Tangled Cords and a Shocking VTuber Dream
But the taxi driver has to stop at red lights, right? "Haa… Sis, seriously."
Tatiana "Tanya" Medvedeva let out heavy sighs as she stepped out of the house.
Her radiant golden blonde hair tickled her face.
"Haa, seriously, what the hell am I supposed to do with this…?"
Her deep eyes, like Lake Baikal, stared straight ahead.
Tanya set down the vodka bottles she was holding in both hands and carefully stood up from her seat.
"No! What's so hard about assembling just that one thing, seriously…?!"
The phone call from her biological sister just moments ago had ruined everything.
It had blown up the peace Tanya was enjoying while peacefully preparing dinner. Boom!
"A webcam? Why the fuck did you buy a goddamn webcam? You think you're some kind of streamer now? Ugh, it's just plugging in the damn cord—what's so hard about that?!"
She threw on some outer clothes haphazardly, slipped on socks, and finished getting ready to head out.
Her pants were baggy pajamas, and her hair was a mess, but so what? She wasn't going to meet some big shot.
"Sis… haa, Yongsan… you have to go all the way to Yongsan for this."
Ekaterina's house was a former safehouse that her grandfather had wrangled from the KCIA back in the Cold War days by selling off Soviet strategies and tactics. It was a place overflowing with tradition, totally different from the flashy homes of today's instant millionaires.
Or, put differently, it reeked of authoritarian vibes… kinda stuffy like that.
"And I have to go there again?"
For Tanya, who hated feeling cooped up, that house wasn't a home—it felt more like a prison.
She didn't want to go… but she had to.
"She covered the full deposit, after all."
From Tanya's position, saddled with financial debt to Ekaterina, the game was over the moment she picked up that call.
To phrase it more elegantly… she'd already crossed the Rubicon. Not a very funny joke, but hey, at least it got a chuckle out of her.
"Hoo."
With a determined expression, Tanya grabbed her phone, slipped on her slippers, and headed out.
Maybe it was because it was Seoul, but she caught a taxi almost immediately after stepping outside.
Against the backdrop of Seoul's streets starting to dim into twilight, she hummed a little tune.
She hadn't wanted to go out, but once she did, it felt surprisingly refreshing, you know? Exactly that vibe.
"Still… getting out does clear the head a bit."
Once she actually got to her sister's place, seeing family after so long would be nice and heartwarming… yeah, right.
"Like I'd be happy to see that burn scar freak!"
Tanya pounded her chest to calm her boiling guts.
As her chest shook violently, her hair swayed along with it.
The taxi driver glanced back, wondering what was up, but Tanya didn't stop.
"Hoo, if I go, I might squeeze some travel money out of her… but nah, can't with this debt."
How the hell did she end up borrowing money from that woman?
"Haa, now I want a drink."
Tanya let out a deep sigh.
Vrooom—! The taxi barreled on without stopping at the red light, mirroring Tanya's burning frustration. But in her head, she cursed, 'I don't need you mirroring shit—why the fuck are you speeding like this?' This road definitely had cameras nearby, so why the rush?
'Hmm.'
Drunk already? Koreans really can't hold their liquor, gotta give 'em that.
Tanya genuinely pitied the driver as she laid her head back on the seat.
Weaklings who get wasted on 20-proof soju— she grumbled inwardly as she drifted off to sleep.
He'll wake me when we get there, whatever~
A crazy drunk-driving cabbie wouldn't ditch a passenger, right?
"So, sis, convince me why I should understand this—make your case quick."
"Uh, what? Convince you?"
"Yeah, try convincing me."
Who am I? Where am I?
Why am I on my knees, and why is Ekaterina slamming her head into the bed in front of me?
On your knees and headbutting at the same time—what kind of human body mystery is this?
I've heard of cats being liquid, but women being liquid? What insane flexibility?
"Haa… sis, you called me saying you had no idea how to set up the webcam, the deck, and all the other crap, right?"
"Yeah?"
I called Tanya, and she burst through the door all confident just now?
And now here I am, on my knees with my head buried.
"What's that?"
Tanya turned her head and pointed at something.
What her finger indicated was an utterly ordinary camera.
Nothing special, nothing weird—just a regular-ass camera.
"A regular camera? Reg. U. Lar. Cam. Er. Aaa?!"
But whether it was the words "regular camera" that set her off, or her massive pent-up rage exploding, a deafening roar hit like tinnitus in my ears.
I remember 120mm shells exploding right in front of me not being this bad—wait, is my little sister actually a badass superhero?
