Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Pull It Forward
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Myth's surprise declaration froze the atmosphere in the room.
Of course, I was no exception.
Myth took a moment to feel the chill in the air, then stuck out her tongue with a playful grin.
"It's a joke. The mood just felt too heavy."
"Th-that's... a joke, right?"
The President asked again, but Myth didn't reply—she just flashed a bright smile.
Of course, all while still holding my hand.
It was as if she were flaunting something.
"Whoa, whoa..."
For some reason, Sua was blushing bright red and pinching her nose.
What's going on? Is she not feeling well?
Come to think of it, she had looked pretty tired when she first walked in.
"Hmm..."
The President clearly hadn't expected this kind of stunt from Myth. He pondered for a moment before waving it off.
"Anyway, we can assume QWER-nim is joining the project, right?"
"Yes, that's why I brought him here in the first place."
"Good, that's all we need for now. We'll hash out the details later. Let's get back to business."
The President smoothly steered things back on track.
Sua was still in shock, hand over her mouth and eyes wide, but the real discussion kicked off.
"Our company is launching a project that doesn't exist anywhere in Korea yet."
The President fired up the projector.
A low hum sounded, followed by a click as the screen lit up and the room lights dimmed automatically.
"Does QWER-nim know the biggest difference between Japan's and Korea's VTuber scenes right now?"
"Korea's mostly independents, while Japan's dominated by agencies?"
He nodded.
"Exactly. Ever since 'Ai' burst onto the scene—the ultimate corporate VTuber and arguably the very first one—Japan's been ruled by agency-backed talent."
A list of company names appeared on the screen.
Some I recognized, others were new to me.
"Sure, top independents have popped up lately, but agencies still hold the throne."
And the king among them was right there.
『Dream Live』
I knew the name well.
It was the agency that survived VTubing's rocky infancy in Japan and had now climbed beyond the top of Japan to claim the world throne.
'I could've sworn they started with just three or four people.'
Back in high school, when I was deep into VTubers for reference, theirs were the ones I watched most.
They'd begun with a single generation of three or four talents, but after seven—no, eight years—they were on another level.
Over ten generations in, they'd recruited, debuted, and nurtured countless VTubers into a near-century-strong mega-agency.
'The really scary part? Not a single one under 500k subscribers.'
500k was idol territory for most nutubers, and at Dream Live, it was practically guaranteed.
No exaggeration to call them the undisputed dinosaur of the industry.
'They even collabed with Myth recently.'
Mari, was it? Their duet track was one of my all-time favorites now.
"Myth's sitting at 5 million subscribers and world number one, true—but it's not an untouchable lead."
The President pulled up a new chart.
It was a growth graph comparing Myth to Dream Live's top five.
Myth in first at 5.04 million.
Second place had 4.62 million—not a small gap yet...
'But the growth rates are definitely different.'
Second place's curve was steeper than Myth's.
No telling if it'd hold, but if it did, getting overtaken was just a matter of time.
At this rate? About two years.
"They're catching up soon."
"Our analysis predicts it'll happen by year's end."
Even faster than the graph suggested.
Meaning the company expected the gap to widen over time.
I glanced at Myth.
She looked utterly unconcerned.
When she caught me looking, she mouthed what? and beamed happily.
She seemed thrilled, which was nice, but... wasn't she worried at all?
"There are plenty of reasons for the gap."
The President advanced to the next slide.
"Dream Live's member-driven storylines, custom maps for live events, Japan's domestic ad culture and merch machine, big game collabs—you could list them forever."
"Subculture superpower, after all."
"Precisely."
Japan was the one country—no, the only country—where subculture wielded real power.
"That's why QWER-nim is so impressive."
Sudden compliment out of nowhere.
"Myth's talent and hard work played a part, sure. But Japan's VTubers have that too. 'Myth's' avatar alone crushes every advantage they have."
"No, it's not that big a—"
"It is."
Myth cut me off from the side, nodding along.
Hey, it is my avatar, but still.
"She would've grown without it, yeah, but no way she'd hit 5 million. Probably not even 1 million. Might've just faded away quietly."
That's what Myth said.
I started to protest, but the President nodded in agreement.
"Myth's right."
"It can't be that extreme, can it?"
"Do you know how subscriber bases work for Korean VTubers excluding Myth?"
I shook my head.
"99% domestic—Koreans only. And that pie? Can't even compare to Japan's."
Japan's massive home market, plus the English world's sheer scale behind language barriers—Korea couldn't touch either.
"But 'Myth'? 30% domestic, the rest all foreigners. No Korean VTuber pulls numbers like that normally."
All thanks to the avatar, the President explained.
It felt like he was hyping me up too much and downplaying Myth, so I pushed back right away.
"But Myth built those subs by translating streams into multiple languages and uploading to YouTube, right?"
"No, Seol-a."
Surprisingly, Myth shook her head.
"We started translations and YouTube uploads because the foreign subs came first. The order's backward."
She hadn't fully grasped her content's appeal yet—she'd kicked off those efforts just to hold onto the foreigners drawn purely by the avatar's caliber.
In the end, every bit of that growth traced back to my creation.
"Yes, exactly."
"Ah, no way..."
"QWER-nim still doesn't quite grasp your own influence."
Me? Really that good?
I'd thought I had a pretty objective view of my work, but apparently, I still had a long way to go.
Still reeling, the President drew our attention back.
"That's why we're giving Myth wings this time."
"Wings?"
"Yes—to propel her into the next generation. Or a spear to fend off those scary foreign growth threats."
At the President's gesture, Sua showed me her laptop screen.
Oh. No way.
"A 3D map?"
My eyes lit up.
Even at a glance, it wasn't some basic layout. Effort screamed from every detail of the design.
Far from finished—just blueprints and a skeleton framework—but what it was? Crystal clear.
"A concert venue?"
"Yes. Matching Japan's domestic pull or the English world's untapped potential? Near impossible for us."
Decades of built-up home-market muscle, plus an insurmountable language wall—not our turf to conquer.
So instead, get her on the same stage for a fair fight.
"We're the first Korean company to develop and deploy our own 3D map tools.
And we've scouted the hottest rookie mapmaker in Korea."
"Aw, no need to hype me up like that."
Sua was a bigger deal than I'd realized.
Top rookie at her age? Impressive.
I gave her a newfound look of respect, and she shot back:
"Of course, nowhere near QWER-nim."
"Haha..."
"We're building Myth's first live event around this map."
A real live show: dancing on stage, beamed straight to viewers.
Bringing Japan's signature lives to Korea.
"As you can see, map dev's still early, so earliest rollout looks like end of the year. Live debut around late December."
"Oh, about that, President."
"Hm? What is it, Myth?"
"Let's pull the live schedule forward."
"Yeah, that's the plan. With QWER-nim on board, it'll speed up way past what Sua could do solo."
"No, I mean way forward."
"How far?"
Myth smiled confidently.
"End of January."
"Huh?"
"Like, three weeks from now."
"Whaaaat?!"
The President's scream echoed through the conference room.