The Villain is Too Good at Broadcasting

Chapter 2 “Bro, you said you used to play games a lot?” (1)

I tried to clean it as thoroughly as possible, but because of the scorching weather, my uniform was soaked through.

It was so hot that it was already starting to smell musty.

Nonetheless, I put on as bright a face as I could and opened the door.

“I’m home.”

The house was tidy.

The living room sparkled, as if it had just been cleaned, and it smelled nice.

A soft acacia scent.

It was a scent that my younger brother liked quite a lot, so it was familiar.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

He should have been home at this time.

He had just cleaned up and had even contacted me.

I frowned as I looked around the house.

The layout of the house was very simple.

Two rooms, one living room, one bathroom.

It was quite an old apartment, but thanks to consistent maintenance, it had a cozy feel to it.

It was the apartment I bought before enlisting.

I would come here to relax during my vacations, and now I was living here with my brother, who had become a university student.

It was a small but cozy home.

I opened the door to the larger of the two rooms and went inside.

A faint humming sound and a familiar object caught my eye.

A small capsule for playing virtual reality games.

It was a latest model, quite different from the old capsule I had used two years ago.

…This must have been really expensive.

Moreover, it looked a bit unusual.

Next to the capsule, there was a uniquely shaped monitor with text scrolling down quickly.

First, I decided to call my brother.

I pressed the call button located at the bottom of the capsule.

It was the only means of communication to call the user outside the game.

About ten seconds after I pressed the button, my brother opened the capsule and came out.

“Ah, what the heck, hyung. You should’ve called before coming!”

“Do I need to call before coming to my own home?”

“Just wait a minute.”

Saying that, my brother went back into the capsule and came out again about thirty seconds later.

He turned off the power to the capsule and grinned broadly.

“My brother’s really discharged now!”

“Now it’s your turn to go.”

“Hey! I haven’t even received my draft notice yet! Besides, the army nowadays is hardly even the army! Acting all high and mighty just because you’re discharged. Ugh, you smell like a soldier.”

Should I hit him?

Seeing him subtly trying to provoke me made my blood boil a little.

But let’s show some magnanimity.

After all, today was my discharge day.

“What were you doing, anyway? Gaming? Not making any money? Did you pay this month’s maintenance fee?”

“Why are you nagging as soon as you get home?”

“I asked if you paid the maintenance fee.”

“Of course I did! What do you take me for?”

“What do I take you for, a jobless bum playing games at home?”

“…This won’t do. I was going to show you later, but hearing you nag makes it impossible to wait.”

He said that and then led me to the small room.

There, another game capsule, similar to his, was installed.

As soon as I saw it, I sighed and glared at my brother.

“Did game capsules get cheap without me knowing? Like, were they on sale or something?”

“No! That one just came out a month ago, so there’s no such thing.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Listen, hyung.”

My brother quickly started talking, trying to stop me from charging at him.

“This is all specially supported by the capsule manufacturer for this great me. It’s a discharge gift from your brother.”

What?

“Why would they support you? Be honest. Whose card did you swipe…?”

“It’s true!”

“You haven’t used it yet, so you can return it.”

“Hyung, just hear me out first.”

“…Hoo.”

I had come home in a good mood after being discharged, and my brother was already making my blood pressure rise.

I took a deep breath while looking at my brother.

If any nonsense came out of his mouth, I planned to shut it with my fist.

Seeing my clenched fist, my brother’s voice shook a little as he spoke.

“I broadcast! I’m pretty famous!”

“…Broadcast?”

“Yeah! The capsule company sponsored it, asking me to promote it on my broadcast. Why don’t you believe me?”

Why don’t I believe you?

I’d rather trust a neighborhood dog than trust my brother.

2.

Kim Jin-hyuk.

21 years old this year.

On a leave of absence from university.

That’s my brother’s profile.

According to him, he was a streamer on the internet broadcasting platform ‘Twipod’ with an average viewership of 500 people.

As I listened to my brother’s hidden secret, I casually asked him.

“Since when did you start broadcasting?”

Jin-hyuk turned his gaze slightly and replied.

“Since you were on leave as a sergeant?”

“500 viewers is quite a lot for a guy, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. You know I’m pretty good-looking, right? There are quite a few people who watch the broadcast just to see my face.”

“Aren’t the capsules supposed to have air conditioning? How did you get so hot?”

“Wow, listen to the crude language of a soldier.”

After saying that, he explained how he came to start broadcasting.

It was a rather long story, but to summarize it simply:

There was a fighting game tournament six months ago, one I had never heard of, and my brother proudly took first place in it.

Fighting games were filled with hardcore gamers everywhere.

Even when dominated the gaming world, there were enthusiasts who only played fighting games.

But my brother won the fighting game tournament in his first appearance, and since then, he started broadcasting with the so-called ‘genius’ image.

Well, I roughly understood.

