113 - A Small Awards Ceremony

"Hello, NoName. I heard you're an authority on Legacy of Legend, so I wanted to ask a question I've been super curious about. Lilia is half-human, half-deer, so when she gets pregnant, does her belly swell from the human side or the deer side? Hmm..."

I poured cooking oil into a frying pan, swirling it around, then cracked an egg on the edge and let it slide in. Sizzle— The delightful sound of the egg frying golden brown filled the air. I added a pinch of salt, then quickly scooped it out while the yolk was still nice and jiggly, sliding it onto the bed of rice I'd prepared.

"Lilia is born from trees, so she doesn't get pregnant. Looks like you need to reread puberty and sex ed. That's why I blocked you to give you time to read a book."

I spooned some soy sauce onto a spoon to measure it out, then sprinkled it evenly around the rice. Of course, I didn't forget the sesame seeds and sesame oil.

"Having soy sauce egg fried rice. I don't like it much usually, but since it's my first meal of the day, it looks tasty."

"Thanks for the donation, elloa. Soy egg rice is tasty too. Want me to snap a pic?"

The detachable remote from the capsule had recording and mic functions. It was basically a phone, but whatever—it's called a remote, so a remote it is. I used the screen capture feature to snap a top-down shot of my half-eaten plate and uploaded it. Just uploading plain would've made it look sparse, so maybe a filter? The previously monochrome broadcast screen now lit up with a vibrant photo of soy sauce egg fried rice.

"You don't have to force donations. I'm not as broke as you think."

The soy sauce egg fried rice turned out surprisingly satisfying. The yolk bursting through its thin membrane softened the brown-clad rice grains even more. With the sunset visible through the living room window as backdrop, one bite, then a peek at the viewers' reactions via hologram—another bite. Nibbling away bit by bit, before I knew it, the plate was empty.

"Thanks for the meal."

I didn't drink water separately. From now on, I'd be chugging potions nonstop, so filling up my stomach beforehand was out of the question. Lining up the flask bottles from the fridge on the table made me sigh. But gotta drink 'em anyway.

"Shall we rest a bit and then continue?"

"High chance the videos from today will start uploading to VTube soon, fyi. Got some questions about it. More people coming over from VTube than expected."

"Replays... I'll think about it later. What's Twogether?"

"Oh, manager, please do."

"...?"

Prodded by the insistent viewers, I finally pulled up the hologram panel onto the table. As the manager said, a stark site named 'NoName' sat in the center. Notices, General... I clicked the Hall of Fame tab at the end.

Clicking the category button brought up a list: total watch time, total donations, chat popularity, etc., with checkboxes. Lots of unknowns, so I just checked the top three and hit refresh.

As expected from a nation that loves rankings, reactions were hot. Seeing it laid out, it hit me anew. Last year's sporadic streams added up to about 300 hours, huh.

Three of them nearly hit 5 million won combined. Especially BigSal—steady viewer since last year, so the accumulated donations were hefty.

"What's this? Most liked chats?"

What a weird world. They know me, but I don't know most of them. Still, they find satisfaction in one-way relationships. Unrequited love, unreturned devotion. Maybe they're the true noble adults? Twisi viewers each find their streamer and embark on their own adventures. Wandering nomad life without an oasis would be brutal.

"I'll remember all your nicknames."

I was serious, but it didn't land that way.

"Then next chance I get, I'll buy the top rankers a meal or something."

"No idea when. Don't get your hopes up. Like finding cash in your pocket unexpectedly and feeling good? Think of it that way..."

"Something wrong?"

I hurriedly checked the clock. 7:15 PM. Unlike PC or mobile, VR games couldn't maintenance anytime. Their time, 7-8 AM, was 11 PM to midnight Korea time—when admins accessed the open world.

Viewers even declaring terrorism.

"If I clear, does data save?"

Adella's fate hung on these final 3 hours of stream rush.

"Urk... *cough*... Tastes like death."

While managers reset the stream, I chugged the remaining potions one after another. Then I turned on my phone and texted Professor Cheon, who should be arriving soon and dozing off.