[Chief Editor 1: Oh no, our boss is doing sothing crazy again.]
[Chief Editor 2: ??????]
[Chief Editor 3: I seriously have no idea what’s happening when soone’s smashing a lock with an axe. LOL]
[Thumbnail Designer 1: ]
[Thumbnail Designer 1: It’s great that Mr. Yujin never has to worry about thumbnails, lol.]
“Pfft.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
Looking at the thumbnail posted in the group chat on Ngram, where Yujin’s editors and thumbnail designers gathered, it was hard to hold back the laughter. It was too ridiculous not to laugh.
How should I describe it? A doodle? A color rough draft? Either way, you could easily guess what the final product would look like. The thumbnail designer was so skilled that the key elents were already perfectly captured.
I clicked to enlarge it.
In the bottom right corner of the image, there was a giant box—the very sa one sent by Icarus as a reward for completing the Dark Zone main mission in hardcore mode. The box was running away in terror, caught by its tail.
Behind it, Yujin, wrapped in all sorts of items from the unboxing—earrings, bracelets, and a puffy jacket—was holding a gleaming axe, preparing to smash a lock.
It was anthropomorphized… well, not exactly, but that huge box, which seed to have gained a life of its own, was screaming sothing ridiculous.
‘It’s an unboxing! An unboxing!!!’
I burst out laughing.
Naturally, my fingers moved to add a comnt.
[Chief Editor 1: This is classic Yujin-style unboxing, lol.]
[Thumbnail Designer 2: Wow, this thumbnail is genius! How do you even co up with this stuff???]
[Thumbnail Designer 1: It’s my masterpiece.]
[Chief Editor 2: Big respect.]
The way they served it up on a silver platter—how could I not touch it?
Now, it was ti for the editors to take over.
[Chief Editor 3: The unboxing video is longer than expected. Wouldn’t it be better to split it into two parts?]
[Chief Editor 2: The main mission edits are almost done too. Surprisingly, it’s manageable. If no one’s up for it, I’ll handle the general unboxing.]
[Chief Editor 3: Speaking of which, I’ll take care of the Icarus box unboxing.]
[Chief Editor 1: I’ll stick to the main mission as usual.]
[Thumbnail Designer 1: You people are workaholics, LOL.]
But there was a good reason for it.
The fact was that even editors and thumbnail designers who had previously worked with various strears would say, “Wow…” when payday ca around. It was no joke to say that one paycheck could cover a sester of college tuition.
Considering how much Yujin had been raking in lately, it wasn’t that surprising. Foreign viewers had been flooding in too, thanks to so mysterious algorithm boost, and the basic view count on every video had recently been hitting at least 700,000.
Per day.
[Chief Editor 1: But when we post videos, it’s like printing money!!!!]
[Chief Editor 3: LOL true.]
Anyway, back to the present, the goal was to upload a video today and another tomorrow. Of course, this was beyond the goal Yujin had set. That goal had been achieved a long ti ago, and now every video posted was pure incentive.
Yujin’s current milestone was to upload all the edited main mission videos. So, at least one of the three editors had to keep working on that non-stop—aning the other two could focus on other tasks.
And then there was the unboxing. This was Yujin’s unexpected move as a strear, after a period where it was unclear whether he was more of a strear or a pro gar. The result? A peak viewership of 70,000 at one point.
And it wasn’t just any unboxing. From the get-go, Yujin had boldly pulled out a tactical tomahawk, which, after slicing through the tape, had even smashed a thick lock. The axe had taken so damage, but it was still in good shape.
Yujin had essentially advertised the axe in the best way possible.
In fact, after that outrageous unboxing, tomahawk orders had skyrocketed.
‘…Sending us axes as gifts is a bit hard to understand, though.’
The thought of a strear sending axes to their editors was terrifying. Even if I hadn’t done anything wrong, I felt like I should apologize preemptively.
So I apologized.
[Yujin: ?????]
Of course, Mr. Yujin sent back a string of question marks as if he were a confused elder receiving New Year’s bows out of nowhere.
