The Rice-Eating Hero’s Capitalist Streaming - Chapter 5

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

The Capitalist Streaming of a Freeloading Hero

Episode 5

The Game of Constellations [Lyka]

Today at the Gate Management Bureau, I had two things to do.

First was obviously currency exchange, and second was Hunter registration.

Hunter registration wasn’t something I had to do immediately, but I’d need it anyway to enter the ‘Tower’ later.

While the Tower in the Other World was managed by fairies, the Tower on the Korean server was managed by the Korean government.

And honestly, there was no reason not to register as a Hunter.

Once I did this, I wouldn’t have to come all the way to Seoul Station anymore – I could exchange LP and KRW anytime, anywhere.

“What can I help you with?”

“I’d like to exchange currency first.”

Anyway, I should start with the currency exchange.

After today, there would be absolutely no more secretly using Mother’s daughter’s transportation card.

[Registering player name ‘Dave’s account in the system.]

[Current LP holdings: 53LP]

[Current exchange rate for 1LP: ₩10,357]

[You can exchange up to 53LP.]

[Please enter the amount to exchange.]

I exchanged everything except 10LP, and after fees, about 445,000 won was deposited into my account.

Why did I keep 10LP?

“Shall I proceed with Hunter registration right away?”

“Please do.”

It was for the Hunter registration fee.

It was a precious 100,000 won, but there was no choice.

[You have been registered in the Hunter Registry of South Korea.]

[You can now use the ‘Exchange’ function.]

[You can now use the ‘Item Trading Post’ function.]

…omitted…

[You have been onboarded to the ‘Streaming System’.]

Seeing the System Messages that appeared one after another, I really felt like I’d become a Hunter.

There was a lot of content I’d never seen in the beta version, so it was kind of fascinating.

But what was this Streaming System?

Was it like internet broadcasting?

“Well, it’s a bit different from internet broadcasting. This is streaming that gets onboarded to the ‘Lika System’ itself. So it’s part of the system provided by ‘The Game of Constellations’.”

What the hell are you talking about…?

There was nothing like this in the beta version?

“But you really don’t know about the Streaming System? Did you live in the forest for about 10 years?”

Not the forest, but I did go to another world…

“Anyway, if you want to succeed as a Hunter, you should make the most of it. It’s the only channel to communicate with the ‘Constellations’.”

I flinched momentarily at the word ‘Constellation’.

I’d never actually seen a being called a ‘Constellation’, but it was a word I’d heard countless times through that crazy fairy.

-With this level of skill, you can never satisfy the Constellations, Hero!

-You need to build a more special narrative.

-If you lack talent, you at least need to be entertaining!!

Moreover, listening to this, I remembered content I’d seen on the Awakened wiki.

I think I saw that rankers’ main source of income was streaming…

I just understood it as them making big money by streaming based on their popularity.

But streaming that communicates with Constellations?

-In the official server, countless Constellations will be watching you, Hero!

Was that what this meant?

“Exactly.”

I was curious, but I also felt some resistance.

I wasn’t the type who liked showing off in front of others, and also… those things called Constellations felt somehow unsettling.

So if I could turn off this streaming thing…

“What are you talking about? Why would you turn it off…?”

“Uh…”

“You absolutely have to keep streaming on when you play!”

Why?

“There’s nothing to lose. You just keep streaming on while playing and Constellations sponsor you with LP… is there any reason not to? It’s not like internet broadcasting where your face gets exposed to people.”

I was suddenly tempted by the mention of LP sponsorship, but the employee’s next words were the deciding factor.

“Besides, it’s not just rankers who get sponsored. Some Hunter got a ‘big spender’ attached before even reaching level 20… and received 10,000 LP in sponsorship in one day.”

Crazy?

10,000 LP is 100 million won, isn’t it?

“Of course, they say it’s incredibly hard to even get one subscriber at first… But even so, not turning this on when entering a Gate is…”

The employee continued explaining after that, but there wasn’t much important content and it didn’t register well.

So it was possible to earn that much LP through sponsorship.

If a freeloading hero didn’t do this, it would truly be dereliction of duty, wouldn’t it?

