Volume 3 Chapter 11

Poor Emergence of Broadcasting

Lee Hyun accessed the item trading site to get information about some of the items he had.

“This should earn me a decent amount of income…”

He had spent more than 3 months in the Morata Province. He had to invest that kind of time because of the difficulty of the quest.

He had acquired a lot of vampire loot: one vampire cape, two boots, and 4 gloves. In addition to his drops, he had gathered various items while hunting out in the field.

However, for a 3 month hunting, it was lower than he expected. Unlike when he was hunting in Lavias where he could monopolize the items, he had to distribute the items evenly amongst the paladins in battle.

Even with the help of Alveron, in order to make the chances of the quest succeeding as high as possible he had depleted all of the heavenly fruit and Avian eggs he had.

He hoped to earn at least 6 million won. If he managed to sell the items, 6 million won would be a lot of money. However, to get a college degree, it would only last about three months.

‘That means I have to earn 2 million won a month. However, in six months I have only managed to earn 3 million won.’

yun Lee, his sister, and his grandmother.

For a family of three, they had a fixed income of 200 thousand won. Everything that was left over went into saving for the degree. In one year, his sister was going to enter a university. In a single year, a freshman spends more than 10 million won and it increases each year.

With all these in mind, when his sister will go to college she will need a monthly minimum of 3.5 million won.

The reason for this was so that she could socialize with others, make friends, learn various skills, and spend time roaming with others.

Royal Road!

It already dominated the item trading site.

Therefore, users earned a lot of money from the game. Users were especially greedy. They formed a guild in the capital or a castle and received exclusive hunting grounds. Lee Hyun was left trying to compete with them.

‘I don’t care whatever others do. I only want my share. With time the items will sell.’

Lee Hyun had great confidence for this part.

Triple Diamond Rating.

Thanks to it, the items that Lee Hyun posted on the trading site will have a prominently displayed position until it was sold.

“Okay.”

Lee Hyun had a moment of satisfaction.

Then the door rattled as his sister came in.

“Oppa, it’s time to study.”

“…”

His GED test was less than 1 month away.

Lee Hyun spent 2 hours a day with his sister studying in order to pass the exam.

Beep!

The phone rang in the middle of studying.

Lee Hyun thought that maybe it was the item trading site contacting him and picked up the phone.

-Hi. This is CTS Media.

The cheerful and feminine voice of Nahee Yoon.

Lee Hyun had heard it once when he had already sold his account.

“What’s going on? Did you purchase my items again?”

CTS Media.

A department was holding an important meeting.

“Our shares in the broadcasting market are increasingly falling. Our sector has less than 7% ratings for broadcasting the game.”

“Is it that too many people are not interested in broadcasts about the game? Too many game companies have turned away from the game approach and trying using a lot of advertising. We have been too focused on the commercial approach while other companies are increasing their revenue and viewership by focusing on the game itself.”

“There could be a reason, but that we require a major program like the other broadcasters is also true, so we should have a program about the most popular game Royal Road, right?”

More than 90% of gamers in Korea played the game.

Royal Road.

The VRMMORPG caught the attention of people on a worldwide basis.

Generally it became part of the regular news, but there could be time to make a separate program about the game.

In recent years, even office workers were able to travel abroad on vacation at home without having to go anywhere by using Royal Road, except, they become a little bit hooked and it turns into a social problem.

“Viewership for programs associated with Royal Road is doing well overall. However, our overall viewership has declined. It says that viewers have stopped following our programs.”

“What is the specific cause? I have gotten all sorts of celebrities and comedians to come onto the show as commentators for the game.”

The directors of each department were very embarrassed.

Famous celebrities in Korea.

They had hired high cost A-class celebrities.

These programs appeared to continually progress with lower viewership as they were difficult to understand.

“Why don’t you bring in the more well-known entertainers?”

“You mean hire the even more expensive ones? I did that for a little bit, but every time I do the viewership drops deceptively.”

“The celebrities avoid doing the broadcasts now too.”

Each of the directors talked for a very long time but the answer did not come.

