63. The Girl from the 11th Video
63. The Girl from the 11th Video
***
—Out of those, there are about eleven videos I'll be watching together with you all. Based on the advice I heard from Plea during yesterday's collab, I picked them according to my own standards, and exactly eleven made the first cut.
Hayoon, who had been watching the stream, flinched slightly at Serin's words.
Kim Hayoon. Her condition had deteriorated to the point where no one could honestly call it good.
She had practically pulled all-nighters, sleeping only about three hours over the past two days while continuously editing, revising, tearing apart and redoing videos, and after checking them over and over, if she still wasn't satisfied, she would scrap the entire video and start over—repeating this dozens of times.
Had she ever put this much effort into videos for her own NewTube channel? Over the past two days, Hayoon had literally poured everything she had into video editing in order to become the editor for a streamer called Rin.
"Will I be among the eleven..."
Watching Serin's stream, Hayoon muttered blankly.
The two hundred emails just mentioned.
Was it true that everyone thought alike? She'd assumed there wouldn't be many competitors since it had been less than two days, but there were more than she'd expected.
No—maybe she should be grateful it was only two hundred because it had been two days.
"Hoo."
Swallowing quietly, Hayoon steadied her breathing and calmed herself.
If someone asked whether she was satisfied with the result, honestly, Hayoon couldn't answer "yes."
Because she couldn't deny that it had ultimately been made under time pressure.
She'd sent the video before 1 p.m., thinking she couldn't send it too late, and now she was even worried about whether Rin had checked her email.
After that, she'd collapsed and slept for about three hours, then woken up in time for Serin's stream—that was the current situation.
......
—Ah, then I'll go grab some coffee before Part 2.
As Serin said that and left her seat, Hayoon realized that about forty minutes had already passed and Part 1 had ended.
Finally, the long-awaited time for the Part 2 editor-selection content.
As the time for selecting the RinTube editor approached, Hayoon's heart kept pounding even though she was just sitting there watching the stream.
"Finally..."
She murmured, lifting her cup to wet her throat.
She'd been up all night and hadn't eaten anything for twelve hours, but she felt no appetite at all.
Instead, her throat burned for no reason, and she'd lost count of how many glasses of water she'd already drunk.
Over the past forty minutes or so, she'd wondered whether her video was among the eleven. She was so curious she wanted to type in chat and ask, but she couldn't bring herself to send even a single message for fear of making a bad impression.
So she'd simply spent the time staring blankly at Serin's stream.
A rustling sound came through the mic, followed by the sound of a door closing.
—Ah, I've got my coffee. It's time for Part 2 now. Personally, I've been looking forward to this part the most today. Going through hundreds of emails, I realized how many people put so much passion into making and submitting videos, and I've also been waiting to see how you viewers would react when I showed the ones I liked on stream.
As Rin continued speaking in her gentle, pleasant voice, Hayoon found herself thinking even that was impressive.
How could someone only say things that were so pleasant to hear without ever grating on the ears? But maybe even that was a talent.
After all, this was someone who'd hit an average of ten thousand viewers within days of starting to stream. Trying to understand her through common sense felt foolish.
Hayoon had long since identified the points of success, the parts of Serin that drew people's attention, but she couldn't imitate them even if she tried.
Overwhelming Another World skill that had even beaten the rank 8 Challenger.
Her uniquely beautiful character—many people across various communities had tried to recreate it, but no one had managed to make a character with a charm similar to Rin's. And her natural, beautiful voice—Hayoon couldn't even think of imitating it.
On top of that, while maintaining thousands to around ten thousand viewers, Rin ran her stream at her own pace without the slightest sign of being intimidated.
"..."
Even when donations worth tens of thousands—or even millions—of won came in, she showed no particular reaction, which Hayoon simply couldn't understand.
How was that possible? Hayoon, who had watched all of Serin's streams, had soon given up trying to understand her.
Hayoon already felt something close to resignation toward Serin.
Then, abruptly, Hayoon checked the viewer count.
—15,363 viewers.
Even looking at it again, it was a hard number to believe.
"Please, let my video be among the eleven."
A voice full of desperation.
The moment Hayoon murmured that, Serin's stream screen changed.
—Then I'll start right away without further ado. Ah, first let me explain: after we finish watching all the videos, we'll hold a vote. You viewers can vote for the video you liked the most. For example, '!vote1' like that.
