An Unranked Dares to Give Advice?

The stream went on.

Except I couldn't even see the chat!!

It was flying by too fast!!

Before I could finish reading a single line, another wall of messages stacked right over it. With the viewer count climbing, the chat refused to cool down even a little. Back then I'd wanted this kind of energy so badly—but now that I couldn't control it, all I felt was panic.

"Everyone, chill! Jinyeoooong!"

Donation alerts kept ringing without end. My inbox was already buried under tips I hadn't even opened yet.

I'd always assumed more donations would just mean more joy.

And sure, I was happy.

Happy, but…

There were so many it was terrifying…!

A memory from my past life surfaced—nights spent combing through case files until dawn. How was I supposed to get through all of this?

In that short stretch of time, the volume had already blown past anything I could handle.

"E-everyone!! I'm cutting donations for now, please calm down."

"I'll only take this much for now and open it again later. I'm not refusing forever, okay?"

Once I forced the donations shut, the chat finally started to slow. With a moment to think, the unease I'd shoved into a corner of my mind floated back up.

Benzopyrene, bolting out of the voice chat in a panic. That last voice had sounded less furious than shaken and ashamed. A public execution in front of nearly ten thousand people. Sure, he'd walked himself onto the gallows—but had I driven him too hard into a corner?

It hit me all over again how much reach I had now. If I ever put my mind to it, I could turn someone into a joke in an instant. I needed to be more careful with my words and actions.

Thinking about it, he'd been the first star of this content—practically a founding contributor… I didn't know if I'd ever run into him again, but maybe next time I could give him a little pat on the head.

That said, I didn't think my judgment had been wrong.

A lawyer's mission is to defend fundamental human rights and realize social justice. Article 1, Clause 1 of the Attorney-at-Law Act. Back then I'd recited it every morning the way other people put on clean underwear.

Of course, what I was doing now was neither legal counsel nor a formal defense. Even so, there was one principle I wanted to keep: never flip right and wrong for money.

I used the brief ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lull in chat to check my inbox.

"Hieeeeeek!"

And just because donations were closed didn't mean the mail had stopped.

Ugh… my head…

I slumped back against the chair. Half of it looked like jokes, but even if I filtered against the donations and assumed five minutes per clip for the real ones…

Something about this was wrong. I needed a plan, fast.

"You've all sent so many tips that this is going to take a while. I'll go through the emails carefully after the stream."

"I'll pick out cases worth watching on stream and bring them for the next content. Let me lay out the standards first…"

I tried to count the points off on my fingers—except the model didn't have full arm tracking, so both hands just flopped weakly from side to side. Better to open Notepad and type it out while I explained.

"First: clips that are so short you can't even tell what happened."

"Second: submissions where the explanation is so vague and full of terms I don't know that I can't make sense of it."

Oh for fuck's—every single thing I say…

"Come on, would I really do that? I'm going to look at everything with subjectivity set aside. Honestly, some of you who sent stuff already know exactly what I mean."

"Haa… fine, I'll drink the water. I was thirsty anyway. You people are relentless."

Water was a serious matter. Talking this much made thirst inevitable, and even just staying hydrated did a lot for your health. I'd always made sure to drink in my past life too.

After getting a urinary stone once, you learn. And now that I was stuck in a woman's body, the thought of what that kind of pain might feel like was scary enough that I'd stocked several small plastic bottles within arm's reach.

Glug. Glug! Gluuug!

Was it that weird? I had to drink fast, so it had just become a habit.

"Alright, continuing."

"Cases where personal information is left fully exposed—though for nicknames I'll ask permission ahead of time, so those should be fine. And a request: do not go dogpile them and start flaming. If that happens, I'm dropping the content."

"And last… cases that are just 'this pissed me off, please flame them for me.'"

"Yes. That is exactly why not. Those are hard to handle on stream. Please understand."

"Why would I fight for people…"

For cases too thin or awkward to put on air, I planned to just send my opinion by email. If I tried to handle every single case on stream, the quality would tank—and there'd be a real risk of creating another Benzopyrene.

