Chapter 48
[Author : Erni]
[Title : But what did the host mean by that?]
What's Fuga Kamino? I'm just curious.
Seems like everyone knows.
-There's a masterpiece called Binding Rotation that's trending.
-That guy isn't even the strongest of the Heian era—he's just a nobody, right?
-The only true jujutsu sorcerer in the modern era is the host.
-What? New here?
ㄴYeah... I came to see the famous Climber who raises Korea's national prestige...
ㄴOP, how old are you? You don't watch anime?
ㄴI'm watching the latest anime...
ㄴWhat are you watching?
ㄴRanma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura?
ㄴI hear the ToHeart game is coming out too.
ㄴDai's Great Adventure is a current anime too.
ㄴOh, you know the new hot game Tsukihime!
ㄴHas the trend cycle gone so far that it's targeting old otaku now?
ㄴIt came full circle and brought idol worship back.
ㄴIt went way too far, fuckㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Upvote if you think the host is cute for returning after mistaking VTuber worship for idol worship.
[Author : OVERPORORO]
[Title : No, what is this? Captain, why did you become a VTuber?]
Becoming a fox after being a wolf wasn't enough—you became a VTuber too!!
(Gif of the fox god summoning a giant with Bankai)
No, so what the hell is this? What skill is it?
Is this really jujutsu?
Is it something like summoning it with Kusanagi's Sword...?
Was Eulji Mundeok actually the host all along?
-Why doesn't the host use Domain Expansion?
-I'm telling you, this fox is an Uchiha.
ㄴIsn't it the Bankai of a Gotei 13 captain?
-What the hell is this fox's identity?
-Damn, a Bankai, the secret technique of the Three Calamities Sword Style.
-A fox using wolf techniques.
-Isn't this just a divine spirit?
-A captain traveling with Ichigo... Ah! Seoul Soul Society exists!
-She's practicing the best way to counter a domain: deploy one of your own.
-How is the skill name Martial God, Valiant Guardian, General Godㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-This much Susanoo without any chakra...?
-But what's an Uchiha, and what is Bankai?
ㄴWhat...? You haven't watched it? You don't know One-Naruto-Bleach...?
ㄴBro... One-Naruto-Bleach is over 20 years old....
ㄴThere's still a young person here to fund our pensions! Hope lives here!
ㄴIf there's hope in this gallery, aren't we screwed?
ㄴGet the hell out of here right now!!
[Author : ifelt]
[Title : Let's look at the host's quotes]
"It seems easier because I'm a non-combat class."
"People might get the wrong idea that we're clearing fully conquered floors too easily."
"The completion conditions must be easy because our party isn't made up of combat classes."
Even after saying all that, if you still don't get it, upvoteㅋㅋㅋ
-"I'm not a combat class." Really?
ㄴThey said it's a non-combat class.
ㄴWhat's wrong with using weapons and jujutsu you already know how to use?
ㄴExactlyㅋㅋㅋ They're just using what they already knowㅋㅋㅋ
ㄴIt's like relying on gear... No, in this case, is it relying on skill...?
-To be fair, the Alchemist is wearing a sandbag called a walking punchline.
-You... Take that back....!!
-But in reality, completion conditions do become easier or harder depending on the class.
-But bosses from other floors keep popping out for the host. Is this really easy?
ㄴWell, no matter how hard it is, can it compare to fighting ten thousand people in the Three Kingdoms era?
ㄴDo you think lightly of the host who fought Heian-era onmyoji?
ㄴFrom the host's perspective, it really is easy. She probably has a harder time deciding what performance to put on.
-Upvote if you think the host has more trouble with her VTuber streams than climbing the Tower.
Wakamo always put on a performance that excited viewers every time she climbed the Tower. Rather than the believers' hot, passionate reactions, she focused on the young newcomers asking, "What is this?"
Isn't this what people call a generation gap...? These days, people even say to go to Laftel instead of Tooniverse.
