A Perilous First Stream

"I, Haruru, am the one destined to stand at the pinnacle of Unknown Universe."

In my past life, I spent nearly 50 million won on spirit pulls alone. I had always been terrible at luck, so the result was a measly two copies of Mika, an S-grade unit. After that, I gave up on spirit pulls altogether.

And yet here I was in this life, not just pulling a single copy, but fully transcending Mika with a mere 3 million won. The Goddess of Luck really was the best.

"Thank you for the 10,000 won. And thank you, Goddess. I'll keep working hard."

"Don't insult our goddess! She's the goddess in charge of luck, you know. You'll be struck by divine punishment."

Goddess of Luck's Blessing.

A story so absurd that no one would believe it if I said it seriously. To the viewers, I probably just looked like a black fox pretending to be lucky. Honestly, that was fine. I could use it for the broadcast.

Did I really say something like that? Ah, I probably did. I got carried away because I couldn't trust the goddess. That wouldn't somehow hurt my next blessing, would it? I'd better smooth it over with a laugh.

"You all know what 'let's judge the broadcast by the broadcast' means, right? I was just trying to make the stream more fun. I'm sure the goddess was laughing too. Probably."

Before I knew it, the stream was almost over. So I'd spent the whole day pulling spirits. That hadn't been the plan, but I went and shot past the mark after receiving divine favor...

"This was only a short one because it's my first broadcast. Starting tomorrow, the schedule is free, so I'll be on longer. You'll all come back tomorrow too, right?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"By the way, right after my stream ends, our stylish elf Tama will be starting hers. She's also great at singing, so it'll be a lot of fun."

"Okay. We'll do just that, then."

"First in Shining Parade history! Mika fully transcended!"

"Light's Choice."

"When used, it grants all attacks Mika's intense Light attribute for 60 seconds. (See details) Cooldown: 120 seconds."

"I'll save the details for next time, since my closing time is coming up..."

"Oh. Did my name come up in the official community?"

This was quite the harvest. My name would be spreading through the official community in a single day. Of course, looking at today's pull results, my becoming famous was already a foregone conclusion...

"Tomorrow's broadcast will be legendary too, so please keep an eye out. Then that's it for today's stream..."

While giving my closing remarks, I read the script the CEO had specifically told me to use.

"Please join the official fan cafe for Shining Parade in large numbers, and... if you have thoughts or feedback on today's broadcast, we'll accept everything as long as it's not too harsh, so we'd truly appreciate it if you wrote them down... We always strive to..."

"Um..."

Yeah. The back of my neck was getting cold. This was fine, right? It had to be fine. Still, the result wasn't bad at all.

"I pulled 40 million won's worth of stuff with 3 million won, didn't I? That's a net profit of 37 million won in a single day, right? In a month, that's about 1 billion won?!"

"Yes, I will definitely come back alive."

Just then, Mizuki, who had been standing by, started Tama's broadcast.

Now it was truly time to end my stream. After giving my final greeting and talking about tomorrow's broadcast plan, I handed all the viewers over to that side. So my own stream was off now, right?

"Ah. Everyone?"

It was off. After confirming once more, I let out a long sigh. All the tension drained out of me. Watching a stream is fun and easy, but actually running one is brutally exhausting. How do streamers do this for more than five hours every day?

Once the broadcast ended, today's stats appeared.

Broadcast time: about 4 hours. Total donations received today: roughly 150,000 won.

"Oh ho."

Pretty decent, honestly. That was only because I'd spent 3 million won in one day.

Next was the viewer count. I had said I wouldn't obsess over it, but apparently my eyes were going there anyway.

An average of 4,000. Peak viewers: 5,700. Was that a decent debut? Come to think of it, the viewers had started out pretty cold, then gradually warmed up once the pulls began. Wait, didn't someone say they came from the official Unknown Universe community?

I picked up my phone and immediately started browsing the internet community. First, the official Unknown Universe community that had been mentioned: Unknown Tory. I was at the very top of the page, the post that gets pushed up when it receives enough recommendations.

"Kyaa."

"Broadcast" is slang for livestream. I know that because I frequent Unknown Tory. Once I clicked in, the comments were blazing hot.

"Heh heh."

I knew better than anyone how difficult it was to fully transcend Mika. I could understand why the reaction was so hot. And among these people, some would probably come to my stream tomorrow out of curiosity. That was enough. The 3 million won had absolutely not been wasted. Next, I checked the domestic VTuber gallery.

The picture was a photo of my VTuber avatar.

"Haaah. Past life..."

A crazy bastard with a debt in the hundreds of millions.

I kept reading.

It wasn't a script, you lunatic. What am I supposed to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠do? I was scared to leave the broadcast room. Then I found another post like this.

It was a photo of the CEO. Apparently it had been taken when she graduated from college.

Don't scare me like that, you guys. Let's stop looking at this stuff. Old memories of debt collectors from the thug days came back like PTSD, and I suddenly broke out in goosebumps.

At just the right moment, Mizuki, Tama's stream, was in full ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠swing.

"Haaah."

The reaction was already at full blast. For reference, "cute" is what people use as an initial abbreviation for "cute." Her current viewer count? It had already broken 8,000! I needed to work harder too. If I didn't, I'd get cut, just like the community said.

Her singing began. According to the status window, she had S-grade singing ability. Just as promised, it was perfect for bewitching viewers.

I had worried that a lot of trolls would attach themselves, but perhaps because I had so spectacularly thrown away 3 million won, or perhaps because Tama was just that charming. Most likely the latter. Either way, the stream went smoothly. Before I knew it, the viewer count had broken 10,000.

My judgment hadn't been wrong after all, Mizuki. Wasn't she the one most suited to Shining Parade's second generation? I watched the stream with a satisfied expression, then left the broadcast room as it was ending.

That was when I saw her.

Black jeans, a black jacket, and a white shirt underneath. Silver earrings and a silver necklace made her so overwhelming that just looking at her put pressure on me. And because my body had gotten so much smaller, she felt even bigger than before.

She was walking toward me. Since I still had a conscience, my heart started thumping.

"Haru. You worked hard for your first broadcast."

"Not at all."

Was she actually going to let this go? Was she a god...?

"Yes, we do have something to talk about, don't we?"

No, of course not. The day of reckoning had come.

"You spent the 3 million won I gave you for the whole month in a single day..."

How should I explain this? No matter how I turned it over in my head, there didn't seem to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be any way out. At times like this, the direct approach was best.

"But the reaction was good, wasn't it?!"