Genius Archer’s Streaming

'What if I take a shot?'

It's 3 PM right now, and he's thinking about this like he always does around this time.

"So, you can't even do this one thing properly?! Huh...."

The protruding belly of the balding director in front of him, who is spitting and shouting.

"Hey! Are you listening? Does it make sense to prepare this kind of thing as meeting materials...."

The precious item hidden underneath that belly of the director.

'I can hit it even from 500 meters away.'

Yoo Sanghyun was gauging how far he could shoot and still hit the target.

"Hey!!!"

As the director raged, the documents flew up in the air.

Swooosh.

Sanghyun's head tilted slightly as it passed by his ear and scored a goal in the trash can behind him.

"This guy! What are you thinking, being distracted while someone is speaking?!"

Only then did Sanghyun regain his senses, and he immediately lowered his head.

"I'm sorry."

Then he politely clasped his hands together.

His right hand, in particular, was shaking slightly.

The director's gaze rested on that hand.

"Ugh.... where did we bring this idiot from.... Slow hands, slow mind...."

The trembling hand paused momentarily at the word "idiot," but the director didn't notice.

"Go quickly! You idiot!"

Finally, the director turned his chair towards the computer and gestured for him to leave.

"I'll go check."

Sanghyun nodded his head as if he had just been scolded and left the director's office.

"Phew. I made it through another day."

As soon as he said that, his expression cleared up without a hint of stress.

It's an essential skill for an archery athlete.

Commonly called mental management.

"Hey, did you survive today too?"

A colleague asked as he approached.

"Well, of course."

"Heh... You really are something else... Working hard under a boss who's difficult to deal with."

"What can I do? If you're caught as a parachute, you have to live like a slave."

Parachute.

That was the nickname that always followed Sanghyun.

He had to leave the archery field without fully developing his natural talent due to an injury. It was his coach who pitied him and managed to get him a job at this company through an acquaintance.

"It's good to reflect on yourself."

Sanghyun's casual expression about calling himself a parachute surprised his colleague, who laughed in disbelief.

"Well, I have to know my place."

Sanghyun replied nonchalantly, while pressing and stretching his right arm.

'Know yourself before you know your enemy... I remember that old saying.'

The phrase "know yourself" reminded him of his athlete days, the words that his coach always used to say to him. 

At the time, when he was being treated as a top promising athlete, he couldn't relate, but now that he's experienced the harsh reality of life, the words resonated deeply within him.

"Well, I'm heading out. I'll have to work overtime if I don't finish my report."

Lost in thought, Sanghyun quickly regained his senses and rushed back to his desk.

After work.

He stopped by the convenience store and bought four cans of beer before heading home.

"Phew... I barely made it through overtime."

He came back home and looked at the clock. It was 9 pm.

He quickly sat in front of his computer and played a sports video.

'Today, I suddenly remembered something,' he thought to himself.

Thump.

He opened a can of beer and watched the video. He used to watch it occasionally when he felt depressed, but now, it has become a video he had hardly watched recently.

The day when he won the national championship as the youngest player ever.

It was a video recording of that historic day.

The athlete in white clothing in the video takes a deep breath for a moment.

Soon, he pulled the bowstring, held his breath, and aimed fiercely at the target in the video.

All the days of training and practice were for this one moment of release.

The bowstring, which had been held taut, is released.

Swooosh.

Thump.

Bullseye.

Wow!

It's another hit! The lens is shattered! He is now the youngest, the youngest.... 

This is the birth of a legendary genius! Ladies and gentlemen, now is the time for history....

The commentators' excited voices match the close-up shot of young Sanghyun's face from his childhood.

"Wow, he looks so good."

Glug.

He let out a deep sigh of admiration and took a swig of his beer.

After the complex congratulations ceremony, including interviews and award ceremonies, the video was turned off.

His face appeared faintly on the black screen.

"I'm getting old...."

In fact, he was still young at the age of 28, but it was probably because the time when he had won the championship in the video seemed so distant.

"Let's watch some game streams."

He turned on the game stream he usually enjoyed watching.

It wasn't that he particularly liked games; in fact, he had never played them before.

Since he had only practiced archery since he was a child, he didn't have time to play games with his peers.

In addition, sports cost a lot of money.

Sanghyun, who lived with his grandmother, couldn't afford it. So he had to rely on scholarships.

As a result, he practiced like crazy without ever playing games. He even won the youngest player championship.

At that time, he thought he would always be on top.

"Of course, that wasn't the case."

Glug.

He took a sip of beer, swallowed all the difficult memories and focused on the game stream again.

On the screen he was watching was a virtual reality game stream in the trending 'Full Dive' format.

-Hey! Move! Why isn't it hitting right!?

-Critical! Critical!! It's cut!

The Full Dive virtual reality game is the best indirect experience medium that makes you feel like you're completely inside the game.

It's often called a 'capsule game' because you need a device called a capsule to do it. 

The price is really high even for the minimum specification, so it was an extreme luxury for someone like Sanghyun who was a salaried worker.

