Chapter 34
Chapter 34: First Outdoor Broadcast
The next day.
Mu-yeong woke up, checked his bank balance, and was stunned.
The number of digits has completely changed.
To put it roughly—1.1 billion Won.
The tournament prize money and Mae Han-gyeom's gift had arrived all at once.
Staring at all those zeroes, reality began to slip away from him.
Of course, he had anticipated that he would receive 1 billion Won as the hostage settlement, but it wasn't really his until the money actually landed in his account, was it?
In that sense, the number printed in his bankbook was very meaningful indeed.
"First things first, I need to fix the window with this."
The living room window—a great big hole punched clean through it.
He had already told the Iron Blood Witch to handle it, so it would probably be taken care of by the end of today.
In the meantime, he could go have his real-life collab with Yu-na.
As Mu-yeong was enjoying the natural breeze, the doorbell rang.
Soon the Iron Blood Witch and Divine Dragon stepped inside the house.
"Young Lord. Good morni—well, not quite, is it?"
"I received 1 billion Won, so it is a good morning."
"Those people threatened your life, Young Lord—1 billion is far too cheap. If it were up to me, I'd just—"
She drew a finger slowly across her throat.
Divine Dragon cracked his knuckles and nodded in agreement.
"I could sprint over there right now and tear them apart, but since you've reached a settlement, I'll say no more."
"If something like this ever happens again, the Daehwasan Sect's name will be erased from the map that very day."
"Obviously. We'd have to wipe them out immediately."
The two of them were sharpening their resolve, but the truth was, Mu-yeong felt differently.
Honestly, part of him wanted them to try again.
That way he could squeeze out an even heftier settlement.
"Either way, I have to go out this afternoon, so please take good care of the repairs today."
"Might I ask where you're headed?"
"I'm meeting Yu-na in Hongdae."
"What?!"
The Iron Blood Witch's eyes went wide as she clapped her hands together with a sharp smack.
She broke into a grin and leaned over to whisper in Divine Dragon's ear.
"You think it's a date? It's definitely a date, right?"
"Hongdae—no question. On top of that, didn't he just get her number the other day?"
"And it's only been a few days... the youth these days really are bold."
"That's what it means to be young, isn't it? Ha-ha!"
I can hear all of you, you fools.
And it's not a date—it's a lesson on how to shoot a vlog.
Mu-yeong shook his head and walked toward his room, with the two of them immediately tailing him.
"Young Lord, you're not actually going to go on a date looking like this, are you? You need to wash your hair, bathe, and put on something presentable."
"She's the first woman you'll ever meet in person—why not spritz on a little cologne while you're at it?"
"That's a great idea! As it happens, I just received a sponsorship recently, so maybe you could use that—"
Divine Dragon and the Iron Blood Witch chattered away with more excitement than they'd shown in a long time.
Goodness knew what they found so thrilling—they were already planning out a date itinerary.
Mu-yeong growled.
"It's nothing like that. I'm going to receive a crash course in vlog secrets, so don't let your imaginations run wild for even a second."
"Oh come on—a man and a woman meeting alone in Hongdae, and you expect anyone to believe that? Even if, by some miracle, it really isn't like that, you should still tidy yourself up a bit so you don't lose points."
"What points? I told you, nothing of that sort is happening."
"We were referring to basic points as a person—nothing romantic."
Mu-yeong paused.
It's true—making an effort is simply what you do as a person, rather than doing nothing at all.
Even he himself didn't particularly enjoy smelling bad and looking like a mess.
After weighing it back and forth, Mu-yeong glanced back over his shoulder.
"Then just a little..."
"Hehehe!"
.
.
.
.
11:50 A.M.
Having arrived ten minutes before the scheduled time, Mu-yeong self-consciously ran a hand over his hair.
This feels strange.
Perhaps because he had spent ten years living in the Closed-Door Training Chamber.
His hair had just been trimmed carelessly with no particular attention paid to it, but now that it had been properly shaped and styled, the feeling was unfamiliar.
Especially because of the Iron Blood Witch.
She had made a spectacle of herself, insisting there was no way he could go to meet a woman looking like that.
—Young Lord, I know a salon—let's go there. A reservation? I'm close with the director, so just this once it'll be fine.
At least it ended with his hair, which was something to be grateful for.
The Iron Blood Witch had shown up hauling an armload of cosmetics and stared hard at Mu-yeong's face before—
—Hmm, your skin is just too good, Young Lord—I don't think there's really any need. It's so flawless that touching it would only make it worse, somehow...
—putting everything away and leaving only a tube of sunscreen behind.