While I was thinking that, the employee seemed to discover something interesting and spoke again.

“But you’re already level 9?”

“Is there some problem…?”

“Oh, no. Of course there’s no problem, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone reach level 9 before even registering as a Hunter.”

I’d read on the Awakened wiki that people usually register as Hunters first before entering Gates.

Without Hunter registration, you couldn’t use the Gate Management Bureau’s trading post, so getting equipment first would be the natural order for other Hunters.

Anyway, after filling out a few more documents…

The Hunter registration process was completely finished.

“Mr. Dave, your Hunter registration is complete.”

“Thank you.”

Well, I felt strange having learned about things I never expected, but what mattered was that I’d safely completed Hunter registration.

Honestly, there was one part I’d been worried might cause problems.

‘It might have been quite troublesome if they’d checked my ID.’

My age on the resident registration was 36.

But Dave’s age registered in the system was 26.

I naturally thought of myself as 26 (?), but I thought there might be potential issues anyway.

“ID?”

“You don’t need anything like that for Hunter registration.”

“For Hunters, information registered in the system is much more important than those paper documents anyway.”

Well, if that’s what they say, I have nothing to argue about…

“Player name, Dave. Nationality, South Korea. Age, twenty-six. That’s correct, right?”

Of course. Absolutely correct.

“Good. Then now… all procedures are complete.”

“Thank you.”

Except for being a bit talkative, they seemed like a pretty good employee.

Thanks to them, I learned about streaming too…

While I was thinking that, the employee added one more thing.

“But Hunter, wait a moment.”

“Yes?”

“Since you’re here today… how about signing up for ‘Gate Comprehensive Insurance’ too?”

What?

“Since you’re here anyway, you’re going to do potential measurement today too, right?”

No? I wasn’t planning to?

“This is a product that only those under thirty with potential grade D or higher can sign up for, and this month’s benefits are really good…”

Suddenly I feel dizzy.

It seems I’ll have to cancel my assessment of him being a decent employee.

* * *

Late evening, past 8 PM.

In one corner of the Gate Management Bureau office, the lights were still brightly on.

Specifically, the director’s office that oversees all administrative affairs of the bureau.

Yeongtae Kim, the owner of that position, was pressing firmly on his throbbing temples.

In fact, it had already been over a month since he’d been unable to leave work this late.

“So now… there are exactly 50 days left?”

“That’s correct, Director.”

“Hah. This is driving me crazy, really.”

The reason Yeongtae Kim couldn’t leave work was simple.

The greatest crisis of his bureaucratic career was slowly approaching.

That crisis was none other than ‘Gate Rampage’.

Managing gates and preventing rampages was practically the entire reason for the Gate Management Bureau’s existence…

If things continued without countermeasures for the next 50 days, South Korea would experience its first ‘Gate Rampage’ in 5 years.

If he couldn’t prevent this, Yeongtae Kim would have to resign first.

The bigger problem was that civilian casualties would be enormous.

“What about the budget? What did the Minister say?”

“Well…”

Gate Rampage refers to ‘the phenomenon of simultaneous unstable gate generation’.

Unlike stabilized gates that pose no threat by their mere existence, unstable gates are dangerous gates from which monster waves pour out.

Gate Rampage is the state where no one knows when or where these dangerous gates will be generated.

Therefore, during the two weeks that Gate Rampage progresses, civilians inevitably suffer enormous damage.

Many people would certainly die.

So what’s needed to prevent this Gate Rampage?

“I’m sure the supplementary budget included gate stabilization funds.”

“It was included.”

“But?”

“The amount is… woefully insufficient.”

That would be the Tower’s contribution points.

In other words, it could be called ‘LP’ equivalent to astronomical amounts of money.

Contribution points are basically accumulated in proportion to the activities of players belonging to that country within gates, but ultimately the structure requires filling in the shortfall with LP to prevent Gate Rampage.

“How much?”

“About 230 billion or so…”

Though not exact, burning roughly 100-200 million LP could extend Gate Rampage by about 30 days.

This means costs approaching 2 trillion won in Korean currency would be spent just to delay South Korea’s Gate Rampage by a mere 30 days.

