New Face (1)
People's world doesn't change. Or more precisely, it changes far too slowly. The world shifts at a glacial pace... seeming utterly unchanged until you blink and realize ages have passed. This holds true even in our modern era, beset by gates, monsters, and hunters.
The byproducts of monsters and the emergence of mana stones. The revolution in energy sources they brought. The discovery of magic. Each should have etched a bold stroke across human history, yet the world appeared utterly unaltered. People still go to school, tap away at keyboards, and stare at their smartphones. Sure, there might be minor tweaks in design and performance... but folks still use computers and phones to watch internet broadcasts.
"Ah... no standout rookies in sight."
Lee Gyuin is your average office worker. Well... not quite average, since he works at a hunter-related company, but his job—purely administrative contracts—makes him ordinary enough.
On this rare day off, he was, as always, hunting for his one true hobby: up-and-coming internet streamers. The kind with viewer counts hovering between a single soul and maybe ten... thirty on a good day. His pastime? Scouting raw gems hidden among them.
Most crash against insurmountable walls and fade away... but a precious few scale them to stardom. And he loved witnessing that breakthrough moment. That was why he nurtured this odd obsession.
"Huh?"
Sipping his beer, mouse in hand, his eyes caught something bizarre on a preview thumbnail. A woman's face... breathtakingly beautiful.
"Whoa? What the...?"
Even in that tiny preview, her visuals leaped out. Lee Gyuin's eyes widened in shock.
"RATuber? Has the tech advanced this far?"
Moving character avatars... better known as "virtual streamers" or "VTubers," had long populated the internet broadcast scene. But magic's discovery had rocked that world too.
Real Avatar VTuber. Or RATuber for short—Ritual Streamer, whatever you call it. A game-changer where actual broadcasters use artifacts engraved with polymorph spells to transform into their custom characters, role-playing live in the flesh.
Traditional VTubers relied on 2D animations, which inevitably split audiences—strong otaku vibes didn't help. RATubers, by contrast, let real people morph and perform, dodging those pitfalls. Higher freedom of expression, less face-reveal risk... no wonder the scene was shifting from virtual to ritual.
And the stream he'd spotted screamed RATuber, with an otherworldly design that promised fireworks.
"Gotta check this out."
Heart pounding, he clicked. The screen filled with her uncanny presence.
She looked like a girl teetering between middle and high school. Flowing silver hair—not quite white—shot through with sparkling golden highlights. Dressed in prim golden attire, poised before the camera. At a glance, just a pretty girl avatar.
But the golden horns crowning her head... and those vertical slit pupils evoking reptiles or great cats... they screamed nonhuman.
"Whoa. Nonhuman species avatar?"
Even prettier up close, Lee Gyuin's eyes bugged out. RATubers were trending wild designs via polymorph, but this level of polish? Unprecedented.
His gaze dropped to her username.
"Grand Ragnar the Heaven-Slaying Dragon?"
...What kind of name is that?
Dragonkin motif, sure, but... really? A bit much, no?
'Well, the avatar's gorgeous, so maybe it'll work...'
Still, pair that beauty with a smoother handle, and it'd be perfect. Cracking open a canned beer, he settled in for Grand Ragnar the Heaven-Slaying Dragon's debut stream.
Fresh off debut, her eye-catching avatar hadn't drawn crowds yet. But its pull was magnetic—viewers were climbing past thirty.
Newbie streamer chaos—no chat moderation. Lee Gyuin, who saw chat management as Streamer 101, frowned.
"Eh, debut jitters..."
Understanding nod. Sighing, he leaned back. While he ordered chicken for dinner, the stream chugged on.
He chuckled softly, tapping "Fr lol" himself.
Then the girl on screen grew solemn (her expression had barely twitched from blank anyway) and spoke.
...A bombshell, dropped casually.
Her out-of-left-field RP froze him. Chat halted too.
Brief silence. Then:
Chat erupted—for all the wrong reasons.
The girl on screen just tilted her head, baffled. Adorably so, thanks to the avatar.
Chat mirrored his vibe.
Of course, trolls persisted.
One viewer raged like a seizure hit.
MerutangILoveYou's spam flooded in, filtered but furious.
"Hunter admin?"
Gates and hunters had nearly wiped humanity early on. Monsters immune to modern guns, mana-wielding hordes... massive casualties. Even hunters struggled. To close gates, you dove in and cleared them— at huge cost. That's how we reached this stability.
MerutangILoveYou was likely grieving a lost hunter kin from those days. Laws banned naming real gates/monsters to curb such meltdowns.
"But this is overkill..."
Empathy aside, too far. As Lee Gyuin frowned:
That line. Years later, Lee Gyuin would regret not closing the tab right then.
"Hmm... how about..."
Tap tap tap!
No boozy trolling then...
Streamer wouldn't have bitten...
No such spam...
"Heh!"
Tap tap tap!
No drunken idiocy from him either. Especially not...
...that ongoing troll spam.
Ding dong!
"Oh, chicken's here."
Rising to fetch it, he had no inkling.