The Bear, the Boar, and the Red Pill (1)
The look of pure panic on his face was unmistakable. A wild boar was coming. And because of it, people were going to get hurt. Honestly, if you just heard it like that, it sounded ridiculous. But what was I supposed to do when I could actually see it?
“S-so… should we change the filming location?”
“Hmm.”
The best option was exactly that. Jang Woo-gyeong nodded immediately.
“Actually, we have two other sites lined up for cooperation.”
He pulled out his phone. The original plan had been Gangwon Province, but he showed me alternatives in Gyeonggi Province and Jirisan that had a similar atmosphere.
“......”
I saw it again. This time it was a bear. Four moon bears with Nike logos on their chests. A future where an actress was torn to shreds by a papa bear, mama bear, and baby bear unfolded before my eyes. This was a far bigger disaster than the boar.
“I’d recommend avoiding Jirisan.”
“…Is that so? Then how about Gyeonggi—”
It appeared. A landslide at the Gyeonggi filming site. No casualties, but all the filming equipment and the entire usable terrain completely collapsed.
…At this point, isn’t the drama itself cursed? Even bad luck has its limits…
“No…”
Jang Woo-gyeong looked utterly bewildered after hearing me. I was the one saying it and even I felt ridiculous, so I could only imagine how he felt.
“…Does that mean there’s no answer at all…?”
“The original location actually seems like the best of the bad options. We might be able to handle it.”
“Handle it… how?”
“For the boar, if we hire some hunters, we should be able to stop it somehow, right?”
On top of that, if we scattered food around to keep the boar from entering the set, it probably wouldn’t come near.
“Hmm…”
“We’ll have to accept a certain level of risk.”
“…Alright, let’s go with that. What about the drama’s results?”
“That we’ll only know once we get there. Still, at least there won’t be any actor-related scandals, so if the drama is actually good, it should sell well, right?”
“Huu…”
Jang Woo-gyeong let out a sigh so heavy it seemed to sink the ground. There was nothing more I could say to him.
“Life really isn’t easy.”
“I agree.”
I thought the same. The world has always been like this, hasn’t it?
“Teacher. If it’s not too much trouble, could you come to the filming site?”
Of course, he’d pay me extra for the business trip. But what was I supposed to do there? If I were a hunter, I could at least help when the boar showed up, but I hadn’t even been to the military.
“If an emergency happens, wouldn’t having you there help minimize the damage?”
“It would probably be better to use that money to hire more hunters instead of calling me… but if that puts your mind at ease, then let’s do it.”
Besides, I was kind of curious to see a drama filming set anyway.
. . .
Anyway, I ended up agreeing to go to the filming site together. The fact that he even drew up a contract showed just how anxious he really was.
I figured I should at least let Hong Si-yeon know since she was technically my employer, so I gave her a call. After a brief silence, she giggled over the phone.
“No way. You’re not even a hunter, so what help could you possibly be at a place where wild boars are going to show up?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, if you’ve already decided, I can’t really say anything. I never intended to stop you from doing what you want anyway.”
That was a relief.
“But, Teacher. Are you planning to keep working only like this?”
“Like this…?”
“Getting introduced to clients and doing private sessions.”
“It doesn’t seem bad. Why?”
“I think there are better ways to raise your profile. If you’re interested in internet broadcasting, I can help you out. Who watches TV these days? Everyone watches internet streams.”
Apparently Hong Si-yeon knew a famous influencer. She suggested I appear on his broadcast, and I found myself seriously considering it. Raising my profile was risky, but it was also an opportunity to make better use of my ability. Who knows? Maybe my power would evolve again like last time.
“If you don’t want your real identity revealed, wearing a mask would be better. And if you gain popularity there, we can start your own channel. I’ll put it under my name, and my company staff will handle editing and everything. So you just need to decide whether you want to do it or not.”
It wasn’t a bad offer.
“Personal broadcasting… hmm…”
Last time my ability had strengthened, I became able to read someone’s past and future just from their internet username. In that case, doing it through a personal broadcast should be more than possible.
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
. . .
A few days after deciding to start internet broadcasting, Hong Si-yeon came to see me.
“The person you’ll be filming with this time is also hiding their real identity.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Have you heard of… VTubers?”
“I have.”
You see the topic all the time when browsing galleries.
“She goes by the name Ppeuni Hani.”
“Oh…”
She was a VTuber who was getting a lot of attention in the galleries. She played quite a few games, including Dungeon & Saga, which I played, so I knew of her.
“I know her.”
“Perfect. Let’s go.”
Looks like I was about to swallow the Red Pill whether I wanted to or not.
The place we rushed to was a small studio. And the person who came out was…
“Huh? Hong Su-yeon?”
“Teacher! It’s been so long!!”
The woman who had been my very first client. Hong Su-yeon, who had become a bit more venomous after being betrayed by her boyfriend. She was Hong Si-yeon’s younger sister.
“You work here?”
“Ahaha…”
She laughed awkwardly and led me to a studio about the same size as the officetel I lived in. Wait… don’t tell me Ppeuni Hani is…
“Yep! I’m Ppeuni Hani!”
