145. 2.7 Million Views
145. 2.7 Million Views
***
Slurp.
With the smoothie straw still in her mouth, Serin had been watching a BigCatTube video with interest when she suddenly remembered that her two editors had gone out for a company dinner yesterday.
"Oh, right. I need to check RinTube too."
She'd heard that Soyul had edited and uploaded the second RinTube video, but she hadn't checked it yet.
She'd been too busy preparing for the scrim schedule she had coming up, and with so many other things to worry about, she hadn't had the time.
Tap tap.
So she searched "RinTube" on NewTube, and at the very top, a video made Serin blink.
"What's with this thumbnail?"
Large pale-pink text over a black background.
[You're only looking at me.]
The ominous thumbnail and the video title stirred a sudden sense of déjà vu in Serin.
For some reason, the phrase felt familiar.
Her eyes twitching faintly as she stared at the loaded title and thumbnail text, Serin clicked the video.
The NewTube video played its signature intro for a moment, and then a silver-haired woman's face filled the screen.
"...No way."
The instant she saw the silver-haired woman on screen, Serin obviously knew it was her, but she flinched at the voice that followed even more.
—Everyone... just look at me.
At the sight of the woman on screen speaking in a soft, whisper-like voice, Serin bit her lip hard and let out a sigh.
"No..."
Overwhelmed by a feeling she couldn't even begin to describe, Serin just muttered blankly, unable to continue.
—Viewers... keep your eyes only on me. Okay?
As the soft voice continued, Serin barely swallowed the sigh that kept trying to escape, grabbed the beret she was wearing, and yanked it down.
"......"
But her face wasn't hidden.
Her deeply furrowed eyes.
Her red lips pressed tightly shut.
Her pale hand clutching the black beret as if trying to cover her face.
Through it all, disheveled silver hair fell messily across Serin's face.
And while the real Serin's face twisted sharply in real time, the other Serin on the monitor was still speaking with a faint smile.
—Talk only about me. About my actions. Talk only about how I react. Even now, I...
The woman whispering in that soft voice looked like she was playfully craving attention.
Then, just before finishing her last sentence, she deliberately cut herself off, as if leaving it unheard, and the video looped back to the beginning of that day.
"..."
Biting her lip hard enough to draw blood, Serin glared at the video with narrowed eyes, then suddenly scrolled down to check the view count.
2,714,423 views.
└ 32K likes 1.6K dislikes
The video had only been up for a few days, and it was already approaching 2.7 million views. Serin stared blankly at the number for about five seconds.
Slide.
With half-resigned eyes, Serin finally lowered the hand clutching the beret back to her side.
"...Ugh."
A suppressed groan escaped through her tightly bitten lips, as if she couldn't bring herself to make a sound.
Then she scrolled down and checked the comments on the video.
*
————
[Honestly, does it even matter what Rin is like in real life? If what we're seeing right now is this pretty, isn't that enough?]
6.2K likes
▽ View 72 replies
[Shocking revelation that Another World wasn't actually a game...! This is just watching celebrities in virtual reality lol lol lol]
4.1K likes
▽ View 16 replies
[How is every single thing she says and does so natural? Is she really a character? You're killing me...]
1.5K likes
▽ View 43 replies
[Rin told me to watch, so I'll watch. Yep, I'll keep watching...... I really watch every single day without missing one T_T T_T T_T Ah, seriously, how do you all stop watching this?]
1.2K likes
▽ View 47 replies
[Everyone keeps saying Rin, Rin... now I see there was a real reason. I watched like I was possessed.]
1.0K likes
▽ View 162 replies
......
————
*
As she looked at the comments on the video, Serin ended up covering her face with her hands without realizing it.
She was sure she'd deleted the VOD from that day, so how had it ended up as a NewTube video? Her head was spinning, but she remembered who had edited this video. It was Soyul.
"Seriously. No... why would she even go through all of this?"
Hayoon and Soyul always watched all of my streams. But I'd never imagined they were even checking VODs I'd deleted.
I'd only ever sent them footage myself on days like today, when it was something like a scrim that couldn't be released publicly, so even I hadn't realized it.
That my editors watched everything I did on stream and used it as material for NewTube videos.
Right, so... there was nothing strange about a video like this going up.
Serin's face flushed red, as if it were about to burst.
Tap.
She turned on her phone screen and hesitated for a moment.
But in the end, she had no choice but to put the phone back down.
"Ah, what could I even say at this point..."
The video had been up for days, and the view count had already soared past two million.
In other words, everyone who was going to see it had already seen it.
It was too late to blame Soyul now, and she couldn't blame her anyway.
