Season 5: Chapter 151. Potato and Sweet Potato (1)

The next day at the Mixed Nuts office, Ju-Hyeok was sitting at his desk with his eyes closed. He had an earphone plugged into one ear as well.

"Hmm~ hmm~."

It looked like he was humming some music. His leg and fingers constantly bounced on the desk as if playing a piano. This was the embodiment of anxiety. Was he waiting for a call? He wasn't particularly looking at his phone. It wasn't a call. He was definitely waiting for something else.

'It’s coming. Finally today.'

Sweet Radish and Sweet Potato were coming in person.

'The contract...!'

They were coming to sign a contract. If today's contract came together well, Mixed Nuts would, for the first time, effectively recruit an outside streamer and properly start as an MCN. The problem was whether it could come together well.

Simply coming together wasn't satisfying enough. Giving overly generous terms in the contract was worse than not having any at all. It was an unavoidable reality. Like-minded people gathering and working together without anyone taking anything? That kind of thing only showed up in shonen manga.

There were no boys written on today's contract. These adults had all thrown their names into society's ring. This was an honest contest, and yielding in a contest wasn't being kind. It was being a coward, running away because of criticism or resentment.

If that were the case, he'd have to quit being the director. A director, even while being resented, had to secure the company's profits.

'So... the split goes at industry standard.'

The terms he'd be presenting today were complete industry standards. In truth, it wasn't a level that a new management like Mixed Nuts could propose. New companies offering generous splits were the convention, but Ju-Hyeok had no intention of yielding a split to Sweet Radish and Sweet Potato today.

Yielding here meant the company would take two steps back again. He had to make an industry-standard contract happen.

'The question is how to persuade them.'

Crackle.

"Director, they've arrived."

"Coming."

BornToB said through the earphone, "Agent B, deploying."

***

"Hello~."

Sweet Radish and Sweet Potato arrived at the Mixed Nuts building.

The moment they entered, Ji-Ah came running out. "Hello! Sweet Radish! Serv... Sweet Potato!"

Ji-Ah stumbled from the nerves. She'd been running Sweet Potato humiliation edits until just moments ago and had nearly called him by his nickname.

'I'm not good at this kind of thing.'

She had been pushed out here by Ju-Hyeok, who insisted that the team leader had to greet them. She wasn't particularly confident.

"I'm Team Leader Seo Ji-Ah."

Her voice trembled faintly.

"Oh... yes. Hello."

"Hello! LOYAL TO THE END~!" Sweet Potato gave a playful salute to the team leader.

They had met before at a dinner. It wasn't too unfamiliar.

"Haha... please, f-follow me. Wait just a moment. After the director finishes the final review, he'll come."

While saying this, Ji-Ah kept repeating in her head.

'Put them in the waiting room, give them a card, offer a drink, done. Put them in the waiting room...'

She just repeated the commands Ju-Hyeok had drilled into her. She had to. Even she, before meeting Almond, had just been a lucky Macaron.

"This is the waiting room."

Not sure what kind of expression she had on, Ji-Ah smiled at them anyway. Hopefully, it didn't look like a grimace? She had all sorts of thoughts.

"Oh, yes."

"Hey, isn't this where we slept that time? Ahaha."

"Hm? Was it?"

Sweet Radish and Sweet Potato, knowing this was an important contract, just exchanged pointless jokes. They had no time to pay attention to fine details. It was the same for them.

When they sat down, as instructed, Ji-Ah handed over a card.

"Here... we introduced ourselves before, but I never gave you a card."

"Oh, we don't have those."

"Oh, that's fine. Can I offer you something to drink?"

"No, thank you."

"Yes."

Thud.

Ji-Ah closed the door and let out a small, relieved breath.

'Phew... did it go okay? But wait... what did they say they wanted to drink?'

She'd asked the question per the instructions and didn't hear the answer.

***

In the quiet waiting room, whether from nerves or not, Sweet Potato made another pointless remark. "Wow... It’s a completely corporate atmosphere. Right?"

Different from what Ji-Ah had thought, to their eyes, Ji-Ah looked like a senior office worker who would treat them to a good meal. The extra effort of adult-looking makeup had been worth it.

