Chapter 34: Knight (2)

Chapter 34: Knight (2)

The video began with Sang-Hyeon saying, “Hello, this is Almond.”

He was well-dressed and sat in front of a background with black bricks. One corner of the wall had the Punk logo on it.

“I recently made a YouTube channel and became a partnered streamer with Punk.”

Articles already came out about it, but Sang-Hyeon officially spoke up for the first time. The forums had several posts reacting to his video.

[Breaking News! It’s official. Almond is Punk’s new partner streamer!]

[Almond admitted to being Punk’s partner streamer!]

An official statement from him rekindled the news once more and more posts about him appeared on the forums.

— What the... Almond’s stream is on?

— Is his stream off?

└ He made a YouTube channel!

└ Ah ha. Thanks.

Thankfully, his YouTube channel became known despite not having any promotions. Word of mouth became their best marketing.

Almond’s regular fans gathered to watch his video and it already amassed over five thousand views in five minutes. A new streamer with this many views for a greeting video was unusual.

“Oh, and this channel will upload edited versions of my past gameplay. The previous montages will also be remastered and uploaded, so please take a look when you have the chance.”

The video ended with Almond’s farewell.

— No live stream today?

— I don’t think so.

— His videos are being uploaded!

The videos were promptly uploaded. They were compressed and edited versions of his previous broadcasts that Seo Ji-Ah collected.

[Kingdom Age EP1: Can I Not Choose the Bow?]

[Kingdom Age EP2: This is Too Easy]

[Kingdom Age EP3: The Legendary Perfect Shot]

Seo Ji-Ah uploaded three videos for now as a trial run. She finished several videos with only two days to edit. Thankfully, she had edited them beforehand and already anticipated becoming Almond’s official editor.

Ju-Hyeok felt confused when he heard that.

“Then, why did she pretend to hesitate when she made the deal with us?”

As usual, Sang-Hyeon wore a disinterested expression.

“Well, I don’t know.”

“It’d be nice if Ji-Ah could come out for today’s work dinner.”

“What do you mean work dinner? She’d be awkwardly joining the two of us drinking.”

“I guess so.”

Ju-Hyeok arranged this dinner to celebrate them becoming roommates and Sang-Hyeon becoming a partnered streamer. In reality, it was just two friends drinking on their day off.

“Whatever, let’s drink!”

Clang.

They cheered with their beer glasses and gulped down the drinks.

Crunch.

Sang-Hyeon chowed on his fried chicken and asked, “So... tell me why you ran away from home.”

“Ah, I was analyzing the viewer data when my dad walked in and said... huh?”

Ju-Hyeok suddenly stopped and looked toward the bar’s entrance. Sang-Hyeon looked back as well.

‘That’s...’

They doubted their eyes at the familiar silhouette. Sang-Hyeon and Ju-Hyeok liked this restaurant because it had the best chicken near their old workplace. Naturally, they would run into familiar faces.

“Sigh. Hey, don’t look.”

“Fuck, why’d they have to come here.”

“This is the best chicken place.”

The two whispered to each other and turned their heads. The last thing they wanted was to interact with their old co-workers.

However...

“Huh?! Assistant Kim and Assistant Yu?” n0VeluSB.c0m

The high-pitched voice came from none other than So Yu-Jung. She had an empty head like a flower field and didn’t know how to read a room.

“Wow! It’s so good to see you guys! What happened?”

Her commotion resulted in the others recognizing them as well.

“What the... Kim Ju-Hyeok?”

The worst of the bunch noticed them too.

It was the manager Kim Ju-Hyeok had a huge fight with and the same one who encouraged Sang-Hyeon to quit.

“What are you guys doing here? Did you transfer to somewhere nearby?”

Manager Park had a peculiar look on his face. He seemed glad to see them, but his expression was also mixed with contempt. He wanted to see them for a different reason.

‘That punk Kim Ju-Hyeok... I’ve probably spread the news to all my connections. I wonder where he’s working at now?’

Manager Park wanted to see how uncomfortable he could make them.

“Haha... How have you guys been?” Ju-Hyeok scratched his head and greeted them.

Sang-Hyeon simply faced the other way.

“Hey, where’d you go to after?”

“...”

Ju-Hyeok couldn’t respond to Manager Park.

He couldn’t say, ‘I’ve become Yu Sang-Hyeon’s manager!’?He knew what they would think.

“Is that guy an ostrich or something? Do you think we can't see you if you can’t see us? Hahaha!” Manager Park laughed victoriously.

Sang-Hyeon and Ju-Hyeok seemed to have nothing to show for it judging from their pathetic states.

“We’re not on greeting terms,” Sang-Hyeon replied and turned around to face Manager Park.

“What?” Manager Park replied and attempted to scold him.

Sang-Hyeon looked him straight in the eyes and continued, “We’re not on greeting terms, us.”

“...!”

The other workers around Manager Park turned white.

‘Wha, What the?’

‘What’s he doing?’

‘He was always weird.’

‘Big talk for a hand-me-down.’

They loudly whispered and hoped for him to hear.

Manager Park smiled with his teeth showing.

‘No wonder he’s down there.’

Sang-Hyeon’s actions weren’t socially acceptable even though he quit. Social skills were necessary to retain a good reputation. He shouldn’t have acted like that no matter how much he despised Manager Park and wanted nothing more to do with each other.

