The Event
(Basically a clip of her scamming her viewers for game money)
She's got the money to take a taxi from Busan all the way to Seoul at dawn, and she's still scamming people for a thirty-thousand-won game. THE Great Riho.
Going on a business trip on Christmas is one thing, and casually taking a taxi all the way up from Busan that same night is another. What the hell does she even do for a living?
Why is nobody considering the possibility that she's lying and getting a ride in her boyfriend's car?
Why do you keep talking about some small-time streamer only you guys know about
Is it normal for a whole page of the gallery to be filled with a small-time streamer who has 300 viewers;; Riho dogs, fuck off back to your own homes
Riho possesses the steel nerves to always lock in Yune no matter what champion the opponent picks and go lane against them; she cleared the Legend of Link DLC without taking a single hit from any boss through superior game sense and raw mechanics; she achieved Platinum in the chaotic Korean AOS game Eternal Loop; and on top of all that, she hit 300 average viewers at a young age through pure skill alone — she is the undisputed queen of indie VTubers. The reason she has not gone corporate is not because no company would take her, but because she herself refuses to be bound by a corporation, and because no company exists that could accept an individual greater than the company itself….
Quietly repping Shindu-hyung in a vomit country full of nothing but Mejot fans.
As of today, I leave behind the relationship of a mere supporter.
Riho and I become one body, one soul.
An attack on Riho shall be regarded as an attack on me.
If there are seven billion Riho fans in this world, I am one of them.
If there are one hundred million Riho fans in this world, I am still one of them.
If there are ten million Riho fans in this world, I remain one of them.
If there are one hundred Riho fans in this world, I am yet one of them.
If there is only one Riho fan in this world, that person is probably me.
If there is not a single Riho fan left in this world — then I, too, am no longer of this world.
Riho, my love.
Riho, my light.
Riho, my darkness.
Riho, my life.
Riho, my joy.
Riho, my sorrow.
Riho, my rest.
Riho, my soul.
Riho, me.
The fact that Riho is going to Busan on Christmas with her boyfriend to do Santa-girl cosplay hookups is an unchanging truth, and this is even recorded in the Goguryeo watermelon martial arts texts….
Fortunately? Taking Christmas off passed without incident.
Well… it did spawn a weird meme because of it….
But that was fine. A meme of that scale was something I could live with. It might even help with new viewers.
And… it wasn't exactly wrong, either.
Anyway, right now I was standing in front of my place, waiting for someone.
Who was I waiting for? Isn't it obvious? Someone I'd arranged to meet from Christmas dawn — of course it would be my boyfrien—
—no. I was waiting for the woman who would take me to Busan.
The kind of person attached one-to-one to idols, singers, athletes, models, actors, and everyone else in the so-called arts and entertainment world: a manager.
Ah — looks like she'd arrived. While I was mid-yawn, a familiar car rolled to a stop right in front of me.
Clunk—
"Morning."
"Good morning."
A young woman opened the door, stepped out, and flashed me a bright smile. Unlike me, standing there yawning my face off, she was practically radiating energy.
And that energetic woman was none other than my manager, Sora.
Still only in her mid-twenties, and yet she was absurdly capable and multi-talented. She could drive, she cooked well, she handled all my scheduling on her own, she spoke several foreign languages… and on top of working, she even managed to date.
Things I couldn't pull off with two bodies — no, three — she did all by herself. I supposed this was what people meant by an alpha female.
"Get in. I turned on the heated seats so you wouldn't freeze."
"…Thank you."
Following her instructions, I opened the back door and climbed in.
Why not the passenger seat? What, was I the boss and not the actress?
…Well, to a manager, an actress might as well be the boss. So people usually rode in the back.
Though… honestly, I'd tried to take the passenger seat at first….
Sora had stopped me. Her precious actress was basically her lord, she said, so as the retainer it was her duty to guard from the front, or something like that.
"You can sleep on the way. I'll wake you when we get to Busan."
"…Thank you."
…So we really are going to Busan.
I pulled out my phone and checked the date one more time. December 25th. Christmas.
Snow was falling outside the window. They said it was the first white Christmas in years.
Normally I'd be watching this snow fall while leisurely running a twenty-four-hour stream from home….
Nothing I could do about it. I'd gone money-crazy and signed an ad model contract — what else was there to say.
Even so….
"Haa…."
I couldn't shake this gloomy mood. Having to work on Christmas of all days….
The only consolations were that I didn't actually have to step up and say or do anything special… and that this was a private event, so nothing would leak outside.
If it hadn't been private, the viewers might have put the pieces together the moment I mentioned going to Busan and figured out who I really was.
Then I wouldn't have been able to stream anymore… and I'd have lost the one place I could let my ego run free.
I should be grateful I can keep streaming.
With that thought, I closed my eyes and tried to shake off the gloom.
"Ria! Wake up!"
"Nn…."
At the woman's voice from beside me, I slowly opened my eyes. The same bright, smiling face from that morning looked back at me. She'd climbed into the back, which meant we must have arrived in Busan.
"Ah, finally awake. If you hadn't gotten up this time either, I was ready to splash water on your face."
"…You're joking, right?"
"Nope."
She said it with a big, mischievous grin. Honestly… what a little troublemaker.
"Alright, alright. Now that you're up, time for makeup. Hold still. I'll do it for you."
"…Do I really have to?"
"Of course you do. You can't greet VIPs bare-faced."
"I don't really mind—"
"No."
"Yes, ma'am."
Sora had me hold up a small mirror and started working on my face.
And so, after Sora diligently powdered and painted me… and after we somehow changed — for reasons unknown, the venue had no dressing room, so we drew the car curtains and wriggled into the outfits we'd brought — we opened the doors, stepped outside, and set off toward the venue to meet the VIPs.