But Now What?

The chat window is flooded with question marks.

It was an expected reaction.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

To refresh the atmosphere, I show a cartoon I made in advance.

( Image of a monkey running to the theater )

( Image of a monkey with a pounding heart )

( Image of Rue being overjoyed after winning the Powerball )

A monkey comic template born in some gaming gallery.

The TTS prepared in advance dubs the comic.

[ Keuuuuu~ ]

[ Isn't Rue seriously insane? ]

[ Breaking News) Streaming Rank #1 ]

( Image of monkeys cheering as a group )

[ I have no regrets even if I die like this ]

[ I drew Rue ]

[ Is Rue-nim your friend? ]

( Image of the back of a monkey looking at a group of monkeys )

( Image of a monkey scratching its head furiously )

[ ...But what do we do now? ]

[ ...What? ]

[ No, honestly, isn't it too much to keep doing this shit for a month when he hasn't done anything except win 1 trillion won? ]

[ What's up with that guy? ]

[ Everyone else is fine, why is he bitching? ]

[ Is that guy perhaps a 'dopamine floater'? ]

[ No, guys, he doesn't even do anything besides cafe content and talking. Do you think an average of 10,000 viewers for a small-time stream makes any sense? There's no sign of the stream getting better, so isn't it crazy to be simping over just 1 trillion won? ]

[ ... ]

The monkey's honest opinion continues.

Just when the viewers were focused.

At just the right timing, I shouted into the microphone.

"SILENCE!!!"

As soon as I modified the stream title, floaters came pouring in.

[ Rue ] : Broadcast Conference of the VTuber Who Earned 1 Trillion Won

I began talking in earnest.

"From now on, I'll explain in detail."

"Everyone, I made 1 trillion won. Honestly, there's no need for me to stream, right?"

"But as you all know, since I don't have a family, I don't really have anywhere to spend the money."

"If I had friends, wouldn't I have gone on a trip to America with them?"

"Anyway, after thinking carefully, I realized I don't really have anywhere to spend all this money. So..."

An image of a monkey launching a rocket appears.

"I decided to invest it in my stream."

I turned to the next page.

< First Content >

"The very first content to be held before the audition is..."

< Founding a Company >

"It's precisely this."

"I'm going to create a company dedicated solely to supporting my stream. Planning, editing, making avatars, hosting events. A company to help when conducting large-scale projects like the audition I mentioned earlier."

"Of course it's not profitable. It'll run a deficit. Honestly, I don't even know if it'll run properly."

"But doesn't it sound fun?"

Streaming is, in the end, all about fun.

How much was earned. How much was spent.

Stuff like me winning the Powerball isn't important to the viewers.

What remains in memory is ultimately just one thing: was it fun?

I can state with certainty.

Pouring 1 trillion won into a stream will be extremely fun.

I turned the PPT to the next slide.

"I'm going to open a large-scale open recruitment. Planners, business management experts, accountants, tax accountants, security officers, IT managers, designers, video editors, marketers, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠project managers. Also, since there are probably many fields I haven't thought of, anyone who thinks they're needed in the company, please apply. Just attach your cover letter and portfolio to the recruitment board on our cafe."

"By the way, this company won't just support me. No matter how witty a streamer is, streaming alone has its limits, right? It's not like I can just play games and shoot the breeze forever."

"So I'm planning to recruit regular cast members to appear on my stream. Should I call them panels?"

The stream's second content.

< Open Audition for Rue Stream Regular Cast Members >

Most streamers don't stream alone.

Even on Supijik right now, without exaggeration, there are hundreds of big and small crews.

Virtual idols performing dance and song, cam-stream crews that draw tens of thousands of viewers just by going on trips together, Minecraft streamers who always hit it big on Noutube...

A solo stream has its limits.

Hot clips are always born from interactions between people.

In order to grow the stream further, I also need other people.

"It's not idols. I'm not saying I'll collaborate with other streamers. I'm going to select entertaining people among the viewers and make them panels for my stream. The total prize pool, as I mentioned earlier, is 5 billion won."

Even if I only pick 20 people, that's 250 million won per person.

However, there is a slight difference between other crews and my stream.

"I haven't thought of detailed rules yet, but I plan to recruit non-streamers as much as possible."

"If I pick streamers, you guys will just leave for their channels."

"I'll prepare collaboration content separately later. This was planned with the direction of being content that can only be watched on my channel. These people cannot appear on other streams and can only be active on my stream. If a Marvel character appears in Seedy Comics, it ruins the universe, right?"

"That's why there's a prize pool."

< Total Prize Pool: 5 Billion Won >

"Half-baked contestants will be eliminated at the preliminaries. It's easier to think of it as talented and entertaining people becoming employees of my stream."

"Of course there's a monthly salary. We'll support all kinds of equipment too. I'll pay generously so they can't run away."

"It will be held in Dive World. The date is still undecided, I think we can proceed only after finishing open recruitment."

