Balance Game [Uh… Hello, Everyone…?]
The stream had barely begun when viewers came flooding in like a tidal wave. It was as if they had been waiting for this exact moment. Eyes burning with excitement, they hammered the chat with messages. Watching the screen explode with activity, Oh Serin couldn’t help but feel genuinely flustered. The sheer density of the incoming chat was on an entirely different level from normal. A good portion of it was clearly new viewers who had watched yesterday’s broadcast and rushed over out of curiosity.
She started speaking, doing her best to calm the raging chat.
Oh Serin herself was just as shocked by the news as her viewers. One of her videos had climbed into the trending rankings. And the majority of the comments on that video were all about the editor. Wondering what on earth Sua had done, she checked and discovered that a famous child actress had given a shout-out on a popular variety show.
She immediately called Seo Sua.
“S-S-Sua?! What the hell is going on right now?!”
“That’s all well and good, but what’s this about a TV variety show?!”
“You say that so casually…”
Sua spoke as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Serin couldn’t tell whether that confidence came from faith in the actress’s acting ability or absolute trust in her own editing skills. What was certain, however, was that the two elements had created perfect synergy. That was the impression she got after actually watching the video.
The fact that Sua personally knew a popular child actress wasn’t all that surprising. With an uncle like PD Lee Seongbeom, she’s bound to know a few people in the industry… Once again, Serin was reminded just how extraordinary her editor truly was. She had known the editing was incredible, but she never imagined those skills extended beyond internet broadcasting.
Even so, a faint sense of anxiety began creeping over Oh Serin.
“But now the spotlight is suddenly on us… If it’s this bad on YouTube, won’t the live stream be affected too?”
“Ugh… what do I do? These people are all coming from TV. What if they don’t understand internet broadcast culture and start flaming us?”
Even during the previous collab with Jina there had been a large influx of new viewers, but they had all been people who already enjoyed streaming, so it hadn’t caused any major issues. This time, however, the majority were coming from an entirely different world. A sudden wave of outsiders could disrupt the stream’s flow, create conflict with existing viewers, and in the worst cases, completely ruin the broadcast. Having seen it happen countless times before, Serin felt a different kind of unease.
Then Sua spoke simply.
“Content that satisfies both?”
“Right… but how exactly…? Help me, Raccoonmong~”
While watching the stream, a Discord call request came in from Bommeranian. It was Senior Bom.
“What’s up?”
"Are you watching the stream right now…?"
“Yeah. I was a little worried about all the outside viewers, but you’re handling it well.”
"…You’re going to edit this too, aren’t you?"
“Of course. It was my suggestion, and I’m planning to put extra care into it.”
"You suggested it? Wait, ugh…! Hoo… Never mind…."
She seemed extremely embarrassed that the person she liked was watching her old work and calling it cute. She had even called her past acting embarrassing, so this stream was essentially exposing her dark history to the entire world. Of course, only Senior Bom saw it that way.
Bom took several deep breaths to calm herself, then finally spoke in a composed voice.
"Hoo… Anyway, I called because I have something to tell you about the illustration work."
“The illustrations?”
"Yeah. It looks like the work might slow down a bit. Or I might not be able to do it at all."
“Is it because of your streaming schedule?”
Thanks to the recently uploaded video, Senior Bom had been thrust back into the spotlight and was even appearing on variety shows. Broadcasting stations were like hyenas that never missed an issue. They would definitely suck every last drop of popularity out of her until it dried up, so they must have desperately pushed for her to appear. Or perhaps it was a new drama schedule.
"I did get a schedule, but it’s still flexible. That’s not the problem."
“You’ve drawn so many pictures for me already that we should be fine for a while… Is the thumbnail work the issue?”
"Yeah. That’s the one that’ll be hardest. It takes the most time."
Every single image on Oh Serin’s YouTube channel was currently drawn by Senior Bom—from the profile and banner to thumbnails and in-video illustrations. Thanks to her generous output, the variety of images had increased and the videos had become much richer. But if thumbnails were going to be difficult, it couldn’t be helped. The reason she had asked was because the art style matched the in-video images and didn’t feel out of place.
“It can’t be helped if you’re busy. I can’t complain. Honestly, it was a bit of an unreasonable request to begin with.”
"You do realize that?"
“I do have a conscience, you know.”
"A passing raccoon would laugh at that. I think I’ve lived pretty honestly, all things considered. Or maybe not."
"By the way, you seem pretty relaxed. Do you have a lot of videos saved up?"
“I do have quite a few stockpiled. Why do you ask?”
"Why? Because you’re about to get busy too."
“Me?”
I don’t have any particular schedule. The YouTube project Uncle mentioned is still months away. Did I forget something?
While I was thinking, Senior Bom spoke as if it were obvious.
"School starts soon. Aren’t you going?"
“Ah.”
I looked at the calendar. Today was February 25th, 2018—five days before the March 2nd opening of school.
“Goddamn it.”
The curse slipped out before I could stop it.