Meal Kit Wars and Cover Song Hype
The pro-meal-kit-as-cooking camp and the anti camp kept debating nonstop until the collab started. I was firmly in the pro camp. Isn't it obvious? If meal kits don't count as cooking, what does that make me? So yeah, pro camp all the way. I couldn't understand the antis' position at all. Why? Why? The words slipped out on their own. That's how flimsy their logic was.
I believed meal kits were cooking, and my argument went like this. Ramen prep? You just add water and dump in the seasoning packet. Done. Right? But meal kits? You gotta chop up all the ingredients nice and fine. Boil water. Keep checking the pot. Tons of steps. Ah, of course... I don't actually know. I'm trying it for the first time today or tomorrow. But they kept insisting it wasn't cooking, so I got all heated up without meaning to...
I took a deep breath, trying to calm down...
Looking at the chat window, I absolutely refused to back down. It kept poking at my rebellious side. "I can't admit it." Saying that makes me wanna fight like a rabid dog. This isn't the old me who always took it lying down. I'm the owner of this room. I can't stand the constant nitpicking. I've been growing, you know. I won't go down easy anymore...!
"It is cooking...! Everyone, just admit it. You hate it...? Fine, don't admit it then."
If they don't wanna, what can I do? I'm not forcing anyone. "You all saw that. I didn't force it. So don't force me either... Why's not forcing turning into a fight? Hm... You guys just wanna nitpick, right? Hmph..."
"Cooking stream? I don't know how...! And I'm a VTuber. VTubers have to hide the red pill. Sorry~."
Pride as a VTuber...? Self-respect? Whatever you call it, I gotta protect it. If I wasn't gonna, I wouldn't have become a VTuber. But suddenly I got curious. What kind of content do pure VTubers do?
"What do pure VTubers do? What content? Any famous ones?"
Pure here means... Japanese-style? I don't really watch indie streams, so I'm clueless. If I don't watch indies, how would I know VTubers? I just do it 'cause others say it's sweet. What I watch on YouTube... bonfire ASMR, camping vids, vlogs, gadget reviews, algorithm games... and Maru, Moteok, Raming's YouTubes. That's it.
Huh? Wait, what? The chat suddenly stopped scrolling.
The two scariest things during my streams: First, when question marks flood in like crazy. What'd I do wrong? Another slip-up? What now? Especially the silent lurkers' question mark barrage—terrifying. Second is this: chat blackout. Happens every game stream. Breath catches in my throat. When no chat scrolls even if I talk, it's so hard to endure. Hit during low chat too, and now I'm sweating. Body feels clammy.
"Uh... lag? What's with chat? Why'd everyone stop chatting all of a sudden? What? Lag? Bug?"
Question marks at least mean chat's moving—better than blackout. Blackout is pure terror. I don't scare easy, but chat blackout is horror itself.
I stared at the chat window until it came back.
"Oh, ah. It's scrolling fine now... Why'd it stop when I asked about VTubers?"
No pure VTuber fans in our room, looks like. Well... not a big deal anyway. Localization, right? No need to be pure. Adapting to the country matters.
"One more question. Is Maru pure?"
"Thanks! As expected of the ZangPartisans...!"
Rude words, but it said exactly what I wanted. Do smart fans really need to spell it out? Just answer. ZangPartisans are the best.
"Aha... got it. But why's pure matter? Maru's the best anyway. Does Maru sing?"
Never seen Maru singing in her vids. Did I miss it? Nah, rewatched twice. But Moteok and Raming, yeah—heard theirs. Moteok's voice was surprisingly good.
We talked songs for a while. When I said I don't listen, they called me fake hipster, showoff. Not listening = hipster fake? More ridiculous than meal kit debate.
"So I might not listen. Why's that fake? No... agh, not this again. Guys. For real. Have I ever... played songs on stream? ...Okay, played to sing. Should I sing then? Why hate that? Again, 'save your throat'? I know what that means. I'm smart now? For real? Eheheh. How smart?"
Over 10 minutes of arguing...
"Huh? Moteok cover? For real? Fact-checked?"
"Ooh, nice. We'll watch together during game. I'll mention it. Moteok's cool. Eheheheh. Hold on. 8:25... alarm set."
8:25 alarm set. Watching together will make Moteok happy for sure. Covers cost money—illustrations, recording, mixing. Big investment; high views motivate.
"Our room's all forced views only. Anyone trolling Moteok's song gets banned. Got it?"
I have one creed: Bans are permanent. Lazy to unban, and I rarely ban... tolerate 3-4 times, then only if unavoidable. Usually temp mute max.
"Ban means never unban, so promise no trolling~ Got it?"
We even pinky-swore pretty chats, pretty reacts. Safe now...! Or so you'd think? I don't trust viewers anymore. Believed blindly at first—liars.
"Won't trust a word. Editor too, full force against trolls. Said this much, no one should get banned."
Even after begging, later cafe posts: "Didn't know it was bad. No ill intent." Obvious troll bait. So obvious even I see it.
My big data analysis: 99.9% liars, but they say they'll behave...
"Thanks for cooperating, everyone."
Hoping it goes smooth. Not hard—just spam wacky pyaa. Overworrying? Just trust. Wanna brush it off easy, but past troll hell kills trust. If only at me, I'd let slide. Others? Headache. One fan uncomfortable... "Why no chat mod?" Unfair. I mod hard. But they judge snippets, not whole. "Viewer did it." Can't control their fingers, y'know?
Most unfair: Ignore ban, screenshot few secs: "Check chat vibe. Gross." Pure troll.
"Ah, KimMinseok thanks. Trust only Minseok. Ajaja fighting!"
Mentioning Minseok sparked disaster. Fun drip turned endless brainrot, dragging till collab.