Year-End Awards Ceremony (2)
Once all the invited guests had taken their seats, the camera slowly swept across the glittering interior of the awards hall.
Judging by the luxurious décor and sheer scale of the place, it genuinely felt like watching a year-end awards show on terrestrial television.
"Ohhh! It's starting."
"Mayo's been holding it in forever, she has. By now she could've gotten three solo queue games, she could."
"Whoa! This is actually insane!"
A gasp of pure admiration slipped out of me before I could stop it.
The special stage that kicked off Part One of the awards ceremony.
To my astonishment, an entire orchestra appeared on stage.
Scrolling across the bottom of the screen were the nicknames of the conductor, the violinists, the viola players, the cellists, the double bassists, the flutists, the trumpeters, the horn players, the oboists, the timpani player, the pianist — every last one of them a streamer who broadcast on Pangea TV.
"It's magnificent."
"It seriously looks like a concert you'd pay real money to go see."
The music felt familiar, and then it clicked — it was the Avengers movie OST.
A pulse-pounding, heart-racing sound that made your chest tighten.
Under the conductor's dazzling hand movements, the instruments surged and swelled like waves.
I sat there for a moment, dazed and thoroughly moved — until one chat message dragged me back to cold, hard reality.
"……."
Was this the cold face of capitalist society?
In any case, I set the vanished sense of wonder aside as the real curtain rose on Part One.
Hosting duties for Part One fell to streamers Kim Ino and Dananyang.
Dananyang, especially, was a welcome face — a fellow resident of Rena World.
"Then would you mind explaining today's award selection criteria for us, Nyang-ssi?"
"Of course. I'd like to reiterate that today's recipients are selected based on rigorous standards — this year's broadcast data, user voting, content metrics, and more."
"Wow, I'm genuinely looking forward to this. Who will the winners be? First up is the Talk category. Presenting the award will be Lee Wonsu, Head of the Social Media Business Division, and streamer Park Arin."
The nominees scrolled by in a long list, and a short while later the winner was announced.
After receiving the plaque and a congratulatory bouquet, came the emotional acceptance speech.
"Mayo was expecting something special, but this is basically the same scene you see on TV every year — so boring, it is. At this rate Mayo just wants to queue solo rank, she does."
"Ahem! Mayo, what on earth are you saying? To the admins and the CEO of Pangea TV: that statement is solely the independent thought and remark of streamer 'Mayo' and has absolutely nothing to do with the V-Live crew."
I scrambled to clamp Mayo's mouth shut in a panic, but honestly my own feelings weren't all that different.
Most of the nominees were unfamiliar streamers whose faces I didn't even know, so it was hard to get invested.
And it struck me all over again.
On Pangea TV, virtual streaming was still a truly alien field.
Part One had already been going for about thirty minutes, and there hadn't been a single mention of anything virtual-related.
Still, next year will be different. The 720p Incident happened in October, so it's only been two months… but by next year's awards ceremony, Rena World's results will be properly reflected. The virtual pie will be a lot bigger too.
Starting in 2023, a real virtual culture would take root on Pangea TV.
No more of those stares like we were outsiders.
In the meantime, a parade of winners crossed the stage — Visible Radio, sports commentary, travel and leisure, and countless others.
Four or five people received awards in each category, and watching the pure gold badges handed out alongside the plaques, Miho practically drooled.
"I wonder how many don that thing is worth."
IOnlyWatchVirtuals has been muted for 5 minutes.
"Only Mayo is allowed to tease Unnie Miho, she is. No saying mean things like she needs to find someone before getting a wedding ring — nono, it is."
"Mayo, you keep fooling around and I might just flip your avatar's skirt up, you got that? You know this is your stream right now, don't you? If PangPol27 shows up and you eat a penalty, you think you're making Best Streamer next month?"
"Mayo was completely in the wrong, she was. Actually, Unnie Seo-a secretly told her to say it from behind the scenes, she did."
"……."
While we bickered back and forth, the broadcast passed through a short intermission and rolled into Part Two of the awards ceremony.
At last, a virtual made their first appearance.
The star of the moment was none other than Hiyori, the youngest member of the Pocotin crew.
It was a video recapping everything that had happened on Pangea TV in 2022.
The content with the highest data metrics.