"Um, yeah... completely..." Sweet Radish answered blankly.

A brief silence followed.

Sweet Potato asked again, "Wow... did you see that?"

"What?"

"That. That. The donation rankings."

Only then did Sweet Radish react. "Oh! That, that! Jet-Pumped?"

Already a hot topic among streamers, the talk had been spreading everywhere.

"Yeah. Ranking first in donations in a game he doesn't even play. That's insane, isn't it?"

"Technically, he ranked first for trying to patch a game he doesn't play..."

"Anyway! Did you see the amount?"

Ranking first in donations was an achievement in a completely different league from, say, a trending first video because it was about making money directly.

"Um... yeah. I saw it. It’s overwhelming."

Their heads were full of envy, so they had no idea.

Slip.

Beyond the waiting room glass, a suspicious shadow fell.

'Agent B. Mission deployed.'

Ju-Hyeok had instructed BornToB to eavesdrop on their conversation. The waiting room walls were thin enough to hear everything just standing on the other side. This seemed underhanded, but even the ultra-elite Ah-Sung seniors used this method.

Anything and everything counted in the war called negotiating a contract. A biological eavesdropping device was quite gentlemanly on that spectrum.

'As expected, they're talking about yesterday's donation ranking.'

Sweet Radish and Sweet Potato were pure young men, completely unaware of society's underhanded dealings. With tension finally easing a bit, they chatted like excited high schoolers without a thought that someone was eavesdropping from behind.

"If, if we're in the same MCN as... could it become a major company?" Sweet Potato fantasized.

Sweet Radish unexpectedly joined in. "Ahem. There are certainly cases like that. Joining a good MCN and doing well."

This wasn't false. The biggest advantage of an MCN was the connection between streamers. When a streamer at peak popularity became the center of an MCN, nearby streamers rose alongside them in some cases. Of course, that depended on the person or the mutual chemistry. It wasn't guaranteed.

'First in donation rankings...'

Sweet Radish wanted to believe it. His eyes dazzled at the overwhelming numbers. No method mattered in front of numbers like these.

"Oh, right. What about the terms? We know this place is new."

The two began to talk about the terms now.

"I don't know... damn... that director was a bit intimidating."

"Hey, but you decided to come yourself!? Didn't you negotiate in your pro days?"

Sweet Radish, in his pro days, had only experienced salary negotiations through an agency. He was very unfamiliar with things like this.

"Ugh... since they're new... ask for 15% more than the standard?"

"Did you think of that just a second ago!?"

"Damn... I don't know..."

***

Ju-Hyeok sat quietly in his chair with hands clasped, listening to the information BornToB relayed.

'As expected, they're aware that we're new...'

Originally, Mixed Nuts had very few advantages in this negotiation. The more desperate party was inevitably the new MCN, but one piece of good news existed.

'Yesterday, Almond pulled off the unbelievable anomaly of reaching first in donation rankings.'

Almond was essentially why they came here. He had written a new chapter yesterday as a streamer, reaching first in donation rankings for the first time and in an absurdly simple way.

'It was lucky. When I scheduled Jet-Pumped yesterday, I had no idea it would play out this way.'

Ju-Hyeok felt this was heaven-sent luck. It allowed him to understand how to approach them.

***

Some time passed.

"Hello. Sorry for the wait. My apologies. I did some final reviewing..." Ju-Hyeok distributed the contracts and sat across the table.

They exchanged brief greetings.

With the nervous air gone, Sweet Radish reviewed the contract with some sharpness. "I looked through it, but we expected the ratio to be a bit higher than the standard. By new company standards..."

He went straight to the point.

Ju-Hyeok nodded. "Yes. I understand. But what's the reason you're contracting with us? Is it to get a favorable split?"

"That's part of it..."

Since Sweet Radish had gone to the main point, Ju-Hyeok went straight to the main point too.

"No. If that's the purpose, there are plenty of other new companies. I think we all actually know you're here for a slightly different purpose."

"...?"

"Ultimately, it's connection with top-tier streamers, isn't it? Isn't that our MCN's biggest advantage?"

