Chapter 12

Time rewinds to yesterday.

“Is there something to talk about?”

“What is it, man.”

Alpaca was having a conversation with Lee Su-han, his editor and manager.

“The person you’re collaborating with has only been streaming for 2 days. But does he have any real content for the broadcast?”

They were talking about the collaboration with a new streamer.

Lee Su-han voiced his doubts.

Usually, rookie discovery content targeted streamers who were just starting to rise.

Whether it was some competition, collaboration with someone, or any kind of opportunity—when bottom-tier streamers were just beginning to gain attention.

Alpaca would invite streamers both to improve his own broadcast content and to help them out.

Most viewers of the streamers he invited consisted of new viewers.

And for those new viewers, he would dig up the streamers’ past actions—simply put, their embarrassing dark history from their struggling days—to provide laughs and create a sense of camaraderie.

That was rookie discovery content.

The time it took for streamers to gain recognition varied greatly.

But.

This was his first time with a streamer who had only been broadcasting for 2 days.

“But Su-han. There’s something you’re misunderstanding.”

“What?”

“That person is coming more like a master guest appearance.”

“Master guest appearance? You’ve never done that before. No, more than that, 2 days of streaming… Ah!”

Lee Su-han clapped his hands as if realizing something.

“A famous master started streaming! What kind of game master is he?”

Alpaca sighed.

If he had just watched today’s broadcast, he would know the whole story.

However, he couldn’t ask someone who handled his YouTube management, editing, and managing to watch every single broadcast.

But.

“Assassin’s Dawn.”

“What? What kind of master exists in a game like that? Pfft.”

Lee Su-han hadn’t missed his broadcast because he was busy—he hadn’t watched it because he was addicted to a game called ‘The League.’

It had been going on for several years now.

“I knew you’d say that. But even you would change your mind if you saw the video.”

As Alpaca fiddled with his phone, looking like he was about to show something, Lee Su-han snorted.

“Come on. At best, he’s good at an assassination game. I’m not watching. I’m not buying it.”

You’ll have to watch it when you edit anyway.

Alpaca swallowed his unspoken words.

“PvE—what’s fun or difficult about that? Huh? The characteristic of those games is that you can clear them with just a little effort.”

PvE (Player Vs Environment) means, simply put, users fighting against AI. It’s the opposite of PvP.

From the past until now, Alpaca had earnestly tried to get him to play Assassin’s Dawn, but Lee Su-han had refused, saying fighting machines was completely boring.

“Well, anyway, it’s like a master guest appearance?”

“Yeah.”

“Then whatever, do as you please. I need to play one more match.”

As Lee Su-han was about to enter his room.

“Oh, right.”

Alpaca remembered what he had forgotten. The reason he had brought up the collaboration in the first place.

“Can you lend your capsule to the streamer coming tomorrow?”

“What? We have a spare capsule.”

Lee Su-han said with a serious expression.

“It has to be your capsule. You recently switched to the most expensive one. That person has a somewhat low synchronization rate.”

“How can a master have a low synchronization rate?”

Synchronization rate.

A measure of how much one perceives the virtual reality world as real.

The stereotype that you had to have a high synchronization rate to be good at capsule games was half—no, mostly true.

Incidentally, there were cases where this number exceeded 100.

They would fall deeply into a fantasy world more real than reality, and when they finished diving and came out of the capsule, they would actually feel alienated.

Like divers suffering from decompression sickness when surfacing.

This was called fantasy decompression sickness, and the characteristic of people suffering from these symptoms was that they showed tremendous performance in virtual reality worlds due to their high synchronization rates.

Lee Su-han thought briefly and answered shortly.

“Ah, no way. Can’t do it.”

“Why.”

“You want someone who’s worse at games than me to use my brand new baby that I’ve barely gotten to use?”

Lee Su-han was skilled enough to maintain a high tier in The League while gaming in his spare time.

“That person would probably be better.”

