Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 181

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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 181
62. The Past I Didn’t Know (5)
This is the headache with social media.
The follow system.
Who follows whom, and who unfollows whom. The public’s eyes monitor them endlessly.
At first, there were people who found this pathetic.
What’s the big deal about follows anyway?
It’s just pretend friendship on the internet. What’s so important about making and breaking those connections?
But I had to admit something.
Human relationships now had an additional layer.
Not just offline relationships, but online ones too.
And these two aren’t even independent of each other.
Relationships formed online aren’t necessarily weaker, nor are offline relationships always stronger than online ones.
They simply have different characteristics and advantages and disadvantages.
Nowadays, no one even calls it fussing over whether to follow or not.
Whether someone is following or not matters.
I can’t deny that.
It’s even more so among celebrities.
There are countless examples. There was even a legendary rapper who released an 18-minute diss track over an unfollow, and when an overseas famous artist follows a domestic star, it becomes major news.
For Almond right now, it didn’t seem like a distant story either.
-What’s this? For real?
-Like childhood friends or something?
└Almond’s 30 years old though? Isn’t Jeon-ja-pa like 24 now?
└Jeon-ja-pa didn’t even do military service
The comments kept coming, all about Jeon-ja-pa.
‘I think it’s just because they’re both in the same hospital situation. People must be misunderstanding a lot.’
In Almond’s mind, there was only one reason Jeon-ja-pa followed him.
She and he were in the same situation, and he knew her secret. She might have felt a sense of shared suffering.
‘…That doesn’t seem right though.’
In that moment, a flash of Choi Sa-rang’s gaze passed through my mind.
Sanghyeon shook his head.
It didn’t seem like she would feel something like that.
It was possible she followed as a kind of surveillance and warning.
Whatever the case, it wasn’t a reason the world could easily guess. It was a perfect situation for misunderstanding.
That Jeon-ja-pa and Almond had a special relationship.
‘The fortunate thing is that everyone in the world thinks Jeon-ja-pa is male.’
The fact that Jeon-ja-pa was known to be male was truly fortunate.
If she were female, there would definitely be people trying to spin it as a romantic relationship.
“Almond!”
A staff member came running from far away.
“The Director’s proposal went through.”
“Really?”
The processing was faster than expected.
The Director approached shortly after.
“Thank you for your hard work. They said it’s even better than the original plan, so it passed right away.”
The Director seemed satisfied, his expression bright.
“That’s a relief.”
“The time got away from us. What should we do?”
I checked the time—it was 8 PM.
It was far too late for dinner, but thinking of it as a team dinner made it seem reasonable.
“It’s fine. That’s just how filming goes.”
The Director and staff saw us to the exit. The planning team employees especially rode the elevator all the way down with us.
One employee broke the awkward silence in the elevator.
“I’m envious. If you’d worked at Asung, our sister company, you wouldn’t have succeeded like this.”
He appeared to be an employee from Choi Kang Planning.
The employee ID hanging around his neck gleamed.
‘Manager Kyung-ho Lee’
Juhyeok responded with a business-like smile.
“Working at Choi Kang Planning is also a successful life. Manager Lee, what are you saying?”
Even though he’d never go back to Asung if asked, Sanghyeon chuckled inwardly.
“Haha. Is that so? Still, stars are different. Are you perhaps going out for a drink to celebrate the advertisement today?”
“Oh, how did you know?”
“Well, there’s such a thing as atmosphere, you know? Haha.”
Sanghyeon and Juhyeok seemed to have shown their excitement.
“We’re probably having a team dinner too since the Director’s in a good mood. Would you like to join us?”
“Ah…”
Juhyeok hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.
“We already have a separate team dinner planned. I’m sorry.”
“No, of course you should keep your prior commitment. Have a good evening!”
“Yes. Thank you!”
In the meantime, another employee had brought the car around, and Juhyeok was able to head straight to the car from the 1st floor.
He drove toward the meeting place with Jia.
“Today’s shoot was good. It was actually better than Fantasia.”
Sanghyeon murmured from the passenger seat, gazing out the window.
