Chapter 12
Chapter 12
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Beta Tester Lottery Live Broadcast
-----------------------------------------------------------------
One day remained until the beta test opened.
"How many people applied to be beta testers?"
"9.78 million so far."
Only 1,000 beta testers would be selected.
And yet, there were already 9.78 million applicants?
Rounding up, that made 10 million.
Ten million.
That meant one out of every five random people on the street had applied for beta tester.
And beta tester applications were restricted to adults only.
They even had to provide personal information and home addresses separately.
Ah, of course, the home addresses were for capsule delivery.
Even so, despite making the application process tedious and complicated, this was the result.
'Does this even make sense?'
For a moment, that doubt flickered through my mind.
'But it must, since this is what's happening.'
The doubt quickly faded.
"Time to close applications."
It was past midnight now.
I closed beta tester applications.
"Final count: 9.89 million."
"Looks like a last-minute rush."
People with circumstances, those who'd been on the fence, or just weren't that interested.
They must have agonized over it and piled in at the end.
The official site even went down momentarily.
📰 Breaking News Fuck, site crashed so I couldn't apply Wasn't gonna do it but suddenly wanted to try, went to official site to apply and it crashed ffs Recommendations 10 | Dislikes 0 💬 Comments [7] — Anonymous Absolutely!!! Never taking beta apps again lololol — Anonymous ↳ Fuck fuck fuck — Anonymous ↳ Lazy turtle bastard lol — Anonymous ↳ Go play all-server bang during logout or whatever — Anonymous A guy like this probably takes an hour to pick lunch — Anonymous ↳ Fr lol — Anonymous ↳ Having a friend like that makes you wanna slap him silly — Anonymous ↳ Low Kick Tolerance Lv.999 As the site crashed, victims began popping up everywhere.
But this was entirely their own fault, not mine.
'Who told you to apply at the last second?'
The crash happened because all these people with the same idea rushed in at the end.
Hmm, yeah. So this wasn't my fault.
"Now we just need to run the lottery."
For some reason, my heart was pounding like crazy.
Even though there was no real reason for it.
It was shaking more than when I'd first stepped out for a campaign speech in that other world.
More than when I'd rallied the allied forces as a hero.
Compared to any moment, this felt far more nerve-wracking.
All that was left was to hit the lottery button.
"Master."
I paused my hand over the lottery button.
"Is there a problem?"
Aka-chan seemed to ponder my question for a moment before responding in a solemn stance.
"We'll broadcast Master running the lottery live on the official channel."
What?
"Live?"
"Yes."
Aka-chan gazed at me with unwavering eyes.
Her confident gaze told me this wasn't just playful teasing.
"Uh... Is there really a reason to do that?"
What benefit was there in doing the lottery live?
There didn't seem to be any reason or need.
"Well... Master is pretty."
"Huh?"
Complimenting my looks out of nowhere?
Of course, it was an undeniable fact, hard to refute.
"Analysis since arriving on Earth shows that a game's success heavily depends on the director's presence."
"R-Really...?"
There had been a famous director even before I fell into that other world.
Unlike game companies that treated players like pigs, that director actively communicated with users and turned a failing game into a hit.
Even after ten years rolling around in that world, I'd never forgotten stories about that director.
"A beautiful girl director. A rare character with no precedent worldwide, nor any in the future. Not utilizing such a character would be mockery, insult, and deception to this industry."
"I-Is that so?"
Was Aka-chan's eloquence always this refined?
This wasn't the Aka-chan I knew.
My small, precious Aka-chan had changed.
'Of all things...'
Her cool dere maid girl appearance only amplified her persuasiveness.
With such a serious expression, tone, and atmosphere—how could it not be convincing?
"B-But Aka-chan? Akare is already on a roll with its hype..."
"No. Even with the 'world's first VR' title, this level of success means our capabilities are lacking."
Aka-chan's heavy fact bomb hit out of nowhere.
