ChaeMoney
"Ah! Just a second. Sorry."
"Right. You can pack up any leftover food and take it with you."
Now that was welcome news. Before anyone could scold me for gluttony, I packed up the leftover pizza and chicken. Look at all this. I’d easily survive two weeks on this. But had I grabbed too much on my own? I suddenly felt self-conscious.
"Am I taking too much?"
"Nope. You spent a lot today. You should save on food for a while."
"Jua’s right. Eat up and be full."
The two of them slung on the bags they’d brought and got ready to leave.
"Then we’ll head out, boss."
"Yeah. You both worked hard."
"I wanted to leave with Ru-chan too... What a shame."
Save me. The words almost burst out of me, begging her not to leave me behind.
"You’re leaving with me instead, though~. Am I not good enough for you?"
"N-no! Jua’s great too. Ru-chan, I don’t know what you’re talking about with the boss, but you have to make it back alive!"
Don’t. That only makes it worse. Before I knew it, I was alone with the boss. I had no idea what to say, but she spoke first.
"At the pinnacle of Unknown Universe, huh. I’m rooting for you."
What?!
I hadn’t misheard, had I? Still stunned, I asked again, and she answered like this:
"The more I look at you, Haru, the more I feel like you’re similar to me."
Well, our hair colors are kind of similar. That probably wasn’t what she meant.
"What part of me is similar?"
"The part where you charge ahead and do things other people try to stop you from doing? And then you always end up getting results. Just like how I quit a perfectly good company and started streaming."
"Grrr..."
"I’ll support Mizuki a lot later when she releases songs or albums and that sort of thing, but I’d have to treat you fairly too. I can lend you, say, 70 or 80 million won interest-free."
This woman was really something else. More goddess than the goddess of luck herself. But I’m sorry, that still wouldn’t be enough to make me the pinnacle. I carefully told her so, and she nodded.
"Not enough? Hm... how much do you think you need?"
"At the very least..."
Even if the goddess of luck was helping me, 80 million at most still felt lacking.
"It looks like I’ll need something in the hundred-millions."
"A hundred-million range, huh."
The boss fell silent. To be honest, even saying she’d lend me up to 80 million interest-free was insane. But even with that kindness, I shamelessly put forward another suggestion.
"You don’t have to give it to me all at once. Could you lend it to me slowly, a little at a time?"
Even as I said it, I sounded like total trash. It was practically like saving someone from drowning and then asking for a bundled gift in return. But what else could I do? If I didn’t become the pinnacle of Unknown Universe, I’d go back to my previous life with debt in the hundreds of millions! Still, my conscience pricked me, so I added,
"I’ll pay it back with interest too... as much as I can... I promise..."
"Hm."
She fell into thought for a moment. She always kept a poker face, so I had no idea what she was thinking.
"Then let’s make exactly two promises."
Promises? What kind? Whatever it was, I was willing. To prove it, I dropped to my knees.
"You don’t need to kneel."
"It’s become a habit..."
"About money. No matter how desperate things get, you only take on debt from me. And never, under any circumstances, lie to me about money, even about the smallest thing. Can you keep those two promises?"
I’d braced myself for something harsh, but it wasn’t even difficult.
"If you promise me that, I’ll lend you hundreds of millions, interest-free. It may not happen overnight, though."
"Really?! That’s... impossible."
"Why?"
Still dazed, I asked again, and she calmly said something truly moving.
"Because I can see your potential."
"!"
How could someone this kind exist in such a brutal world? So this was what it meant to have the heart of a Buddha. Not just anyone could have that.
"I worship you. The greatest GOAT in streaming history..."
"Enough. I told you not to call me that. Anyway, who could stop you?"
"If it’s you, you can do it. O great GOAT."
Once again, she silently shook her head.
"So. Will you accept?"
"Of course!"
"Good. I’ll trust you, but if by some chance you fail to keep your promise... then that’s the end of it."
Of course. But I wasn’t stupid enough to let go of the last rope being lowered to me.
"I’ll make sure that never happens."
"Good. What are you planning for your next content? Do you need to spend more?"
Even if she was willing to lend me the money interest-free, I couldn’t afford to waste it. I needed to approach this strategically.
"For now, I’ve fully transcended Mika, so I’m planning to make use of that for a while. Since the topic came up, I’ll tell you about tomorrow’s content first. Before I advance classes..."
I explained it in a way even someone who didn’t know Unknown Universe could follow. I hoped she understood. She was smart, so she probably got the gist.
"So on the beginner planet, there are these toxic players who stopped progressing, dumped money into power instead, and took over the newbie zones. And they’re killing any beginners who come near them indiscriminately?"
"That’s right."
As expected, she understood perfectly.