Anime is easier to access now, but they weren't interested enough to pay to watch it.... Even otaku are growing less enthusiastic.
The believers happily said, "We're grateful our fox god does everything we ask her to~"
But the newcomers who had come after seeing Wakamo as a VTuber innocently asked, "What's that?" She wanted to explain everything to them one by one, but if she did, the stream would be full of complaints... They could do a watch-along stream, but then viewers would have to seek it out and pay to watch it, which was a problem in itself.
Honestly, eight out of ten would probably just watch it illegally, but all she could do was pray to the believers' consciences.
Today as well, she diligently edited Ichigo and Pirate's streams and uploaded them to her own channel, and planned a stream to unbox the Silver Button YouTube would be sending soon─Wakamo busily checked her schedule and calendar while monitoring reactions overseas.
Quite a few people were displeased or uncomfortable that Pirate, a Japanese person, was gaining attention in Korea. Some viewers even came to the place where she streamed and caused trouble, but Pirate's strong mentality kept it from becoming a major issue.
Rather, she publicly executed them by hanging them up in front of the viewers for all to see.
"Everyone! We have a guest stepping onto the plank! Today's shark food is served!!!"
-"A Japanese person who's turned good."
-Those who aren't sailors have no human rights.
-Are we really the Navy?
-Anyone who picks a fight with the Navy has been declared a pirate, though?
-Those are the rules of Pirate's channel. Anyone who picks a fight is evil!!!
-Has she lost her damn mindㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Yamero!! Yamero!!
With her name openly revealed on the Incheon Tower, there was no one who didn't know that the Martial God's daughter was in Korea.
Japan's government and association had joined forces to support Pirate, so there were no problems.
Wakamo had even held the promised collab and now had a trip to Kyoto planned, and she was considering climbing to Floor 20 as well.
Anyway, what would it accomplish to try to drag down Pirate, who was protected by a force that powerful, simply because they disliked her?
The community had also completely exterminated the "handful gang," so everyone gleefully mocked and ridiculed them, saying it was refreshing.
Come to think of it, the manager had introduced them as an entire team of dedicated lawyers, hadn't he? They said everyone was working hard every day, but Wakamo didn't particularly want to know what they did.
She had definitely seen the manager threaten them not to make Wakamo feel displeased and say that she wanted to go to Japan.
'Pirate is getting famous too, and word is gradually spreading in Japan.'
A Japanese VTuber who had obtained five fully conquered floors in Korea.
She had already become famous for conquering the Osaka Tower, but more people were surprised that she had debuted as a VTuber.
Perhaps because Japan had more otaku, fan art of Pirate was appearing here and there, combining her with parodies of the Straw Hat Pirates or manga characters with elemental abilities.
As she carefully went through each image, Wakamo brought one video up in a window.
It was a Japanese VTuber's stream that she had clipped earlier.
Wakamo's busy hands were adding subtitles.
Because it was none other than a clip from Pirate's older brother's VTuber stream.
※※※
"Neungneungbi! The virtual cat from outer space! Hoshineko-daong."
A cat character with striking vermilion fur, so cute she could have popped out as a magical girl's mascot, filled the screen and waved to the viewers.
The furry VTuber, who had a respectable 40,000 subscribers and quite a large fanbase, naturally reduced the size of her character and placed herself in the corner of the screen before starting to chat.
Speaking in the voice of a cute girl, she was a professional VTuber who was utterly serious about this niche, as anyone could tell from her irresistibly adorable cat appearance.
She had even declared that she would buy a fursuit sold in China and go to Comiket wearing it despite the hot weather.
"Pinkie from My Little Pony doesn't make you a horsefucker!! Renamon isn't a sexual fetish either. What? Korea has a bald guy who does furry stuff? Can you send me a link? I want to see him. Oh my, how cute."
While chatting cheerfully with the viewers, she mentioned that she also knew about the VTuber who had been trending recently.
