I did my best to clean up, but thanks to the sweltering heat, my military uniform was drenched.
It was so hot, I was on the verge of smelling like sweat.
But I managed to keep a bright expression as I opened the door.
“I’m back.”
The house was tidy.
The living room looked like it had just been cleaned, gleaming and smelling nice.
A soft acacia scent.
It was the air freshener that my younger brother really liked, so I was familiar with it.
“Hey, what are you up to?”
It was definitely the time when my brother should be around.
He had cleaned the house just before and even contacted me.
I scowled as I looked around the house.
The layout was very simple.
Two rooms, one living room, one bathroom.
Although it was an old apartment, it felt cozy thanks to consistent maintenance.
The apartment I bought before enlisting.
I used to come here to relax during my leaves, and now it’s also the home I shared with my brother, who is now a college student.
It’s a small but cozy place.
I opened the door to the larger of the two rooms and entered.
Wooooong.
A familiar object caught my eye amidst a subtle vibrating sound.
A small capsule for playing virtual reality games.
This was the latest model, quite different from the outdated capsule I used two years ago.
…Wasn’t this usually pretty expensive?
Plus, the design was a bit unique.
Next to the capsule, a strangely shaped monitor displayed rapidly scrolling text.
I needed to call my brother first.
I pressed the call button at the bottom of the capsule.
The only way to summon a user from outside during a game.
About 10 seconds after I pressed the button, my brother popped out of the capsule.
“Agh, what the hell, hyung? You should’ve called before coming!”
“Do I need to call before coming to my own house?”
“Just wait a minute.”
After saying that, my brother went back into the capsule and only came out after about 30 seconds.
He turned off the capsule’s power and grinned.
“Our hyung really got discharged!”
“Now it’s your turn to go.”
“Hey! I haven’t even gotten my draft notice yet! Plus, what kind of military service is it these days? Showing off just because you got discharged. Ugh, you smell like a soldier.”
Should I smack him?
I was getting slightly heated seeing how he was subtly trying to one-up me.
But let’s be magnanimous.
After all, today was my discharge day.
“So, what were you up to? Gaming? Not earning any money? Did you pay this month’s maintenance fees?”
“Come on, the first thing you do after being discharge is to nag?”
“Did you pay the maintenance fees or not?”
“Of course, I did! What do you take me for?”
“Well, a jobless person who just plays games at home.”
“…I can’t take this. I was going to show you later, but I can’t handle hyung’s nagging.”
He said that, and then he led me to the smaller room.
There was a game capsule similar to my brother’s.
As soon as I saw it, I sighed and glared at my brother.
“Did game capsules suddenly get cheaper while I didn’t know? Was there a massive discount sale or something?”
“No! That one came out a month ago, so there’s nothing like that.”
“Are you crazy?”
“Just listen, hyung.”
My brother hastily blocked me as I lunged forward, and he started talking quickly,
“This is all for me. The capsule manufacturer provided it especially for me. It’s a discharge gift I had prepared for my hyung.”
What?
“Why would they sponsor you? Be honest. Did you charge it on someone’s card…? ”
“I’m telling you, it’s true!”
“If it’s unused, we can just return it.”
“Hyung, listen to my story before you decide.”
“…Sigh.”
Coming home in a good mood after being discharged, my brother just had to raise my blood pressure.
I took a deep breath while looking at him.
If he said something ridiculous, I was ready to shut his mouth with my fist.
Seeing my clenched fist, my brother’s voice trembled slightly as he said,
“I’m a broadcaster! I’m quite famous!”
“…Broadcasting?”
“Yeah! They sponsored the capsule because I promote it on my broadcasts. Why can’t you trust me?”
Why couldn’t I trust you?
I’d rather trust the neighborhood dog than my brother.
***
Kim Jinhyuk.
21 years old.
Currently on a leave of absence from university.
This was my younger brother’s profile.
According to him, he’s a broadcaster on the internet broadcasting platform “TwiPot” with an average of 500 viewers.
As I uncovered my brother’s secret life, I casually asked him,
“When did you start broadcasting?”
Jinhyuk turned his gaze slightly before answering.
“Since hyung came home on a private’s leave?”
“Isn’t 500 viewers quite a lot for a guy?”
“That’s right. As you know, I’m somewhat handsome, right? There are quite a few people who watch my broadcasts for my looks.”
“The capsule is supposed to have air conditioning, so how did the heat get to you?”
“Look at that military talk, so crude.”
He said that and then explained the circumstances of how he became a broadcaster.
To put it simply, the story went like this.
There was a fighting game tournament six months ago, one I hadn’t even heard of, and my younger brother took first place with flying colors.
Fighting games were crawling with die-hard enthusiasts.
Even when Gaia Online dominated the gaming world, there were those who only played fighting games.
But my brother won the tournament on his first try and started broadcasting with the so-called “talent bug” image.
Well, I sort of got it.
