The Unreleased License

Today’s game with the weird streamer and the weird manager wasn’t difficult. It was the kind of game where you just sat there and talked—no controls required at all. I liked games like this. You literally just had to speak. Yesterday I’d been forced to play something that demanded actual controls, and the result? Utter disaster. I never imagined I’d get roasted that badly. Every insult imaginable flew my way, and I still couldn’t clear it. I never wanted to touch that game again. Surely they wouldn’t make me play something like that anymore, right? If they did ask… well, I’d just have to ignore it. No choice.

“Hello everyone!!”

I turned the stream on earlier than usual, hoping to make up for yesterday’s mess. Time to stitch those viewers’ hearts back together. Sometimes, while streaming, you learn things you’d rather not know. One of them is… stitching. It basically means gathering up viewers who’ve grown distant and pulling them back in.

The method ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was simple.

“Thank you all so much for watching yesterday!!”

I just had to copy what Raming did. Her stream was an absurdly rich, concentrated broth. Surprisingly, Raming had serious girl power—she knew exactly how to brew that perfect stream broth. If I were still a guy who liked VTubers, I would’ve been glued to her screen, drooling. That’s how skillfully she did it. Whenever I wanted to learn the art of broth-brewing, I’d just rewatch her VODs. They were so well-made that copying them was effortless.

Before starting today’s stream, I’d already watched one of Raming’s aegyo mad-moves. Eeeeng. Why are you like this? Hing, are you going to scold me? It was ridiculously seductive. But I had no intention of using it. I’d only studied it. I never said I’d actually do it. I was saving it like a secret ultimate move—only for truly dangerous moments. Raming kept inventing new techniques, so it was fine for her. Sadly, the moves I learned would already be outdated by her next stream.

Yesterday’s was especially lethal. “Honey~ Raming’s here.” If that had been the end of it, I would’ve been safe. But then came the follow-up…

“Who are you thinking about right now, my loves…?”

Crap. I’d accidentally said it out loud. This was bad. I’d just copied something Raming said yesterday, and the VOD license hadn’t even been released yet. Was I going to get arrested for copyright infringement?

“Th-this is a copy! It’s a copy!! I copied Raming yesterday. The license hasn’t been released yet… I’m sorry…”

I apologized sincerely. Because it had only appeared in a live stream, the license hadn’t been issued. In a way, it was a live-stream exclusive. Using it carelessly would violate stream etiquette.

“I’m sorry… The license isn’t out yet.”

“You don’t know what a license is?” I had to explain. They really didn’t know? This was kind of exciting. Alright, I’ll explain. It’s not hard. If I understood it, everyone can understand it. I’ll make it super simple!!

“Ah… what a license is!! A license is… a license. You have to get one before you can do something. Haven’t you played Kart? You need a license for Kart, right? That’s exactly it. You have to earn the license first.”

I took a slow breath and continued.

“The broth-brewing skill I just used was something Raming did live yesterday, okay? But it hasn’t been uploaded to her VOD channel yet!! Once it’s uploaded, that’s when the license gets released. It could be considered a live-stream exclusive. But I went ahead and used it anyway. Does that make sense now?”

Huh? Why weren’t they getting it? I couldn’t make it any simpler. What part was confusing? I couldn’t understand their reactions at all.

“No…” I was a little disappointed they couldn’t understand something this straightforward. I always thought my viewers were smart because they knew politics, economics, science, math, medicine, psychology, internet culture, universities, and human nature. Yet they couldn’t follow my perfectly logical explanation… Really?

“Oh!! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Really? You understand? Seriously?”

As expected of my brilliant viewers—the pinnacle of collective intelligence. I was moved. I knew I could count on them!!

“How?”

I opened the chat of the smart viewer. An angel… no, an ancient angel. Six-month subscriber. 999+ chat messages. This was a true veteran who’d been here since the very beginning. Scrolling up, I saw the first messages: “Thanks for turning the stream on!” Such a genuinely kind person. Of course I could trust someone like that.