Back in the day, CTS Media was said to be the most popular broadcasting station. It was the first broadcasting station that brought out popular celebrities. It did not take long for the ratings to rise after celebrities started appearing on the show. With the appearance of the celebrities, viewership increased from low to normal.

That was why they did not discard the celebrity card. But now it was the main topic after the repeated drops in the ratings.

Celebrities in a game. It became cliché.

Cute celebrities showing pitiful expressions from catching a rabbit.

They didn’t know the rules of the game or how to get a basic quest from an NPC and were lost in the kingdoms in the game and didn’t know which cities they were in.

The broadcasters had gotten a lot of good equipment and items for hunting.

They wanted to find a good party that would increase the popularity of their show.

This annoyed the viewers.

Royal Road had meaning in the name itself.

Because anyone was capable of becoming Emperor, it was their ambitious to challenge the goal of becoming Emperor.

Users took risks in this dream. Each with a different way, even if the purpose itself was the same.

A happy life of challenges and adventure.

Even since Royal Road was came forth the suicide rate dropped substantially.

Viewers found watching celebrities hunting in a VRMMORPG almost hilarious.

“The most fundamental problem comes first; it is necessary to increase our incorporation of Royal Road a bit.”

Everyone sympathized with the Director of Management.

“Of course.”

“We should have done that sooner.”

“We should get rid of all future plans for celebrities playing the game.”

“Viewership may diminish temporarily but sometimes you need to try.”

“Welcome.”

The Planning Department welcomed the Ministry of Finance with open arms.

“A decisive measure to boost viewership amongst our broadcasters…we need to organize a special program.”

“A special program?”

“So far, viewers have relied on the news to get informed about the game. However there is a limit for each city or kingdom. Nothing like a boring newscast in front of a desk. Let us introduce a way to get closer to the users.”

“Closer you say…”

“Let’s select 8 people in total and have them tell their stories. They should have videos stored inside of their capsules.”

“Yes they do.”

Capsules made by Unicorn for enjoying virtual reality games.

Each boasted various modern devices. One of them recorded media. As it said within the instructions, inside was a stored media recording device that can play video.

“We can broadcast their stories and they can give information about the secrets of Royal Road and introduce new ideas. It’s fun for people to find out other people’s stories isn’t it?”

“The story of how it all started for a user.”

From there CTS Media launched a broadcast, selecting users for it. They primarily targeted the higher level and famous users from Royal Road.

Viewers will follow the program about how the strongest users became the way they did, as well as the quests they did and the secrets they had. Of course, they won’t disclose all the secrets but, even with a little, users will come flocking uncontrollably.

It included martial arts as well as how to get rich, but they sought out the desire of the user base for the premiere recruits.

Users of Royal Road, the higher levels and the fanatics all had secrets of their own. These people led guilds and made colonies. They governed the affairs of the city in an influential kingdom and substantially increased the number of people in the cities through planning, these people were often selected.

In addition one more person, Thor the blacksmith.

It was pointed out a few times for the broadcast. The craftsman profession was poorly represented so a class that increased the defense of equipment was selected.

And then the last person.

-Is this Lee Hyun?

“Yes.”

-Hi. It’s been a long time since we talked. I am the secretary of the President of CTS Media, Nahee Yoon.

“Yes, it’s been too long.”

-I thank you on behalf of the company for having sold us your account. CTS Media used your account to hunt monsters in each region of the map in the Continent of Magic and it was aired as a special program, remember?

CTS Media.

He immediately recognized the company. He had sold his account for 3.09 billion won, a huge amount of money that he could never make in years.. Thanks to them, he could clear his debts and start a new life.

“So it’s this…”

He had put the items on the auction site and was waiting. Now he had been waiting for a response.

“Just calling to say hi, to see if you remember me.”

His response was blunt.

“I don’t remember.”

-Ah…so have you not heard?

“I’m a little busy.”

Hyun Lee’s words were true.

Back then, and even now, he had never spent any time in leisure because he had to prepare for his future plans for Royal Road. He did not have the kind of time to be watching a game broadcast.

-Yes. I understand.

Nahee Yoon was silent for a long time. Then she asked a brief question.

