Surviving as a Broadcaster
When I turned to look beside me, there she was—a girl wearing a gentle smile. Sunlight poured through the rear window and bathed her like a spotlight while her soft wavy hair rippled in the breeze slipping through the open pane. Yet for some reason she kept stealing glances at me, cheeks flushed pink as if embarrassed. Now that I thought about it, she did look familiar…
I gave a small nod. “Who…?”
“Can I sit next to you for a second?”
Huh? What could a girl this pretty possibly want with me?
“Um… thank you for yesterday.”
“Ah.” No wonder she seemed familiar. It had been dark that night and she’d been wearing a hat, so I never got a proper look at her face. In that case, this girl’s name had to be…
“Ju Si-eun?”
“That’s right! You knew my name!”
“Saw it on your name tag.”
Ju Si-eun’s face turned even redder as she smiled shyly.
“Oh, right? I was wondering… Anyway, let me introduce myself properly. I’m Ju Si-eun from Class 2. You’re Ha Yeonjun, right?”
The moment I opened my mouth to answer, a narration rang inside my head.
Insight activated on target.
Perception stat is influencing Insight.
A semi-transparent panel floated in the space between Ju Si-eun and me.
This was…?
The skill Insight lv.1 had activated on Ju Si-eun all by itself. Since I didn’t originally possess it, I’d been curious about it since earlier. Now that I thought about it, I remembered the skill description I’d glanced at in the guidebook.
Insight: Pierces through a target with sharp observation.
Interesting. The window floating before my eyes was indeed displaying every detail about Ju Si-eun. So it could read other people’s information too, not just my own?
Until now the only unique skill I possessed was Swordsmanship lv.1. Insight must have been one of the skills I gained through the broadcaster contract. Even though it only showed potential instead of exact stats, it was clearly an excellent ability.
Ju Si-eun tilted her head. “What’s wrong…? Do I have something on my face?”
“Huh? No, nothing. Anyway, the alleys in District 6 are dangerous, so be careful next time.”
I brushed off my sleeve as if nothing had happened. To her it probably looked like I was staring holes through her face.
Ju Si-eun answered, “To be honest, it’s my first time in Unlimited so I don’t know the streets well. I was wandering around and then…”
“Are you okay physically?”
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You’re the one who got beaten up, Yeonjun.”
Still, I did win in the end.
“Yesterday I used wound recovery in a hurry, but I came to check on you just in case.”
No wonder I still felt lingering pain yet had zero wounds on my body. I answered with a bright smile so she wouldn’t worry.
“I’m fine. Thanks to you, all my injuries have healed.”
“If you’re really okay with it, could you accept this?”
What she held out was a beautifully wrapped potion.
This looks expensive.
As that thought crossed my mind, Ju Si-eun scratched her cheek and said, “It’s only a low-grade potion, but drinking it should ease the pain.”
“Yeah… thanks.”
The moment I took the potion, it felt like her feelings toward me flowed into me along with it. She seemed to carry a slight sense of guilt.
“Well, I have class so I’ll head out. See you later.”
After saying that, Ju Si-eun waved and stood up from her seat.
The instant she left the classroom, the boys—including Cheol-i—swarmed around me. They were all guys from our class.
“Hey! You know Ju Si-eun?”
“What? Today was the first time I’ve seen her.”
“First time? Then why was she smiling at you like that and even giving you a gift?”
These punks had been secretly watching the whole time.
Cheol-i grinned. “She’s the prettiest girl in Class 2. Plus she’s super nice, so there are already tons of guys gunning for her.”
Oh, really? I glanced behind me again.
Honestly, until I faced her directly I’d felt conflicted—about my decision to contract with an evil constellation. If she’d turned out to be the same type as those thugs, it would have felt like a total loss. But at this level, I could say I had zero regrets.
I slipped the potion she gave me into my pocket.
Anyway, I didn’t have time to dwell on her right now. Because right beside me, Lens was cackling away.
That’s right. It was time to figure out how to smartly clear the violence mission going forward.
