Invitation Ticket
That shocking reaction from yesterday still flashes through my mind even in my sleep.
My only regret is that I was too flustered to record it.
"Streaming again today?"
I quietly poked my head into Frappe's stream. I had no real intention of broadcasting today myself.
Periods usually last about a week. Since the first three days are the worst of it, I'd planned to take a three-day break.
Out of nowhere, the arrows turned and pointed at me.
"Huh?"
I hesitated for a moment, then logged in with my main account.
Devoted Fan [ Lu-e ] has entered the stream.
Thanks to yesterday's donation, apparently, I'd been upgraded to a Devoted Fan. Frappe, having confirmed my presence, asked cautiously.
"The big spender from yesterday's stream! Thanks to Lu-e's generous donation, I've been able to enjoy such a comfortable life on this server! If Lu-e wouldn't mind, may I use this invitation ticket on her!? And if it feels like too much, please feel free to refuse at any time!"
It was access permission for 'Dust World,' the server Frappe was currently logged into.
A streamer-server debut?
I gave the offer serious consideration.
To be honest, I'd dreamed of joining a streamer's server since way back. In my small-streamer days, when I didn't know a single streamer close enough to invite me, it was nothing but a pipe dream. My pre-sleep daydream repertoire was always the same story: get invited to a big streamer's server, discover a hidden feature, and watch my stream blow up.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd blow up not through a hidden feature, but through the Powerball, though.
I checked my physical condition. Honestly, I wasn't in bad shape right now. I could manage at least two or three hours of streaming.
...Maybe I'll just have a little taste for a day or so.
I had nothing to do for the next three weeks anyway, and everyone was clamoring for me to go live, so taking a light dip wouldn't hurt. After much deliberation, I answered.
And as a bonus, I'd get to see that reaction again.
(Lu-e's invitation ticket.jpg)
The Virtual Emperor Lu-e, who's been holed up in her solo streams, is FINALLY stepping onto a streamer server. Let's gooo
The news that Lu-e would be joining Dust World spread through the streaming communities in an instant.
Dust World was a massive RPG server home to hundreds of streamers both big and small. Most of the reactions were anticipation over what kind of entertainment the new Virtual Emperor of SOOPIZ would cook up.
Frappe waited for Lu-e, brimming with expectation. Before long, Lu-e's broadcast went live.
.
.
.
Fit for the undisputed king of viewer surges, her stream opened with a blazing title.
"Ah, ah. Testing."
Lu-e turned on her microphone and made some brief small talk.
"Has everyone been doing well?"
"Sounds like you've all been well. Yesterday's reaction from Frappe? ...It was truly wonderful, wasn't it. She says she'll do it again before she ends her stream today, too."
"I'll probably catch it on the VOD, actually. I'm not in the best condition today..."
"Anyway, today's content is Dust World. Frappe used an invitation ticket on me, so I'm able to join the server."
Just as her warm-up talk wrapped up, an invitation landed in Lu-e's Discord account. She downloaded the Dust World launcher and launched the game. The moment she entered, the server admin greeted her.
"Hello, Lu-e. There's a quick setup I need to walk you through — is that all right?"
"Ah, of course."
Lu-e followed the onboarding steps and configured her Mime creft settings.
By the time she closed the settings window, Frappe had already appeared before her. As Lu-e debated what sort of greeting to offer—
"I'm dropping the MOTHER of all greetings, my Master!!!"
Frappe's character suddenly slammed its head into the ground.
This was the first time Lu-e had ever shared a stream with another streamer. Since she normally handled both progress and conversation on her own streams with ease, most viewers assumed she'd brush through the greeting smoothly.
"Oh, ah... hello there?"
But her voice came out small.
This was an entirely different case from her relationships with Emily or Ppangpok. With those two, clear roles — lawyer and employee — had existed from the very beginning. What to talk about, what attitude to take, all of it had been laid out in advance.
Frappe, on the other hand, was simply a VTuber whose stream Lu-e had happened to watch and enjoy enough to donate to. Not a friend, not an employee, not a lawyer — a purely personal relationship.