Her firm tone doubled the mental damage.
My head spun for a moment.
'But she's completely right.'
The 'beautiful girl director' character, unprecedented and super appealing.
The director's 'abilities' being crucial to a game's hype.
Not breaking ten million despite the cheat-like 'first VR' title.
'All facts.'
So what should I do?
As I agonized, I felt breath on my ear.
"Live."
Aka-chan's whisper rode the breath into my ear.
It echoed endlessly.
"Please do it."
The seductive pull on my mind felt like a devil's whisper.
Afraid my head would go weird if I kept this up, I reflexively opened my mouth.
"F-Fine, I'll do it!"
"..."
A sly grin crept across Aka-chan's lips, as if she'd been waiting for that exact answer.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [Indie Minor Game Gallery]
Today was a very special day on Indie Game Gal.
It was the day Akare revealed its beta testers.
📰 Breaking News Breaking) Beta tester lottery to be done live (Grandma cat meme) This time only... nah, it's real (Announcement image about live lottery) Director doing it herself? Doing lottery today, announcing testers, sending capsules before beta opens tomorrow Recommendations 603 | Dislikes 0 💬 Comments [500] — Anonymous Almost killed myself seeing first meme — Anonymous ↳ PTSD kicking in — Anonymous ↳ Hands shaking pew pew pew — Anonymous ↳ 222222 — Anonymous Ten million applicants, can they handle it? — Anonymous ↳ Handle what? — Anonymous ↳ The suicides of the rejects — Anonymous ↳ Ah lol Akare's game company was shrouded in complete mystery.
Not figuratively—there was genuinely little known.
How they developed VR, why the first VR thing was a game.
Akare Game Co. was a lump of questions.
In that context, the 'director'—practically the head of Akare—doing a live broadcast?
It was a setup that naturally drew all eyes.
Among those who saw the live announcement, Daehyeop Kim's fans waited for his stream to start.
But.
[Daehyeop Kim Notice - Off today (gonna watch live alone)]
Daehyeop Kim smacked his waiting fans upside the head.
Furious, his fans flooded his channel.
Even without a stream, they could chat.
Thus, many fans swarmed Daehyeop Kim's chat, turning it into hell in seconds.
They planned to spam until he went live.
But even after spamming awhile, no stream came.
Exhausted, they returned to base and posted.
— Anonymous Daehyeop you fucker watching gal turn on stream [6] — Anonymous Supreme Daehyeop's all-time ant shake-off [10] — Anonymous Akare director doing live lottery herself? How to endure [5] — Anonymous Crazy bastards pretending they didn't watch before... [12] — Anonymous Usual WWE but inflows mistaking for UFC lol [20] With Daehyeop Kim—who monopolized massive Akare shares—declaring off-stream.
"Akare beta tester lottery live? I applied for that, wanna check it out? I might win."
"You're watching Akare live? Hmm... well. What? Daesik too? Then we watch together!"
"Honestly curious. The key figure from the first VR game company? Wonder what she's like. Aren't you guys curious? Am I the only one?"
Major corporations, struggling lately due to the wandering black hole that was Daehyeop Kim.
Started sucking up lost Akare floaters by mentioning it left and right.
And their flailing spread across indie-related communities.
