The Heavenly Demon Cult's Korean Branch (2)
Yeonamdang's cafeteria also had rooms that could be used like meeting rooms.
“What would you like to drink?”
“Ah, I'll have an iced Americano. He'll have an iced matcha cream latte.”
“Understood. Please have a seat and wait a moment.”
Since it was for employees only, while Park Ji-eon went to the counter to order, Myeong-yun and Sang-hyun, who had taken their seats, chatted about their impressions.
“Wow, Yeonamdang is insane. But seriously, the team leader of the New World development team came out to meet us in person?”
“Why, is he famous?”
“Of course he's famous! He's the one who designed New World and built the entire system! New World sold over ninety million units in just five years. He handled all the core design and system construction himself. In martial arts terms, he's the one who laid the foundation for the Zhuge clan's mechanical formations. Everything after that was built on top of what he created.”
Myeong-yun quietly listened to Sang-hyun, who was excitedly rambling because the topic fell within his area of expertise.
He's studied martial arts a bit. The words flow right out of him.
“An impressive man.”
“I told you he's impressive! He's basically the mother of all virtual reality.”
“Isn't he a man?”
“It's just a metaphor. Anyway, I still don't get why he wanted to see us.”
The email Myeong-yun and Sang-hyun had received was from Yeonamdang's marketing division, yet the person who actually showed up for the meeting was the development team leader.
“I think I know why.”
“You? What could you possibly know when all that's in your head is martial arts?”
“You little—”
Myeong-yun struck Sang-hyun's side at lightning speed.
With a sharp “Kuh!” Sang-hyun doubled over.
“Kuh, kuhk… It's been a while since I got hit like that.”
“Get a grip.”
While Myeong-yun and Sang-hyun were bickering, Ji-eon entered with a tray of drinks, chuckling heartily. Four slices of cake sat on the tray as well.
“I picked a few at random. I thought both of you would enjoy them.”
“Th-thank you!”
“We'll enjoy them.”
Ji-eon watched the two of them eat and drink with a pleased expression.
“I didn't expect you to come in school uniforms. And I had no idea Mr. Myeong-yun was still a student.”
“I'll be an adult next year. I'm Lee Sang-hyun. I'm in charge of producing, video editing, and design for the Heavenly Demon Myeong-yun channel.”
Sang-hyun introduced himself again, slightly nervous in front of Ji-eon.
Ji-eon widened his eyes at Sang-hyun's words.
“You handled the PV production and video editing all by yourself?”
“Yes. That's my college major.”
“That's remarkable. To have that level of skill at your age.”
“That's why I'm handling all the external aspects of the Heavenly Demon channel.”
“Oh? I see. When did the project start? Heavenly Demon Myeong-yun, I mean.”
At Ji-eon's question, Sang-hyun counted the days for a moment. They had only been streaming for less than a week, and planning had begun just a few days before the debut broadcast. Even counting promotion time and dates, it had been less than two weeks.
“Not even two weeks yet. This guy suddenly decided he wanted to do it, so we rushed into it.”
When Ji-eon looked at Myeong-yun as if to confirm, the latter, who had been sipping his matcha cream latte, nodded.
“I was a bit forceful about it. Sang-hyun just went along with it.”
“…That's truly impressive. I thought it was a project you'd been preparing for over a year.”
Ji-eon was genuinely surprised. Having developed New World himself, he was well-versed in the virtual industry. Projects of this scale usually took at least a year to prepare—even at large corporations. Finding talent, planning concepts, RP or vocal training, creating avatars, producing PVs, designing banners… Yet all of this had been accomplished in just two weeks by two students. It was hard to believe.
Ji-eon completely revised the contract terms he had been considering in his head.
“…Eight to two. No, nine to one.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean the contract terms. Nine to one seems appropriate.”
Sang-hyun blinked at Ji-eon's sudden statement.
“We're the one, right?”
“What? Of course not. We're the one.”
“That doesn't make any sense. The standard virtual talent contract usually gives the company seven.”
Starting as a virtual creator normally required a lot of money. Modeling alone easily exceeded ten million won these days, and with equipment and other costs, it quickly reached tens of millions. Of course, going low-budget reduced expenses, but to survive in this red ocean, you needed special “talent.” Companies poured the latest technology into their talents to raise their level. In exchange for covering all costs, corporate VTuber agencies took seventy percent of net profits. That was why quite a few people switched from corporate to independent…
Yet the nine-to-one ratio Ji-eon proposed was something that probably didn't exist anywhere else in the world. Most contracts offered by other companies were six-to-four or five-to-five at best, with seven-to-three being the maximum.
