Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 226

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

Infinite Talent Reset Life Episode 226

57. Birth of a Masterpiece

Smooch.

I kiss sleeping Emily’s forehead and head outside.

“Ugh!”

The cool dawn air awakening my body that slept through the night.

Crack! Crackle!

I twist my body this way and that as I head to the Sculpture Building.

I put on an apron, place goggles on my head, hook a mask over one ear, and stand in front of the laptop.

‘Let’s see…’

“I guess everyone’s sleeping right now… Huh? It ended?”

It’s completely logged out.

What happened? Did someone mess with it during the night, or was there a power outage?

“Or is there some kind of time limit?”

On real-time live streaming.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing…”

If there is, it becomes troublesome.

This streaming was originally for an alibi, to leave evidence that I accomplished everything from start to finish without anyone’s help, so if it gets cut off midway, who knows what people might say.

“Tsk.”

Johann clicks his tongue and logs in again.

“Sculpture… broadcast. Done.”

Click!

Johann turns on the streaming and waves his hand at the camera.

“Is it showing properly…”

Wolf Wife has entered.

Wolf One Love has entered.

… has entered.

… has entered.

… has entered.

“What, what?!”

What is this?

Entry notifications suddenly shooting up like crazy.

And intermittent chats like ‘Hello?’, ‘I knew you’d start at this time!’

The viewer count also rises steeply.

100,000, 400,000, 2 million…

Pop!

“Oh. It went off.”

The broadcast didn’t just end, it logged out completely.

Johann scratches his cheek.

“What… just happened?”

Something he couldn’t even imagine had definitely happened.

Buzz!

Startled, Johann checks his mobile phone.

“Why is the Director calling at this hour? Hello?”

-You turned on the broadcast.

“Oh…”

Johann had already said he would do real-time streaming on Twitch.

“So I didn’t see wrong just now?”

The viewer count that had surpassed 2 million.

“Then my account logging out was also?”

-Yes. When you showed your face at the end yesterday…

Among the 5,000 viewers, someone recognized Johann, and they spread this news to the community, causing Wolfies to gather.

“Ah?”

Now I understand what happened.

The fan club Wolfies, which surpassed 3 million members in America alone. The server crashed due to the sudden traffic surge like a payment rush.

“Hmm. So I can’t broadcast now?”

-Well… wait. Twitch is calling.

“Yes, understood.”

As it switches to hold music, Johann puts down his mobile phone and logs in again.

“Let me just log in first…”

-…hear me? Johann?

“Yes. I’m listening.”

-Twitch says they’re grateful you chose their platform and asks for just 30 minutes.

They say they’ll expand their servers enough to smoothly stream even if 10 million people connect simultaneously.

‘That much isn’t necessary…’

Even combining all Wolfies worldwide, there are only about 5 million. I can’t imagine all of them connecting simultaneously.

“No, they might actually connect.”

Just moments ago, the viewer count surpassed 2 million.

This number was created in just one day after it became known that I was broadcasting, so if more time passes and it becomes more widely known, who knows what might happen.

“Honestly, I wondered how many would actually watch…”

-Haha. Exactly.

Unlike other streamers, streaming that only involves sculpting while wearing a mask and goggles without any communication.

Naturally, I didn’t even expect people to watch, but suddenly about 5,000 viewers flocked in and it became like this.

“Did you happen to find out why?”

-Looking into it, 80 percent of those 5,000 viewers were currently retired soldiers, soldiers who had been deployed overseas to places like Afghanistan. I’ll send you a link via messenger now.

At those words, I access messenger and click the link to connect to a site.

Veterans community.

“Ah.”

It was sound therapy, just as Johann thought.

“Insomnia…”

‘PTSD.’

Posts from retired soldiers suffering from insomnia due to post-traumatic stress disorder, saying they could sleep soundly for 3-4 hours listening to Johann’s relentless grinder sounds mixed with insect and wind sounds.

Johann presses down his trembling heart.

“Deployed soldiers watching me… listening to those sounds…”

Heroes who shed sweat, blood, and soul for America’s and the world’s security.

“I was just trying to leave evidence.”

‘They said it felt like the few peaceful nights they had…’

My chest feels tight.

My thoughts multiply.

Chats expressing regret that they won’t be able to keep hearing the grinder sounds since I’ll need to communicate with fans now stick in my eyes.

“Andrew Director.”

-I’m listening.

“To Twitch…”

Johann spoke the words that came to mind.

“Johann’s Sculpture Broadcast.”

Click!

As soon as the broadcast starts, the viewer count surges again.

Viewer entry notifications and their chats go up by thousands per second, making Johann’s eyes dizzy. No, he can’t even read them.

