Chapter 18
The fifteenth day of the Gallery Beggar versus Bravery Saint stream. I couldn't believe so much had happened in just two short weeks. The fake newbie controversy, the account-sharing scandal, the back-to-back sniping incidents. Signing a partnership with Peace Games. Contracting with Black Hole Media. Moving into the new apartment. Becoming neighbors and friends with a virtual idol group. My quality of life as a human being had shot through the roof, the stream itself was blowing up, and my income had skyrocketed. The super account Peace Games provided was on the verge of hitting Challenger tier.
At this point, my fandom had formed a truly bizarre composition. The guys who flooded in from shady sites during the alt-account and account-sharing scandals and decided to stick around. The pure game enthusiasts who fell for my raw mechanical skill. The perverted degenerates with arrival syndrome who trickled in from every corner of the community after the AAA incident. And the influx from becoming neighbors and friends with the virtual idol group Bravery—sharing stories and spilling tea—which meant the Bravery Saints. Each group had its own difficult personality. Of course they did. Most internet broadcast viewers are inherently toxic anyway.
People say that after watching overseas streams, Korean ones shock them with how spicy the chat is. Like how instant ramen becomes a dangerous weapon-level item abroad, even the mildest Korean stream chat is supposedly way hotter than the average foreign one.
"Kim Haru Virtual Avatar Creation Fund."
The Bravery Saints are kind. It's because VTuber streams have a widespread culture of pure positivity where viewers only cheer the streamer on, unlike other broadcasts. But my stream's Bravery Saints had undergone dark evolution, so they were a little different. They kept protesting, demanding I pull a new virtual avatar.
"Stop protesting. There will be no board upgrade here."
My main body was Gaeharu. I had no intention of evolving this five-thousand-won board into something like Enzeumon. A dog turning into a human woman? That doesn't make sense.
"Embrace the VTuber within you, Kim Haru."
"I'm already a VTuber, what else is there to embrace?"
I said that, but I didn't actually think of myself as a VTuber. I didn't have any of the three essential elements required. For reference, the three elements of a VTuber are girlfriend concept, aegyo, and end-of-stream kiss. If a real girl did it, it'd be super cute, but if you made me do it, I'd choose death instead.
"The Bravery mutts have lost it? Not putting your wallet away?"
"Ahem. Please refrain from expressions that could cause confusion."
"Bravery mutt" was a bad word formed by taking "saint" out of Bravery Saint and adding "stray dog" at the end. It was a metaphor for a pitiful fandom abandoned by its owner. If that reminds you of a certain clown from a comic, it's purely a coincidence, so don't misunderstand.
"Sign here, Comrade Kim Haru. I am unmistakably a virtual YouTuber."
"I sign."
Yes. The Bravery Saints were kind. The higher their over-immersion levels, the more refreshing their donations tended to be. The Gallery Beggar—no, the gallery friends—often didn't have money, or were rather negative about donating.
"I'll corrupt you into a VTuber, hehehe. Hurry up and say you're happy to be a VTuber!"
"Ugh! No! Stop! If this keeps up I'll really turn into a VTuber... ♡"
Well, it's all jokes and concept. As long as I had no intention of doing the fake romance business that is the core and origin of VTubers, a pretty board would be a luxury.
"Today's hand cam! Is not happening!"
Why did they obsess so insanely over my hands instead of my face? The moment I said no hand cam, a riot broke out.
"Turn it on."
"Hmm."
I permanently banned the guy who seemed strangely angry since midday. I can naturally tell the difference between joking around and crossing the line versus genuinely hating me. The latter can't be fixed.
"Show your height."
With a decent donation coming in, I turned on the hand cam. Only half of it. I positioned it so only the mouse was visible on screen, not the keyboard.
Honestly, even I don't understand it. How much value could there possibly be in seeing a person's hand once that it brings in this level of donation? With that money you could go to an adult photo site and buy tons of pictures and videos of curvy older sisters. What is it about a moving hand? But the world is wide, there are many rich people, and this was a common occurrence on big corporate streams. In that case, I might as well enjoy it, right?
"Stubborn wench, turn on the other half too."
"Thank you so much for the donation, President."
I made two thumbs-up gestures with the hand cam.
The latter got banned. This isn't a yuksu stream. Hand hearts are difficult, so instead I'll give you a cute double middle finger.
Rumors were flying everywhere while the red pill stayed hidden, and people's delusions only grew deeper.
She was a hero evaluated as trash. It was a matter of performance and difficulty. No user could handle her at 100%, and at 70-80% output she was simply too weak. Her passive let her blink to the location where a dagger had been planted when a skill was reused. Skill 1 was a fast short-range dagger throw. Skill 2 was a moderate mid-range dagger throw. Skill 3 was a slow long-range dagger throw. Where others would pack in attack and defense skills, she had three mobility skills crammed into those slots.
Therefore, she had to dominate the battlefield relying solely on that mobility. It was impossible for ordinary people. For me, it was possible.
"Penta Kill!"
"Finishing move!"
"You guys said you wanted to see this."
An assassin wearing shaman robes and holding daggers. Just hearing that sounds incredibly sexy, but since I Am Hero is a back-view game, we could only feast our eyes on her backside. Shadow Walker Kali—a complete piece of trash with a 42% ranked win rate. I Am Hero was a pretty old game, and I was still in the process of learning it. During that time the viewers wanted Kali, and out of courtesy I picked her up and started playing.
A garbage character whose only skills were three weak dagger throws. But all three of them were mobility. That's why Kali should never take 1v1s. She was a character who used her superior mobility to gang up on enemies or flexibly reposition during teamfights to support allies.
"This is pretty playable? I like it?"
Next, the character I picked in the following game was a completely different style. One with heavy movement but extremely strong damage, along with shields and life steal. While the previous one required flawless play without mistakes because the damage was nonexistent even if you could land the hits, this one was so hard to land that it was difficult to shine despite its overpowered skills.
Still, it wasn't to the point where I couldn't land them. The more I played, the more I was getting sucked into weirder and weirder heroes. It was a shame that no one worthy of facing me had appeared yet. A rival who could force me to go all out. So I had no choice but to gradually restrict my own power and play more difficult, weaker characters.
"I wonder how high I have to climb before I meet people who are actually good."
Current ranking: 307th. Challenger was right in front of me.