If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them - 2

On a weekday afternoon, with June already sliding toward its end, Bigman's legend over the past month had turned into an inexplicable myth—something like a “chaebol totem that watched ABCD's streams.” People had given up trying to understand him, and once they stopped trying, they stopped caring.

And then the god who had vanished beyond the clouds suddenly poked his head out somewhere completely wrong.

After that, Bigman went from stream to stream, dropping huge donations on the other members of Romantic Drive whenever they happened to be live. The sums were so absurd they looked like a number from another world, and the people who had been living in a different one altogether were stunned.

“Yes, today too, let’s keep growing nice and steady! Thank you for the dona—! Wha—?! A million? What, what is this?! Big, Big...?! ”

Something similar happened in another room at the same time.

“Thank you for the dona... huh? Oh? Big, ugh... th-thank you for the donation, thank you....”

No matter how you looked at it, the members of Romantic Drive, who had to follow the company's guidelines, could not openly bring up that “other side,” Bigman. So, unlike usual, they were completely thrown off.

“Ah, ahaha! Thank you for the donation.”

“Thank you!”

Even as they spoke, hooks were dangling around in their heads.

Are we even allowed to say this?Should the company file a complaint?But he only made a donation...What exactly are we supposed to do?

There was nothing they could do.

Because the other side had no intention behind it at all.

Everyone was flustered.

The ABCD fandom, drunk on the power of capital, had long since gone numb and could only keep worshipping Bigman. But on other broadcasts, even a million-won donation was a historic event.

And that was exactly what had just happened.

“What the hell?”

“What is this?”

“What the hell is going on?”

“Why is this guy here...?”

The whole thing had the internet buzzing—shock, panic, unease, confusion, and a desperate attempt to read the room all at once.

In the end, Bigman dropped his donation and said nothing until the broadcast ended. He had simply gone from one Romantic Drive member to another, sending one donation each and moving on.

Just a single visit.

And yet it was terrifying.

What ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the hell is this bastard's angle...?

It had only been one donation, but the god's quiet gaze was enough to set ordinary people on fire. The entire community began to boil over like farmers who had just witnessed an eclipse.

Those who thought this was a good omen cheered.

Those who had quietly been balancing fandom activity between Romantic Drive and ABCD also lifted their heads. They were the ones mocked in other communities as the cash-flashing fandom, the so-called “cash spies”—heretics who had handed their hearts to ecosystem-disrupting pests terrorizing the VTuber market.

There were also people who ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠found that mood deeply irritating.

This issue, with no clear goal and no obvious endgame, lit up the entire Romantic Drive community. It kept burning ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠until the guardians who pushed the line of “no Bigman mentions until an official notice is posted” finally stamped it out.

Even so, some people spoke with hope, and some with jealousy.

They held that precious seed of conflict close, praying that a second war would break out once people got off work and went home. It had been a long time since they’d had a topic this fun to argue about.

That was how exhausted the Romantic Drive fandom had become—worn down by its own lethargy.

The capital of the big companies was simply too slow to satisfy their dopamine.

Frankly, if the Bigman incident was more interesting than the actual stream, that alone deserved a like.

The meeting room at Aurora Prism Entertainment was just as tense, to the point that they actually paused the discussion over the collaboration details. Everyone except Choi Ye-seo and the staff was looking up the situation on their phones, and the room that had been buzzing just moments ago had gone completely silent.

“No! Don’t go, Bigman! Take our girls with you—!”

Triggered by the old trauma in his bones, Representative Baek Su-cheol clutched the plaque of appreciation they had made during the 1-billion-won Bigman incident and shouted at the top of his lungs. He did not want to end up abandoned again, left high and dry with no capital behind him.

“Boss, please calm down.”

“Do I look like I’m in any state to calm down right now?!”

“I just got a call from Ye-seo. She said the moment the stream started, the Bigman donation came in right away. The viewers don't seem to care much either.”

“R-really?”

It was, surprisingly, a fairly optimistic atmosphere.

The worship around Bigman ran too deep to make anyone seriously worry about a sudden change of heart.

“Realistically, someone who went so far as to set up a corporation just to help them isn’t going to flip sides that easily. He probably just went over there to take a look.”

“Right... right?”

“Yes. So for now, please calm down and let’s keep going with the meeting.”

“R-right...”

