Ch.123123. YouTube Star

In the reality where I didn’t exist, Kim Soo-jung had gone on a trip to America, and my dungeon backflow video was uploaded to YouTube.

I figured it would make for better storytelling if the collaboration video with Seo Hyo-ju came about because she saw my dungeon backflow video and reached out to me afterward.

Well, the view count was good this time too.

Especially since this was a dungeon backflow that happened right in the middle of Seoul, and quite some time had passed with civilian footage already released, it would have been impossible not to get views.

– Thank you.

– Thanks to you, my son is alive^^

– We can sleep peacefully thanks to hunters like you in this era.

– You’re so cool.

– I’ll subscribe before I go.

What’s more, this video created an atmosphere where even ordinary people who weren’t at the accident site came to leave grateful comments, as news articles highlighted how a hunter’s good influence prevented a major disaster. As a result, the subscriber count grew significantly.

“Oppa. We passed 1 million a while ago, and we’re already at 3 million.”

“…Already?”

“This is just because we don’t have foreign subscribers yet. This growth rate would be difficult even for really famous celebrities, right?”

Seeing comments like these made me feel uncomfortable.

This wasn’t my intention.

I just went because Soo-jung said it would be good YouTube content, and I didn’t want to feel guilty if someone died when I was nearby. I went to contribute my skills and try out the Madness Greatsword.

With so many people expressing their gratitude, I frowned at the feeling that I’d done something truly remarkable.

“Don’t waver. You’re just doing good deeds for someone else’s benefit.”

Though I’m just a shut-in with no job, I know well that the world rewards those who live selfishly.

If someone was born with the kind of personality that breaks out in hives when they don’t do good deeds, managing their image this way wouldn’t be a bad approach. But I know myself better than anyone.

I don’t have the personality to live kindly.

I move strictly for my own benefit, and even in cases like this, I only act when I feel like it and don’t when I don’t.

Even if someone dies because of that, I wouldn’t consider it my fault.

So while a good image is nice, I needed to be careful about becoming too fixed in that direction, as it could actually have negative effects.

“I should create a trashy image once in a while.”

“…Oppa. You can’t buy this kind of image even with money. Let’s just keep up appearances for YouTube.”

“Everyone would curse me if they knew how much I’m making, right?”

“That’s true. But it’s not like you deliberately created this image. If you shoot a few vlogs, they’ll all drop off.”

“…”

“Just kidding~!”

Anyway, Soo-jung made a decent proposal, saying now was the time to use this image.

“I’m planning to donate 1% of the auction proceeds to the dungeon backflow recovery fund. We need to lay the groundwork early so that if there’s backlash later, we’ll have people who’ll defend us by taking sides.”

Since it was just 1% of the 10% going to Farming Company, I told her to handle it as she saw fit.

If I micromanage everything, Soo-jung would find it difficult to do anything on her own.

I just need to step in when something really doesn’t seem right.

“By the way, Oppa. Usually on YouTube, people do Q&As for 100K, 500K, 1M subscriber milestones. Don’t you want to film one?”

“What Q&A? Tell them I’ll do one when we hit 10 million.”

“Okay. And there’s something a bit troublesome.”

“What?”

“We’re getting tons of collaboration requests. At least dozens from channels with over 3 million subscribers. Most are hunters. Should I reject them all?”

“What’s the point of collaborating? Reject them all.”

“But you did one with Hyo-ju unnie.”

“Well, I got something in return for that.”

“There are many requests from S-rank hunter channels too. Wouldn’t it be good to build connections?”

“Hmm… Only consider those at Hyo-ju’s level. Otherwise, only look at those who could be useful as slaves for our daily operations.”

“You’re ruthless. So ruthless.”

Soo-jung clicked her tongue.

But she acknowledged what made sense.

“But finding talent for our farm is a good idea. If we get more people at our farm, does that make me a manager?”

“You can be the general farm manager.”

“Really?”

“Would anything change if you were?”

“Tch. I guess not.”

There’s no real need for me to collaborate with other hunters.

Hunters who need to run dungeons with others would benefit from expanding their network through YouTube, going on dungeon runs together, and exchanging help when needed. But I don’t particularly need other hunters.

