Genius’s Godlike Game Broadcast-Chapter 103 : 2nd OTP Preparation (1)

2nd OTP Preparation (1)
The stream had ended, but Lee Gyeongbok's work was not finished.
"Is now okay for a meeting? How's the stream editing going?"
He was working as the CEO of Team Perfect, not as the streamer Purple.
A meeting regarding the Escapers advertisement contract. To Lee Gyeongbok's question, Choi Byeonghun waved his hand dismissively.
〈We've got plenty of time. Except for that bug incident, there wasn't much action, so editing's a breeze.〉
Strictly speaking, it was Choi Byeonghun's hologram. Since it was late at night, they had chosen to have a hologram meeting instead of meeting in person.
〈Let's get right to the point, then. This is the proposal that came in for us.〉
Park Juho pulled up the email in the center. Lee Gyeongbok skimmed through it and looked to his friend.
If it was Park Juho, he would have already summarized the contents and stored them in his head.
〈Seems like they've been preparing ever since they sent the game code. But the scale of the event is smaller than I expected.〉
"Smaller?"
〈It's not much different from what their head of development explained. Basically, we play the new theme with viewers and share our impressions. That's all.〉
Lee Gyeongbok frowned slightly.
It really was too modest to be called an event.
〈Of course, this isn't finalized. It says negotiations are possible, so it looks like they want to guarantee us creative control over our content.〉
〈Yeah, I think you're right.〉
Choi Byeonghun picked up the thread.
〈Making the game and running a broadcast are two different things, after all. Sponsors rarely require you to follow a script they write.〉
"Oh, really?"
〈Wasn't it like that for us too? There were only rules about what not to do, not much about what we had to do.〉
At that, Lee Gyeongbok nodded. Of all the ads they'd done so far, the only real restriction had been having to explain the product specs during the capsule unboxing stream.
Even then, they'd decided all the movements and methods themselves.
〈If you run the stream exactly as the sponsor imagined, it gets stiff. The mood dies and it actually backfires.〉
"Hmm, so we have plenty of room to adjust things on our end."
Lee Gyeongbok briefly reviewed the last stream and spoke.
"If you look at the chat, everyone was pretty excited about 'participating.' But the current competitive mode only allows four people, right? So minus me, that's only three viewers. If we just run it like that, people might be really disappointed."
〈I saw that too. Some viewers were expecting something on the level of OTP.〉
〈But this isn't Gunner Ground; the game itself is different, so a larger scale might be tough.〉
Park Juho and Choi Byeonghun's faces grew serious. Even if they liked to joke around, business talk wasn't something to take lightly.
"Still, we have to bump up the participant numbers as much as possible."
〈That's true. Not just for the entertainment, but it's directly linked to channel growth.〉
〈Juho's right, especially now that we're a month into streaming, it's time to pay attention to resub rates.〉
Lee Gyeongbok's eyes widened.
He'd only thought about making the show fun, so this was an unexpected topic.
"Resub rates?"
〈It's the point where subscribers decide whether to renew or not. We've got a strong core fanbase for now, but there's no guarantee it'll last.〉
〈Exactly. People subscribe for perks like ad removal, but above all, they're looking for something unique.〉
Park Juho adjusted his Anqing and continued.
〈In the first month, the launch of new emotes clearly set us apart. We also made the first OTP event sub-only content, which boosted our numbers. But now, things have changed.〉
"What's changed?"
〈Using emotes has become pretty common now. We've got more subscribers, so they're used more often, making them familiar to everyone.〉
〈So emotes can't really symbolize uniqueness anymore. How can something everyone uses set you apart?〉
Listening to Choi Byeonghun, Lee Gyeongbok's mind spun. He reviewed the chat logs in his head and nodded.
"Yeah... There aren't as many emotes in chat these days."
It was a big difference compared to when emotes first launched. Lee Gyeongbok was surprised by this, and even more surprised that his friends had noticed.
〈Still, we can't just make a new emote straight away. So what will subs do? They probably won't unsubscribe right away. Why not? Out of loyalty.〉
〈But they'll probably lower their tier.〉
As his friends explained, Lee Gyeongbok understood the situation.
"So they'll stay subscribed, but won't bother paying more. Makes sense—I'd do the same."
Running a stream is one thing, but managing a channel is a business.
The two are closely linked, but require different strategies.
"We have to give higher tier subs a sense of special value, make it clear they get treated differently."
〈Exactly. If we don't have emotes, then what we can offer is...〉
"Sub-only events."
Providing opportunities others can't get. But that alone isn't enough.
If the chance you win through competition turns out lame, the disappointment increases.
"I'll have to negotiate a lot at the meeting."
This event couldn't be meager. The three of them decided to push this point during the meeting.
* * *
The next day.
Lee Gyeongbok and his friends arrived at the developer's office for the scheduled meeting.
"This the place?"
"Yeah."
When Choi Byeonghun squinted up at the building and asked, Park Juho answered curtly.
"Oh, there it is. I. M. PRISON."
Choi Byeonghun, peering at the floor guide with narrowed eyes, pointed at one spot.
[9F – I. M. PRISON]
The developer, 'I. M. PRISON', didn't occupy the entire building.
The ad sponsors they'd worked with before had all been big-name companies, but this place was somewhere between a small and a mid-sized business.
"I kinda expected it, but seeing it in person is a bit of a letdown."
"Still, company ratings aren't bad. They're probably pretty recognized in their genre."
"That's true, but..."
Smaller than expected.
Choi Byeonghun showed obvious disappointment, while Park Juho took it in stride.
