The Regressor Plays the Game Too Well - Chapter 65

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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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Episode 65
Episode 65
‘Looks like I’ll only be seeing Young-jin.’
I’d invited the other friends too, but apparently none of them could make it.
Well, they’re either still students or working their first jobs, so it makes sense.
But our job-hunting Young-jin is different!
Since he hasn’t landed a position yet, his schedule is wide open, so he said he’d come right away.
He mentioned it would take about ten minutes, so I’d arrived at the Korean BBQ Restaurant early and taken a seat.
I’d naturally sent him the location too.
Of course, there’s one thing I do while sitting here.
My phone.
What else would I do at a time like this?
Anyway.
‘The comments are absolutely furious.’
I haven’t uploaded a video in nearly two days.
Everyone’s going crazy.
They’re all speculating that I’ll be the one in the auction.
I know it well.
But still.
It’s just too bothersome.
Beyond the hassle, the efficiency is terrible.
The early days were fine, but now I make this much just from gaming.
And I’m supposed to edit the videos myself too?
The efficiency is abysmal.
I could make so much more if I spent that time gaming instead.
Maybe I should start looking for an editor soon.
‘Still, the response is good for now.’
-Give us the next video right now!
-Please!
-Upload the video!
-Seriously, other Pantheon streamers upload one every two days and nobody bats an eye, but Hwang Gyeong-ma-jeol acts like he’s dying if he doesn’t upload for two days.
└Hey! Don’t be ungrateful! Some other streamers upload two a day!
└Yeah. That’s the truth!
-I really want to watch every day.
The fact that they’re so angry like that.
It just means they care about Jin-woo that much.
It’s not bad, but it still felt a bit awkward.
I should probably start looking soon.
‘I need to see if there’s anyone suitable.’
Before regression, I’d been doing it myself after all.
I’d delegated some tasks before, but I preferred to handle most of it myself.
Since I made my living through videos, I figured I knew my own entertainment value better than anyone else.
That wasn’t wrong, exactly.
But that was then.
Now I’d reached a point where money flowed in effortlessly just from playing the game.
The situation had genuinely changed.
‘Should the next video be when I take on the Orc Karan Quest?’
I wondered if the progression was moving too fast.
But Han Yu-na’s party had already encountered the Quest.
I wouldn’t reveal the Quest details, of course.
But information would inevitably leak during the process of hunting down Orc Karan.
I’d love to make the next video about Orc Karan.
The only problem was that the process would be lengthy and tedious to edit.
‘Since I defeated Orc Karan so quickly, I need to show the process in detail to make the video entertaining.’
If I uploaded a video of me one-shotting Orc Karan right away, the reaction would be great.
But the video length would be short.
That would hurt my revenue.
I needed to show the process and let viewers naturally immerse themselves.
That’s how I’d create the video.
I couldn’t hire an editor right now.
I’d have to handle the editing for this video myself.
Next time, I’d find an editor somehow.
‘I need to evaluate not just skill, but character too.’
While Jin-woo was thinking this way,
someone in the distance waved and called out.
“Hey! Jin-woo!”
“Oh!”
Young-jin said he’d be here in ten minutes.
Looks like he came earlier than expected.
It seemed like he’d run here.
Still, it was nice to see him after so long.
Jin-woo chuckled softly, and Young-jin chuckled back.
“Why are you suddenly calling people out in the middle of the day?”
“I just thought we should hang out if you had time!”
“Tch, so that’s why only I showed up. Well, I’m the only one job hunting anyway. Everyone else is busy.”
He looked somewhat bitter about it.
But Young-jin had always been someone who managed things well on his own.
I wasn’t worried.
This period was just a bit difficult, but he’d done well afterward.
That’s how it was before the regression.
What was it that this guy did again?
I can’t quite remember, but as long as he’s eating well and living well, that’s all that matters.
“Still, it’s nice to see you after so long.”
“Right. I haven’t seen you since I was discharged from the military. How many months has it been?”
“Hehehehe, exactly. Anyway, did you order the food?”
“No, not yet. I’ll go order it. Today’s my treat, so don’t worry and just eat.”
“Huh? Where did you get money from?”
That reaction was only natural, of course.
He’d only recently been discharged and had just started living on his own.
