The Vlog Planned Before Dawn

"I've always wanted to try making a vlog. But like I said before, I don't know the first thing about it."

When Dayeon got up and I floated the vlog idea, her reaction was more or less the same as last time. I'd brought it up once before, and she'd waved it off — she'd only ever uploaded gaming videos, so something like this felt out of her depth.

Back then I'd let it drop, since my Planning Stat hadn't been high enough to actually put a concept together. This time, though, I'd already worked most of it out, so I walked her through the idea piece by piece.

"If we shoot it like this and I edit it tomorrow, I think it'll land pretty well. What do you think?"

"Wait. You came up with all of that overnight?"

"Dohyun, Dohyun — your planning skills are no joke."

Eunchae had been listening in, and when she piled on the praise too, I couldn't help feeling pretty proud of myself.

"I mean, of course~ That's why he signed on to plan Jiyoon-unnie's videos in the first place! Seriously, is there anything this guy can't do?"

"Mmm, well. I'm just working at it."

That "working at it" was less about studying planning or editing and more about grinding stats, but this was way more efficient, so what was I supposed to do?

"Anyway, let's go with that today! But you're not doing a live? Other streamers are always doing outdoor lives and stuff!"

Dayeon had mentioned she liked watching other streamers do outdoor broadcasts, so it wasn't strange that she'd have a bit of a romantic idea about it. Most gaming streamers were stuck at home for every single stream, after all.

"Since Eunchae and I tagged along, I think we should just upload an edited video this time. We'll see how it does, then plan a proper outdoor live separately for next time."

Editor or not, if I showed up on camera, people might start talking for no reason other than that a guy had appeared in her video.

"Eunchae's one thing, but if I'm going to be in your videos, we should probably put out an editor introduction first and then go from there."

Honestly, if I had a choice, I'd rather not appear on stream at all...

But if I had to, there was a proper order to these things.

"Yeah, that makes sense. Okay, let's do it that way this time! Since you planned this whole video from scratch, I'll throw in a really fat bonus."

It hadn't been a scheduled video to begin with, so of course she'd say that. She'd already promised me a generous bonus on top of everything else, so I couldn't help looking forward to this month's paycheck.

"Alright! Let's do this!"

Check-out time was coming up anyway. We wrapped things up — we'd head out, grab food, enjoy the rest of the morning, and get some footage while we were at it — then packed up and left.

Not that there was much to pack. We hadn't originally planned to stay overnight.

She'd narrowly avoided being late, then burned through a packed schedule from morning to night, and now Jiyoon was on her evening commute home when a KakaoTalk from Dayeon lit up her phone. A small smile tugged at her mouth as she read it. Several photos had come through with the message — they looked like they'd had a genuinely good time — and the mention of a vlog was more than enough to catch her interest.

It wasn't that she didn't believe it. But Dohyun had never actually planned a video for Dayeon's channel himself, so this would be her first real look at what he could do as a planner.

Dayeon had sounded stunned in her messages, but she'd at least seen his work ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up close. That was the only reason she wasn't completely losing her mind.

"He's actually just... a monster, isn't he?"

Jiyoon had never properly watched Dohyun edit, so the shock hit her that much harder.

"Great stamina, great in bed, great at his actual job. He's the complete package."

She was alone in the car on her way home, so the words slipped out without a second thought. Then the second thought arrived.

"Ugh, listen to me. 'Great in bed'... ahem..."

Even she had to admit that saying it out loud was a little mortifying.

Anyway. Tomorrow's going to be fun.

She already knew tomorrow would be just as busy as today. Even so, as Jiyoon headed home wishing the next day would come faster, her steps felt lighter than they had in a long time.

"Dohyun! Did you see the views?!"

A day later, I was at work drafting Jiyoon's video proposal when a clattering rush of footsteps came down the hall and Dayeon burst into my room. Normally she knocked first and slipped in quietly, so the difference was enough to make me turn around in surprise.

"Views on what?"

"The vlog views! They're insane!"

"Oh~ So it did well?"

I'd edited it half-exhausted after we got back, and it was the first time Dayeon had ever uploaded anything like this, so I'd been at least a little worried. Judging by her face, I hadn't needed to be.

Any video I edited or planned already picked up Aggro Correction and Algorithm Correction the moment it went up. Stack those on top of Dayeon's subscriber count, and failing was honestly the harder outcome.

Oh, nice. They leveled up?

The level-up notices dropped in right in the middle of talking with Dayeon.

The more edited videos I put out, the more the skills get used, and the faster they'll keep climbing, right?

Higher levels would mean more experience needed for the next one, of course. But a climbing level was just another way of saying we were putting out more videos, so I didn't see much point in worrying about it.

"Anyway, the response is way better than I expected. Everyone's losing their minds asking for vlogs on a regular schedule."

The number one comment, by a wide margin, was that Dayeon's outfit had been ridiculously pretty. Getting to watch her dressed up and actually out having fun was a big part of why it landed so well. The one thing viewers seemed genuinely sad about was that there hadn't been a live stream — they hadn't gotten to see any of it in real time.

"Next time we are definitely doing a live with it!"

"Sounds good. Let's put a plan together before too long."

"Mm. And about the planning side of things — I think we need to adjust the split so you take a bigger cut. Let's renew the contract soon."

I could practically hear my salary going up.

"This time we threw the plan together last-minute, so I'll let it slide — but I can't keep using talent like yours without paying properly, now can I~?"

"Haha. If you're going to treat me that well, I guess I'll have to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠work even harder."

We looked at each other and smiled, both of us in a genuinely good mood.

Even back at the Convenience Store, the manager had taken decent care of me, and the work itself had never been that hard. But this was the first time I'd ever felt anything like this — this kind of accomplishment.

Yeah. Doing something I actually want to do feels good.

The planning side of things hadn't even been on my radar, but I was starting to think I had a real knack for it. It was fun, in its own way.

Once I get Jiyoon off the ground, it might be interesting to try raising a dedicated vlog YouTuber from scratch.

I wanted experience in as many directions as I could get. Even if Dayeon started doing vlogs, she was a gaming streamer at her core, and Jiyoon was going to build her channel around ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠art streams.

"What's this? Oh — Jiyoon-unnie's proposal!"

"Yeah. This week's edited videos are almost wrapped, so I figured it was time to start on the planning document."

"You're seriously so busy. At this rate we won't even have time to go on a date."

We'd never actually been on a date, but Dayeon's lower lip pushed out just a little at the thought of there being no time for one at all. It wasn't that she resented how well I was doing — of course she didn't. If someone had this much talent, she thought it ought to bloom as fully as it could. But if that bloom meant less time with her, the small sting of it was hard to help.

"I'll try to work even faster."

"Hweh? Faster than this? At that point even a monster would cry and walk away..."

The speed I was already working at was astonishing enough to watch. And now he wanted to go faster than that.

If anyone else had said it, she would have smiled on the outside and quietly wondered if they were pushing themselves too hard. With Dohyun, that thought never even formed.

This guy... it's scary, because I actually think he'll do it.