Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 114

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 1 Episode 114
40. Fierce Negotiations (1)
“What this means is that Balloon Gum and Almond will be designed as characters in this game.”
Juhyeok asked in surprise.
“Characters? So you’re saying Almond will appear as a game character?”
“That’s correct.”
Department Manager Oh projected a hologram.
Standing in that hologram was a figure about three heads tall.
It was Balloon Gum.
A 3D character that perfectly captured Balloon Gum’s balloon-like belly and cute facial features.
“What do you think? Pretty impressive, right? These days we already have all the body data from 3D scanning. Once we get approval from our side, we can whip it up in no time.”
Sanghyeon found himself nodding repeatedly without realizing it.
‘Wow…’
As the streamer industry had grown significantly, there were games that featured streamers as characters.
However, those were typically indie games.
It was extremely rare for a mobile game made by a large gaming company like Fantasia to feature a streamer as a character.
‘This is huge.’
Almond had to work hard to suppress the corners of his mouth from rising involuntarily.
It was unexpected, high-quality advertising after all.
If Sanghyeon was reacting this way, what about Juhyeok, who loved money?
Huff.
He was actively managing his expression by holding his breath.
He kept trying to redirect his gaze toward Department Manager Oh, but like a magnet, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the Balloon Gum hologram waddling around, and the same was true for Sanghyeon.
The Balloon Gum character hologram waddled out beyond the device.
Sanghyeon found himself reaching out a finger to it, just as one would to a stray cat.
Bzzt.
Only a faint static charge occurred; there didn’t seem to be any real interaction yet.
“Interactive touch features aren’t implemented yet. They’ll probably be added once everything is complete. Many mobile devices these days support hologram AR, so we need to capture that market demand.”
Department Manager Oh, noticing they were distracted by the hologram, kindly added an explanation.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I apologize for getting distracted while you were explaining.”
Juhyeok apologized, embarrassed at being caught.
“No, no. This experience is part of the explanation anyway. Don’t worry about it.”
Clap.
Department Manager Oh clapped his hands once.
“So, shall we talk about the money now?”
He moved on to the main topic.
Knock knock—
“Manager, the employees from the advertiser have arrived.”
It seemed the Fantasia employees had just arrived.
“Ah, perfect timing. Have them come in.”

* * *
Fantasia had a total of two employees.
One was a manager, the other an associate.
Neither appeared to have any real decision-making authority.
They seemed to be here merely to handle the contract formalities.
The manager presented the figure first.
“The amount is as follows.”
Upon hearing the sum, both Juhyeok and Sanghyeon fell silent.
‘That much?’
‘Is that all?’
Amusingly, the two were rendered speechless for entirely opposite reasons.
To Sanghyeon’s mind, it was an extraordinarily large sum.
And so in his eyes….
“To be frank, I cannot deny that it falls short of what the contract entails.”
Juhyeok Kim, spouting such words, looked like a madman.
‘He’s offering two million.’
I was considerably taken aback by Juhyeok’s audacity, but I deliberately concealed my surprise.
Given the current atmosphere, the price negotiation had already begun. In such moments, one must never betray a hint of agitation.
‘He must have something in mind.’
I simply fixed my gaze steadily upon the other party.
Juhyeok too was staring at Fantasia’s manager, his expression carrying an intensity that bordered on fierce—almost as if he were genuinely displeased.
It might come across as lacking courtesy or even aggressive, but such tactics were fundamental to negotiation. The moment you yield even an inch to your opponent, the tide turns irreversibly against you.
Juhyeok and I had synchronized our movements countless times before. Since I grasped the essence of his strategy, I remained composed and unflustered by my colleague’s aggressive posture.
“Hmm… Two million is certainly not a small sum for Almond right now. What makes you think otherwise?”
The Fantasia side posed the question.
They bypassed both Department Manager Oh and Juhyeok Kim, directing their inquiry straight to Almond.
He had the gentlest expression and appeared the most approachable while sitting quietly.
Department Manager Oh simply observed the situation with amusement. I was curious how these two would navigate this.
