Chapter 1
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Clipper Seo Jinwoo
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For high schoolers, there's one inescapable duty.
Studying.
Studying is an incredibly heavy burden for students—something they absolutely never want to do.
Yet there are a few who manage to escape it to some degree: those walking the path of arts or athletics.
That must have been where it all started for me, Seo Jinwoo, setting me on the road to video editing.
Video editing was the perfect escape from studying. Sure, it fell under arts, but it didn't demand peak physical prowess or some insane level of artistic talent.
If you put in the effort, understood videos inside and out, and had a real passion for them, it was something you could do fairly comfortably.
But the deeper I dove into video work, the more I realized it required studying too.
The silver lining? Unlike the nightmare math problems at school or that science knowledge you'd only maybe use once in a blue moon, studying videos gave immediate results—right there in your own clips.
Maybe that's why it hooked me so hard. Studying videos was downright fun. Editing them, learning about them—it felt like my true calling.
And so, having partially dodged my student duties, here I was in my second year of high school, still deep into video studies, when I discovered a whole new path.
VTubers... and highlight clips.
It started as simple curiosity. At first, I didn't grasp the real charm of VTubers.
But then I stumbled on NewTube Shorts and various clips, and before I knew it, I was hooked.
That's why I put my talents to use and became a Clipper.
Highlight clips, in a nutshell, are short, edited video snippets.
I'd watch VTuber streams, download the videos, and cut out the best moments my way.
It even brought in some decent income, and I'd gotten pretty well-known in the scene. The sense of accomplishment was something studying could never touch.
Today, too, I was watching a VTuber stream and pulling clips. She'd just debuted recently, but she was so funny and cute that I wanted to be her dedicated Clipper. Lately, I'd basically been operating at that level anyway.
Her name was 'Kuroa Lulu'—a VTuber rocking a mischievous little devil model that perfectly matched her adorable name.
With silver twin tails and striking blue eyes, the little devil was playing a game in her super cute voice.
It was a new horror game that had dropped not long ago, and given her timid personality, she was letting out these terrified squeaks.
"I... I'm not scared... Not scared... Not scared..."
Chanting "not scared" like she was brainwashing herself, Lulu slowly crept forward.
She passed through a narrow hallway bathed in red light, coming to a small wooden door.
"Uh... If I go in here, that's the escape, right...? Yeah...? It's about time... for this to end... Yeah... It has to end now..."
Her voice, trembling with pure fear, blended with that cuteness to create something lethally charming.
Clip material right here. This alone would make an adorably perfect snippet, packed with Lulu's charm.
I jotted down the timestamp in my notepad when she slowly pushed open the iron door.
But...
-Rattle rattle!
The door wouldn't budge.
"Wha...? W-Why... why won't it open...? Why...?"
Her voice brimmed with resentment at the jammed door, but just as it trailed off...
-Rattle! Slam!!
A grotesquely muscular monkey dropped from the ceiling in all its horrifying glory.
"Kyaaaaaaa!!!"
-Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Lulu shrieked in overwhelming terror as the monkey charged after her with earth-shaking footsteps.
"Kyaa! Kyaaa! Kyaa! Kyaaaaa! Don't come! Don't come! Don't! Don't come! Kyaa! Eek! Eek! Kyaa! Ah! Eek! Eekya! Kiiiyaaa!!!"
What a spectacular scream fest. And somehow, her voice stayed insanely cute amid it all, creating this hilarious synergy that had me cracking up just watching.
"Sorry! Sorry! I was wrong! Sorry! Spare me! I won't do it again! Never! Absolutely never! Sorry! Sor— Kyaa! Eekya!!!
Dodging obstacles in a desperate bid to escape, Lulu finally got caught by the monkey...
-Crunch!
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
...And I heard the biggest scream I'd ever witnessed.
A real monster of a shout. My ears were ringing.
Definitely need to drop this by about 15 decibels. Capturing a -15dB screenshot on screen would add extra fun.
