Chapter 24
“Hawawa……!”
I sat hunched in the corner of the break room, tearing open a bag of snacks.
Propping up the little ring on the back of my phone case, I strained.
“Nngh……!”
Se—t—up—!
Tap!
“Phew……”
I finally managed to create a makeshift stand and laid my phone sideways on the table.
Come on! These noonas earn tons of money, so why are they always asking me to buy them such expensive stuff?
That’s exactly how you pile up savings—by satisfying your desires with someone else’s cash.
Exactly! We’re only earning anything thanks to you, Jinwoo.
Agh! Then make me rich too!
You already earn plenty, you idiot! Just shut up and buy us food!
This is so unfair……
Sung Jinwoo’s stream was playing on the screen. It was right before their planned four-person collab after dinner. While the CEO, Bangbang, and the others ate the delivery they’d ordered for a half-cam stream, they were warming up the chat ahead of the main broadcast.
“Looks delicious……”
The food looked so good my stomach was already growling even though I’d eaten breakfast not long ago. I was licking my lips at what seemed to be a special course ordered from a famous local Chinese restaurant when—
“By the way, guys. I’ve got something I’m dying to brag about.”
Sung Jinwoo, after swallowing a whole cream shrimp, suddenly dropped that line.
“What the— pfft……”
When the two people watching the chat turned dead serious, Sung Jinwoo asked the chat with an aggrieved expression.
“Hey, don’t I at least make decent son-in-law material?”
“Ugh, fine.”
Snapping back to his senses from the viewers’ messages, Sung Jinwoo puffed out his chest and shouted in a proud voice.
“I met Yeonha today.”
“?”
Why is my name coming up all of a sudden?
Now everyone’s calling me “woonu-sseup” because of Jinwoo!
“Hey…… you……”
The CEO, reacting a beat late, tried to cut him off before—
“Whoa? So you all already know?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
“Yeah, this noona here brought her along when she came over today.”
“……”
Please, Jinwoo. Don’t say she’s pretty out of nowhere like that!!
“I couldn’t see everything because she was wearing a hat and a mask, but……”
As if cutting off the chat that was about to spiral out of control—
“……But even with the mask on, she was still insanely pretty?”
Sung Jinwoo dropped the bomb.
……Thankfully, the chat’s reaction wasn’t all that different from before. Phew……
“Ah, but I actually saw Yeonha’s face too.”
Suddenly Bangbang jumped into the conversation from the side.
But Bangbang spoke directly to the disbelieving chat.
“Huh? No, I saw her without the mask too.”
Bangbang dropped the second bomb.
“What the hell? How did you see it?”
While everyone was still skeptical, the CEO—who had been quietly eating a piece of yusansul—joined the conversation.
“It’s true. Earlier she pretended to get off the elevator and sneakily pulled Yeonha’s mask down to see her face.”
“What? I was curious, okay!”
“So how was she? Now I’m suddenly curious too.”
Along with Jinwoo, who had flipped from bragging to interrogating—
The viewers had already arbitrarily created a whole tier list and were quietly waiting for Bangbang’s answer.
“I can say this with absolute certainty.”
Facing both the chat and Jinwoo, Bangbang declared.
“Zero.”
“Huh?”
“No, what I mean is……”
Bangbang licked the sauce off her chopsticks with a loud slurp before immediately continuing her explanation.
“Yeonha can’t even be put on the same scale as other women. She’s just a beautiful girl from another world entirely. So giving her first place wouldn’t be right. She has to be ranked zero.”
“Well, even when I saw her through the mask it was already at that level, but……”
Bangbang lightly smacked the shoulder of a muttering, incredulous Jinwoo.
“It’s because you haven’t seen her in person. Once the mask comes off, it’s even more than that.”
“Wow…… fuck. I was about to call bullshit but now I’m pissed that I’m the one getting called out. After the stream I’m gonna beg Yeonha to show me her face right away.”
“Viral my ass.”
“……CEO?”
Why is the CEO getting mad here? Please maintain some dignity as the Star Live CEO!!
“I was going to stay quiet because I really can’t reveal her face, but……”
The CEO set her chopsticks down on the plate and continued speaking toward the chat in a warning tone.
“……I’ll state it clearly. Yeonha doesn’t need any viral marketing at all.”
Taking a small breath, the CEO brought the broadcast microphone close to her mouth.
Then she said it.
“The day Yeonha’s face is revealed, the entire entertainment industry is going to flip upside down. So stop talking shit about her looks. You fucking idiots.”
“……”
While both Sung Jinwoo and the chat fell completely silent—
“For real. I agree too.”