The sound of the classroom door opening cut through the air at that exact moment.
Screeeech.
The boys scrambled back to their seats and the classroom fell silent in an instant. A middle-aged man wearing an ochre suit walked in.
This class was, if I remembered correctly…
“Hello, everyone. My name is Jang Ji-seok. From today onward I will be teaching you the subject ‘Rift Studies.’ Shall we begin right away?”
In general, Rift Studies was the most fundamental subject every hunter academy student had to learn. It taught the knowledge and techniques needed to survive inside rifts.
Professor Jang Ji-seok continued, “First, let’s talk about the different types and characteristics of rifts. Every rift differs in size, shape, and danger level. Today we’ll learn how to identify and classify them.”
The sound of scratching pencils filled the room. Of course I needed to focus on the lecture, but right now there was something far more important than taking notes. My life was literally on the line. I couldn’t afford to just sit here spacing out.
The constellation 'Maestro of Beating' is extremely bored with the lecture.
I had to complete the daily mission before the time limit ran out. In other words, I had to throw the first punch at someone today if I wanted to survive.
The daily mission had begun at 7 a.m.…
I quietly pulled out the ‘Basic Guidebook’ I had hidden away.
Good. It was time to study. If there was something I could use, I would damn well use it.
When I opened the book, the pages were packed with tiny, dense text. The single piece of information I wanted was right here—the daily mission section.
I flipped through the pages with my right hand. When I reached around page 50, my face lit up.
Daily missions are limited to once per day.
This was it! With this I could turn the damn gods’ little game against them. No—this might be the only way to break through this crisis.
Having obtained the information on daily missions, I immediately flipped to the next section.
Flip, flip.
When I reached page 188 in the Cheon-gye TV rules section, this regulation appeared.
Multiple constellations may simultaneously view the broadcast of a specific human.
According to Lens, constellations rarely took interest in humans. That was why Cheon-gye TV broadcasts usually followed a one-to-one system. Of course, that was only under normal circumstances.
But I was different. I had already drawn the attention of constellations twice.
To find out why that was happening, I flipped back to the page around the 20s that explained ‘Unique Traits.’
Broadcast Genius: Dramatically increases the chance of drawing the interest of viewers (constellations).
Simple information. But this unique trait would become my greatest survival weapon more than anything else. I still didn’t know why I possessed such an ability. Still, as long as I had ‘Broadcast Genius,’ it meant I could potentially pull in yet another constellation if luck was on my side.
Only I could draw the gods’ attention in droves… Was that the idea?
Anyway.
My plan could not be executed immediately. Attracting a constellation’s interest wasn’t something I could do at will. And I couldn’t just attract any random constellation, either.
I closed the guidebook.
Thinking back, the first constellation that approached me hadn’t been the Maestro of Beating. It had been the Servant of Slaughter. Even after a million years that would never have happened, but if I had contracted with her instead, the current me would have been…
Damn. I don’t even want to imagine it.
Of course the Maestro of Beating was clearly an evil constellation that loved violence, but he seemed somewhat controllable. After all, I was a student at Raven Academy, where they taught combat techniques. Although it was still only a hypothesis, I might be able to ride this crisis out like water flowing downstream.
That was when Professor Jang Ji-seok raised his voice.
“Pay attention—this will be on the test! Rift management and safety measures! Rifts can appear at any time! Especially in B-Class rifts and above, the probability of humanoid monsters appearing rises by a full 20 percent. Understood?”
I made sure to mentally underline the parts the professor emphasized.
He wanted violent content? Fine. I’d show him some—human style.
“That concludes today’s lecture. Next we’ll decide on your class president. Kim Jeong-a! You’ll be the president!”
“What? Shouldn’t we vote on that?”
“Should we? Then we’ll hold a vote in a bit. Everyone stay in your seats and wait.”
Watching the scene, I glanced at Lens sitting in the very back. The camera on his forehead was still filming me intently. He was watching even now.
Maestro of Beating.
First I needed to figure out exactly how stimulating he liked his content.
“Then I guess I’ll just have to run an experiment.”