Anyway, with that ear-piercer, Lulu handed me the perfect highlight for my clip.
"Hic... Hnng... Waaah... Uwaaaah... Hic..."
...She'd legit started crying from fear.
VTubers tend to eat more superchats than regular gamers, but Lulu was a special case.
Her hits landed with great feedback, but her skills? Well, let's just say they left a lot to be desired, putting her firmly in sandbag territory.
So her usual play sessions were flooded with viewers backseat gaming or roasting her with "lol can't even today?" chats.
But when she got genuinely scared and cried like this, even the toxic ones started comforting her.
Sure, there were chats fawning over her crying cuteness or toxic ones too oblivious to read the room, but you just ignore those.
The chill vibe of Lulu's streams came from her policy of minimal bans.
Of course, the manager would instantly nuke anything too extreme.
Anyway, Lulu was sniffling away on the game over screen, unable to proceed. To cheer her up, I decided to drop a little cash.
About 10,000 candies oughta do it.
I topped up 10,000 won and sent a donation with a comforting message.
Mango Sticky Cookie-nim, thank you for 10,000 candies!
"It's okay. Hang in there a bit longer—fighting!"
Honestly, it felt kinda generic, but that's the best I could manage.
Lulu, still sniffling, perked up at the 10,000 candies and replied in her hiccuppy voice.
"Hng... Y-Yeah... F-Fighting... Hic..."
How is even her "fighting" this cute? Definitely clipping that.
As I thought that, I glanced at the chat...
These oblivious idiots always blowing my cover.
Don't out me on stream—it doesn't help. Shut up already.
Luckily, neither Lulu nor the other viewers bit on their bait.
Instead, my dono kicked off a quick fundraising break where she steadied herself and racked up more superchats and comfort.
Thus consoled, Lulu...
"Eekyaaa!!"
"Kyaaaaa!!"
"Mooommm..."
"Please, just spare me, pleeease!!"
...Died another four times before finally reaching the ending.
In the game's finale, the protagonist escaped the horror mansion. Watching it, Lulu boasted with a mix of rage and pride.
"Wasn't nice meeting you, and let's never meet again. Scary demon...! ...Uh, b-but for me, it was, y'know, easy...! Yeah...!"
Ridiculous. After bawling during that last chase, her bluffing had the chat flooded with question marks.
I was one of them.
This scene's getting clipped for sure, I vowed.
Hell, my next video could be a "Screaming Lulu Compilation."
After some pre-end chit-chat with viewers, Lulu delivered her sign-off in her soft, cutesy voice.
"Alright, Lulu Squad, hope you enjoyed today's stream. I'm off~"
"Lulu bby! See you in your dreams tonight~ My little sacrifices~"
No amount of cuteness could hide the cringe in that outro. With that, Lulu's stream ended...
"Now it's my time."
Clipper work hours.
Current time: 2 a.m. Downloading and rough cuts would take an hour, subs and tweaks another, then upload and crash...
"...Guess it's three and a half hours of sleep again."
Spot on. I'd wrap by 5.
Assuming the edit finished smoothly—this cursed software crashes and it'd drag on.
My one consolation: School's a three-minute walk, so waking up ten minutes before is enough to dodge tardies.
By some miracle, no crashes, I finished editing, queued the upload, and passed out...
"I'm off!!!"
Next thing I knew, it was time to head to school.
I'd barely avoided being late again, but my brain was still foggy.
"First period's Korean... Maybe I can nap through it...?"
Mulling a hallway power nap, I locked eyes with someone.
Long black hair neatly tied in a ponytail—our school's top model student and hands-down the prettiest girl in our grade.
My oldest friend... and my childhood friend.
Now reduced to this awkwardly distant "friend from back then."
Im Rua.
She gave a light nod on eye contact, and I nodded slowly back.
The stellar student everyone loved... and me, the loner group reject who sucked at studying.
We were worlds apart. This awkward nod was the end of our connection.
...That's what I'd thought.