Why Ha Yeeun's Mental State Cracked Because of a VTuber (1)
Meanwhile, a little earlier.
Ha Yeeun stepped out of Theia's main building conference hall, watching Lee Junwoo walk away with a look of pure bewilderment on her face.
"Why are those two acting so friendly with Lee Junwoo?"
Jo Arin, Theia's Student Council President, and Scarlet, the Vice President, had left together with him in tow.
The Student Council sat at the absolute peak of cadet power — and these two were second-years, the so-called Golden Generation of Theia.
D-don't tell me those two are interested in Lee Junwoo too?
That would be a problem.
Right now, Ha Yeeun needed Lee Junwoo desperately. She had spent the past few weeks refusing to admit it, but she had to face the truth now.
Saintess TV was in crisis.
I can't be the only one who goes down like this!!
Aegis was in a similar situation, but at least Jeong Ungyeong — the new operator who had replaced Junwoo — was competent enough. They had also earned recognition for stopping the recent villain attack, so party activities would be fine for the time being.
But Jeong Ungyeong was not Lee Junwoo. She offered Ha Yeeun not a shred of help with her streaming career. Broadcast management had never been part of the contract to begin with.
Song Sia had gone out of her way to hire external production staff, but that had been useless too. The problem had now reached its absolute limit.
Song Sia and Valhalla's Apostles… they know nothing about the streaming world!
Those generic freelancers had no idea what her real charm was. And for some reason, even after she tried to correct a few small details, every single one of them quit, saying they couldn't work with her.
I'm going insane!!!
Ha Yeeun hurried back to her studio apartment. They had already agreed to discuss the weekend's events tomorrow, and she had nothing more to say to the two people she barely got along with anyway. Song Sia had claimed she was busy with club activities.
Out of habit, Ha Yeeun logged into a streaming community board. Searching every keyword related to herself — Saintess Land, Ha Yeeun, Saintess TV — had become her recent routine. Ego-searching, as they called it.
Lee Junwoo had absolutely forbidden her from ego-searching and always given her feedback himself. But after they exiled him, Ha Yeeun had eventually typed her own name into the community search bar.
A post asking whether Saintess TV was even worth watching lately. She rushed to check the comments.
The moment she read those hate comments, Ha Yeeun's vision went black.
"Hhk… haah… haah…"
She was furious. No — she was in agony. Every single comment felt like it was shredding her mental state to pieces. But it was an anonymous community. She couldn't even sue.
If Lee Junwoo had been there, he would have taken care of the mental damage those comments were inflicting. Now there was no one. The fans in the Saintess TV café only repeated the same empty, predictable encouragement, which did nothing for her.
What… what is this…
The word has-been lodged itself in her mind like a thorn and refused to leave. Her eyes reddened.
It all started with getting involved with the Mungseokkyu Crew.
If she had delivered real entertainment through that collab, it might have been different. Instead, she had completely tanked it. Everything she did only made public opinion worse.
It began the day An Yumin went full serious mode during their joint stream, and it continued through the War World preliminaries she entered with Mungseokkyu members. Even after handing the match off to Jeong Ungyeong as a substitute, they had been eliminated in humiliating fashion. She should have at least filled the audio — but she had been so focused on giving substitute instructions that she hadn't said a single word.
Afterward, Mungseokkyu had even specially queued ranked games with her to help wash her reputation clean. But Ha Yeeun's mental state was already gone; she couldn't get a single word out.
Of all times… it was right after Hell Week, so my stamina and mood were both completely shot.
Naturally, the frame stuck: no game sense, boring as hell.
And then there was that VTuber. Ever since a VTuber named Naharing appeared, her freefall had only accelerated.
Unlike Ha Yeeun, Naharing had put on a spectacular performance during a War World collab that happened to land with the Mungseokkyu Crew. A virtual netuber with an appearance that screamed weeb to anyone looking. But that cam-off weeb netuber filled the audio brilliantly — something Ha Yeeun had failed at. She fired back at every raw, unfiltered joke the Mungseokkyu Crew threw at her. Then, after carrying the collab game to victory, she showed off her singing in front of tens of thousands of viewers.
In other words, public opinion shot straight to paradise right then and there.
And it wasn't just Naharing… those crew members too…
Naharing was the leader of a VTuber crew called Underdolls. Naturally, even for the same game collabs, more viewers started looking for Naharing or the Underdolls members instead of Ha Yeeun.
Even the viewer counts were closing in. Recently, Ha Yeeun's evening peak sat around 750. Naharing was hitting 800.
Every time her numbers fell behind, the chat flooded with rekt~, driving her completely insane. Of course, the current Saintess TV manager banned every single one of them — but that heavy-handed crackdown only made public opinion worse.
Manager… Kim Joohee. I think I was wrong about you.
Kim Joohee was the manager Lee Junwoo had once clashed with. But because she had been Ha Yeeun's loyal retainer, Ha Yeeun had trusted her words over that unpleasant Junwoo's. Now she was becoming certain that trust had been a complete mistake.
Lately Kim Joohee had been clinging to her in a way that made her skin crawl. Beyond broadcast management, she kept trying to meet Ha Yeeun in real life. Not long ago, Ha Yeeun had even spotted her loitering near her apartment building.
"Hhk… hhk…"
Ha Yeeun covered her face with both palms. Hot tears soaked her eyes and hands.
At this rate, she was truly finished. She needed Lee Junwoo desperately — not just for his skills, but as a partner who would take care of her mental state. As a lover.