So, for him, just being able to watch such a great game while drinking beer was luck in itself.

[Badduk Badduk donated $50]

[Aim! Where did the aim go!]

One viewer complained about the streamer's aim and donated money. The donation program reads it out in a funny voice.

-Aim! Aim! Whe-where did you go?!

Similar donations continued to follow.

[Jinsung Gum Wrapper donated $4]

[5 minutes later: Okay~ Today's game is!]

A donation that predicted he would turn off and on the game in five minutes to aim for editing.

[Aim donated 30,000 won]

[Hey! I shot, why didn't it go out! What's this capsule, what's this!]

Many donations of considerable amounts continued, such as blaming the reaction speed of a perfectly fine game capsule and predicting that the gamer would struggle with hitting certain targets.

The chatroom was flooded with 'lol's.

However, Sanghyun's face remained stern.

"Really...I guess not being able to do something is also called a talent. Is it difficult to hit that? It looks easy."

The old days.

At this moment, he realized his past efforts seemed pathetic when he had thrown everything in just to be good.

"Let's get some sleep."

Before he knew it, time had passed, and it was now time to prepare for work the next day.

A regular lifestyle.

It was one of the habits he had ingrained into his body during his athlete days.

Soon, the light in his room went out, and the curtains were drawn, blocking even the city lights outside the window.

The next day.

He was called to the director's office as soon as he arrived at work.

'What's this...? The atmosphere is strange.'

Being called to the director's office was a familiar situation, but his colleagues' gazes were unusual.

He had good eyesight.

He could read his colleagues' subtle expressions from afar.

'This is a bit strange.'

The conclusion he drew was that everyone was acting strange today.

He found out the reason after entering the director's office.

Thump.

A resignation letter was placed in front of him.

"...there will be restructuring."

The director spoke without even looking at him.

"If you leave now, I'll take care of you. If you get pushed out because of the restructuring, you won't even get that much."

He felt indifferent, as if it was someone else's problem.

"You're the only one. In our team. Do you know? Everyone else is working hard."

Now they have taken his colleagues hostage.

'I pushed him too hard yesterday...'

The report from yesterday wasn't bad. Sanghyun knew that much. But the director was stubborn and singled him out.

As a mere assistant, all he could do was apologize when the director attacked him. That was the rule.

And now, following that rule, he had to step back from the front line.

"...okay, I understand."

The director looked back at him when he heard his unexpected reply.

"Really?"

"If I leave now, I'll at least get a decent severance pay, right? You'll add some more, won't you?"

"...you're quite quick to calculate."

"I recorded this conversation, so please keep your promise."

It was a blatant lie, but the director nodded. There were quite a few people these days who recorded everything, especially in places like the director's office.

"Well, okay. It's not a promise I'm making, but one that the company guarantees, don't worry."

"Should I leave today?"

"Are you planning to work today if there's work to be done?"

"...I'll pack my things."

"Sure."

Sanghyun turned around expressionlessly. He heard the director's voice from behind him.

"Don't feel too bad. You're a parachute, anyway. And all these kids here~ graduated from university, built up their resumes, studied English, and even went abroad with their parents' money. It's inevitable that we let you go."

I knew it.

The reason why he got scolded by the director he just met. The reason why he had almost no colleagues. The reason why even those were about to disappear.

It was all because he was a high school graduate and a former athlete.

"I know."

He slowly returned to his seat and started organizing his things in the box. He had worked at the company for four years, but he barely had enough belongings to fill a small postal box.

"What should I do?"

Sanghyun returned home.

He managed to leave the company calmly, but now that he was back, he was on the verge of going crazy.

28 years old. High school graduate. Unemployed. Former athlete. Specialty: Archery.

It seemed almost impossible for him to work as a salaryman in South Korea with such a dusty resume.

But he didn't want to contact the coach he had already relied on once.

"Should I buy ramen? And bottled water too...?"

He started to come up with a shopping list that felt like he was in a war.

"Haah... Haah..."

He took a deep breath to calm himself down.

It was so difficult for him to stand up that he eventually sat in his chair, and then ended up lying on his bed.

Sigh.

"Haah..."

He collapsed as if exhausted and gazed blankly at the ceiling. There was a round fluorescent light on the ceiling.

It looked like the target shape he had aimed at every time.

He lifted both hands aimlessly and aimed for the center of the target. It was as if he had a bow in his hand, and his breathing became steady as he drew a perfect pose.

Tadadadada...

After a while, his right hand started to shake noticeably. The longer he hesitated, the stronger the trembling became.

"Ugh..."

Thud.

Eventually, his hand settled back on the bed, and cold sweat dripped down Sanghyun's forehead.

About five minutes later.

He suddenly got up from the bed.

As if possessed, he walked over to his computer and sat down. He thought about taking a beer from the refrigerator, but he didn't.

He trembled as he searched for something on his favorite gaming stream platform.

'Skill-based live streaming'.

Can he make money by playing games well?