Chapter 52
It’s My Heart — Got a Problem With That? (1)
1.
I decided to just be friends with Doyoon.
Talk casually, grab a drink every now and then.
He said next time he’d bring Joonseo along — that newbie player I’d saved before.
Since it was Friday, we ended up drinking pretty late.
After carrying my brother home on my back, I crashed into bed too.
And so the night passed, and a bright, energetic weekend dawned.
“The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson has officially apologized for the criminal acts of its citizens. While the government claims to have no direct involvement, they have stated they feel responsible and announced their withdrawal from the upcoming 3rd Floor Raid…”
“In response, the Japanese government insists the raid quota be renegotiated.”
China pretending it wasn’t involved and Japan trying to shove its spoon in for a share—
Ah, such lovely, familiar neighbors we have.
As I listened to the news, I turned my attention to the joyful world of the Internet on my phone.
<Title: So you’re saying the guy who got a ride from Kim Doyoon was just trolling??>
Post:
On yesterday’s stream, Kim Doyoon said he handled it himself lol so Meteor got all the loot alone? Dude’s acting like he did everything by himself?
Comments:
Where’d you see the clip? It was deleted.
Someone saved it in an archive lol (link)
Hey but shouldn’t we get revenge on China too? We can’t just take that hit.
What are we gonna do about it tho
lol we can’t even stop Japan from trying to grab extra shares
Thanks to the “honorable” media folks who’ve been pumping out hit pieces about me, my antis have multiplied nicely.
The media’s gotten pretty toxic lately — probably thanks to MiTube.
Exactly as I planned.
“Beeeep?”
“Samjjon! Samjjon!”
While I was chuckling at my phone, Ian toddled over with Peanut perched on his head.
The giant peanut (our pet hamster) was toasting a piece of bread on Ian’s hair.
It was lethal levels of adorable.
“That’s cheating.”
“Hm?”
“Ghhhk—”
Not the time for words.
I needed more photos.
When Ian tilted his head, Peanut tilted right along with him.
My heart couldn’t take it.
“…Ian, come here. Daddy’s gonna hug you.”
“You smell!”
Even my hungover brother snapped back to life at that.
A cream-colored hamster with a cute kid — that combo should be banned for health reasons.
I wanted to bury my face in Peanut’s fur and scoop Ian up in my arms right that second.
If this isn’t healing, I don’t know what is.
“Peanut, want a peanut?”
『Baby Master already gave me lots! I’m full!』
Even calling Ian Baby Master—how precious is that?
I smiled contentedly, petted Peanut’s soft fur, then plopped back onto the sofa.
Alright, let’s see… time to check my MiTube channel.
<Meteor>
Subscribers: 930,000
Membership subs: 7,444
“Khhehh—!”
The numbers nearly brought tears to my eyes.
A million was right around the corner.
Back in my nobody days, I thought I’d never hit that dream number.
And now, less than a month after returning, here it was.
The moment I saw it, I called the man behind the magic.
—Hello?
“Taeyo, did you see the subscriber count?”
—Oh, I just finished editing. It was at 900K last night. Did we hit a million?”
“Almost. All thanks to you, man.”
‘God’ Taeyo — the editing machine who uploads three videos a week.
Of all the people I met since returning, he’s by far the one I owe most.
Felt bad, honestly.
Here I was chilling, and he’d been working till morning.
There was only one way to ease that guilt.
A bonus.
I transferred the money and said cheerfully,
“Already sent your 1M milestone bonus.”
—…Ten million won? That’s too much, hyung.”
“It’s not enough. I’ll sell some junk gear later and send you more.”
—No, really, it’s fine.”
“Then buy your mom a nice bag or something.”
After a long back-and-forth, he finally muttered softly,
—Thank you, boss.”
“‘Boss’ actually sounds kinda nice. Call me that sometimes.”
—Haha, okay. Oh, by the way, are you hiring another editor?”
“Funny you mention that — I was just talking to Inseob about expanding.”
With a million subs, letting Taeyo do all the editing was basically torture.
We’d been planning to bring in more staff anyway.
—Mind if I recommend two people?”
“Go for it.”
—They’re a married couple who helped me out when I was down. Both really skilled. They said they’d love to work with you — they’re fans.”
“Set a date for an interview. I’ll come to them. Where do they live?”
—Incheon.”
“That’s not far. Thanks, Taeyo.”
—Of course!”
I hung up, grinning.
My brother frowned slightly.
“Recruiting editors?”
“Yup. Gotta scale up. Oh, hyung, know any good translators?”
“Translator? For what?”
“I’m going global now. The world will fear and adore the K-player.”
“You’re still drunk?”
“Pretty sure you’re still drunk.”
I could have cured his hangover with magic.
Did I? Nope.
Because he’s my brother — that’s what brothers do.
“Here.”