“Hey, look,” Manager Park prepared to scold Sang-Hyeon. “This is why you’re naturally left out of society. You can’t seem to understand how things work, huh? How things function. You’re supposed to just greet me in this place like nothing is wrong no matter how bad things were between you and me.”

He rambled on as if he was reading a script. It didn’t seem like his first time as it naturally came to him.

“It’ll only be bad for you if you act like this.”

However, Sang-Hyeon felt a bit tipsy. He would usually end it here, but not this time. Besides, he didn’t have a relationship with Manager Park anymore. He wasn’t afraid of anything.

“Act like nothing is wrong?” Sang-Hyeon took another gulp from his beer.

“Hey, what’s gotten into you?”Ju-Hyeok whispered to him in surprise.

Sang-Hyeon kept staring down the manager without a word and the atmosphere grew uneasy.

Ju-Hyeok’s eyes went back and forth between them and he wondered how to hold Sang-Hyeon back.

Sang-Hyeon opened his mouth first, “What’s the point of coming to someone else’s table and asking where we transferred to? We’re supposed to answer you as if nothing is wrong? Then take this and pretend like nothing is wrong.”

Ju-Hyeok could feel the sweat running down his back.

‘No, no way?!’

Everything was happening too fast. Sang-Hyeon got up from his seat.

Thump.

He wasn’t getting up to bow judging from his posture.

Manager Park widened his eyes and took a step back.

“Take... take what...”

A plump individual suddenly interrupted them, “Oh, Sang-Hyeon! Funny to see you here!”

Punk’s Manager Oh had unexpectedly run into them. Anyone could tell the atmosphere was uneasy, but Manager Oh greeted Sang-Hyeon as if nothing was wrong.

“Sang-Hyeon, our video is trending like crazy! Our Punk directors are very pleased. I can lift my head around now.”

“...”

Sang-Hyeon became speechless at the sudden meeting and Manager Park felt the same.

‘Punk corporate? Directors?’

The virtual gaming entertainment sector was the top contributor to their nation’s GDP.

Manager Park, despite his age, was well aware of Punk just like people who didn’t follow celebrities still knew firms like SM, JYP, and YG.

Punk possessed a global influence as a distributor company.

Despite being a large company, Manager Park's firm would be considered insignificant when compared to Punk in terms of stock value.

‘Why is a huge company like that with... Yu Sang-Hyeon?’

A company representative acted friendly towards him and even tried to make a favorable impression.

“One of the directors wants to invite you to a meal. There’s an omakase restaurant down the street. I was going to contact you about it.”

Just then, the other Punk workers walked in.

“Damn, it’s Almond.”

“Is that him?”

“Wow... he’s really good-looking in person.”

“I should’ve seen him when he came earlier to the company...”

Everyone treated Sang-Hyeon like a celebrity, which caught Manager Park off-guard.

‘What is going on...’?he thought to himself.

“Um... Boss... my nephew wants an autograph...”

One of them even approached Manager Oh and asked him for Almond’s autograph.

“Ah, is that okay?”

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

“Thank you! Give me one too! I have the one on our contract, but still! Hahaha!”

The other employees chuckled at his humor. Manager Oh lightened the mood and effectively counterbalanced Manager Park's presence.

‘What, what’s going on? What’s with Yu Sang-Hyeon? Partnered contract?’

Gulp.

‘What’s so special about that guy...’

Manager Park felt defeated. The Yu Sang-Hyeon he knew was nothing special. Rumors floated around that he had connections and could quickly land another job, but Manager Park never believed that.

‘No, there’s no way.’

He knew Sang-Hyeon’s situation quite well.

‘What happened...’

He needed some clarification right now.

“Let’s go.”

But he ultimately evaded the situation.

“Sorry?”

“Let’s get out of here,” Manager Park reiterated.

“We already ordered though...”

“Do you not understand what I’m saying? Let’s get out of here!”

“Yes, sir.”

Manager Park left with his workers. So Yu-Jung cheerfully waved goodbye to Sang-Hyeon and Ju-Hyeok even on their way out as if to say, ‘I’m glad things worked out!’

“Sigh...”

Ju-Hyeok and Sang-Hyeon sighed at the absurd situation that just occurred.

Manager Oh came up and tapped Sang-Hyeon on the shoulder.

“I saw your resume and assumed that you didn’t come out on good terms. Unfortunately, people like that exist.”

As expected, Manager Oh understood the situation already.

Sang-Hyeon bowed and formally greeted him.

“Thank you. You had to lie because of me....”

“Hmm? What lie?”

“That the directors liked me, the views, and the dinner invitation...”

“Haha! Did I get caught? I may have exaggerated a bit. Those kinds of people...”

Tap tap.

He tapped on his shiny business card.

“Those kinds of people crumple under bigger names because they’re weak-willed.”

“Thank you.”

“Yes, no problem. Enjoy your meal. Oh... and by the way, let me know when you’re free for that dinner.”

“?”

Sang-Hyeon had a puzzled look on his face.

“Are you kidding?”

“Sorry? Hahaha!?No, that was real.”

“Sorry!?”

“The director thing was a lie, but everything else was true. Did you take a look at the views yet?”

Sang-Hyeon quickly opened his YouTube app and went to his channel.

“!”

His eyes widened at the number of views on his videos.