Why Is This Working? (2)
400 viewers. Not an impossible number. We'd only just started and already hit 120, so word of mouth could draw more people. It wasn't like four digits or anything—ambiguous, sure.
But still, this ain't right.
The secretary was just intently watching the chat, not responding. The chat window was a total shitshow, too chaotic to pick replies from one by one, and since I'd told her to stick to the pre-approved questions anyway, she was loyally following orders.
Me? I was busy sorting through crap like this:
-Hey, is this the named rep from the No. 2 voting gallery?
-Politics is a crime lololol.
-Ugh, non-virgin stench. Ugh, non-virgin stench.
No way I had time to prep answers for every single one when stuff like that made up nearly 50% of the chat. Sane questions like "Aren't you gonna keep going?" popped up occasionally, but most viewers would understand. Anyone would think it at least once:
'Can you really run a stream in this situation?'
Thankfully, after swinging the banhammer for about ten minutes and dropping around 100 trolls, the chat cleaned up.
-Whoa... that's enough to raise a few kids, huh?
-Normalizing is newbieham.
-Feels good seeing the VTuber haters get axed. Upvotes if you agree.
-I rotated accounts and smashed 200 upvotes myself. Not botting. This is the will of the people.
Some conflict-baiting, divisive crap, and random worship comments popped up here and there, but it was passable.
I texted her some good questions and told her to pull up the PPT file.
"Ah, um. Okay."
She cleared her throat after checking the message.
"The stream's calming down now. Sorry about that. It's my first time with this many viewers."
Visibly nervous with her hands trembling, but she handled it professionally enough. The special training was paying off.
We scrapped the original tsundere plan. Her flustered reactions were already showing—what could we do about it?
Like pork dumplings at a Chinese restaurant: nice to have, but no big deal if they're not there.
"I'm 227 years old. A fox yokai."
She found her rhythm, introducing herself with the PPT. The concept was mine: 'Only a man truly understands a man's heart.'
Not much opposition, surprisingly. She left all the subculture stuff to me anyway, having realized long ago that meddling never helped. Bluntly put, she looked kinda fed up with my philosophical ramblings.
-Kya~~~~~~~~
-This is nooooot
-Grab those moving ears and just. Ha.
-Furry again?
-Can't we detach those shitty ears?
Opinions split right down the middle. Hmm, more backlash than expected?
Normies, I guess.
I had no otaku pride or anything, but the mass-appeal result was fox ears. Horned Japanese yokai or halos from recent trendy games were familiar thanks to that, but it was polarizing material.
Detachable ears? Treat them like beastkin and the experts would slap you down immediately. It was pure accessory vibes.
-But fox yokai? Shouldn't it be Korean-style? Ignoring our pride and joy, the gumiho noona that's the pro gamer's trademark in that AOS game?
-You again? GOAT.
-Sudden worship what?
-Dammit, I saw a worship post. Gotta worship now.
Domestic 10-time champ, international 7-time winner. God. We worship you...
-These dudes worship in VTuber streams too?
-She suck your life force?
-Fun fact: Gumiho aren't purely Korean yokai; they're from East Asian folklore.
-Whaaat... so she'll suck mine too?
-Kya~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rational point. Why leave the perfectly fine gumiho concept for a Japanese character?
No real reason. Yeonji just felt right sound-wise. Might not be unique, but going full Japanese would make backlash easier to handle later. Easier to pivot to Susanoo or demon horns if needed.
Mainly 'cause I'm a total Japan stan.
"I don't think I can do VTuber."
About three hours after the stream ended, she sighed from the dining chair.
"I admit it. Let's quit."
"...You're not gonna stop me?"
"Why would I? I saw the whole thing."
"Didn't you have plans already?"
"Yeah, but what can you do? Lesson learned: it's not easy."
The secretary's face hardened.
Why's that?
One stream made the theory-vs-practice gap crystal clear. No viewers? Disappointing. Too many? Doesn't flow right. Fixed those naive assumptions.
No wonder the big streamers are pros.
I'd thought entertainment was priority one—people chase dopamine, after all. Half-right assessment now.
Most important skill realized: hosting prowess.
Thinking I could sub in? Foolish. In a real-time interaction stream, cherry-picking like a showcase Q&A? Can't do that forever, and it'd stray from the original purpose anyway.
Even if she had genius talent to lead solo, could she handle it with tens of thousands watching intently? Cold truth: question mark.
She had the charm to hook viewers, but not the leader personality to steer them.
Generously, team leader at best.
Rash judgment after one try? Maybe. But that's how it looked. Even if she overcomes it later, betting everything on one tightrope is iffy.
"Suhyun-ssi."
"Yeah, Ji-yeon-ssi."
"What about a team?"
"Like a company?"
"Yeah. We kept bringing it up in meetings, right? Offer that 2 billion won support gig and people will line up."
"Who's managing them?"
"Hire people for that."
Her casually tossed-out words carried undeniable truth. Unless building a mega-corp, just hire managers. Money always points to the answer, anywhere in the world.
"Ji-yeon-ssi, hate to say it, but I suck at spotting talent."
The issue? I'm a rags-to-riches coin millionaire type. Beast-hearted wildling living off passive income, zero business know-how.
Could I handle company staff? Eh.
Money's no problem, but the responsibility? Pass.
Classic layabout, risk-averse everyman—just loaded now. Not arrogance; it's self-awareness.
I've got no talent for building companies.
Humility or harsh self-crit? Life teaches you what to avoid. For me, that's companies.
Why can't money solve everything?
...Or maybe give it a shot?
"Suhyun-ssi has the ability..."
"Hold up. Let's try throwing money at it?"
"Pardon?"
"...Just buy a whole company outright?"
"...?"
She tilted her head, looking utterly puzzled at my out-of-left-field suggestion.
"Can't run it yourself? Trust issues? Then become majority shareholder."
"Didn't you say you wouldn't?"
"I won't have to step up."
"...Then who will?"
She swallowed hard before answering.
Looked like she already knew. Nodding to meet expectations, I pointed right at her.
"You, secretary."
"That's not in the contract."
"Rewrite it."
"I'm not doing it. Me, leading a company?"
"Not thinking mega-corp. Small-scale?"
"Feels like future work..."
"See? Sharp as ever. Future plan, yeah."
"...Okay. So I quit VTuber?"
"Your call. The avatar's yours anyway."
I nodded with a grin.
The gallery was buzzing with one massive thread.
[Who the hell is this guy]
[??? : I'm the money-dumping monster.]
[Insane. Just turns on stream, voices only, and someone's paying?]
[What is this dude.]
Money. Overwhelming cash was raining down.
Even on a zero-viewer stream.