Chapter 27 : Presentation
Chapter 27: Presentation
“Huuuu—”
As if expelling the heat filling his body, Baek Woohyun exhaled lengthily. Even though his body, overworked to its limit, continuously screamed, he didn’t care at all.
Because he was someone who had calmly endured even worse pain ‘over there.’ Having endured even with arms severed and organs burst, there was no way he’d whine over just intense exercise.
Physical pain was nothing. It was merely a trivial obstacle that could be overcome with willpower. What truly broke people down was mental pain.
—This isn’t where you should be.
‘Shut up.’
Baek Woohyun coldly snapped at the muttering heard from one corner of his mind.
Perhaps because he’d experienced ‘over there’ through Reverse Planet, he felt displeased that the voice, which had been quiet for a while, was starting to be heard again.
It was he himself who decided where to be. Not some hallucination heard in his head.
“Sseup—”
Baek Woohyun, who calmly steadied his breathing, slowly sat as if pushing his hips back, then stood up.
Several times, not minding the heavy barbell placed on his trapezius.
He finished what’s called a ‘high bar squat’ only after completing all the predetermined repetitions.
He’d forcibly met the entire goal while dripping sweat like rain.
Cheolkeong—
“Huuuu—”
Baek Woohyun, who placed the barbell on the power rack, exhaled lengthily again. Considerable fatigue was felt on his face.
Well, it was natural since he was training while mentally suppressing the weak body of a college student who’d never properly exercised.
Because even if he could grit his teeth and swallow the pain felt during exercise, he couldn’t do the same with the fatigue accumulating in his body.
‘When will I be able to train to a usable level?’
He wanted to train to ‘over there’ level if he could, but Baek Woohyun knew very well that was impossible.
First of all, he didn’t have the most important Core Element [Perfect Being], and ‘this side’s’ body had far less potential than ‘that side’s’ body.
Even that was only at an insufficient level thanks to not usually enjoying alcohol and cigarettes—otherwise, comparison would have been impossible.
Therefore, he planned to be satisfied with a body that moved reasonably as intended. Though even that was still a story from the distant future for now…
‘Anyway, I’ll just have to do it steadily.’
Baek Woohyun separated the plates from the barbell and returned them to their original places.
Having met his planned goal with the set he just did, he intended to finish exercising now.
Because he knew that doing more unnecessarily would only ruin his body.
The saying ‘excess is as bad as deficiency’ wasn’t for nothing.
‘Huu… Let’s go slowly, surely.’
After neatly cleaning up, Baek Woohyun washed off sweat in the shower room attached to the gym.
There was fatigue, but more than that, he felt refreshed. Like the morning after playing Reverse Planet for the first time.
After even finishing his shower, he hesitated when taking out items from his personal locker when he picked up his smartphone last.
Because a notification appeared on the smartphone screen announcing a new Kokoatalk message had arrived.
A quick check showed it was a message sent by Jeong Nayeon.
—Jeong Nayeon: Come to my waiting room at 8 PM today
A message with only time and place written bare.
There was no other explanation, but Baek Woohyun knew why Jeong Nayeon sent such a message.
Because since playing PVP together two days ago, she’d continuously talked about how the broadcast composition was going well.
With slight exaggeration, she talked almost once an hour, so it was impossible not to know.
Surely she wanted to talk about the broadcast.
‘I don’t particularly want to broadcast, but anyway I should listen.’
—Baek Woohyun: ok
Baek Woohyun, who sent back a brief answer, shoved his smartphone in his pocket.
What broadcast had Jeong Nayeon prepared?
Feeling very faint curiosity, he slowly moved his steps.
***
“What’s this?”
When the appointed time came and Baek Woohyun entered Jeong Nayeon’s waiting space, the first words he uttered were none other than these.
Since he knew the waiting space she usually decorated filled with her tastes, he was flustered when a completely different scene unfolded from what he thought.
Moreover, it looked like some major corporation’s product presentation, making it even more so.
“Welcome to my waiting space, stranger.”
Jeong Nayeon, standing beside the hologram for PPT on stage, cracked a joke only she knew.
Naturally, Baek Woohyun’s reaction was merely lukewarm.
Then she went hmm hmm and coughed several times, completely changed her expression, and greeted “You came?”
“What’s that?”
“What else? It’s a PPT I personally prepared to persuade you. How is it, doesn’t even the first screen look pretty?”
The PPT Jeong Nayeon prepared had a rainbow-colored background with the words ‘Broadcast Content Explanation’ written in rainbow color. A bright blue seal picture was a bonus.
Rainbow-colored background with rainbow-colored letters—a combination that made one frown automatically—he clicked his tongue briefly.
Following her guidance, Baek Woohyun sat in the only chair—he thought ‘If you’re doing this, why make such a wide space?’
“Now, I’ll begin the presentation.”
Clap clap clap.
The sound of Jeong Nayeon clapping alone echoed hollowly in the waiting space.
Since it was a space as large as a decent auditorium, the clapping that felt even more futile continued lengthily.
Very long and persistently.
Clap clap clap.
Since it seemed like she’d keep clapping until he responded, Baek Woohyun shook his head and clapped with a reluctant attitude.
Only then did Jeong Nayeon nod satisfactorily and begin talking.
“If you broadcast, Woohyun…! What you requested was a broadcast where you just silently do your work without worrying about the chat window or donations, right?”
“That’s right.”
Baek Woohyun smiled bitterly watching Jeong Nayeon, who after changing locations and setting up all this atmosphere, ultimately returned to talking as usual.