“Well, of course it would be, considering how you devoured Almond.”
Juhyeok chuckled and shot back.
In the meantime, we quickly reached the area he’d marked on the map.
A winding alley deep in the darkness of a cold winter night.
Red neon lights were scattered along the crooked streets.
Juhyeok alternated between looking at the neon signs and the map, then pointed to one location with his finger.
‘Panda’
A Chinese liquor establishment called Panda.
I’d found the place correctly.
“Wow. What is this? Perfect timing.”
Tap tap.
Jia tapped on the window.
Had she arrived early and been waiting?
Juhyeok lowered the window with a delighted expression.
“Oh. Were you waiting long?”
“No. The timing just worked out perfectly.”
“I’ll return the rental car at the shop nearby, so go ahead and grab us a table.”
“Got it.”
And so Sanghyeon and Jia entered the liquor establishment alone.
The bustling atmosphere felt exactly like an inn from a martial arts novel.
“I bet they have something like a server here. Right?”
“I’d say so.”
Jia and I claimed a four-person table by the window.
I was studying the menu thoughtfully.
“Is the rental shop far from here?”
Jia murmured while glancing toward the door.
“Hmm… I’m not sure. These days they’re set up pretty conveniently, so it shouldn’t be too far.”
“Should we order the eggplant in fragrant sauce?”
“…eggplant? Ugh.”
“This one’s actually different.”
Really?
Jia’s expression was full of skepticism.
‘Juhyeok said it was delicious too.’
Now that I thought about it, there were two people insisting the eggplant was tasty today.
Jia finally withdrew her hand from the menu.
“Just order whatever you think is best.”
“Excuse me. Two draft beers and one eggplant in fragrant sauce, please.”
Ten minutes later, the eggplant arrived, and I exhaled hot breath before taking a crispy bite.
Jia tried a piece as well, then promptly ate another.
She seemed to enjoy it.
“…This is actually pretty good.”
“Right?”
Jia nodded and took a long sip of beer. Her throat bobbed smoothly before she paused.
“Oh wait… Juhyeok has to walk back to the car, doesn’t he?”
“Huh? Yeah, he does. Is that why he’s late?”
I didn’t seem particularly worried, but Jia kept glancing toward the door.
Just then, a flood of employees came rushing in.
“…Looks like they’re here for a company dinner.”
Jia murmured, as if remembering her days working at a company.
-Ah, Director. Will you be treating everyone all night?
-Yes! That’s right! Just one large table for us, please!
When I heard “director,” I thought they might be athletes, but given their ages, they were probably a film crew.
Jia was staring intently at Almond, who had been filming with us today.
Since his back was turned toward the door, he didn’t seem to notice.
“I wonder if the crew that filmed with us today is also having a company dinner.”
“…Huh? How did you know that?”
Sanghyeon had burned himself on the hot eggplant. It seemed he didn’t know how to eat what he’d ordered.
“No, I guess you haven’t eaten eggplant much after all.”
“Ugh. It’s just that my tongue….”
Apparently, Juhyeok said it was delicious, so he’d ordered it. It seemed he’d been pretending to know about it to convince Jia.
“Unbelievable.”
Jia laughed in disbelief.
However, in a very brief moment, her smile vanished completely.
As if some thief had stolen it away.
Had that thief also stolen her gaze?
‘…!’
Jia’s eyes became fixed on a distant point.
Sanghyeon, who had been blowing on his hot food before eating, finally glanced up at the strange silence.
He realized that Jia’s reaction was unlike her usual self.
“What’s wrong?”
She wasn’t normally very talkative, but she wasn’t the type to sit there so blankly either.
“Jia.”
Only after calling her again did Jia’s focus return to Sanghyeon.
“Oh. What, what is it?”
“Your expression looks strange. Are you looking for the restroom?”
Sanghyeon already knew that expression wasn’t the “looking for the restroom” kind. He was just testing her.
“Ah, yes. I’ll just go to the restroom for a moment.”
She accepted his probing words at face value. She’d eagerly taken the bait of his clumsy lie.
