It's Okay to Be Unemployed
Haryeong's situation was settled, for the time being.
We'd collabed together and cut down every toxic viewer the moment they showed their faces.
Honestly, I'd hesitated a little at first. Was it really okay for me to barge into someone else's stream and interfere like that?
But once those chats were right in front of me, I couldn't hold back — not as a fan. I had no idea where they all kept pouring in from, and there was something oddly satisfying about slicing through them no matter how many more showed up.
Of course, what I did was only a temporary fix. I couldn't go over and clean out her toxic viewers every single time, and if I did, Haryeong's standing as the actual host of her own stream would only shrink.
I'd simply shown her the option I personally thought was right. In the end, the decision was hers to make.
I checked in on a few more of her streams after that, and she seemed to have steeled herself — thankfully. Watching her boldly boot the toxic ones was both impressive and quietly gratifying, like I had a little stake in it myself.
After that, people started showing up in my stream claiming to be Haryeong's viewers.
Thank you, Kayak. Thanks to you, Haryeong's gotten her energy back
"No, I didn't really do anything. I'll gladly take the hundred thousand, though. Thank you."
And just like that, the short daily worship session that had become part of every stream's routine came and went.
So what are we doing now??
It was time to decide today's content.
Normally, when someone said that, I would've deflected a little or just asked the chat what they wanted to watch.
But today was different.
"Today, you see…."
I let the end of the sentence trail off, the corner of my mouth curling up ever so slightly.
The viewers who'd caught that I was acting different from usual started reacting.
"At this rate people are gonna think I turn on stream with zero prep every single day."
Don't you?
"No, and unfortunately for you, today I actually prepared something, so that doesn't apply. Alright — today's content is…."
I moved the mouse and pulled up the screen I'd set up in advance.
"Survey Time! Let's take a moment to figure out what kind of people are hanging out in my stream right now."
Truthfully, this was content I'd originally planned for a Vtube 1-million-subscriber event. You could call it a reverse of the most common Q&A format.
Instead of the streamer taking questions and answering them, the viewers became the ones doing the answering.
"We've had a lot of new people flooding into the stream lately. And the other day on Vtube, I even saw a comment from a viewer in their forties. So I got curious. What kind of people actually watch my streams? How old are they, and what do they usually do with their days?"
The world is full of all kinds of people. Fundamentally, every person is different from every other person. Strangely enough, there might be people who are similar — but never two who are completely identical.
"Mm-hmm, alright, alright. Don't fight. I know exactly what you're all saying. It's fine. If you want to take the survey, take it. If you don't, just watch. And if I can add one thing — not having a job isn't something to be ashamed of. Everyone has their own season to bloom. The only difference is whether you get there early or late. I mean, even a millionaire CEO or a landlord could drop dead of a heart attack tomorrow, right?"
"No — I was saying you never know how life turns out, so don't get too discouraged. Even I, right now things are going well, but back in the day I was barely scraping by, you know? Anyway, enough of the preamble… I posted the link, so if you want to take the survey, go ahead."
That's what I said, but I really hoped a lot of people would participate. I'd put actual thought into picking out these questions — it'd be a shame if nobody filled them out.
Whether they sensed that wish of mine or not, the viewers who'd been grumbling mostly went ahead and took the survey.
"Shall we close it out? Wow! So many of you participated. Total survey respondents: 18,276! That's got to be almost 90%, right? Thank you. I'll make good use of your answers as stream content."
"Alright, first up — age. Teens at 27%. Twenties at 41%. Thirties at 21%. Forties at 8%. And everyone else around 3%."
Twenties being the biggest group was more or less what I'd expected. What I hadn't expected was teens coming in second. There were more young viewers watching me than I thought. I'd figured thirties would be next after twenties.
"Next, gender. This one's a little surprising too. Male 80%, female 20%? That's a 4-to-1 ratio? Why are there so many girls in my stream."
And on it went from there. Whether people had a driver's license, owned a car, what their blood type was — stuff that, even to me, felt a little brainless. But that was kind of the whole point of content like this.
"Someone put 'Kayak's ideal type' under blood type. Okay. Did you write that knowing what my ideal type actually is? What is my ideal type, you ask? Well. That's a secret."
"Mm-hmm… more people have licenses than don't. Car ownership is about fifty-fifty. Makes sense with so many teens and twenties. Even in your twenties, you usually don't get a car until the late ones. And these days people are entering the workforce later and later anyway. I've only got my license myself — no car. Though, yeah, I've been thinking about getting one, but I don't really have anywhere I need to go."
Just skimming through the stats was entertaining on its own. I was the type who liked hearing about other people's lives to begin with, so that probably made it even better.
"Want to just batch the rest? We'll pick out a few more from the 18,000 and look at those."
I sorted the already-organized Excel of viewer surveys by category and started scanning. Occupations first.
"Unemployed, unemployed, super unemployed, home security guard, student on leave, high school student… I expected it, but yeah, this side's definitely the biggest. No no! Don't get discouraged! I was just reading. Mm-hmm, who cares what your job is. As long as you watch my streams, that's enough. Without you guys, my stream dies."
"Self-employed, someone who runs a restaurant…. Small business owner? Wow, this person must actually be a boss. Car: Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Average donation amount on internet streams: over ten million won. Yep, definitely a boss. Big spender."
That was when it happened. The fanfare that only played for massive donations rang in my ears.
Hearing you read mine is a little embarrassing haha….
"Ah, Boss! Dropping that kind of money out of nowhere! Thank you so much — is there any reaction you'd like? I actually learned a dance the other day. A special dance just for our Boss—"
And with that, the chat window erupted.
After that, I looked through a few more of the viewers' various occupations before wrapping up Survey Time.