Bangbang’s absentminded mutter was clearly picked up by the microphone.
“The day our Yeonha’s face is revealed, the entire entertainment industry is going to flip upside down. So stop talking shit about her looks. You fucking idiots.”
“For real. I agree too.”
“Hmm……”
After finishing a simple dance practice, the third-generation trainee lay on her bed.
『Seiya Christina Valencia』—abbreviated “Seiya”—felt her stomach twist slightly at the CEO’s words flowing from the broadcast.
You’re already incredibly cute.
Thank you for joining our company, Seiya.
The streamer who had been her idol since childhood—『Kang Ha-neul』.
The one who was supposed to monopolize the CEO’s love was clearly supposed to be her, yet……
“……Just who the hell is Yeonha? Fuck!”
Some random employee who had rolled in out of nowhere had stolen her position. And in just a few days!
“I won’t forgive this……”
Some mere employee debuting before her, when she had beaten 1000-to-1 odds! On top of that, stealing her favorite character design, Yuurie!
“……From today onward, you are Seiya’s enemy.”
Swearing to torment her with every ounce of strength if they debuted in the same third generation, she swiped to her SNS.
SAVE
“……”
Of course, she didn’t forget to save the spicy fanart of her favorite, Yeonha.
“Why the hell isn’t this crazy bastard picking up?”
After finishing lunch and completing sufficient warm-up, the last member still wasn’t answering the phone. Not even a read notification on the messages.
“Sigh, seriously……”
“No wonder your broadcast isn’t growing. Tsk……!”
The guests he had finally managed to bring on were also clicking their tongues. Kang Ha-neul and Bangbang were top-tier collab members that were genuinely hard to get no matter where you went—actually, nearly impossible to book as guests.
Badabadabam……!
“Tsk……!”
Eventually he ended the call with the damned person who never picked up and looked at the guests he had gone through such trouble to invite, along with the chat, with an awkward expression.
“Alright! So the original reason we gathered today was to play Recycle Company! Also known as Rice Company!”
The viewers immediately read the room and started mocking him.
“Haha…… so what I’m saying is……”
“Argh……! Fuck……!”
Rice Company was one of the games where he had maintained a pretty high success rate among all his collabs. Even if the live numbers were a bit iffy, the edited YouTube clips always performed well, so he really wanted to play it no matter what.
But……
“Is this actually going to work?”
“Honestly I’m not confident.”
The problem was that the guests he had invited this time were far too high-spec. If Bangbang decided this wasn’t it, she would immediately lie down and start whining, and Kang Ha-neul would definitely see that and suggest they play something else instead. Rather than awkwardly trying Rice Company with this lineup and ending it there, it might be better to postpone Rice Company for another time and do different content today. Especially since once Kang Ha-neul got a bad impression it was incredibly hard to bring her back……
“Want to just go to the island instead? Everyone?”
With no other choice, he sighed and made the suggestion.
The chat’s reaction was, of course, negative.
“Island? Lee Seo?”
“Yeah. Lee Seo.”
“Shall we?”
But the actual people involved didn’t seem to mind at all. They probably already knew. That going to the island would be better than trying to play Rice Company with just three people.
“Hehe…… Can our squad even play? What ranks are you guys?”
When Bangbang asked everyone with a slightly embarrassed tone, Kang Ha-neul answered as if it were nothing.
“Me? Iron.”
“Huh? You too, noona?”
“? Why are you Iron?”
The reason he was Iron was simple.
“It’s been a while since I played Lee Seo? When I logged back in I was Iron. Still, I managed to climb to Iron 1 before you noonas got here.”
It was because he had gone through two consecutive season-end tier resets. He was confident he could hit at least Diamond if he played properly.
“Wait, then I’m the highest rank here?”
“Bangbang, what about you?”
“Me? Silver 1.”
“Eh…… Silver 1 or Iron, it’s all the same.”
“No! That’s only because you guys aren’t real Iron! If you were real Iron you’d feel something different!”
“Is that so?”
“Is that so my ass……!”
Watching Bangbang puff her cheeks cutely, he let out a small chuckle.
“So, are you two okay with going to the island?”
He carefully asked while reading the guests’ expressions.
“I don’t mind.”
“I’m a little reluctant…… but if Bangbang is okay with it, I’ll go.”
Luckily both immediately gave permission.
“Sigh…… then I guess we have no choice. We’ll decide to smack that bastard’s cheek with Rice Company later, and for today we’ll go to the island with this lineup—”
The moment he tried to summarize the situation for the viewers to progress the broadcast—
“……Huh?”
His gaze turned toward the outside.