4. Streaming? How Do You Even Do That
4. Streaming? How Do You Even Do That
***
NewTuber.
In 2031 South Korea, it ranked fairly high among career classifications.
High earners were overflowing in the field, and anyone—regardless of age or gender—could try becoming a NewTuber without any prerequisites. If you succeeded, you could amass great wealth, so even now, people were flooding in to try in real time.
For quite a while, people had said it was a red ocean, that it was easy to start but hard to blow up.
Still, every year, hundreds or even thousands of people succeeded as NewTubers.
And right now, there was a woman staring intently at a video of another woman on her monitor, scribbling notes into a memo pad as if she were studying it.
Her unkempt hair hung long and tangled, and dark fatigue ringed her eyes. Even the inside of her room was a mess, left uncleaned for days.
Every detail showed she was living like a shut-in, but the woman was gazing at the monitor as if possessed.
Suddenly, she muttered in a voice thick with exhaustion.
"This is the answer..."
The hottest game. She hadn't been able to bring herself to buy an Another World virtual reality capsule because it was too expensive. But after watching this video, the woman finally made up her mind to purchase one.
Two million views in less than ten hours since upload—it was so unfair.
It wasn't even intentional. Someone had just filmed that scene and uploaded it. That was all the video was.
Really, that was all it was.
And yet, the videos she uploaded after staying up for days, researching content, barely managed to scrape past a thousand views.
Someone else was boasting two million views with nothing more than a single in-game gameplay clip.
Even the comments were overflowing with people saying they'd donate if the woman in the video started streaming, that they'd subscribe right away.
Even though the video was wrapped in negative controversy over whether it was cheating, those comments existed simply because the character in the video had such an extraordinary appearance.
The woman was biting her nails with anxious eyes, or when she wasn't, biting her lips, over and over.
"...If it's a character, I can customize it."
The name of the woman replaying the video dozens of times already.
Kim Hayoon.
A small-time NewTuber with 623 subscribers on her personal channel. And the woman who had just blown most of the money she'd saved over months on purchasing an Another World capsule.
And right now, she was endlessly replaying the video to analyze the cause of its success.
It could have been a video that got popular by chance or through NewTube's algorithm, but usually, when something became this much of a hot topic, it was never coincidence.
And Hayoon could pick out a few points in the big picture.
First point: an overwhelmingly beautiful appearance that drew attention just by existing.
It was a beauty so unlike an in-game character that you couldn't dismiss it as someone who had simply customized and created it.
An appearance so close to reality, as if a real-life foreign model or actor had been placed directly into the game.
Hayoon resolved that once she started the game, the first thing she'd do was copy every feature that character had, one by one.
Second point: skill.
She didn't know much about games in general, but she occasionally watched videos about Another World.
The graphics were too outstanding to dismiss as just a game, and the people interacting through hunting or duels had a visual beauty all their own.
From the comments, the opponent seemed to be an infamous player, and the core of the controversy was that the woman in the video had not let a single one of that player's attacks land.
"If I work hard... can I do it too?"
Hayoon, who had been staring at the video over and over, muttered with a blank expression.
Dodging a projectile fired from point-blank range just by twisting her head—even at the speed shown in the video, it didn't look slow at all.
And yet, the character in that video dodged the thing shot like a flash of light as if she already knew it was coming.
Watching that, the thought 'I don't think I can do that...' drifted blankly through Hayoon's mind.
***
'Cheat.'
A term for hacking programs in games. Commonly called cheats, and in various in-game texts, they're referred to as "unauthorized programs" or "third-party programs."
The root of all evil in every online game.
A system despised in its own right.
"...?"
As I read the text on the wiki word for word, it was definitely the meaning I knew.
[I don't care if that bastard gets taught a lesson, cheat or not lololol]
[But why'd they use it so obviously]
[Is that a ban?]
[Another World handles things fast as fuck so of course they got banned]
But what were these comments I was seeing now?
'I'm a cheater?'
While filling my stomach and browsing websites, searching for information about Another World, I eventually ended up looking through several major communities too.
Then, when I casually clicked on a popular post at the top, ironically, 'I' was in it.
No, to be precise, I appeared in the video attached to the post.
The post author seemed to be the PK user who had first attacked me, and the content was the sort that framed me as a cheater.
At first, I read the post laughing at how absurd it was, but after seeing the comments, my expression naturally hardened.
Every single one said it was definitely cheating.
Wondering if maybe the concept of cheating I knew was different in this world, I even searched it separately, and it was indeed the 'cheat' I knew.
Before falling into the world of Black Ark, how many times had I gnashed my teeth at cheaters and quit games I'd enjoyed because of them?
Eventually, I'd reached the point where I wouldn't even look at the FPS genre anymore, I was so sick of cheaters.
And now.
'...What did I even do?'
As I found myself being branded a cheater, my temper started to flare.
And with good reason—each and every comment was a sight to behold.
There were endless comments about the Parrying and how I dodged every attack, critiques of my appearance, blatant sexual harassment, and abuse directed at me as a supposed cheater.