"Wakamo, Wakamo. I know her. But I'm telling you, she's not a furry, okay? I mean, she really is a fox god... But then, what do you call it... I don't expect a truly fluffy, 100% fox form or anything, but... doesn't she have a furry mode?"
Ding─
"Then you'll get struck by lightning, you know? Hi, hi. Yours truly, the one publicly executed in Korea, is here www. An eroge One Piece? That's too much."
And then, beside the cat character, a busty, smiling girl in bloomers with cat-eared twin tails burst onto the screen and laughed in a voice that sounded as though she were using a voice changer.
The male VTuber behind this female avatar was none other than Sadako... Pirate's older brother, the VTuber.
"No, honestly, isn't it disgusting? Drawing erotic manga with your original character... doing ASMR too... mass-producing weird fetishes... It's like some hot-blooded manga artist turning an actual assistant into a woman to draw this stuff... Stop it. It kills the mood, I'm telling you."
"The person you got horny for was a man in his thirties! Uheheh!!"
Hoshineko made a disgusted face at the sight of the female character rolling her eyes back and sticking out her tongue.
"I heard your little sister debuted as a VTuber too? Climbers can't hide the red pill, so it's deadly... Anyway, I really want to collab with the real furry fox god too. Do you know why outside collabs are forbidden, old man?"
"My little sister told me. She said she can't stand how exalted the other VTubers are. Big God Myeong laughed about the Kyoto collab and joked, 'She's a fox, not a wolf,' but apparently she tried to commit seppuku."
"Seriously? She's a lunatic."
"They say VTubers are modern idols? Anyway, I laughed because my little sister, who hasn't even watched One Piece, is so talented. She already passed her brother's subscriber count www"
"A real woman is impossible to beat. At least be a cute cat like me."
"Coming from someone who feels competitive toward Rung-Rung-chan from the recently released Icha-Samcha series."
"Take that back—it's because I'm horny!!! You old man!!"
Acquaintances from the indie scene, including the man who was devoted to female-avatar VTubing and the girl who was devoted to furries, each with their own distinctive weird fetishes(?), began entering Discord one by one. Wakamo checked the early portion of the main video, which showed them preparing a Mafia game and chatting, while checking the Japanese reaction once again.
The biggest reaction was, "Like brother, like sister."
'Since she's a Climber, ordinary language works between them, so Japanese viewers seem to be watching too. I'm glad the reaction seems positive.'
On top of that, Hajime Ichigo already had 130,000 subscribers, while Mare Pirate had 110,000 despite having started only recently.
Both of them had already applied to YouTube for Silver Play Buttons.
Pirate probably had Japanese viewers among them too.
'I'm happy, but at the same time, it feels a little bitter.'
She diligently clipped many VTubers' streams and continued uploading them to Wakamo's channel.
There were countless VTubers who had been streaming longer than Wakamo but had fewer than 40,000 subscribers. Was it really okay for her to succeed this easily?
She knew she shouldn't think this way every time, but it was always a burden that weighed on Wakamo's mind.
"....."
After finishing the day's work, Wakamo finally leaned back against her chair and let out a deep breath. The moment she had been waiting for had finally arrived.
Normally, she would have turned on her VTuber stream right away.... But today was a moment she had awaited for a long, long time as a company president, so she had to stay composed and pray to heaven that things would go well.
Hajime Ichigo's original song was going up today.
Like the pirate-cosplay captain who invested as much as she was loved by her beloved fans and made an original song every year.... Wakamo also had plenty of money, so she invested heavily and made an MV with full animation. At Yu Ying's request that she write the lyrics herself, hadn't Wakamo even played instruments night after night to compose music suited to the song, putting her VTuber streams on ice?
She would probably lose so much money that recouping the cost would be impossible.
Even so, it didn't matter at all....!!
My VTuber's first original song.... I might die of happiness!
A song titled [A Smile Blooms], filled with soft, gentle, cute, and lovely vocals and warm lyrics encouraging listeners to get through another day. It wasn't a song that matched a video of someone struggling alone to survive amid monsters and ruins, but.
