Chapter 62
VTubers.
An abbreviation for virtual YouTubers.
It refers to people who broadcast using a digital panel made of 0s and 1s as their face instead of their natural flesh.
Their biggest feature is that they—or their company—create their faces,
which lets them realize an ideal world of their own, detached from reality.
That's the biggest advantage.
Even I sometimes dislike my straight black hair.
So I sometimes consider dyeing it, but I hold back because black hair suits Asians best.
But look at Wayo's dazzling, multicolored golden-blond hair.
You couldn't even create hair like this in reality.
Why? Because it glows faintly.
You can't put glow-in-the-dark powder on your hair in real life, can you?
On top of that, Wayo's skin is white enough to look translucent.
The eyes, like carved gold, even have tiny patterns glowing in them.
A beauty you truly could never see in reality.
Isn't Wayo just like Lucifer?
The avatar even wears everything from clothes fit for an ancient Greek god to dangling accessories.
Creating all this must have cost well into the thousands, but not a penny of it was wasted.
Because it's an avatar that satisfies me every time I see it.
And with such an unreal appearance, shouldn't there also be a fitting setting?
That's why Wayo had an excellent RP, too.
An RP I created after pondering for three days and nights,
complete with its own entire world.
[The Life Server]
[Show off your own RP to your heart's content!]
In that sense, the server Jijijik made in-house this time
was more than suitable for showing off my RP.
“They say we're supposed to use our own RPs as-is here.”
-??
-?
-Without a concept?
“Yes. Isn't it just right?”
Here, where only VTubers gathered,
apparently you just brought your own RP as-is and showed it off.
There was no need to prepare a new RP, and it naturally promoted me too,
so wasn't the premise great?
“But Wayo is a god. Would they give Wayo admin privileges if Wayo joined?”
-???
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Wow, this asshole moves on a different level
No, who was Wayo, anyway?
Wasn't Wayo the goddess of question marks?
Wayo was practically God's classmate. Shouldn't Wayo get the server-owner role?
-Classmates with God, my assㅋㅋㅋ
-Aren't you Christian?
-<<<Info) This asshole is Protestant
-This satanic demonㅋㅋ
“No, that's just the concept. The concept.”
When did I ever say I was the Second Coming of Jesus?
It's just virtual RP, isn't it?
…Though if I said this in front of Mom, she'd probably smack me across the back.
“Anyway, everyone, keep in mind that I'm participating in the server like this.”
For the record, although a big server had been set up on my dinner table,
that didn't mean I was joining immediately.
I'd only just been contacted.
It would probably take some time for the server to open.
-Ohh
-So what are you going to do in the meantime?
“I've prepared exactly the game we'll play in the meantime.”
Saying that, I showed them a game.
It was one of the games I'd put in my game stash during my vacation.
[Turnabout Trial 1]
The timeless story-driven masterpiece, Turnabout Trial.
I'd only ever heard of it, too, so I'd been itching to play it once.
-?
-??
-(Potato emote)(Potato emote)
“What? Why?”
But the reaction was worse than I'd expected.
Isn't this a famous game?
-Fuck, are we supposed to fall asleep watching this?
-That one's a famous sleeping pillㅇㅇ
-It's not a game for streaming
-How old is this?;
“Oh, really?”
Well, Turnabout Trial 1 was a game from too long ago, so viewers might find it boring to watch.
What a shame.
“Then I'll go with this.”
Wayo was an excellent VTuber who considered her viewers' needs, so Wayo brought out another game.
[Turnabout Trial 2]
The sequel to the timeless story-driven masterpiece Turnabout Trial 1.
Turnabout Trial 2.
-You fucking assholeㅋㅋ
-Is she insane?;
“All right, let's go, let's go.”
Saying that, I launched the game.
It was a masterpiece—how boring could it really be?
-Ah
-(Potato emote)(Potato emote)
-Okay, I'm going to bed
“Ahem, everyone, get your energy up.”
Come on, wake up, everyone, and let's get going~
You'll enjoy it once you actually watch it, so what's with you guys?
**
Maybe because I was taking a half-break from modeling work and doing nothing but gaming,
time flew by, and the day the big server opened arrived.
“Ah, I should've reached the ending.”
I waited in front of the server, carrying a little regret.
-Finally free, fuckㅋㅋ
-You're abandoning that trial now, right??
-Upvote if you're fucking glad the big server is hereㅋㅋ
The in-house Jijijik server was opening in the famous game Minecraft,
and I'd even gotten a skin from the viewers after begging them beforehand.
It was a world of square blocks, but somehow they'd managed to implement Wayo's features.
“What's wrong with Turnabout Trial? You watched it just fine.”
Rather, what's wrong with Turnabout Trial that you're acting like this?
You were watching Turnabout Trial 4 just fine until yesterday.
-You fucking asshole
-We really should've stopped after 3
“You said you wanted to see the sequel.”
-Who knew you'd spend the whole fucking week on itㅋㅋ;;
-Don't you have work??
“I go out in the morning and turn on the stream at night.”
-??
-For real??
For the record, I did have some schedules after returning to Korea.
I'd barely accepted any because I wanted to rest, but there are still mandatory schedules, you know?
So these days, I go out in the morning, finish up quickly, and come home at lunchtime.
Then I go straight to sleep, wake up in the evening, and stream.
What an efficient two-job routine this is.
“You should all appreciate my hard work.”
-Hmm.. Couldn't you just make streaming your full-time job?
-Why not just quit your job?
-Can't you just stream??
“Are you going to take responsibility if I starve to death?”
