It Was an Economics Channel...

Sora had gotten hooked on running a YouTube channel.

"Hello, everyone~ This is Sora, the channel that explores the mysteries of economics!"

It felt a little like tending a garden. Watching the plants grow prettier by the day filled her with a quiet sense of accomplishment. This was the same. Every time her subscriber count ticked up, every time a fresh comment appeared, something warm and full bloomed in her chest.

Huh?

She finished recording and checked the subscriber trend. It hadn't climbed the way she'd expected. Looking for the reason, she opened the comment section — and even someone as oblivious as Sora couldn't miss it.

.

.

.

These were not the wall-to-wall compliments she was used to. No — the dissatisfaction had been building for a while.

Cam? They're telling me to turn on the camera?

She'd seen comments like that before. Showing her face was embarrassing, so she'd pretended not to notice. But the grumbling kept growing. Maybe that was why subscriber growth had stalled and the mood in the comments had soured.

What do I do? Putting my face out there is a little…

The idea made her recoil. There had already been that one absolute lunatic who'd caused a YouTube scandal. Still, she couldn't bring herself to disappoint her subscribers. Sora steeled herself and decided to give it a try.

"Hello, everyone~! This is Sora, the channel that explores the mysteries of economics!"

She reshot the video. Showing her face was still too much — but from the neck down? That, she decided, was doable.

Ahem, ahem! This should be enough to keep them happy, right?

She was still mortified. Part of her wanted to scrap the whole YouTuber thing and be done with it. But she'd already started. She'd decide based on whether the viewers liked it.

The reaction was immediate. The next morning, when Sora checked her channel, she nearly jumped out of her seat.

F-five hundred people? In one day?!

Five hundred fifty-three, to be exact. But for someone who'd been grateful for even fifty new subs a day, it was an astronomical number. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠People who'd watched without subscribing had signed up en masse after yesterday's video.

Does the camera make that much of a difference? Then from now on…

Greed started to stir.

Saminseongho.

— Three people ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠make a dragon. (三人成龍)

If just three people insist hard enough, they can invent a dragon that never existed. In other words: if three people collude and swear a dragon was there, no one will dare call them liars.

That was roughly the idea. It was a phenomenon you could find all over the internet.

If everyone else says it's true, people go, "Huh? Maybe it is?" That's just how human psychology works.

It wasn't that people were stupid. Humans were social animals. Getting swept along by the opinions around you was the most natural thing in the world.

Like when everyone piled into a stock at once.

<Hello, everyone~! This is Sora, the channel that explores the mysteries of economics!>

He believed Sora wouldn't let him down.

Yeah. Might as well put that talent to use.

These weren't the usual bland videos of nothing but PowerPoint slides and subtitles. Now her proud milk-storage units were on full display.

.

.

.

That alone was enough. Once you opened the floodgates, he figured, things would take care of themselves.

Look how wholesome she is.

For a female streamer, looks carried enormous weight. That was a fact you couldn't deny even if you wanted to. Content? Delivery? Spending time prepping that stuff helped less than just polishing a decent face.

Click, clack!

She herself probably had no idea. She might genuinely believe it was the pure economics lectures that were landing.

With Sora's brainpower, that tracks perfectly.

Book-smart as hell, and a complete idiot about everything else. As her senior, he wanted to lend a hand.

He knew his target well. Pride. Scratch it just right and she'd take the bait every time.

She acts like she doesn't care about clothes, but…

Point it out even once and she'd lose her mind. It wasn't that she couldn't dress well — she just didn't. She had absolute confidence in her figure. Early-stage princess complex, right there.

Just in case, he threw on a little more kindling. A few sockpuppet accounts later, the supportive pile-on started rolling in.

They don't make seniors like this. They really don't.

He was reading the audience's needs for her. Follow the crowd and she'd succeed. Whether this still counted as an economics YouTuber or had already become a girl cam streamer… well, that line might get a little blurry.

The moment the camera went on, subscribers started climbing fast.

Ohh!

Sora was flooded with delight. She'd had a vague hope it might work out — but she genuinely hadn't expected it to go this well.

And for good reason — the content itself was pretty niche.

I never thought this many people would watch.

Economics. Even she had suffered through it as a freshman. Ninety percent of that suffering was thanks to that guy, but the remaining ten percent hadn't been a walk in the park either. Explain it simply all you want — hard was still hard. She'd figured cracking a thousand subscribers would already be more than enough.

She'd blown past a thousand. In less than a week. Hitting the goal sparked a new thought.

Could she actually become a popular YouTuber? At this rate, it might only be a matter of time.

A little pocket money on the side would be fine, but if the subs hit hundreds of thousands…

It would become a real career. That was exciting — and also, she couldn't help feeling a little troubled. Her dream. Once she got busy as a trader, the time to upload videos would vanish on its own.

Ahem! Ahem! Trading is a post-graduation thing, right? I can figure it out then.

She only had one body. She couldn't do both forever. Someday she'd have to choose. And her choice was already made. She'd tearfully say goodbye to her fans.

Of course, that was only if things went well. Floating on a cloud, Sora was scrolling the comments when her eyes snagged on one.

Excuse me? I can't dress?

It was an ID she'd seen since the channel's earliest days. Back then almost nobody left comments, so the name had stuck. "If you just turn on the cam I bet you'd blow up!" — that comment from subscriber KanchoMancho was the whole reason she'd started filming on camera in the first place.

Okay, fine, the clothes I wear are mostly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pretty plain.

She'd never say it out loud, but her proportions were so good that basically anything looked good on her. If anything, she held back on flashy stuff because it drew too much attention.

Click, clack!

But this was YouTube. All kinds of people were on here, and some of them were genuinely drop-dead gorgeous.

If I just wear something decent, I won't lose to anyone, you know?

It was absolutely not that she couldn't dress. Sora dug deep into her wardrobe and pulled out clothes she'd stashed away. Right after graduating high school — pieces she'd bought thinking she might wear them once she got to college — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠came out still folded.

This is a little… isn't the neckline way too low?

She'd bought them on a whim, riding a mood. She'd never actually worn them. But for a stream?

Gulp.

She wasn't filming her face anyway. On YouTube, this level of skin might not even count as showing off.

And there were so many comments…

What she wanted to do was an economics channel. Take hard, complicated ideas and break them down simply. That was the motto. But running a YouTube channel had taught her something: communicating with your subscribers mattered too.

My subscribers want this, so I have no choice. Right? That's fine, isn't it?

An excuse to rationalize it. The hunger to get more popular. Sora pulled out the sluttiest outfit she owned and put it on.