Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 309

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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 2 Episode 29
10. Clearing Up the Misunderstanding (1)
[Shall we bring out the next guest?]
Juhyeok shouted in a voice brimming with excitement.
“Oh! Here we go! Here we go!”
Anyone watching would think he was the one appearing on TV.
Meanwhile, the Manager stood beside him pouring coffee with a completely indifferent expression.
“Oh.”
*Sip.*
Sanghyeon also took a sip of coffee and offered his support.
[From archery prodigy to full-time employee at a major corporation, and now a gaming streamer! A master of transformation! Streamer Almond!]
Hearing this introduction, Sanghyeon’s face flushed.
I wasn’t sure how others perceived it, but the introduction seemed a bit over the top to my ears.
‘It’s rather embarrassing to watch.’
It felt different from solo streaming.
On a talk show like this, I could see my own face wearing an unfamiliar persona.
Sanghyeon had lived a life far removed from the entertainment industry.
He found it difficult to adapt to seeing himself speaking with others in such a bright, cheerful manner.
The fortunate thing was that viewers found his demeanor natural.
That was enough.
[Ah. So that’s how you got into archery. But then you just continued all the way to becoming a professional athlete?]
[Yes.]
[Wow. You must have had real talent.]
[Yes.]
[???]
-The nut just came out as is lol
-Hey! That won’t work here! Nobody’s gonna take that! Huh?!
-lolol Mingu Han confused for 0.1 seconds
-Response speed what lololol
To viewers, Almond’s appearance on Evening Wide that day was exactly as he always was.
He was simply skilled at not expressing his internal conflicts outwardly.
What you’d call a thick-skinned personality.
[Wow. You’re seriously a genius, aren’t you?]
[I’m seriously a genius.]
Even when saying such things, his expression barely changed.
Combined with his excessively quick response time, it became a comedic highlight.
-lololol
-He’s a genius alright? A broadcast genius.
-He said it, so make him say it a few more times lol
-Forget archery genius! I’m a genius clown!
-Undoubtedly top-tier reaction speed among all talk shows in history
Whether it was because the PD only edited the chat messages, the response was quite positive.
“Hey. The editing on this is really well done, huh?”
Juhyeok muttered excitedly from beside me.
“Way funnier than the live broadcast.”
“Yeah.”
I nodded in agreement.
I had to admit the editing was excellent.
It wasn’t for nothing that this was a major channel. The energy being created was on a completely different level from a live broadcast.
[Wait, they’re saying the reaction speed here is fast too. Really? It really is fast.]
[Ahahaha! Right! It’s like half a beat faster than other people.]
Even Han Min-goo admitted the reaction speed is crazy.
First streamer to be recognized by a top-tier MC lol
Kim Tru’s smile is totally genuine lol
The PD must have found this part entertaining, because they included almost all the scenes from the live broadcast in real-time. It didn’t feel bad at all.
And then, maintaining that energy, my past footage was finally introduced.
[Um… you know that footage? The one where you win the championship? Let’s watch that. Together.]
At this point, I fidgeted with the coffee machine and looked away.
That topic still made me a bit uncomfortable.
Of course, a few interviews and some stories told on broadcast weren’t enough to completely wash away my past.
I felt relieved, but only for that moment.
Tremor, tremor, tremor…
My right hand, which had been holding the coffee cup, began to shake.
As if reminding me that my past actions could never be undone.
I headed back to my room.
Juhyeok turned to look at me and asked.
“Huh? What? You’re not going to watch?”
“I don’t need to watch anything after that point.”
“…?”
Juhyeok’s mouth closed before he could say that this was where it got fun.
[All of it! Everything enters right through the center of the lens!]
Only then did I truly realize what footage was being played.
This was my past.
Those five years I spent struggling in that unfamiliar and cold land called Asung, wandering through construction sites, a past I had wanted to forget.
‘I’m still not okay with this.’
There’s no way I could be completely fine just by opening up about it to the public.
More than anything, my real wound—I hadn’t even brought myself to mention it to anyone yet, had I?
‘Soyeon Han… was it.’
I spoke readily enough about my archery, but I never talked about Soyeon anywhere.
The fans didn’t even know of the existence of the girl named Soyeon Han.
‘This is still difficult.’
I knew this would remain difficult. Many people would learn about my past, continue asking questions, and it would keep being reproduced on the internet.
Each time, I would think of Soyeon. When forgotten emotions bloom again, I would repeat the cycle of waiting for them to wither.
‘I didn’t think about it.’
Juhyeok hadn’t paid attention to it. To begin with, he wasn’t particularly sensitive to others’ emotions, and besides, Sanghyeon seemed fine.
After all, he had already declared his ambition to expand to a major channel on his own.
That’s right. He said he would go on his own. And quite enthusiastically at that. Why was that?
‘…Damn.’
The answer came quickly to Juhyeok’s mind.
Wasn’t it because Juhyeok himself desired that expansion to a major channel more than anyone else?
As the saying goes, old habits die hard—he couldn’t hide that desire and had let it slip, revealing everything.
Then.
Pitter-patter-patter…!
Rain began pouring down outside the window.
Juhyeok stared blankly out the window.
‘Rain in the middle of winter?’
After staring out the window for a while, Juhyeok’s gaze turned back toward Sanghyeon’s door.
He couldn’t help but feel concerned.
He got up from his seat.
“Hey. Sanghyeon.”

