Chapter 80

Chapter 80

Chapter 80 We're All MeTube Stars (3)

There were a few things I'd realized while editing the videos I sent to King Yama.

The first was that cutting and joining footage into a single video required a surprising amount of work.

The second was that more often than not, the resulting video wasn't something I'd want to spend my own time watching.

How many videos had I casually skipped because they didn't interest me, even though someone had painstakingly edited them with subtitles and sound effects?

And quite often, those videos didn't even reach a thousand views.

It was a market that had gone beyond a red ocean and was closer to a black ocean.

Jumping into it with the intention of making money would be unreasonable.

So I intended to approach things a little differently.

"Hm? After going to all that trouble setting up an office, why are you bringing the camera out here?"

"I'm going to film here."

"Here?"

I didn't even need a tripod. I fixed the camera to the corner of a table beside the window and placed an LP record on the old stereo.

Before long, an old pop song began playing through the vintage speakers, accompanied by the warm crackle of static.

Then I sat down at the table, stacked a few martial arts and fantasy novels I'd bought from a secondhand bookstore, and began reading.

"Heh heh. Who would watch something so boring?"

"If nobody watches, it can't be helped."

The camera was aimed strictly at the table, so my face wouldn't appear.

All that could be seen were the stacks of books, enough to make one wonder whether I could finish them all today, a coffee cup, and my hands turning the pages.

-Rustle. Rustle.

There was something pleasant about turning the pages of a physical book instead of reading an e-book for a change.

Who would deliberately watch such a plain video showing nothing but pages being turned? Even so, I was convinced there would be some demand for it.

After all, this was precisely the happy scene I'd always imagined whenever I drove past the coffeehouse.

And my prediction proved entirely correct.

-(Public) A Cup of Coffee and a Book in an Old Café [1:04:28]

The video I uploaded was just over an hour long.

I hadn't added a thumbnail, subtitles, or sound effects.

I'd simply cut out the uninterrupted section of myself quietly reading while listening to music, without any chatter, and uploaded it as it was. It resembled a personal diary whose owner had completely given up on getting views.

But there was a response.

『@WildGrassLeaf: Ah, I want to pile up novels and read like that too. I've still got four hours until I can leave work.

@ParkSeongmin-29q: The atmosphere is killer lol. That's the real sound of an LP stereo.

@youjin73: This brings back memories. I've been watching absentmindedly for two hours.

@BrokenCat-nw7: Where is this place? I want to go too.

@HongWoojin-631: That novel looks like Druid of Daegu Station. An absolute masterpiece. The owner knows his stuff.

@Yeomju-58a: Perfect for leaving on repeat while studying.

@Hwagye-9dh: This is insane. Is this actually real and not an AI video? A retro coffeehouse concept with even the props done properly. Damn.

...』

The comments weren't as explosive as those on Sani's video, but everyone seemed to like it quite a bit.

The view count was 2,010.

It was a slightly disappointing figure, but what I'd been aiming for was total watch time.

The total watch time was an astonishing 1,100 hours! That meant at least one in every two viewers had watched the entire video.

By that standard, it was a tremendous success. After all, I'd uploaded it thinking I'd be happy if even a hundred people watched.

This was what they called ASMR.

People seeking extreme bursts of dopamine chose categories filled with short videos, but ASMR belonged to an entirely different realm.

Once people turned it on, they could leave it playing while sleeping or being overwhelmed with work, paying it little attention.

It was something like background music.

The number of people seeking it out was overwhelmingly smaller, but it had just as many advantages.

For one thing, there was no need to spend time creating separate content or sacrifice my breaks to edit videos.

For someone like me, already leading a busy life with two jobs, nothing could beat this kind of video in terms of efficiency.

Of course, I'd spent a hundred million won just to be able to sit here and read books.

"It seems you've managed to avoid last place, but I wonder how Lia and Sani will fare."

"I'm sure they'll both manage just fine. They're clever children. Oh, I should be heading out soon, so please look after the coffeehouse while I'm gone."

"Hm? Where are you going?"

"Lia's friend is coming over today."

_____________

At that same time, Lia and Serin were huddled together, holding a rather serious meeting.

"The video Mister uploaded already has two thousand views!"

"Really? I'm jealous!"

"What should we do?"

"Jehun from Class Three uploads videos of phone games, and whenever he posts one, he gets more than fifty views! Should we do that too? You play phone games, Lia."

"Hmm, I'm not sure. It's always the same screen."

With an assessment that would have made Yongman cough up blood if he'd heard it, Hero's Path was eliminated from their MeTube plans.

"What did Mister say?"

"Hmm, he said we should try to find something we enjoy and are good at, rather than something that just looks fun to watch."

"That makes sense!"

It was advice that immediately sank in and was easy to understand. But even with that advice, choosing an actual subject was just as daunting.

And so they thought for another long while.

-Ding-dong-ding.

Ten minutes quickly passed, and the bell rang for class.

"All right, everyone. Break time is over. Today's art lesson is origami, so please take your scissors and glue out of your lockers."

"Yes!"

Lia, who loved origami more than anything, answered the loudest.

"Today, we're going to fold paper cranes. First, take your colored paper and fold it neatly like this..."

"Teacher, I can't do it."

"Me neither."

"Let's take our time and try following along again. All right?"

