The Rice-Eating Hero’s Capitalist Streaming - Chapter 96
—————
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 96
Constellation’s Game [Lyka]
Tuesday, 5:30 PM.
For job seekers preparing for all kinds of certification exams… it should still be prime time for grinding away with their pens.
But Siyul Lee’s gaze, sitting in a corner seat of the study hall, was fixed not on her workbook but on her smartphone screen.
In fact, it would be more accurate to say she had been like this all day today.
[Title: Honestly, isn’t Seong-hwan Lee the visual top of this season? If you disagree, your face is an orc.]
[Title: Did you see Healer Park Jinwoo smile… I’m dead for real ㅠㅠ]
The community 【Hunters Lounge】 was already on the verge of exploding.
Because tonight at 9 PM, the first broadcast of 【Hunters School Season 3】 would finally begin.
Watching the posts pouring in real-time, there was no way workbook material could enter her head.
‘Ugh… this is driving me crazy.’
Siru bit her lip hard.
Her mind was currently filled with two thoughts.
One was the happy dilemma of choosing between ‘Seong-hwan Lee’, who showed overwhelming physicality in the teaser video, and ‘Park Jinwoo’ with his deer-like eyes, as her ultimate bias.
And the other was…
‘My older brother… he’s really okay, right?’
Worry about her only blood relative, Geon-ryul Lee.
Community opinion was swinging between hot and cold.
There were people praising him as the ‘miracle of level 35’, but there were also plenty of malicious comments tearing him down as a ‘fake hero created by the broadcasting station’.
[Comment: Honestly, does it make sense for a level 35 to kill a level 80 boss? This reeks of being fake lol]
[Comment: Didn’t the broadcasting station PDs deliberately set up a scapegoat to suck up ratings?]
Every time Siru saw posts like these, her heart sank.
What if her brother got hurt from overexertion?
Or what if he really became a victim of devil’s editing and turned into a nationwide laughingstock?
Since he started the training camp, he hadn’t even come home, making her feel even more worried.
‘Ugh, whatever! I’m not studying!’
Eventually, Siru slammed her book shut.
Since the words weren’t entering her eyes anyway… wouldn’t sitting here just be a waste of time?
With that thought, Siru packed her bag and left the study hall, naturally heading toward home.
She planned to go home, wash up, and then prepare to watch the live broadcast with a reverent heart.
Dinner?
She was thinking of eating very little or not at all.
To eat honey snacks while watching Heroic School, she needed to empty her stomach a bit.
Trudge- Trudge-
But a little later…
At the entrance of the alley leading home, Siru discovered something and stopped walking.
‘Wait. That person…’
She could see what appeared to be a homeless person (?) collapsed at a parasol table in front of the convenience store.
A man with dark circles extending down to his chin, staring blankly into space with vacant eyes.
In his hand was a recently opened beer can.
‘I’ve seen him somewhere before?’
Siru squinted and examined the man.
Though his appearance was disheveled, it was a familiar face.
As she approached out of curiosity, she spotted an HBC employee ID hanging around his neck.
Siru’s eyes widened as she became certain of the man’s identity.
“Huh? Jeongmin oppa?”
His unfocused pupils also slowly turned toward Siru.
“…Huh? Is that you, Siru?”
He was Jeongmin Lee, her brother’s best friend and the field director of 【Hunters School】.
During the 10 years when Geonyul had been missing, he had taken care of her like a real younger sister, making him her favorite among her brother’s friends.
‘And to meet Jeongmin oppa right now…! This must be fate.’
Honestly, since last weekend when she’d been obsessing over Heroic School non-stop… Siru had been suppressing her desire to contact Jeongmin.
She had so many questions, but she was afraid that bothering the busy FD might affect Heroic School.
But to meet him by chance like this?
Here, she couldn’t hold back.
So she naturally approached Jeongmin’s side.
“Oppa, what are you doing here? Why do you look like that? Did you get kicked out of your house?”
“Kicked out… I’m just on my way home from work. My legs won’t move, so I’m recharging.”
Then, as Jeongmin chuckled and gestured toward the chair across from him with his chin…
“Good timing. You sit down too for a bit. Want a beer?”
“Of course.”
Without hesitation, she quickly went to the convenience store chair across from him and plopped down.
Jeongmin opened a new beer can and handed it to her.
After taking a refreshing sip, Siru fiddled with the can and casually started the conversation.
“But oppa. Is it okay for you to leave work this early? The first episode is about to air soon, shouldn’t you all be monitoring it together at the broadcasting station… or something?”
“Do overtime one more time to monitor here? I’d probably die before sunrise?”
At his half-joking, half-serious answer, Siru laughed and continued.
“Oppa. You must be really busy these days?”
“Don’t even mention it. Did I sleep 5 hours in the last 3 days? I put my soul into editing.”
“You really worked hard.”
Siru hesitated for a moment, then carefully brought up the question she’d been keeping in her heart.
Still, what she was most curious about was inevitably the welfare of her blood relative.
“But oppa. Our Geonyul… he’s really doing well, right?”
Jeongmin stopped drinking his beer and opened his eyes wide.
“Geonyul? He’s doing incredibly well. Why?”
“Well… looking at the community, he’s getting so much hate. They’re calling him a ‘bus rider’ and ‘broadcasting station pick’ and beating him like a dog on a hot day.”