"For anything too short or too vague, I'll send my take by mail instead of putting it on stream."

"It's not fre—"

I started to say it, then shut my mouth. Viewers donating of their own free will was one thing. That was their freedom of expression. But the second I started demanding a fixed fee, this would balloon into something else entirely.

I wasn't a lawyer right now, okay? This was a stream. Entertainment. I needed a clean exit hatch ready for when a case got serious.

"I'll only give opinions on game-related stories. I'll do that whether you donated or not, so just stick to the conditions I said earlier when you send them."

"And I'll say it again—there's already a huge backlog, so it might take some time."

"My guy, what did you hear. I said game stories only."

Anyway… I probably needed to lock in a proper name for this content. I kept bouncing between "trial," "feedback," "verdict," all of it vague. People would get confused later, and as a content brand it felt short on personality. It needed something that hit you right away—like "Cha Jinyeong's ○○○."

"Guys, I'm trying to name the content where we watch clips together. What should I call it?"

"All dismissed."

Ugh. My fault for asking.

I did have one name already in mind, though. Watch the tip clip from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠start to finish and find the fault. A surveillance camera that records everything without missing a frame. And the initial C from Cha Jinyeong.

"How about CCTV?"

"CCTV for Cha Jinyeong."

"Read the initials and it becomes ChaChaTV."

The chat that had been flying nonstop froze for a split ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠second—then the question marks started raining down like hooks.

"Why, why!! It's cute!"

"Keep painting me as old and I'm banning you."

Truthfully, I wasn't that scratched. Cha Harin—this body's age being twenty-one—helped, and part of the reaction I'd shown had been intentional.

Yes, yes! This was exactly it. This was the flow I wanted. Thanks to it, my real identity got pinned in an even more ridiculous direction.

I'd seen this scene before—there were always people who tried to dig out who was inside a VTuber. I couldn't respond to every one of them, so I dripped misleading clues and designed the confusion myself. Go ahead. Search all you want.

"…I haven't even gotten married. Mom is a little much."

Oh for fuck's… leading the testimony like that… okay, careful.

Well. As long as I kept casually dumping red herrings like this, it was fine. Mom… was a bit rough, but the exchange rate on the misdirection was a huge win. Endure it…

"Fine, then you all come up with something actually decent."

"Oh for—seriously!"

"They're all worse than mine!"

For a while after that, more bizarre names kept pouring in. Honestly, a few of them in the middle had some real sense. Still, a lot of them felt like they were just riding existing shows, which carried risk… and most of the examples had words you could never put on a public promo.

"There's no solid alternative, so when we say it out loud it's Cha Jinyeong's ChaChaTV, and when we write it it's CCTV. Final decision."

In the end, the content name decision was pushed through exactly the way I wanted. After locking that down, I skimmed donations and tips once more and fell into casual chat with the viewers.

Then the problem I'd been putting off started bubbling back up in the chat.

"Haa… are you that curious?"

"Just die, then."

But… there was nowhere left to run. I'd said with my own mouth that I'd reveal it later. Getting this defensive over a mere tier would only look weird.

Fine… better to just show it with my head high. Being unranked wasn't a crime. I hadn't lied or scammed anyone. You watched because you wanted to, right? So live with it.

"Alright."

I double-clicked LOK and launched it. The moment the login screen hit the stream, the chat sped up.

"I don't take friend requests."

Screen covered, login complete…!

The main menu appeared. The nickname showed in the upper right.

I moved the cursor straight to the rank info ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tab. Hoo… just show it fast and get it over with.

"Revealing now."

I clicked the tab, and the information rose onto the screen.

"There. Shown."

I said it as casually as I could. I had nothing to be ashamed of. Maximum confidence.

"Uh…"

I quickly executed the guy trying to yell for sex in the chaos.

And the reason I stopped myself mid-explanation was…

The chat was fighting each other and building some kind of narrative for me?

I'd planned to show it fast and bolt…

But the situation had gotten interesting.

They seemed busy debating, so maybe I'd just watch a little longer?