Chapter 37
Chapter 37: Hot Clip #1
The day after going to Hongdae.
Mu-yeong rewound and watched the vlog he had filmed with Yu-na, sinking into thought.
The total length is about three hours…… How do I cut this down further?
Of course, compared to the first video, this could be called a tremendous improvement.
But the runtime everyone wanted was under thirty minutes.
That meant he had to chop it into six more pieces from here.
When he had asked Yu-na for tips the previous day, she had answered like this:
—The editing itself is simple, so I do it myself. You just add subtitles to match the narration or dialogue, then throw in a few commonly used sound effects.
Yu-na had said it as though it were nothing at all, but in truth, Mu-yeong had not understood a single word of it.
Narration this, dialogue that……
She had noticed his blank expression and even showed him a photo of her own editing workspace—
But that only plunged Mu-yeong deeper into confusion.
That thing is an editing program?
A screen that made his eyes spin and his head swim just from looking at it.
What is this, what is that.
Unfamiliar words were scattered everywhere, and apparently every last one of them was a different function.
Frankly, the formulas of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art felt easier by comparison.
Thanks to that, his conviction that he needed to find an editor quickly had only grown more firm.
"It's better to leave this to a professional. If I fumble around with it half-heartedly, I'll only make more of a mess."
The thought of having to pay someone every month did bring a tiny tear to his eye.
But the benefit of getting his Newtube channel active was far greater.
The traffic coming in from other platforms, the fame, the revenue from the videos.
Either way, the monthly salary was a problem that would just solve itself once Newtube took off, so he decided to let that one go.
He was no tyrannical employer, after all.
"Well then—let me go ahead and start the stream."
Once decided, act immediately.
Mu-yeong got right out of bed and went live.
—Kyah
—ㅎㅇㅎㅇ
—muhamuhа
—One-Man Army has appeared lol
—Had nothing else to watch, nice timing lol
—Great timing fr
It was something he felt every time, but having this many people welcome him so warmly was genuinely pleasant.
Viewers who jumped in the moment they saw the stream notification.
Mu-yeong smiled and spoke.
"Good to see you all. How was yesterday's outdoor stream, by the way?"
—Was really fun lol
—Do it more often
—It was good.
—Pure entertainment lol
"I'll make sure to head out every now and then when I have the time. Being cooped up inside a capsule playing games gets stuffy for me too."
—Oh nice
—Love that
—Honestly the outdoor stream might actually be more fun for me?
—At least we get to see your face lol
—Nice to catch your expressions
Just then, an enormous donation banner that took up half the stream screen appeared.
['OldHeadset' has donated 100,000 Won.]
—Hot Clip #1 congrats congrats congrats congrats
—Somehow I had a feeling that'd take first place, and it really did lol
—You smashed a punch machine with your bare hands, it'd be weirder if it didn't lol
—I watched that thing ten times lol
—It's only been a day and the views are already past 23,000, right?
—The like ratio is insane too lol
"Hot Clip? What's that?"
—It's a thing that cuts out only the best moments and shows them.
—Just like Shorts lol
—Go to the main page, it's right there.
—It's where they feature the popular videos of the day—it drives a lot of new traffic in.
Traffic?
That explained why there seemed to be more viewers than usual.
In truth, Mu-yeong had been thinking it was Yu-na's influence from the day before.
He had heard that when a close streamer isn't live, viewers sometimes drop into a friend's channel as a sort of waiting room.
Let me check it out. Just how did they end up filming me.
Curiosity piqued, Mu-yeong pulled up the platform homepage.
Looking at the rankings section, a video wearing a golden crown occupied the very top spot.
The title was all too familiar.
[Hongdae Legend Punch King]
Views: 23,000 / Likes: 5,600 / Comments: 1,200
An incredible result—more than double the second-place video beneath it.
He felt a strange mix of pride and embarrassment.
He hadn't done it on purpose, but the fact that he had damaged someone else's property remained true.
Scanning through the comments, the reactions were exactly as he had expected.
—Wow, what did this person do to be this strong?