[!vote 1]
Rin's chat message appeared above the rapidly scrolling chat.
As viewers saw it, they quickly began typing in chat too.
[Oh what's with the thorough prep]
[I'm telling you, Rin's totally the Plea type. She's really good at prep and stuff]
[Excited to see who's gonna land the sweet RinTube editor gig lololol]
[I sent in an application email too but the competition's insane]
[From 200 down to 11, how picky did she get?]
[Fr watching Plea explain it yesterday, the requirements were definitely not just one or two]
—So the video I'll play now is video number 1. Everyone, please remember that.
With those words, Rin began showing the videos one by one.
......
"Ah. Ah..."
As the videos ended one after another, Hayoon was swallowed by despair, bitter disappointment, and regret.
And no wonder: every video shown on Rin's stream far exceeded her imagination.
Hayoon had run her own NewTube channel and worked as an editor, and she'd studied hard in her own way, so she had an eye for these things.
That was why she could tell the eight videos she'd seen so far were nearly professional level.
Each one was appealing and polished.
The eight videos had ended, and now the ninth was appearing on screen.
—Footage of Rin fighting a user called Gosu two days ago.
What played was relatively recent footage of Rin.
Even so, the video was impeccably clean.
The presentation wasn't excessive, and close-ups were timed perfectly in each section to draw interest.
—Rin driving her greatsword into Gosu's heart and smiling radiantly.
Highlight moments were blown up large, decorated flamboyantly, adding an exquisitely beautiful visual quality.
The already beautiful character of Rin was made even more beautiful, with stunning visuals that seemed to sear her into the viewers' eyes.
Truly the work of a professional.
[!vote 10]
[!vote 10]
[!vote 5]
[What is that visual quality lolololol]
[These are just editor application videos, why are they all like this?]
[!vote 3]
[!vote 8]
[The level's insane fr]
[The competition's insane lololol]
The chat window scrolled rapidly as the video filled the screen.
Watching it, Hayoon let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.
The recruitment period had only been two days, so honestly, she hadn't expected this many professionals to apply in that amount of time.
"Did I... take this too lightly?"
Muttering blankly, Hayoon half-resigned herself once again.
A familiar feeling.
Giving up.
She was feeling once again that she couldn't do it.
She'd felt she couldn't make it as a streamer or as a NewTuber.
And now she felt like she'd hit a wall as an editor too.
There were too many talented people in the world.
Hayoon couldn't help but feel that way.
If she wanted to find excuses and justifications, she could find plenty.
—Too many professionals applied.
—Time was tight.
—Trying to beat professionals after only about six months of editing was asking too much.
—Aiming for success in such a short time without even a year of experience was overreaching.
In an instant, countless excuses she could use to justify herself came to mind, but she didn't want to go that far.
Because reality didn't care about such things—what you could see was all there was.
Right now, trying to match those near-professional editors had indeed been overreaching.
And even if she rationalized it that way, all that remained was bitter self-loathing.
"Let's... find meaning in the fact that I tried."
So now, the only thing she was curious about was whether her video was among the eleven Rin had mentioned earlier.
The tenth video passed, and watching it, Hayoon found herself nodding along involuntarily.
Rin was thorough and not sloppy.
Whatever talents Rin had, even her eye for videos was extraordinary. Watching the videos, Hayoon couldn't help but feel that way.
Hayoon had learned a lot from Plea's advice during yesterday's collab, but digesting all of it in such a short time and selecting only videos of this caliber was a completely different realm.
—Ah, before I knew it, we're at the last one. The eleventh video. Oh, and this video will feel a little different from the ones we've seen so far.
"..."
Even so, she couldn't help but hope.
As Rin's words ended, the tenth video disappeared, leaving a black screen.
Hayoon watched that screen with bated breath.
That her video would appear.
She wished and wished endlessly.
A place equal to the professionals who'd come before.
If she'd been chosen alongside them on that stage, that fact alone would be enough to satisfy her right now.
And then the eleventh video began to play.
—RinTube!
A voice far too familiar.
—Clang.
Along with it, the sound effect of a parry rang out.
"...!"
The moment she saw the intro of the eleventh video, Hayoon covered her mouth with both hands.
She stared at the screen with eyes wide open in disbelief.