* * *
“Inho. Are you okay?”
Knock knock.
The Manager taps on the door and asks.
“Hey. Inho… It’s nothing. That talk show segment… We can just film something else again, right?”
Inho still doesn’t answer.
“Sigh.”
The Manager sighs.
He leaned his back against the door and slid down.
‘What is this.’
Evening Wide. It’s just a talk show.
One that’s been gaining popularity among young people these days.
For SCB, which has lost all its teeth, this talk show is practically a lifeline, but for a Blossom member like Inho, it’s merely one of the fan services.
Of course, for Inho, whose standing in Blossom isn’t at the top, this could be quite a significant variety show appearance… but.
This reaction is rather unexpected.
‘Is it really something to be this depressed about?’
No matter how much of an attention-seeker Inho is, he’s an idol who does his job.
Getting depressed and locking himself away at home because his segment was short? Or unable to control his emotions all day long? That’s not common.
Was his anticipation that high?
A fleeting thought crossed my mind at that moment.
‘Could it be… not just a matter of runtime?’
The Manager seemed to remember something then, rewinding the edited file.
[Rewind 10 seconds]
[Rewind 10 seconds]
As I rewound bit by bit.
I found the part that had felt off.
[Ah, so the three of you greeted each other in the waiting room?]
A perfectly normal scene where all the guests had entered and were asked if they’d greeted each other.
But this was just the beginning.
[Yes! We did earlier! I was already there, and when they came in! The door just opened and they walked out, and I really thought they were an actual actor!]
[Inho~ you did that idol-style greeting again!? Hello! We are Blossom!]
[No. Do you do that even when you’re alone?]
[It’s… a habit…]
‘Here it is.’
This part felt strange.
[Really? Almond?]
Especially when the question turned to Almond in the next moment.
‘Why is Inho’s face zoomed in so much?’
Inho’s face was zoomed in so close it nearly filled the entire screen.
This was the kind of cinematography used in third-rate thrillers when they wanted you to suspect someone of being a criminal.
Add a sound effect like “Shwik!” and zoom in on the eyes, and it becomes a still frame of a morning drama villain.
‘And why does his expression look like that?’
During a live broadcast, it’s difficult to focus on each person’s expression. Everyone’s faces pass by simultaneously.
But the edited version is different. It can show reactions to the same words sequentially, one by one.
When asked if they’d greeted each other, the production team decided to edit Inho’s face in this close-up.
‘So he didn’t greet them.’
The Manager concluded without any additional commentary. It was a common occurrence.
When broadcasting, saying what fits the situation is more important than telling the truth.
Wearing the right mask.
The viewers, the public, demand it from the start.
Inho was the type who had mastered choosing the mask that fit the demand.
‘But this is too obvious.’
However, if the mask is exposed, the story changes.
If the face behind the mask is exposed even slightly, then suddenly that face behind the mask becomes more important than anything else in the world. Even if there was no interest at first.
In other words, viewers want to be perfectly deceived. They don’t want the mask to be removed.
Whether the mask is removed or not.
That standard is truly ambiguous, yet strangely precise.
For example, Inho’s close-up expression right now.
This is precisely the moment the mask was exposed.
If you ask ‘why?’, it’s difficult to express precisely. Yet everyone feels it the same way.
However, the Manager and Inho have a legitimate grievance.
‘But… isn’t this an editing mistake?’
No matter how much of an idol you are, you can’t hide such subtle expressions. There’s no need to hide them either. This level should naturally be edited out.
If it hadn’t been, half of all entertainers wouldn’t have been able to work properly.
So it was only right that it should have been edited.
If….
‘If they weren’t planning to bury Inho.’
If they weren’t deliberately trying to ruin the cast member.
The Manager composed a message to the production team.
[PD. The editing direction is quite different from what we expected. Would a quick call be possible?]
[PD?]
However, the ‘1’ that appeared on the message didn’t disappear until 9 PM that day.
9 PM is the broadcast time for Evening Wide.
Only then did the Manager realize.
‘Ah… something went wrong.’
Going to talk to the higher-ups had actually become poison.

* * *
Around 9:20 PM.
A night when an unseasonable downpour poured down.
Whoooosh!
Raindrops lashed against the smooth curtain wall of the office. The sound of rain was so intense that all the small noises were drowned out.
“Is that Sang-hyun Yu?!”
Yet a voice pierced through that sound.
It was the voice of someone who had once been a Team Leader at the place where Sanghyeon used to work.
Thanks to that, in one of the break rooms at Asung, the commotion of people was exceptionally louder than the sound of rain.
“Sang-hyun Yu?!”
“Huh?!”
Other teams working late heard that voice and came rushing over one by one, making strange sounds.
“Whoa?!”
“Uh uh uh!!”
Only two new employees who didn’t know who Sang-hyun Yu was stared blankly at the spectacle, as if they were having a strange sound-making contest.
“Oh, oh, oh my! What do I do! It’s really Sanghyeon!”
One female employee who had some acquaintance with Sang-hyun Yu made a fuss.
She was the woman they had happened to meet at a company dinner gathering before.
“Sang-hyun Yu?”
“The one who left not long ago?”
“Him? The one who had a huge blowout with Department Manager Park and left?”
Employees gathered one by one, driven by inflated rumors and curiosity that had grown even more bloated.
“Is that Sang-hyun Yu?”
“He’s just a kid.”
“It’s archival footage. Archival footage. From when Sanghyeon was an archer.”
“What? An archer??”
“Was it just a hobby?”
“That’s an expensive hobby. And he got into the company through nepotism too.”
The young Sanghyeon on screen wore a white uniform that suited him better than any other outfit could have.
Unlike the current weather, that day in the footage was a bright summer with warm sunlight streaming down.
As if bothered by the sunlight, Sanghyeon fiddled with his white cap for a moment.
Creak.
He drew the bowstring.
As the bowstring reflected the sunlight, gleaming particularly brightly.
Twang!
The arrow that had flown off struck the center of the target.
“…?”
“!?”
The expressions of the employees watching shifted, becoming identical to those of the talk show guests reflected briefly at the bottom of the screen.

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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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