Chapter 9
The panic on his face is obvious.
A wild boar appears.
They're causing a lot of damage.
Honestly, if you just heard it, it'd sound ridiculous.
But what am I supposed to do when I can actually see it?
"Uh, should we change the filming location?"
"Well..."
That's probably the best option.
Jang Woo-kyung nodded at once.
"Actually, there are two more places we're planning to get cooperation from as filming locations."
He picked up his phone.
The first planned filming location was Gangwon Province, but he showed me similar locations in Gyeonggi Province and around Jirisan.
"......"
There it is again.
This time, it's a bear.
Four Asiatic black bears with Nike logos on their chests.
He could see a future where the actress was torn to shreds by the father bear, mother bear, and baby bear.
This is even more of a catastrophe than the wild boars.
"I think it'd be best to avoid Jirisan."
"...Is that so? Then Gyeonggi Province..."
I saw it.
A landslide breaks out at the Gyeonggi filming location.
There are no casualties, but the equipment for shooting, along with the terrain needed for filming, is completely destroyed.
...At this point, the drama itself is the problem, isn't it?
There are limits to how unfair you can be...
"No..."
Jang Woo-kyung also looked flabbergasted after hearing me.
If the one saying it is this stunned, what about the one hearing it?
"...Then does that mean there's no answer at all..."
In that case, the original filming location seems better. We might be able to deal with it there.
"What do you mean by deal with it...?"
"Wild boars can still be kept in check somehow if you have hunters, can't they?"
And if we scatter bait so the wild boars can't enter the set, they won't come near.
"Hmm..."
"We'll have no choice but to take on a certain amount of risk."
"...Then let's say we do that. What happens to the drama in the end?"
"I guess we'll only know when the time comes. Still, at least there won't be any problems with the actors, so if the drama is really good, it'll probably do well, right?"
"Phew..."
I had nothing I could say to Jang Woo-kyung, who let out a sigh so deep it seemed to sink the ground.
"Life really isn't easy."
"I agree."
I think so too.
That's just how the world is, isn't it?
"Sir, if it's all right with you, could you come to the filming set?"
Naturally, they'd cover travel expenses separately.
But what am I supposed to do if I go?
If I were a hunter, I might at least be of some help when wild boars show up, but I've never even done military service.
"Wouldn't having you there help reduce the damage if anything happened?"
"Rather than calling me, I think you'd be better off hiring a few more hunters with that money... but if that's what puts your mind at ease, sure."
I'd also like to go and see the set, after all.
.
.
.
Anyway, I agreed to go to the set with them.
Seeing that they even drew up a contract, they must be really worried.
-So you're going to the drama filming location in two months?
"Yes. That's how it turned out."
Still, since I should probably tell Hong Si-yeon, who is technically my employer, I called her.
After a brief silence, she chuckled on the other end.
-No, sir. You're not a hunter, so what good would it do to go somewhere where wild boars are showing up?
"Exactly."
-Well, if that's what you've decided, I can't really say anything. I never intended to stop you from doing what you do.
That's a relief.
-But sir. Are you going to keep working that way?
"Like that...?"
-I mean taking on clients through referrals.
"It doesn't seem bad. Why?"
-If you want to raise your profile, I think other methods would work too. If you're interested in livestreaming, I can help you.
Who watches TV these days? Everyone watches livestreams.
It just so happened that Hong Si-yeon knew a famous influencer.
I was a little tempted by the suggestion that I appear on his stream.
Raising my profile would be that much riskier too.
But it would also be a chance to make even better use of my ability.
Who knows.
Maybe my ability will develop further like last time.
-If you don't want your identity revealed, it'd be better to appear wearing a mask.
And if you get popular there, let's start a channel.
Hong Si-yeon would register it under her own name, and she'd have company staff handle the editing and such.
In other words, all I had to decide was whether or not I'd do it.
Not a bad offer.
"Livestreaming... Hmm..."
Last time, my ability had strengthened to the point where I could discern a person's past and future just from their username.
If that's the case, livestreaming should be possible enough.
"Yes. Then let's do that."
.
.
.
A few days after deciding to do livestreaming.
Hong Si-yeon came looking for me.
"The person we're collabing with this time is also hiding their identity."
"Really?"
"Yes. By any chance, do you know what a vtuber is?"
"Yes."
If you spend time on the boards, vtubers come up a lot.
"They're a vtuber who goes by the name Ppuni Hani."
"Oh..."
They're a vtuber drawing attention on the boards.
They play games quite a bit, and especially because they also play the game I play, I know them too.
"I know."
"Great. Let's go."
I ended up getting red-pilled without meaning to.
The place we hurried to was a small studio.
And what came out of there was...
"Huh? Ms. Hong Soo-yeon?"
"Sir! Long time no see!!"
The woman I had first given a fortune reading to.
Hong Soo-yeon, who had gotten a little sharper after being betrayed by her lover.
She was Hong Si-yeon's younger sister.
"Do you work here?"
"Ahaha..."
After her awkward laugh, I followed her guidance to a studio about the same size as the officetel where I live.
No way... don't tell me Ppuni Hani is...