Juhyeok cut in preemptively.
“First──”
Without hesitation, he brought his pen directly to the contract. As if he had prepared for this all along.
Then Fantasia’s side interrupted with a throat clearing.
“Ahem.”
Their eyes conveyed: I wasn’t asking you.
“Is something the matter? Do you have more to say?”
Juhyeok countered as if to say: You’re asking Almond, which is the same as asking me.
“Oh, no. My throat’s just dry. Please, continue.”
An invisible but fierce exchange had already begun.
A faint smile played at the corners of Department Manager Oh’s lips. Better than I expected.
Department Manager Oh seemed satisfied, while Fantasia’s side appeared somewhat flustered.
From their perspective, an aggressively negotiated proposal had emerged beyond their expectations.
However, they still maintained their composure.
After all, they were merely dealing with a streamer and a manager. How significant could their arguments possibly be in a negotiation?
We are the advertisers. There’s nothing to fear….
Such thoughts were likely the primary defense maintaining their composure.
Now Juhyeok had to dismantle that defense piece by piece.
Juhyeok gripped his pen like a blade.
“This contract has a fixed term. Three months.”
Where Juhyeok’s pen marked, the contract period was indeed written. It was a short-term contract for three months.
“And here.”
The next section he pointed to contained provisions regarding “character licensing.”
In other words, this single contract covered both the advertising model and character licensing in their entirety.
This was where Juhyeok found his opening.
“The character licensing has no separate contract period specified. That means it’s included within the three-month contract…which makes no logical sense. Obviously, the character would be utilized until the game service ends. Isn’t that correct?”
“That’s correct.”
Fantasia’s side couldn’t deny it.
The character wouldn’t be deleted mid-game.
“Then this should be considered a perpetual ‘exclusive’ contract, and given that duration, the compensation is far too low.”
The price was absurdly inadequate relative to the time commitment.
This was Juhyeok’s argument, emphasizing the semi-permanent nature of the contract.
“Two thousand is the maximum amount Almond can receive under our current standards. We calculate it based on subscriber count, live viewer numbers, and other factors according to our company’s internal criteria.”
Fantasia’s side had their counterargument.
We have standards—a baseline—and there’s no deviation from it.
We simply operate according to the system.
It was the standard form of rebuttal that always emerged first when dealing with large corporations.
However, Juhyeok and Sanghyeon already knew this well.
If the standards truly couldn’t be modified, this meeting wouldn’t have been arranged in the first place.
Juhyeok pressed deeper into the cracks of their shield.
“That would be the maximum for a fixed-term contract, wouldn’t it? If it becomes exclusive, shouldn’t the standard change as well?”
“No. Whether it’s exclusive or fixed-term, it’s the same.”
“…How can it possibly be the same when the terms are different?”
It was like a rally in a ping-pong match.
Thwack!
Juhyeok hit the ball, and his opponent immediately returned it.
Thwack!
“To be precise, we’ve already factored in the exclusive nature and provided the ceiling accordingly. Our standard already accounts for the exclusive arrangement.”
“So two thousand is truly the maximum Almond can receive for becoming a ‘perpetual’ model?”
“At least according to our internal standards, yes.”
Thwack!
Even aggressive questions that were difficult to counter, Fantasia parried them all.
The rally grew faster and faster, becoming increasingly heated.
Sanghyeon’s eyes darted left and right, following the two of them as they spoke.
“What exactly do you mean by that criteria?”
“Ollytube subscribers and average viewership numbers, primarily. We can’t disclose Fantasia’s internal standards in detail.”
“Almond has 50,000 subscribers, but the average views are comparable to 300,000, and live viewers have averaged 7,000 to 8,000 over the past week. Is all of that being factored in?”
“No platform uses just the past week as a standard. We measure in monthly increments or longer. By that metric, averaging 3,000 to 4,000 viewers is already pushing it. That’s the realistic current size of Almond.”
Was there some hint in those words?
The corners of Juhyeok’s mouth lifted slightly.
“Current. Right. Your current size.”
“…?”
The manager and deputy manager from Fantasia exchanged glances, tilting their heads. What did he just say?