[Streaming Gallery]
— Anonymous What's Akare that everyone's freaking out [138] — Anonymous VR thing wasn't a scam? [54] — Anonymous Wandering black hole off-stream lololol [120] — Anonymous Honestly wanna play more than watch [77] — Anonymous Domestic RPG stocks keep tanking lol [80] 📰 Breaking News Wandering black hole off-stream lololol (Daehyeop Kim off-stream notice meme) (Major corp 1 talking Akare meme) (Major corp 2 talking Akare meme) (Major corp 3 talking Akare meme) Major corps these crazy fuckers acted uninterested in Akare But black hole off-stream and they immediately try sucking floaters These guys are one of the nation's portal site banners, sigh Recommendations 300 | Dislikes 25 💬 Comments [120] — Anonymous Major corps faces super bright lololol — Anonymous ↳ Grinning at thought of sucking Akare floaters — Anonymous ↳ No pride at all fr — Anonymous ↳ Major corps have no dignity, period — Anonymous And they all applied, kill point — Anonymous ↳ But not applying would be weirder — Anonymous ↳ Pls if Korean support domestic RPGs — Anonymous ↳ Akare is domestic RPG? 📰 Breaking News Domestic RPG stocks keep tanking lol (Graph scraping bottom meme) Excluding unlisted S Corp All domestic RPG servicing game companies' stocks crashing Places that treated users like pigs all normalizing lololol Recommendations 190 | Dislikes 50 💬 Comments [80] — Anonymous Pls stop trolling mingal and gtfo — Anonymous ↳ Troll to gtfo is you? — Anonymous ↳ Moo! Moo! Rice! Rice! Rice! — Anonymous ↳ Rice prices down, touchy — Anonymous Akare has that much influence? — Anonymous ↳ Greatest in game history, GOAT confirmed — Anonymous ↳ Hype level almost bro-tier — Anonymous ↳ Siuuuuuuu While various major corporations laid groundwork.
[Sweet's stream started. - Talk 1 sec ago]
The streamer with the highest followers went live.
— Anonymous Obvious support king on [3] — Anonymous That guy back after 3 days off on [1] — Anonymous Mosquitoing floaters, that's why on now [2] — Anonymous Greatest in streamer history, GOAT on [3] Posts relaying it to mingal popped up fast.
"Ah, ahh. Can you hear me? Ah, yes. Nice to see you. Been a while, everyone."
💬 Chat — Viewer Good trip? — Viewer Looking brighter than before? — Viewer Saw you with two girls Witt — Viewer Gasp — Viewer What you mean "What do you mean saw me with two girls. Sorry, but I went with stinky dudes."
Just chatting with viewers pushed his count over 20,000.
The quintessential flagship streamer of the platform.
— ㅇㅇ's 10,000 won donation -Does Witt care about Akare? 整理ing his earphone cord, Sweet turned at the faint donation sound.
"Akare? Who isn't interested?"
💬 Chat — Viewer Gasp — Viewer What — Viewer Who's getting sniped (fr don't know) — Viewer Not snipe, full auto spray — Viewer Hmm... who? Sweet surely meant no harm.
But for multi-stream viewers, too many streamers came to mind.
"Guys, real warning: Mentioning other streamers or dissing gets instant ban. No mercy."
💬 Chat — Viewer Yup — Viewer Scary — Viewer So you applied for beta? "Applied for beta tester during the trip. Right before boarding the plane, even."
Sweet shared travel tales while dual-monitoring into Mutube.
He navigated to Akare's official channel he'd subbed to and found the live reservation video.
"Whoa, guys check this."
Sweet screen-shared what he saw on dual monitors for viewers.
"Live reservation but already 300k waiting. What is this?"
💬 Chat — Viewer 300k? — Viewer 1M+ when live starts probably — Viewer Akare client solid af — Viewer Hope Sweet wins Sweet sipped pre-placed coffee and murmured lowly.
"Ten million beta applicants. Picking 1,000. What's the odds?"
Verbally expressing zero chance of winning.
But couldn't deny a sliver of 'what if' hope.
"No good games to play lately. That's why I went on the trip."
When stream games dried up and mannerism set in.
Streamers took breaks for recharge.
But even after recharging, no games.
In that situation, Sweet inwardly prayed desperately.
To be selected as a beta tester for Akashic Records.
"Oh. Countdown starting."
[00:59] [00:58]...
What was Akare's director—the one who realized VR first—like?
"5 seconds. 4. 3. 2..."
Sweet counted down with excited voice.
[00:00]
Finally, the countdown hit zero.