Choosing the Perfect Fan Name

Deciding on a fan nickname! The debut stream, which had a prepared script, was actually the easy part. I have no idea what to say!

My current viewer count was either the same as yesterday or slightly higher. Even though Seowoo and Jihae Eonni had started their own streams, my numbers hadn't dropped. I figured some people had probably tuned in after hearing the rumors. Looking at the stats, Seowoo and Jihae Eonni were hovering between two and three thousand viewers each, which meant a massive crowd had gathered in my room. Right, the hype bubble hadn't burst yet. If I could turn even half of these people into my fans today, it would be a massive success.

I have to lock them in right now. After checking the community forums yesterday, it was clear everyone was completely obsessed with my singing. They had all come here to hear me sing. Don't be nervous. Singing is my specialty. Choi Minseo's vocal cords were superior to anyone else's. After observing and researching thousands of VTubers over the past three months, it was clear that no one in this country could beat me in a singing battle. Even the President had said so—that purely in terms of vocals, I was the absolute best. Don't be scared. Five thousand viewers? There was no need to fear. My goal didn't end here.

My goal is forty thousand concurrent viewers. To become the VTuber Emperor of this country, I had to hit at least that much. The viewer pool in this world was different from my previous one. Ten thousand wasn't the benchmark for the VTuber Emperor here; forty thousand was. So, if I got cold feet over a measly five thousand, I'd never achieve anything. I pushed my fear aside to take a step forward. Let's start with a bright greeting. I needed to reach out to the people waiting for me first.

"Hello, everyone! Nice to meet you! I'm Riu!"

As soon as I greeted them, the chat window started scrolling at lightning speed. With nearly five thousand viewers typing at once, the messages flew by too fast to read. I picked out one eye-catching message from the hundreds of lines.

"Yes! As I teased yesterday, we're doing karaoke today. I've prepared about thirty songs!"

When I announced thirty songs, the reactions were incredibly diverse: some worried, some were shocked, and others were already hyped up with excitement. With so many people, the responses were truly a colorful, chaotic mix.

"Since I only sang three songs yesterday, today will be ten times that! I've already warmed up my throat, so I plan to sing way more than yesterday! But we won't jump straight into karaoke. First, let's do a bit of Just Chatting and decide on our fan nickname together! I can't just keep calling you guys 'everyone' forever."

Let's make it together. Let's find it together. Help! Give me some legal back-seat gaming. These three phrases were the magic spells that allowed a VTuber to endlessly rake in pocket-change donations. If I put a slight spin on it and pretended not to see the chat, frustrated viewers would start donating to get my attention. For reference, whales—the big spenders—usually drop a hundred thousand won at a time when they see a stream they deem 'worthy.' Once these whales settle into a channel, they start donating out of pure affection. By the time you get a whale like that, you have to start managing them as your 'Chairman.' Of course, meeting them privately, contacting them on Discord, or blatantly showing favoritism during a stream was incredibly tacky. If you messed up, it could lead to a massive yeomsang and give the Chairman too much of an ego, which was strictly forbidden!

A Chairman with an ego can become a poison. This was common sense that any VTuber should know. Of course, Chairmen were important. Excluding sponsorships and YouTube revenue, they were practically the fastest way to make cold, hard cash. They were, quite literally, the ones who put food on my table. However, the moment a Chairman developed an ego and tried to pull the strings, the stream would no longer belong to 'me.' It could block new viewers from joining, and the stress could eventually drive me to quit streaming altogether. A Chairman needed to remain a 'Daddy-Long-Legs'—a silent benefactor—until I could build a solid average viewer base and make a living off sponsorships. If they started asserting their ego beyond that role, everyone would suffer.

To keep them as a silent benefactor, giving them just the right amount of attention is key. To achieve this, a channel for communicating with fans outside of streams was necessary. The VTuber idols of Starlight have two such channels. One is the Starlight homepage. Here, fans can write supportive posts, share fan art, or post reviews. It's our company's website, run like a fan cafe. It has a free board and is a place to casually interact with fans in various ways. The other is a social media platform called Bluebird. A platform where you can post and send tweets. It's a place to communicate with 'true fans' where you can even host private radio shows. The fans who follow you there are the real deal. Those who truly make you their oshi will follow you all the way there. And most of the big VTuber whales follow you there to show their support.

In return, I just had to leave hearts and replies on their supportive posts, sending a clear message: I acknowledge your existence, and I'm always grateful for your help.It's a way of letting them know. A silent signal that says, 'I am showing my utmost gratitude here in this small way, so please don't assert your ego too much during the stream.' Of course, even with this kind of management, weirdos were bound to appear. When that happened, you had to know how to cut them off ruthlessly. Once you let them pull your strings, it was over.

