Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: New Home, And...
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The landlord.
The neighbors next door.
And the ones next to them.
Not to mention the upstairs and downstairs folks too.
The moment had come to apologize to all my neighbors.
Well, truth be told, since I'd never see any of them again for the rest of my life—and I was moving out tomorrow anyway—I did wonder if I really needed to bother.
But when I thought back on the two months of hell I'd put them through, any such notions flew right out the window.
Some crazy streamer next door pounding away and screaming her head off day in and day out, causing noise pollution?
If it were me, I'd have grabbed a baseball bat and stormed over there ages ago.
Noise pollution is such a massive stressor.
...Hold on a sec.
Pounding and screaming.
Uh.
Hmm.
No way anyone's jumping to weird, ridiculous misunderstandings, right?
Nah, no one's thinking that. Probably.
They say it's better to get the first hit in, so I called the landlord first.
And laid it all out honestly.
A huge crack had appeared in the floor.
I couldn't exactly say I'd smashed my head into it, so I claimed I'd dropped something heavy.
The landlord was furious, of course.
But when I promised to pay triple the repair costs no matter what, their tone softened right up...
[Alright then, Miss Jia in 302. You're not hurt anywhere, are you?]
"Nope."
Money doesn't guarantee happiness.
But having money sure seems to boost your odds.
Financial therapy in action.
The landlord and floor repair thing got brushed under the rug, sort of.
The real issue was figuring out how to apologize to the neighbors.
Should I just prepare some cash and hand it over?
Giving straight cash feels too crass.
...Yeah, let's go with gift certificates and beef—safe bets everyone likes.
So I headed to the mart and bought a ton of premium beef gift sets.
Then grabbed gift certificates at the convenience store.
The clerk's face was familiar.
The guy I'd seen every day.
Suddenly.
I bowed my head to him and said,
"Thanks for everything."
We weren't even that close—just a few words here and there—so I had no idea why that popped out of my mouth.
The clerk looked flustered for a moment at my words.
Then he stammered,
"A-Are you moving out?"
"Yeah, looks like it."
"Oh, uh..."
He seemed like he had something to say, his mouth working silently.
I waited quietly for him to speak.
Finally, he steeled himself and opened his mouth.
"I-I'll keep watching your streams! Thank you!"
I wasn't too surprised.
I'd half-expected it.
He'd always been weirdly nice to me, after all.
How often does a convenience store clerk chat up a customer first?
Just like that PC bang kid, he must be a die-hard devotee.
And even knowing who I was, he never spread rumors online.
Devotees watching my streams.
Maybe he's got a warmer heart than he lets on, like those puppies.
As fan service,
I tossed him one last line before leaving the store.
"May Reflecting Myriad Stars' glory be with you."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Of course I knew all my neighbors by sight.
Trash pickup was on a schedule, so we always ran into each other then.
So showing up at their doors wouldn't spark any "Who the hell is this crazy pink-haired chick?" disasters.
I mapped out my apology route: start with the upstairs folks who'd complained the least, then work my way down.
Saved the downstairs construction uncle for dead last.
The upstairs neighbor was out.
I left a handwritten note I'd prepared, along with gift certificates and the beef packed in an icebox, right at their door.
Same for the next-door neighbors.
The college kid next door... probably home, but I didn't want to interrupt studying.
Left his at the door too...
Last up: downstairs construction uncle.
Ugh...
Should I knock or just bail?
This guy's gotta harbor some serious grudge against me.
No point in face-to-face; nothing good comes from that.
Decision made.
Drop the gift and ghost.
Right as I thought that.
Clunk.
The door swung open.
And I came face-to-face with the stubble-bearded construction uncle.
"Ah."
"Ah."
From his outfit, he was probably heading down to the first floor for a smoke.
A bit thrown, but I greeted him first anyway.
"...Hello?"
"302. What do you want."
Sharp as expected.
Guilty conscience kicking in, I bowed deep.
"I'm so sorry!"
"..."
"I've been so noisy... I'm really, really sorry! I'm moving out tomorrow, so no more disturbances from me."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Gulp."
I waited for him to speak.
Wonder what'd come out of construction uncle's mouth.
Anything short of curses would be a win.
Finally,
"Haa..."
He let out a bone-deep sigh.
