I Don't Want to Do Anything
No. No way.
I don't want to do anything.
I'm already not doing anything — but I want to do nothing even more violently!
"Guaaaah…."
I flopped around on the bed, roaring in a grotesque voice that somehow captured exactly how I felt.
If the people who called themselves my fans ever saw me like this, they'd lose all affection and run for the hills.
All those simps (as chat likes to put it) who've been multiplying lately really ought to see this side of me. Those people have way too many fantasies about who I am.
Or maybe they'd love it as gap moe. This body did look exactly like Camilla, after all.
A cold beauty identical to Camilla doing things Camilla would never do — yeah, even I'd be into that.
Anyway, a slump? Burnout? Something in that family seemed to have come for me again.
I'd been through something similar before, but this time it felt different. Back then it had been a kind of mannerism — my affection for Camilla cooling off. Now I just felt genuinely exhausted.
Thinking about it, I had been working pretty hard lately. Not just gaming at home — I'd gone on network TV, visited an idol agency to learn dance, done cooking streams, cosplayed at G-Star….
"I really did a lot of stuff, huh."
Listing it all out like that, I'd been up to every kind of nonsense imaginable.
I counted the whole catalog off on my fingers while lying on the bed, then nodded with a look of quiet understanding.
Yeah. I'd worked that hard, suffered that much — I was allowed to flop around a bit. And with all the varied content I'd been putting out, viewer sentiment was actually really good lately.
So there I was, flopping around and enjoying a well-earned rest, compensation psychology in full effect — when the message came.
From someone claiming to be a game director at Eonics.
"What the hell is this."
If it wasn't a scam, he was a pretty big name.
Regular people might not know him, but to me — to anyone who played Abyss — he was something of a celebrity.
Total Director Oh Hong-gyun. Known among users by charming monikers like "that fucking Hong-gyun hyung," a.k.a. Fuck-gyun hyung.
He ran Abyss user town halls, coordinated in-game patches — a truly central figure inside Eonics, someone you simply couldn't leave out of the picture.
So why was someone like that contacting me?
Supporters? What was that about?
"Ah."
Something clicked. Last night, maybe. I'd gotten a call from someone claiming to be an Eonics employee, asking if I was interested in becoming a Supporter.
I'd been just as mentally and physically wiped then as I was now, so I'd turned them down. It wasn't a particularly appealing offer anyway.
I already knew Abyss inside and out, so I could figure out what Supporters roughly did with my eyes closed.
And so, once again, I told Oh Hong-gyun via text that I wasn't really interested in the Supporters thing.
But why was this guy texting so desperately? What did someone jokingly called the main body of Eonics even have to be so desperate about?
Oh Hong-gyun's messages left a thick residue of interest even in my burned-out self.
"Fuck-gyun hyung is legit, though…."
Before I knew it, I'd replied that I'd come and was heading out the door.
Okay….
Meanwhile, Hong-gyun — face worn with fatigue as he texted back and forth with Kayak — clenched his fist. He'd gotten a positive response: she'd at least hear him out.
Fortunately, Kayak lived not far from the company, so he pinned a nearby café and told her to come there.
In truth, Director Oh Hong-gyun's behavior was a bit excessive. Someone might scoff that he was putting way too much effort into recruiting a single streamer for something as minor as Supporters.
But if Hong-gyun ever actually faced that kind of criticism, he could confidently say his actions were correct.
She wasn't just some streamer. Kayak — according to the data Hong-gyun had analyzed — was someone who could bring about yet another transformation in Abyss.
In fact, some of his subordinates would give him slightly suspicious looks when they saw how obsessively he was fixated on Kayak.
If you had to put a finger on it, the vibe was something like: Is that bastard just a Kayak fan? A simp? A pretty-girl chaser? They thought they were being subtle about it, but to Hong-gyun, who'd been in the workforce for over fifteen years, their thoughts were transparent.
No point even saying anything. It'd just wear out my mouth.
Stagnant water is bound to rot. Just because you're at the top doesn't mean you can ever be satisfied and rest on your laurels. With that kind of complacency, the latecomers nipping at your heels would catch up in no time.