-Actually, this time our company is planning a program and wants to see if we can invite Lee Hyun. So I’d like to ask you a question. Are you currently playing Royal Road?

“Yes.”

CTS Media was planning several different kinds of measures.

How the users that play Royal Road within the country and abroad was one of them. But it did not make sense to exclude celebrities. Celebrities appearing in reality for signings would attract enthusiasts. However, it would do nothing to pull a person that was too famous into the game.

Strong villains.

People in positions of power.

High level players.

There would be no problem if they could fill the eight positions with those. However, it would be interesting to come up with 1 unknown person that they did not know the class or level of in the game.

It would attract clumsy viewers.

A protagonist who’s actions would cause trepidation.

These requirements, seeing as they could not create a fictional character, put the recruitment into hiatus. They had to consider several people.

Then they remembered a program in the past that was associated with the Continent of Magic.

Weed.

The game character with the highest stats in the game.

The same person who was wrapped in a veil of mystery and legend unlike any other.

The person who enjoyed fighting monsters, whom nothing could stand up to his crushing force.

Everyone that knew Continent of Magic knew Weed.

Then if he was in Royal Road. The tale of a legend in another game.

Many users had their expectations.

So this was what they wanted to try.

“This is the person we need!”

More than one year had passed.

Just like how fish cannot leave water, they thought that Lee Hyun would be in Royal Road.

-Can I ask what level you are in Royal Road?

Nahee Yoon asked her question in a very cautious tone. Asking unfamiliar people about items or levels was the same as asking for information.

“219.”

-219? That, that’s great.

But Nahee Yoon was slightly disappointed. The man was the one who had reigned supreme in the Continent of Magic. It was little more than a year now, so level 219 was lower than expected. It was a pretty high level, but there were quite the number of people around that level.

But she did not know.

Lee Hyun had spent one year preparing for Royal Road, but the time he played was not very long. Nahee Yoon then explained the situation to Lee Hyun.

-Lee Hyun, there is a newly organized program in which we need your assistance.

“You want me to go on television?”

Nahee Yoon replied to Hyun Lee’s questions.

-No, we’re not. We want to make a story about how you have played the game until now. Send it to us and we will broadcast it. Of course it will undergo inspection.

“So you want footage of my game play and I’ll receive money?”

-Send us only a brief portion. What quests you did, where and how you raised your level. As well as what kind of secrets you used to help you level up.

“How much will I get for it?”

-I think 500 thousand won per episode. It gets broadcast twice a week. It may be small, but after it gets aired 20 times, depending on the ratings, you can get rehired.

It was not a bad deal. Lee Hyun accepted the offere since it would allow money to come in.

CTS Media Counsel to his house to came to sign a formal contract. Lee Hyun meticulously studied the contract to confirm that there were no unfavorable provisions. Even if the ratings fall, the broadcast gets interrupted, or if they change the show, Lee Hyun will still get 20 payments. Lee Hyun spent the entire night wondering what to do.

“What should I put!”

The contract needed to be handed over with the manuscript for the first part. But how would he start? He was blocked at the very first sentence. He seemed to understand a little bit about the feelings authors have when writing.

‘Writing is not the same as writing posts. I’m not a real writer and I just can’t send any story. In fact, especially if it’s defective.’

After that, Lee Hyun just instantly wrote the manuscript.

The Production Department of CTS Media received the manuscript of the first week and freaked out.

Others spent a lot of hard effort to write their manuscripts. Though they were gamers and not writers, they tended to see useless chatter with friends and talking to be unsuitable narration and would not be inserted, so many of the manuscripts were dropped.

However, this was the alternative and was too plain.

Even for a brief overview, it was too much.

…

All seven days for the week was just that.

“Is somebody messing with us or what!”

The manager of the Production Department was hysterical. It was hard not to be upset.

“He’s going to explode.”

“This time he might seriously do it.”

The staff shivered in fear.

He had broken a few cameras once.

From a distance away he said.

“Maybe if we play the video we can be lucky. Many of them are lousy writers. Let me take a look at the video. I may want to plan a broadcast based on it.”

The video broadcast team began to finish the manuscripts. The video of Weed began to play on their monitor and everyone was dumbstruck at what they saw.