Baek Su-cheol set the plaque down and put on a solemn expression.

“Ahem. Well, a sudden incident did happen for a moment there, but we still have our work to do. Everyone calm down and let’s resume the meeting.”

The one person who had been in full overdrive was now back on track.

Everyone had plenty to say, but they chose not to say it.

Even their looks were hard to hide.

Ignoring the stabbing stares, Baek Su-cheol kept his grave expression in place.

“They said they want to proceed while respecting the ABCD brand as much as possible. They told us to contact them once we’re ready, and that Romantic Drive is, above all else, a guest... In other words, we can safely say they’ve left the steering wheel entirely in our hands.”

Do-dam’s complaint came out with a sour edge.

“Feels like they’re just testing us out. And it looks like they dumped the production costs and content planning on us completely too. Basically, they’re saying they’ll just show up in person, and if we do all the prep, they’ll swing by and politely clap for us. There’s no way we can even line up a script in that short a time.”

Everyone around her fell into a silence that quietly agreed with her frustration.

Kim Ae-ri also spoke up carefully from the side, holding a few pages of a neatly printed manual. It wasn’t very long, but the tiny print was packed so densely it looked exhausting just to glance at.

“Also, the guidelines are super strict. If they lay out every little thing they can’t do among themselves that heavily, then... it’ll leave us fewer topics we can actually talk about, and it’ll be hard to focus on our own fans too.”

Honestly, this collaboration request was a classic trap.

If they had been some tiny, penniless outfit.

They would have been desperate just to get their voices on screen...

Do-dam clicked her tongue.

“The Big Plan content itself is already a riotous, big-name-broadcast-level comedy festival that could slap a major network in the face. So why should we drag in established VTubers, pander to their moods, and tell them, ‘Welcome, please come in’?”

“The second-gen members of Romantic Drive debuted around the same time we did, didn’t they...?”

“Ae-ri unnie, comparing us to them from last year is a little weird, isn’t it?”

“Um...”

Bigman had already given them the budget and told them to push ahead on their own.

But he had never said they had to force it through.

As always, he respected the members’ right to choose.

Wouldn't it be better to refuse, even now?

Under that uncomfortable silence, Aki, who was supposed to be the lead for this Big Plan segment, hesitantly raised her hand. She had been keeping quiet ever since the discussion started, clearly turning something over in her mind.

“Um... President.”

“Ah, right. Aki, sorry about that. You were supposed to be the lead this week, and then they suddenly sent over a one-sided collaboration request.”

“Huh? Hehe, it’s okay.”

Aki smiled brightly.

“I think... maybe it’d be nice if we did it together?”

“?”

“?”

“?”

Baek Su-cheol scratched his chin.

“Hmm. Any particular reason you think that?”

“Just...”

Aki gave a small, easy laugh.

“We’re VTubers too, aren’t we? I don’t think there’s any need to shove away VTubers who came all the way here from somewhere else. Um. Just because the company is different doesn’t mean we need to treat them coldly... It feels more like they’re the ones getting pushed around.”

She spoke slowly, but with unmistakable clarity.

“They’re guests, right? Then I think it would be better to let them sit on the stage we prepared.”

And then she said it very plainly.

“As guests, that is.”

“!”

“We’ll show them what we prepared as the owners of the stage.”

They would invite those people onto the stage.

But those people would not be allowed to take over the stage.

With that firm declaration, the atmosphere in the meeting room changed completely.

Baek Su-cheol smiled.

“Then let’s prepare it the way we originally intended.”

“Yes.”

Aki smiled back.

“I think Bigman would want that too.”

Arc Network’s production headquarters, meanwhile, had fallen into a different sort of disbelief. Team Leader Jeong Yu-ri let out a dry, humorless laugh as she looked at the paperwork from Big Plan that had come back with a reply in barely a day.

This side had spent the entire weekend cranking out a Big Plan Risk Analysis Report at breakneck speed, running around until their feet were sweating through their shoes before they could finally send over a proposal.

And they were saying they had already finished the content budget and even set up their own studio? How exactly do you get a broadcast ready in a single day...?

...

There was no choice but to verify it.

How, exactly, was this thing moving?

How could they possibly produce a speed like this?

Jeong Yu-ri called the dedicated Romantic Drive team.

“Yes, confirmed. Proceed.”