Until recently, he’d been saying money was tight.
So it was understandable to be taken aback when he suddenly offered to buy dinner.
Hehe, but today was different.
Thinking of my healthy bank balance, I chuckled and spoke.
“Hey, call me hyung.”
“What are you saying, you crazy bastard?”
“What, you don’t want to welcome the beef!?”
“What, beef?”
Watching Young-jin’s bewildered expression, I laughed with triumphant pride.
Seeing his expression asking what on earth was going on, I answered.
“Let me go order first. I’ll explain then.”
“Alright. Haha, what’s going on…”
Leaving Young-jin, still bewildered, behind.
Since it was a butcher shop where you had to select the meat yourself, I went to the counter and picked out appropriate cuts of beef.
Of course, Korean beef with two horns would be like this.
The price was astronomical, but who was I!
This much wasn’t wasteful at all.
Before the regression, before I’d achieved moderate success with the Pantheon.
Young-jin was the one who’d helped me the most.
We’d been friends since kindergarten.
Nearly twenty years of friendship.
Not wasteful in the slightest.
“Whoa! Crazy, why did you order so much meat!?”
“Hey, it’s fine. Your hyung’s been making good money, kid.”
“No, what are you doing to make that happen?”
He genuinely had no idea.
Well, he couldn’t help it.
Who would imagine making serious profits through the Pantheon?
I’d dragged this out long enough. Time to tell him.
Otherwise he’d get angry.
“The thing is, I’ve made some money through the Pantheon.”
“Ah! Yeah, that game’s no joke these days. They’re calling it the best virtual reality game out there, right?”
“That’s right. I’ve made some decent money from it myself.”
“Well, you’ve always been incredible at games since you were young. Kids from other classes at school used to swarm around wanting to compete against you.”
“Yeah, that happened.”
I explained briefly while beginning to grill the meat.
Being beef, the fat dripped steadily across the grate.
We both swallowed hard, our mouths watering.
Gulp.
The charcoal fire heated the wire mesh grill, creating a latticed cooking surface.
As I placed the meat on it, a delicious sizzle filled the air.
Sizzzzz.
The surface gradually turned a rich brown, so I flipped it to the other side.
Once it was cooked through, I cut it into bite-sized pieces.
Juices dripped steadily from the tender meat.
I wanted to eat it immediately.
But it needed to cook a bit longer.
How much time had passed since cutting it?
A single piece of the succulent sirloin, still glistening with juice.
I placed it in my mouth along with a slice of onion dressed in sauce.
The juices burst across my palate.
“Wow.”
“What the—”
“Mmm.”
The flavor was so exquisite that only exclamations escaped us.
Despite meeting after so long, we barely exchanged words.
Our focus remained entirely on the food before us.
And of course, we couldn’t forget the alcohol.
Drinking now would be day drinking, but omitting it would feel incomplete.
I ordered a bottle of soju and we each poured a glass.
Ah, this is paradise.
Where else could paradise be?
“Heh heh.”
“Mmm, this is absolutely delicious.”
Once our stomachs had filled to a certain point.
We both exhaled as if we might burst.
“Phew, this is seriously so good, isn’t it?”
“Want more?”
“I thought it would be too rich to keep eating, but it just keeps going down.”
“That’s because of the wasabi.”
“Ah, yeah, that makes sense.”
After exchanging such trivial banter,
perhaps the alcohol was starting to loosen their tongues?
The conversation gradually shifted toward more serious matters.
“Hey, I’m just glad things are working out for you.”
“Haha, thanks.”
“I’m still stuck without a job and it’s frustrating. I’m jealous.”
“Come on! You’ll do great. You’re the most diligent one among us.”
“Pfft, I know that myself, but it’s still tough, you know?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
Young-jin had always carried himself with confidence,
but prolonged unemployment inevitably bred anxiety and hardship.
Jin-woo tossed back a shot of soju in response to Young-jin’s words.
The soju was almost sweet rather than bitter.
I’ve got something big tomorrow.
I should pace myself.
More importantly,
“Young-jin, what field are you looking into anyway?”
“Oh, now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve ever told you.”
Come to think of it, that was true.
Ever since their school days, Young-jin had never been one to talk much about himself.
