Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 1266

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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 5 Episode 151
47. Potato and Goguma (1)
The next day.
Mixnuts Office.
I sat at the desk in the CEO’s office with my eyes closed.
An earphone was plugged into one of my ears.
“Hmm~ Hmm~”
It seemed like I was humming music.
But look at my leg trembling continuously and my fingers moving across the desk like playing piano.
This was anxiety taking physical form.
Was I waiting for a phone call?
But I wasn’t really looking at my phone.
It wasn’t a phone call.
I was definitely waiting for something else.
‘They’re coming. Finally today.’
Danmuji and Goguma.
They’re coming in person.
‘The contract…!’
They’re coming to sign a contract.
If today’s contract goes well, Mixnuts will essentially be recruiting external streamers for the first time and can make a proper start as an MCN.
The problem is the ‘if it goes well’ part.
I can’t be satisfied with just making it happen.
If I offer terms that are too generous, it’s worse than not doing it at all.
It’s an unavoidable reality.
People with matching ideals gather together and work hard without taking anything for themselves?
That’s something you’d only see in a boy’s manga.
There are no boys on today’s contract. They’re all adults who’ve thrown their names into this society.
So this is a fair competition, and backing down in a competition isn’t being kind—it’s just being a coward.
Running away out of fear of their glares and resentment.
If that were the case, I should have quit being CEO.
A CEO has to secure the company’s profits even if they get criticized for it.
‘So… I’m going with standard rates.’
The terms I’d present today were completely standard in the industry.
In reality, it wasn’t a level that a startup management company like Mixnuts could offer.
It’s customary for startups to offer generous rates. But I had no intention of conceding rates to Danmuji and Goguma today.
If I back down here, the company takes two more steps backward.
In the end, I had to pull it off.
An industry-standard contract.
‘The problem is how to convince them.’
That’s when it happened.
Crackle.
-CEO, they’ve arrived.
‘They’re here.’
Bontovi’s voice came through the earpiece.
-Agent B. Deploying now.

* * *
“Hello~”
Danmuji and Goguma had arrived at the Mixnuts headquarters.
The moment they entered, Jia rushed out to greet them.
“Hello! Danmuji! G… Goguma!”
She stumbled over her words due to nervousness.
‘I almost said Gobong.’
She’d just been editing a video making fun of Goguma when she’d rushed out, nearly calling him by his real name instead.
‘I’m really not good at this.’
Juhyeok had insisted that at least a Team Leader should greet them, so she’d been pushed out here reluctantly.
She wasn’t confident about it at all.
“I’m Seojia, Team Leader.”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“Ah… yes. Hello.”
“Hey there! Salute~!”
At the mention of Team Leader, Goguma playfully threw up a salute.
Actually, they’d already met at the company dinner, so it wasn’t unfamiliar.
“Haha… well, p-please follow me. Once the final review is done, the CEO will be right out.”
As she said this, Jia kept repeating instructions in her head.
‘Put them in the waiting room, hand out business cards, offer drinks, and that’s it. Put them in the waiting room…’
She was just reciting the commands Juhyeok had drilled into her.
There was no other way.
Before she’d met Almond, she was just Lucky Macaron anyway.
“This is the waiting room.”
Jia smiled, not even sure how her face looked.
Hopefully she didn’t look like she was grimacing?
All sorts of thoughts crossed her mind.
“Ah, yes.”
“Isn’t this where we slept before? Ahahaha.”
“Huh? Is it?”
Danmuji and Goguma exchanged lighthearted banter since this was an important contract.
They had no time to worry about the details either way.
Once they were seated, Jia handed out business cards as instructed.
“Here… we’ve met before, but I didn’t give you my card then.”
“W-we don’t have anything like that.”
“Oh, that’s fine. Would you like something to drink?”
“No, thank you.”
“Okay.”
Click.
Jia closed the door and exhaled a shallow sigh of relief.
‘Phew… did it work? But… what did they say they were drinking?’
She’d asked the question as instructed but hadn’t listened to the answer.

