Who the Hell Are All These? "...What?"
I stared blankly at the item that had tumbled out of the plastic bag after getting back from the convenience store.
I knew exactly what it was, even if I couldn't pinpoint the material. It was a double-layered, translucent thing—commonly called a clear file.
I'd never really used one in everyday life, but in otaku circles, it had that vibe of an "easy merch" item. I'd seen and heard about them so often. I hadn't commissioned these myself, so I couldn't know the full story, but no matter how I looked at it, they didn't seem like they'd cost much to produce. Faint memories from school days told me they went for a few hundred won each back then... Even without bulk ordering, they couldn't be pricey. And to pass them off as merch, you just slapped some artwork or colors on—recycle an illustration, done. Super convenient. For fans, they were cheap for merch, lightweight, slim, and easy to store. You'd probably need a few hundred to make a single book. Anyway... why the hell was a clear file in my bag?
...No, I knew the reason. It was what the shopkeeper auntie at my usual convenience store had said to me. At the time, I'd been spacing out, so I didn't catch it clearly—just figured she was asking if I wanted my lunch heated up and mumbled a reply. But looking back now, that wasn't it at all.
"─Sorry, miss, but did you come in to buy the Zain 3sei collab goods?"
Yeah. She'd asked if I'd come for this damn thing. I'd answered like an idiot, and that's why it ended up in my bag. Pathetic.
I slowly reached in and pulled it out. On the file was... well, in simple terms, a bishounen so handsome it'd make girls swoon.
At a glance, it looked like some anime collab, but my gut screamed this wasn't an anime character—it was a VTuber. Someone's avatar illustration.
I don't know why, but it just felt that way. Roughly analyzing it, these eye-catching avatar arts are meant to draw in viewers, packing diverse personalities into a compressed, hyper-dense format... or something like that. I wasn't even sure what nonsense I was spouting, but yeah.
It was drawn like an illustration—obviously. Anyway, this pretty boy had slightly tousled black hair. Horns on either side evoking a mountain goat. Pupils glowing yellow, inhuman. Sharp fangs peeking from his lips. Just from that, he screamed arrogant prince type—smug and punchable.
Below the neck: broad shoulders, ripped pecs. For some reason, his chest was fully exposed. He had some weird jacket-or-cape-thing draped over, but the exposure was wild. Total nip party.
Anyway, the illustration showed this guy smirking obnoxiously, striking a haughty pose, staring right at me.
Probably... that voice booming through the store while I was picking lunch. Had to be this dude. Looked like they were running a collab.
In one corner of the clear file, I spotted what seemed to be his agency's logo and name. A beaming, Earth-ish blob wrapped in a rainbow. NIJISEKAI.
'...First I've ever heard of it...?'
What was with this cheap, knockoff-vibe name? Sure, riffing on industry seniors or shouting them out was common, but wasn't this a bit much? Not that I had any say if they didn't mind.
Whatever. More importantly...
'Who the hell is this bastard?'
I had zero clue who this guy was. Zain 3sei? In the VTuber world full of weird names, "-sei" wasn't even that odd. Zain, huh. Common enough name—I could think of a few game characters off the top of my head.
But no idea which agency or what he did. Sure, I'd watched streams for ages, but I couldn't know every VTuber out there. Not a god—I couldn't track every newbie popping up right this second.
Still, anyone with real scale? I'd know them. Streams aren't solo forever; you collab naturally. Could be business friendships, past-life ties from pre-debut streaming, or real-life pals.
Either way, connections spread: friend of a friend. Some six-degrees theory said everyone on Earth is linked that way through acquaintances. Didn't matter if it was theoretical or BS—the point was, big networkers meant you'd cross paths eventually.
I didn't actively watch male VTubers, but they collabed too, so info seeped in. Collab streams, community posts, their chats, agency SNS...
Who was this guy? What'd he do? Who was he friends with? Bits and pieces built up naturally.
Plus, Japanese konbinis collab with otaku bait, sure—common knowledge from Korea too. But they don't take just anyone. Gotta have the clout, right? Cold truth.
Logically, Nijisekai was mid-to-big league, and Zain 3sei a top dog there. Yet...
'A major player I've never heard of...?'
For plain YouTubers? Sure, millions of subs in unrelated niches fly under my radar. But VTubers? Niche enough that even breakout stars blow up in communities or among peers.
Me never hearing of Zain 3sei? Kinda impossible. But...
'...Let's check.'
Maybe I'd recognize the voice. Or dig around. Half a year out of the loop was itching anyway. Once I started streams, I'd binge YouTube and net-surf endlessly—feared that trap. Planned to peek after my channel stabilized. That was half a year back.
I opened a browser on my leisurely booted PC, typed the familiar address into the bar: y..o..u..
These tiny hands made typing hell—my old 200-300 WPM Korean typing felt like a dream now. Laboriously entered the address. Enter.
"Hiiik!"
A sudden flesh-tone explosion startled a dumb squeak out of me. Random Western ladies' nudes. Slammed the tab shut, glanced around the empty room like someone might catch me.
...What? Misspelled into a porn site? Looked exactly like one—total panic.
Slowly reopened the browser. Super careful this time. Typed sloooowly─ fuck, same shit.
Back button to base tab, checked address history. Looked just like the YouTube URL I remembered. What the hell? Hacker gang hijacked the domain to porn?
Switched keyboard to Korean, searched "YouTube problem." Expected news flood—instead, just "Check your connection" crap.
What the actual fuck? No clue, so deleted and searched "YouTube." Top result: official homepage lookalike. Clicked, eyed the address below.
utube.. What the fuck.
When did it change? Half a year offline, and I missed the world flipping?
I dazed at the page, snapped out, switched input, searched Zain 3sei.
Just "Zain" popped related searches: Zain 3sei reactions, clips, songs, chest whatever...
Channel: 1.37 million subs. And I'd never heard? Scrolled—big collab clip, looked like mafia game. Clicked: killing, backstabbing, laughing, yelling... standard stream.
Four guys, six girls. Subtle illustrations with subs on every line—definite all VTubers. Clip channel, 850k views.
Told you their popularity outright. But...
"Who the hell... are all these people?"
All of them. Total strangers to me.