NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 237
Chapter 237 – Yoo Jin Appears
“Streaming from New York isn’t impossible, but with such a tight schedule, it’s hard to promise anything. However, I’ll occasionally go live for those who are waiting. And there will be a little surprise on the day of departure.”
“Oh, a surprise! Many people will be excited. Lastly, can we hear your aspirations for the final championship? Is that alright?”
“I’ll make sure to bring at least a TOP 5 trophy for myself or my team.”
“Are you serious? It’d look great if we came in first and second side by side.”
“Your confidence is swelling because you’re leaving tomorrow. I don’t think you’ve ever even come second in a scrim.”
“Hey, how am I supposed to beat people who’ve been shooting and climbing mountains without eating for three months? It’s thanks to my skills that I’ve even managed to rank within the top ten occasionally!”
December 9th, 6 PM. The darkness gently settled outside.
While Min Ah and Dice loitered around my house after an early dinner, a brief interview I had recently given was airing on TV.
To be precise, the two of them had sprawled their thick backsides on my couch and turned on the video via Yourspace. How they managed to find such things so quickly, I had no idea.
These two hadn’t stopped talking since they arrived in the morning, constantly chattering. Most of their conversation, unsurprisingly, was about me. I felt a bit sorry when I thought about what I had done to them…
Well, in life, you always have to give something up for your choices.
“Wow, Yoo Jin doesn’t attract any trolls. No matter how many Yourspace channels I switch to, nothing comes up.”
“The people who create that stuff are probably drinking Han River water through their noses…”
“Yeah, they messed with all the wrong people.”
These guys were chatting about something disturbing.
With 10 hours left until the expected wake-up time displayed on the wall, I reviewed tomorrow morning’s schedule.
I would wake up at 4 AM, take a leisurely shower, and board the limousine bus that arrives at 6 AM. I’d arrive by 7 AM, wait in the first-class lounge, and depart for New York’s Kennedy International Airport at 9 AM.
Even though the planned bedtime was 8 PM, it didn’t really matter if I went to bed later. It would just make the morning a bit harder, and I could sleep on the plane anyway.
“So, when are you all planning to go to bed tonight?”
“At dawn!”
“Midnight!”
“You hopeless idiots.”
Asking people who had been going to bed at midnight until yesterday to suddenly bring their bedtime forward by four hours was unrealistic. That made no sense.
Of course, this applied to me too. Until yesterday, I had been going to bed at 2 AM, thinking about what training to start with once we adjusted to the time difference in the U.S. – but gradually bringing my bedtime forward was impossible.
In other words, we planned to chat until midnight before going to bed.
After all, I was only twenty-four, still a fresh and vibrant young adult.
“So, Yoo Jin, how did you end up joining the special forces?”
“If you’re curious, why don’t you find out for yourself?”
“Maybe the me in Earth-325 might have tried it.”
That was his way of saying he’d never do it here.
Obviously, I wouldn’t tell them… or rather, I couldn’t. It was a story fabricated by a collaboration between the U.S. and South Korea… Maybe, as Dice suggested, if I were on a world like Earth-325, I might have gone to the U.S. through the MAVNI program.
IFs are always possible to imagine. Who knows?
Somewhere, there might be a version of me lying on a bed, naked except for a cloth covering my chest and groin, with an embarrassed expression – but I digress. It was time to entertain these fools who were clamoring for a story.
Of course, I didn’t need to open my mouth.
“Yoo Jin, I’m craving a snack. How about some ice cream? Ice cream after pizza would be awesome…”
“Oh, I’ll order it right away. This time, it’s on me. I’ll get the biggest size. If it’s too much, we can just stuff it in the freezer, hehe.”
“If you eat something cold before bed, you’ll get a stomachache.”
Why did I feel like a babysitter? I just accepted it by now.
Them casually playing with my tail was more of an issue.
“Ah, that feels nice.”
“I don’t think we need pillows tonight. This will be perfect for a good sleep.”
“If Yoo Jin sleeps on the far right, both of us will be happy, right?”