“You’re an ancient senior!! Everyone, attention!!”

“No, you’re a brilliant ancient angel. I believe in you.”

“Wow!! That’s so cool. I’ll make you a manager.”

“Huh… what’s with your username!!”

I’d been so excited I hadn’t checked the name properly. Now that I looked… it was way too provocative and terrifying.

“No… don’t use usernames like that!! Anything that could cause social chaos is banned!!”

No more “KoreaMan” or “KoreaWoman” stuff. I had to normalize my viewers’ usernames!! There were way too many toxic ones. Actually, they weren’t even toxic—just overly enthusiastic. I needed to clean them all up!!

“From now on, I’m enforcing strange-username control.”

Raming’s viewers had wholesome names like FootLicker, SalivaLover, Master…, Raming’sChubbyBelly, RamingMintChoco… Why was mine like this? For over thirty minutes I started correcting usernames. “GorillaKillerSeon-a…?” What even was “gorilla”? I’d never heard that word in my life. “PongPongBlenderExecution…” Way too violent. “HumanityNoFunSeon-a…” That one hurt. I told them not to use those!! There were plenty of other names I couldn’t even repeat out loud. I corrected every single one. Anyone who refused got banned… or at least I threatened it. Thankfully, zero people actually got banned. Some called me a bad person, but I wasn’t. I was a good person. If I hadn’t fixed them, the system would’ve banned them. I basically saved them.

“So why did I give you manager again…? Ah! Please explain now, Mr. WavySeon-a.”

His username definitely looked prettier than before.

“Huh?” I scratched my head. Right… what was it? I forgot. Why had I made him manager again…? I had no idea.

“I don’t remember… Mr. WavySeon-a. Since you’re a manager now, please help moderate.”

“Goroshi…? If your ego’s strong enough, go for it!! Post it on the café.”

For reference, even Pyeong had suffered Goroshi. The moment anyone spoke, they’d try to kill him with it. He couldn’t endure it and eventually stopped chatting almost entirely. He only typed very, very rarely now. Goroshi was something you had to handle yourself. There was nothing I could do to help. If he wanted to do Goroshi, what could I do? Ban people to protect him? That wasn’t possible. He should’ve behaved better in the first place. Right? Cold logic was my specialty.

“Manager!! Please moderate well on your own. Your salary… two hamburgers a day. Lunch and dinner, nice and filling…”

And so it began. This was why I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hadn’t recruited managers before. Everyone hated them except the president and vice-president. The reason they liked those two was simple: they gave out tons of hamburgers and subscription tickets. Everything else was hated. Anyway, it had nothing to do with me. If he got Goroshi’d and resigned, too bad. If he endured and did well? Great!! I needed to recruit managers eventually. I still didn’t remember why I’d done it just now, but it was something I had to do someday. The chat moved so fast compared to my stream size that weird messages popped up constantly. Someone had to manage it.

“I hope you’ll endure and moderate diligently, Mr. Wavy!! With two hamburgers a day… that’s sixty a month. You’ll become a total hamburger tycoon.”

The Goroshi was getting worse. Could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he handle this? Should I accept his resignation right now…? Hmm… what to do?

Suddenly…!! A goodwill attack?! This meant pure profit!! Sixty hamburgers would’ve been 600,000 won… minus fees, I’d basically recovered 60% already? What was this? Total goodwill.

“You… are now serving a life sentence. Bang bang bang. I have to do a collab now… Ah, right! Right! Mr. Wavy. Are you a guy or a girl? This is important.”

I looked it up out of curiosity and couldn’t help but admire the answer. No gender, or neutral gender.

“Wow!!”

A gender that inspired admiration. This person was impressive. Exactly the kind of talent that fit my stream. If they’d tried to be calculating or manage their image, it would’ve been lame. But openly declaring “I’m a crazy person” like this actually made them feel trustworthy.