* * *
The waiting room fell silent.
Goguma, apparently nervous, spouted more nonsense.
“Wow… totally corporate vibes. Right?”
Contrary to Jia’s perception, in their eyes she looked like a kind office noona who’d treat them to meals.
All the effort of her mature makeup had paid off.
“Yeah, totally…”
Danmuji just responded blankly.
A brief silence fell.
Then Goguma spoke again.
“Wow… did you see that?”
“What?”
“That. That. The donation ranking.”
Only then did Danmuji react.
“Oh! That! Jetpump?”
It was already a hot topic among Streamers, being discussed here and there.
“Yeah. First place in donation ranking for a game he doesn’t even play. Isn’t that insane?”
“Well, technically he’s first because he’s trying to patch a game he doesn’t even play…”
“Anyway! Did you see the amount?”
First place in the donation ranking was a different kind of Achievement than being 1st Place in Trending Videos.
Because it was about the actual money people were throwing at him.
“Yeah… I saw it. It’s overwhelming.”
Their minds were filled with envy.
So they didn’t notice at all.
Whoosh.
Beyond the waiting room’s glass window, a suspicious shadow fell across it.
‘Agent B. Mission deployed.’
He was Bontovi.
Juhyeok had sent Bontovi to eavesdrop on their conversation.
The waiting room had thin walls, so you could hear everything just by standing next to it on the other side.
It looked cowardly, but even the ultra-elite Senior Aseng used this method.
When it came to war, contracts allowed for almost anything.
In that sense, a biological surveillance device was practically gentlemanly.
‘They’re talking about yesterday’s donation rankings, just as expected.’
Danmuji and Goguma were innocent young men completely unaware of society’s hidden machinations.
Now that the tension had finally eased, they conversed like excited high school students.
Never once considering that someone might be listening from behind.
“W-wouldn’t we become a major corporation if we joined the same MCN…?”
Goguma indulged in his fantasies.
Danmuji surprisingly joined in.
“Ahem. Well, there are certainly cases like that. Streamers who joined good MCNs and made it big.”
This wasn’t entirely false.
The greatest advantage of an MCN was the synergy between streamers.
There were indeed cases where, when a streamer in their prime became the center of an MCN, the surrounding streamers rose alongside them.
Of course, it depended on the individual and their chemistry with one another.
It certainly wasn’t guaranteed.
‘1st Place in donation rankings….’
Danmuji simply wanted to believe it.
His eyes were dazzled by the overwhelming numbers.
No matter how sharp Danmuji’s eyes were, there was no defense against numbers like these.
“Oh, right. What about the terms? You said it’s a startup, after all.”
Now the two of them began discussing contract conditions.
“I don’t know… that Ha guy… the CEO seemed pretty scary.”
“Hey, didn’t you say you’d think about it!? Didn’t you do this during your pro days?”
Danmuji had only negotiated his pro salary through an agency, so he was quite inexperienced with matters like this.
“Ugh… since it’s a startup… should I ask for 15% above standard?”
“Did you just come up with that a second ago!?”
“Ugh… I have no idea….”

* * *
I sat quietly in my chair with my hands clasped together, listening to what Bontovi was conveying.
‘After all, we’re aware that we’re a startup….’
Originally, there weren’t many advantageous terms for Mixnuts in this negotiation.
It couldn’t be helped—we were the ones in need as a fledgling MCN.
But then one piece of good fortune emerged.
‘However, Almond pulled off an absurd upset yesterday by taking 1st place in the sponsorship rankings.’
Almond was essentially the entire purpose of their contract with us.
And yesterday, he wrote a new chapter in streaming history.
He became the first to ever rank 1st in sponsorship rankings.
And in an incredibly straightforward manner at that.
‘I was lucky. When I scheduled Jetpumped yesterday, I had no idea it would unfold like this.’
I felt this was heaven’s blessing.
Because now I understood how to approach them.