"How the fuck did you tangle the cord like this? It's not a goddamn rope—why wrap it around the PC like that!?"
"Well… if you wrap it like this, you won't lose it, right?"
"Ao, seriously."
Tanya spat out a curse and started untangling the cord wrapped around the tower.
"Oooh…"
Alexander the Great couldn't untie the Gordian knot, but Tanya untied Ekaterina's knot!
Whoa! Amazing job, Tanya!
"Seriously… sis, did Syria mess up your brain or something?"
"It was messed up before that."
"Oh, my bad. I didn't know you were such a hopeless cripple."
"…?"
"If I'd known, I would've just stayed in St. Petersburg."
What the hell, Tanya…
"Not St. Petersburg—Leningrad."
St. Petersburg doesn't exist in this world.
"Whoa, sis, that was straight-up old-school Soviet boomer energy."
"What's a boomer?"
"You know, that kind."
"…?"
"Anyway, sis, so I just need to plug this stuff in, right?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
Tanya hummed as she plugged the untangled cords back in one by one.
Should I help? I hovered nearby, but she yelled at me in an ice-cold voice to sit the fuck still.
"Hing."
"What 'hing'? You're not a kid—it's creepy when grown-ass people do that."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Ao, seriously."
"But I'm cute, though?"
"…"
What, so what? Deal with it.
It hadn't even been a full day since becoming a woman, but I already got the vibe.
This face was a pretty face.
And in looks-obsessed Korean society, a pretty face was power itself…?
"Yeah, yeah, you're pretty, so shut up and stay put."
Come to think of it, my sister wasn't Korean—she was Russian.
In other words, immune to looks-based bullshit.
She was pretty herself anyway, so maybe that's why it didn't faze her?
"But sis, kinda late to ask now, but… why'd you buy all this gear? This setup's gonna cost a pretty penny once it's all done."
"To stream."
"Oh, streaming? Like live broadcasts? Makes sense—military channel stuff would blow up. Ex-VDV vet with Syria combat experience."
"What? Why would I do some boring, drab military stream?"
"…?"
Tanya's blue eyes fixed on me. A mix of confusion and bewilderment.
To that face, I declared boldly.
"I'm gonna be a VTuber."
"…Am I hard of hearing? I think I misheard. Say it again?"
"I'm telling you, VTuber."
"From what I know, VTubers are people hiding behind digital avatars, making kissy noises and shit. That right?"
"Yeah?"
"Oh my God."
Tanya clutched her face and started wailing.
…Is it that bad?
"Sis, you have zero self-awareness. You're pretty, tall, covered in tats, jacked as hell, and! On top of that, ex-VDV with over a decade in the Russian army, plus four years deployed! Four years! So why? Why a VTuber? You could go on any legit channel right now and have fans creaming themselves—why VTuber!?"
"Uh… uh… T-Tanya…? Sorry, I'm sorry, so calm down, just calm—"
Tanya unleashed a machine-gun barrage of words.
She's speaking Russian, but I can't even parse it.
"No, but what about your avatar? Rigging skills? You think VTubing's a joke? 3D model? Expressions? Animations? Tracking? Editing?"
"We'll… hire experts for that from now on, right?"
"Ao, seriously."
Tanya pounded her chest like King Kong in frustration.
No, really, why so serious? It's not like I'll die if I don't stream tomorrow.
"Hoo… sis, listen up. VTubing… it's a sacred profession."
"R-Really…? VTuber's a sacred job?"
"Of course! It's battling the platform overlords on the internet battlefield, rallying unreliable viewer allies to crash their servers with traffic! That's the eternal glory of VTubers!"
"Why the hell are VTubers crashing platforms?"
"By flooding them with traffic till they explode! That's the honor!"
Tanya whispered on like she was possessed, spilling endless trivia.
…Was she always like this?
When I was a guy, she barely talked… blunt and quiet.
I secretly called her a gloomy otaku, but this? She's not just on fire—she's turning to ash.
"Sis, hold tight. Can I use the computer real quick?"
"Uh, sure…?"
"3D avatar, tracking, rigging… you won't get it anyway. Just sit on the sofa and chug vodka."
"O-Okay."
I wanted to argue why should I.
But I couldn't.
Her face was too serious. Like a girl captain steeling herself for war.
The usual playful, tsundere glint in Tanya's eyes was gone, replaced by flames of grim resolve.
"Then… uh, good luck?"
So I left her in the room and bolted to the living room.
Ehh, whatever—Tanya told me to get out!
Time to chug some vodka.