003. Streaming as a Hobby
003. Streaming as a Hobby
Two days had passed since I started streaming.
Had I underestimated livestreaming a little?
Gathering viewers wasn't as easy as I'd thought.
‘I figured turning on the cam would make a difference... But how did not a single person come in.’
I'd used my looks as a weapon.
That strategy had failed spectacularly.
I must have overestimated myself.
‘Yeah, there was no way I'd suddenly go viral without any content.’
My stream didn't really have content.
You could call it a communication-focused male cam stream.
But being a male cam streamer wasn't something just anyone could do either.
‘...Was my appearance not even up to male cam standards? I'd always thought my face, at least, wouldn't lose out anywhere.’
Suddenly, I grew curious about other male cam streamers.
How attractive were they?
How explicit were their streams?
How did they interact with their viewers, and so on?
‘Well, in terms of looks... If they were showing their faces and using them as content, they would have to be at least actor-level.’
Before I turned on my stream.
Driven by curiosity, I checked out other male cam streamers.
Focusing on the high-ranked ones.
【Oh my! Thank you for the 500,000 won donation, Madam Chairman~ You don't have to spend so much~ Aren't you overdoing it~?】
It was disgusting from the start.
Watching a scrawny man twist his body like a twisted doughnut made me want to puke.
‘The fucker just barged in with no warning. Why the hell was he making that nasal sound?’
He sounded like he had fucking rhinitis or something.
Were male cam streamers always like this?
Even for a gender-reversed world, this was too much.
Why the hell were those guys ranked so high?
Did the viewers have some weird fetish?
It was a mystery even after seeing it.
‘Still, he was good-looking.’
Still, his face was handsome at least.
He was the type who would've made plenty of women cry even in my original world.
That was to be expected.
Looks were a basic requirement for being a male cam streamer.
If he did those disgusting things and was ugly on top of it, demand would be zero.
Anyway, it turned my stomach so much I couldn't watch anymore.
I immediately moved to the next male cam stream.
【Huh? What's powen? Jaejjunie don't know dat.】
...Wow. What the hell was this one?
Had his tongue been severed or something?
For a moment, I was flustered, thinking I'd mistakenly entered a foreign male cam stream.
‘What country's language was that? Speak Korean, fuck...’
Pass on this male cam streamer too.
Even if it were a female cam stream, I couldn't have watched it.
After that.
I kept checking other male cam streamers, but there wasn't much difference.
They were all the same.
Sure, they had good-looking, charming faces.
But their behavior was uniformly grotesque.
It was grown adults pretending to be preschoolers.
‘Seriously, was the infant regression concept trending those days? There were no proper male cam streamers.’
It was strange.
I had definitely searched for 'popular men these days' on the internet.
I'd also gotten info that being laid-back and unpretentious was the trend.
So why were all the male cam streamers like this?
There wasn't a shred of masculinity...
No, wait. It was a reversed world, so they were overflowing with masculinity. In the shittiest way possible.
‘Was the platform itself just weird?’
I had that suspicion.
Suspicions needed to be resolved immediately.
I looked into the platform right away.
Since I'd come here through an ad banner, I didn't know much.
And I found out.
This was a new platform, and its content leaned a certain way.
‘No wonder all the male cam streamers were weird.’
There were no high-intensity streams like strip shows.
It wasn't an adult platform to begin with.
It was just a platform targeting otaku tastes.
Cosplay streams.
Virtual streams.
Streams where guys pretended to be the kind of men you rarely see in real life, and so on.
It was mainly streams focused on a very niche audience.
‘It didn't seem like my kind of place.’
Here, if you were a male cam streamer showing your face, the infant regression concept seemed to be a default setting.
I'd rather die than do that shit.
‘Even with zero viewers, that was a no.’
Normally, this would be when someone might waver.
But not me.
Because I'd resolved not to adopt any concept.
Because I knew that streaming like that wouldn't ease my loneliness.
I turned on the stream.
Let's wait a bit more.
If I kept it on, a viewer would come eventually.
『'Repentant Guburi' has entered.』
For the record, I didn't classify that piece of work as a viewer.
"I told you to stop fucking coming, you bitch."
『'Repentant Guburi' has been banned.』
I banned her immediately.
She really didn't know when to stop.
She was making new accounts dozens of times a day and coming back.
At least make the nickname unrecognizable when you come in. I had no idea what she was thinking.
***
I figured out why there was no influx of viewers.
To find my stream, you had to scroll down dozens of times.
Even for a new platform, the number of streamers was staggering.
‘Not switching platforms had been a good choice.’
If it were a major platform.
It wouldn't have been dozens of scrolls, but hundreds or thousands before my stream got exposed.