It was a heartwarming song about never giving up, smiling, and finally emerging into the light to find happiness....!!
As the countdown began at the scheduled time, the song started amid fear that made her heart feel as if it would sink, and Wakamo's eyes locked onto the live comments.
"Captain, are you going to climb inside the monitor...?"
Wakamo was practically watching with her face shoved into the monitor.
Sadako, watching beside her, and Yu Ying, writhing in embarrassment that more than ten thousand people were watching the song she had written herself, were just as concerned about the reactions as Wakamo.
Everyone said it was healing, warm, and that the character and voice really didn't match.... Taken all together, the reaction was good! It was okay!!
Wakamo Corporation's first original song had succeeded without a hitch!!
"It was worth blowing two hundred million won into it!!!"
Wakamo was practically keeping a Korean animation company afloat by herself.
Now, the viewers' song reviews that would fill the comments, and the reactions of other VTubers after watching and experiencing it... Wakamo was wagging her tail wildly, determined not to miss a single bit and savor it all, when.
The manager burst through the door in a panic and shouted for her to look at what was number one in the search rankings.
"We're already number one in trending searches, Yu Ying!!!"
"....Why is Yu Ying number one?"
She was so excited and happy to see Yu Ying written at number one in the search rankings that she even hopped once, but only for a moment.
At Sadako's sharp observation, Wakamo froze like a stone, turned toward her, and said, "I suppose so?"
"....Phew.... So... China has an artifact-grade item called the 【Sword Seal of the King of Han-Zhong(劍璽)】. It came out six months ago, but..... In connection with it, China searched for Climbers who met its requirements with the help of [Wizards], in order to find a suitable user among its own Climbers, if only to keep [Collector] in check...."
"That's possible too?"
"The process is complicated, but within a country, there are cases where they enlist exploration-type [Wizards] to search for someone who can use an item with a class restriction or specific requirements. Anyway... they should have limited the search to China... but, well, for some reason, there was exactly one person."
"In China?"
"In Korea."
"......?"
"So the requirements are... having the blood of a king, or being royalty of Shu Han... absurd restrictions like that.... And right now, there is exactly one Climber who meets them—not in China, but in Korea."
Manager Won Da-hye had done her best, but she couldn't exactly hide that a Chinese national with the surname Yu had naturalized as a Korean.
As luck would have it, there was a Climber in Korea who met the requirements, and although she did not explain the details, the manager fidgeted as she watched Wakamo, wondering if she had any guesses.
"They even said it wasn't the [Collector] who seized the Sichuan region, claimed to be a descendant of Liu Bei, and called himself the Son of Heaven."
So they had run the search in China, expanded its range when no one appeared, and ended up including Korea—only to discover that the target was a Chinese person who had naturalized in Korea. It was an absurd story.
Even Yu Ying looked at Wakamo with an expression suggesting that she had an idea what it meant.
But no one dared to speak.
It was difficult even to remain standing under the magical power pouring from Wakamo, who was so furious that her hair stood on end.
"Those damn Chinese bastards doxxed my VTuber!!! I'll beat them to death!!!!"
"Please don't call her Daji!!"
"I'm not Daji!!"
"You're not...?"
Why did this have to happen right when she had released an original song?
The comments from viewers that Wakamo had been looking forward to were increasingly filled with remarks about the incident that had just erupted, since Wakamo also possessed the Imperial Seal.
People who weren't even viewers swarmed the latest videos of the VTubers involved to leave comments, and some even went to adult channels to advertise, making Wakamo clutch the back of her neck.
"Everyone...."
"Yes?"
"Wakamo is leaving for China right now....."
She could do it now. If she had the reward she had obtained through Floor 30.
Even if they were Chinese Climbers, she could smash all four of their limbs...
That's right, the whole thing was [Collector]'s fault.
The Tower said even my lousy rewards were that bastard's fault─!!!