Yu-Seong proposed a short-term contract first, which could then be upgraded to a long-term contract depending on the reporters' performance. He had thought that they would be a bit reluctant, but they seemed delighted as they rushed back with a response the very next day.
That wasn’t all. The media company that the reporters belonged to gladly let them work with Yu-Seong and keep their employment contracts. There was also a rumor that both the editor and CEO were excited when they heard Yu-Seong's name. The company’s condition was to post the video taken by the two reporters to their media outlets first.
Yu-Seong was in fact aiming for the same outcome, so there was no problem whatsoever. And just like that, he was able to sign a short-term contract with the two reporters quite easily. In addition, he reactivated his social media Outstagram account, which he had been keeping private, because he was dismayed by how quickly time was passing him by.
He had already decided to become an attention seeker anyway, and was planning to build his reputation by sharing his useless private life onto social media just like a celebrity would. The goal was more than just to expose himself to the public and reduce the threat.
‘It’s for the full growth of Star Factor skill.’
As a result, Yu-Seong planned to increase the efficiency of increasing experience points and opening up additional capabilities that were still sealed. After all, the basis of a strong hunter was the rank and the level. It was no different from the games that Yu-Seong had once worked hard to develop. No matter how powerful the skills he had and how useful they were during battles, it was difficult to get past an overwhelming difference in rank.
In the end, he had to raise his level. In that sense, the Star Factor skill that benefited the rate of level increase through increasing experience points was the best treasure.
For this reason, Yu-Seong began to share his daily life on social media, such as taking pictures while dressed like celebrities or the so-called influencers.
A week soon passed. Yu-Seong drank red mana extract every day, went to a dungeon, drank hunting experience boost potions, and focused on raising his level. He also posted his pictures and videos all over social media. The result was quite good.
『Name: Choi Yu-Seong
Age: 21
Type: All-Rounder
Rank: D
Level: 7 → 22
Retention History: 1
Chakra: 803 → 1,023』
Just looking at the necessary parts, Yu-Seong could confirm his rapid growth.
‘I passed the 1,000 Chakra target.’
The tremendous increase of level in just one week was certainly helpful, but the biggest improvement was because he had been using the Chakra breathing technique to absorb the mana extract more efficiently.
‘It felt great when I first drank the red mana extract and gained 50 points.’
Yu-Seong's prediction was just right. Drinking a mana stone extract of a superior rank, he had noticed a big increase compared to the dark gray extract. Of course, the cost-effectiveness had started to decrease immediately—the next day, he had only gained 40, then 35, and so on. However, on the bright side, it had stopped falling from the moment it hit 15 points.
‘As I expected, I got the best result when I drank it the first time.’
The effect of the last few potions was quite disappointing for 100 million won, but Yu-Seong had already ordered the higher-rank orange and yellow mana extract already. If possible, it was best for him to drink at least the first glass of mana extracts in all colors.
However, unlike gray and red mana extracts, which were easily available, it was not that easy to obtain the two higher-rank mana extracts—though, of course, they would be found eventually. In addition, Yu-Seong was planning to continue drinking red mana extracts, since each one of them gave him an extra 15 points.
‘Actually, the minimum increase of points for the gray mana extracts eventually dropped to 10. If I consider the price and efficiency, I know it's right to choose a gray extract instead, but…’
In fact, getting five points less each time would accumulate and make a considerable difference in the end. Yu-Seong was bound to have some financial issues later if he kept his habit up, but he was still a chaebol, and finding ways to make money was not terribly difficult for him. Thus, he picked growth rate over saving money.
It seemed that these efforts were meaningful. On Ranker, the overseas website that he had recently discovered, Yu-Seong's ability stats had changed.
‘Chakra... I mean, mana, since this website says mana…’
Yu-Seong’s mana capacity had been updated to 980 yesterday.
‘Yesterday, my Chakra was barely over 1,000. It's not exactly right, but it's pretty accurate. It’s likely that the website’s owner has a skill that allows him to read the abilities of a player.’
If one had a similar ability to Kim Do-Jin's Insight, it was possible. However, there seemed to be a limit to what could be known.
'There is an evaluation of publicly known skills, but there is no information about skills that are not directly revealed by the player.’
For example, Yu-Seong's mana was actually Chakra. The basic effect of Chakra was similar to mana, but additional abilities existed separately, such as strengthening the body directly. In addition, there could be hidden abilities that Yu-Seong himself did not know yet.
However, there was no such record on the website. The fact that Yu-Seong's Chakra stat was marked as ‘mana,’ just like other hunters’, meant that whoever posted the information did not know everything.