After taking a sip of iced coffee, I nodded slightly and replied,
“It’s in the family.”
“Huh?”
“That thing, you being good at games is a family trait.”
“Right. You used to fly around in Gaia Online too. You used to tell me stories about it when I was hospitalized.”
“Did I say that?”
“Yeah.”
Jinhyuk was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer three years ago, at the age of 18—a moment perilously close to death.
But now, cancer no longer threatened human life.
Well, more precisely, the lives of “humans with money.”
Even though the cure rate was close to 100% when treated, we were broke.
You couldn’t imagine how desperate I was.
Our parents passed away 13 years ago, and we had no relatives.
To be honest, I even considered suicide at that time.
Since I was struggling to get a job, I was gaming all day and night.
Maybe that’s when it started.
I began to make money through Gaia Online by any means necessary.
All I had at that time was my game ID.
It’s a bit embarrassing to say, but I was quite famous in the game.
I was well-known enough to appear on several famous streamers’ broadcasts, surpassing even the average pro-gamer in physical skills and situational judgment.
My relationship with the top streamer of that time, Kan-hyung, started then.
As my fame grew, I took on various requests to make money—like assassinating guild leaders of famous guilds or influential NPCs in the game.
“Dark gamer” would be an appropriate description.
I earned money desperately and somehow managed to pay for my brother’s hospital bills.
If that damn Gaia Online had only allowed real-money trading, I wonder if I would have ended up in that situation.
…Anyway, that’s how it was back then.
During that time, I seized an opportunity that could cover my brother’s hospital and surgery costs in one go, and I took it.
I don’t regret it even now.
Because of that choice back then, my brother is still alive, and I have “my own home.”
“Hyung.”
“How far did we get in the story?”
“Still not used to society because you haven’t been soaked in it enough? Sergeant Kim Chansik, welcome to society.”
Just until recently, he was the one struggling in the hospital.
Well, broadcasting or whatever it was.
It’s just impressive that he managed to do something while I was in the army.
I looked at Jinhyuk and cracked a wry smile.
“So, can I sell this capsule then?”
“…Really?”
“I’m done with gaming now. I don’t care about your broadcasting, but I have to start dealing with the outside world.”
Having 500 viewers wasn’t a small number as far as I knew.
I wasn’t a complete stranger to internet broadcasting, having been quite friendly in the past with streamers commonly referred to as “major corporations.”
Since I used to watch internet broadcasts a lot, I wasn’t against my brother doing it.
Jinhyuk frowned slightly after listening to my words.
Then, looking at me, he said,
“No way.”
“What do you mean ‘no way’?”
“Hyung, you have to play the game.”
“Why the hell do you keep insisting when I said I don’t want to, you crazy bastard.”
“No, it’s because I’ve stockpiled a bunch of missions. I told the viewers that you’d be discharged, and we’d do a broadcast together, so I’ve already accepted missions for us.”
Was he really out of his mind?
I gritted my teeth in frustration as I looked at Jinhyuk.
“I. Am. Not. Doing. It.”
“But, hyung, just listen to what I have to say.”
“If it’s about playing games, I absolutely won’t… ”
However, I had no choice but to stop and look at the thin smartphone Jinhyuk held up in front of me.
“Showing off your latest phone? I’m really jealous.”
“Look at the content.”
With a feeling of reluctance, I read through the contents.
[Mission List]
- Win Excalibur as a duo with hyung <500,000 won>.
- With hyung… <500,000 won>.
- …
A variety of missions and amounts.
Surely the money listed behind must be the success reward for the missions, right?
I sighed deeply as I scrolled down the never-ending list of missions and said to Jinhyuk,
“Do we lack money? If it’s about money… ”
But Jinhyuk nodded confidently.
“We’re broke.”
“What?”
“After paying off the loans, there was literally nothing left. It feels like it’s been over a year since you gave me any money, hasn’t it?”
…Was 1 billion won such a small amount of money?
My brother continued as I was left speechless.
“It’s been like that since then.”
“You should’ve told me sooner.”
“How could I say that to a soldier? I saw just how much you struggled to save me.”
I had no response to that.
My only source of income, the Gaia Online account, had been forcibly deleted.
There were numerous reasons for it, but in any case, I could no longer make money from Gaia Online.
The only thing I trusted was gaming.
Now, I was unemployed.
Truly a burden without a proper source of income.
“Hyung, you can’t even look for a part-time job right now. Just do one broadcast with me. Okay? No, just think of it as playing games comfortably. You promised to play games with me when I got better.”
What a cowardly bastard.
So that’s how you’re going to play it?
Just as I was considering it, Jinhyuk said something he should never have said.
“Wow, hyung, are you afraid of getting your ass kicked in a game by your young brother?”
…Hoo.
You’ve just said something that men should never say to each other.
I couldn’t hold back any longer at his words.
“You’re asking for it.”
You’re really done for.
