New Client
‘She’d never look back.’ Yeah, that tracks. But Reina won’t come knocking.
I closed the post and looked away from the monitor.
Reina’s famous in the industry as the last mid-tier holdout refusing Han-cut editing. 200k followers. In-house agency editor ‘Frame.’ And her own personal policy. Not a single commission from her has ever come my way. I figured none ever would.
A DM notification popped up. ‘ReinaManager_Official.’
My heart skipped a beat. Unknown handle. But one glance at the profile, and I knew. Reina’s agency. Her manager’s account.
I rested my fingers on the keyboard and paused. Needed to double-check.
Odd. With an in-house editor, outsourcing separately means one of two things. They need quality the in-house can’t deliver. Or something’s gone wrong with the in-house. Neither is my business.
Directly from her. Mid-tier VTubers almost never DM editors personally. Managers handle everything.
The manager left the chat. 30 seconds later. New DM. ‘Reina.’
I straightened slightly in my chair. Been a while since a client came in like this.
I almost snorted. She knows my rates and is deliberately poking at them.
I paused. This is hazing. The first move clients pull to assert dominance over the editor.
No reply for a long stretch. Typing indicator flickered on and off.
Another long wait before the reply.
I narrowed my eyes slightly. Rare for a mid-tier VTuber to request their failure scenes as the main feature. Usually, they highlight successes, clipping funny reactions from fails.
Just before the chat wrapped, Reina sent one more line.
My hands froze at the monitor. Why bring up Sohwa here?
Reina’s stream started two days later at 8 PM. I put work aside to watch live. Normally I’d just get the full VOD and edit, but this time was different. Needed to gauge her live tempo, her pauses.
The stream began. Wine-red bob hair. Ruby irises. Black crop jacket over white shirt. Two black rings on her fingers.
“Hello, it’s Reina.”
Her voice was low. Total opposite of Sohwa’s. If Sohwa’s voice subtly stirred the air, Reina’s pressed it down.
“Today I’ll finish that high-diff stage I wiped on last time. If not in two hours, stream ends.”
Reina barely glanced at chat. Eyes on the game. Occasional “Yes, saw it.” That was it.
One hour in. First attempt: fail.
“Yes, again.” Flat, emotionless.
Restart. Two-hour mark. Second attempt: fail.
Reina paused her hands briefly. Then a sigh. Very short. 0.4 seconds.
I caught that sigh. Average viewer wouldn’t have. Buried under BGM and SFX. But I heard it. And that was weird.
“……I’ll try once more.”
Reina gripped the controller again. Third attempt. Success.
Reina didn’t smile. Just one line. “Yes. Done.”
Stream end. Total 2 hours 47 minutes.
I closed the browser and fired up Premiere Pro. Full VOD up 5 minutes later. Faster than expected.
Editing began. Any other editor would’ve made the third success the centerpiece. Common sense. It’s what viewers want. But Reina requested failure as main. Had to read her intent.
I looped the 0.4-second sigh right after the second failure. ‘……I’ll try once more.’ The ragged breath before it. The fatigue lingering behind her emotionless tone.
Reina hadn’t asked to cut that 0.4 seconds. She wanted failure as main. Meaning she wants viewers to hear that sigh. To keep the trust in ‘follow Reina’s strat and you’ll clear,’ while showing once that trust is built on two fails and a sigh.
‘Even in failure, the process is content.’ That’s her frame.
I structured the 20-min clip:
0-3 min: First attempt prep and fail. Matter-of-fact.
3-8 min: Second attempt. Build tension up to fail.
8-9 min: Post-second-fail 0.4s sigh. The peak.
9-14 min: Third prep. Deliberately slow tempo.
14-18 min: Third success. Fast.
18-20 min: Ending. Just ‘Yes. Done.’ Then silence.
Core: That 0.4s sigh. Strip all BGM, leave only her breath. Then low string BGM line right after, synced to ‘I’ll try once more.’
Viewers will get it then. Reina isn’t emotionless—she just doesn’t show it. That’s why she has 200k followers.
41 hours editing. Finished 7 hours early on 48-hour deadline. Sent final to Reina.
Reply three hours later.
My fingers stopped. Same as with Sohwa. Client sees the edit, asks the exact same question.
‘Did you hear my breathing?’
I didn’t reply. She was right. Waveform shows breath placement, not meaning. I read the meaning.
I exhaled slowly at the monitor.
Chat ended. I closed the DM and leaned back.
Reina said she’d have lots of revisions. But none this time. Means one thing. She’ll use revisions as an excuse to keep contact. Whether she knows it or not, denies it or not—doesn’t matter. I get the file, deliver, done.
Opened the gallery tab.
I posted anonymously as a throwaway: ‘Why would Han-cut take Reina? Rates won’t match lol.’
3 seconds.
Good. That buries any Han-cut identity speculation as ‘troll’s game’ again.
Closing the gal when a DM pinged. Sohwa.
I stared at the screen. Had to answer. No lying. Sohwa would spot it. She’s already sure.
Typing lingered a while. Then much later:
I froze.
No answer.
Sohwa’s reply was quick.
I placed my hands on the keyboard. Typed nothing. Unanswerable. Either way spells trouble.
Typing indicator again.
I held my breath. Strategy sim is Reina’s main genre.
I closed the DM.
Monitor glow lit the room. 3 AM. Four empty energy drink cans on the desk now.
Sohwa’s invading Reina’s turf. Not content expansion. A rivalry declaration. Over me, the editor.
Doesn’t matter how many clients. Deliver and done. Held that principle three years.
But now, cracks in that principle.
Another DM. Reina.
I stopped typing. Reina saw it already.
My breath caught.