At most, if I could use hunters who could help grow the farm as slaves… someone like Lee Ji-hyun, for instance.

Then I could bring them in and persuade them to join Farming Company.

The downside is that on YouTube, the standard practice for large channels is to collaborate and share non-overlapping subscribers with each other, which I can’t do.

But it doesn’t matter.

As the unprecedented SSS+ rank hunter, people will find me regardless, without having to struggle in the red ocean of YouTube.

Still, it would be boring without some content, so I gave it some thought.

It’s not even much of a consideration.

It’s just a content idea that came to mind when Soo-jung mentioned collaboration offers from many hunters.

“What about dojo challenges?”

“Dojo challenges?”

“We start by taking down those sword-wielding showoffs one by one. Starting with A-rank hunters, we find dungeons similar to the ones in their videos and demolish them.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

One of the contents people are most interested in is hunters fighting each other.

Since direct confrontations between hunters are prohibited by the Hunter Association due to the high risk of death when superhumans fight, actual battles are impossible. Instead, “fighting” refers to competition between hunters’ abilities.

Which hunter can clear a dungeon faster?

Which guild can clear a higher-grade dungeon?

Though it may be childish and not perfectly accurate, this is typically how differences in combat power between hunters are measured in reality.

It can’t be helped.

Even the most accurate method—direct confrontation—can result in a 1-2 rank upset when considering compatibility between abilities.

Anyway, this inaccuracy makes it more entertaining for viewers.

If they see their expectations overturned, they feel thrilled and can make rough comparisons.

“But doing this will make a lot of hunters resent you…”

The problem is that this creates enemies.

If someone targets my video and uploads their own saying they did better, people will enjoy the interesting spectacle, but the person being targeted will inevitably feel like shit.

Moreover, if the opponent is similar or worse, they might provoke more to attract attention through drama, but what if I completely destroy them?

“So what?”

“Can’t be helped. I’ll just become disliked among hunters.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Actually, this content isn’t my own original idea that I came up with on the spot.

If you go on YouTube and look at top hunter channels, you’ll find plenty of this type of content.

“I’m the best! First Korean to clear this dungeon!”

It’s not an online game but reality, though it’s not much different from games, and especially high-ranking hunters often film what’s known as “noob-stomping” content.

They upload time-attack videos of lower-grade dungeons to show off.

There’s nothing wrong with it.

It’s just that such content inevitably leads to comparisons.

I’m just doing the same thing.

But targeting specific individuals.

“First, let’s build up by targeting unpopular hunter YouTubers, then reluctantly move on to A-rank and S-rank targets when people ask for it. How about that?”

“Do whatever.”

“Great. I actually already have a YouTuber in mind.”

Soo-jung searched YouTube and showed me.

1.1 million subscribers.

A fairly popular YouTuber.

“His rank is A+, which isn’t that high, but he’s good with words and rumor has it he used to be a gangster… His party is really strong. Almost all B to A-rank with one S- rank hunter, moving as a six-person team. He specializes in the content you mentioned. He’s gained a lot of fans by doing dojo challenges, trash-talking, and stirring up drama, but his team’s skills are solid.”

“Didn’t you say not to make enemies? If he’s a gangster, wouldn’t it be bad to get involved?”

“…Is that so? I guess you’re right? Should I find someone else?”

“No. You found a good one. What’s a gangster going to do? Come after me and try to kill me because I uploaded a video targeting him?”

He might.

But I wasn’t afraid.

“Let’s start with a lower dungeon. Make it ugly.”

“Hehe. This will be fun.”

Soo-jung, sharing the same blood, seemed to think similarly to me despite her concerns.

“Here. Let’s do this one, Oppa. It’s a B-rank dungeon.”

“Mark the location. I’ll go there for a walk after dinner.”

“I want to come too! As the camera operator!”

“Whatever.”

“I’ve brought professional filming equipment for this day. Oppa, did you learn any new skills? Are we going with something completely new this time?”

“No? I’m not going to use skills in this video.”

There’s no point in just doing it.

The video needed to have a purpose.