Worry seeped into Siru’s voice.
“I was wondering if maybe Geon-ryul Lee is nothing special… but the PDs deliberately created a scapegoat for ratings.”
“Pfft!”
Jeongmin almost spat out the beer he was drinking. He giggled and waved his hands dismissively.
“Hey, hey. Hold onto your worries. The hate? It’ll all disappear once the broadcast airs.”
“Really? You’re not just saying that to stop me from worrying?”
“What are you talking about. I’ll tell you only facts.”
Jeongmin lowered his voice and leaned forward.
His eyes, which had been exhausted, suddenly sparkled quite seriously.
“First of all, we had filming yesterday too, you know? So that would be… episode 2 material?”
“And?”
“Wow… I can’t say much because it’s spoilers, but the footage came out absolutely amazing. Your brother devoured everything.”
“…Huh? Really?”
“I swear on my PD career. I don’t know how it happened… but that guy Geon-ryul Lee is really something. I didn’t know he’d be this good when I first cast him.”
Jeongmin chattered excitedly.
Though he was cleverly avoiding specific details, Siru could feel that his expectations for Heroic School 3 were tremendous.
Jeongmin’s expression wasn’t that of someone lying.
Moreover, about half the content was related to Geon-ryul Lee…
Finally, Siru let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew, that’s a relief. I was worried that Geon-ryul Lee got some weird ideas and was showing off and getting hurt… or something like that.”
Once her worry about her brother was resolved, Siru’s attitude changed instantly.
The worry in her eyes disappeared in an instant, and some kind of greed filled them completely.
“So, Older Brother.”
“Yeah?”
“By any chance… isn’t there anything you could slip me?”
Jeongmin backed away with wary eyes.
“Slip? What?”
“Well, I need to pick my bias… and I’m torn between choices.”
Siyul looked at Jeongmin with sparkling eyes.
“Tell me honestly. What’s Seong-hwan Lee like in person? Is he a cold handsome guy just like on screen? Or is he surprisingly warm?”
“…Hey.”
“Oh, but I heard Park Jinwoo is also a top-tier rookie among healers. Does he seem nice? There aren’t any character controversies, right? He doesn’t act all high and mighty toward broadcast station staff, does he?”
Siyul Lee’s barrage of questions continued endlessly.
As time passed, Jeongmin’s expression grew more bewildered.
The energy from someone who had been worried about another person just moments ago was at an unbelievable level.
“Look at this? Talk about her real older brother gets cut off in 1 minute, but she talks about contestants Seonghwan and Park Jinwoo for 5 minutes?”
“Oh, Older Brother is Older Brother and fangirling is fangirling! Hurry up! You were there on site!”
“Hey, hey. It’s all confidential! I’ll get fired!”
Jeongmin waved his hands dismissively and stood up from his seat. If he stayed any longer, he’d be picked clean to the bone.
But Siyul was persistent.
She firmly grabbed onto the hem of fleeing Jeongmin’s clothes.
“Oh, just one thing! Just tell me one thing! At least give me a review of what Seonghwan is like in person!”
“Ugh, won’t you let go of this? I need to go home and sleep!”
“You can’t leave empty-handed! Give me something before you go!”
Finally, Jeongmin surrendered.
He sighed deeply and rummaged through the bag he was carrying.
“Ugh, seriously! I can’t give you information, so just take this.”
Thud.
Jeongmin tossed something to Siyul.
It was a luxurious diary with a black leather cover and a gold-embossed logo.
[ HUNTER’S SCHOOL SEASON 3 – OFFICIAL DIARY ]
And Siyul’s pupils, upon receiving that diary, began to shake as if an earthquake had struck.
“This is…?”
“It’s a limited edition only distributed to staff. It’s not for sale. Take this and back off.”
Siyul’s smile stretched from ear to ear.
She let go of the clothes she was holding and executed a 90-degree bow toward Jeongmin.
“Yes sir! Thank you, PD-nim! May your broadcast be a huge hit!”
“…Geez, she’s just like her older brother.”
“That… what does that mean?”
“It’s a good thing, so hurry up and go inside.”
Jeongmin shook his head and trudged away.
Watching his retreating figure for a moment, Siyul waved her hand once more.
“I’ll definitely watch the live broadcast, Older Brother!”
“Alright, get home safely.”
As soon as Jeongmin disappeared from view, Siyul grinned and pulled out her phone.
And immediately called her best friend to show off.
Ring-
-Hello? Hey, didn’t you say you were studying.
“Hey, Minjeong Im. Major incident.”
-What now.
“I got some non-sale Heroic School merchandise. Isn’t that awesome?”
-Are you crazy?! Where did you get it?
“Hehe, trade secret. Oh whatever, I’m going to watch the live broadcast today and do some diary decorating-“
Siyul hummed a tune and headed home with light steps.
The feel of the limited edition diary in her hand was thrilling.
‘It’s a relief that Geon-ryul is fine. Then well… he’ll manage on his own, right?’
Worry about her blood relative had long since disappeared from her mind.
Right now, Siyul’s head was filled with only one thought.
‘But seriously, Park Jinwoo… what if he has that face even on screen? Then I… I really can’t help it, right? Should I bet my life on this?’
It was exactly the kind of inner voice that would make anyone who heard it shake their head in disbelief.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————