* * *
A moment later.
“Hello. Sorry for the wait. I was just doing a final review….”
I distributed the contract and sat across the table.
After exchanging brief greetings.
The tension disappeared, and Danmuji examined the contract quite sharply.
“I’ve reviewed it. But we expected the ratio to be somewhat higher than standard. For a startup, I mean.”
He got straight to the point.
I nodded.
“I understand. But why are you contracting with us? Is it to secure better terms?”
“That’s part of it….”
Since Danmuji had broached the main topic, I did too.
“No. If that were the goal, there are plenty of other startups. You came here for a different reason—we all know that, frankly.”
“…?”
“Ultimately, it’s about connecting with top-tier streamers, isn’t it? That’s an MCN’s competitive advantage, isn’t it?”
“!”
It was a blunt declaration.
‘Whoa.’
Goguma, the young bard, was so startled by this raw business talk that his jaw nearly dropped.
Danmuji’s eyes narrowed further as he focused intently.
“Contracting with an MCN isn’t about getting better settlement ratios. If that were it, you’d go solo and keep 100% yourself. You’re aiming for greater popularity, more money, bigger opportunities—aren’t you?”
I was speaking about the fundamental reason MCNs exist.
And I was circling back to why they came here.
“Among those, the best opportunity is being able to do collaborations and joint content with top-tier streamers regularly… or so other MCN companies say.”
“…Other companies?”
Danmuji and Goguma stared blankly at each other.
“Then this isn’t for that purpose?”
Without connections to top-tier streamers, there was no reason to join.
Whether advertising deals would work out well or not wasn’t something you could know in advance.
The only thing confirmed was which streamer would be involved.
Juhyeok didn’t deny that.
“Ah, what they’re saying is correct. But there’s something important missing.”
“What is it?”
“Actual opportunity!”
Actual opportunity? What could that mean?
“Even if you all joined Jello’s company right now, how often would you actually get the chance to stream together with Jello?”
“…!”
That was it.
If top-tier streamers refused collaboration broadcasts, those who joined the MCN for connectivity would find themselves in an awkward position.
“An MCN can never force a collaboration broadcast. Especially not with top-tier streamers. They can only make proposals. But if the streamer rejects that proposal? There’s no way around it. You end up just streaming among yourselves. You get cut on the profit split and gather only with each other.”
It was a rather blunt and sharp argument.
The attack hit them right in the gut, leaving Danmuji and Goguma utterly speechless.
However, Juhyeok hadn’t brought this up without a solution.
“This is a problem for all MCNs. It’s a kind of contradiction that arises because the company’s interests and the top-tier streamer’s interests differ. But. Mixnuts is different.”
“…Can it really be different?”
Bang!
Juhyeok places new documents on the desk.
Corporate equity shares.
“Half of this company belongs to Almond.”
“!”
That was it.
Interests.
What Juhyeok was trying to appeal to was the fundamental essence that never changes in business.
It was interests.
“Almond and Mixnuts are one body, and we have no choice but to develop you. A company with such aligned interests? They’re almost non-existent.”
Danmuji and Goguma stare blankly at each other.
‘I… I didn’t know.’
‘Half of it was Almond’s company?’
It was natural they didn’t know. This was the first time anyone had dug into internal details like this.
That’s how much Juhyeok was betting everything on this.
Danmuji tries to counter once more.
“Like Balloon Stars….”
There were a few companies where streamers were the owners.
“Right. They exist. They do exist. But they’re already full. The waiting list is enormous. There are plenty of people they need to take care of first.”
The waiting list.
Those words pierced straight through my heart.
“But what about us here? Pangeo operates in a completely different genre, and Bontovi is our employee. We have no one else to develop! Almond simply has no other options!”
This was unbelievable.
Using the company’s emptiness as a selling point.
Yet it was persuasive!
“And Almond is a streamer entering his prime now. Think of this as a ticket to board his upward trajectory first.”
Snap.
Juhyeok slid the contract forward again.
‘A ticket….’
‘An upward trajectory.’
At that moment, colorful light flickered across Danmuji and Goguma’s eyes.

* * *
The next day.
Numerous Cheese Streamers gathered for the scrim.
They whispered the moment the Knight Order entered.
More precisely, they whispered upon seeing Almond.
“Did you see yesterday’s rankings…?”
“Yeah. I saw it. It was insane.”
“It made the news too. Something about a game streaming hegemony war….”
“Insane. Insane. Insane.”
“He’s the king of the new world.”
Certainly, ranking 1st in sponsorship among gaming streamers was an extraordinary achievement.
So even without any special articles or issues, all the streamers knew about it.
But strangely, it wasn’t Almond who carried himself with newfound confidence—it was Danmuji and Goguma.
“Whoa~ that’s our bro~”
“I’m Mixnuts! Almond God Ma Back!”
They strutted around with even more pride.
Because they’d just signed with Mixnuts.
These bastards lol
“No, they said since we signed the contract today, could we please put an embargo on it haha”
What the heck is a sweet potato wrap lolololol
Kids are so cute lol
Our hyung lol
God-tier back lol
-How’d they survive without an MCN until now
-They’ve been talking all day fr

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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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