“Thanks.”
Binna noona brought honey water, and hyung chugged it down.
“Phew… You got plans today?”
“Yup.”
“You should rest or play with Ian instead.”
“I was gonna rest, but the world keeps picking fights with me.”
I’d have loved to roll around with Ian and Peanut all day, but an unexpected appointment came up.
I checked the message again.
From: Director Cheon, Mirage Guild.
—Cheon (Mirage):
Good morning, Mr. Sungwoo! There’s been an emergency raid strategy meeting set for 6 p.m. today. Guild leaders will attend. You don’t have to come, but our chairman specifically requested your presence. Location: HQ, 6th floor conference room.
Not mandatory, huh.
Probably just courtesy since I’m participating through Mirage’s quota.
But me?
If you invite me — I’ll come.
“I’m going to meet the people I’ll be raiding with, get familiar.”
“Fair. But why do you look so happy for a meeting?”
At that, I grinned.
“I’m not going for the meeting.”
“Then for what?”
“To stir the pot.”
Nothing’s more fun than chaos.
I’m gonna take all the glory anyway — might as well enjoy the show.
“You want me to come?”
“Nah, Inseob’s tagging along.”
“Good.”
“How about grilled pork belly for lunch? I’ll cook it with magic. What do you think, Binna noona?”
“Sounds great.”
“Samjjon! Meat! Meat!”
A perfect Saturday morning.
2.
After a family pork belly feast and a walk around the neighborhood, I finally left the house.
“So why am I coming again?”
“I needed a ride.”
“Ever heard of taxis?”
“Sometimes a man just wants to ride a supercar.”
“You could buy one.”
“I’d rather spend that money buying my daughter a toy supercar.”
The Italian R-brand supercar gleamed — limited edition, reinforced with Abyss metal.
“How much was this thing?”
“About four hundred million won.”
“For that money I could buy lifetime gukbap membership. And why’d they put Abyss metal in it?”
“Some study said it improves safety… but honestly? Flex.”
Four hundred million. I could open a national gukbap chain with that.
Anyway, we rolled up to our destination — smack in the middle of Gangnam.
<Mirage Guild Headquarters>
“The whole building’s theirs?”
“Yup. And they’ve got more elsewhere.”
“Guess guilds really do make bank.”
“They run tons of side businesses too. Big operations.”
“Classic corporate sprawl. Copying the conglomerates, huh?”
“Some guilds are literally owned by conglomerates.”
Of course, the supercar ride was partly a joke — but Inseob actually had a role to play.
He’d been streaming Abyss content for years, knew people everywhere.
Meanwhile me? I didn’t know a single guild master or “up-and-coming talent.”
He was my guide today.
“Just a heads-up — the bigger the guild, the more entitled their people get.”
“Like an elitist complex?”
“Exactly. The top guilds scoop up all the high-potential players, so they grow up thinking everyone should step aside for them. When big guilds clash, it always blows up.”
Ah, so they’re all spoiled brats.
Got it.
So basically, the more “promising” they are, the more likely they are to be gold-plated crybabies.
“But come on, today’s meeting’s all high-level execs. They won’t start some petty ego war… right?”
“…We’ll see.”
Ding!
The elevator opened on the 6th floor, and we stepped out.
“Welcome.”
“We’re here for the meeting.”
“Welcome, Player Meteor. The conference room is this way.”
The staff politely led us down the hall.
I figured the 3rd Floor Raid planning would be handled with some professionalism.
Yeah, no.
“You’re insane! We’re adding one more from our guild!”
“That’s a rookie who just hit the 3rd Floor!”
“Rookie? Rookieee? You just call my kid a rookie?!”
“He’s never even ranked as a prospect, what’s your point?”
…They never change.
The conference room was chaos.
Adults shouting, pointing fingers, yelling over each other.
“Keep your baby chicks in the support team!”
“What’d you say?”
“I said it, what are you gonna do?”
“Your so-called elites were stuck on Floor 6 last time!”
Didn’t even need to stir the pot — the pot was already boiling.
The only sane ones were a woman from Mirage Guild and Director Cheon, both sighing into their hands.
Everyone else was too busy yelling to even notice me walk in.
“…Wanna just leave, hyung?” Inseob whispered.
I grinned.
“Nah. Look at all these spoiled kids. They’re living so passionately — I’m jealous.”
“Hyung?”
“But I’m a spoiled kid too.”
“…Hyung??”
“This is gonna be fun.”
No need for diplomacy. There was only one language brats like these understood.
BOOOOM!
I shattered a chair right in front of me.
Silence.
Every head turned toward me.
Ah, the sweet taste of attention.
What’s the best way to greet a room full of squabbling children?
Oh, I know.
Since they all love fighting so much—
“Alright,” I said with a grin.
“Who wants to roll for aggro?”