Of course, for Mu-yeong, who in all his life had never applied anything to his face other than water, even that alone felt strange.
"At least the outfit is what I always wear, so that's a relief—"
"Oh? Mu-yeong-nim?"
Just then, a familiar voice came from right beside him.
He turned his head, and Yu-na was approaching with a wide smile on her face.
Somehow, the surroundings seemed to brighten all at once.
"You came early."
"Mu-yeong-nim came earlier, though. Ah—but never mind that. Did you get your hair done?"
"......Could you tell right away?"
"The hairstyle itself is the same, but there's this thing, you know—that clean, settled feeling with nothing sticking out every which way. One look and I can tell you've been somewhere to get it taken care of."
She really is something else.
He gave a quiet nod, and she stepped in closer.
She looked him up and down with great thoroughness, then raised her thumb in approval.
"You've got this effortlessly-put-together look going on—I like it. Not a perfect score, but I'll give you 95 points."
"Where did the 5 points come from?"
"From wearing the same outfit I saw on you before. I was secretly hoping to see a different side of Mu-yeong-nim. Oh—but how do I look?"
Yu-na spread her arms slightly and whooshed around in a full spin.
Oversized long sleeves that hung past her frame, a skirt that reached just above the knee, shoes that matched perfectly, a necklace and earrings to complete the look.
Even Mu-yeong, who knew next to nothing about fashion, had to admit it was a chic ensemble.
He even found himself wondering if perhaps she had overdone it a bit.
Noticing his gaze, Yu-na smiled bashfully.
"This is actually a style people call a March spring girlfriend look. It's pretty, isn't it?"
"You look completely different from how you do on stream, that's for certain."
"Oh? What am I like on stream?"
"Well... sort of rough around the edges, with no sense of restraint—"
"That's because it's a broadcast, so I'm playing up the tough-girl concept. In real life, I'm naturally this delicate and mild-mannered."
"Is that right?"
"......Want to get hit?"
"I'll pass."
He shrugged, and Yu-na snorted a little laugh before rummaging in her bag.
She pulled out an outdoor streaming stick and her phone, then continued explaining.
"When you shoot a vlog, the content matters of course, but your outfit deserves just as much attention. How do I put it—drawing attention with pretty clothes? Making the viewing experience visually enjoyable? That sort of thing exists, you know."
"You mean pulling people's attention in."
"Exactly! Mu-yeong-nim, your eye is drawn to something flashy or pretty first too, right? But what if someone claimed it was their everyday look, and they were on camera scratching their ratty, matted hair?"
"Nobody would watch. Or if they came, they'd leave halfway through."
"Right. So showing a version of your everyday life that's an everyday life—but not quite—polished just a touch, is the very essence of a vlog."
In other words, it's like food loaded with seasoning.
Just like how something appropriately tasty is more popular than something relentlessly healthy.
Once he thought of it that way, it made instant sense.
I'm already learning so much.
As he mentally took notes, Yu-na held out the outdoor streaming stick.
"I think it'd be more fun to do this on Mu-yeong-nim's account rather than mine—would you like to go live?"
"Sure."
Since they weren't exactly meeting in secret, and he'd already announced it on stream the previous day, he turned on the broadcast without a second thought.
—Ohhhh!
—Finally went live!
—Almost died holding my breath.
—Today's the outdoor collab, right?
"Hellooo~ hellooo~ everyone, welcome!"
"Greetings."
—The screen's black?
—Can't see anything.
—Show us your face already...
—Still getting set up, it seems?
The viewers who had flooded in were making a fuss.
Mu-yeong quickly adjusted the angle and switched to selfie mode.
Yu-na and Mu-yeong appeared onscreen together at once.
The chat froze for a moment.
Just when it seemed like there might be a glitch, it suddenly shot upward like mad.
—Bro what the
—Ridiculously handsome omg
—Yu-na's goddess-tier too??
—This is legendary
—The visuals are insane.
—No wonder Yu-na was the one who asked for the collab first.
['Mu-yeong's Sasaeng Fan 1' has donated 1,000 Won.]
—You little fox. Don't you dare steal our Mu-yeong.
"Ahh come on, it's not like that. Today we just came to see each other in person, so no need to worry."
—Judging by the outfit, there's clearly ulterior motives going on—
—For real, I've never seen Yu-na dressed up like that before.
—She's wearing a skirt. Everyone, take notes.
—So it was a date disguised as a collab stream lol
—Had a feeling it'd be like that lol lol
"No no. It's really not like that."
Yu-na waved both hands emphatically in denial.
