Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 295

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

The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 2 Episode 15
5. Ripple Effects (3)
So Jujiyeong, this audacious woman without equal, was now engaging in a power struggle against such a genius.
“That makes no sense. How could something like that possibly fall under the realm of planning?”
Team Leader Jujiyeong exhales deeply and sets down her pen.
‘I’d rather just say this to Almond directly.’
That man seemed to speak as if he’d already decided on the answer.
“I’m aware that Almond has been receiving considerable attention lately. However, in my opinion, the ripple effect from game advertising still doesn’t match Balloon Gum’s reach. Fame and advertising effectiveness are different things. Above all, the idea that Balloon Gum would play the same game as that person? What are you talking about?”
“Yes, yes. I’m sure you’d say that. Obviously. It’s annoying, but I’ll explain.”
Iseok Kim pours out words with eloquence. Despite his tone suggesting annoyance, his words flow smoothly.
“Almond is a physical-type player. In other words, he frequently performs super plays, which means related clips are generated quite often. Recently, Almond had a deeply connected incident with Balloon Gum. The Nant Tournament victory. That was just a week ago. You know that, right?”
“Yes. Of course….”
She knew, but how could she be 100% certain that Balloon Gum would play the same game as Almond based on just that?
“A Nant Tournament victory is honestly something that should never happen to Balloon Gum. She’s genuinely terrible at games. I can’t even comprehend it myself. So how did she win? She won through Almond’s super play. Balloon Gum even thanked Almond directly on her broadcast. And Almond has listed Balloon Gum as a streamer she respects. It’s not just them talking about each other like that… Hotae.”
“Yes.”
He brings up a data screen.
“This is big data calculating the frequency of overlapping viewers. Simply put, Balloon Gum and Almond have quite a bit of overlapping viewers. Around 22% to be precise.”
“That’s impossible. Almond and Balloon Gum have completely different broadcast styles….”
“Oh. My.”
Iseok Kim shakes his head, covering his face as if genuinely lamenting your foolishness.
“It’s easy to think that way. I understand. But actually, it’s not that their broadcast styles are different—it’s that their gaming skill levels are different.”
“…!”
“I have data on that too. Considering your brain capacity, I’ll just summarize up to this point. Almond and Balloon Gum have quite a bit of overlapping viewers. The biggest factor among those is the connection between the two streamers. And….”
Ding.
He moves to the next data slide.
“…it’s precisely the broadcast timing. Almond primarily streams during the day, whereas Balloon Gum starts at night as if tagging in. This way, viewers can immediately watch Balloon Gum’s broadcast right after.”
That’s right. No matter how similar broadcasts are, if the time slots overlap, viewers can’t watch both. But these two have completely different time slots.
“Add to this Almond’s clip generation frequency, and considering that Balloon Gum has felt grateful since the Nant Tournament but has never repaid Almond even once. And throw in the fact that he loves survival games. Then….”
Iseok Kim chuckles.
When he laughs, his entire face seems to sparkle.
“How could he not do it?”
Gulp.
An employee who happened to be standing by the conference room door listening to his entire speech swallowed hard.
“He’s going to play Zombie School without even attaching an ad tag. You should actually be bowing to me instead.”
“….”
Listening to the explanation flow out as if he’d anticipated everything, Team Leader Jujiyeong even found herself wondering if she should actually bow to him.
“Well. I don’t have the habit of accepting bows like that. Let’s wrap this up here.”
Iseok Kim checks his watch.
“So. Marketing, please do it my way. Just follow my words and money will appear even in your sleep.”
He left those words behind and vanished from his seat in an instant.

