First Day Off

"Hoo……."

One way or another, I'd survived the week. A lot had happened. From the debut stream on day one, to verifying under the Yoon-seo Law on day two, all the way through the first collab stream on day three — it had been pure dopamine broadcasting, packed wall-to-wall with aggro. Thanks to that, I'd become a streamer whose name spread in a short enough span to rank among the notable ones even in Pangea TV's history.

But for every action, there was an equal and opposite reaction. I'd succeeded in growing my scale, sure — and naturally, a whole swarm of people who could fairly be called toxic had latched on. Day three's stream had been the decisive one. Fans of the big-agency streamers I hadn't chosen. For now they had no real pretext, so they kept their masks on — but the moment I slipped up, they'd casually toss stones with the rest, murmuring that they'd known it all along.

What, just because they didn't get picked? They'd go that far?

Amazingly enough, streaming viewers would do that and more. The reason? Pure spite. Call it the crime of wounded feelings, if you wanted a nicer name. It cost them nothing, after all. Just sit at a computer and tap a keyboard. And there were endless other ways they could screw me over.

Say, for example, Baek-gu posted a recruitment thread for a major content collab. The content looked so good I wanted in, so I left a comment — and then they'd only hit up on every streamer's comment except mine. Or if the recruitment happened live, they'd start gently steering the chat.

"There's this Seo-a person who's been pretty hot lately. Want to try that new multiplayer game with her?"

Sound like exaggeration?

Amazingly enough, these were things I'd actually seen, heard, and lived through before the regression. Of course, one little misstep wouldn't trigger that level of response right away — but stack enough of them, and it would come fast.

Can't be helped. You can't be loved by everyone. All you can do is pick the better option…….

The ones I'd chosen were Wang-ko, Jamst, and Park Bong-sik — and thanks to that, the past two days of streaming had still pulled in a solid haul of Candy donations. Big-agency streamers' fans were rock-solid about that trickle-down culture, if nothing else.

The aggro was slowly bleeding off and the viewer counts were dropping, but it was a natural phenomenon, so I didn't pay it much mind. The real core was the total Candy I'd received streaming this week.

Thirty-eight thousand seven hundred fifty-one in all.

If I filed a cash-out request right now, the standard-tier streamer conversion rate of sixty percent would put two million three hundred twenty-five thousand sixty won in my hands.

Tax problems are next year's me's problem. Hoo! Still, with this much money I can put out the immediate fires.

There was a lot to prepare in advance for October's big event. And for that preparation, I needed money. It might look money-grubbing, but all of it was necessary for the growth of the stream — and for the big picture I was drawing.

Even setting that aside, honestly, if there's anyone who hates money, step forward. There are so many places to spend it. Just having cash would let me move out of this place, and how great would that be.

I'd managed the soundproofing work one way or another, but the building itself was old, and I'd cheaped out with a budget-tier job, so there were plenty of shaky spots. What if someone complained about noise through the floor? For now I was keeping the stream early and wrapping before ten p.m., but to secure more flexible hours down the line, a move was necessary. To a place better suited for focusing on streaming, that is.

I need to buy full-body tracking gear too, and factoring in pay for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the art team…….

Honestly, if you ran it hard, almost no field ate money like virtual streaming. Everything was built on specialized technical work, so costs naturally piled up. Ah — of course, that excluded the types who just grabbed a free avatar in a booth and scammed people with "I'm a virtual streamer too."

Speaking of which, Lucy still hasn't really reacted. With that much data confirmed, you'd think she'd at least get curious.

Viewer numbers and Candy revenue that a no-name streamer could barely imagine. I'd shown Lucy the proof and pitched the platform switch, but there hadn't been any particularly active response. That left me disappointed, and a little impatient. Moving sooner was pure gain no matter how you sliced it — but giving Lucy that kind of certainty was hard.

Looking at the Discord messages we'd traded, Lucy seemed to be seriously short on confidence. Separate from congratulating me on the stream taking off, there was zero sense of expectation that she herself could switch over and do well.

Frustrating as it was, cases like Lucy — people who just couldn't easily find the courage — were common. Even before the regression, when Rabbit TV's resolution downgrade hit — the 720p incident — only a handful of virtual streamers made the call and switched right away. After that, Pangea TV's first virtual idol audition kicked off the first major wave of transfers, and once Rena World — that once-in-a-generation content — blew up and the virtual boom began, the real transfer season opened.

Unfortunately, Lucy had switched only after the audition boom ended and Rena World's recruitment had already closed, and she'd had to walk a hard, thorny road. Timing is everything in life. How much had I ached over that before the regression? If only Lucy had entered the audition and built name recognition. Or even after that — if she'd just been able to get into Rena World. In the end Lucy had chosen to quit streaming, and all of it had ended as empty, meaningless daydreams.

It's different now. Not imagination — I can make it real.

I steeled myself again. One way or another, I would get Lucy transferred before the virtual idol audition opened. Starting today, I'd stick to her on Discord more blatantly — and more annoyingly — than ever.

And I myself needed to grow further. To give Lucy faith and be of real help, I had to become someone big in the streaming world first. For that, a lot of things were necessary. Streaming ability itself needed growth, and I needed to earn more money than now — for gear, software, content funding, all of it.

"It's already three."

For the time being, I'd keep every Friday as a regular day off. There was plenty to handle outside of streaming, and for the sake of my throat's condition, roughly one rest day a week was essential.

Better get out before I'm late.

The problem was that even on that rest day, I was still doing vocal training for the upcoming audition. Still, if I had to make an excuse, it was training aimed at finishing two songs over two months, just as originally contracted. With room in both the timeline and the difficulty, the intensity of the lessons was manageable, and we proceeded while carefully checking my condition, so it wasn't anything that would push me too ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hard.

By the way, when is Ssa-yo planning to make the announcement? I know the audition is around mid-October, but beyond that I don't know much.

Before the regression, I'd been Lucy's viewer. Which meant I'd only started watching Pangea TV streams from early '23, after Lucy transferred. The audition was famous enough in Pangea TV's virtual scene that I'd picked up related info later, but even that was just the broad strokes — I didn't know the details.

There should be some kind of reaction by early October. That was around when the 720p virtuals started transferring, too.

Barely two weeks left until October. The biggest inflection point I'd face after the regression. The sound of my heartbeat grew louder and louder.