Johann furrows his brow.

“Yeah, good morning everyone? I’m fine too, so first, everyone stop chatting. It’ll crash again. If you don’t listen, I won’t stream anymore. You know my personality, right?”

-Everyone take your hands off the keyboards!

… has entered the room.

… has entered the room.

-You know he’s the type who does what he says! Please don’t write anything!

… has entered the room.

… has entered the room.

… has entered the room.

… has entered the room.

Only then does the chat window fill with a stream of entry notifications.

Johann takes a deep breath and hardens his expression.

“Hello, this is Johann Jefferson. I express my deep gratitude to all of you who came to watch someone like me stream at this early hour. The reason I suddenly started streaming is…”

Johann speaks openly about why he started the live stream.

The Wolfies who are momentarily moved quickly type in chat, but Johann ignores it.

“So I’m sorry to the Wolfies who came here to communicate with me, but there will probably be very little conversation between us during this stream.”

If there is any, it will only be between 4 and 5 PM.

Before that, he won’t respond to anything they say, and he’ll block all donations.

Everything else is free. He doesn’t care what the Wolfies talk about among themselves.

“Also, Twitch is operating a separate relay stream for traffic distribution, so those who can’t enter the main room can watch there. Of course, even if you ask questions at the designated time there, I won’t be able to check them, so I can’t communicate with you.”

There must be some deployed soldiers who want to talk only among themselves.

‘Those people aren’t my fans. Even if they try to chat, they won’t be able to follow the conversation topics.’

This was what Johann had just requested from Andrew Pearson, or rather Twitch, for the deployed soldiers.

‘If we specifically tell deployed soldiers to go to the relay room, there will definitely be people who follow them there to harass them.’

So he hides the fact that deployed soldiers are watching.

“Those who have been watching my stream from the beginning will know what I mean. Then… I’ll have exactly one hour of Q&A time.”

The moment he says that.

Swoosh.

Warm warmth wrapping around his neck over his shoulders from behind and tickling breath touching his ear.

“Honey, what are you doing. You said you wouldn’t communicate…”

Emily’s sleepy expression hardens as she looks at the laptop.

Johann grins.

“Congratulations, Emily. You just showed your bare face to 4 million people.”

Honestly, it’s not completely bare-faced.

Emily still doesn’t show him her complete bare face, so she sleeps with makeup that looks like she’s wearing some but not really.

But even that was bad enough.

“…?!”

Emily lets out a soundless scream and hurriedly runs away, and Johann smacks his lips.

“Ah, she ran away.”

The chat window goes crazy.

“Then I’ll take the last question. I’m sorry too, but I can’t do any more.”

It’s very regrettable.

More than that, he feels sorry.

‘To react this much…’

Even though he slowed down the chat speed, dozens of messages were still coming up every second.

Thinking about why, this is the first time. Communicating with fans like this.

So he feels sorry and apologetic.

And so his mouth opens automatically.

“Instead, I’m planning to hold a fan meeting in December.”

Once in the Western States, once in the east.

He had promised to hold a fan meeting after composing a dedication song for Japanese fans, but it was a promise that wasn’t kept. This time he feels he must keep it.

“You’ve waited a long time, haven’t you?”

He doesn’t make excuses about the album release.

“I’m really sorry and sorry again, but I hope you can bear with just this for today.”

The Wolfies who were excited about the news that he would continue communicating tomorrow, the day after, and for at least the next two weeks finally calm down.

“Then the last question is…”

Chat messages rapidly rising again.

Johann barely manages to read one of them.

“Are you going to sell that sculpture? Well…”

He hadn’t thought that far.

“I don’t think I’ll keep it at home though.”

Whether it’s the main house or another building, it’s too big to bring inside, and if he leaves it outside, the work will be damaged if it rains.

“I’ll probably put it at the Rockies or Malibu Hotel? Yeah. If someone wants it, I might sell it. Alright, that’s the end of Q&A. Everyone have a good commute to work and school.”

Johann puts on his mask and goggles, stands up, picks up the grinder, and stands in front of the sculpture again.

Whirrrr! Scrape scrape scrape!

The dead skin attached here and there on the sculpture and the still uneven surfaces begin to be mercilessly carved away.

* * *

Whirrrr! Whirrrr!

His pounding heart settles down.

He feels it was worth waiting so hard.

“Really… what an admirable person.”

He’s not talking about the millions of fans or talent.

‘He considered us.’

A separate relay room where communication with Johann is completely impossible.

It might be a misunderstanding. It might just be his imagination.

However, he felt that the reason Johann created that relay room was to consider viewers like himself who came here seeking the sound of grinders, insects, and wind.

