A Million Won
After seeing the desperate plea for help in the chat, I replied right away. It looked like we’d have a lot to discuss, so talking would be better than typing back and forth.
Oh Serin asked me to wait. I plugged in the earphones that happened to be nearby. It didn’t take long before a call came in from her. The moment I accepted it, Oh Serin’s voice rang out clearly.
“Ah, hello. Can you hear me?”
“Yeah, I hear you perfectly. How about my side? I haven’t messed with the mic settings yet…”
“Huh?”
There was a sharp intake of breath, and then silence. I tilted my head, wondering if my voice sounded that strange, and was about to tweak the microphone when Oh Serin muttered in clear shock.
“…You’re a woman?!”
“Ah, yes… I am?”
“Huk, sorry. I was totally convinced you were a guy…”
“Well, most people in internet-related fields are men.”
Especially in video editing—the ratio is overwhelmingly male for some reason. So it made sense that Oh Serin had assumed the same. Come to think of it, I had never actually told her I was a woman.
“Actually, this is kind of a relief. Talking to men feels a little awkward for me.”
“But most of your viewers are men. That’s fine?”
“Eh, that’s just chatting. It doesn’t feel like real people. They look more like bots or little kids.”
“Fair enough.”
Her streams were usually flooded with nothing but “lololol” or people teasing her. The way she reacted to it only made the chat even more energetic.
This was our first real conversation, so we bounced between all kinds of topics. Then, suddenly, she spoke in a hopeful tone.
“Yes?”
“None.”
“I don’t stream.”
“I won’t.”
Why did everyone keep trying to drag me in front of the camera? I was the one who shone from behind the stage, not on it. I preferred it that way, and my skills were better suited for it. Stepping into the spotlight and drawing that kind of attention felt burdensome.
“If you keep this up I’m hanging up. Weren’t you the one who asked for help?”
“Ah, right! Sorry, sorry!”
I let out a small sigh. Only then did I finally learn why Oh Serin had reached out in such a panic.
“I’m what people call a variety streamer, right? Just Chatting is fun and all, but gaming is way more fun for me.”
“And?”
“I’ve run out of games to play… Repeating stuff I’ve already done would make the whole ‘variety’ title pointless.”
Oh Serin sounded genuinely down. There was no actual rule saying variety streamers couldn’t replay games, of course. Plenty of people who mainly played big titles like League or PUBG and occasionally tried other things were still called variety streamers. But no games left? That couldn’t be right.
“Do you honestly believe you have nothing left to play, Oh Serin?”
“Um… yeah?”
“I’ve watched your streams. You only ever play popular games or arcade stuff.”
“Well… yeah?”
“Then how about a horror game this time?”
“Eek! No way!”
She let out a horrified shriek. From everything I’d seen, she had stuck to similar genres the entire time. So why not switch to something completely different?
“H-horror games are a hard no… Isn’t there anything else…?”
“Your regular audience has grown. It’s about time you tried something new.”
“That’s true, but… maybe later…”
“Hmm, all right. Then how about this instead?”
“It’s not horror, right?”
“It’s not. But the viewers will love it just as much as a horror game.”
“There’s something like that?”
I answered with a mischievous grin. It was a game I’d seen on my YouTube recommendations not long ago—one with such brutal controls it could supposedly cure low blood pressure.
“Have you heard of the Jar Game?”
“……Ah.”
As expected, broadcasts are funniest when the streamer is in pain. She clearly understood that, because her voice instantly grew gloomy.
“Ah, and there’s one more favor I wanted to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Well…”
Yes… hello everyone. It’s only been a day.
What am I doing today, you ask? I did bring something, but… Ah, it’s not League. After last time I basically became an orphan and lost all motivation. Shall we play PUBG? Then screw you, stop sniping me!
Today we’re… playing the Jar Game King…
I watched the stream with a smirk. As expected, the Jar Game was pure entertainment.
The early game was always deceptively easy. The real fun started once the difficulty spiked.
The screams finally started. The chat exploded with laughter as Oh Serin’s character tumbled helplessly down the mountain again and again. Every time she almost made progress, the hammer would send her flying back to the beginning.
After a long silence, the hammer hooked onto the snake and she jumped.
After countless falls, resets, and screams, she somehow reached the transmission tower. The screen filled with white light as her character faded out.
After the video was uploaded, a short post appeared in the YouTube community tab. It was the first community post from the Dancing Raccoon channel.
A few days later, another message arrived from Oh Serin.
“I can finally start earning money now… So I was wondering if you’d be willing to be my editor…?”
“Sure.”
“Ah, of course you can do whatever you want with the original footage…”
“Yeah?”
“Really?!”