“I've been given full authority over this contract. Not only the nine-to-one terms—if there are any other conditions you need, please let me know.”
Ji-eon pulled several sheets of paper from his briefcase and handed them over. Copies of the contract. It was based on the standard virtual creator contract, but with several unusual clauses.
“…It says the revenue split only applies to YouTube channel video revenue and ad revenue? You'll cover everything else we need?”
“Yes. It's the minimum required to operate virtual management. We really want to bring both of you on board. And it's not like we lack the funds.”
Of course they didn't. Yeonamdang was a company with a market cap exceeding three hundred trillion won. Splitting revenue from a single VTuber was nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
“On top of that, equipment rental, access to in-house studios, on-request custom 3D modeling, tax handling assistance… Honestly, this is so generous it's suspicious. Are we selling our souls or something?”
Sang-hyun stared at Ji-eon in disbelief. This was the true “chaebol tyranny” that made every other VTuber agency he'd met look like amateurs. How could anyone refuse to sign such a contract?
While Sang-hyun's hands trembled as he examined the contract, Ji-eon added a few explanations.
“You'll be hired as full-time employees of Yeonamdang. You'll also receive editor support, and you won't be required to come into the office.”
“Full-time employees? Seriously, am I dreaming right now?”
“This is reality. What you've accomplished is that remarkable. And so is what you'll accomplish going forward.”
Sang-hyun wanted to sign immediately. If he did, he'd become a full-time Yeonamdang employee and could wear an employee ID around his neck.
But Myeong-yun, calm as ever, grabbed Sang-hyun's trembling hand and spoke.
“…Sweet honey always comes with bees. Offering such generous terms means you must want something specific in return.”
Myeong-yun's gaze locked onto Ji-eon. Meeting that stare, Ji-eon felt as though Myeong-yun could see right through him. A slight chill ran down his spine, but he smiled gently and replied.
“…We'd like Mr. Myeong-yun to assist in developing New World's successor device.”
“Development? I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about that side of things.”
“It's nothing complicated. You simply need to provide your New World play data once a week.”
“My New World play data?”
“Yes. We previously checked the logs at the request of On The Rocks. Your processing throughput was extraordinarily high… It was teetering right at New World's limit.”
“……”
Myeong-yun's expression hardened. If Ji-eon had figured out his secret…
But the thing he feared didn't happen.
“We've set that as our next goal. We've realized that human potential is limitless, and so are the heights we can reach. We plan to begin developing the new device using Mr. Myeong-yun's play data as reference.”
“…Why go that far? For the company's profit?”
“Isn't that obvious?”
Ji-eon spread both arms wide.
Then he shouted.
“To create a more perfect virtual reality! A beautiful and joyful world!”
The eyes of the man who cried out with such passion seemed to flicker with something akin to madness. From that intoxicated gaze, Myeong-yun recognized that this man was the same type as himself—someone willing to devote everything to realizing his ideal.
“New World's virtual reality may be the closest to reality, but its similarity is only 86.23 percent. I want to implement a complete reality within virtual reality.”
“And for that, you need my play data.”
“That's right. And Mr. Myeong-yun, you're not able to use your full power with the current New World, are you?”
Myeong-yun nodded. The current New World couldn't keep up with his speed at one hundred percent. At best, he could only exert a little over twenty percent of his true ability inside it.
“The log data seemed to deliberately cap the limit. To avoid overloading the system.”
“It heats up fast if I focus even a little.”
“That's the limit of a general-purpose model. If you work with Yeonamdang, we'll provide you with New World's high-end models free of charge. Even if several break, we'll keep supplying them. We're also willing to provide prototype development models.”
Myeong-yun glanced at Sang-hyun. The latter looked like he was barely following the conversation between Ji-eon and Myeong-yun and had a lot on his mind. If they pushed any further, Sang-hyun's head might explode, so after a brief moment of thought, Myeong-yun spoke.
“Before we sign, there are three conditions I'd like guaranteed.”
“I'm listening.”
“First, hire both Sang-hyun and me together. If one of us leaves, the other's contract is automatically terminated as well.”
“Of course. Heavenly Demon Myeong-yun is the two of you as one, after all.”
“Second, we won't participate in external or real-life events. As you can see, there's a discrepancy.”
“That's important. Can someone who deliberately overdoses on red pills even be called a VTuber? I don't particularly like that type either.”
“Third…”
Myeong-yun squeezed Sang-hyun's hand as if to snap him back to his senses. Sang-hyun's eyes finally returned to normal, as though he'd managed to organize his chaotic thoughts.
Myeong-yun spoke his final condition.
“Don't interfere with our broadcasts. We didn't start streaming to make money. We started because we enjoy it.”