Thanks to that, Sanghyeon could tell right away.
‘Something’s going on.’
His gaze slowly followed Jia.
She seemed to be heading to the restroom, but she was staring intently at a certain table.
“?”
As for Sanghyeon, he couldn’t tell who she was looking at from that table.
‘Choi Strong Planning?’
He could vaguely tell that employees from Choi Strong Planning happened to be having a company dinner there.
While it would be proper etiquette to greet him, I didn’t want to drag work into this place.
“Hey. Did you wait long?”
Just then, Juhyeok suddenly appeared from behind.
“Why are you so startled? Where’s Jia?”
“Oh. The restroom.”
“I see. Wait, what?! You just ordered without asking?! This is insane…!”
Juhyeok complained about how I’d ordered his favorite dish in advance, while Sanghyeon simply replied that he could just order one more—what was the big deal?
“Come on, man. Am I supposed to eat the same menu twice? That’s what you and Almond do all the time!”
“There are plenty of other delicious things. I thought you’d be here soon anyway.”
“Ugh!”
“What are you two doing? Fighting over food again?”
Jia, who had arrived without anyone noticing, looked at them both with an expression of exasperation.
“No, I wanted to eat this, but you ordered it beforehand.”
“Seriously. Who’s the adult here?”
With that, Jia slid into the seat next to Juhyeok.
“Aww, baby Juhyeok. Order one more dish. I’ll buy it for you.”
“…”
Pffahahaha!
Sanghyeon burst out laughing so hard his stomach hurt.
But Juhyeok’s face turned red, and he couldn’t say a word.
“Oh.”
Sanghyeon rummaged through his pocket and pulled out his phone.
“By the way, we have some good news.”
Sanghyeon showed them his RuneStar account.
Juhyeok hadn’t heard this news during the shoot earlier.
“…Huh? RuneStar? Wow, my followers increased a lot. We’ll hit 100,000 this week?”
“No, that’s not it. Jeon-ja-pa followed me.”
“?!”
Jia and Juhyeok’s eyes widened in shock.
“Wow! Really?”
“What’s going on? What do you have with Jeon-ja-pa?”
“Nothing.”
Sanghyeon avoided Juhyeok’s gaze.
‘A secret is a secret, after all.’
He’d been asked to keep Jeon-ja-pa’s circumstances confidential. I couldn’t give a proper answer.
Especially since that secret concerned a physical disability.
“Then what? Why is he being so nice to you?”
“Because I’m really good?”
“…?”
Juhyeok made an incredulous expression.
“Come on. Have a drink. Either way, this is something to celebrate!”
“Sure.”
“Cheers!”
Clink!
While Juhyeok clinked his beer glass to brush away the annoyance, Jia’s gaze lingered long on Jeon-ja-pa’s account.
“Jia. What are you doing? Aren’t you toasting?”
Jia was still staring intently at the account.
“…But I don’t think anyone else noticed.”
“?”
Tap tap.
Jia’s finger touched the upper right corner of Sanghyeon’s phone.
The spot where Jeon-ja-pa’s follower count was displayed.
An astronomical number: 6 million.
“You mean 6 million followers? I know that. That’s why we’re celebrating.”
Sanghyeon raised his beer again.
“No. Not followers. Look at the following count.”
“…?”
Sanghyeon’s gaze shifted slightly to the right.
The number 10 written at the end.
I had been passing over it without thinking, but now that I considered it, that was the following count.
“Jeon-ja-pa originally only followed 9 people.”
“?!”
Someone with 6 million followers but only 10 following.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
“Those 9 people are all from his old team. There’s no one else. He doesn’t even follow close friends. Though he might not even know such a thing exists.”
“What?!”
Juhyeok exclaimed in even greater surprise.
“What, what is this? This is even more incredible!”
“Wow.”
Sanghyeon also stared at the number 10 in disbelief.
‘So I’m basically one of those 10 people?’
Why did he follow me?
I really don’t understand anymore.
“Hey….”
Juhyeok’s expression became quite serious.
“At this rate, he really could become a Knight, couldn’t he?”

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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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