The Ultimate Taboos
Watching the chat window was starting to make me feel dizzy.
“E-Everyone, wait a second!!! Stop! Freeze! Hold on! Stop!”
I had no choice but to suppress them. What in the world was this? Where did all these backseat-gaming demons crawl out from?!
“First of all, no backseat gaming! And absolutely no spoilers! You will get banned! My channel is usually pretty chill, but if you get banned here, it’s a Starlight-wide IP ban! So watch out!”
Phew. They finally calmed down. Everyone was running wild like they were possessed by backseat-gaming demons, which was honestly a bit terrifying.
From the Nightmare. This is no ordinary game.
I knew it had a hardcore fanbase, but the intensity was already on another level. If I made even a tiny mistake, I felt like I’d get absolutely roasted. Is this really okay? I felt like I’d brought home a game even more brutal than Legend of Luna.
Would a puzzle game have been better?
I pondered it for a moment. Would it be better to just grind puzzle games and farm casual viewers? Or was it better to endure the backseating and spoilers to maintain my core audience?
The latter is definitely better.
The former would be easier for me. But if I only took the easy path, I’d never grow.
“Alright, let’s get back to our brief Just Chatting segment! First up is about subscriptions, which a lot of you have been curious about!”
Before diving into the game, I went through a few answers to questions that had been posted on Starlight’s official website.
First, subscriptions. By paying a monthly fee, viewers could block ads and enjoy a seamless viewing experience for just five thousand won a month. Plus, they’d get access to subscriber-only emotes. For dedicated viewers, subscribing was practically a must.
The catch was that to unlock the subscription feature, I had to become an official partner streamer.
“I’ve already hit the follower requirement, which is the basic condition! But I haven’t met the stream hours and average viewer count yet, so I can’t apply for partnership just yet. I’ll probably meet all the requirements within this month, so please hang tight!”
I had a strong feeling I’d get partnered within a month. My growth was explosive, and the only real hurdle left was just putting in the stream hours.
“Also, everyone, I have an announcement regarding clips and fan-edits, or ‘kirinuki.’ This was probably posted on our official website notice board too, but let me briefly go over it here on stream!”
Clippers and fan-editors. They shared a symbiotic relationship with VTubers.
Since they help promote us on YouTube.
A clipper or fan-editor refers to someone who takes funny moments from my stream, edits them, and uploads them to YouTube. These videos are called clips or kirinuki. Most new viewers actually discover VTubers through these fan-edits. They watch a highly edited, hilarious clip, build a sense of familiarity, and gradually fall down the rabbit hole. It was one of the primary funnels for new traffic.
Today’s announcement was about the monetization of these clip channels. I wanted to let them know that as long as they followed the guidelines, monetization wouldn’t be an issue.
“For detailed guidelines and criteria regarding monetization, please check the notice on the official Starlight website!”
Now that I’d delivered all the official announcements, should I share some behind-the-scenes stories?
First, I mentioned that I met up with Miho and Nina yesterday to work, and that they ended up sleeping over at my place. The chat absolutely lost its mind. VTuber fans—or ‘virtaku’—absolutely live for interactions and shipping between genmates or fellow VTubers. The chat went wild.
“Who is my true wife? Hmm. I don’t know. I like them both. Hehehe.”
“Of course, you Bangsaengis are number one! Miho and Nina come after you guys. True wife debate settled!”
“Wait, why are you guys crying again? Aren’t you Bangsaengis a bit too easy? You all fall head over heels the moment Riyu flirts even a little bit.”
Hehe. Easy targets. Just a tiny bit of affection, and the chat window gets completely flooded with heart emotes. I didn’t intend to turn them into such hardcore parasocial fans—or ‘yuksu’—just yet, but it felt like the process was accelerating way faster than expected. They were falling for my charms far too easily.
“Huh? Whoa! ByulbitRiu-nim! Oh my gosh, a cool 100,000 won donation! Thank you so much for my daily bread! Yay! Yum-yum gulp!”
Mentioning their username and saying “Thank you for my daily bread! Yum-yum gulp!” was my reaction for a 100,000 won donation. “Thank you, thank you so much!” was for 10,000 won. For 1,000 won, a simple “Thank you!” was enough. It was a perfectly balanced set of reactions.
But what if a million won dropped?
I’d have no choice but to do a flip.
A million won carried a completely different weight. For some, that was a whole month’s part-time salary. If a million won dropped, I’d have to do a cartwheel or a backflip on stream.