—Insane lol, if you got hit by that your ribs would all snap.
—It's not your ribs—it'd punch a hole right through your stomach lol
—But how do you even score that?
—Where does this person rank among martial artists, percentage-wise?
—It's a world record, obviously top one percent lol
—You think top one percent covers it?
['ChocolateMilkLetsGo' has donated 1,000 Won.]
—Hey, what happened with your compensation thing? I heard they said they'd give you half?
"There's been no contact from the shop owner yet. They're probably in the process of bringing it up with the manufacturer first."
—That's a new-model machine, so it won't be cheap.
—Quite a loss for them.
—Might have to pay it off with the tournament prize money?
—Still got Hot Clip #1 though lol
—For real, just think of it as advertising costs
While chatting with viewers through the comments like that, a video donation came in.
['JustOneMoreReview' has donated 3,000 Won with a video.]
Just from the title, he could already tell exactly what it was.
Might as well put it on to change the mood—and there he was on screen, warming up.
But it was a little different from the original.
Boom!
Grand background music that set the heart pounding.
Whooosh!
The movement slowing down as the fist came down.
Craaaash!
And on impact—an effect that made it look as though lightning had crackled and burst.
—Kyah
—THIS is it lol
—Damn that's so cool lol
—Legend legend legend
—The effects are well placed lol
—Gives off a sick highlight reel vibe lol
What is this? It somehow looks even better than the original.
There was definitely something that caught the eye.
The effects—neither excessive nor lacking—made the eyes and ears all the more pleased,
and even in a short thirty-second clip, they noticeably increased the sense of immersion.
Mu-yeong, who had been in the process of looking for an editor, immediately asked:
"Who made this?"
—Probably some fan who put it together out of love?
—I think I saw this on Newtube this morning, who was it again?
—It popped up in my algorithm too
—Ah, who was it again?
—Go into your donation history and follow the video link—it'll come right up. Try it.
"Is this it?"
Following the viewer's directions, an unfamiliar Newtube channel appeared.
[Random Toys] —50,000 subscribers.
There, uploaded alongside Mu-yeong's clips, were videos from a countless number of other streamers.
He played them from the highest-viewed downward, one by one.
After watching a few, Mu-yeong's conclusion was this:
I absolutely have to recruit this person.
He couldn't pinpoint exactly what was good or what was lacking, but he could feel it in an instant.
That the channel's owner was an exceptionally talented individual.
Mu-yeong brightened and asked:
"Does anyone happen to know who this is? I'm seeing them for the first time."
—Random Toys?
—This person is quite well known in these circles
—They make Shorts but their identity is a mystery.
—Total unknown
['SpinningWheel' has donated 1,000 Won.]
—Word is a lot of streamers already tried to hire them as an editor and all of them failed. That's all I know.
—Ah yeah, I've heard that too.
—From what I've heard, they run it as a hobby
—The channel description literally says they have monetization disabled lol
—50,000 subscribers and it's just a hobby? Must be loaded.
—Their upload schedule is random too, looks like they genuinely just do it whenever they feel like it
['ThatWasGod' has donated 1,000 Won.]
—This person is a real old-guard type lol their email isn't even listed, they don't read comments, they don't even leave hearts lol
—For real
—Literally just uploads videos and does nothing else, it seems.
—Maybe they just genuinely don't care at all?
—Impressive though lol I'd have gone straight to work as an editor for some major company
So there was no means whatsoever of getting in contact……
Most agreed it was impossible, but Mu-yeong did not give up.
If anything, he only wanted to find them more.
He even had the feeling that it had to be this person and no one else.
At least they seem to still be active, so let me wait just a little longer. A chance will come eventually.
The very moment he thought that—
Ding!
A new video had been uploaded to the Random Toys channel.
A fresh newcomer uploaded just one second ago, sitting at zero views.
There was no need to even look at the content.
A face there was no mistaking was embedded right in the thumbnail.
[Streamers Yu-na and Mu-yeong's Outdoor Stream, Episode 1]
Having confirmed the title, Mu-yeong grinned.
