The Rice-Eating Hero’s Capitalist Streaming - Chapter 6

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Capitalist Streaming of a Freeloading Hero

Episode 6

The Game of Constellations [Lyka]

So, I spotted Uncle Yeongtae right from the main entrance of the Gate Management Bureau.

I had a nagging feeling about this familiar-looking uncle I’d seen somewhere before…

But when I got closer and took a quick look, I could tell for sure.

By the way, did this uncle become a Hunter too?

Why is he coming out of the Management Bureau building…?

I remember him being an ordinary civil servant…

Maybe he stopped by to handle some business for that guy Gyeongjun.

Gyeongjun said he was an 8-year veteran Hunter belonging to a large guild.

“Hmm.”

Honestly, I was happy to see him.

Though it’s a very old memory, I definitely remember that he was quite a good person.

But I couldn’t act like I knew him first.

Why?

Because this uncle also saw me coming out of the Management Bureau.

If I greeted him now, it would only be a matter of time before my parents found out I’d entered a Gate.

So I pretended not to see him and quickly passed by toward the subway… but a problem arose.

The uncle was also heading home.

‘Uh…’

I hadn’t noticed on the way there.

I was so busy browsing the awakened community that I couldn’t even think to look around.

But apparently he took the same subway.

Otherwise, there’s no way we would have met again like this in the apartment elevator.

“…”

It would be awkward to get off the elevator again, so I just stayed put.

By now, he must have noticed…

When we got off on the same floor in that awkward state, the uncle finally spoke to me first.

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

Of course I know him, Uncle… How could I not?

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

“…?!”

Seeing the uncle’s eyes widen in surprise, I could directly feel how shocked he was.

Sigh.

Now there’s no choice.

I can only hope the uncle won’t mention this to my parents.

Just when I thought everything was going smoothly all day, I hit an unexpected obstacle at the worst timing.

“Wow, so you really are Geonyul? What on earth happened to you?”

“Well… I came back about a week ago.”

The uncle, unaware of my feelings, looked quite pleased to see me.

“But… if you came back, why didn’t your father say anything?”

By “father,” he means my dad.

As far as I know, my father is about two years older than Uncle Yeongtae.

“He probably didn’t have time to process it. My father is still quite shocked right now…”

He asked many other things after that, but there wasn’t much we could discuss in the apartment hallway.

So I gave vague answers.

“Oh, it’s not like I got sucked into a Gate or anything like Dad was worried about.”

It’s not like I disappeared for just a day or two, and I couldn’t tell him the whole job-seeking hero story, right?

“I contacted Gyeongjun first, but he was inside a Gate. I couldn’t reach him.”

Well, the uncle didn’t keep me there for too long either.

Instead, before going into his house, he handed me a business card.

And this time it was my turn to be surprised.

“Looking at you, it seems like there might be something I can help with.”

But wait, there’s something strange about this business card…

Is this real?

[Ministry of National Defense, South Korea]

[Gate Management Bureau]

[Director Yeongtae Kim]

I don’t know much about civil servants, but… isn’t a director-level position at least a Grade 2 civil servant?

And the Gate Management Bureau at that.

His influence must be no joke…

While I was thinking about this, the uncle casually dropped another comment.

“By the way, becoming a Hunter is probably a secret from your parents, right?”

I got goosebumps for a moment.

I was just wondering how to bring this up before we parted ways.

How on earth did he know?

“If you had told your parents you were becoming a Hunter, wouldn’t this uncle have heard about it already?”

True, if Dad had known, he would have immediately told Uncle Byeongtae given his personality.

To ask him to look after me?

No way.

He would have asked him to please stop his son.

So I asked in a crawling voice.

“So, um… please don’t mention anything to my parents…”

The uncle nodded and chuckled.

“Alright. Don’t worry. This uncle knows best that no parent can beat their child’s will.”

Right.

The uncle already has experience trying to stop Gyeongjun.

“Instead, contact this uncle if you have any difficulties. And make sure to get help from Gyeongjun too.”

“Thank you…!”

Indeed, I was so grateful that his words alone almost brought tears to my eyes.

Even though we’re not family, he’s looking after me like this.

For someone like me, a talentless Hunter without connections, this was bound to be a great source of strength.

“Well then, let’s meet together once Gyeongjun returns.”

“Yes, Uncle.”

I never imagined I’d gain such backing…

Rather than expecting practical help, I feel reassured in my heart.

Suddenly, I started missing that guy Gyeongjun a bit.

Is it because he looks almost exactly like his uncle, like two peas in a pod?

Click-

After bowing to the uncle, I finally entered my house.

Checking the clock visible in the front of the living room, it was already well past 10 PM.

Today really felt like a long day.

Now if I could just get a good night’s sleep, it would be perfect…

“Geonyul, what time is it right now?”

Mother was sitting on the sofa glaring at me with a very angry expression.

Thanks to that, I… could only lie down on my bed after listening to a lecture that lasted over two hours.

* * *

When I felt the morning sunlight on my closed eyelids, I unconsciously bolted upright in bed.

“Ugh, what time is it?”

Looking at the time, it’s 8 AM.

This isn’t the time for this, I need to hurry to work.

“I’m heading out!”

“Geonyul, what about breakfast?”

“I’ll just grab a simple sandwich!”

“Curfew. Remember?”

“Ah, I got it!”

What’s this sudden talk about curfew?

To explain that, I need to go back to last night for a moment.

-Geon-ryul Lee, your curfew is 8 o’clock.

-Ah, Mother! That’s completely unreasonable…!

-You didn’t come home and the whole family couldn’t sleep. What is this?

-Well… Father seems to be sleeping though?