-Aren't you from a rich family?
-Uh, I don't think I can take responsibility;;
-What have you been doing instead of saving money??
-Ah, whatever, just go full-timeㅋㅋ
“I'll think about it if the stream takes off later.”
-For real??
-What's the criterion for taking off?
-How much would I need to make before going full-time?
“Hmm….”
Still, wouldn't I need my income to be roughly comparable before considering going full-time?
The modeling career will probably end before the stream really takes off.
It's not exactly a career with a long lifespan.
“I'll wait until things take off and think about it.”
Well—was this really something someone with 180 average viewers should be thinking about?
Ah, where did the other 10% go?
Everyone went to sleep while I was playing the story game.
Yes, they went to sleep.
Though they still hadn't come back.
Anyway.
I looked toward the gateway to making it as a streamer.
“When does the server open?”
-It'll open soonㅇㅇ
-Are we rushing in right at opening?
-Kyaaㅋㅋ, you're finally acting like a person
“But what exactly do we do here?”
To be honest, this was my first time on a server like this.
I'd read the announcements diligently, but I still couldn't quite get the hang of it.
Was there some separate objective we had to accomplish after entering?
-What else? Make connectionsㅇㅇ
-Just go make money and meet people
“Aha, oh, it opened.”
Anyway, while I was chatting with the viewers, the server opened,
and I quickly double-clicked the still-empty one and entered.
“Link starto~”
-Starto~
-Let's go, let's go
When I connected to the server, I saw a well-made road and the town hall right in front of me,
Rumble, rumble, rumble.
and characters began dropping in the instant I logged on.
-Whoa, whoa
-Wow, look at all those people falling
-There are a fucking ton of VTubersㅋㅋㅋ
The VTuber population on Jijijik was at an all-time high right now.
How many people must there be if even a small-time streamer like me, with 200 average viewers, got invited?
“Hello~!!”
“Wow, so this is the server….”
“Did everyone gather here?”
-My ears, fuckㅋㅋ
-How many people is this?
“Run, run.”
Especially since most of them were women,
the combined chirping was painful to my ears, so I hurriedly fled.
This isn't a flock of plovers, for crying out loud.
“It's a little better here.”
Still, it became bearable after I left the starting village,
and there were buildings all around me.
“Hmm, where could this be?”
I opened the minimap I'd received beforehand to check.
So, with the clock tower to the east, this must be the residential district on the western side of the map.
“So what do I do now?”
Since there was a residential district, I could probably buy a house, right?
But right now, I was just an unemployed young man with ten thousand won in my pocket.
-You need to make money
-Should we go mining?
-Let's start with fishinggg
“Fishing? We did plenty of that last time.”
Once you've caught skipjack, you've graduated from fishing, didn't you? Why do more?
-?
-??
-You have to fish here;
“What's there?”
-The fishing spot is a famous place for clique-buildingㅇㅇㅇ
-What are you doing? Grab a fishing rod and go
“Hmm….”
A clique meetup spot, huh.
Should I go take a look?
I'd played too much on my own last time.
This time, I should show them I could mingle with people, too.
“Here?”
So when I went to the fishing spot,
people had already gathered, despite how little time had passed since the server opened.
“How old did you say you were?”
“Oh, I'm 300 years old.”
“Oh, 300… I'm 123.”
“Huh?”
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-That's a 200-year age gapㅋㅋ
-Is that person really 300 years old?
“This is practically a cyber senior center.”
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-ㅋㅋㅋ For real
-This conversation is fucking hilarious
Everyone seemed to be introducing themselves and talking about their RPs….
The way they talked about being 300 or 123 years old was practically a comedy.
Of course, I was probably the oldest one here.
Who am I?
The goddess of curiosity, God's classmate.
“I kind of want to go show off my RP too….”
-Oh, please
-Can't you just go do your solo deserted-island thing?
-That would be really embarrassing;;
“What's wrong with my RP?”
You're embarrassed by a goddess of curiosity born alongside human curiosity millions of years before Christ?
-It's fucking embarrassing
-Aren't you just the goddess of Mia-ping??
-Goddess of curiosity, my ass
“What's wrong with you guys, my Oracles?”
-...?
-Oh.. What?
These people.
Had they seriously forgotten even their own fandom name?
-?
-??
-Did that exist?
“Huh? Did everyone forget?”
We came up with it together a month into the stream, remember?
Granted, we only had ten average viewers back then.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋ No, for real, I didn't know?
-You have to fucking say it normally for us to know
-But why are we Oracles?
“The reason we're Oracles is….”
So my viewers had been living without even knowing their own identity.
Just as I was about to explain why we were Oracles,
“Ah, hello.”
On the outskirts of the fishing spot where I was standing,
a VTuber spoke to me.
“Oh—hello.”
-Ohㅋㅋㅋ
-Who is that?
Was this my first conversation since entering the server?
As I answered, I gave the other person's avatar a quick once-over, and the skin was flashy.
Oh? Not bad.
About equal to or slightly below Wayo, the goddess of curiosity.
“Hmm, so you're Wayo.”
Just as I was scanning the other person,
they must have scanned me too and read my nickname, because they called my name.
“Ah, yes….”
Let's see, what's this person's name?
I casually raised my gaze and checked the name above their game character.
“Uh….”
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-No, how can a person's name beㅋㅋ
-That's their name?
And then I was momentarily flustered,
“What's wrong?”
“Oh, no, it's nothing… I mean….”
The name was a little unusual.
“...Runway?”
How can someone's name be Runway?