From Soyul's perspective, she must have thought this was worth uploading to NewTube, so she'd edited and posted it. I couldn't exactly turn around now and demand to know why she'd uploaded something like this.
"Ugh..."
Covering her face and groaning quietly, Serin felt more and more that this situation was hopeless.
There was a saying that spilled water couldn't be gathered back up.
But this was beyond that—it was like pouring a bucket of water into the sea and then being told to scoop it back out.
"...So that's why she said thank you?"
She suddenly wondered if Soyul's thanks had been about this video.
And without knowing any of that, I'd even told Soyul that if she had any worries or anything she wanted to say, she could tell me without hesitation, because her message had seemed so loaded.
She genuinely wished she could take those words back. Part of her really wanted to seriously ask why she'd uploaded this video.
But I'd already talked as if I'd accept whatever Soyul had to say. If I turned around now and blamed her for uploading a video like this... no matter how I looked at it, I could only blame myself for acting that way.
"Ah..."
Letting out a sigh, Serin endured the self-loathing that kept rising all the way to the top of her head.
BaTalk!
Park Soyul.
[I'll keep working hard!]
Serin stared blankly at the message... then moved her hands.
Me.
[Yes, I'll look forward to it.]
She sent the reply calmly while slowly composing her heated face.
'...I have to endure it.'
As a NewTuber, this level of embarrassment might not even be much.
Right—there were plenty of NewTubers who shamelessly did far more extreme reactions and stunts. Compared to that, this was... practically nothing.
The NewTube video Soyul had worked hard on.
The views were great, and the comments and likes were overwhelmingly positive. The response was far better than the first video Hayoon had worked on, so there was nothing more to say.
"If anything... I should be... complimenting her."
Serin kept reading the comments to steel herself, when a familiar cat icon suddenly caught her eye.
*
————
[Everyone keeps saying Rin, Rin... now I see there was a real reason. I watched like I was possessed.]
1.0K likes
∨ View 162 replies
————
*
"Big Cat's here too?"
I'd been watching Big Cat's NewTube videos just moments ago. Finding Big Cat's comment on my own video felt strange.
Even if his views had plummeted recently, Big Cat was still a NewTuber with a million subscribers. And there were a ton of replies, so she clicked to see what people had said. The moment the replies unfolded, Serin's eyes went wide.
"Why are there so many hate comments?"
***
"Whoa. What's with these views?"
Yeji muttered in amazement as she looked at her phone.
She'd clicked on a recommended NewTube video without thinking, but out of habit she checked the view count and couldn't help being surprised.
The video had only been up for a little over two days and had already passed two million views.
A silver-haired woman with an unreal appearance was acting and speaking in the most playfully charming way, and even Yeji found her gaze drawn to her as if spellbound.
"Minseok, hey, do you know RinTube?"
Turning her head, Yeji looked at Minseok, who was cooking, and asked.
Minseok usually said he knew almost nothing about NewTubers, so she wondered if he might know this one.
"RinTube? Yeah, I know it. Why?"
"No, I just thought this person must be doing really well on NewTube."
"She's huge. There's probably no one bigger than Rin these days. Her Another World skills are Challenger-level, her voice is nice, and she's really pretty... Even you watch RinTube, Yeji, and you don't play Another World."
"Just... I mean, it just showed up in my recommendations."
Yeji answered awkwardly and looked at Minseok again.
He normally never said much about NewTube, so hearing him talk so enthusiastically was hard to get used to.
"Oh! Then you must have seen that video too, right? The 'You're only looking at me' one?"
Minseok recited the exact title of the video she was watching, and Yeji looked at him in amazement.
"You even remember the title?"
"How could I forget that? I watch it at least once a day. Isn't Rin seriously cute? The highlight is when she gets embarrassed at the end and turns off the cam. Seriously."
"Still... it's just a character from some virtual reality game, isn't it?"
"So what? She's really natural."
Seeing Minseok talk like a diehard fan left Yeji with mixed feelings.
It was absurd that people reacted this way to what was clearly just a character, but now that she was actually watching the video, she understood.
Someone this pretty was naturally going to draw your eyes.
Then Yeji suddenly remembered a customer.
A silver-haired woman wearing a black beret.
The vibe had been completely different from the video, but with the same silver hair, she'd thought of her for no real reason.
"Minseok, still, wasn't that silver-haired customer with the beret prettier?"
"Well... I don't know. I didn't get a good look. I'm always in the kitchen, so I never get the chance. Actually, about that—if there's another order, can I take it out this time?"
Minseok asked casually.
Yeji shook her head without a second thought.
"No?"