“I don’t know how long this game will be in service, but it’ll last at least five years.”
“That’s true.”
“Then let me ask you this. If a stock is obviously going to increase fivefold in five years, what happens?”
“….”
The opponent fell silent.
It was clearly an unfavorable question.
Juhyeok didn’t let it go.
“It increases fivefold the moment people learn about it. Because everyone who knows about the future value will buy at that price without hesitation. So the stock rises fivefold. That’s how markets work—they don’t wait five years. If future growth is certain, it affects the current price immediately.”
“Are you saying Almond will grow fivefold in five years?”
“Fivefold is too modest. It’ll exceed tenfold.”
“That’s quite the exaggeration.”
The hostility between them was reaching a peak.
The smile had already vanished from Department Manager Oh’s face.
Sanghyeon was also ready to jump in at any moment.
Whoosh.
Juhyeok spread out documents without regard for the opponent’s momentum.
“I’m not just talking big.”
Documents packed with graphs showing Almond’s viewer and subscriber growth trends.
They all had one thing in common—a sharp upward trajectory.
There were even comparisons with other new streamers and those with strong growth rates.
Almond was overwhelming.
“Isn’t this graph telling you what the future growth will look like?”
“Isn’t that already factored into the price you’re offering?”
“Is it? Already factored in? With a graph growing this rapidly….”
Juhyeok’s pen pointed precisely at the low and high points of the graph. Then he connected the two points.
He bisected the line segment connecting those two points exactly in half.
From that midpoint, he drew a line downward and labeled it “Fantasia’s Valuation.”
“You’re setting the price by simply taking the average of the starting and ending points? That’s wrong. This is the correct method.”
Next, he drew an imaginary line extending further behind the upward-trending graph.
He was sketching the trajectory of the future.
It was a line with nearly identical slope to the graph drawn before.
Then he placed a dot somewhere on that line and labeled it “the price the market assigns.”
“This is the correct method of market valuation.”
“But isn’t the graph behind that just a hypothetical one?”
“No. It’s not hypothetical—it’s the future. The future isn’t some imaginary setting. It’s a point in four-dimensional space that we inevitably reach, and we always factor it into our calculations from our current position.”
Department Manager Oh wiped the sweat trickling down his forehead.
Sanghyeon remained motionless, waiting for Juhyeok’s next words.
He suspected Juhyeok would drive the final nail here. And as expected, Juhyeok delivered a devastating spike.
“Fantasia’s market capitalization is higher than Asung’s, isn’t it?”
“…That’s correct.”
“Is that because Fantasia’s current size is larger than Asung’s?”
“….”
The opponent didn’t know Asung’s actual size.
But Juhyeok did. He’d worked there a month ago.
“Net profit is overwhelmingly in Asung’s favor. Look at this.”
Fantasia was a trendy, successful company, but it fell far short compared to Asung, the traditional powerhouse.
“…I see.”
“Then why does Fantasia have higher market capitalization?”
“Isn’t it because people’s expectations for it are higher?”
“Why are the expectations higher?”
“….”
The opponent didn’t answer.
Rather, couldn’t answer.
They’d realized they’d walked deep into the trap. Any resistance now would only inflict more wounds upon themselves.
“It’s the future. Expectations about the future! Even though Fantasia is smaller than Asung now, its brighter future is why its stock price is higher.”
The opponent felt checkmated.
Denying this logic here would only diminish their own company.
“Fantasia is a company that sells the future, and shareholders bought into that future. We simply want to do the same.”
Clap, clap, clap.
Department Manager Oh applauded from beside him.
It was a brilliant speech worthy of admiration. But Manager Oh’s approval was meaningless now.
‘How will they respond now?’
Sanghyeon observed the two employees from Fantasia.
They exchanged whispered words between themselves.
The manager from their side let out a sigh.
“Sigh.”
He slowly pulled out a tablet and drew a line through the original contract.
Skreeeech.
[Amount:
20,000,000
Won]
My eyes met Juhyeok’s.
Grin.
Smiles bloomed across both our faces.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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