not as scary as I thought, right?"
"U-um... it was kinda fun. Satisfying smashing zombies."
"You wrecked those zombies good, Ren..."
Ren was definitely skilled. Heard she was Master in League of Champions lately, but doesn't stream it. Asked why—didn't want to show her toxic side.