"Yep! I'm Ppuni Hani!"
Amazing.
Hong Soo-yeon grinned brightly and said proudly.
"You've figured out that the YouTuber with 620,000 subscribers is me. Ta-da! Red pill!"
"With a face like yours, you could probably just stream without hiding anything."
"Oh, come on! I really like being a vtuber. Anyway, thank you so much for agreeing to appear, sir."
"Not at all. But how are you planning to run the stream..."
"Ah. There are people I'm collabing with. I was thinking I'd have you tell fortunes for them."
There are a few vtubers streaming with me.
The concept of this stream is to fortune-tell them.
"They're all vtubers from our company, so if we call them, they'll be here in no time."
Come to think of it, Ppuni Hani was also a corporate vtuber.
"Who's the boss of the company?"
Since I know them, maybe I can use that person's future to tell Hong Soo-yeon how she should act in this company?
Hong Soo-yeon smiled at my question.
"My grandma."
"Huh?"
That's pretty surprising.
A grandmother running a vtuber company.
"The actual operations are handled by my older sister. Grandma just provides the funding."
"She does that too?"
"She just handles the accounting part. My sister decides the actual policy."
So she's someone important after all.
Since her future doesn't show the company going under or anything, it'll be fine.
"Then should I call them? My closest coworker..."
"I don't think we need to call them. We could just do it in collab format."
"Wow. You can do that too?"
"This much is easy."
As long as I can identify who the other person is, that's all that matters.
Hong Soo-yeon's eyes sparkled.
"Then we need to decide on your avatar... What would be good? You can just appear as yourself."
"Can a live-action person and a vtuber even collab together?"
"Don't underestimate science and technology."
Amazing. So even that works.
Well, that works for me too.
"Then let's do that."
Since I'd need to wear all sorts of equipment to make the avatar move, it'd probably be better to just keep it simple.
"Yep. Then I'll have you brought in once we're ready!"
So all that's left is to relax in the waiting room?
Let's just make ourselves comfortable.
"Aren't you nervous?"
"Not really...?"
Ppuni Hani is a pretty popular vtuber.
If I appear on her stream, it'll spread quickly online, and my ability will be exposed.
In the process, my recognition will shoot up quickly.
"There may even be people who heckle you or claim it's fake. Brace yourself."
"It might be fun to reveal those guys' personal information too."
"Ahaha... But sir, what is your goal?"
Hong Si-yeon asked as she placed coffee in front of me.
My goal, huh.
I don't really have anything in particular right now.
I just want to make a lot of money and live comfortably.
But doesn't the fact that I can see other people's past and future mean something?
I'll find out someday.
***
Vtuber Yuhung didn't like the concept for this broadcast.
'Fortune-telling? Isn't that just some con artist messing with people's minds?'
Of course, she'd heard it was just for fun, but she still didn't like the idea of some scammer entering the sacred vtuber scene.
'Still, it's what the company told me to do.'
This is what being a corporate vtuber is like.
She let out a sigh and opened Discord.
[Ready?]
A message came in.
Time to go in now.
"Hi! Hi! I'm Yuhung, here to entertain you all!! Wow!! Ppuni unnie!! Long time no see!!"
She kept her signature sky-high energy as she spoke.
Her soft, sweet voice, along with the dozens of messages pouring into the chat, showed just how popular Yuhung was.
"Hi~! Let me introduce you. This is someone I worked hard to bring in!"
"Nice to meet you. Please just call me Kang Noah."
Surprisingly, his manner was ordinary, and so was his voice.
But that didn't mean it could just be brushed aside.
-Hey, hey! Hurry up and do it!
-This is insane, seriously
-He's getting everything right?
The viewers' comments were somehow a little odd.
At the uproar that this wasn't just some simple rigged card game, Yuhung tilted her head.
'What is it?'
Most viewers are pranksters.
If even those famous contrarians who never listen to anyone were reacting like that, just how incredible was he?
"I've heard you're an amazing fortune-teller. I'm curious just how amazing you are for everyone to be acting like this!"
It was when she asked, still maintaining her signature high energy.
Her fellow vtuber already in the collab, Ppsoongi, kept exclaiming in admiration.
"Hey! This is insane!! He really got everything right?! The stuff I did long ago and what's going to happen! I was supposed to go to the pool next week, but I'm not going anymore."
What school they attended when they were young.
What they liked, and who they were close with.
Having gotten all of that right, Ppsoongi already seemed like a complete believer in this masked man.
'Still, I don't believe it.'
I suppressed my disbelief as much as possible.
"Then could you read me too?!"
'Hwatu?'
"Sure. Then would you pick some cards?"
Kang Noah picked four hwatu cards from the ones laid out on the floor.
Heukssari.
Dung.
Bi.
Ilgwang.
What could he possibly tell from just that?
Just as Yuhung's curiosity was starting to rise and she was about to ask,
Kang Noah said in a serious tone.
"Has anyone ever tried to talk you into an investment?"
"...Excuse me?"
Just the other day, her uncle had recommended an investment, saying it was a really good opportunity.
She had also been leaning toward investing.
Kang Noah stated coldly.
"That's a scam."