Dive World is the successor to VR Talk and the most representative virtual reality game.

It can be accessed through full Dive Gear, and almost all VTubers host their content there.

As for me, well, I didn't have the money to buy Dive Gear so I was just constantly watching Leori's streams, but...

'Now I have three of the latest, highest-spec gears at home.'

This is the power of capital.

"With the members recruited like that, I'll do collabs and create various contents. If it hits big, as I mentioned earlier, we could even produce things like animations or music videos."

"If it fails, I quit streaming."

[ RueCheekSlap5Combo ]-nim has donated 1,000 won.

"I earned this 1 trillion won thanks to you guys, so I should at least give this much back."

[ zxc901 ]-nim has donated 1,000 won.

The buzzing in the chat window grew stronger.

It was filled with nothing but excited expectations.

It was right at that moment.

[ Bangpok ]-nim has donated 100,000 won.

"Of course there are planner spots left."

I was about to brush it off thinking it was just a regular donation, when the chat window suddenly fell into an uproar.

When I checked the name belatedly, his name was Bangpok.

"...Uh?"

A now-retired first-generation streamer.

"Kyaaak!"

He was my idol.

"Ah, I'm fucking bored."

Former streamer, Bangpok.

"Did I quit streaming for no reason?"

Currently a complete unemployed loser, Bae Jinchul.

He was currently squirming all over, starved for attention.

In his 20 years of streaming career, he had earned all the money he could ever need.

It had been a year since he declared his retirement feeling the limits of his physical stamina, but he kept thinking about his streamer days and couldn't endure it.

Streamers are a profession that lives on attention.

Unless you're an attention seeker, you can't survive.

The attention-seeking drive of Bangpok, a 20-year veteran streamer, was on a completely different level from ordinary people.

Because of that, Bangpok was quenching his thirst for attention through online communities.

[ (All-Time Great) Holy shit, did a Shiny Scout drop? ]

Author: Anonymous(220.164)

( Image of a Pocket Monster in the game crudely painted over with colored pencils.jpg )

Is this really a Shiny?

Upvotes: 43

Downvotes: 2

[ Comments ]

Ah fuck, thought it was real

Fucking drew it well

Congrats congrats

Ah what, it's fake

?

Oh haha

Ah damn, fake

I got fooled, shit

He felt good that the post he put up recently after much consideration reached the popular posts, but...

"...This isn't it."

Compared to the dopamine hit when his stream content received a huge response, it was merely pissing on frozen feet.

"This isn't it!"

"Aish, so noisy!"

At Bangpok's shout, his wife, who was lying on the living room sofa, raised her voice with irritation.

"If you're that starved for attention, you can just start streaming again."

"I don't wanna!"

"Why?"

"If I make a comeback after retiring, I'll lose face."

"Are you an elementary schooler?"

How did she end up marrying a husband like this?

Bangpok's wife let out a sigh.

"If you're really like that, try applying for this at least."

"This?"

His wife handed over the phone she was holding.

On Supijik, the platform where he used to stream, a streamer was broadcasting.

The streamer's name was Rue.

"Rue? Who is that person?"

"You don't know Rue?"

"Who is it?"

"The one who won the Powerball a while ago."

"Ah, that person is this person?"

"How can you be a streamer and not know internet streaming news?"

"I'm not a streamer right now though."

Ever since he quit streaming, it had been a long time since he watched internet streams either.

Doing it was fun; watching wasn't really his thing.

"Anyway, I sent you a clip of this person, so take a look."

Bangpok organized Rue's presentation video in his mind.

"...He's gonna spend all that money on streaming?"

Just listening to the explanation, it was at least tens of billions of won.

It was a tremendous scale.

"Sounds fun, though?"

There is no factor that builds a loyal fanbase quite like an IP.

Fans who come to love a universe and characters will willingly consume it whether a sequel comes out, a spin-off comes out, or a game of a different genre comes out.

A good IP itself becomes a powerful promotional tool every time new content is created.

'Pocket Monster Champions', which he was playing until just a moment ago, was a representative example of that.

Thanks to being made based on 'Pocket Monster', one of the most famous IPs, it gathered the attention of numerous fans as soon as it was released.

What Rue was trying to do was precisely that.

Producing an IP that can only be watched on his own channel.

And mass-producing infinite content based on that IP.

Bangpok immediately fired off the donation money he topped up using his main account.

Even though it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been over a year since he quit streaming, the ripple effect that those two letters of his name carried was immense.

[ Bangpok ]-nim has donated 100,000 won.

This endless attention.

He already likes it.

Especially Rue's reaction was a delicacy.

[ Is it really Bangpok-nim? Holy shit, insane. ]

Just as he was about to type a pompous chat message.

[ I'm a huge fan of Bangpok-nim, you know. I really watched your stream every day at the orphanage. ]

Rue beat him to the punch.