Tension Up

The waiting screen, same as always before a broadcast went live.

Against a pure white background, the word Loading floated near the bottom like a game login screen, with a rectangular gauge bar slowly filling beneath it. At the center of the frame, a cute little SD character bounced up and down, stomping on the letters.

Sunday, two in the afternoon. The exact hour when human beings most desperately wanted to watch a virtual stream.

Pangea TV's virtual board was drowning in aggro for what was practically the first-ever virtual collab content of its kind. Viewers flocked in like moths to a flame. One, two, three, four — the leading digits flipped so fast they eventually gained a whole new place value. Still just a waiting screen, and already over a thousand people had piled in.

A Sunday at two wasn't exactly an empty house — several mid-tier streamers were live — but the firepower of the virtual scene as of October 2022 was nothing to sneeze at.

Do this right. Don't mess up. Seo Minjun, you've got this.

My first attempt at collab content. I clenched both fists and murmured my original name from before the regression, for no particular reason.

Plenty of people put in the effort. Not everyone gets rewarded for it, though — and so they break, fold, and quietly disappear. That was the logic of a capitalist society. Your effort getting crushed and buried under someone else's greater effort or greater talent. I knew that pain far too well, and I had no intention of living through it again. That was why Seo Minjun had become Seo Min-ah.

Let's begin.

A single click of a button flipped the screen. The backdrop I'd prepared specially ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for today was designed to evoke an airport immigration checkpoint. I'd commissioned an artist specifically to pull as much of that airport atmosphere as possible into the final product. It had cost a decent chunk of money, but the result was worth every won.

This isn't a one-and-done bit. I'm planning to milk it for a long time, so the investment is justified.

The parade of virtual streamers transferring from Rabbit TV to Pangea TV wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Immigration Screening was the kind of content you could boil down like leftover bone broth and serve forever. There was a reason I'd chosen it for my first collab.

I hadn't stopped at the background. For today, I'd prepared an entirely new outfit — one of the classic male fantasies: a flight attendant uniform. Neatly tied-back black hair framed those signature red eyes, and a coral-blue scarf fluttered against an all-black formal suit, drawing every gaze in the room. The avatar that usually read as a pretty young girl suddenly felt strangely mature. A quick glance at chat confirmed the viewers were more than happy with today's look.

"Seo-ha, Seo-ha! Pangea TV's greatest virtual streamer, Seo-a, has arrived! You've all been waiting, right? Today, Seo-a stands before you entrusted with a truly monumental mission."

I tilted my head and gazed up at the ceiling with a faintly melancholic expression. Watching the avatar's face track mine in real time through the facial recognition tech never failed to draw a quiet sense of awe at how far the technology had come.

Unfortunately, for the sake of immersion, I was skipping the usual chat time today. I needed to come out swinging from the start. I launched into the speech with full theatrical passion.

"Respected native citizens of Pangea TV. The gathering we hold today is of the utmost gravity. As of October 2022, the global population of refugees and displaced persons has surpassed one hundred million. This is not someone else's problem. I myself have felt the aftershocks firsthand."

With a flourish of my raised fingertips, a neatly organized Excel file materialized in the air. Its contents were simple and concise.

"You can all see this, yes? These are the Candy donation trends on my stream over the past five days. Don't be alarmed. Watch how they steadily decline as the number of illegal immigrants rises."

"Illegal transfer students are stealing jobs from our citizens! And that's not all. We must thoroughly screen their ideologies as well. Do you have any idea how many crimes these people commit?"

Another flick of the fingers, and this time an edited image file appeared — none other than a clip from Choi Eun-bin and Sae-dal-bok's VRC stream. I'd gotten prior permission from both of them to use the footage as broadcast material, just in case of any issues.

"That — that shamelessly lewd outfit! Since when does a virtual streamer wear a swimsuit? This is a nineteen-plus broadcast! Back in my day, we dressed modestly and greeted every single viewer who walked in, you hear me? But these transfer students nowadays — just because they've got a decent figure, they strip down bare!"

"And so these illegal transfer students keep stealing jobs from upstanding citizens like myself — is it any wonder our unemployment rate is climbing and the economic indicators look terrible, hmm?"

"Ahem. Let's not spiral, people. Anyway — illegal transfer students have been causing all kinds of problems lately. But! You all have nothing to worry about. Why? Because I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠am here. Pangea TV's first pure-blooded virtual streamer! Pangea TV's majority shareholder! The very symbol of Pangea TV herself will personally crack down on these illegal transfer students!"

Whew. I'd been nervous, but so far it was going well. The chat energy was all-time — nearly on par with my debut stream. Dragging it out any longer risked killing the momentum, so I moved straight to calling in the guests.

"Then let us welcome the two prospective transfer students who have applied for immigration screening today. One moment, please!"

The screen flipped back to the waiting room. Ignoring the viewers howling about an ad break, I quickly grabbed the two virtual avatar captures shared over Discord and dragged them onto the broadcast PC. A sudden ta-da entrance hit harder than watching the setup process in real time. It was the little details like that which pulled viewers deeper in and left them impressed.

"Ta-da! First, on the right — transferring as of today…"

"I'm Lucy. It's nice to meet you all on Pangea TV."

A soft smile.

"And next, on the left — the one who snuck across the border three days ago…"

"Hey kids, how's it going. Unnie's Miho. The nine-tailed fox who's gonna grab you by the heart."

A playful lick of the lips.

Miho's avatar was built around a gumiho concept — pure white hair, red eyes, and a pair of small animal ears peeking out. A seductive beauty designed to match her persona… though, as chat had pointed out, the quality fell short when she stood next to the two of us. Couldn't be helped. Lucy's avatar and mine had both ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been crafted by Bebe-ttang, one of the three great artists of the scene.

"Then — with Seo-a hosting, and Lucy and Miho as our guests — Immigration Screening content starts… riiiight… nooooow!"

The tension shot through the roof. The stream swallowed me whole.