“To have such a heart despite succeeding so much at such a young age…”

The young man is truly remarkable.

Remembering that he had protected such a friend fills him with tremendous pride.

His fallen self-esteem rises.

Clank.

The feeling of one of the things that always constricted his chest falling away. Relief.

The scent of the battlefield that always lingered seems to fade just a little.

So he becomes slightly anxious. He wants to express this gratitude, but all donations are blocked.

‘What should I do? Chat feels insufficient somehow… Should I write a letter?’

As Jack ponders, the earlier Q&A between Johann and a fan crosses his mind.

Jack looks at the sculpture that has become even more magnificent than before and narrows his eyes.

“He said he might sell the sculpture…”

‘…Let’s gather opinions.’

Ask colleagues who, like himself, gained emotion and peace of mind about buying that sculpture.

Create a fund and pool money together to purchase it.

“And donate it to a veterans association.”

Donate it to veterans associations like the American Legion that help veterans or administrative agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Wondering how expensive a sculpture could be, Jack posted on the community again.

Meanwhile, at Twitch headquarters in San Francisco.

“Traffic is stabilizing!”

“Streamer Johann…”

Peak viewer count: approximately 4.73 million.

Current viewer count: 2.87 million.

Even though Q&A ended, the viewer count hovers around 2.8 million.

Everyone gapes at this.

“Has there ever been… such a viewer count before?”

A balding White Man in his early thirties, Emmett Shear, founder and CEO of Twitch, stares at the numbers in amazement.

“That can’t be right….”

The Twitch executives gathered in the California regional streamer monitoring team laugh in disbelief.

Absolutely not. This has gone beyond that level.

This year’s highest concurrent viewership across all of Twitch was 2.09 million. That’s the total combined viewership of everyone watching the entire Twitch platform.

The average concurrent viewership is 550,000.

Yet Johann alone mobilized more viewers than both of these metrics combined.

Considering that a streamer called Sodapoppin made headlines in 2015 for drawing over 43,000 viewers while streaming blackjack, this is truly an absurd record.

It’s been maintained for several hours now, and judging by the current atmosphere, it seems like it will continue for at least the two weeks Johann mentioned.

The volume of the massive platform called Twitch has more than doubled.

Without any promotion whatsoever.

Because of a single star.

CEO Emmett Shear’s mind, his instincts as an investor and manager, spring into fierce action.

“First, what we need to do is….”

“Secure that person.”

Even if it’s just a few days a year, it doesn’t matter. We need to beg him to broadcast occasionally like this.

“I’ll start making a plaque of appreciation. And….”

‘What should we do?’

What else should we do besides the appreciation plaque?

Since he had only vaguely imagined that something like this might happen someday when Twitch became famous, his mind doesn’t quite work properly.

But that’s only momentary.

They’re people who run businesses too. Soon they find the best method.

“Let’s have Twitch purchase that sculpture, Emmett.”

Flinch!

Emmett Shear deliberately hardens his expression.

“Are you suggesting we get on our knees and beg?”

“No.”

The executives shake their heads firmly.

“Do you know how much that building in Silver Lake is worth, with the story of a world watched by stars painted on it?”

50 million dollars.

Originally it wouldn’t have been worth even 2 million dollars, but such value was assigned when combining the artistic merit of the murals painted on every floor, Robert Burton’s reputation, and the influence on the surrounding area.

And even this is the minimum.

It’s a landmark of LA and a symbol of the Silver Lake Hispanic Enclave. How much did real estate values jump because of that? Anyone who sells it for just 50 million dollars would be an idiot.

With Johann’s shocking revelation added to that, the value must be skyrocketing even more.

And what about the “Fire Is Always Watching Us” mural at the Los Angeles Fire Department Museum, another landmark that made tremendous contributions to increasing LA’s fire department budget?

The mural whose value soared due to the movie “Fire Is Always Watching Us” starring Johann. Even this has been revealed to have Johann as the original creator, so its value must be rising even more.

This is a sculpture officially made first, no, second by that Johann.

“Even if we bring that sculpture to our Company Lobby, we won’t get as much effect as those murals….”

With the completeness and artistry that catches the eye even though it hasn’t even been refined yet, plus Johann’s fame.

“It’s definitely worth investing in.”

‘That’s the right answer.’

It’s exactly the answer Emmett Shear came up with.

The effect of killing two birds with one stone.

He nodded.

“Sound out Rocky Management about it. After that sculpture is completely finished.”

Asking about purchase intentions now would be too obvious.

“Yes!”

Emmett Shear smiled quietly as he gazed at the sculpture left behind after Johann’s exit.

There’s something he failed to realize.

That there could be more people thinking like him, and that the number is tremendously larger than he thinks.

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