With a professional relationship, normal conversation came easily. But add the personal dimension plus a first-ever meeting, and Lu-e turned painfully shy. Years of total isolation from all human relationships had made that inevitable.
"Frappe... isn't it?"
"Yes, Master! I shall escort you perfectly today!"
"Yes. Yes, please."
The chat room deemed even this side of her refreshingly novel in its own way.
As they followed Frappe along, Lu-e quietly muted her mic.
"This is my first collab with other streamers, so I'm a little nervous."
"I'm worried I might accidentally say something rude today..."
Frappe's personality, meanwhile, was the complete opposite of Lu-e's. The living embodiment of the E, the final boss of extroverts. Like a puppy greeting its owner, she panted happily and rattled off tour after tour of the server.
"This is the Central Plaza!"
"And over here is the Exchange!"
"And then— oh."
Just then, another streamer approached from across the way. The VTuber Hariyu — a close friend of Frappe's who often collabed with her.
"Frappe, you already used the invitation ticket?"
Frappe answered with a beaming smile.
"Yep, invited them right away!"
"Ooh~ Who is it?"
From behind Frappe, Lu-e peeked out shyly.
"Lu-e!"
"Oh, Lu-e... wait, what?"
Hariyu went rigid with shock. Anyone would react the same way if a ten-thousand-viewer major streamer materialized amid a crowd of tiny bottom-tier streamers.
"I-it's an honor, a lowly small-streamer like Hariyu b-basking in the presence of the almighty Lu-e?"
Hariyu rolled her eyes this way and that, then bowed her head with a theatrical full-body tremble.
"Master, this is my friend Hariyu. Please feel free to treat her like a pet."
Frappe, for good measure, banged her head into the ground once more.
"N-no, both of you, please get up."
With the two VTubers' antics, the words began to flow out of Lu-e more easily as well.
"I'm just an ordinary VTuber who got lucky and blew up overnight, so there's really no need for you two to humble yourselves so much..."
"No, no, absolutely not! Only Lu-e could possibly have the ambition to invest that entire fortune into streaming!"
"Exactly, exactly! Turning that level of viewership surge into a loyal audience alone earns Lu-e every ounce of respect!"
The signature WWE grovel-fest of the major-streamer scene. The viewers, savoring their vicarious satisfaction, chatted fervently.
The steadily climbing viewer count confirmed that Lu-e's stream was, without a doubt, entertaining right now.
"Please think of us as your slaves and work us to the bone!"
"Verily, verily!"
Her self-esteem was too low to pull off the scammer routine the way other major streamers did.
"...Hmm."
But in exchange, Lu-e had her signature knack for planning.
Something kind of fun just came to mind...
To do it or not to do it — she weighed the question in her head. Would it help the stream? Would it help her?
Okay. Decision made. Lu-e took a deep breath and opened her mouth.
"Curious about something — Dust World has a guild system, right?"
"Yes, it does!"
"Have you two ever considered trying to become the protagonists of this server season?"
"With you by our side, Lu-e, of course!"
Most RPG servers have what players call the "grind" — life-skill content like farming, fishing, or collection logs that demands steady time investment, as opposed to combat content like hunting or raids. It's indispensable, the thing you absolutely must do, yet far less thrilling than combat. So the major streamers delegate the grind to the small fry while keeping their own streams polished, and the small fry, in turn, build their names under the majors and lap up the trickle-down viewers.
Everyone wins — a kind of mutual-aid economy.
Dust World had its grind too, and Frappe and Hariyu had already made their plans according to this grand "Major ↔ Small-fry Grind Trickle-Down Theory": they'd handle Lu-e's grinding for her and feast on her overflowing viewers in return.
Lu-e would be the protagonist of the server. They pictured themselves in supporting-squire positions, backing the hero from the shadows.
But Lu-e had a slightly different idea.
"Guild Master will be Frappe. Vice Master, Hariyu."
"...Huh?"
And then—
She had fired a combined 100 million won into both of their streams.