Debut Aftermath

As soon as the song started, all doubts about me vanished like a lie. The only things filling the chat were "Kyahs" and countless lightstick emoticons.

We did it. It's a success. Do you have any idea how nervous I actually was about this debut stream? No one will ever know. I was so anxious I had to buy and down a herbal sedative beforehand.

As expected, music saves the world. I saved the world with my song. Not just anyone's world, but my world.

"Well then, everyone! I'll be back tomorrow at eight! Thank you so much for watching Starlight's debut stream! Please look forward to my future streams!"

A one-hour debut stream. As the end drew near, the viewers expressed their sadness at saying goodbye.

"Stop spamming the crying emoticons, everyone! It can't be helped. Riu will be back tomorrow. Leaving you wanting more is how I keep you coming back! You all have to show up tomorrow, okay? Tomorrow, I'm going to sing Japanese, Korean, and Western songs—the whole menu! You have to come see Riu!"

Right before hitting the end stream button, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I begged the viewers to come back tomorrow. Please, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you have to. If you guys don't show up, I'm ruined.

"Phew."

With that, the debut stream I'd spent three agonizing months waiting for was finally over. Now, all that was left was to take off the gear.

"Up we go."

As I stood up from the bed, my entire body was drenched in sweat. So sticky. Even if it's a virtual world, the brain still processes it as reality, which triggers a physical response in the real body. If you sweat in the virtual world, your physical body sweats just the same.

On top of that, the avatar provided by our agency was crafted by a Japanese master artisan.

Didn't they say the avatar alone cost tens of thousands of dollars? It wasn't some run-of-the-mill model. It was leagues apart from the cheap, open-source avatars anyone could buy for two or three thousand dollars.

It was on an entirely different dimension compared to the free avatars ordinary people downloaded to play VR games! Its pedigree was completely different!

An avatar with everything from sweat glands to detailed pain receptors and tactile sensations fully implemented. Avatars that let you experience the five senses as vividly as your real body were incredibly expensive. And for good reason.

The number of people capable of sculpting an avatar to that degree was extremely limited. These obsessive, detail-oriented artisans were always backlogged with work; even if you managed to secure a slot, it could take over a year to complete.

There's a famous story about someone playing a horror game, wetting themselves in virtual reality, and waking up to find their real pants soaked. VR muscle aches weren't a myth either. Stimuli in virtual reality are transmitted directly to our brains, and the higher the quality of the avatar, the more precise those reactions become, causing our physical bodies to react in tandem.

In a world where virtual affairs have even emerged as a societal issue... the gap between virtual avatars and our real-world selves has practically vanished.

Furthermore, a higher synchronization rate between the avatar and the physical body results in more natural movements and seamless facial expressions. For VTubers like us, a high-end avatar is an absolute necessity.

The gear connecting me to such a premium avatar is just as crucial.

The gear leased to us by the agency... its price is on a completely different level compared to commercial models. The President said he invested a total of 400 million won ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into Starlight this time. 500 million won for the Japanese expansion, and 400 million won for this launch.

This 400 million won was spent on crafting our avatars, building our streaming rooms, and various other expenses. Of course, that also included establishing the company, renting an office, and paying employee salaries, but regardless, we had to prove we were worth the investment. In the end, it all came down to money.

If the company doesn't make money, it will go bankrupt, and if the company goes under, we'll be forced to graduate on the spot.

A VTuber idol group built on a mountain of cash. A gamble with no guarantee of success.

Dankaeng had placed his bets using us as his cards, and I had to fight tooth and nail to succeed and avoid a meaningless, premature graduation.

"Oh? It's the President."

Just as anxiety about the future began to creep up on me again, a Discord notification popped up. The other members were already in the voice channel.

"I'm here!"

"Ah, Minseo's here too. Everyone did an amazing job today. You truly proved to be the stars I scouted. Not a single trace of nervousness for a debut stream. I'm so proud of you."

The President immediately showered us with praise. His voice was warm and gentle.

"Starting tomorrow, you can post your schedules and stream whenever you'd like."

"Do we not have to do relay streams like other groups?" Jihae Eonni asked.

In this context, relay streams referred to the practice of starting a stream just as another member was finishing, passing viewers from one to the other. It was a great way to maintain a high viewer count and ensure fans got to see all the members equally.

"I thought about doing relays at first, but I don't think it'll be necessary. Looking at today's response, I think all three of you can easily pull an average of two thousand concurrent viewers."

"Really?!" Seowoo asked, her voice brimming with excitement. I was thrilled too. An average of two thousand viewers? Of course, it could end up lower.

But if two thousand people actually came to watch me like the President predicted, I'd be ecstatic. The VTuber Emperor of my original world was like that. Even breaking into three digits was considered a massive achievement.

Of course, I had no intention of getting obsessed with numbers and rushing things. Ultimately, viewers flock to whatever is entertaining. I just needed to faithfully satisfy their craving for dopamine. I give them affection and dopamine; they give me support and donations. It's a mutually beneficial relationship.

"Let's all do our best. You worked incredibly hard today. This Thursday, all three of you take the day off. We're having a company dinner. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Sounds great!"

