I'll Reset

"You're telling me to choose between these?!"

"That's enough chatting for now—time to start what I prepared!"

Somehow I'd managed to get through today's talk segment in one piece. And at last, the long-awaited content block was upon us.

Everyone assumed I'd brought a game. From day one of my re-debut, all I'd done was game nonstop. But you had to eat a balanced diet if you wanted to absorb any nutrients.

"Today is…."

That moment the viewers had been waiting for! I pasted the link I'd saved in Notepad into the address bar.

"It's a J-POP World Cup!"

A drift no one could have seen coming. The VTuber everyone had written off as a pure gaming addict—enjoying refined culture too?!

Most of the reaction was positive. Of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠course it was—this was an Ideal Type World Cup. And not just any world cup: J-POP!

For today, at least, I could become the god of concurrent viewership.

"How about it? Sounds fun, right?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Chat was a free-for-all of opinions. And none of them were wrong.

Yeah, this is going to run long.

Everyone had their own pile of J-POP bangers, so a 64-bracket simply didn't have enough slots. And if one of those cut songs happened to be from a top-tier artist? Chat would explode with people refusing to accept it, saying it was a shame. Then it would all become "the streamer's fault for starting at 64 because she wanted to wrap up fast."

"We're doing a 128-bracket."

The choice had already been made.

Why were they so obsessed with no-sleep clears? Some of these people must have belonged to a species that didn't need sleep.

"But it's way too long, so I'll split it over two days. There's a save function anyway."

"I'm not skipping any songs all the way to the finals. Gotta be considerate of viewers hopping in midstream."

That was the beauty of an Ideal Type World Cup. Even viewers who joined halfway through could still enjoy themselves. With a story-driven game, for instance, late arrivals after day one couldn't keep up and the viewer count would crater—but a world cup held almost perfectly flat. Every match was a 1v1 climb all the way to the finals. Sure, it could sting to miss the eliminated tracks, but it never stopped anyone from following along.

"Alright, setting it to 128…."

I clicked the 128-bracket option with the mouse, then shoved my chair back with a scrape and stood up.

"Gonna grab some water before we start."

I scooped up my tumbler and stepped out of the soundproof booth, then made a beeline for the water dispenser. While I was up and moving, I also walked through the plan step by step.

The winner's going to be one of them anyway.

Kenshi. Vaundy. Hige-dan. Mrs. GREEN APPLE. Yuuri. King Gnu. Fujii Kaze.

Plenty of other artists had dropped absolute bangers, but ideally the number-one spot would come from this list. These were the representative names Korean netizens actually loved. And since the majority of a girl VTuber's audience was male, they also tended to prefer male-vocal tracks they could sing along to themselves.

SPYAIR and tuki. are in there too, but…

Songs like "Samurai Heart" and "Bansanka" had rightfully claimed top-tier rankings—except if either of those artists took the crown, the reaction would sour. They carried the reputation of one-hit wonders, single-song kings. That wasn't actually true, but to viewers who'd only skimmed a couple famous tracks, it might as well have been.

Then wasn't SPYAIR more recognizable than Fujii Kaze?!

…On the streaming scene they practically worshipped Kaze as their bishop, so there was nothing I could do. Previous streamers who'd run J-POP world cups had rated him so highly that on Pazijik, at least, he stood toe-to-toe with Kenshi and Vaundy. And the man could sing.

"I have to think about all this too… I'm exhausted."

The content itself was supposed to be about picking the song that sounded best to me. But if I actually did that, I'd be an amateur. A commercial clown—a professional broadcaster—had to put the viewers first.

Squeak—

After roughly sorting my head, I settled back into the soundproof booth.

Everyone was waiting with their necks stretched out. Having the streamer hold the reins and control the pace was part of the fun too—like a little bit of training them, in a way.

I was still adjusting my chair when a fanfare suddenly exploded. A jackpot mission had landed! Just do exactly what I'd already planned and pocket a free hundred thousand won?!

I was grateful, honestly. Offering up that kind of money so easily.

"I'm sorry, but this mission is a bit…."

There was no way it was possible. Roughly five minutes per video already meant 635 minutes. Factor in reactions and the occasional sing-along and you were practically doubling it. Doing that without sleep wasn't a challenge—it was torture. Torture!

I was about to hit decline when a big-handed donation burst through. The nickname looked familiar—was this the same person from last time? Checking the mission details again, the time limit was a generous seventy-two hours.

"Th-thank you for the ten thousand!"

It was basically the same as receiving a hundred and ten thousand, so I gave a deep bow to the facial camera on my phone.

They said starting was half the battle. Once the mission was up, small amounts kept piling onto it. This—this was the circulation of the economy!

"Alright then, starting right now!"

Drag it out any longer and I'd look like a money-grubber. Without hesitation, I hit the start button.

"Huk."

And the screen that appeared was….

Kenshi Yonezu — Lemon / Official Hige Dandism — Pretender

The finals had opened already.

No—how was this possible? Two songs out of a hundred and twenty-eight! And somehow these two were paired up?!

"Uwaaa…."

My mind went pure white, and for a second I even forgot to hit play. I loved both tracks, which only made the panic worse!

"I-I'll listen first!"

I pulled myself together and queued up Lemon.

♩~ ♬♪~

A song that opened with no accompaniment at all. Kenshi's tone alone was already cheating. It landed as a low register that locked the center of the track—except it wasn't even that low? He poured his own color into every note while still bending his voice wherever he wanted; no wonder people called him a national treasure of a singer.

"Mm-hmm~"

I didn't sing along while the video played. Just the occasional little hum. A song world cup was content you shared with the viewers, so not interrupting their listening was important.

♩~ ♬♪~

Clap clap!

That said, sitting completely still would feel flat, so at the climax I threw in a couple of short claps. Even that much was enough to show how deep the streamer was locked in right now.

♩~ ♬♪~

Four minutes and thirteen seconds later, Kenshi left the broadcast heavy with afterglow.

Kenshi never betrayed his listeners! His songs were good no matter when you put them on. There was something in them that reached into your chest.

"Woooaaah…, that was incredible!"

Still, I was a pro, so I gathered my feelings and unleashed a reaction mixed with my real heart.

"The song is so so so so good!!"

I burst into another round of applause as I gushed over it, and chat flooded upward. They'd gone past living vicariously—they'd become one with Kenshi. A streamer's over-the-top fuss was basically them hyping themselves up.

After confirming the satisfied reactions, I moved on with my job.

"Especially this part! That bit that goes 'Lemon no nioi~'—that feeling like she's letting out a little surge of resentment!"

When I zeroed in on the highlight and sang along, more praise rolled through chat. I'd cracked on the high note I had to hit right away, but just as expected, they called even that cute.

And of course a request to actually perform the song came in.

"Thank you for the five thousand! There are way too many tracks right now, so I'll try singing later! Probably tomorrow?"

Chat was all positivity. Buoyed by that, I stretched out my review of Lemon a little longer, then moved the mouse cursor to the right.

"Then…."

Hige-dan's Pretender.

According to what I'd checked at karaoke that morning, it sat at number one on the Japanese song popularity charts! Calling it the J-POP track most familiar to Koreans wouldn't even be an overstatement.

I glanced at the reactions. Looked back at the world cup screen.

"……."

God. Buddha. Allah!

What exactly am I supposed to do here!!

…Ah, screw it.

I shouted it before I even pressed play.

Click.

The homepage flashed as I slammed F5. And the matchup that appeared anew—

Rather than drop one of these two in the round of 128, I was going to cheat!

"I'm resetting."