Chapter 42

[Han Ji-min]: Boss, I think you need to see this?

Han Ji-min sent a message bright and early in the morning.

“What is it about?”

Seo-jun felt his thoughts becoming complicated as he checked what Han Ji-min had sent.

Han Ji-min had captured a screen and sent it to Seo-jun—it was iTube’s channel viewer analysis screen.

The first thing that caught his eye was the upward trend in viewer influx, which hadn’t even been a month yet.

It was a clear enough growth trend to understand why they said the algorithm had chosen them.

However.

[Seo-jun]: It’s definitely strange.

[Han Ji-min]: Right? What’s going on?

Seo-jun stared at the problematic image.

In the viewer analysis chart in the lower right, the proportion of foreign viewers among people newly entering the channel was way too high.

‘I’m not sure if this is good or bad.’

They say iTube’s algorithm is incomprehensible to ordinary people.

The same was true for veteran streamers.

Today too, the incomprehensible iTube algorithm led viewers to this video.

You didn’t find the video—the video found you.

No one came here by searching for this video.

And so on.

These were all popular phrases showing just how arbitrary the algorithm was.

Simplifying it to the extreme, it would recommend videos that people easily click on and continue watching, but the core principles running iTube weren’t that straightforward.

[Lee Geon-yeong]: Huh what is this, I just woke up, why are there so many foreigners…

[Han Ji-min]: Mmm, Boss, I think we need to figure out the cause for sure.

[Seo-jun]: If the algorithm is changing to recommend mainly to foreign viewers, that would be problematic, right?

[Han Ji-min]: Probably. But we’re not at the level where we’d twist the algorithm, so there must be another cause.

[Lee Geon-yeong]: Then maybe one of the viewers promoted us? A lot of foreign viewers came into yesterday’s stream because of Training Hall.

“Is that it?”

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like a seriously major problem.

It might even be an opportunity.

Seo-jun began pondering along with them.

Just because he’d left the channel entirely to them didn’t mean he had no intention of getting involved at all.

[Han Ji-min]: Community?

[Lee Geon-yeong]: The influx is too large for someone to have promoted us on a community. It’s almost like when we uploaded that collab video with Alpaca-nim.

Ah.

Seo-jun thought he knew the reason.

There was only one place recently that could promote his channel like this, wasn’t there?

Seo-jun entered MovieSoft’s official account and played the teaser video he’d checked yesterday.

“This was it.”

When he scrolled down to the comments section, Seo-jun’s video was linked prominently in the pinned comment.

Seo-jun informed them of this fact.

[Lee Geon-yeong]: Awesome lol

[Lee Geon-yeong]: Is this what hyungnim-level class looks like? For an official account to do that much for you

[Han Ji-min]: iTube’s overseas market is huge, so this is definitely good. Should I look into English subtitles?

The two seemed excited.

Seo-jun just responded appropriately while watching them manage the channel on their own.

They would know more about iTube than he did.

But there was an email from MovieSoft.

The content was about rewriting the contract and iTube video subtitle files.

“Huh.”

The slightly amusing thing was that MovieSoft had thoughtfully explained in detail the reason for this favor, but it was entirely based on a misunderstanding.

“Well, it’s good.”

Even if unintentional, wasn’t it a win-win with weak point?

“There’s also contact info for a subtitle production company… and they’ll cover all the costs?”

The amount wasn’t huge, but it was appreciated.

They’d also increased the advertising fee by 50%.

Seo-jun shared the good news with the editors.

After chatting like that for a while, Han Ji-min brought up an unexpected topic in a private message.

[Han Ji-min]: Boss, you’ll be getting advertisements coming in, don’t you need a manager?

[Jin Seo-jun]: A manager?

Come to think of it, he hadn’t thought about hiring manager at all.

Up until now, the housework that Tae-woo did—no, his various advice—had been sufficient.

‘I’ll need one going forward.’

Especially for filtering advertisements or negotiations.

[Han Ji-min]: Yes. I’ve done manager work before. Since Brick Theft King-nim is busy making thumbnails, I want to help by doing what I can.

[Han Ji-min]: You can consider it part of channel management and use me for free! I own a quarter of Boss’s channel anyway! It’s owner mentality!

She was right about being an owner.

By the way.

Thumbnails?

Ah.

Seo-jun only then realized that while giving full authority over iTube, he hadn’t paid separately for thumbnail costs.

Why did Lee Geon-yeong take on additional work without saying anything?

Seo-jun told Han Ji-min they’d discuss it when they met next, then called Lee Geon-yeong.

“Brick Theft King-nim.”

-Yes, hyungnim.

“About the thumbnails.”

-Ah, hyungnim!

“Yes.”

Lee Geon-yeong urgently interrupted him.

Then he said energetically,

-I’ll do the thumbnails for free!

“Why?”

-Well, my skills are inferior to noona’s, so I want to contribute with something small like this. It’s fun for me to make them too.

“Ah.”

The moment Seo-jun heard those words, he thought he’d really chosen his people well.

Usually when people secure good positions, some become complacent or try to slack off.

But Han Ji-min and Lee Geon-yeong were different.

Rather, they showed they wanted to help by doing unnecessary things.

You could really feel that they wanted to work together with Seo-jun.

‘I was lucky.’