Grind.
The soft sound of teeth grinding echoed.
Among them, there were even some comments that, as I read them, made me feel so insulted that murderous intent surged up.
In the world of Black Ark, I hadn't seen anyone dare run their mouth in front of me for years.
On the forum, people hiding behind anonymity ran wild in the comments, and reading them one by one was enough to make my blood boil.
Fine, let them think I was cheating. But why the hell were these worthless bastards throwing out sexual harassment?
Those comments were clearly about the character in the video, but since that character looked exactly like my appearance, it felt like they were talking about me directly.
Before I knew it, I had signed up for that community site and was refuting those comments.
After years in another world, typing had felt awkward at first, but now I was hammering out replies so fast that the earlier awkwardness seemed ridiculous.
[It's not a cheat. You can do that without much difficulty]
[Lol you trash bastards getting horny over a game character, fucking amazing really]
[What bullshit, why is that impossible?]
[If you pay attention to the aiming device in the hand of the bastard with a bow or ranged weapon, you can just see the trajectory. If you can't predict that, you're a dumbass]
[If it was a cheat they'd have been banned. Why can't you think it might not be a cheat? Is your head just for decoration?]
Whether it was the heat rising to my face or my emotions getting riled up without me realizing, I was replying to comments in a way that even I felt was childish.
I kept replying to all sorts of varied comments, then suddenly turned my head and looked at the Another World capsule inside the room.
"Don't tell me I... got banned, did I...?"
I took my hands off the keyboard and connected to Another World for a moment.
The familiar sensation wrapping around me along with the sound of Another World booting up.
Only after feeling those things, connecting, and confirming there were no problems could I let out a sigh of relief.
Everything was normal. The character hadn't been banned or anything.
Of course not. The game company hadn't imposed any sanctions.
Then I returned to the PC and checked the community, and in that time, dozens more replies had been attached to my comments.
And among them, I saw words I didn't understand.
[Saying parrying like in the video isn't hard lolol can't write shit in comments? I'm Challenger tier in arena too, you dipshit lolol]
[This broth bastard sucking up to a cheater is really going off about sexual desire and shit lololol]
[What kind of fucking weeb says you can predict the direction by looking at a bow or gun barrel? Spouting nonsense with worthless knowledge]
[Whether they got banned or not, only the person in that video knows, so who the fuck are you to talk like you know? Hilarious, really lolololol]
Every single one seemed written with the intent of pissing me off—nothing but shitty comments.
And along the way, there were even words I didn't understand.
“A broth bastard sucking up to a cheater...?”
Broth. What did that mean? I opened another window, looked it up, and stared at the definition in disbelief.
A person who blindly follows female idols or women who do internet broadcasting.
It seemed to also be used as a term for someone who blindly defends female broadcasters, and I just let out a hollow laugh.
I'd never even watched internet broadcasting, so why the hell was I hearing that?
No, in the first place, I'm a woman now, so why the fuck would I follow women?
"Ah, for fuck's sake."
The curse slipped out naturally before I knew it.
Among the already over a thousand comments, there were virtually no comments with an opinion similar to mine.
No, to be precise, there were some, but they were all the kind of comments I didn't want to read.
Going on about how the female character's appearance was, or how they'd forgive her if she looked like that—they were spouting that bullshit, and it was even more annoying.
Replying alone to comments full of blatant condemnation—now that I'd tried it, I realized it was completely meaningless.
This keyboard battle thing, if you were outnumbered, there was really no answer.
It felt like facing hundreds of people alone—no, like facing hundreds of ghosts with no substance.
And on top of that, my comments seemed to have backfired. The people replying started tearing into me as if they were having the time of their lives.
[Saying parrying is easy, sure. I mean, how am I supposed to show you everything, fuck]
[If you're salty, turn on a stream and prove it lolololol]
[Lolol look at this guy spouting total nonsense in comments, is this some attention-seeking lunatic]
[The people who take the bait are idiots too, but a bastard who baits that seriously is the biggest fucking idiot]
[Even knowing it's bait, it's fun to beat on them lolololol first time seeing an idiot who replies to every single comment like that]
Just from continuing to read the comments, my hands were trembling.
Tap.
"..."
BANG!
While typing, my hands trembled and I made a typo, and before I knew it, I slammed the keyboard down.
Then, in the end, I asked about streaming or whatever it was.
[Streaming? How do you even do that?]
[Do I have to teach you every little thing? What are you, some handless retard?]
BANG!
"Seriously..."
With nowhere to vent my surging anger, I hurriedly opened another window and started searching about streaming.
Even as I did, the comments that kept coming caught my eye.
The comments drew my gaze like a drug.
Even knowing that nothing but shitty comments would keep coming, I strangely couldn't help but check.
[Does he not have hands? He can search and find out himself lolololol]
[Lolol why does he reply like such an idiot, that guy's really something lolol]
[Bet he's Iron tier, a handless bastard stuck in the depths lololol]
[Fuck all of you, just wait. I'll really turn on a stream and show you that parrying is easy]