* * *
As I left the building, a burly Employee named Hotae asked me a question.
“CEO. But… did you really anticipate that the bathroom scene would generate a clip?”
It was the biggest variable I’d wondered about throughout. Almond hadn’t generated the clip through a super play.
Rather, the clip had come from an unusually comedic situation that wasn’t like him at all.
How could I have predicted something like that?
Iseok Kim turned back and answered as if it was absurd.
“No? How would I anticipate such a crazy incident?”
“Huh? Then….”
“Redhat, those bastards keep saying they like Almond so much and keep asking to put him in there. Ha… well, they’re people you can barely communicate with anyway….”
Redhat. The production company of Kingdom Age and the largest investor and planner of this Zombie School project. As the original production company, they had significant involvement in the production.
“So I just went with it. Everything else was indicators I found after seeing the results first. I just fit the story into the meeting with that.”
“Wow… you’re still the same. It was all made up?”
“Made up? No, man. It’s just a different recipe for information.”
Iseok Kim was a genius in a different sense, after all.
“But what if marketing companies now think that if they put ads with Almond, she’ll even do Balloon Gum and just keep doing it? That woman really looked like she was convinced.”
Iseok Kim shrugged at Hotae’s question as if asking what the problem was.
“Then that bastard hit the jackpot. Who knows? Maybe she’ll actually be worth it.”
His gaze turned toward his watch.
“Anyway. Jeon-ja-pa wanted to meet today. What time was it?”
“Ah, it’s 1 o’clock.”
“Perfect timing.”
There was a reason I’d readily agreed to this meeting today. I already had business in this area anyway.

* * *
Almond wasn’t the only one heating up the conference room at Highgames.
Around 2 PM, right after lunch ended that day, the conference room at SCB Broadcasting Station was also thrown into turmoil because of Almond.
The one who called the meeting was Department Manager Jang, the main PD of Evening Wide.
“We’re going into editing with this synopsis.”
Thud.
He tossed down the rough draft of the edit, which he’d been writing non-stop since the live shoot and was now nearly complete.
“…Evening Wide, right?”
PD Lee, the assistant director working with Department Manager Jang. He was the one who had opposed editing focused on Almond and insisted they should go with Inho instead.
“That’s right.”
“Hmm….”
PD Lee examined the draft, and his expression hardened.
‘Editing focused on Almond….’
In the end, Department Manager Jang’s arbitrary decision had caused this mess.
He was determined to go with an Almond-focused edit.
‘Why is he doing this? Really.’
PD Lee frowned and continued reading through the plot.
‘But….’
Department Manager Jang was certainly right.
This was more entertaining.
‘It is fun.’
If they structured the talk show around Almond as the main guest, it would flow as smoothly as water.
An uncommon type of main guest, a familiar supporting face to assist him, and Lilzandi slipping in as a scene-stealer in between.
In terms of food, it was like a fusion dish with a tangy spice, familiar seasoning, and premium Korean beef—an ingredient you don’t often get—as the main components.
Expensive as it is, it doesn’t divide opinions.
‘Expensive. That’s the problem.’
Yes, this dish was expensive.
From an economic perspective, it ultimately required significant investment. The revenue generated would be small, so even spending the same amount made it expensive.
But what if you caught the aroma wafting from the kitchen preparing this dish?
‘Still, I want to eat it….’
Even if it cost a bit more money, I’d want to pay for it. It seemed worth the price. Even if I’d regret it when I saw that month’s credit card bill, right now….
“Yeah, it really is smooth.”
PD Lee spoke as if bewitched.
Department Manager Jang had planned for this.
Once you put the food right in front of someone, their mind changes. Especially when the one serving it is the head chef of this place. The pressure alone forces you to agree.
A shallow trick. Really….
Even knowing this shallow trick, PD Lee falls for it anyway.
“Yeah? Seems okay? Your reaction is different from last time?”
Department Manager Jang chuckles and strokes his beard.
“My opinion hardly matters… I’ll just go with whatever you say, Department Manager Jang.”
PD Lee swallowed his words and avoided Department Manager Jang’s gaze. The ship looked impressive, but he had no desire to board it.
Even the mightiest fleet becomes the same ruins once it sinks.
He didn’t want to be the one held responsible. That burden should fall on Department Manager Jang.
Department Manager Jang nodded as if he understood.
“Just do it this way. I’ll take responsibility.”
Clap. Clap.
He announced the start of work with applause.
“Come on, everyone. Get your butts in those seats and make the deadline!”
“Yes, sir!”
And so Almond’s face began to fill the editing suite of Evening Wide one shot at a time.
A smile spread across Department Manager Jang’s face as he watched the completed edits taking shape.
It had been a while since something pleased him like this.
This was a “fun” talk show—something he hadn’t seen in ages.