-Anyway.

-No, Mother. I left messages and everything.

-10 years ago you also sent ‘on my way home~’ and then disappeared, so how can I trust you?

-Sigh… Still, a curfew at thirty-six years old is a bit…

-Siyul Lee. From now on, you monitor your Older Brother. Got it?

-Yes mommy.

-Phew…

-Geon-ryul Lee, if you break curfew one more time, I’m putting a GPS tracker on you right away. Got it?

-Aaahhh!

Well, I naturally understand her worry.

Since she has the trauma of her son disappearing once, it’s completely understandable.

But still, isn’t an 8 o’clock curfew a bit too much?

Even when I was sixteen in middle school, I used to come home after playing at PC cafes until 10 o’clock.

“…”

Anyway, for that reason, I was rushing to work in a hurry.

I casually told Mother that I got a part-time job at a friend’s workplace.

When I dropped Jeongmin’s name, who was one of my close friends, she seemed to accept it.

Phew.

But the curfew… am I really going to keep it?

If it can make Mother’s heart even a little more at ease, I want to try doing that much for her.

So to secure enough working time, I have no choice but to wake up early now.

I opened my eyes at 8 today, but tomorrow I should leave Home by 6.

I’m someone who earns as much as I work.

Whoooosh-!

[Access Location: Bereshit – The Starting Village]

[Welcome to the world of ‘Lyka-Laika’, ‘Dave’.]

As I entered the Gate, the pure white morning sunlight of Lyka World welcomed me.

To think the air inside the Gate would feel this refreshing.

Have I finally gone crazy?

“Phew.”

After taking a deep breath, I immediately moved my steps and left Bereshit.

Since I planned to venture into hunting grounds deeper than yesterday, I needed to move diligently.

The ‘Shadow Ravine’ field that appears when you leave the western outskirts of The Starting Forest was my destination.

Since it’s a hunting ground where Gray Wolves of at least level 13 inhabit, even considering using the ‘Giant Slayer’ title, I could hunt comfortably until level 12.

Reaching level 12 there and conquering the ‘Moonlight Garden’ dungeon was my goal to achieve within today’s work schedule.

I was crossing The Starting Forest with such thoughts when.

└ hi hi

└ Room Owner where are you going right now?

Suddenly, a type of chat message I’d never seen before began appearing in the corner of my vision.

└ Hey, can’t you see what I’m saying?

A completely different type of new System Message from the typical System Message or chat log format.

└ What is this? A bug…? There’s only one viewer and that’s me?

Thanks to this, I froze in place, flustered.

What is this?

Could it be…?

“…!”

My pupils dilated greatly as I thought of one possibility.

And in the retina of those pupils, small sparkling red letters appeared.

[ON Air : ☺ 1]

* * *

Yesterday on the subway going home from Seoul Station, I had studied the Streaming System a bit.

So I never imagined I’d get a viewer this quickly.

Why?

Because usually, a Constellation attaching to a player’s streaming broadcast who hasn’t even changed jobs is almost unheard of.

For reference, job changes are possible starting from level 20.

So having even one viewer at level 9 now could be considered an extremely rare case.

So I was frozen for a moment…

Ding-!

Another new System Message line appeared.

[‘Wandering Goblin’ has sponsored 10LP.]

└ This is strange. There’s no way you can’t see this.

I was startled by the unexpected sponsorship message and stammered.

“Uh, so that’s… I didn’t know how to respond.”

10LP for doing absolutely nothing.

This is totally sweet, isn’t it?

But I’m not sure if responding out loud like this is right.

It feels somewhat awkward…

└ Wow, this Room Owner is a complete newbie. What, you’re only level 9?

Well, that’s correct.

└ You don’t need to speak out loud when communicating. Just think in your head while imagining you’re talking to viewers.

-Like this?

└ Oh, good. That’s exactly it.

Although it was called streaming, since there was only one viewer, I somehow ended up in a situation where I was having a conversation with an existence called a ‘Constellation’.

But that situation didn’t last long.

Ding-!

[‘Reincarnated Butterfly Mask’ has entered.]

Somehow, new Constellations began entering the stream.

└ What kind of room is this?

└ I just entered too… this Room Owner seems like a complete newbie?

Ding-!

[‘Count Grape’ has entered.]

[‘Three-Time Ranker’ has entered.]

└ What. Don’t tell me this is The Starting Forest…?

└ Is it real that the Room Owner hasn’t even changed jobs yet?

The Constellations’ chat suddenly flooding in feels both chaotic and fascinating.

Clearly on the Awakener wiki, there were many stories about it taking months for even one viewer to come in.

What exactly is different about me?

That question was floating around in my head when…

One of the Constellations casually dropped a meaningful comment.

└ But how did such a complete newbie hero get a promotion?

Hm? Promotion? What’s that?

└ Right;; Isn’t this a system error?

└ ■■ really not doing their job properly.

Some parts of the Constellations’ messages had noise interference as if they were being censored, making them hard to see clearly.

But looking at those conversations, I was able to realize several facts.

└ This is bad, we can’t trust Laika Corporation’s promotions anymore either?

First, that this current situation was definitely not normal.

└ ■■■ is one-time and basic promotion though… don’t you need at least 100,000 hours of play records to get this?

Second, it seemed to have some connection to my beta play records.

└ Whatever, as long as it’s entertaining.

└ It’s been a while since we’ve seen such a complete newbie, so it’s refreshing.

And lastly…

└ But Room Owner, how long are you going to keep standing there dazed? Aren’t you going to work?

I realized that dealing with Constellations was definitely not going to be easy.

[ON Air : ☺ 9]

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