VTuber Competency Gap: Cultural Inheritance of the Rich and Poor
"Hmph."
I had to drag myself out of my warm blankets first thing in the morning and head to the nearby park. The reason? A business trip. My duties were included in the employment contract for this second-hand newbie VTuber I'd recently taken on, and wouldn't you know it, the trip was scheduled for early morning—on the exact day of the eighth decisive battle in the Second World () War.
Hmph! This damn business trip made me forfeit that eighth match, that's why I was so pissed.
The current standings in the Second World () War were 3:3:1. I was the one with 1 point, and with my forfeit today, the gap was only going to widen. In an already disadvantageous position, this forced loss hit me right in the chest.
I recalled the past.
'Haha! Weak defeat! As if you could touch a single hair on my head?'
'Eeeeek…!!! Eeeeek…!!'
The overwhelming defeat in the fighting game...
'Ahh... Is this what Bronze movement looks like? It's so lame I wanna die...'
'Gaaah…! Gyaaaak…!!'
The utter domination in 1v1...
And then I fumed.
'Those damn stagnant water bastards!'
Mutalddak—Park Yul—had pulled off five perfect victories in a row, and the landmine girl, Lee Seoyun, was a heavenly user who'd played in Master-Grandmaster. I could understand the landmine girl, but Park Yul's gaming skills were beyond comprehension. She'd never even touched a fighting game before...
I-is this even possible? She dismantled the universal fighting game rule of "if you don't know, you get hit" like it was cold porridge. I felt an existential dread toward her. If I had to pick the craziest person at Scalaiive, it'd be her.
Brrrring—
...But the sight I just witnessed made me rethink that.
"Hey! Get in!"
"What."
While watching Hoshigami Meru herself behind the wheel of the latest foreign luxury car wrapped in Hoshigami Meru branding.
===
"Yuna, you're a lifesaver! Of course, it sucks that it meant I had to drop out of grad school, but whatever—I'm reincarnating soon anyway, so might as well feed the corporate beast..."
"Ahaha..."
I let Hoshigami Meru's words wash over me as I tried for an objective analysis of the situation.
First off, the wrapping itself wasn't the issue. Wrapping protects the paint from scratches and grime during drives, and applying it to your own car is no big deal. Doesn't matter if it's a foreign luxury model. Peel off the special film, and it's back to original—no problems. You could trust a pro shop for that.
Even if the film featured VTuber artwork, same deal. As long as it wasn't obscene, no legal issues, and the shop just takes the money and calls it a day.
Even if the VTuber on the film was yourself. VTubers don't doxx themselves with the red pill, so privacy holds up somewhat.
So the one reason I thought Hoshigami Meru was insane? Money.
It was all about her economic sense—or total lack thereof—in dumping a fortune into this.
I'm a (prospective) VTuber and a national-power-level viewer with over 30,000 hours of VTuber watching, so I knew the score. VTubers don't make as much money as people think! Sure, case by case, but most of them!
A tiny elite at the top rake it in, but they're the exception.
Was 'Hoshigami Meru' top-tier? Hell no. Average viewers hovered around 500. Dust compared to the 200-300k monsters.
Corporate VTuber then? Nope. Corps take a cut, sure, but they enable way more production value, drawing even bigger crowds. The only indie I knew cozying up to corps was that 'Loli God Requiem' from the neighbor country. What indie makes Vocaloids in her own voice...
Conclusion: A 'rich person doing VTuber as a hobby.'
'Wait, does that mean the chick next to me is a third-gen chaebol heir?'
Faking credentials to avoid prying eyes, selling off a middle-school dropout VTuber to grad school to dodge it herself, hacking corporate servers for fun—chaebol third-gen? And a VTuber? Come on.
But... as the scenery shifted from apartments to luxury mansionville,
"We're here! Hop out!"
And the foreign luxury car pulled into a high-end mansion's garage,
'Ah shit—goddammit.'
I realized my wild guess was spot on.
===
The mansion was vast—vast.
Not just big? Nah. The lawn was impeccably manicured, packed with top-shelf furniture, not a speck of dust on floors that gleamed like mirrors. The secret to this pristine beauty? Obviously the maid's hard work over there.
Bow—
Seeing her give a polite nod to her employer and guest, a deep, blood-red whisper stirred in my heart.
Sickle and Hammer: 'Kekeke... Need my power?'
Urgh... She told you to come in...!
Sickle and Hammer: 'Kekeke... Call anytime...'
I barely shook off the communist demon in my head, but I couldn't stop a twinge of hostility toward her.
I-if you're gonna do this, pay her better! Sure, Hoshigami Meru followed the contract to the letter, even tossed in bonuses—super grateful in theory—but emotions don't follow logic...
Only someone who's survived three days on one energy bar gets it.
Sob...
"Here we are."
After the elevator ride (don't ask why there's an elevator inside the house), we headed to Hoshigami Meru's private room on the third floor.
"...?"
A room slathered head-to-toe in green, with a lone desk in the center, lit by dozens of cameras. Way better than the office streaming booth—orders of magnitude.
At her request, I sat at the desk. The monitor in front showed not me, but Hoshigami Meru.
I knew the tech for this.
"Deepfake?"
"Whoa! It works great! Setting this up nearly killed me!"
No way—I'd don the real-world avatar before my virtual one. Mine was still in development hell.
Mama (my virtual avatar designer) was struggling with it.
'Th-this isn't it...! This can't capture Yuna's beauty perfectlyyyy!!!'
Pity and doubt mixed for her nightly overtime creative frenzy.
'Eh, it's fine, I guess...'
Landmine girl raged daily about 'VTic quality?' but honestly, top-tier looks are all the same.
The thought 'Isn't deepfake a crime?' flickered, but then,
"Tsk... Looks like we gotta change your outfit...?"
"What?!"
Hoshigami Meru's mutter while eyeing the deepfake on the monitor made me bristle.
Not an unreasonable request. The deepfake swapped only the face; everything else was pure me. Huge mismatch with her real look.
Height and clothes screamed it, especially fashion glasses, lab coat, and chest fat.
"Y-you're stripping me of these treasures now?!"
These fashion glasses and lab coat were my pride. They let me be not just 'dropout Seol Yuna,' but super genius perfect PhD holder Seol Yuna...
"No way you're interviewing like that? Besides..."
She trailed off, glancing between hers and mine.
Hoshigami Meru: 172cm tall and slim for a woman. Me: 152cm shortstack with oversized assets...
"..."
"..."
We stared at each other's chests for a beat, then,
"...F-fine, whatever! Get over here!!"
Face beet red, she dragged me off by force.
"Nooo... My coat... don't strip meee... don't streeep meee..."
Thus, I was kidnapped by a credential-faking criminal, locked in a secret chamber, and forced into humiliating acts...
In other words, changed in the dressing room into neat clothes and a compression bandage.
At least I kept the fashion glasses. Thank god.