Chapter 88
The last day of March.
Sia told me that she had finished settling the VTube payments.
I was startled by the 3 million won deposited into my account and asked her about it.
[NoName: The amount’s way too big.]
[Hyebam: Our NoName has become incredibly famous, so I calculated in the views that’ll come in and made sure you got a nice, hefty payment. ^^7]
Just as I was about to put a question mark over my head, Sia sent me a video link.
[The Mysterious Korean Mage Streamer Causing a Stir Overseas (Warning: Coolness Overload)]
-1.03 million views · 2 days ago
[Hyebam: Is this really you?]
[Hyebam: This is amazingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[NoName: ?]
A long video, about twenty minutes in length.
The protagonist of the video was none other than me in my previous life.
No, more accurately, it was an elf who appeared in World of Arseria, but aside from the ears, didn’t it look exactly like me?
I wanted to report it for violating my portrait rights, but my current appearance was different from that long-limbed, voluptuous woman.
Unless someone had modeled it after my actual appearance, society generally didn’t consider it a problem for someone else to use a game avatar, so I lost my chance to protest.
[Hyebam: Not playing LoL these days? I was sure you’d at least hit Challenger.]
[NoName: I haven’t really felt like it. What about you?]
[Hyebam: I think my skills have gone to wasteㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ It’s been ages since the season started, but I still can’t break through the Grandmaster wall... So I quit streaming, too.]
[NoName: You quit streaming? You don’t do it anymore?]
[Hyebam: Actually, rather than quitting... um... I’m on an indefinite hiatus?]
[Hyebam: I enjoyed streaming again for the first time in a while when I played with you, though.]
[Hyebam: Because of that incident in the past, weird people keep flocking to me, so I plan to take a long break.]
Just as I was about to say, “That’s completely irresponsible...” I paused to reflect on myself.
Come to think of it, wasn’t I no different from her?
After saying I’d take a break from streaming for a while, I hadn’t left any notice saying when I’d return.
[Hyebam: Or should I switch to WoA while I’m at it? This big sis knows a thing or two about magic, you know!]
Sia showed off her confidence with a cute emoticon.
After discussing the game system with Sia for a while, she seemed to grow curious about my identity and brought up the video again.
[Hyebam: But are you really an Academy student? In the video, professors from Korea University came out and analyzed the magic you used. The whole situation was hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[NoName: What did they say about me?]
[Hyebam: They said you might even be a military mage who took part in a world war! Of course, they’re probably only saying that because they don’t know much about virtual-reality games, right?]
[NoName: I’ll watch the video you sent me later.]
[Hyebam: I watched all the analysis videos, too, but how did you know all those spells and use them? You’re amazing, our NoName!]
Before Sia’s fuss got any more intense, I exchanged brief pleasantries with her and closed the chat.
I let out a deep sigh after seeing the somewhat contrived title, which also contained a fair amount of patriotic hype.
My original plan for today had been to decide what gifts to get for Yuna and Haru, who were coming to my house tomorrow evening, but it seemed I had no choice but to put it off.
* * *
[Viewers need to be trained properly at the start!]
[Otherwise they keep climbing all over you, you know? It’s so stressful later!]
[Why were you late today, why didn’t you stream, and why are there so many people asking what color your panties are...?]
[Lay down the law so they understand that, when you’re streaming, you’re an absolute god!]
I hadn’t forgotten Sia’s advice as a streamer, either.
[Stream time - 0:06:21]
[Viewers – 2196]
As usual, I watched the various chats drifting by until the stream had been going for seven minutes.
I hadn’t even shown myself yet, and donations were already popping off on their own.
[‘Uncle Bob’s Magic Class’ donated 10,000 won!]
-If you want NoName to phone in her stream, upvote lol
There was a perfectly good reason I kept quiet for a certain period of time.
If I announced everything as soon as I started streaming, I’d have to repeat it like a cuckoo for anyone who came in late.
Besides, things were hectic whenever people were arriving, and I had no desire whatsoever to chatter in front of people who weren’t even listening.
Still, responding to someone who had donated seemed like the least I could do, so I typed “upvote” in the chat like everyone else and let it drift away.
Even someone who put a chain letter in a bottle and set it adrift on the vast ocean wouldn’t expect anyone to receive it.
But my stream seemed to be staffed with excellent anglers, because they instantly singled out the chat message I had sent.
-I know you’re watching the stream, NoName!
-Of course she knows; she turned it on herselfㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Are you returning to your roots today with a mute-streaming persona?
-How is this returning to her rootsㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Then how are you supposed to run the stream? (seriously don’t know)
I felt newly proud of myself when I saw that I was now setting up the stream with ease.
Virtual-reality streams didn’t require much physical preparation, but there were so many fine-grained settings that it had taken me quite a while to learn them all one by one.