But Junwoo had been far too firm. On top of that, her anxiety was growing that the other two from Aegis might be meeting him behind her back.
No. The ones who exiled him were those two bitches, not me. I have to meet Lee Junwoo somehow and clear up that misunderstanding!
That was why, today of all days, she had planned to apologize for the exile if he wanted her to. She wasn't the main culprit like those two — she would definitely be forgiven.
— You really think so? If that were true, he would have answered your messages or calls ages ago!! It's over!!
But even that thought was starting to feel like nothing more than her own empty delusion.
He was no longer the powerless nobody from back then. Lee Junwoo might still be a middle-class cadet, but as she had just witnessed, even the Student Council President and Vice President were taking an interest in him. He was making real moves.
"Hhk… hhk… How… how can I get him to forgive me? Goddess… please tell meee!!!"
And before long, a major Goddess Sect event was coming. A large-scale ceremony that Aegis had also been invited to as security. A Saintess formally ordained by the Holy See would be visiting Seoul.
For Ha Yeeun, who was aiming to become the next Saintess, it was an extremely important event.
That's it! I have to put on a spectacular performance there no matter what…!!
Not only the Saintess, but holy relics from the Holy See would be coming as well. If she could use the event to raise her abilities as a nun even further, her standing at Theia would climb another level. The more of the Goddess's blessing she received, the more beautiful her appearance would become too.
That's right… from now on… I have to seduce Lee Junwoo by any means necessary!
It wouldn't be easy. But she was even willing to research holy spells related to charm. She needed him that badly — not just as a manager anymore, but as a man.
Having finished her thoughts, Ha Yeeun started her stream. She left nothing but a black screen up and turned on her mic exactly as she was — still crying.
As expected, her suckers… no, her simps came running, flooding the chat with concern. Donation amounts climbed one after another. Ha Yeeun barely managed to soothe her anxious heart.
Before heading to the Crime Research Club room, I spent a moment talking with the two from the Student Council.
Student Council President Jo Arin and Vice President Scarlet apparently had something to say to me.
— The Disciplinary Committee?
The Bonchina attack had apparently sparked a lot of discussion within the Student Council. Jo Arin wanted to expand the existing Disciplinary Committee's range of activity — something like a student volunteer patrol. And she seemed to have taken an interest in me after I received a commendation for the recent attack.
— Hmph, it's not like I, the President, am going out of my way to ask a favor of a junior like you…!! Ah, n-no, I didn't mean that!! I'm sorry!!! I really do want you to help, Junior!! Scarlet here has recommended Lee Junwoo as a good person several times already…
So they needed fresh talent while expanding those activities. And inwardly, I was surprised.
Originally, the Disciplinary Committee is a special affiliation you can only join in the late second chapter.
Its members had freer activity than other Student Council members, yet still received access privileges to various Theia facilities. For a villain like me, it was a position worth obtaining by any means necessary.
— I'll think about it.
Of course, I didn't accept on the spot. Student Council President Jo Arin was a fully realized tsundere — the twin-tail type who only belatedly repented her own vices and became honest. But the tsundere instinct remained, so if the other party played hard to get, she would reverse course, get flustered, and come back with better terms.
A somewhat cute personality, all things considered. But as Student Council President, her actual ability was on a completely different level from other cadets. The mage who stood at the peak of the Golden Generation second-years was none other than Jo Arin.
She's the strongest among Theia's cadets.
At the same time, one of the original story's protected characters.
Anyway, having luckily established a connection with her, I walked into the club room in a good mood.
"Good to see you!"
The current Saintess's visit to Seoul was scheduled soon. And that visit was the first quest on the underworld side. Naturally, to understand the movements of underworld figures or villains connected to the visit, hearing the opinion of Yun Hyeona — president of the Crime Research Club — would be useful.
"Oh. Junwoo. Come on in!"
She answered, but the senior was carefully watching a netube video on her smartphone.
That's… Naharing? That VTuber.
And right on cue, a Saintess TV stream notification popped up at the top of my phone. Since everyone happened to be looking at their phones, I casually glanced at the stream thumbnail for the first time in a while.
What? Ha Yeeun. Why is it a black screen?
A black screen. For internet streamers, it was a kind of cheat key. Whenever controversy hit, putting up a black screen was excellent for drawing aggro. With a decent explanation and apology, you could even turn bad public opinion around.
But looking at the chat, Ha Yeeun was apparently bawling her eyes out.
What. Did her mental state crack?
A rough look at the chat reactions told me why. She had probably seen community posts. A few hate comments had punched straight through her.
She's doing the one thing she absolutely shouldn't again.
Showing that hate comments got to you might buy sympathy from loyal fans, but the toxic ones would enjoy it even more, and casual viewers would just feel uncomfortable. Broadcasting that reaction was a move with zero upside.
Lately Ha Yeeun… seems to get compared to that VTuber Naharing a lot.
Their fields looked different on the surface, but they shared similar content — light interaction, games, and singing. Naharing's streaming range overlapped with Ha Yeeun's considerably. Even the scale of their viewer counts.
I checked the streaming community briefly, and the gallery was having another field day over Ha Yeeun's reaction. If I had still been in Aegis, I would have spun the public opinion somehow.
Not my job.
I was about to close the stream and talk with President Yun Hyeona.
That was the exact moment.
"Lee Junwoo… no, Junwoo! Do you, uh, do you watch this kind of stuff?"
Jeong Siu suddenly thrust his smartphone screen at me.
On the screen was a pink-haired VTuber.
Naharing.