‘In the end, I'd have to promote to get viewers...’
If I promoted on communities, I could secure an influx.
But I didn't want to.
Because as the crowd grew, so would the troublemakers.
I'd rather not attract weirdos for nothing.
Especially if viewers suddenly spiked, banning them one by one would be a pain.
‘I should not did anything unnecessary. The right way was to slowly draw in viewers. That made it easier to filter out the weirdos.’
I didn't care about rankings anyway.
I just wanted people to talk to.
If it were a job, maybe, but for a hobby, there was no need to obsess over viewer count.
And now, I even had a Fixed Viewer.
【Reformed Guburi】─ No content today either? hehe!
This one was the Fixed Viewer.
Her tenacity was impressive, so I decided to forgive her just once.
If she acted up again, I could just ban her then.
"I'm still thinking about content. And I told you, you don't have to use formal speech."
【Reformed Guburi】─ But I'm naturally a polite person lolol!
"Bullshit... Just talk casually and swear all you want, be comfortable, you bitch."
【Reformed Guburi】─ But you'll ban me if I do T_T
"How many times do I have to say it? I won't ban you as long as you don't pull any bullshit power trips."
That wasn't a lie.
I didn't care if viewers swore.
Since I, the stream owner, was swearing myself, what did it matter?
If I nitpicked about that, I'd be a hypocrite.
You just had to avoid crossing lines like throwing your weight around.
【Reformed Guburi】─ Really, I can drop formalities...? Promise you won't ban me?
"This bitch has been conned her whole life, or what."
【Reformed Guburi】─ ok ok! But, uh, are sexual jokes allowed?
"As long as you don't cross the line, I don't care."
【Reformed Guburi】─ Ohh! What counts as crossing the line? Do you have rules or something?
"Like a small-time stream would have rules, you empty-headed bitch."
【Reformed Guburi】─ T_T
"What are you sniveling about now. Anyway, good timing. I'll make some rules now, so wait."
I pulled up a notepad on screen.
And roughly wrote down some rules.
<Ban Rules>
-Power tripping.
-Trash-talking family.
-Bastards I don't like.
This much should do for now.
As soon as I set the rules, Guburi's chat popped up.
【Reformed Guburi】─ The third rule seems kinda vague...
"For the most part, you won't run into Rule 3. I set the bar pretty loose."
【Reformed Guburi】─ I want to bang Se-hun! Will you let something like that slide?
【Reformed Guburi】─ Ah. That was just an example so no ban nonono
"I won't ban for stuff like that."
【Reformed Guburi】─ Ohhh! Is this paradise on earth...? A heaven only I know about! Sex!
She was totally fired up.
Were sexual jokes banned on other male cam streams?
Given this platform's slant, you'd think they'd allow it.
Well, that wasn't my business, so whatever.
‘More importantly, Guburi was a woman, right?’
It was hard to think of her as a guy.
Since a man wouldn't be poking around a male cam stream.
Still, just in case, I asked.
"Guburi. You're a woman, right?"
【Reformed Guburi】─ Yeah, obviously I'm a chick. Why would a dick watch a male cam?
She was indeed a woman.
To think a woman was typing that kind of chat...
With the sleazy male cam streamers and all, it definitely confirmed this was a gender-reversed world.
‘Maybe being a male cam streamer in this world was actually good for me. The opposite sex was a bit uncomfortable, but dealing with the same sex was easy. Just looking at chat, they all felt like the same sex, right?’
The conversation with Guburi was enjoyable.
We surprisingly got along really well.
Even with just one viewer, I wasn't bored at all.
I was streaming without realizing how time passed when.
『'Toothpicks Deep in Yoho's Hole' has entered.』
A new viewer came in.
A familiar nickname.
It was the viewer who ran off after getting cussed out by me at the start.
"Oh. The bastard who popped in and bolted last time? Nice to see you?"
I greeted her.
『'Toothpicks Deep in Yoho's Hole' has left.』
The viewer left.
...
"No, the fucking bitch, seriously! Why come in if you're just gonna leave?"
【Reformed Guburi】─ Phew. That's a relief. My little guy almost got big...
"Wanna die? With just one viewer, I might quit streaming any time, what's there to be jealous of, you crazy bitch."
【Reformed Guburi】─ But you said it's a hobby so you won't quit -_-
"That's true. Still, that chat just pissed me off. Should I ban you?"
【Reformed Guburi】─ Ah sry sry sry I'm sry!
Just then, another new viewer came in.
『'Yoho' has entered.』
【Yoho】─ Hello!
Two people in just one minute.
It seemed my stream was finally gaining some momentum.