Season 2: Chapter 1. Again (1)

Season 2: Chapter 1. Again (1)

Today was the day Almond would be featured on Evening Wide. It was 2 p.m. and it was raining heavily outside.

"Why is it raining in the middle of winter? It's quite slippery," Ju-Hyeok grumbled and carefully turned the steering wheel.

[Turn left after approximately 300 meters. Then take the road on the right.]

The destination on his navigation was set to SCB Studio.

Swish...

Ju-Hyeok drove silently, and Sang-Hyeon looked at his phone in the passenger seat while rain hit the window.

'The article was published.'

The article about Almond featuring on the show had been published while they headed to the studio.

[The archery boy who became a hot topic, streamer Almond. Today, he will be the 23rd guest on SCB Evening Wide.]

After broadcasting once on the live channel, Evening Wide posted an edited version on other top channels and YouTube. The article was published late, considering the broadcast would air today.

— Can we watch the show today?

— World Class Evening Wide! They even invited Almond~

— SCB is working damn hard. Let's acknowledge them as SCV for today.

— Now he's trying to establish himself in the major leagues, haha.

— Almond? That’s a person’s name?

— I should order chicken today!!

After they published the article, news spread on portals like Javer and naturally made its way to communities.

[Breaking News: Almond to be a guest on Evening Wide!]

[The show CutiePie came out on, Evening Wide. Now they’re featuring Almond today!]

Various gaming communities posted such articles.

— Holy, is this real?

— I can't believe I get to see Almond on Evening Wide!

— Where are all of the Almond haters, huh?

└ What does that have to do with Almond's gaming skills and the show?

└ Crazy popularity, lol.

└ A gamer must be popular to feature on that show.

└ OMG. The nuts are starting again!

— Evening Wide is the least famous among the major shows, isn't it? LOL.

'Least famous...'

Sang-Hyeon also nodded. As far as he knew, SCB was definitely not a top-tier major channel. It would be best to consider it as a place that barely gave off a major vibe.

'But I've heard the ratings are good these days.'

Despite that, it was meaningful for Almond to feature on their channel because Evening Wide started to become popular as a talk show.

'Streamers have rarely featured on it.'

For a gaming streamer to enter a major channel like Evening Wide was an exceptional occurrence. Before Sang-Hyeon, only CutiePie had been invited among gaming streamers.

Sure enough, the comments also mentioned CutiePie.

— Isn't this the first game streamer featured on the show since CutiePie?

└ Should we consider CutiePie as a game streamer? lol

└ Anyway, gaming is the main content.

└ She's a former girl group member. She should be seen as a novelty on major channels.

└ If JeonJaPa hadn't rejected, he would've featured too. But he's too afraid of media exposure.

└ Pure 100% gamers can hardly ever be on this show.

To summarize, Almond was the first featured game streamer since CutiePie. The community felt excited because of that.

Others expressed their opinions too.

— Almond is featured on the show as the promising archer, but why is he treated like a game addict?

└ True, lol.

└ For real lol.

— Fact: It's not game streamer Almond who will be on the show, but archer Yu Sang-Hyeon.

The opposing opinions didn’t believe that featuring on Evening Wide necessarily elevated the prestige of a game streamer. It was a fairly accurate statement.

'It doesn't matter.'

Sang-Hyeon didn't care about such details. Whether he featured as a game streamer or Yu Sang-Hyeon, he would be on a major channel. That was the only fact that mattered.

'Considering Ju-Hyeok's situation, there’s no better news than this.'

'Next is... a rapper.'

While the previous guest was a typical successful idol, the second guest was quite unique. First of all, she was a female rapper called Lil Grass and her hair was always said to be green like grass.

'Famous for outrageous lyrics... sexual expressions...'

According to Ju-Hyeok's file, she was a rapper famous for her provocative lyrics.

'But actually, she's a comic relief character.'

Ju-Hyeok said she grew popular not because of her provocative behavior or lyrics, but because she was just funny. Of course, this was only Ju-Hyeok's opinion.

'Also from a prestigious university.'

Lastly, this rapper also graduated from a prestigious university with a philosophy degree.

Sang-Hyeon hadn't thought about it at first, but reading about the guests made him wonder.

'Is today a special episode about prestigious universities?'

Sang-Hyeon was a little worried because he had no idea how the talk show would proceed. If the conversation centered around universities, he would have a hard time because he had no connections with prestigious universities.

Creak.

Just then, a guest walked into the waiting room.

'It's In-Ho.'

Sang-Hyeon stood up right away and greeted him, "Hello."

"... Ah, huh? Hello!"

In-Ho seemed surprised that someone had arrived before him. He had a pleasant smile, a typical idol's friendly demeanor.

"This is our first time meeting, right?"

“Oh.”

In-Ho felt surprised at meeting someone he had never met before. People in this field usually had exposure to the media in some way before featuring on the show. He had no interest in streamers and didn't know Almond.

'He probably didn't check the guest list in advance.'

In-Ho likely hadn't researched the other guests in advance either. They were so used to being featured on such programs that it would be hard to check every guest on every show.

Sang-Hyeon understood.

"Ah, yes. I'm the streamer Almond."

"Oh! You're a streamer! Wow, this is the first time I've met a streamer in person! Haha!"

In-Ho, perhaps finding it a bit unexpected, sat across from Almond with a somewhat awkward smile.

Then, silence followed.

"...?"

The awkward silence continued.

Sang-Hyeon pulled out his phone and opened up a game.

In-Ho also took his phone out.

***

In-Ho sent a message to someone in the silence of the waiting room.

[Is there another waiting room?]

He wanted another waiting room even though he was already in one.

[Manager: Huh? Aren't you in the waiting room?]

It was his manager.

[I mean a private waiting room.]

[Manager: Hey, look at the size of the SCB building. Do you think there will be individual waiting rooms for everyone? What's going on?]

[Well, do I have to stay with someone I don't even know? He said he's a streamer.]

[Manager: Alright, hang on.]

In-Ho waited for his manager's response while stealing glances at the streamer. He inadvertently killed the conversation and was curious how Almond would react.

In-Ho simply sat down without introducing himself because hearing that Almond was a streamer killed his interest. It wasn’t a big deal to him, but it probably felt frustrating for the other person. After all, it seemed like that person’s first time in a place like this.

This was a common form of psychological dominance, but beginners had it rough.

'As expected.'

Sure enough, the streamer looked anxious and only looked at his phone.

In-Ho held back a chuckle and turned his head.

"Shoot..."

Then, the streamer let out a startled sound.

In-Ho wondered what the other person could be doing and glanced at Almond’s phone.

"...!?"

[Raising a Lazy Soldier]

It was a game called Raising a Lazy Soldier. Almond often played it and naturally advertised the game.