Anyway, since I had contacted him, I explained the situation. As expected, the OK sign ca in less than three seconds. Given that, I went ahead and uploaded the thumbnail after getting all the necessary approvals from both chatrooms.
And Yujin’s reaction?
[Yujin: LOLLLLLLLLLLLL]
It was perfect.
I figured he’d like it, considering the thumbnail designer had poured all their effort, passion, and creativity into it. But seeing his enthusiastic response made feel oddly satisfied.
[Chief Editor 1: Alright, I’ll upload it as-is. The shorts will go up on the sa day, as usual.]
[Yujin: Thanks for all your hard work. You still have plenty of energy drinks left, right? If not, I’ll send more. Oh, and I got so beef as a gift, too.]
[Chief Editor 1: OMG, beef!!!!]
[Chief Editor 1: But we have a lot of people here, LOL…]
[Yujin: Don’t worry about it.]
[Yujin: There’s more than enough to feed everyone.]
[Chief Editor 1: (insert deeply moved here)]
[Chief Editor 1: I’ll die for Yujin, LOL.]
[Yujin: Oh, co on.]
With Yujin’s blessing secured, I signed off with the usual pleasantries and got back to work.
It was ti to crack open another can of the energy drinks Yujin would occasionally send. I opened my editing software and resud working. The main mission video was finally nearing completion.
Though it had been tough, the main mission edits were ironically the series with the highest view count. They consistently pulled in over a million views.
The reason was simple: all the clear ranks were Oga.
It had even been revealed that the hidden requirent to achieve Oga rank in the previously impossible Washington Retake Mission was tied to completing all the missions with Oga ranks, leading to yet another surge in views.
If not now, then when?
“Ti to get to work…”
Today’s video was going to cover exactly that section.
The Washington Retake Mission. The Return of 9-Line.
With the unboxing videos also going live over the next couple of days, there wasn’t much to worry about.
And then—
[Yujin] “It’s an unboxing! An unboxing!!!” [Sponsored & Unboxing Review]
[Views: 1,137,987 // 1 day ago]
[Chief Editor 2: Yo, what is this?????????????]
Both of Yujin’s unboxing videos shot to number one on the trending list.
In many ways, it had beco legendary.
What can I say?
As the world progresses, there seems to be an ever-growing tendency to turn every little thing people do into a . Maybe it’s because I’ve chosen to prioritize streaming over being a professional gar.
Anyway, the reason I’m talking about this is not particularly important.
“Wow! A master of lockpicking without using any tools!”
“They say sufficiently advanced strength is indistinguishable from technique… and yeah, that’s definitely the case… AAAH!”
“No complaints before training today, huh?”
Crunch!
One person, who had been babbling for no reason, got called up to the stage and ended up getting floored by so ground techniques. The scream they let out was quite pitiful. But, as I said earlier, it was training ti, and from that perspective, this was just another form of CQB. Well, CQC in this case.
The timing was perfect, so I shalessly shifted the conversation.
“If an enemy shows up, this is how you neutralize them.”
“Wow, this is progressing really fast.”
“Isn’t this a bit too aggressive for close-quarters combat, sir?”
As expected of national representatives, they catch on quickly.
It seed like it was ti to explain where we were at. In brief, it was ti to get ready for the Asian preliminaries. The second week of training was coming to an end.
The twenty national representatives, divided into five teams, followed similar schedules but at different tis. For example, while I was doing an interview with Dice, Michael, and Gambit on Monday, the others were shooting comrcials.
This system worked both ways, with everyone alternating between real life and virtual reality, crossing the lines between advertising and television. It was only now that we finally had a mont to pause.
Nineteen people were sitting in chairs, all focused on my words as I stood on stage.
It was fortunate—if you could call it that—that the so-called "Task Force" from the pre-briefing had stuck to what they said quite well. They had even incorporated my input into the curriculum and training plans.
Not that I cared much. Since I was planning on giving personal lessons to a few people, including Dice, I wouldn’t have minded even if the Task Force had tried to push back.
Anyway, that’s how we ended up here.