Anyway, back to the main topic. It was time to decide on a fan nickname. "Actually, everyone, your physical form has already been prepared. Ta-da!" I pulled out the 'fan character' from the drawer in the liver room. A fan character refers to the symbolic mascot of a fandom. Just like Miho has her 'Mihotachi,' it's a character designed to represent the fans. Usually, cute mascot characters fill this role. In this world, even these fan characters could be implemented as avatars in the virtual space. What was funny, though, was that if you poured enough money into it, the performance of these fan avatars skyrocketed. High-quality avatars could react to my hand gestures, follow me around, or sit down, behaving just like real living creatures.

"Ta-da! From now on, Riu's fans are this turtle!" Our fan character was a turtle. Since my roleplay persona was a serpent, a fellow reptile like a turtle was chosen as the fan character. It was simple, but I thought it was pretty neat. Turtles are cute, after all. Besides, I was in a position where I just had to use whatever I was given, so I couldn't interfere with the design process. This fan character had already been created before I even received my virtual avatar. In other words, the company had prepared everything beforehand.

Anyway, having a visible, physical representation like this will definitely boost their sense of belonging, right? A sense of belonging was incredibly important. It created a connection between the streamer and the viewers, turning them into more than just random onlookers. Of course, if the viewers started forming cliques and gossiping behind the streamer's back, it could lead to various grim issues, but the company had promised to handle that. Jeong-o, the general manager, and the website administrator said they monitored most communities and social media platforms. If any issues cropped up, they would find them and shut them down.

"Everyone, isn't the turtle cute? Isn't it absolutely adorable?"

When I placed the fan character on my hand and brought my face close to it, the chat window began to overflow with "so cute" and "700." So the people of this world used "so cute" and "700" too. Both meant "cute." I'd have to moderate this a bit later. If I just let "so cute" run rampant, there was a chance the chat would be flooded with it no matter what happened. That would leave me with nothing to say. Spamming "so cute" was the epitome of lazy chatting. It was just mindlessly typing without putting any effort into actual communication. It wasn't too bad yet, so I'd manage it later.

"Since it's a turtle, I was thinking of naming it 'Boogee.' What do you guys think?"

Boogee. The moment you heard it, you couldn't help but question the naming sense behind it. It was the absolute worst. How would they react to being called something so bizarre? Boogee. It sounded weirdly outdated and strange.

As expected, they're losing their minds. Hehehe. This is hilarious. The chat was flooded with question marks and doubts about my naming sense. It was all going according to plan. Now, if you don't want to be called Boogees, give me some ideas. I'll gladly accept your suggestions. Especially if you send them with a donation! You might call me materialistic, but a girl's gotta eat. Besides, if I don't make ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠money, the company goes under. If the company goes under, I have to graduate, and Riu is finished. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠So please, donate...

"CoffinGuy!! Thank you so much for the very first donation on Riu's channel! Squirtle is a great idea, but I think it might overlap with the game character!" My first donation was in! Even though it was only a thousand won, the fact that it was my first donation made it feel special. It was definitely worth smiling brightly and reading out their nickname as a courtesy. Once I started receiving tons of donations later on, I'd have to set up different reactions based on the amount. But today was only my second ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠day streaming. Deciding on donation reactions could be another topic for Just Chatting, so maybe I'd save that for later, assuming more donations came in.

"Whoa! GameMaster! Thank you so much for the ten thousand won donation! Bangsaengi. That really rolls off the tongue. Let's go with Bangsaengi." Bangsaengi. It sounded like a name meant for releasing a pet turtle back into the wild. Wasn't it pretty good? It was funny and catchy.

The viewers' reactions were pretty good too. Alright, let's go with Bangsaengi. It seemed like a great name to tease them with when wrapping up the stream.

"Then, from today on, you are all Riu's Bangsaengis! I look forward to working with you, my little Bangsaengis!"

Great. The fan name was decided quickly. Now, shall we sing? Finally, it was time to rake in the cash. I had prepared thirty songs in advance, but there was no rule saying I could only sing those. A VTuber whose ultimate weapon was singing truly shined when taking song requests!

"Our first song today is a Korean song! Until we run out of backing tracks... won't you run with me?!"

I'm going to absolutely blow them away! Not a single person who came here today will be able to escape. I'll make sure every last one of them is completely addicted to my singing. I'll make it so they can't live without Riu.