I was genuinely shocked. Hong Su-yeon smiled brightly and proudly declared,
“You now know that the YouTuber with 620,000 subscribers is me. Ta-da! Red Pill!”
“With a face like yours, Hong Su-yeon, you could just broadcast without hiding anything.”
“Aww~! I actually really like being a VTuber. Anyway, thank you so much for agreeing to appear on my stream, Teacher.”
“It’s nothing. So, what’s the concept for the broadcast…?”
“Ah. There are a few other VTubers joining for the collab. The plan is for you to read their fortunes.”
There were several VTubers who regularly collabed with her. Reading their fortunes was the concept for this stream.
“They’re all from our company, so they’ll come right away if I call them.”
Come to think of it, Ppeuni Hani was a corporate VTuber too.
“Who’s the CEO of this company?”
Since it wasn’t a complete stranger, maybe I could look into that person’s future and give Hong Su-yeon some advice on how to behave at the company?
At my question, Hong Su-yeon smiled sweetly.
“Our grandmother.”
“Huh?”
That was surprising. I hadn’t expected a grandmother to be running a VTuber company.
“My sister actually handles the day-to-day operations. Grandmother just provides the funding.”
“She does that too?”
“She only takes care of the accounting side. The actual direction of our activities is decided by my sister.”
She really came from an impressive background. Since I didn’t see the company going under in Hong Su-yeon’s future, it should be fine.
“Should I call them over? My closest colleague is…”
“We don’t have to call them in person. We can just do it in a regular collab format.”
“Whoa. That works too?”
“It’s not that difficult.”
As long as I could identify who the other person was, it was enough. Hong Su-yeon’s eyes sparkled.
“Then we need to decide on your avatar, Teacher… What would you like? You can appear as your real self if you want.”
“Can a real person and a VTuber collab together?”
“Don’t underestimate modern technology.”
Amazing. That was possible too. Well, that was more convenient for me anyway.
“Then let’s go with that.”
Apparently moving the motion capture rig required wearing all sorts of equipment on my body, so it was better to just keep it simple.
“Got it! I’ll come get you once we’re ready!”
All that was left was to wait in the waiting room. Might as well relax.
“Are you nervous?”
“Not really…?”
Ppeuni Hani was a fairly popular VTuber. Appearing on her stream would spread the news quickly across the internet, and my abilities would become known. My recognition and fame would rise rapidly in the process.
“There might be people who pick fights or accuse you of being fake. Make sure you steel yourself.”
“It’ll be fun exposing those guys’ personal info too.”
“Ahaha… By the way, Teacher. What is your goal?”
Hong Si-yeon set a cup of coffee in front of me and asked. My goal, huh. Right now, I didn’t really have anything grand. I just wanted to make a lot of money and live comfortably. But the fact that I could see other people’s pasts and futures… surely that had to mean something?
“I’ll probably find out someday.”
VTuber Yuheung was not happy with this broadcast’s concept at all.
‘Fortune-telling? Isn’t that just the kind of psychological scam artists pull?’
She had heard it was just for entertainment, but she still didn’t like the idea of a con man stepping onto the sacred turf of VTubers.
‘Still, it’s a company order.’
That was what being a corporate VTuber meant. She sighed and opened Discord.
A message arrived.
[Ready?]
Time to go in.
“Hello! Hello! It’s your delightful Yuheung here to brighten your day!! Wow!! Ppeuni unnie!! Long time no see!!”
She kept her energy high. Her soft, sweet voice combined with the dozens of messages flooding the chat showed just how popular Yuheung was.
“Hello~! Let me introduce someone. This is a very special guest I worked hard to bring on!”
“Nice to meet you. Feel free to call me Kang Noah.”
His behavior and voice were surprisingly ordinary. But she couldn’t just let that slide.
The viewers’ comments were strangely intense. They were going wild, saying it wasn’t just some staged Go-Stop scam. Yuheung tilted her head in confusion.
‘What’s going on?’
Most of her viewers were pranksters. These people were famous for being contrary and never listening to anyone. If they were reacting like this, just how good was this guy?
“I heard you’re an incredible fortune teller. I’m really curious just how amazing you are to make everyone react like this!”
She asked with her usual high energy. That was when Ppeusong, the VTuber who had joined the collab first, started gushing nonstop.
“Dude! This isn’t a joke!! He really got everything right?! Like what I did in the past and what’s going to happen in the future! I was supposed to go to the pool next week but now I’m not going.”
What school she went to as a kid. What she liked, who she was friends with. He had guessed all of it correctly. It looked like Ppeusong had already become a complete believer in this masked man.
‘I still don’t believe it.’
She suppressed her skepticism as much as possible.
“Then can you do me too?!”
‘Hwatu cards?’
“Sure. Go ahead and draw four cards.”
Kang Noah had her pick four cards from the hwatu deck spread on the floor. Black Sedge. Dung. Rain. And Sunlight. What could you possibly tell from just that?
Just as her curiosity began to rise and Yuheung was about to ask, Kang Noah spoke in a serious tone.
“Has someone recently suggested you make an investment?”
“…Yes?”
Just a few days ago, her uncle had recommended what he called a “really good opportunity.” She had been leaning toward investing.
To her, Kang Noah declared coldly,
“It’s a scam.”