One might wonder what was so difficult about simply folding paper exactly as demonstrated, but the colored paper folded by the children's tiny hands looked nothing like the paper their teacher was holding.

"Oh my! Everyone, look at the crane Lia folded. How did you manage to fold it so carefully and neatly? All right, everyone in Lia's group can ask her for help."

"Yes!"

"How did you fold it?"

"Teach me too!"

With the teacher's praise, Lia instantly became an assistant teacher for the day, and the children gathered around her.

"It's true! None of the corners on Lia's crane are sticking out!"

"Wow!"

"Hehe."

Lia gave a bashful smile, not at all displeased by the children's innocent excitement following the teacher's praise.

"Ah! I've decided! I'm going to upload origami videos! It's what I love most, so I can have fun filming them!"

"That sounds perfect!"

At long last, their marathon meeting had reached a conclusion.

But unlike the delighted Lia, Serin sank back into deep thought.

'I'm not good at origami either. What should I do?'

Even viewed generously, the paper she'd folded resembled a thick, crooked duck rather than a crane.

Fortunately, the other children's paper cranes looked much like Serin's, so she wasn't singled out for teasing.

"Everyone, look at this! Serin's colored paper is really thick, and the colors are so vivid!"

"You're right! There are even sparkly colors!"

"Where did you buy it?"

"Huh? Happy Stationery Store..."

"I didn't see any when I went there. Where was it?"

"At the end of the shelf with the pencil sharpeners."

"Serin is really good at choosing school supplies too. She even has pencils with rainbow-colored leads."

Not knowing the sophisticated expression "having a good eye," the children each praised Serin in their own vague terms.

She'd merely been a little more careful when choosing her school supplies, yet the children's stream of compliments had quickly shifted from Lia to her.

'Is that... so?'

Before long, Serin's previously discouraged expression brightened.

_____________

And so the art class, in which each child had learned something different beyond simply folding paper, came to an end. The children headed home holding their paper cranes.

Instead of taking their usual school bus, the two girls climbed into Jinseong's red compact car.

"I'm back!"

"Hello."

"Welcome. We'll leave as soon as you've fastened your seat belts."

If they left too late, they'd be stuck far back in the line of cars leaving the schoolyard. So Jinseong hurried a little, and his car followed the familiar road back to the coffeehouse in no time.

"Oh, right. Serin, this is your first time at our house, isn't it? Make yourself at home and enjoy yourself. Lia did the same. And tell me if there's anything you'd like for dinner."

"Yes!"

Having set down both her schoolbag and the awkwardness of visiting someone else's home for the first time, Serin followed Lia into the office of Dangsan Enterprises' Media Content Division.

"I'll turn on the lights for you. Press this red button on the camera to start recording. Easy, right? Then have fun."

Jinseong had already made a rough guess about what they intended to film and had adjusted the desk, chairs, and camera setup to match their heights.

"This place looks like a broadcasting station, doesn't it? The camera's really big too. I heard your mother gave it to us as a present."

"R-Really?"

Serin's eyes widened at the unexpected news.

No, more precisely, she was surprised that Lia knew about it.

'Mom sent some broadcasting equipment we don't use at the company to Lia's father. When you go there, don't ask where he bought it. Pretend you don't know, all right?'

Her mother had repeatedly emphasized this to her daughter, who had inherited her talent for instantly recognizing expensive, high-quality items.

And the perceptive Serin had understood exactly what her mother meant.

'If I ask about it unnecessarily, Lia might feel uncomfortable.'

But in Lia and Jinseong, who accepted and gave things without hesitation, there wasn't the slightest trace of such self-consciousness.

"Then let's start with Serin! I still haven't decided what to fold, so I want to take my time."

"Shall we?"

And so the recording button was pressed without hesitation.

"Ahem. The school supply I'm reviewing today is the Magical Girl Momo eraser. If you open the cap like this..."

-Knock, knock.

While the recording was in full swing, someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's me."

Standing outside the door was Yongman, holding a large stack of A4 papers.

"Uncle Yongman!"

"I heard from the coffeehouse owner that you're making MeTube videos. I brought a strategy guide for Hero's Path. I think lots of people would watch if you uploaded this. Especially the tips on raising skill proficiency. I'm the only one who knows those, but since you said you were going to upload them to MeTube, I thought I'd make a special..."

"No! Nobody's going to watch Hero's Path because it's always the same screen!"

"Huh? R-Right. Of course."

-Click.

With Lia's firm rejection, the door closed.

"Let's start again."

-Knock, knock.

But another knock came as though someone had been waiting for his turn, and this time they couldn't even press the recording button.

"Huh? Uncle Han Seun!"

"I heard you're making MeTube videos. If I teach you how to play Go, you could..."

"Oh, come on! I'm going to upload origami videos!"

"Huh? O-Okay."

-Click.

The door closed again after Lia sent National Champion Han Seun away as though chasing off a door-to-door salesman.

'I'm sure I've seen that man somewhere before...'

Serin had never dreamed that National Champion Han Seun, who had become an overnight star through television commercials and variety show appearances after defeating AI, would suddenly come knocking on the door offering to teach her Go.

Needless to say, the slightly unfashionably dressed man who had visited before him was also a dragon of the sort one would expect to find only in legends.