He’d made contracts after directly seeing and confirming they were good people, but still, as the saying goes, you can know ten fathoms of water but not one fathom of a person’s heart—understanding people isn’t easy.

He’d chosen well.

-And hyungnim, I’m worried you might go bankrupt paying our salaries. Hehe.

“Don’t worry about that.”

-I was joking. Anyway, aren’t we the Seo Labor Department!

Seo Labor Department?

What’s that now?

“Anyway, if you need thumbnail costs, just say so without any burden.”

-Yes. Goodbye.

“You especially, Brick Theft King-nim.”

-Ah, hyungnim, really…

Click.

After ending the call, Seo-jun looked up the meaning of Seo Labor Department online.

It was a coined term combining a streamer’s name with Labor Department. It referred to people who did work like video editing or thumbnail creation.

It seemed they combined Seo-jun and Labor Department to call it Seo Labor Department.

“So that’s what it meant…”

Anyway, coined terms are difficult.

“Should I head out now?”

Today was a day with additional tests.

* * *

“That movement is always amazing to see.”

Surface’s research center director Oh Ji-hye said while looking at the screen.

“It really is impressive.”

Oh Ji-hye glanced sideways at the junior researcher who had approached.

“I told you so.”

“Don’t look at me like that. Anyone would fail to understand you at first. I mean, suddenly saying you’d lend that expensive thing for free to a streamer tournament—who would accept that?”

That was true.

Oh Ji-hye nodded.

Then she turned her head back to look at the screen.

“Well, with that level of skill, if he has the will, it seems like he could make money in virtual reality somehow, no matter what he does. Don’t you think?”

The free loan under the pretense of a streaming tournament was bait.

A lure to make him enter this world again.

Though she hadn’t expected him being a streamer to fit so well.

“That’s true. I’ve watched a few times and it’s entertaining. Like a new concept skill broadcast. Director, you know what this person did in the past, right? Lee Dong-soo also asked about this streamer earlier. Shin Ha-yeon seemed interested too.”

“Mind your own business. You can’t look at customer information anyway, and you shouldn’t disclose it. If I hadn’t stopped you, you would have blurted out everything you knew, wouldn’t you?”

“Sorry!”

“Getting excited just because you saw a famous player.”

“Haha, then I’ll be going.”

Seeing his boss about to launch into a lecture, he hurriedly left the lab.

Oh Ji-hye didn’t care either way and quickly lost interest, manipulating the screen to begin Seo-jun’s next test.

* * *

Seo-jun was currently facing all kinds of situations.

The surrounding environment suddenly changed to a blazing desert, then in the blink of an eye he was buried in Arctic ice, experiencing strong gravitational acceleration or being thrown into space.

This test, which threw him into extreme situations, was mainly designed to test the subject’s physical reactions under stress.

Mainly people who wanted to reduce virtual reality access restrictions, especially players, came to this research center for this test.

Surface allowed people to increase their access time if they passed this test.

Of course, this didn’t apply to Seo-jun.

‘That can’t be helped.’

Seo-jun thought while floating around in space.

Soon the surrounding space itself was sucked toward Seo-jun like subsiding tectonic plates.

Tremendous pressure crushed down on Seo-jun.

Flash—

Light shone brightly and as he was freed from the pressure, Seo-jun stood in a pure white room.

[Ah. Seo-jun-nim, the test is over now. Please come out.]

It was over.

‘Anticlimactic.’

After coming out of the capsule, Seo-jun opened the door and went to the room across where Oh Ji-hye was.

Seo-jun stood beside Oh Ji-hye and waited calmly while she examined various data.

Oh Ji-hye opened her mouth.

“Fortunately, your reactions haven’t changed from before. Actually, they seem to have improved. You’re really calm as always.”

“If I didn’t improve after experiencing it once, that would be a problem.”

“That only applies to you, Seo-jun-nim. The other tests had no problems either, so I think you just need to come once a month for check-ups going forward.”

“You said if anything abnormal happens, the capsule will automatically block it and send a message.”

“Yes, but still come.”

Tsk.

“Understood. Thank you.”

“Yes, is the exact same date next month possible?”

“Yes.”

“Yes. See you next month then.”

Seo-jun said goodbye and left the research center.

He had to go home again, which was annoying.

Damn.

‘Should I just skip today’s stream… no way.’

Skipping a stream just because he was annoyed would be difficult for someone as diligent as him, with memories from his previous life.

He would consider taking a break if he was facing something important that viewers were eagerly anticipating.

Seo-jun smiled and came out of the research center.

But one person was waiting for Seo-jun at the entrance.

“Seeing you again after this morning. It’s nice to see you again somewhere other than the gym.”

It was pro gamer Lee Dong-soo.

“Why are you here?”

“It’s our team’s regular checkup day.”

Ah.

This was a research center.

It wasn’t like a customer service center or hospital.

Nevertheless, because the best equipment and technicians were here, regular checkups for pro players were conducted at this place.

Naturally, when conducting checkups, they’d want to take people all at once if possible, and since Seo-jun also came on the day Oh Ji-hye called him, it wasn’t strange for them to overlap.

“I heard from the director earlier that you were coming, so I was waiting to have lunch together. Oh, by the way, Ha-yeon-noona asked me to give you her regards. Did you two meet in the past…?” ^[1]

“No.”

“Really? That’s strange. Noona seemed really happy to see you.”

“I said no.”