There were also streamers who broadcast “virtual cam-girl” streams with appearances exactly like their real selves, and apparently they had dozens of settings to deal with, including camera angles, lighting, decorations, blur effects, and so on.
“Hello.”
With a plain but polite greeting, I announced the start of the stream.
-Ooh, finally
-?? What’s with the voice?
-Where did NoName go? There’s a little kid hereㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Where did your big sis go?
-Is this a substitute streamer?
Whenever things didn’t go as expected, I felt as if my chest were being squeezed tight.
My brow furrowed on its own at the chat criticizing my voice.
“What’s wrong with my voice?”
-Isn’t it the same as usual?
-Ah, it was different during WoA because you used your game avatar’s voice.
-Wait, are all the viewers here today newcomers?
-Well, the streamer’s voice is kind of youthfulㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-She sounds really, extremely youngㅋㅋ
-A voice perfectly suited for reading fairy talesㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This is NoName’s real voice?
The reactions split into two camps.
Those who were puzzled by my voice had come after watching only the World of Arseria video.
Perhaps the semi-automatic customization included vocal cords, too, because it was unmistakably different from my current voice.
Since I was now using my natural seven-year-old voice, quite a few people complained that it felt jarring.
-It’s kind of uncomfortable to listen to. Can’t you switch to the avatar’s voice?
-ㄴWho are you to tell her what to do?;;
-ㄴI actually like it because it sounds like a real high school girl. Nice, nice, nice.
-ㄴA high school girl who’s done her military service, with the combat power of a war mage... oh my ㅗㅜㅑ
-ㄴLMAOOOOOOOO
-Why are you saying things that’ll hurt the kid?
Were these the sorts of things Sia had been warning me about?
Whether they meant to or not, each message prodded at my nerves. It was uncomfortable enough that I could hardly keep reading.
Earning money through internet streaming involved a certain amount of emotional labor to satisfy the viewers, but it wasn’t important enough to deny my own identity.
[Viewers – 2344]
I already thought four-digit numbers were a lot.
Sefiron Academy had about 450 students, and even including the faculty and foundation staff, there were only around 500 people.
Whenever I saw all of them enter the auditorium and listen attentively to the principal’s speech, I would think that it must be an incredible burden for them, too.
But four or five times that many people was clearly beyond the scope of what I could manage on my own.
‘I need to filter out the “empty” viewers.’
In any case, only a small number of those who clicked in out of curiosity would settle into the stream.
In the end, it meant they would leave in a month or a week if my content didn’t suit their tastes.
It would be better to make them clearly understand what kind of stream mine was right now.
Just then, a decent method occurred to me.
There was no need to go out of my way to make them adjust to my voice.
Wouldn’t it be a simple matter to kick out everyone who seemed unlikely to adapt?
“Is my voice really that strange?”
-Isn’t it fine like this?
-I don’t like it; she sounds like a female streamer putting on an overly babyish voice.
-That’s the streamer’s natural voice, you know;;
Rotten bastards. I switched off the camera floating in midair.
-??? Why’d you turn it off again!
-What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it?
-What, did you press the wrong button?
-Don’t get mad, boss! We’re sorry!!!
-You fucking newcomers! You fucking newcomers! You fucking newcomers! You fucking newcomers!
-Kick them all out! Lock them all up! Kick them all out! Lock them all up! Kick them all out! Lock them all up! Kick them all out! Lock them all up! Kick them all out! Lock them all up!
-Are we really ending the stream...? We’re not, right???
The five human senses were each sensitive, but that was only true when sight was unavailable.
It wasn’t knowledge I had learned because I wanted to, but every sense had an order of reliance.
Without sight, one relied most on hearing, followed by touch, and so on.
I launched VTube and searched for the song I wanted.
All the viewers could hear was clicking sound effects against a pitch-black screen, and they complained about how frustrating it was.
I still remembered stumbling across it in VTube’s recommendations when I was trapped in the capsule.
By now, the original had faded away, leaving only someone’s remake, but it wasn’t bad.
If I played this song nonstop until only viewers with useful ears remained, things would improve somewhat.
[Renai Circulation (Cover – Kariri)]
-1.83 million views · 3 years ago
[Kariri’s cover song is starting right now, so everyone enjoy it! Se-no~ (せーの)]
-????
-?????
-?
-??????
[But that won’t do~♡ (でも そんなんじゃ だめ)]
[Come on, that won’t do~♡ (もう そんなんじゃ ほら)]
-What the fuck is this shitty Japanese now?
-Kariri’s voice?
-ㄴHow can you tell just by hearing it?
-ㄴThis is kind of scary ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ
[Your heart will evolve, more and more~ Hit♡ (心は進化するよ もっと もっと)]
-Aaaaaaaaaaaagh
-Ueeeeeegh