That was just how Young-jin was.
He was always quick to counsel others through their troubles,
yet rarely opened up about his own struggles.
A dependable friend.
This time, I thought I’d return the favor.
“You never talk about yourself, you know.”
“Heh, I suppose that’s true.”
“So what kind of work are you looking into?”
Young-jin let out a small laugh at my words and tossed back another shot.
Since I rarely pressed him like this,
he seemed uncomfortable.
He was probably using the alcohol as an excuse to open up.
“Ahem.”
After downing the soju and taking a bite of food,
he finally spoke.
“Well, I’ve been looking into video editing work since they say it has good prospects lately….”
“Hmm?”
“But it’s already a red ocean, so jobs are hard to come by. Plus, there are tons of people with just certifications who are highly skilled, and lots of graduates from vocational schools doing the same thing, so it’s even harder to find work.”
“I see….”
At my sigh, Young-jin chuckled as well.
Lately, there are plenty of people trying to get into video editing.
I figured such a reaction was only natural.
As Pantheon streamers multiplied, editors proliferated even faster.
The truly skilled ones always commanded respect.
But now that the market had become oversaturated, landing a job had grown brutally difficult.
There were simply too many talented people out there.
Young-jin assumed Jin-woo was thinking along the same lines and let it slide.
However.
“Hey, can I see some of your editing work?”
“Huh? All of a sudden?”
“Yeah, show me something.”
Why was he suddenly asking for this?
Young-jin wondered as he reached for his phone.
He had some samples, but showing them felt embarrassing.
As he hesitated.
Jin-woo pressed urgently.
“Come on, hurry.”
“Fine, fine. Here it is. I’m so embarrassed.”
It felt like displaying his own artwork.
The shame was real.
He never expected his friend to actually watch his videos.
Jin-woo watched for a long moment, then swallowed hard.
Young-jin tensed slightly, watching Jin-woo’s reaction carefully.
And Jin-woo thought.
‘Insane.’
The video quality far exceeded his expectations, prompting another gulp.
This was way better than what he could do.
And Jin-woo had been editing videos for years while streaming.
Yet Young-jin surpassed him by a wide margin?
That meant he could handle the work immediately!
Jin-woo returned the phone, his eyes gleaming as he looked at Young-jin.
Then he asked.
“Hey, want to be my editor?”
“What?”
The proposal came completely out of nowhere.
But wasn’t that how these things usually went?
“Come on! Friends working together isn’t weird.”
Both Young-jin and Jin-woo knew they weren’t the type to let work damage their friendship.
Still, you never knew what might happen.
But you never know, right?
Besides, how could I work while receiving a salary from a friend?
There was something apologetic about it, a nagging sense of guilt.
But….
“500 a month.”
“So, what should I start editing first?”
Even that guilt crumbled pathetically before the promise of 500 a month.
Birds of a feather, truly.
Young-jin and I were cut from the same cloth.
* * *
-Hey, seriously, thanks so much! I’ll make sure to produce two videos a day for you! I’m pretty fast!
“Yeah. Hey! I just sent you the video, so check it out!”
-Okay! But I never imagined you were with Hwang Gyeong-ma-jeol. No wonder you’re throwing around 500 a month. Seriously, thanks! I mean, I just went out to chat with a friend, and I didn’t expect to land a job like this.
“Don’t feel pressured—I hired you because I saw your skills!”
-Got it! I’ll send them right away!
After hanging up once I got home, I chuckled to myself.
Young-jin, that guy could do video editing.
And his skills were genuinely impressive too.
That’s probably why he lived well even before the regression.
With video editing skills this good.
He likely landed a job quickly and built up quite a reputation.
Anyway, I’d found my editor this way.
‘I should focus on learning more skills, then.’
Once I mastered the other basic skills, I’d be able to take down a boss with Han Yu-na’s party.
They said it would take some time to defeat the boss.
But I had no idea how long it would actually take.
For now, it seemed like learning the skills would be the way to go.
I logged into the Pantheon with that thought in mind.
That’s when I saw an unexpected message.
[Yuna: We’re planning to take down the boss tomorrow at 2 PM. Would that time work for you?]
‘Roughly a day?’
That was plenty of time.
I figured I could learn all the basic skills in that window.

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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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