Chapter 18 of Season 1 of The Genius Archer's Streaming

7. Turning Point (2)

Leaving Dotorimuk's studio and heading back home, Juhyeok dropped Sanghyun off at the alley stairs in front of his house.

"Go in. Thanks."

Thud.

After closing the car door and climbing the stairs, Juhyeok's shout came from behind.

"Hey. Don't be in a hurry. From what I've seen, you have talent. You can do anything."

It seemed he had noticed that Sanghyun was deeply considering whether to focus on AllTube or Trivi.

Sanghyun stared at Juhyeok's face for a moment.

The many people who had helped him, and those who had helped him in the past. Sanghyun did not forget their faces.

From his grandmother who raised him with great difficulty, the coach who got him into a large company, to Dotorimuk who offered a collaboration, and Manager Ina-yeon who explained things thoroughly.

And now, this arrogant elite golden spoon who was looking at him and giving him a thumbs up.

He would keep all these faces in his mind.

"...Yeah. Thanks."

Vroom.

The red taillights disappeared from his sight, and then Sanghyun climbed the stairs.

It was getting cold, and his breath formed white mist with each exhale.

At this time, his grandmother would always worry about slipping on the icy road.

Now, he no longer had that worry. The empty space left behind felt overly cold.

"Grandma, I made 270 today. Juhyeok didn't take a penny."

Sanghyun mumbled to himself, looking at the high stairs he had walked since he was a child.

"It's not just the money; it's quite fun. I want to keep doing this."

The monologue that flowed out with his white breath was perhaps a promise to himself.

"In there, my right arm was fine. It's really amazing. If Grandma saw it, she would have been shocked..."

He clenched his right fist tightly. The fist that still trembled violently.

The traffic accident was a terrible memory.

For Sanghyun, and for his grandmother.

He remembered his grandmother's wrinkled eyes, which always gazed at his right arm.

Thus, this right arm was more than just a bad memory.

It was the most hateful existence that had hurt his grandmother.

At the same time, it was an existence that he had to do everything with.

To Sanghyun, this right arm was always a trauma that stuck to him.

A thick and unpleasant shadow that always followed him.

So he pushed his right arm deeper into his pocket. Putting his hands in his pockets had become a deeply ingrained habit.

"Grandma, there are a lot of people who help me."

He looked up.

It was a pitch-black sky. The stars were abundant. Or rather, they must have been abundant.

They were temporarily obscured by the old street lamp.

"There are so many good people, it almost feels like Grandma is helping me. I don't know how to repay them."

The cloudy Seoul sky. The stars that were not visible began to appear in his field of vision.

The stars that had briefly twinkled became blurry and then slid down his chin.

"I'm trying hard, but it feels a bit late, doesn't it?"

Grandma had once said,

"If you look up at the stars, they speak to you.

'If you think it's too late, you won't do it. Knowing that, you should move faster.'"

He could hear Grandma's nagging.

After the injury, when he had said it was too late to start something new, he had heard this.

"Yeah, I will do it. It's just... I'm sad that Grandma can't see it."

* * *

The next day, morning.

Sanghyun, who does not do morning broadcasts, woke up early as usual and took a shower.

Shower.

While showering, he reviewed yesterday's and today's events.

'Editor... AllTube...'

He usually stores the events of the day in his mind using only the keywords he finds easiest to remember.

'AllTube is profitable. But the editor has to be good. There are two models for streamer revenue...'

Swoosh.

Sanghyun wiped the foggy mirror and stared blankly at himself after the shower.

'...I think I fit the so-called entertainer style better.'

Entertainer.

A word that felt very alien to him. Thinking of it as something he had to wear felt as uncomfortable as putting on a rough undershirt.

But both Nayeon and Dotorimuk thought it suited Sanghyun.

Even Juhyeok, while driving, had said,

"From what I've seen, they're right. You're definitely not the Dotorimuk type. You're closer to the Horn Ram. A Horn Ram who's really good at games."

Sanghyun's intuition was saying something similar.

He wouldn't be exactly like Horn Ram. That person is good at speaking and bad at games.

Sanghyun is the opposite.

Being an entertainer type means, not so much the actual activities, but the revenue model.

Not to become like Horn Ram, but to follow Horn Ram's revenue model.