But Alpaca knew from an extremely objective perspective that the streamer named Jin Seo-jun would be better.

Even if it was PvE, not many people could replicate those movements.

The problem was that Lee Su-han wouldn’t even try to watch the video, and even if he did watch, he wouldn’t acknowledge it.

‘Sigh. I’ll have to tell him to use mine.’

His capsule wasn’t bad either.

No matter how much Seo-jun would obviously win, he couldn’t ask him to fight with his editor just to borrow a capsule.

But suddenly, at Lee Su-han’s question, Alpaca felt goosebumps as a different thought dominated his mind.

‘Come to think of it, his synchronization rate is low but… that means he showed that kind of play in an unsuitable state.’

Wow.

Then how much better would he fight in reality?

Could he be a gangster?

No wait, he uses a sword, so… yakuza?

In Alpaca’s mind, an image formed of a man with a large scar on his face wearing a floral shirt and holding a fish knife.

* * *

“Hello. I’m streamer Alpaca.”

Alpaca’s eyes widened as he opened the door with slightly trembling hands.

Because Seo-jun’s face looked exactly like the avatar he had shown in virtual reality.

‘I thought since the avatar was a real face scan, he would have just casually modified it like other people, but it really was scanned as-is!’

Fortunately, Seo-jun’s face was, unlike his imagination, a neat and handsome young man.

Enough to make him feel guilty about his strange imagination from the night before.

“Yes, hello. I’m streamer Jin Seo-jun.”

Meanwhile, Seo-jun was also looking around.

He was curious about what a studio of a successful streamer in his early thirties looked like.

“Hyung, long time no see. I came too.”

“Tae-woo, long time no see too. Come this way.”

After shaking hands with Alpaca, Seo-jun followed his guidance to a spacious living room.

From the outside, it looked like an ordinary house, but he got the feeling that work and rest spaces were thoroughly separated.

As he and Tae-woo sat on the sofa, Alpaca went to the kitchen to make coffee, and a closed room opened to reveal a fierce-looking man.

“Hello. I’m the editor, Lee Su-han.”

Lee Su-han extended his hand to Seo-jun with a grin.

“I’m streamer Jin Seo-jun. Nice to meet you.”

Seo-jun felt strength in the firmly grasped hand. Was this a power play?

“I heard your synchronization rate is low.”

“Yes.”

“But you’re good at games.”

“Well, I’m pretty good.”

Lee Su-han had been able to examine Seo-jun’s gameplay while making yesterday’s short and brief collaboration preview video.

And he was feeling competitive spirit at the unexpectedly good skills.

Thud.

The strange tension was broken.

Alpaca had loudly set a cup down on the table.

Alpaca glared at Lee Su-han sideways and seated Seo-jun.

“Alright, alright. Now that we’ve greeted each other, let’s talk about the broadcast. Did you see the preview video?”

Seo-jun nodded.

The video uploaded to Alpaca’s fan community and YouTube along with the collaboration announcement.

The video brilliantly revitalized Seo-jun’s gameplay while cross-cutting it with scenes of Alpaca making bold claims was brief but perfect for promotion.

“Thanks to Seo-jun, the response is hot. Having real skill definitely brings the video to life and makes it enjoyable to watch.”

Whether that response was real or not would be revealed shortly.

“The editor did it all. What did I do.”

Lee Su-han scratched the back of his neck with an embarrassed smile at the compliment.

“Hahaha. No, it’s nothing. But while editing, I saw you’re really good at games—is it true you’ve only been gaming for 2 days?”

“Um, no. I’d prefer if you kept this secret, but I actually played briefly in the past.”

Seo-jun thought there was no need to hide the fact that he had played games before.

“When was that?”

“I played The League briefly 7 years ago.”

Alpaca was hooked on the “7 years ago” part, while Lee Su-han was hooked on “The League.”

“Were you good back then too? What tier were you?”

Lee Su-han’s eyes lit up.

Tier is an English word meaning rank.

It’s mainly used in games to divide item grades or player levels.