"Deflates the fire right outta me. Was gonna come up and chew you out soon, but didn't expect you'd show up to apologize."
"S-Sorry..."
"Forget it. At least the young one's got a conscience. Looks about my daughter's age—mine's got no manners at all."
"..."
"Look, gotta ask 'cause I'm dying to know: what's with all the thumping? Doesn't sound like footsteps."
"Oh, that..."
"Not trying to grill you while you're apologizing—just pure curiosity."
Never saw that question coming.
No excuse prepped.
Total curveball, so I blurted the first thing.
"I... was praying."
"Praying...? What religion prays like that?"
I considered lying for a second.
But lying and then paying for blasphemy right here? Mortifying.
"The Church of Reflecting Myriad Stars."
Honesty it was.
Uncle looked baffled at first.
Then nodded like it all clicked.
"Cult fanatic, huh. Explains the racket."
No.
I mean.
Fanatic's a stretch...
...Nah.
Yeah, fanatic fits.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The apologies definitely landed.
Must've reminded him of his daughter or something—downstairs uncle dropped the grudge and launched into a tirade about how cults doom three generations.
How do you even explain this?
Couldn't say skipping the cult forcibly dooms you instead.
I mumbled through it and headed home.
Next day.
Moving day.
No packing service—we didn't need one.
Awakener Association handled the move.
No clue why they'd bother with grunt work like this.
But they offered, so who was I to refuse?
My most precious possession: the computer, hands down.
Everything else? Meh. But if the PC breaks, game over.
The move wrapped up ridiculously easy.
Schlepped the computer.
Pulled outerwear and undies from the closet.
Done.
No real furniture to haul.
So little stuff, the Association crew looked baffled.
Anyway.
New home.
The Association-subsidized house was way too big.
Too much for one person.
This spacious? Cleaning'll be a nightmare...
Gonna take forever to adjust.
Didn't need the space.
But the broadcast studio? Essential.
Setting up the PC in the studio was simple.
Kim Junghwan had prepped most of it; I just plugged in cables.
Motion capture streaming setup complete.
Ah, words matter.
Not motion capture—Myotion capture.
V-World has tons of tracking-based features.
Couldn't use them properly in the old place.
Too cramped.
Sure, Ayase's trash show used tracking, but...
It was sit-down content—no big movements needed.
Forced into VTubing, I gotta keep showing fresh sides to viewers.
Reflecting Myriad Stars expects it too.
Archivist's Duty updates monthly.
No clue what wild obligation drops next month.
More streams can't hurt.
Bonus: cash flow.
Studio or not, not jumping straight to tracking content.
Needed the studio regardless—for noise-free head-smashing.
Floor breaks? Call Kim Junghwan to fix it.
Kim Junghwan.
You're on it.
Even with light luggage, unpacking and memorizing the layout ate time—clocked past noon.
Skipped streaming today.
Reran last night for 12+ hours just in case—duty fulfilled.
No need to stream.
But I fired it up anyway.
...Feels empty without it now, somehow.
Wish Reflecting Myriad Stars notices my hustle.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I woke around noon and spotted missed calls from Kim Junghwan.
Slept through 'em—probably checking if I liked the new place.
...Why three calls at dawn, though?
Not an Anomalous Phenomenon request.
Month's not over.
Today's the last day.
Debating calling him back when—
Perfect timing: Yoo Euisul rang.
I picked up without thinking.
"Hello?"
[Why're you up so late?!]
"Moved and streamed late last night. Anyway, thanks, Euisul. Found out about Awakener housing thanks to you..."
[Shut it. Don't care. Got something to say.]
"..."
Way too disinterested in people.
No need to cut me off like that.
Then Yoo Euisul—uncharacteristically—stumbled over her words.
[I don't ask favors lightly, okay? But... haa. First time with this; no clue how to phrase it.]
"What's up?"
[Straight to it.]
Her next words.
Twisted my face in real time.
[Help with an Anomalous Phenomenon. Need your abilities.]
Ughhh.
Month ain't over.
Still touring the house.
[Coming to get you. Got the address from Kim Junghwan.]
Don't come.
[Too late—I'm here. No time to wash up. Get out. Now.]
Argh, damn it.
This is human rights abuse!