But as she failed to hide the smile tugging at her lips, the chat window grew even faster.
—It so obviously is lol lol lol
—The smile's already blooming right across her face lol lol
—If you can look at Mu-yeong and be completely unaffected, something's wrong with you.
—So this is what life looks like when you're ridiculously handsome...
['Mu-yeong's Sasaeng Fan 2' has donated 1,000 Won.]
—But Mu-yeong looks a bit different too? The hair and the outfit—everything's way more put together
—Can't exactly go on a date with a girl looking anyhow.
—Been living in the mountains all this time, now he's gotta start meeting women and stuff
—With that face, he really was living way too carelessly...
—Please, for the love of everything, groom yourself occasionally lol lol
A torrent of compliments and cheers from the very start.
Mu-yeong happened to glance at the viewer count and was taken aback.
1,500 people?
It was only yesterday that he had stably broken into four digits.
But just because he was doing an outdoor stream, it had suddenly ballooned like this?
Of course it could be partly because Yu-na's viewers had merged in, but he had shattered a record in a single day.
As he was enjoying the numbers climbing ever higher, Yu-na pointed ahead.
"Mu-yeong-nim, should we get moving? I've filmed vlogs around here before, so I know some fun spots."
"Sure."
"All right, let's go then."
They began walking side by side.
Mu-yeong stretched out his arm and made an effort to keep them both in frame together.
This is actually a lot more embarrassing than I expected.
People passing by kept glancing over at them.
Even just walking was like this—and on top of that, he had to keep talking and running a broadcast.
He stole a glance at the chat and found it absolutely delighted.
—lol lol lol look at Mu-yeong's expression going stiff
—Looks like he could die of awkwardness right there—
—Doing this kind of thing outside isn't easy, you know.
—This is exactly why outdoor streams are so entertaining lol lol
['StopFlirting' has donated 1,000 Won.]
—Look closely—his face is even redder than when they started lol lol lol
—I thought the same thing lol lol
—lol same
—Yu-na's pressed up right against him like that—being unaffected would be the strange thing
—He's inexperienced with women. Only ever trained in the mountains.
—If it's your first date ever, that reaction makes total sense lol lol
It's not a date, I'm telling you.
He narrowed his eyes in warning.
—lol lol lol lol lol
—He's annoyed lol lol lol lol lol
—And what can you even do about it?
—Kinda cute lol lol lol
—Looks like he's embarrassed lol lol lol
"Can everyone see clearly? The camera isn't shaking too much and making it hard to watch, is it?"
Just then, Yu-na leaned her head slightly toward Mu-yeong.
As she tucked her side hair back and brought her face close to the phone, her softly swaying strands tickled Mu-yeong's arm.
Same with the sweet scent of shampoo drifting into his nostrils.
—Looks fine
—Just right.
—Looks so much better being this close.
—Let's just stay like this
—If we do, Mu-yeong'll die of heart palpitations, so we can't.
—Ah, right?
"Today's stream is more of an experiment, so things might feel a little awkward as we go. Please bear with us."
—Yeah sure
—It's fine.
—Just keep the stream going as long as possible
—Just watching this is heartwarming so it's all good
Yu-na laughed softly and straightened back up.
Then she turned to Mu-yeong and pointed to the right, diagonally.
"Speaking of which—there's one stop you absolutely cannot skip when you're in Hongdae. Have you heard of a punch machine?"
"A punch machine? What's that?"
"It's a machine where you hit something like a ball as hard as you can and it measures how strong your punch is in points. See it over there?"
A shop in front of which a crowd of people had gathered.
From inside, the sound thwack! thwack! was leaking out.
Mu-yeong looked on with interest, and Yu-na curled the corner of her mouth upward.
"What do you say—shall we bet lunch on it?"
"Isn't that a game that's too one-sided in my favor?"
"In exchange, I start with a flat 100-point handicap. Fair enough?"
"Fine."
"Then let's go~"
Yu-na strode off with the confidence of someone who had already won.
Mu-yeong followed after her, casually rolling his wrist as he went.
And the ones watching the two of them with the most riveted interest were, of course, the viewers.
—Who's going to win?
—I'm betting on Mu-yeong.
—Even so, a 100-point gap—doesn't that make things a bit tough?
—These days punch machines just give 800 points as a baseline anyway
—Yu-na used a punch machine before a while back—she got 860 that time.
—Then it might actually be pretty rough;
—Mu-yeong's at another level though—that much should be a walk in the park?
As opinions split right down the middle, Mu-yeong and Yu-na arrived in front of the punch machine.