“Quiet down before I make you sleep in the hallway.”
You tail perverts.
Ignoring these perverts who had no intention of restraining themselves, I noticed the ice cream delivery arrived quickly, and we each grabbed a spoon to start digging in.
The cold taste washed away the greasy residue from the pizza.
And so, the conversation continued.
“Why don’t we go live right now? I saw online that people are eagerly anticipating the surprise. If we wait until four or five in the morning to stream, we’ll be too groggy to see anything.”
“Then we should dress neatly.”
“But we’re all in pajamas, right? It shouldn’t be a problem.”
“True…”
Since today would be the day of the big reveal, our attire didn’t need to be too formal. I called for the floating drone that had been gathering dust on its charger.
There was no need to take out the projector capable of overlaying an avatar over my body.
After a deep breath, I activated the drone cam and linked it to Tricky. As the red light on the top right and the viewer count exceeding 150,000 appeared, the unreal feeling hit me.
Of course, naturally—
-Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!
-HarmonyDiceYoo JinCollab? Oh lololololololololol
-This surprise is a bit underwhelming, teacher.
-Wait and see, you impatient bastards, lol
-Filled with impatient guys lololololololol
They still didn’t realize what was different.
Naturally, Dice and Harmony, who were also watching the chat, looked puzzled. None of the reactions they expected had come up, due to the groundwork I had laid with the projector.
Simply put, all the viewers here were misunderstanding—they believed what they were seeing was an avatar, not the real me.
There was no need to correct them yet.
“Hello, everyone. I’m here for a brief chat before bed. I’ll reveal the surprise you’re eagerly awaiting at the end of today’s broadcast, so please wait a bit longer.”
Many people expressed their disappointment at this point, but what could I do? Even with over 150,000 viewers, soon to be 200,000 and 250,000, I couldn’t rush things.
At this moment, with the ice cream in the center, a sudden QnA began. We collected questions under the name of donations.
“I can’t confidently nod my head, but I’ve done a lot so far. I think I can perform well. Since the scrim results embargo is lifted today, I’ll show you some.”
Various tables appeared.
The main content, of course, was the rankings of the Korean representatives besides myself. In many games, the lowest average ranking hovered around 20th place, while the highest ranking stayed within the TOP 10.
Alongside that, I displayed last year’s scrim data, where the rankings fluctuated wildly between 20th and 80th place, making my head spin just looking at it.
One of those was Dice, whose face turned beet red.
“Why do you have to show all of that!”
“Admitting the past is the first step to moving forward… erk.”
Dice, who ruthlessly suppressed my attempt to reveal his dark past with his hand, flung the past ranking data into the trash bin.
Anyway, Dice was the one whose rankings had improved the most. Explaining why that was possible would be a tedious story now.
In simple terms, last year’s Dice couldn’t produce meaningful average rankings, but this year’s average ranking was roughly 11th place.
In the current belief that the top 20% in scrims is the real deal for the final championship, having an average ranking of about 11th place automatically proved his considerable skill.
Naturally, the reactions were chaotic.
-?????????????????
-Did he bring someone else’s record sheet instead of Dice’s?
-How did you make Dice like this, you insane bastard lolololololololololol
-Shocking) A coach and player so impressive that China is astonished, Japan is amazed, and America extends its hand first?
-We won’t have to worry this year lolololololol
The results were almost unbelievable.
Considering the nature of the internet, it would probably take about 30 seconds for this news to spread, and within 5 to 10 minutes, well-organized analysis posts would likely pop up in the information section.
In short, it wouldn’t take long for the scrim results to spread everywhere. Not just for Dice, but for Ink, Michael, Gambit, and my data too.
In addition, since this was the finals, my average ranking stayed within the TOP 3. Competing fiercely with Logan made it tough to maintain the first place consistently.
“…Anyway, I
’m confident that all the Korean representatives will achieve satisfying results this year.”
That was the best promise I could make.