Like a swan that looks elegant above the water while paddling furiously underneath — Eonics, always holding the number-one spot, had Hong-gyun and the rest of the staff working steadily beneath the surface.
Recruiting Kayak as a Supporter was part of that effort. All those individual efforts had come together to create the Eonics of today, the god-tier game Abyss.
And now, facing Kayak in person, Hong-gyun was certain his choice hadn't been wrong.
She really looks exactly like Camilla….
It was an absurdly beautiful face — the kind that made you wonder how a person like this could even exist in reality. Designer Yoo Seong-min, who'd designed Camilla's appearance, had apparently fallen over in shock, and looking at her, you could see why.
Hong-gyun's own shock was on a similar level, if not less. As a longtime friend of Designer Yoo Seong-min, he'd watched Camilla's design process from the sidelines for a long time.
The feeling of discovering that a masterpiece his friend had created was living and breathing in the world — but on the other hand, he also felt relieved. The revamped Supporters program he was about to roll out needed Kayak's destructive looks for certain purposes.
Mainly for holding users' attention. Seeing her in person, Hong-gyun truly felt it was impossible to look away.
"Um, Director?"
His reverie was immediately shattered by Kayak, who was looking at him with puzzled eyes.
"Ahem. My apologies. Yes. The reason I called you here, Kayak…."
Hong-gyun pulled out the tablet he'd prepared and went straight to the point.
On the tablet was a presentation he'd made himself — a clean overview of the Supporters program, what was changing from before, what Supporters would need to do, and so on.
Honestly, he hadn't needed to prepare a full presentation. It was a device to show his sincerity.
An indirect way of showing Kayak just how serious he was about this project.
"Ah, yes. I see."
But Kayak's reaction was somehow lukewarm.
Even when he explained the future Abyss was heading toward, the vision — she was indifferent. Even when he told her she'd have the honor of reading patch notes faster than any other user, she didn't seem particularly pleased.
For Hong-gyun, who roughly knew about her, it was simply baffling.
Wasn't she someone who loved Abyss more than anyone?
Hong-gyun briefly entertained a terrible thought. Maybe Kayak's love for Abyss had just been image-making.
Or maybe she'd played so long that all the interest had drained away. It wouldn't be strange if Abyss had simply become broadcast content to her at this point. Plenty of streamers fell into that category.
The way to win those people over was simple.
"…I'll increase the pay. Enough that you won't feel shortchanged."
The answer was money.
More money! Even a gamer who'd lost interest in the game would immediately put on capitalism's smile at that.
Hong-gyun felt a bitter taste in his mouth as he said it. As someone who'd joined a game company out of love for games and become a director, situations like this always left him a little melancholy.
But contrary to his expectations, the moment he brought up money, Kayak furrowed her brow deeply and muttered something incomprehensible.
"So you seek to buy me with money!"
"Excuse me?"
"…That was a bit. You didn't get it. Anyway, money's fine. The pay seems sufficient as is."
Then what was the problem? If it wasn't about money being short, then why—
"Is there something else? Some condition you want?"
"Hmm. Well. There is something I want…."
Kayak just trailed off with a meaningful smile. So she really did want something other than money.
What is it?
Watching Kayak, who only smiled no matter how many times he asked and showed no intention of answering, Hong-gyun thought deeply for a moment.
What could Kayak want? Something she'd turn down money for. Something she wanted from Eonics, from Abyss….
Lightning struck in Hong-gyun's mind.
Kayak was a user who liked Camilla to a suspicious degree. A gamer who loved Camilla while looking exactly like Camilla.
Having arrived at the answer, Hong-gyun squeezed his eyes shut and opened his mouth.
"Ah, no matter what, a Camilla buff is out of the question. She only just got nerfed not that long ago…! Hero balance is an area users cannot interfere with!"
Even if this answer disappointed Kayak and made her walk away, it couldn't be helped.
As the director of a game, there were lines that had to be held. No matter how desirable a talent Kayak was, no meant no.
But what came back a moment later was Kayak's incredulous voice.
"A Camilla buff…? What exactly do you take me for."
Ah. So that wasn't it?
Hong-gyun scratched his head in embarrassment.