‘Still, that important part is that it's quite reliable.’
It wasn’t perfect, but it was reliable enough. In fact, there were quite a few similar websites around the world, but the accuracy of their information was quite far off. Suddenly, Yu-Seong was curious about the face and name of the website’s owner. Unfortunately, whoever it was did not write down any personal information.
‘Yeah, it would be a problem if a ranker unsatisfied with his score came after him.’
Yu-Seong shrugged and went to check his score and ranking, which would clearly have risen by now.
A week before he was discharged, Yu-Seong had been ranked 7th, with 8.3 points, on the D-rank scale. Since his mana points were significantly higher compared to when his dungeon video had just been released, he expected the ranking to rise by at least one or as many as three. However, looking at the D-rank chart, he tilted his head in confusion.
‘Huh?’
His rank was still seventh, right after the sixth-place Indian hunter, Ram Mukherji. At first, he was surprised to see that nothing had changed, but after looking at it closely, he found that there was, in fact, a change.
'The ranking and rating are underlined.’
In addition, there was an ‘Evaluation TBD’ in small letters next to Yu-Seong's name.
‘Does that mean there's not enough data about me? Or is it difficult for the website’s owner to judge?’
Whatever the reason was, it was a bit disappointing for Yu-Seong. He had been curious to see how far he had gone.
‘Well... This wouldn’t change anything.’
However, in spite of this minor setback, Yu-Seong was more excited than disappointed by this situation.
‘The results might be better after this guy completes the evaluation.’
Yu-Seong was rapidly becoming stronger than other rankers, thanks to his circumstances and skills. Perhaps the owner of the website had noticed the fact and put his stats on hold.
After a short bitterness, he closed the website ‘Ranker’ and moved on to his next goal–checking NewTube.
Park Jin-Hwan and Kim Jin-Young had great writing skills themselves, as reporters, yet they had even hired a professional video editor and helped Yu-Seong reach 700,000 subscribers in a week. The two reporters said it was regrettable that they had failed to reach their goal of one million, but it was satisfactory enough for Yu-Seong. They did something that would have taken a normal person years in just a week. Moreover, the video was not short and the number of views was quite high, so the advertising revenue would be nothing to scoff at.
Yu-Seong had a lot of money already, but he knew that it was always good to have more. For him, hunting was something that he had to do anyway, so making income from videos was killing two birds with one stone.
"All right, all right."
Was it because he had never filled a week’s schedule with these kinds of things? Yu-Seong was quite tired but was satisfied with the results. He then finally checked his Outstagram account.
‘10,000 followers so far.’
Compared to NewTube, it seemed like a fairly slow speed. However, fundamentally, Outstagram was a space where people gather to see the character named Yu-Seong, not just a specific kind of content.
In addition, since it was not possible for him to promote his account much, it was inevitable that the number of followers would increase fairly slowly, as people had to find his account manually.
‘Well, it’s a bit disappointing considering there are over 1,000 comments in the NewTube video, but…’
Yu-Seong briefly checked his number of followers again, and his eyebrows twitched.
‘What?’
It wasn’t just ten thousand. Yu-Seong had been momentarily confused because it was written in a weird way—‘100k’—but when he checked it closely, it was exactly 10 times more than he had first thought. In other words it was actually 100,000.[1]
"...Wow."
He could actually see the number of followers increasing in real time. This was despite the fact that there were only five photos of himself posted on his Outstagram, also known as Outstar.
‘Wait, isn't this considered super-fast?’
All over the world, it was quite common for superstars, or celebrities, to be hunters. The job of ‘celebrity hunter’ became common since it was a good progression for attention seekers who were originally either a hunter or a celebrity.
Of course, there were quite a few such figures in Korea as well. So far, the most influential figure on social media was Kim Hyuk-Joon, an A-rank hunter. Only a week after he had started Outstar, he had already reached 98,000 followers. As a result, it had become huge news, making the headlines on various social media.
"I have 2,000 more followers than him… As for Kim Do-Jin... Huh, he doesn't seem to use social media. That's a surprise."
It was somewhat childish, but Yu-Seong felt good after comparing his follower count with Hyuk-Joon’s. Then, he looked up Kim Do-Jin's name and scratched his cheek. Needless to say, he had thought that Kim Do-Jin was also a person who enjoyed public attention and definitely used social media.
1. The source of Yu-Seong’s confusion is the fact that the Korean numbering system uses groups of four digits rather than three, and there is a separate word for 10,000 (만-man), so a hundred thousand is not considered 100x1000, but rather 10만 (10x10,000), a million is 100만 (100x10,000) etc. ☜