'Advertising or sponsorships...'

Juhyeok had said that Sanghyun had an image suitable for receiving advertisements or sponsorships.

He even suggested that Sanghyun could become a CF model in the future.

"Quite a big dream, isn't it?"

Sanghyun chuckled and sat in front of the computer, starting his research for the day.

"I need to find an editor first."

Among the kimchi soup he drank yesterday, the first thing to handle is setting up an AllTube channel.

After all, only top-tier streamers can make a profit with live broadcasts alone. It's standard to run an AllTube channel as well.

He plans to use the time when he's not broadcasting to research AllTube game-related videos and contact promising editors.

Of course, Juhyeok, as his manager, would take care of this, but Sanghyun couldn't just sit around and do nothing.

Click.

He entered the trending videos in the game category.

Among them, he focused on videos that best showcased his skills, mainly related to mad movies.

"Hmm."

One of them caught his eye.

[Kingdom Age, The Dignity of a Genius Archer! Mad Movie]

A mad movie about someone shooting arrows in Kingdom Age.

It had garnered nearly 110,000 views in just one day.

It was the perfect video he was looking for.

"Wow. How did I find this? I must be lucky."

As he thought this,

He realized he was more than just lucky.

"...Crazy! This is me?!"

The main character in the video was none other than himself.

He then noticed the channel name.

[Almond Fan Seo Ji-a]

"Seo Ji-a...?"

The name wasn't unfamiliar. Was it because it sounded cozy? No, that wasn't it. Given Sanghyun's personality, he wouldn't remember someone's name just for that reason.

'1 million won...'

That's right. It was the viewer who had donated 1 million won to him.

Swallow.

Sanghyun swallowed and played the video.

Dun dun dun... Dun!

The background music was different from the typical mad movies. Most of them play loud EDM and mess around with the screen.

'Really like a movie.'

The grand and narrative background music, the medieval mercenary life with the winter tone unique to Kingdom Age.

All these elements blended so well that it felt like a movie rather than a game.

Plop!

When the arrow hit the enemy's head, the screen always turned to a novel angle, providing a sense of satisfaction.

Even for a super player, shooting arrows in the same pattern can only provide so much fun.

But the production made it seem like a completely different situation.

Not only Sanghyun's video, but also videos of other players were included, and even the burka and the bandit leader Katias, who didn't get to deliver their lines, exuded great charisma.

They were easily taken down by one shot from Sanghyun's arrows.

"...Wow."

Even Sanghyun was impressed by Almond's play.

The comments were also very positive.

- Wow...

- What game is this? It looks fun.

- Kingdom Age? I heard it's quite difficult.

- The video quality is amazing.

- The game quality is great...

- It looks like an HBO fantasy series...

└222 Me too lol

└It's a real movie, for sure.

└It's a mad 'movie,' after all lol

- This is an award-winning work, but many people don't know it.

└lol Kingdom Age is a failed game, right?

└Failed game... yeah, but it's fun...

- I want to try it.

Many people were even inspired to start playing the game.

- But it's really well-played, right?

- Fact) No one can play like this person. Think twice before buying.

└lol Newbies will be shocked.

└No need to. Just go in and get your ass kicked by Roman once, and you'll quit.

Of course, the old-timers of Kingdom Age, who quickly doused the newbies' enthusiasm, also appeared.

- Wow, the actual gameplay is tough, but the video is even tougher lol

- How many times have you been killed lol

- It's really tough.

Of course, even they couldn't deny the video's excellence.

'I need to contact them right away.'

Sanghyun reached for his phone to contact Juhyeok.

Beep.

[Juhyeok: Hey. I found a great one. (Link)]

It seemed Juhyeok had already seen it.

[Juhyeok: I'll leave a comment and contact them.]

[But how will we pay? We don't have any revenue yet...]

[Juhyeok: We need to negotiate well. No one starts off rich.]

[You. You're a golden spoon.]

[Juhyeok: My grandfather was poor at first, lol]

[Will AllTube revenue be split with the editor?]

[Juhyeok: If you give it all to them, yes. But this person seems to be okay with it.]

[Juhyeok: I'll take care of it. You focus on the game. Take advantage of the good momentum in Kingdom Age.]

Sanghyun was startled by Juhyeok's sharp words.

'Right. This is Juhye