episode_0008

In order to do the broadcast, I had to create a secondary character.

A secondary character? You might think it’s just something you can easily create. Actually, on Twitch, it’s relatively easy to create a secondary character.

But Hiyore’s account is different. Hiyore only recognizes one character per verified account. It’s a measure to prevent the common practice of having multiple secondary characters in other games.

Moreover, they’ve made it difficult for others to impersonate me using a quantum random number generation technology that I can’t understand.

I don’t know how they did it, but if you openly trade accounts, you’ll get caught one by one.

That’s why I need Go Bang’s help. I don’t know how he knows, but it seems like he’s connected to the underground account trading sites.

The place he suggested we meet was not some pub or cafe, but a decent upscale restaurant.

I had never been there before and probably wouldn’t go in the future—a VIP members-only restaurant that seemed out of reach.

A sophisticated staff member with an elegant impression guided me through the glamorous lobby that seemed as if it were made of melted gold.

“Right this way.”

“Ah, yes.”

A spacious and grand interior revealed itself between the tables. And at a glance, I could recognize Go Bang.

A plump figure, a beard like a bandit, and a middle-aged man wearing horn-rimmed glasses.

Without hesitation, I sat across from him at the table where he was sitting.

“I was surprised because you look exactly like your image.”

The man looked at me with a surprised expression.

“Who are you…?”

“Pretending not to know won’t work. I’m Yangro-won Friendship Breaker.”

“What’s Yangro-won?”

“It’s a support group. You told me to come here.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Something felt strange. Why is he pretending not to know like this? The person sitting here is definitely this man…

“You fool. It’s over here.”

A woman sitting at the table behind us waved her hand. I panicked and made a weird sound as I quickly bowed my head.

“I’m sorry!”

“Oh, it’s fine. You could have mistaken me. It’s okay.”

Perhaps because they’re customers who come to this upscale restaurant, they were certainly generous.

Do you know the story of a woman who narrowly escaped falling into a manhole and saved her life by having her chest caught in it? Or perhaps a case where a large chest acted as an airbag in the Cheongnyong Train accident, preventing serious injury. The reason I suddenly bring up these unrelated stories is because when I saw Gobang (고방), that was the only thought that came to mind. “Is, is it really a meat shield…” “Stop making ridiculous comments and sit down quickly.” It goes against etiquette and manners to stare at a woman’s chest, but I couldn’t help but glance at it. After all, there are two watermelons on the table; it’s hard not to notice. Apart from that, Gobang appeared to be a woman in her mid-20s. With distinct features and a height well over 170 centimeters, she gave off a sense of being stylish rather than pretty or beautiful. “I didn’t know you were a woman.” “I didn’t know if you looked like that.” “What do you mean?” “Why does your face look like that?” “What’s wrong with my face?” “Why did you do a no-cam broadcast with that face?” “It’s my choice.” “Huh… Anyway.” At that moment, the appetizer arrived, interrupting the flow of conversation. After the staff left, I discreetly asked Gobang about her age. The start of the conversation was, “How old are you?” Being a woman, she might be sensitive about her age, but Gobang unexpectedly answered simply, “28. One year older than me.” She took out a business card from her handbag and handed it to me. MCN Madbox CEO, Gominhee. Madbox was the most famous MCN (Multi-Channel Network) name, especially among Twitch streamers. Of course, Gobang was also part of it, and Arisa and Neon were also Madbox-affiliated YouTubers. However, despite being so famous, not much was known about the CEO’s personal information… I never expected Gobang to be the CEO. I cautiously spoke up. “Are you rich?” “I’m poor.” “…?” “Within our family.” “Noona!” “You’re creepy, so go away.” Gobang, no, Gominhee clapped her hands. I stopped joking and asked, “So, there must be another purpose for asking me to come here, aside from the Nick Laundry story, right?”

“Sure. First, take this.”

Gominhee put her hand back into her handbag and took out a small item, handing it to me.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a USB stick with an ID and password written on the surface.

“If you plug this into your PC and log in, you can skip the random password generation.”

“…Is this not illegal?”

I asked cautiously, sensing something suspicious just by looking at its appearance.

“Don’t worry. It’s not illegal, nor does it violate any terms and conditions.”

She said that while giving me a sly, dangerous smile.

“For now, at least.”

“Hmm…”

I put the USB stick lying on the table into my pocket.

“So, what do you want to talk about?”

“Well, it’s nothing much. What are you going to do about Aris and Neon? How will you take responsibility?”

“Responsibility? What kind of responsibility?”

“I may act like it’s no big deal right now, but I know. They’re pushing themselves to their limits. From my perspective, having watched countless streamers, I think they’ll soon have a major accident.”

“So, did I create them like that?”