You might think this is like pouring water into a bottomless jar, and that wouldn’t be entirely wrong.

In fact, countries with insufficient player pools that struggle to secure contribution points or LP don’t spend a single penny on gate stabilization costs.

They solve Gate Rampage through post-processing rather than prevention.

They let the rampage happen first, then block the monsters pouring out from the already-generated unstable gates.

Even calculating hunter employment costs, military expenses, and damage recovery costs, that method is much cheaper.

“Not 500 billion, but 200 billion?”

“Yes.”

“While spending trillions on ridiculous welfare projects?”

“…”

But Yeongtae Kim had always believed that method wasn’t right.

If they were going to force civilians to share the burden, then why collect all those taxes in the first place?

Frankly speaking, considering all the intangible value that could be gained just from the title of ‘a country where Gate Rampage doesn’t occur’.

He thought it was money worth spending continuously.

Moreover, if the country actively supported its hunters to accumulate more contribution points in the medium to long term…

There was also the calculation that the LP earned by the Gate Management Bureau alone could sufficiently cover stabilization costs.

As evidence, they had successfully prevented Gate Rampage for a full 5 years.

It seemed the higher-ups had different thoughts though.

-Haven’t I told you multiple times.

-Pouring water into a bottomless jar will eventually have its limits.

-For now, chaos will intensify and citizens will be sacrificed, but…

-We too must eventually adapt to unstable gates.

‘That damn bastard of a minister, really.’

-Hunter competitiveness weakening?

-This obsession with gate stabilization only benefits those hunter bastards anyway.

-For the country’s sake, adapting to unstable gates is ultimately the right path.

Thinking of his direct superior, the Defense Minister, Yeongtae Kim ground his teeth.

From the time of his appointment, the minister had viewed him as a thorn in his side, seemingly intent on replacing the director position even if it meant allowing Gate Rampage.

“So how much more do we need?”

“We need about 200 billion more immediately, but… even if we somehow resolve that, what comes next is more problematic, Director.”

“Hmm.”

“When rampage approaches again in 30 days, the budget shortfall will be at least 700 billion.”

“Phew.”

Feeling suffocated, Yeongtae Kim looked out the window.

His gaze fell upon citizens busily moving through the streets today as well.

‘How much longer will this peace last?’

In many countries where Gate Rampage is routine, such peaceful scenes can no longer be seen.

And now Yeongtae Kim… lacked confidence to oppose the will of the higher-ups.

“Let’s just go home for now.”

“Yes, Director.”

Leaving work, Yeongtae Kim headed for the subway as usual.

Though he was the director of the Gate Management Bureau no less, he had always used only public transportation during his nearly 30 years of public service.

Clatter- Clatter-

But on the subway ride home.

Yeongtae began to feel something odd.

A young man who had left the bureau at almost the same time kept walking the same path, always one step ahead of Yeongtae.

‘Hmm. He looks like a hunter…’

When transferring to Line 2, when getting off at Seongsu Station.

Even when exiting through Exit 2 and entering the same apartment complex.

“Heh.”

So when they rode the same elevator in Building 101, located in the deepest part of the complex, he couldn’t help but chuckle.

‘Well, what a coincidence.’

But shortly after.

When they even got off on the same floor.

“…!”

Yeongtae’s eyes widened beyond surprise.

This young man who had coincidentally shared the commute home was his next-door neighbor’s son.

‘The neighbor’s son… wasn’t he reported missing?’

Yeongtae’s next-door neighbors weren’t just passing acquaintances.

They were old neighbors who had moved in together when this building was first constructed 20 years ago and had never changed once.

Though they hadn’t interacted much recently, they had been close until their son went missing.

When he heard about the disappearance, his heart had ached terribly.

The neighbor’s son was also a high school classmate of Yeongtae’s son.

So when he carefully examined the face…

“…!”

It definitely felt familiar.

Youngtae had no choice but to speak to the young man before opening the front door.

“By any chance… do you know Kim Gyeongjun?”

And the young man… scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression and answered.

“Uh… it’s been a while, sir. I’m Geonyul, Gyeongjun’s friend.”

Youngtae’s eyes widened.

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