Recommendation Ticket
A birthday was one of the most important days in a streamer's life.
It was practically the only day of the year you could legally rake in donations without anyone batting an eye. And unlike other event days, you didn't even have to prepare anything special. It was a day devoted entirely to receiving congratulations from your fans. Even the ones who normally kept their wallets shut tight would gladly open them on that day.
And yet I'd completely forgotten about this critical occasion until very recently.
Why? Don't blame me — go yell at that Ju-ttak bastard who dumped regression and a full TS package on me out of nowhere. How was I supposed to remember a birthday that suddenly wasn't mine anymore?
I'd had reason to check my wallet recently, and only then, staring at my resident registration card for the first time in ages, did I realize that Seo Min-ah's birthday was January 25th.
Whew. I almost let a massive event like this just slip by.
While I was at it, I asked the crew members about their birthdays too. The next closest after mine was Mayo's on March 19th.
Does that mean this kid's about to get her own resident registration card?
After that came Lucy's on July 5th. And last, Miho on September 19th!
Lined up like that, it almost felt like we had one person for each season.
My viewers, out here slandering me again today.
Just wait. I'll remember every single one of you who doesn't drop birthday Candy, and I'll ban the whole lot of you that day.
"Uh... Seo-a. I'm really, really sorry, but if you're not too busy, could you maybe give me my gear back?"
Right on cue, the perfect punching bag arrived. I barked at Oh Yeong-jun, who was hovering awkwardly behind me, reading the room.
"Motorcycle dance. Right now."
"Huh?"
"If you don't start within one minute, you're not getting your gear back!"
"O-okay, okay. I'll do it. Doing it right now."
Oh Yeong-jun made a miserable face, regretting ever walking into the wrong moment.
As promised, I gifted the V-Live Company staff a full day of free time. They'd worked hard enough and delivered results to match — they deserved at least that much.
Part of me wanted to rest alongside them, but I still planned to stream without fail. If nobody logged into Rena World, the V-Live Company fans would get bored.
That was the plan when I went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, though, my mouth was bone-dry and my eye sockets throbbed — my condition was clearly not normal. I dragged myself upright and pressed a hand to my forehead. It was burning hot. Definitely a fever.
I really have been pushing myself lately. Yesterday especially was the peak.
That hour-plus bloodbath against O-Wang Company still made my head spin just thinking about it. Was this the aftermath? The weather was turning properly cold, and with my stamina already depleted, it looked like I'd caught a full-blown cold.
Not intentional, but since it's come to this, I should take a day off too.
Even streaming ambition and the responsibility of being crew leader had to take a back seat to health. I still had plenty of broadcasting career left ahead of me.
I logged in on my phone and immediately posted a rest-day notice.
Still, my streaming stamina really has improved a lot. On day one, even four or five hours left my throat raw.
Compared to that first day, the change was night and day. These days I was averaging over eight hours of stream every single day. I felt pretty proud of myself.
Basking in that satisfaction, I got up, washed with warm water, and headed to the nearest convenience store. Every fiber of my being wanted to just crawl back into bed, but times like these were exactly when you had to force down food and medicine. I bought porridge and cold medicine, came home, took everything immediately, and collapsed back into bed with my eyes shut.
"Ugh..."
How much time had passed? The wall clock ticked steadily away. When I opened my eyes again, the day had already gone dark.
Aigoo. I'm screwed.
Once your day-night cycle flipped like this, getting it back on track was a nightmare.
No — think positive! Since it's come to this, the second I recover, I'm slamming a twenty-four-hour stream.
It was homework I had to do eventually anyway. And streaming for twenty-four hours straight would naturally force my messed-up sleep schedule back to normal.
Hmm. Everyone's quiet.
No urgent messages had come in while I was out. Relieved, I fished out my phone and, for the first time in a while, logged into Pan-beo-gal. Normally I just lurked on FM Community, but every so often you craved that hometown flavor.
I'm just sitting there and she keeps baiting me to spin the roulette
So I spin it a little and she starts stuffing prizes into my sleeve
She likes me, right?
She wants to date me so she gave me a VRChat date ticket
She wants to see me for 24 hours so she gave me a 24-hour stream ticket
Plus a handwritten letter and morning calls
She's already thinking about marriage, right?
I'm a little uncomfortable with how fast this is moving though
I hope Seo-a understands how I feel
"Is this V-Chairman guy actually watching my streams?"
Before the regression, he'd been a famous Pan-beo-gal regular known for his compulsive-liar persona. Claimed he was the "chairman" of nearly ten different streamers as his whole bit. He was entertaining enough that I'd always replied to his comments and had a good time with it.
But now he's watching my streams? That just makes me more curious about who he really is.
Still, I'd put that curiosity away. Viewers' Red Pills had to be protected too.
Muyo hit 10k viewers — third among all virtuals
Elsa and Seol Pyo-woo are about to catch Kim Hak-do's runoff numbers too
Other fandoms that had been bottling up resentment toward Decrescendo for a long time were starting to show signs of revving their engines. Meaning they were about to put on masks, pretend to be Elsa and Seol Pyo-woo fans, and kick off a good old girl-vs-girl war.
Pan-beo-gal at least had moderation, so it stayed relatively civil. But in the darker galleries, there was zero filter. Pure parental insults and sexual harassment posts plastered wall to wall.
People like that deserve a lawsuit to the face, every last one of them.
It was a shame how hard that was to actually pull off. The one silver lining was that mentions of me in those dark galleries had dropped off significantly lately. A new "toy" had shown up for them to play with, and their attention had shifted.
Said she doesn't think applying to both is the move, so she's only gonna leave an application comment on one of them — which one should I recommend?
Honestly if she can just get accepted it should be Rena World no question
But they take so few people the odds are...
A gallery user's info comment — supposedly overheard in Rena-ttang's stream — drew a flood of attention. It was information with that kind of impact. For small-time virtual streamers right now, Rena World was the dream gateway, and landing even a single recommendation ticket opportunity meant that dream could come true.
Right. That definitely happened before the regression too.
Each company head had been given a recommendation ticket. And that fact probably wouldn't be any different this time around either.
Important information I hadn't even been thinking about. Naturally, candidates for recommendation started floating up in my mind.
Really, that streamer? Purely in terms of Minecraft skill, they're the best... but still.
It might turn into a dangerous gamble.
I set down my phone, got up from bed, and sat in front of the computer. Cold or no cold, it seemed I simply wasn't the type who could rest easy.