“Isn’t that the case?”

Gominhee crossed her arms and said. I looked at her and opened my mouth.

“Well, let’s say they’re individuals with a special sensitivity different from ordinary people. But even if I didn’t leave, there would have been enough ways to contact them during the six months I was gone.”

Even if I didn’t leave any personal information behind, I could have easily found them by contacting a few streamers.

I’m not an internationally wanted criminal being chased by Interpol, so I couldn’t hide my identity to that extent.

Moreover, with Gominhee’s wealth and abilities, it wouldn’t have been such a difficult task.

“Yeah, that could have been possible. But if there’s an opportunity, you should take advantage of it. I kept telling them the same thing. It may not be now, but if you become popular streamers on Twitch, you can find your way back.”

“Uh…”

Did I say something like offering a sacrifice to the gods and receiving a boon in return? And did they actually believe it?

“Whether it was because of those words or because their talents were more exceptional than I thought, they showed tremendous growth.”

“Well, they were good at broadcasting…”

“I had been thinking of contacting you around this time. Just when I was pondering what kind of bait to use, you took the fishing hook and swallowed it whole.”

“Sigh… That must have been quite a pleasant surprise.”

“Yeah.”

Gominhee twirled her wine glass and spoke.

“So, I have two suggestions. Either meet Aris and Neon directly under my leadership, or I’ll give you some time to handle their anger appropriately.”

“Handle it on my own? How?”

“That’s something you’ll have to figure out from now on.”

“….”

The conversation about the matter ended there.

Afterwards, they engaged in casual small talk or discussed what had happened on Twitch during that time.

“By the way, how much is the membership fee here?”

“Not much. Around 100 million won per year for the gym and swimming pool combined.”

“Life sucks, doesn’t it?”

“If you feel wronged, why don’t you stream yourself getting your face peeled off? You could easily make a few billion a year, huh? Hey, you’re talented. Talented in having a face.”

“I’ll pass.”

“Well, there’s a discarded project to create an idol streamer unit. Would you like to participate?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

“Whatever. If you have any thoughts, let me know.”

After parting ways with Gominhee, they took the bus home. Gominhee offered to drop them off at their house, but they declined.

If they gave Gominhee their address, who knows what she might do.

In any case, she was a woman whose actions were not easily predictable, being a successful entrepreneur.

She was Gobang’s CEO and Madbox’s representative, Gominhee.

If we had to compare, I prefer Gobang’s side a bit more.

That doesn’t mean I prefer men, though.

They opened the front door, entered their room, and plugged in the PC. Then they inserted the USB stick given by Gominhee into the slot.

Suddenly, on the PC screen, a cute pixel art animation started moving at a few frames per second, and Chip Tune music began playing.

It looked like it had some Chinese backdoor installed or something.

To erase the IDs and passwords stored in Hiole, they deleted everything and reinstalled it. Then they entered the IDs and passwords written on the USB stick.

“Welcome!”

What’s this? It actually works.

The account was only leveled up to a rank where they could participate. The ID was a randomly generated word consisting of numbers and English letters.

Hmm. First, I need to change my username. What should I change it to?

When I started contemplating, a new banner appeared on the main notification window.

“….? Patch notes?”

Laptillion is doing a balance patch? Those guys who always insisted our game was perfect and never compromised?

In the center of the image announcing the patch notes, there was a character wearing a wide-brimmed hat with the traits of a Red Mage—a hand holding a fireball and the other wielding a sword.

I clicked on the patch notes and scrolled down.

Unconsciously, I muttered to myself.

“Red Mage buffs?”

*

Aris ended her livestream and immediately bought a smartphone for webcams and facial recording. It was because of her personality to prepare in advance for any potential leaks.

She also gave attention to Neon, but she was always careless, so Aris worried a lot.

“And then…”

Afraid that even a moment of silence would lead to other thoughts, she immediately started working. Coordinating the upload schedule on YouTube and communicating with the editor. Broadcasting items and settings.

Even after the stream ended, her work continued. The more she created content, the more exhausted she became. That’s how this industry worked.

Then suddenly, she felt the need to check the ban list, something she usually didn’t do.

Of course, she had entrusted the banning to her manager, but sometimes the severity was less than expected, or she would be unlucky and get banned.

In such cases, she had to find and resolve the issue to prevent any unfortunate incidents with disgruntled viewers later on.

Furthermore, when she resolved the issue, she even had the sense to send gift icons in her manager’s name.

“Hmm… It seems like no innocent bans have occurred.”

They were mostly people who had been sanctioned for sexual harassment, being clueless, or spamming. As she looked through the list of usernames, her gaze stopped at one particular spot.

And her eyes began to shake uncontrollably.

“Teacher…?”