Afterward, various conversations continued. It was the maximum streaming power I could always muster, and there were many common topics, making the conversation flow smoothly. Even if we ran out of things to say, viewers continuously brought up new topics.
As time passed, it gradually got closer to bedtime. It was past 10 PM, approaching 11 PM. Though we’d only have about 5 hours of sleep, we’d have plenty of time to rest tomorrow.
As today’s broadcast neared its end, the chat room’s tens of thousands of participants were going wild.
After exchanging glances, we spoke.
“…It’s about time to sleep. We have to wake up at 4 AM tomorrow… I think the broadcast will start around 5 AM and continue until we board the plane. I’ll show you the first-class lounge, so please enjoy.”
-Hey Yoo Jin, stop fooling around and reveal the surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-You’re not ending here after gathering tens of thousands of people, right? How do we wait until dawn? This isn’t fairㅡㅡ
-Teacher, I have opened my notepad.
-Damn, your provocation skills are top-tier. Enough already, please!!!!!
-Teacher, stop it before I leave for Logan’s streamㅓㅓㅓㅓㅓㅓ
The atmosphere in the chat was becoming hostile, but I maintained a calm tone.
As naturally as possible, in a voice as calm as I could muster, I began to speak.
“Then, I’ll now announce the surprise you’ve all been waiting for.”
Rustle.
Standing up, I walked with the drone cam to one corner of the wall.
The projector, which had been idle for a while, was reflected on the cam. Even at a glance, it was clear it hadn’t been used for some time, with its plug disconnected and a thin layer of dust settled on top.
In short, it had been out of operation for a long time.
In the next moment, the chat, which had been filled with “?” symbols, became impossible to read due to the flood of comments.
“I think those with sharp eyes will understand. So… starting from the early morning broadcast, you’ll see not streamer Yoo Jin but the awakener Lee Yoo Jin.”
Then, good night.
With that, the broadcast ended—
-[Streamer ‘Yoo Jin’ // OFFLINE]
-[Current broadcast waiting viewers: 415,616]
“…Teacher, what is this?”
“Don’t ask me.”
They had just witnessed an unprecedented event in the history of streaming.
[General] This is hilarious lololololololololol
I knew it lololololololololol
[All comments] [Order by registration]
-Oh lololololololololol
-This crazy bitch really fooled us lolololololololololololol
-You crazy bitch! Crazy bitch! Crazy bitch! Crazy bitch! Crazy bitch! Crazy bitch! Crazy bitch! Crazy bitch! Crazy bitch! Crazy bitch! Crazy bitch! Crazy bitch! Crazy bitch! Crazy bitch!
-There are tens of thousands of people here with their eyes wide open lololololololololololol
-This is a scam, you crazy bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ㄴNo one got hurt, but still a scam lolololololololololololol
ㄴSister!!!!! Is this only!!!!!!!!!! Uncomfortable for me!?!?!!?!?!?!?!!?!
ㄴOh, shut up lololololol
-Kim Seon-dal would bow deeplywwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
-Fact) Yoo Jin’s avatar first appeared several months ago in an unboxing video
ㄴDamn lololololololololol
ㄴThoroughly fooled us lololololol
ㄴNo way she used the same avatar from back then lolol
-RealSnakeTailNunaFanEnterslololololol
-So everything she showed so far was possible in real life?
ㄴOhSnakeTailStepmomHeuEungSoGood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Artists who drew lewd fan art are all gathering at the police stationwwwwwwww
ㄴ??? : What the hell? This wasn’t fan art but RPS???????????
ㄴDamn, officer, how could I have predicted this lololololololololololol
ㄴEven the police are confused lolololol
-Doomsday 1st place = Tricky Yoo Jin fan art board lolololol
ㄴLololololololol
ㄴDamn, I saw a bikini Yoo Jin fan art with over 300 upvotes yesterday lolololololol
ㄴAll the resident artists are sweating bucketswwwww
ㄴThat’s me, you damn bastards, shut up….
-How can we endure until 5 AM!!!!
-Set an alarm and go to sleep like crazy lololololololololol