"The chance might come sooner than expected."
.
.
.
.
Inside a darkened room.
Han Su-a, dressed casually, rubbed her chin without taking her eyes off the screen.
"Hmm, I wonder how this one will do? I put quite a bit of work into it."
Ordinarily, she would have uploaded it and immediately gone off to game.
And then checked the views and comments once every few hours—that was her usual routine. But this time was different.
Click. Click.
She was busy pressing the refresh button again and again, checking whether anything had changed.
And with good reason—the statistics for the punch machine video she had uploaded the day before had hit a record high.
It had only been a day, of course, but among everything she had uploaded so far, the trajectory was the best she had ever seen.
At this rate, if it kept going for just one more week, it would probably become the most popular video on her Newtube channel.
"Ah, but this Mu-yeong person is seriously impressive. It's only been two weeks—how does someone have a career like this already?"
Castle Defense, first clear.
Battle Attack Seoul Tournament, first place.
Breaking a punch machine bare-handed (effectively a world first).
Just looking at the achievements alone was enough to make her heart race and her legs start to fidget.
What kind of incident would he cause next?
What insane thing would he do this time?
She had known of Mu-yeong for less than a day, yet she was already hooked.
That had pushed Han Su-a's editing efficiency to its absolute limit.
She had been hammering away at the mouse and keyboard, not even noticing she was hungry—and that had been going on for a full eight hours now.
Having skimmed through all of Mu-yeong's videos in one go, she had just now finished the first episode of the most recent outdoor stream.
When was the last time I was this focused? It feels like it's been ages.
Of course, it was a Newtube channel she ran as a hobby.
She had monetization disabled.
Purely for her own enjoyment, she uploaded only things she judged simply had to be captured on video.
Perhaps because of that, she received a lot of praise for the high quality and the entertainment value.
It couldn't be called a profession, but her level of satisfaction was considerable.
"Well then."
Creak.
Han Su-a, having pressed refresh one final time, leaned her chair back.
She rubbed her bleary eyes, then downed an energy drink in one go.
As the sweetness spread through her body, she settled back in front of her desk.
"Shall I just go ahead and edit Episode 2? I don't know if it's because he's so good-looking, but working non-stop doesn't even feel tiring."
She moistened her dry lips and began moving her hands again.
Looking at Mu-yeong's face, a helpless giggle kept escaping her.
She corrected her expression each time it melted, but the same thing would happen again before long.
Han Su-a wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and checked how much of the remaining footage was left.
"Ssss……… But am I going too fast?"
Lost in a trance as she worked, she had somehow already finished half of it.
An alarm bell rang in her head all at once.
At this rate I'll finish everything within three days. Should I pace myself and make it last?
It had been a genuinely long time since she had found a streamer this entertaining.
But if she edited too quickly, all the joy in life would disappear.
The problem was that the source material itself was limited.
She didn't want to burn through a rare pleasure this quickly.
Mulling over what to do, Han Su-a scratched her head and pulled up the streaming platform.
She searched for Mu-yeong and one channel came up.
Unfortunately, the most recent stream had ended just ten minutes ago.
"Ah, I should have come just a bit sooner. I could have watched the live."
Swallowing her disappointment, she set a follow and turned on notifications.
Then she went into the donation page and checked how much was left in her balance.
[Available donation balance: 55,000 Won]
"Already spent it all……… I'll have to top it up."
She pressed the recharge button.
The minimum charge was 1,000 Won, but Han Su-a's finger showed no sign of stopping.
[Would you like to pay 3,000,000 Won?]
"Well, the rent came in this month, so this much should be fine."
She pressed yes without hesitation, and a completion window appeared.
[3,000,000 Won has been added to 'LandlordLife's account.]
Watching the number shoot up, Han Su-a rubbed her hands together.
"Next time the stream goes live, I'm donating immediately. Just you wait."
Source material is scarce?
The solution is simple.
Buy time with money.
That's how people born with a silver spoon live in a capitalist world.