* * *
The next day.
Department Manager Jang, who’d pulled an all-nighter, stood with his hands clasped together in prayer from the morning, his face haggard.
“Please… just don’t review it.”
The object of his sincere prayer not to be reviewed was the edited version of Evening Wide that he’d submitted for approval today.
Live broadcasts don’t require approval—they’re literally live, so there’s no verification process. But edited versions always go through upper management review.
However, since there are so many programs, sometimes they get properly reviewed and sometimes they don’t.
It’s roughly an 80-20 split.
The 80 percent are the ones that don’t get reviewed.
“Normally they won’t check it. Honestly, we should be worried about what happens after it airs,” PD Lee said reassuringly to Department Manager Jang.
“Right…?”
“Yes.”
But that was naive thinking.
Ding.
A message arrived through the internal messenger, appearing on Department Manager Jang’s computer screen.
[Secretary’s Office: Department Manager Jang. The CEO is asking you to come up. He has something to say about the broadcast you submitted for approval.]
Department Manager Jang blinked as if he couldn’t believe his own eyes.
“What… the hell…”
How could his luck be this bad? The guys who usually approved things without even checking suddenly decide to review it?
And the CEO himself is calling him directly, no less. Wasn’t the CEO supposed to be the one who just stamps his seal at the end for liability purposes?
“Why did the CEO personally review it? Not the executive director or the editor-in-chief…”
“Oh no.”
An employee behind him sighed quietly. Sensing that he knew something, Department Manager Jang spun around sharply.
“What is it? Why? You know something, don’t you.”
“Well…”
“Um…”
The employee hesitated for a moment before finally answering.
“Inho went upstairs with the manager and came back.”
“…What?”
Department Manager Jang couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
“No. That damn bastard, not even dry behind the ears, and already…”
I was furious. Even if I’m just doing some ad-agency-level talk show PD work… even if his affiliated group is putting ads in it…
Some punk kid like that is meddling with the broadcast I create.
I can’t stand it.
“Sigh.”
Department Manager Jang exhales and tears at his long hair.
“It’d be better if those old-fashioned bastards said something…”
Am I really supposed to let my broadcast be pushed around by some punk like that?
“I’m going.”
Department Manager Jang heads toward the CEO’s office with blazing eyes.
‘I need to make this clear.’
No matter how much of a yes-man I am, I don’t want to be pushed around by someone like Inho.
If it’s the CEO’s personal opinion, I’ll listen. But I won’t take a beating from some hammer that guy handed down.
I’ll express my position this clearly.
“Hello. He’s waiting for you.”
As the secretary opened the door and I entered the CEO’s office.
‘…’
Department Manager Jang’s resolve scattered and vanished as if it had never existed.
“…Did you call for me?”
A pressure that tightened as if I’d been subordinate to this person since birth.
Obedience to authority learned since elementary school.
It was a barrier that couldn’t be overcome by a moment of anger. No, only those who couldn’t overcome it would be hired at this company in the first place.
“Ah, you came.”
The CEO pointed to the sofa in front as if telling me to sit.
Department Manager Jang took a seat before him with a tense expression.
“I watched the video.”
“…Yes.”
The secretary briefly stopped by to bring tea, and Department Manager Jang merely held it without drinking.
‘Should I say something…?’
Suddenly I thought I should muster the courage to speak.
But I can’t find the timing. This stiff current doesn’t give him even the slightest opening.
“You did well, didn’t you?”
“…Pardon?”
What is he saying?
Is this a buildup to a harsh rebuke?
“You chose Almond as the guest, right? As expected, your instincts are sharp. I’ve always felt you had good sense.”
“What….”
The CEO chuckles and speaks as if asking why I’m questioning something he already knows.
“That guy brought in a sponsor, didn’t he? A pretty big one too. Turns out they’ve had a good relationship with us for a while now. From what I hear, it’s through that guy’s manager’s connections.”
Department Manager Jang’s mind goes numb at this completely unpredictable turn of events.
I couldn’t follow what he was saying at all.
But the next words make everything clear instantly.
“Divers. They’re doing really well these days, so their rates are steep. It’s been a while since we’ve made a big haul like this. You really tailored things perfectly for them.”
In other words, that’s what this means.
Almond’s sponsor came with more power than Inho’s. Incomparably so.
In short, Almond won.
I won.

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