This declaration was like a fastball.

'Oh.'

The lyric-poet Sweet Potato was so startled by this blunt business talk that his jaw nearly dropped. Sweet Radish's eyes actually narrowed further with concentration.

"Contracting with an MCN isn't to get a good settlement ratio. If that's the goal, you'd go solo and keep 100%. It's going for more popularity, more money, and more opportunities, isn't it?"

Ju-Hyeok was speaking about the fundamental reason MCNs existed and reiterated why they'd come here.

"Among those, the best opportunity is regularly doing collabs and joint content with top-tier streamers... That’s what other MCN companies say."

"Other companies?"

Sweet Radish and Sweet Potato looked at each other blankly.

"So, this place doesn't work for that purpose?"

Without connecting to top-tier streamers, they had no reason to join. Whether they'd get ads as well couldn’t be known in advance. The only confirmed thing was which streamers would be alongside them.

Ju-Hyeok didn't deny it. "Oh, they're right about that, but something important is missing."

"What?"

"An actual opportunity!"

What did that mean?

"Even if you went to Zelo's company tomorrow, how many opportunities to stream with Zelo would actually come?"

If top-tier streamers refused to do collabs, those who had joined for connections would be in an awkward position.

"MCNs absolutely cannot force collabs, even more so with top-tier streamers. They can only propose, but if the streamer rejects the proposal? It just ends up being circles within circles streaming together. You’ll get your settlement ratio cut while the circles stay the same."

It was quite blunt and sharp talk, a complete solar plexus attack. Sweet Radish and Sweet Potato were both dumbfounded.

Ju-Hyeok hadn't raised this without a solution. "This is every MCN's problem. It's a kind of contradiction arising from the company's interests and the top streamer's interests being different. Here, at Mixed Nuts, it’s different."

"Can it be different?"

Bang!

Ju-Hyeok placed new material on the desk. It was corporate equity.

"Here, half of it is Almond's company."

What Ju-Hyeok was appealing to was the essence of business that never changed, which was aligned interests.

"Almond and Mixed Nuts are one body. There's no choice but to grow you. A company with that kind of aligned interest? There’s almost none out there."

Sweet Radish and Sweet Potato looked at each other blankly.

'I, I didn't know.'

'Half the company was Almond bro's?'

Of course, they didn't know. This was the first time internal details like this had been laid bare. That meant Ju-Hyeok was also betting everything on this.

Sweet Radish tried to push back again. "Balloon Stars or..."

There were a few companies where streamers were the owners.

"Oh. Those exist. They do, but they're already full. The waiting list is a mountain. Friends that need to be taken care of first. There's a ton of them."

Those words jabbed at his heart.

"But what about here? Pang is in a completely different genre, and BornToB is our employee. There's nobody else we'll grow except you! Almond simply has no other choice!"

Unbelievable, the company being empty was a selling point. However, it was persuasive!

"And Almond is a streamer who has just started his prime. Think of this as the earliest boarding ticket on this upward curve."

Click.

Ju-Hyeok slid the contract back across.

'Ticket...'

'Upward curve.'

At that moment, a varied light passed through Sweet Radish and Sweet Potato's eyes.

***

The next day, countless Cheese streamers gathered to scrimmage. When the Knight Order entered, they murmured at the sight of Almond.

"Did you see the rankings yesterday...?"

"Yeah. Saw it. Insane."

"Even the news covered it. Something about the nut-Jet hegemony war..."

"The Lord..."

"He is the king of a new world."

Clearly achieving first in donation rankings as a gaming streamer was an exceptional achievement. Even without any particular article or trending posts, the streamers all knew among themselves.

Strangely, Sweet Radish and Sweet Potato were walking with their chests out instead of Almond.

"Hey~ that's my bro~!"

"I am Mixed Nuts! Almond has my back!"

They felt even more excited, walking around with their chests puffed out because they'd signed with Mixed Nuts.

— These guys lmaooooooo

— You said embargo when you just signed today LOL

— Sweet Potato rapping lol

— These kids are cute

— Our brother LOL

— “Almond has my back” lol

— How did they manage this long without an MCN

— Talking all day fr