“Silver.”

Silver was the tier where most ordinary users were placed.

“You’re lying. You couldn’t suddenly become good at games after not playing for so long.”

“Well…”

Seo-jun shrugged.

Lee Su-han was eventually convinced. If he said it wasn’t him, then whatever.

However, it was true that Seo-jun’s current skill level seen through the video was similar to his own.

So.

“Seo-jun. Would you like to face me once in Training Hall?”

Lee Su-han wanted to clash with Seo-jun once.

After speaking, Lee Su-han rolled his eyes to gauge the reaction.

Seo-jun showed signs of difficulty.

And Tae-woo, who was beside them, actually brightened up and asked.

With a meaningful smile.

“Seo-jun and Training Hall? Why?”

“I want to compete in skill.”

“With him?”

“Yeah.”

Hahaha!

Suddenly Tae-woo burst into laughter.

Lee Su-han looked at him with displeasure, wondering what was so funny, and Alpaca, who had been lost in thought, raised his head to look at Tae-woo.

And Seo-jun had an idea why he was laughing.

“Hyung. I think you should stop.”

“Huh?”

“Anyway, don’t do it. Pfft.”

“…?”

At some point, Tae-woo was looking at Seo-jun. With a mischievous smile.

Seo-jun understood the meaning of that gaze.

It was asking if it was okay to tell.

Seo-jun nodded in permission, thinking that Tae-woo had connections with these people and even if the story leaked, there would be no evidence.

“This is also a secret, but if you want to face this guy in Training Hall, just challenge Level 10.”

Essentially a statement that Seo-jun was unknown.

Alpaca and Lee Su-han’s eyes filled with shock as they understood the meaning.

“That… really?”

“Of course.”

Tae-woo took out his phone as if he’d been waiting and played a video, handing it to Alpaca, while Lee Su-han jumped up and went next to Alpaca to watch the video.

And the exclamations that burst out.

“Whoa.”

“Oh.”

“This?”

“That’s Shin Ha-yeon, isn’t it?”

“We’ve received someone more amazing than I thought.”

“I’m suddenly feeling pressured about today’s collaboration.”

“Wait, he didn’t get hit even once?”

“It’s really one-sided.”

“Wow.”

“That final moment was insanely cool.”

Alpaca looked back and forth between the video and Seo-jun with eyes that held a bit more conviction, muttering “7 years ago” and falling back into thought, while Lee Su-han finished watching the video and said to Seo-jun.

“I’ll serve you as hyungnim.”

Lee Su-han’s gaze, which had been viewing him as a competitor, completely changed.

“What?”

“If you’re good at games, you’re my hyungnim.”

Seo-jun was flustered and opened and closed his mouth.

Come to think of it, it wouldn’t be strange to be treated not as hyungnim but as an elder.

Seo-jun hit Kim Tae-woo, who was giggling for no reason. He just felt like hitting him.

And Lee Su-han looked at his watch and tapped Alpaca’s shoulder.

“Hey, what are you doing? It’s almost time for hyung’s broadcast.”

“Huh? Right. Okay! Let’s go start the broadcast. Here’s my capsule…”

“Come this way. Hyung. I’ll let you use my capsule.”

Alpaca looked at Lee Su-han leading Seo-jun to the work room where his capsule was with incredulous eyes.

I have to reset the settings, you bastard.

Seo-jun followed Lee Su-han into the work room, and Alpaca sighed and walked to his broadcast room.

And changed the capsule’s settings.

He also prepared ingredients for the dinner they’d have after the game ended and the broadcast finished.

His broadcasts had a lot of improvised elements, but he was meticulous about this kind of preparation.

By the way.

‘Even though it’s an AI, he beat Shin Ha-yeon.’

Alpaca somehow wanted to continue his relationship with Seo-jun even after this broadcast ended.

And if Seo-jun was the user he suspected…

‘No, that’s going too far.’

Alpaca shook his head and entered his capsule.