“Thank you, anonymous Bangsaengi! Actually, none of us—myself, Miho, and Nina—really like alcohol. And besides, Miho is only nine years old, so she can’t drink anyway.”
Since Miho’s roleplay was a nine-year-old fox. Unlike me, a thousand-year-old serpent, or Nina, a three-hundred-year-old phoenix, Miho was at an age where drinking was strictly off-limits.
“And for your information, none of the three of us smoke! I’ve also personally verified that neither Nina nor Miho has any tattoos. No piercings, either.”
Tattoos, smoking, and piercings—the ultimate three turn-offs, collectively known as Mundampi.
If a VTuber smoked? She was probably a former high school delinquent. If a VTuber had tattoos? A dirty slut. If a VTuber had piercings? She probably did ‘study abroad’ trips for shady reasons.
In the minds of these hardcore fans, VTubers were supposed to be pure, innocent, and pristine women. The moment Mundampi entered the picture, their fantasy was utterly ruined. It was like walking into a restaurant with terrible hygiene—even if you hadn’t spotted a cockroach (a boyfriend) yet, the vibe was already completely ruined.
Besides, if someone wanted to watch a girl with tattoos, smoking, and piercings, they’d just go watch a camgirl dancing half-naked on a regular streaming platform. Why would they watch a VTuber?
VTubing was an industry that sold dreams. A dream, an unattainable utopia. Something that didn’t exist in reality, but which people desperately wanted to believe was real. In other words, they were the exact entities that ‘unicorns’ craved. That was what a VTuber was. They were the crystallization of that fantasy.
But what if their beloved VTuber had tattoos, smoked, and had piercings? What if she loved to drink and frequently went out to social gatherings? What if she had tons of male acquaintances and was practically swimming in guy friends?
That would be the day the unicorns’ horns snapped in half.
Being popular and socially active—an ‘insider’—was a problem in itself. No matter what their actual lives were like, VTubers had to project the image of an introverted, shut-in ‘outsider’ who struggled with interpersonal relationships. There was no way these fans, sitting in front of their monitors, could handle the cognitive dissonance of comparing their own lonely selves to a socially successful, popular VTuber.
And above all, these fans desperately wanted any possibility of a boyfriend—or even the slightest event that could lead to one—to be completely non-existent.
“Hehe.”
In that sense, it was best to nip any suspicion in the bud. Besides, Seowoo, Jihae Eonni, and I were all miles away from Mundampi anyway, and none of us liked alcohol. So I just stated it proudly.
“Of course I personally verified it. It’s a view you guys will never get to see.”
“Hehehe. Shall we get into the game now? We’ll browse the website after we’re done playing. Thank you so much to everyone who drew fanart for me!”
That should be enough for the Just Chatting segment. Now, let’s play From the Nightmare.
“Alright, launching the game. It supports both first-person and third-person perspectives, so you can watch in whichever mode you prefer. If you have personal VR gear, you can link it to sync your senses, so keep that in mind!”
Since it was a virtual reality game, viewers with VR gear could experience the exact sensory inputs I felt. In other words, they could watch in 4D.
“Now, let’s do the intro. Hello, YouTube! I’m Riyu! Today, we’re going to play From the Nightmare!”
After delivering my prepared intro, I transitioned straight to the character selection screen. My consciousness shifted to a pitch-black space, and a full-length mirror and a wardrobe materialized in front of me.
Character selection meant choosing the class that would serve as my foundation throughout From the Nightmare, which would heavily influence my early-game progression.
“Let’s see... there’s Wandering Knight, Vagabond Mage, Excommunicated Priest, and Wandering Swordsman. Which one should I pick? I’ll allow backseat gaming for exactly five minutes starting now!”
With backseat gaming officially permitted, the chat exploded. Since I couldn’t read the messages fast enough, donations started flying in.
“Thank you for the donations! Everyone is recommending the Knight. Alright, I’ll play as the Knight.”
I had heard beforehand that the Knight was the best choice, so I was glad everyone agreed.
Alright, let’s dive in.
The stage shifted once more, and my body was transported to an ancient, desolate graveyard.
“Ooh.”
A chilling mist clung to the ground. The scent of the dead drifted into my nose. I could feel the heavy, cold weight of the armor pressing against my body.
“The atmosphere is incredibly eerie.”
From the Nightmare.
It was finally starting.