The thought passed through his mind: if this was how it’d be, why change the waiting space and prepare even a PPT—though the quality was quite low!
He didn’t particularly express that thought out loud since he didn’t know what fit she might have.
“In other words, you want a broadcast where you don’t worry about viewers, but actually that doesn’t make sense for personal broadcasts.”
Immediate communication with viewers was the alpha and omega of personal broadcasts.
Therefore, not wanting to do that at all was essentially the same as not wanting to do personal broadcasts.
If it weren’t what Baek Woohyun had said, Jeong Nayeon would have thought it was an indirect refusal.
“But what if it’s not a personal broadcast?”
“…?”
Jeong Nayeon moved the PPT to the next page.
There appeared photos of TV variety programs like ‘I Live Alone,’ ‘Omniscient Meddling View,’ and ‘My Ugly Duckling’—together with the persistent Bonobono and rainbow-colored background!
Baek Woohyun’s eyes widened slightly as he watched, wondering what she was trying to say. Because he realized the common point of the variety shows appearing in the PPT.
“Looks like you caught on? Right. It’s ‘observational variety.'”
Observational variety.
It was a variety program format called Reality Show in the West.
It proceeded with various cast members watching recorded videos of other cast members on screens in a studio, and was also a format steadily loved in Korean variety for a long time.
Though it was criticized for being loved too much, with most variety shows all becoming observational variety format, but what mattered now wasn’t that.
“With observational variety, you don’t need to communicate with viewers, Woohyun. Because I’ll do that separately from the studio watching you.”
“Me for gaming. You for communication?”
“Exactly that.”
Certainly, if as Jeong Nayeon explained, it was exactly the broadcast format Baek Woohyun wanted.
Because he didn’t need to worry about chats and donations—in other words, viewers—didn’t need to talk himself, and just had to do his work.
It would be Jeong Nayeon watching from the studio who’d use that for broadcasting.
“Sounds plausible?”
“Right?”
“It certainly makes sense but… does this work?”
“It works, which is why it’s the mainstream variety format these days too.”
Indeed, so Baek Woohyun nodded.
If observational variety was bad, it wouldn’t have established itself as the mainstream variety format regardless of East or West.
Jeong Nayeon’s words had considerable persuasiveness.
“Plus it exists on the personal broadcast side too. In spectator room format. Usually rooms broadcasting pros doing ranked games.”
“That’s somewhat interesting.”
“And well, at most it’ll just fail, right?”
Certainly that too.
Anyway, failing would just be break-even, wouldn’t it?
Since it wasn’t a challenge attempted while spending money separately, and proceeded concurrently while gaming, there was nothing to lose.
“I’m thinking of pulling in a few other people. I’ll pick from personal broadcasters whose main content is Reverse Planet.”
“Is there a need to do that?”
“It’s fine if I proceed alone. I even planned it that way at first.”
Jeong Nayeon shrugged and continued.
“But more than that, bringing other people—for example—yes! Like bringing someone famous for combat analysis among Reverse Planet personal broadcasters seems better.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
“Yeah. In terms of securing diversity of viewing perspectives, and it can prevent viewers from getting tired of the same reactions. That’s why TV observational varieties have multiple panel cast members too.”
Baek Woohyun crossed his arms and fell into thought.
Just listening to what had been said so far, Jeong Nayeon’s proposal precisely complied with his requirements.
To the extent that it was surprising she found a solution that fit this perfectly.
“How about it? This much! My proposal! Will you accept it?!”
“Well.”
“Ah, why—!”
At Baek Woohyun’s firm refusal, Jeong Nayeon hastily jumped down from the platform and stood before him. It was a look watching for angles to cling as always if need be.
Knowing that, Baek Woohyun subtly extended his hand to restrain her and continued speaking.
“I clearly said I’d think about it, not that I’d unconditionally accept.”
“But this has all the conditions you wanted.”
“It certainly does.”
Excluding that bizarre PPT, it was undeniable that Jeong Nayeon’s preparation was certainly good.
But that wasn’t necessarily a reason he had to accept the proposal.
Still, seeing the sincerity she’d prepared hard, Baek Woohyun tried to weigh the gains obtainable through broadcasting and the losses incurred from it.
……If only Jeong Nayeon, who couldn’t wait for that, hadn’t clung to him.
“We’ll split revenue 50-50! It really earns tremendously more than you think!”
“Mmm…”
“Then! 60-40! Considering iTube operating costs, this is the Maginot Line, really!”
“iTube?”
“Right! I was going to tell you this too! Look at this!”
Jeong Nayeon gestured sharply toward the PPT.
Then the rainbow-colored screen that made one frown just looking at it disappeared, and instead her apparent iTube appeared in its place.
There was an uploaded video of playing PVP together with Baek Woohyun after the last clarification broadcast, and surprisingly, the view count had already exceeded 300,000.
Considering the fact that her iTube subscribers were merely around ten thousand, it was truly tremendous views.
“See the video view count? It’s currently blowing up riding the algorithm. It’ll go higher if I start broadcasting here and subtly spread information on communities a few times.”
Jeong Nayeon, who expressed confidence that such viral marketing would be easy as pie if she, a current community specter, stepped forward, continued speaking.
“At worst, pocket money is possible. If it goes well, we can really earn tremendously, you know? You just played a game and earned money. How nice is that?”
“……Wait.”
Baek Woohyun, who restrained Jeong Nayeon with a rigidly hardened expression, stared piercingly at the hologram screen.
Precisely, at a comment barely visible hanging at the bottom of the iTube video.
His gaze sank coldly as he spoke.
“That, show me that comment.”
“Huh? Ah, just a moment—”