Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 376

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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 96
34. My Profession (2)
Juhyeok’s Father always spoke this way.
「The Company doesn’t teach you anything. You must understand it yourself and navigate through it. With agency and purpose.」
Perhaps because he was the CEO of a corporation, he always imparted lessons by drawing parallels to company life.
For example, like this.
「Don’t act recklessly. If you behave that way after entering society, you’ll fall behind immediately.」
If one simply replaced the word “company” that he spoke of with “the world,” it wouldn’t be wrong at all.
It’s certainly true that one must live in the world with agency and purpose.
He also said things like this frequently.
「If you listen well to your parents, there’s nothing you’ll lack in this world.」
This too was true.
According to their words, there was nothing lacking.
Whenever my mother’s friends would visit, they’d always say it like this.
「Juhyeok is tall, has fine features, went to a prestigious university and even got into Asung Corporation… You really have nothing to want for.」
Where was there anything wrong with this?
It was all true.
Unless one nitpicked down to the dust itself, every word was true. Anyone who did nitpick would be treated as overly sensitive and strange.
That’s the terrifying thing about such words.
You don’t realize it at first.
The dust quietly accumulates throughout the span of your life.
The dust that gathers little by little gradually thickens, hardens, and becomes a mountain.
It reaches a point where it can no longer be brushed away easily—to remove it, you’d need a bulldozer and dynamite.
Juhyeok is an intelligent person.
Because of that, when he saw this enormous mountain that had accumulated in his consciousness, he didn’t remain still.
He wasn’t the type to do nothing, saying it was already too late.
From some point onward, whenever he discovered even the smallest spark, he would immediately transfer it to the fuse of a bomb.
Crackle.
‘That’s wrong. The subject.’
First, he found a contradiction in his mother’s friend’s words.
「Juhyeok is tall, has fine features, went to a prestigious university and even got into Asung Corporation… You really have nothing to want for.」
The subject of “having nothing to want for” isn’t Juhyeok. It’s his mother.
It’s not that Juhyeok’s life has nothing lacking—rather, isn’t it saying that his mother, who raised such a Juhyeok, has nothing lacking?
The reality that Juhyeok experienced was exactly the same.
Even attending a prestigious university, even working at Asung, his life never improved.
Only the life of the person named Juhyeok Kim that others saw was improving.
Only his nameplate became more splendid.
And the owner of that nameplate was always his parents.
‘A vicious contradiction.’
Crackle.
Juhyeok turned over his father’s words in his mind once more.
「A company isn’t a place that teaches you anything. You figure things out yourself and navigate through them. Act with agency.」
「Don’t act on a whim. If you carry on like that after entering society, you’ll fall behind immediately.」
Act with agency. Don’t act on a whim.
Both statements were true enough.
But when you connected these two sentences, they became something else entirely.
‘Become a robot that acts on its own initiative.’
Become a robot that accomplishes what the master wants without being told each time.
Whether the person who spoke these words intended it that way or not.
That’s what they had become.
It was around the time I was spending my final year during five years at the company.
Already by then, I was thinking like this.
Negating and revising each word I had heard up until that point.
I created a new version of myself.
「Once you enter a private high school, do as you wish.」
「Once you get into a prestigious university, you can do as you please. But not until then.」
「Apply to graduate schools in America. Don’t think about anything else. Do you know how many families can even offer this kind of support?」
「You have to get a job at least. First you need to go out into society and learn—only then can you start your own business.」
「After that, do as you wish.」
A bitter smile spread across Juhyeok’s lips.
‘And then comes marriage?’
*Crackle.*
The wick he had lit was long, so very long.
But no matter how long a wick burned, if the flame kept burning, eventually it would consume everything.
So the path I chose was simply to leave home without hesitation.
Honestly, I had no plan at first.
A manager? I didn’t even know what that meant.
I just went to a friend I knew well enough, someone who lived alone and seemed comfortable with themselves.
And it happened that he was also the person who completely ignited my spark.
I owed him a debt of gratitude.
So I wished for his success, and naturally became his manager.
Watching him chase a dream—or rather, something resembling a dream—even if late, I corrected myself.
Of course, I haven’t finished correcting myself yet.
I had blown apart such a towering mountain that dust was flying everywhere and the state of things was beyond description.
It would take ages just to clean it up.
But eventually it will all be cleaned up. Just as his wick eventually burned out completely.
In the end, the natural order is fulfilled.
And as if that natural order was putting my current self to the test, a question fell upon me.
“Hey. Juhyeok. What are you doing these days? Who was that lady from before?”
The Manager standing before me asked the question once again.
I’m Sang-hyun Yu’s manager right now.
The words never left his lips. Juhyeok clenched his tightly closed mouth.
‘But this is my current position.’
He chose to accept it.
Starting over from the bottom. The self he had created anew, or rather, was still creating.
He decided to speak with confidence.
That Juhyeok Kim—a complete, independent person freed from his father’s shadow and Asong’s halo—stood here now.
Exhale.
‘Don’t stammer. Say it all at once.’
He released a shallow breath and spoke without hesitation.
“I’m Sanghyeon’s manager.”
Manager.
No one considers this profession particularly impressive.
There are news stories about celebrity managers being abused and beaten by their clients, but there are no stories of managers building remarkable achievements and becoming famous.
Besides, their earnings are predictable. Even managers who appear in the media earn less than white-collar workers at major corporations like Asong.
The comparison falls short by a shameful margin.
Juhyeok’s current earnings weren’t high either. He matched Sanghyeon’s salary from when he had a regular job, but he refused any distribution beyond that.
Not out of pride.
A manager receiving more than that doesn’t make sense. That’s not payment—it’s charity scraps.
He’d just stopped eating the scraps his parents threw his way. He couldn’t accept eating scraps from Sang-hyun Yu.
If he wanted economic advancement, Juhyeok had to move on his own and start a business. But he hadn’t even begun that yet.
So now, economically and in social reputation, Juhyeok had nothing over the people before him.
No—he fell far short.
The ace they once admired had become this, so everyone’s eyes filled with bewilderment.
“…?”
“Man, manager?”
“What… is that like a part-time job or something?”
Some people didn’t understand at all. Or pretended not to.
Juhyeok didn’t shrink back. He didn’t bother avoiding their questioning and sarcastic gazes.
“A streamer’s manager. Like a celebrity manager.”
“…!”
Now that he’d made it clear, they fell silent.
He continued as if to make them remember.
“I planned this entire fan meeting, and I’ve been involved from almost the beginning. I’m thinking of starting my own company later.”
Remember this beginning. When I shine later, don’t forget this start.
“Ah…”
“Ouh… t, tough work, man.”
“Really doesn’t know the world….”
They didn’t understand.
The weight his decision carried.
And they would eventually have to make the same deliberations and choices he had made.
But they wouldn’t care about it now.
Only when Juhyeok shone with a light that no one could ignore would they begin to pay attention.
Just as they do now with Sanghyeon.
The employees laughed awkwardly, as if trying to dispel the tension in the air.
“But if Juhyeok is the manager, can we go in there too?”
“Oh man! Me too! Me too! Juhyeok! Can I go in as well!?”
Juhyeok answered with a cheerful laugh.
“No.”