"Alright, make sure to upload your VODs. Goodnight! Great job today!"

The President left the Discord channel. He probably wanted to give us some space to chat among ourselves. The President rarely intervened unless there was a major issue. He wasn't micromanaging at all. He preferred to let us handle things on our own, which made things very comfortable.

"Minseo, Jihae Eonni, you guys were absolutely amazing today!"

"Hehe. Seowoo, you were incredible too. Weren't you laying on the charm a bit too thick for a first stream? I already saw a few people with their brains completely broken."

"R-really? Did I overdo it?" Seowoo flinched at my words.

"I'm just kidding, kidding. I watched your stream, and you were super cute and spoke really well."

"Hehe, thank goodness. Oh! Jihae Eonni, what are you streaming tomorrow? Just Chatting?"

"Hmm. Since we just debuted today, I was thinking of deciding on a fan name with the viewers tomorrow and sharing some behind-the-scenes stories from before our debut. I'll probably do about five hours of Just Chatting, pick our next cover song together, and promote the Starlight website a bit."

"Ooh, you have it all planned out! What about Minseo? Minseo, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Me? I'm... hmm."

I was planning to do a karaoke stream. Since I only got to sing about three songs today, I wanted to bring out the instrumental tracks I'd prepared in advance.

I've practiced singing so much over the past three months. Surely they'll love it, right?

Starlight is a VTuber agency established with the goal of nurturing VTuber idols. Because of this, we have a contract with a label called V-Max for our music production. V-Max is a record label specializing in VTubers that collaborates with many agencies. They even have a dedicated staff member assigned to Starlight, who has been a massive help to us.

The person who helps us record our cover songs and original tracks. I had asked them for a bunch of instrumental tracks beforehand.

"Seowoo, what about you?"

"I'm going to decide on a fan name tomorrow and then jump straight into gaming!"

"Gaming? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠What game?"

"It's a secret! Hehehe."

It seemed Seowoo was planning to stream a game right away. I was a bit envious that she was quadrilingual, meaning she could play untranslated games and translate them on the fly.

A game, huh... What should I do? During my trainee days, I had tried out various virtual reality games, ranging from RPGs to shooters and horror games.

I wish I had a main game too. A "main game"—something to play casually while chatting with viewers when there was nothing else to stream or when content ran dry.

Both Seowoo and Jihae Eonni had games they regularly played, which they planned to make their main games. In contrast, having only been in this world for three months, I didn't have a game I could call my main, which was a bit of a concern.

There's League of Finals, and Valurance too. Many streamers chose competitive team games as their main titles. There were several reasons for this: first, niche games often turned viewers away, so it was better to play something reasonably popular that everyone enjoyed. Plus, team-based games were perfect for collabs.

"By the way, Seowoo, Jihae Eonni, you know we have a collab the day after tomorrow, right?"

"Ah, right. We agreed to play a game together."

"Yep. It's a horror game, so make sure you're mentally prepared. Seowoo... don't go wetting yourself like last time."

"Ah! Hey! Forget about that already!"

"Never."

Yes. The one who had actually wet themselves while playing a horror game was indeed Seowoo. She had been absolutely terrified.

"Anyway, great work today, everyone."

"Yeah~ Goodnight!"

"Keep it up, girls."

The Discord call with the members ended. Now I could finally wash up and rest. Ah, I still had to upload the VOD. But before that... Should I check the community's reaction? I just couldn't resist ego-searching.

It was a sea of praise.

"Ha. This is it."

My self-esteem was soaring. Reading the praise written by my future simps made me feel absolutely ecstatic! Is this how Miyu felt? The sense of satisfaction is truly immense. To think being recognized by people could be this thrilling.

I feel like I'm going to ascend just from reading these praise posts. It makes Miyu, who went and got a boyfriend, look like an absolute idiot...

"Haa. I'm so happy."

I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm so happy!!!

I didn't expect so many people to go wild over my singing to this extent. No, actually, I did. Even to my own ears, my singing is pretty insane.

"But I can't let it get to my head. Singing isn't everything."

Singing was my strongest weapon, but I couldn't solve everything with just one trick.

I don't want to be treated like a background radio stream because I'm a one-trick singer.

No matter how well I sang, I couldn't just sing all day long. Fundamentally, a streamer has to be entertaining. Even if loyal simps watch out of pure devotion, if the stream is boring, there won't be any new viewers, and the community will eventually stagnate.

"Ah, I should post a tweet."

As soon as I posted the tweet on the bird app, notifications flooded in with likes, retweets, and replies. My follower count shot up too. Thank goodness. Before my debut, I'd get maybe twenty replies, but today there were over a hundred.

"Time to leave some likes!"

After liking the comments and replying to a few, I'd upload the VOD once the encoding finished and then head to bed. Excellent. Incredibly productive!

Tomorrow is karaoke, the day after is the horror game collab, Thursday is a day off. What should I do for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday?

A delightful dilemma. Streaming is so much fun. Of course, I've only done it once so far.

I think it's going to be fun. I hope it stays fun. Forever.

Since I've finally become the VTuber I always dreamed of being, all that's left is to give it my all. Let's make this a fun ride!