Let's Get Money for Streaming Gear... Wait, I'm Screwed?
Internet streaming.
Spelled out: internet broadcasting.
A red ocean where getting popular is hard and succeeding is even harder—but if you do make it, it's a beautiful place where you can basically print money with ease.
That's how I see internet streaming.
Normally, success would be like plucking stars from the sky. But with this broken, overpowered body of mine? Success is basically a done deal.
"A method to obtain Jeong-gi without going outside… The world truly has changed."
"Listening to you talk, you really are a fossil. Your tail's getting in the way—move it over there, will you?"
"Is this not your tail? Mine are not that dirty yellow like yours. They are pure white, like untainted snow."
"…Having this many tails is seriously inconvenient. Is there no way to hide them? I can't even go outside because of these things."
"Judging by the filthy state of this room, it seems you have not gone outside in quite some time. And yet you place the blame elsewhere."
"I was planning to clean it up today or tomorrow. I do clean once a month, you know."
"…Your sense of common sense differs from mine. In this era, is cleaning once a month the custom?"
I turned my head away, dodging the question as she asked it with a furrowed brow.
"Just tell me how to hide the tails and ears. Don't ask weird questions."
"To you, not cleaning is what is strange, is it not?"
"Shut up. I'll just call a cleaner if I need to."
"You would greet a cleaner looking like that? Pfft. What a jester you are."
"…Stop changing the subject. If you don't answer this time, it's mutual destruction. You know full well who's in charge here, right?"
I growled a warning, and the Fox God cleared her throat once before beginning to explain.
"The method is simple. Gather Jeong-gi, and if you can use a more perfect Transformation Magic, you will be able to hide them. If you steadily siphon Jeong-gi from over ten thousand people for roughly one hundred days, you should be able to conceal your ears and tails."
"That's insane. You're basically telling me to collect Jeong-gi from at least a million people."
"Put another way—with a hundred thousand people it would take about ten days, and with a million, a single day would suffice."
A million people. Not ten thousand—a million?
"Haha. This is truly fucked. Maybe just dying wouldn't be so bad? If I cleanly cease to exist, there won't even be a corpse left, right?"
"…Did you not say that this 'streaming' method or whatever would make it possible? Simply begin that at once…"
"I don't have equipment. I don't have money. How am I supposed to start? You really are a hopeless fox bitch."
I kept berating her with a sigh, and she grew despondent, shuffling over to the wall and quietly sniffling.
"…I am sorry. I was far too reckless. Having been sealed for so long, it seems my judgment has grown quite clouded."
"Don't cry, you idiot! What am I supposed to do if you cry over there?"
"Hic… It is all this one's fault. I needlessly clung to you, and now we walk the path of annihilation together. I am truly… truly sorry…"
"I said don't cry! If you cry there, that makes me the trash! I'm already a miserable dog bastard—becoming trash on top of that is a bit much, don't you think?"
"Waaaaaah…."
…It got worse?
How am I supposed to console her?
I've only ever seen women cry on beds. I've never seen one clinging to a wall and bawling like that.
"I'm going crazy. Hey, cut it out already. If you don't stop, we're really dying together, got it?"
"Hic… Sniff… I spent hundreds of years alone… Stuck in an uncomfortable position, unable to move, for hundreds of years!!!"
"Is that my problem?"
"An Apostle who cannot even offer comfort, toying with the life of the god she serves… Waaaaah…"
I'm going insane.
If the volume were lower, maybe. But her voice is so powerful my brain is vibrating.
Eventually, dizzy from her wailing, I contacted a friend on my phone and said:
"Haa… Just wait a bit. There's one method."
"A method…? Did you not say there was no method earlier?"
"It's a method I really don't want to use. I'd have to debase myself for no good reason."
Because to buy streaming equipment, I'd have to borrow money.
I could earn money right away if I wanted—but there's a limit to how much I can make at once.
"I really didn't want to borrow if I could help it. This guy is so stupidly nice that borrowing from him is actually more burdensome."
Berating myself under my breath, I fired off a message to my closest friend.
Staring at my friend's last message, I tossed my phone onto the bed.
"How does every situation only ever go the worst possible way? Life is fucking bullshit."
"…Has something unfortunate occurred? If it is within this one's power to help, I shall."
"This appearance—you can't turn me back to normal even for a little while, right? Ten minutes. No, five minutes would be enough."
"If you had sufficient Yoreok and Jeong-gi, it would be possible. But as things stand…"
"So that's a no. Hoo. Fine. Better to take the beating early than wait for it later."
Whether that guy would even believe I'd transformed into this insanely hot body was another question entirely.
Normally when something like this happens, listing off your dark history is supposed to make them believe you—but he's so suspicious by nature that nothing short of something massive would convince him.
"How am I supposed to make him believe I turned into this?"
"Hmm. This one has an excellent idea."
"An excellent idea, huh. Let's hear it."
I looked at the Fox God with full curiosity, and she began explaining with a suddenly serious face.
"Since ancient times, it has been said that persuasion is best done slowly, with time and sincerity, step by step."
"That's true enough. Even the hardest stone crumbles under constant dripping water."
"You understand well. Then when the fellow comes to find you, if you simply invest enough time and sincerity, will the matter not resolve itself?"
"…You're not thinking what I think you're thinking, right?"
"And what would that be? If persuasion fails, then one must persuade by force. Lock him up and apply effort until he is convinced—there is nothing impossible about it."
"That's a crime, you lunatic. What kind of life did you even live before you got sealed?"
I tried to sort out my spinning thoughts as I questioned her, and she answered in a calm voice.
"Did I not tell you? I brought an entire nation to ruin. To this one it was but a fleeting moment—but I lived a life of wealth and glory, reigning above all others."
"So basically your personality is garbage. No wonder kidnapping and false imprisonment come out of your mouth so easily."
"In the place this one lived, such things were the norm. Do not scold me overmuch."
If I said anything else unpleasant to her now that she was gloomy again, I'd probably get the same sonic assault as before—so I walked over to my computer desk and pulled a tablet out of the drawer.
"…What is that pitch-black thing?"
"This? I pulled it out to draw. I need emergency cash, so even the stuff I don't feel like doing has to get done."
"Ohh. So you were a scribbler? Are you any good?"
"Good enough to make a living. That's how I can stay cooped up at home like this."
If it weren't for having to drain Jeong-gi from other people, I could've just drawn pictures and lived day to day like a normal person.
If it weren't for that goddamn Jeong-gi, I never would've had to show my face to anyone.
Grumbling, I posted on a community site I frequented often.