“…Before we start, I’d like to open the floor for questions if possible. Clearing up any confusion you have is one of the goals of my curriculum.”
About ten people raised their hands.
I called on them one by one to ask their questions.
“How exactly will the training proceed? If there’s any conflict with the existing curriculum, how will you handle that?”
“I’ve been in continuous discussion with the Task Force this week, exchanging feedback on the manual they provided, and there haven’t been any major conflicts. However, the overall direction may differ in so aspects.”
“What do you an by that?”
“To put it simply, it’s the difference between passive and active combat. But you won’t need to worry too much about the latter. I don’t plan on pushing that part.”
Besides, when it ca to active combat, there was no one else who could do it but .
And it wasn’t just any competition—it was the Asian preliminaries. The best twenty people from each of five different countries. Unless you’ve had no choice but to gain real-world combat experience for four years and two months like I did, there’s no need for anyone else to do it.
Moreover, the core focus of this curriculum was on pressure—the goal was to teach them how to stay ntally sharp in any situation, which didn’t necessarily involve aggressive combat.
Unlike , they didn’t have the ability to take control of the battlefield themselves.
“…You’ll be learning essential skirmishing skills, such as how to read the combat situation accurately, disrupt the enemy’s offensive, and cut off enemy fire at the right mont.”
Everyone nodded.
But what they didn’t know was that none of this would be as easy as they thought.
“And… I’ll be participating in all the mock combat scenarios where you’ll be learning these skills.”
“Huh.”
The room buzzed with murmurs.
But within a few seconds, they quickly regained their composure, with many raising their hands for new questions.
“Will the process include in-depth behavior analysis, like what Dice received?”
“Of course. You’ll go through that process before the start of week four. Using an algorithm-based analysis program, we’ll prioritize the weapons and attachnts that suit each of you best.”
At the sa ti, I called on Dice.
She was the only person who had fully experienced every aspect of the curriculum firsthand.
“Dice will serve as an assistant instructor. Most of the analysis will be handled by the algorithm, but any human elents that can’t be captured by the program will be checked by either Dice or .”
“Is Dice really skilled enough for that?”
“I trained her. Your KSM rankings speak for themselves, don’t they?”
No matter what happened, that fact wouldn’t change.
Even if you leave out of the equation, Dice had been the first candidate selected in the second cycle of pre-selection that didn’t even happen last year. From that perspective, she had more than earned her right to speak. Plus, since Monday, she had been running a continuous training program for future instructors….
Of course, it’s not like I was so certified instructor myself. As I’ve said before, I never went through a training curriculum to beco one. I just took so data from Icarus and taught based on that.
Even that had been effective enough.
Anyway, with that said, soone brought up a question about attachnts, which continued the conversation.
“By the way, Instructor Yujin, you often use LPVOs. Is there a particular reason for that? They’re great for mid- to long-range engagents, but without a canted sight, they seem unusable for close-quarters combat.”
“I usually choose them out of personal preference… but ever since last week, there’s also an advertising reason.”
“Huh?”
“I was contacted by a scope manufacturing company.”
The questioner finally nodded, saying “Ah…”
For , using an LPVO was more about covering all engagent distances, not maximizing performance in every scenario. If I wanted to squeeze out every ounce of performance, I could always switch to an EOTech, a red dot sight, or other optics.
It’s just that I hadn’t faced any high-level engagents since coming here that would demand such precision. In simple terms, it was the difference between off-the-shelf and custom-made.
Plus, LPVOs are huge and heavy in real life. There’s a reason people avoid using them in gas.
Anyway, the Q&A session wrapped up.
I clapped to liven up the atmosphere and added a final remark.
“Does anyone have ti after this?”
Nobody said no.
I took a deep breath and snapped my fingers. The auditorium we were in instantly transford into a mock combat training area.
As everyone’s faces turned from surprise to amazent, I crooked my finger to call Dice over. Standing beside with her red cap on, she opened her mouth.
“If you have no objections, we’re going to dive into a training course demo now.”
It was ti to put so tension back into this relaxed crowd.
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