But Lee Gyeongbok's reaction was quite different.
"Hey, it's fine. This is a good place."
He grinned and patted his friends on the shoulder. Confused, they soon nodded.
"Well, if you say so."
"Agreed."
The three caught the elevator. Lee Gyeongbok glanced around.
'They really chose a spot with strong ki.'
He'd felt good since arrival. It was what people called a "lucky site."
'Plus...'
The elevator stopped on the 9th floor.
When they went straight to the office, Lee Gyeongbok became even more convinced.
'The company itself is on the right track.'
While Park Juho, as the manager, discussed things with a company staff member, Lee Gyeongbok looked around the office.
'The employees' faces are lively. The mood is full of energy.'
He took a deep breath.
He could sense the staff's passion and attachment—the "spirit" and "conviction" his grandmother always talked about.
He'd learned to read such thoughts from people through his experience in games. Lee Gyeongbok basked in the abundance of energy.
'Most have stayed with the company, it seems.'
Most of the mental voices he could sense had remained. Not surprising.
'With this kind of location and atmosphere, disasters won't strike easily. Maybe I'm the lucky one for landing this.'
He smiled without realizing it.
He had a good feeling.
"What are you grinning about?"
Choi Byeonghun asked with a puzzled look. Instead of answering, Lee Gyeongbok just smiled.
"What are you two doing? Come on."
Park Juho called to the two standing around. Their escort was waiting.
The three of them were led to the meeting room.
"Ah, welcome!"
"Thank you for coming!"
As they opened the door, two people inside greeted them. When Park Juho and Choi Byeonghun moved to return the greeting, they froze.
"What the..."
"Pfft."
Park Juho couldn't hide his bewilderment, and Choi Byeonghun struggled not to burst out laughing.
The cause was the head developer, imprisoner. As in the game, he wore a monitor-like 3D mask.
"It's our first time meeting offline. I'm Purple."
But Lee Gyeongbok greeted him naturally.
"Wow, you really are a broadcasting genius. Everyone gets shocked by this mask."
"Actually, if I'd known you were wearing it, I'd have brought one too. It's a shame."
Thanks to Lee Gyeongbok's ease, the stiff mood quickly relaxed. The man next to the lead developer introduced himself as team leader of business.
After some brief chat, they got to the main topic.
"This is the detailed proposal for the ad contract."
The business team leader brought up the hologram document. The three quickly scanned through it.
"... Is this figure correct?"
Park Juho narrowed his eyes.
Choi Byeonghun forced his expression to stay neutral, but his pupils betrayed his surprise.
'The average for a 600,000 Q-tuber is 13 million, right?'
Lee Gyeongbok couldn't hide his curiosity. The amount written was nowhere near average.
"Yes, that's correct. 20 million won as the advertisement fee."
Imprisoner answered without hesitation.
A full 20 million won.
That was 7 million more than the average.
'What's going on? Is there something extra attached?'
'No, at this rate it's the fee for a 1 million Q-tuber!'
The unexpected amount drew opposite reactions from the two friends. Park Juho quickly scanned the proposal again, while Choi Byeonghun covered his mouth to hide his delight.
As for Lee Gyeongbok himself, he smiled and asked calmly, not showing a hint of surprise.
"Interesting. Could you tell us the reason behind this figure?"
"Ah, that's..."
"I'll explain."
Imprisoner raised his hand, stopping the team leader.
"We'd planned to settle around 15 million at first. But we changed our minds."
Because it was reality, his monitor mask didn't flash any emoji.
"The reason our company has grown so far is because we never skimped on investment. After watching Purple's stream yesterday, I realized something."
But to Lee Gyeongbok, it felt as if an exclamation mark was flickering over that mask.
"Purple's value can't be measured by an 'average'! That idea really hit me."
"Thank you for thinking so highly of me."
"Not at all. It's only natural. I realized there's a world of difference between watching and actually experiencing, just like in our room escape game."
"If you say so, then I can speak frankly."
Everyone turned to Lee Gyeongbok.
"Honestly, the proposal in your email didn't feel quite right. We want to plan this event to be above 'average' as well."
"Oh! Sounds like you have a good idea. May I hear about it?"
Lee Gyeongbok shared the points he'd discussed with his friends—leaving out the parts related to channel growth, and focusing on event planning.
"By OTP, you mean the event where we had 100 viewers participate...?"
"Yes, that's right."
The team leader stiffened and glanced at the developer lead. But, with the monitor mask covering his face, his thoughts were indecipherable.
Eventually, he spoke first.
"But our game's genre is different. Accommodating that many people at once is..."
"Wait a moment."
The team leader fell silent immediately.
"Given the genre of our game, there's no need for everyone to gather in one place. You mean you want more participants, not that everyone has to be together, right?"
"Exactly."
"In that case... I think it's possible."
Even as he said that, imprisoner shook his head vigorously.
"No—we'll make it possible. We'll set up a special event server and create the necessary environment!"
As he affirmed this, Lee Gyeongbok smiled and held out his hand.
"That might have been a big ask, but thank you for accepting."
"No, we're the ones who should thank you!"
Imprisoner shook his hand.
That's how they struck the deal and wrapped up the meeting.
Lee Gyeongbok added something as it was about to end.
"Oh, one more thing. I'd like to select event participants in a different way this time—could you help out with that?"
"Help?"
"Yes."
He smiled at the two puzzled men.
"Instead of random draws, we'll hold a test."
A chance earned not by luck but by skill. Subscribers would surely value it all the more.
***
**New Names, locations, skills, and Techniques**