Introductions to the streamer who ranked number one in viewership, the streamer who ranked number one in search volume, and so on.
Her pronunciation was clean, her voice clear and free of mistakes — you could tell how much care had gone into producing the video.
But in that same moment, a flood of belittling chat messages poured into the official broadcast.
There were a few supportive messages here and there — probably from virtual fans — but roughly sixty percent of the chat was either put off by virtuals or outright putting them down.
It hit me all over again.
Pangea TV's deep-rooted hatred of no-cam streamers.
This is exactly why I keep saying it — Rena World really was a savior.
No matter how fast the streaming scene's trends and currents shifted, completely flipping the perception of virtuals in a mere half year was an absolutely monumental achievement.
If the image hadn't been improved during this window, the virtuals who later decided to transfer platforms would have prioritized other sites first — and even by 2025, Pangea TV's virtual scene might still have been limping along.
DogThiefEomJunyeong has been forcibly removed.
Following Hiyori's video came Mercury's — formerly Rena Universe — congratulatory performance for the year-end awards.
A large screen at the front of the stage played the performance video they'd prepared specially for today.
But once again, the flood of criticism and harsh reviews didn't let up.
Thinking about how Mercury's remaining fans had been so happy just to be invited to perform at the year-end awards made my own chest ache.
But I have to face it. This is the reality virtuals on Pangea TV are living in, in 2022.
Only when you can look squarely at the realities you'd rather turn away from do solutions start to appear.
Right. Even this heavy reality — someday, we'd be able to change it.
"That's a really cool congratulatory performance video. Must've taken a lot of work to make."
"Yeah. And it's the first virtual stage ever shown on an official broadcast."
Everyone must have seen the chat pouring into the official stream — their voices and their energy both felt a little deflated.
I understood.
Even knowing what came after Rena World, I felt momentarily crushed myself. How could anyone stay composed while facing that much malice head-on?
Still, for the viewers who liked us, we had to push through.
Next up was Part Three — the Grand Prize segment of the awards.
Appearing as host was Choi Min, who had co-hosted the opening talk with Rena-ttang.
It was a truly ironic situation.
Mercury — formerly Rena Universe — closing out the end of Part Two, and Rena-ttang appearing as the host to open Part Three.
"Ahem, I'm gonna step away for a bit."
"Sure. I need to grab some water anyway."
Miho covered for me with perfect timing, so I was able to slip out of the Discord channel naturally.
About five minutes later, a call came in from the Pangea TV operations side.
"Seo-a-nim, are you ready?"
"Yes. I'm ready. Hoo……."
"Ahaha, are you nervous? No need to overthink it — just give your acceptance remarks with a light heart."
"Yes, sir!"
The call I'd received from Pangea TV a few days earlier.
Beyond the MCN contract details, there had been one other important piece of news.
The happy news that I would be receiving a special award at today's year-end ceremony.
"You could even say this award is more meaningful than the Grand Prize. It's an award you can only receive in your debut year. The Rookie of the Year Award. Presenting it will be Seo Su-il, CEO of Pangea TV."
A booming voice carried through the speakers.
One by one, the five streamers selected as this year's rookies began to be revealed.
And, astonishingly, my name was called at the very end of the list.
Having debuted more than a month earlier than the other virtuals and stacked up broadcast data had paid off.
One after another, they delivered their acceptance speeches in order.
And then, last of all.
My turn — the only virtual award recipient at this year's ceremony.
What was I supposed to say?
I looked down at the remarks I'd prepared in advance and slowly opened my mouth.
The people I was grateful to.
Our crew members.
The streamers I'd been connected with through broadcasting.
Once I'd said all that, the prepared content was finished.
Right. All that was left was to wrap it up with a thank-you.
"…… Everyone. Please don't hate us so much."
That day, I was far too impulsive.
"Hiyori earlier, and the Mercury members' videos. Those are all the results of hard work and careful preparation."
I thought of Mercury's fans, who had been so happy to get a congratulatory performance opportunity for once, even as their crew stood on the brink of disappearing.
"Virtuals are people too. We're not just some graphic scraps. We're the same streamers who laugh and talk and share pain with our fans…… I'm sorry. And thank you for the Rookie of the Year Award. This has been virtual streamer Seo-a."
A brief silence — then the host's hurried applause breaking through it.
Did I… just cause a scene?