* * *
After Sang-hyun’s colleagues had left.
The fan meeting was already more than halfway through, and Almond had already taken over a hundred photos.
Juhyeok sat down at an empty table in a corner of the first floor to catch his breath.
“This is exhausting.”
He buried his head for a moment, wanting to rest his eyes. It wasn’t so much that he was tired—he simply wanted to stop looking at the world for a while.
‘…Did I really need to mention starting a company?’
I’m still impatient.
Juhyeok regretted the unnecessary addition he’d made to his earlier statement.
He should have just said he was a manager. That’s what he is now, after all. Talking about starting a company, about being there from the beginning….
Wasn’t it like he was struggling to say, “I’m not just an ordinary manager!”?
They probably noticed it too.
‘Or was it actually good that I said that much?’
“You did well.”
Surprisingly, an answer came from somewhere. Someone sat down beside him and patted his back.
It was Jia.
Juhyeok asked while still keeping his head buried.
Did she know something and say that? Or was she talking about something else entirely?
“What did I do well?”
“Just. Everything. Today was really perfect.”
Ah. She was talking about the fan meeting preparations.
Still, it was comforting to hear.
“Of course, the videos I made were pretty amazing too….”
Juhyeok lifted his buried head and looked at Jia.
“…?”
In that moment, he forgot what he was about to say.
Jia tilted her head, looking at him blankly.
“Why are you looking at me like you’re so surprised? Can’t I brag a little?”
“No. It’s not that.”
“?”
“You look really beautiful today.”
I meant it sincerely.
Had she always looked like this?
Jia’s face, which had been staring at me intently, flushed deeply. A brief silence filled only by the pounding of her heart.
Jia burst into laughter.
“Don’t say ridiculous things.”
“They just come out. Naturally.”
Jia laughed again.
“Do they teach you lines at prestigious universities?”
“I don’t need to memorize. It just comes out. Naturally.”
Like the countless fans here, we both laughed and chatted.
“They said they’d introduce us today. I dressed up a bit for it.”
“A bit?”
“Yeah. Just a teensy bit.”
Hahaha.
Amidst the clamor of the bustling bar, our voices reached each other with surprising clarity—as if we were whispering directly into each other’s ears.
“But what are we supposed to do out there? I can’t do that kind of thing.”
“Who knows. Almond’s the main character. We’ll just say we’re Hodu and Peanut.”
“Why did I suddenly become Peanut?”
“That’s all that’s left.”
Hehe.
Listening to Jia’s laughter burst out again.
Juhyeok suddenly felt a strange question arise.
‘By the way, who did I meet earlier?’
I couldn’t remember.
Surprisingly, I had no idea who the colleagues I’d met earlier were.
I could remember the Manager, but who was next to him…
It felt like something from a year ago.
Soon after, I even forgot the fact that I’d forgotten.
‘…What was I thinking about?’
After all, my vision and mind were filled with this beautiful woman before me. For now, I needed nothing more than this.
Then a voice rang out.
“Alright! We’ve finished signing for the last 100 fans! Now if everyone takes their assigned seats, we’ll hand out chicken, beer, cola—everything!”
The emcee was shouting from the railing on the second floor.
“And throughout the event, Almond will be shooting arrows with you at our mini archery range! Don’t worry about drinking and shooting—the arrows are blunt. Enjoy a one-on-one archery date with Almond──”
“Waaaaaaah!”
At the word “date,” the fans’ cheers rang out loudly.
Jia and I lock eyes and smile. The reaction is so good.
“Now, now! Before that! Almond hasn’t been active alone, right? Those of you who know already know, right? The colleagues who made Almond what he is today! Let’s take some time to introduce our team!”
Now?
The two of us freeze, unable to move, staring directly at each other. However, the host doesn’t grant us that moment.
“Come on out! Juhyeok! Jia!”

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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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