I took a sip of iced coffee and nodded slightly as I answered.

“It’s in the family.”

“What?”

“Your talent for gaming, it runs in the family.”

“Oh, right. You used to be a big deal in , didn’t you? You used to tell me all about it when I was in the hospital.”

“Did I?”

“Yeah.”

Jin-hyuk was diagnosed with stomach cancer three years ago when he was 18.

Stage 4 stomach cancer, a moment closer to death than anything else.

However, cancer no longer threatened human lives as it used to.

No, to be precise, it no longer threatened the lives of ‘people with money.’

Although the cure rate was close to 100% when treated, we had no money.

You can’t imagine how hopeless we were.

Our parents had passed away 13 years ago, and we had no relatives.

To be honest, I had even contemplated suicide at that time.

It was also when I struggled to find a job and played games all the time.

Maybe it started from then.

I began to earn money through by any means necessary.

Back then, the only thing I had was a game ID.

Though it’s embarrassing to say it myself, I was quite famous in the game.

I had physical abilities and situational judgment skills that easily surpassed professional gamers. I even appeared on broadcasts of famous streamers a few times, and that was how I started my connection with Kan, the top streamer at that time.

As I gained fame, I began to take on various requests behind the scenes and made money.

Requests like assassinating guild leaders or important NPCs in the game.

‘Dark gamer’ would be an apt description.

I worked desperately and somehow managed to earn enough for my brother’s hospital bills.

If only that damned allowed real-world trading, I wouldn’t have had to go that far.

…Anyway, that’s how it was back then.

Amidst all that, I got an opportunity to settle my brother’s hospital bills and surgery all at once, and I seized that chance.

Even now, I don’t regret it.

Because of that choice, my brother is alive, and I have ‘my home.’

“Hyung.”

“Where did I leave off?”

“Are you still struggling to adjust to civilian life? Sergeant Kim Chan-sik, welcome to society.”

To me, he was still the kid who had been fighting a tough battle in the hospital until recently.

Well, broadcasting or whatever.

I’m just proud that he managed to do something while I was in the army.

I looked at Jin-hyuk and chuckled.

“Then, can’t we sell this capsule?”

“…Really?”

“I’m not playing games anymore. I don’t mind you broadcasting, but I still need to work outside.”

From what I know, 500 viewers is not a small number. I wasn’t completely ignorant about internet broadcasting, and I was once close with streamers who were considered the big leagues.

Since I had been quite familiar with internet broadcasts at the time, I didn’t have a negative stance on my brother doing it.

Jin-hyuk frowned slightly upon hearing my words. Then he looked at me and spoke.

“No way.”

“What do you mean, no way?”

“You have to play games.”

“Why do you keep insisting when I said I don’t want to, you crazy idiot?”

“No, I’ve already stacked up a ton of missions. I told the viewers that you’d be discharged, and that we’d show them a brother broadcast. I’ve already accepted the missions.”

Is he really crazy?

I ground my teeth in frustration and glared at Jin-hyuk.

“Absolutely. Not. Doing it.”

“Seriously, just listen to me.”

“If you’re telling me to play games, then absolutely not…”

However, I couldn’t help but pause as I stared at the thin smartphone Jin-hyuk had brought right in front of my eyes.

“Are you trying to show off your new phone? I’m really envious.”

“Just look at the content.”

With a reluctant heart, I began to read the contents.

1. Win Excalibur duo with my brother <500,000 KRW>.

2. With my brother… <500,000 KRW>.

3. Brother…

Various missions and amounts.

Surely, the amounts listed were the rewards for completing the missions, right?

I sighed deeply as I scrolled through the endless list of missions. Then I looked at Jin-hyuk and spoke.

“Are we out of money? If it’s money…”

Jin-hyuk confidently nodded his head.

“We’re broke.”

“What?”

“After paying off the loan, there was really nothing left. I think it’s been over a year since I ran out of the money you gave me.”

…Was 1 billion KRW really such a small amount?

Looking at my speechless face, Jin-hyuk continued to talk.

“That’s how it has been since then.”

“You should have told me sooner.”

“How could I tell you while you were in the army? I could see how much you suffered to save me.”

Hearing him say that left me without words.

My only source of income, the account, had been forcibly deleted.

There were many reasons behind it, but in any case, I could no longer earn money through .

I had nothing to rely on but games.

In my current state, I was indeed jobless.

A burden without any proper source of income.

“Hyung, you can’t just find a part-time job right away anyway. Just do one broadcast with me. Okay? No, just think of it as playing a game casually. Hyung, you promised to play games with me when I got better.”

This sneaky little brat.

You’re going to play it like that?

While I was pondering for a moment, Jin-hyuk said something he shouldn’t have.

“Wow, hyung, are you afraid of getting your ass kicked by your little brother in a game?”

…Phew.

You just said something you should never say between men.

I couldn’t hold back after that.

“You’re dead.”

You’re really dead.