The problem was that those bastards had occupied the efficient beginner dungeon, so new players were stuck with the inefficient ones whether they liked it or not.
These days, the game had been patched to stop that sort of thing, but they’d claimed the territory before the patch, and now there wasn’t much anyone could do about it. The only answer was for a beginner to pay enough to become stronger than them and beat them down.
But those toxic players had spent a ridiculous amount just to keep watch over the area they occupied. Aside from complete lunatics like them, no one was going to pour that much money into the game as a beginner, so they were still sitting pretty.
Of course, now the situation was completely different.
Because I’d fully transcended Mika for three million won.
"I should give them a reality check, right?"
"Yeah. That’ll make good streaming material. But this is just curiosity, so don’t take it the wrong way..."
"Go ahead and ask."
At that point, the boss tilted her head like she’d just been hit with a culture shock.
"Why on earth would you play a game like that...?"
Her intelligence was genuinely awe-inspiring. She’d gone straight to the core. But I had my reasons. It wasn’t just because I didn’t want to return to my previous life.
"Unknown Universe is my life."
"Then maybe I should’ve sent you to a comprehensive addiction management center instead of making you a VTuber."
"That’s a terrifying thing to say."
And so our one-on-one conversation with the boss came to an end. Far from getting cut short, it had yielded a huge harvest. Meanwhile, the boss stood up and looked at all the boxed-up pizza and chicken before replying,
"Still, Haru. Do you think you can carry all the leftovers? Won’t it be heavy?"
"That... might not work. This stuff might be heavier than me."
It was an exaggerated joke, but it seemed to have landed with the boss. She checked the watch on her wrist and said, by the way, that it looked extremely expensive at a glance.
"Come with me. I’ll drive you."
"It’s fine! I’ll just take it little by little, day by day. Just put it in the refrigerator for me..."
Without answering, she opened the conference room door and lifted the leftover food.
"Let’s go. My arm hurts."
"Yes, ma’am, yes!"
When we got down to the parking lot, there was a car sitting there that looked absurdly expensive. While I was wondering who owned it, the boss opened the trunk and loaded in the leftover food.
"Wow... Boss. You drive something incredible."
"Mm."
If I sold this, I could probably borrow hundreds of millions in a day. But I still had the minimum amount of shame, so I didn’t say that even as a joke.
"You’re not going to tell me to sell the car and lend you the money, are you?"
"Of course not."
So she hadn’t been joking when she said she was similar to me. We really did think the same way.
As I got into the passenger seat and buckled my seat belt, a hundred feelings crossed through me at once. So this was what it felt like to ride in a car this expensive. And yet, because I was trapped in this tiny body, I couldn’t enjoy it properly, which was frustrating in its own way.
"Your home is the place you wrote down in the interview paperwork, right? On the outskirts of Seoul..."
"Yes. But it’s embarrassing to show you."
"Why would it be? Don’t worry about it."
An odd, awkward tension hung between us, and I didn’t know what to say. As if she could read my mind, the boss spoke first.
"Get some rest. You must be exhausted from streaming all day."
"Thank you."
Maybe I should close my eyes for a bit. Just then, my phone buzzed softly. No one should have been contacting me.
Unknown Universe Evening On-Time! Starting now for up to 1 hour! Log in and receive generous rewards.
Ah. Right, today was the start of the on-time event. Quietly, I took out my phone and entered Unknown Universe. Cross-platform support meant I could claim on-time rewards on mobile too, which was another huge selling point of this god-tier game.
It felt a little awkward to be fiddling with my phone while the boss drove so diligently, but there was no helping it. This too was part of the road to the pinnacle.
By the time the on-time gauge was about half full, we’d arrived at my studio apartment. Seeing my place after the huge office building made the scale feel even smaller by comparison. But was the boss really coming all the way inside?
"Hup."
Watching her help carry the luggage out of the trunk, I figured she must be.
"It’s okay. Boss, I can carry it from here..."
"Can you, though?"
"Fair point. Ah. I didn’t clean the place."
"Don’t worry. I’ve been to a lot of women’s studio apartments while building my streaming and VTuber company. I’m immune to most things."
She strode in confidently. Had there ever been a time I felt so grateful that my male body had become female? When I opened my room door, the sight inside was indistinguishable from a garbage dump.
"Aaaah! I should’ve kept my place cleaner. I’m sorry you had to see this!"
The boss cleared her throat and set the luggage down.
"I thought I was immune, but looks like I’m still a long way off."
She looked seriously shocked.
"I’m sorry!"
"This is why you say you can never stream from home. We’ve got some time left, so I’ll clean it up for you."
"What?! No, no. You don’t have to..."
She started tidying my studio apartment with the practiced ease of someone very used to it. While she worked, I took out my phone.
"What is it? Suddenly. Is it an urgent call?"
"No. It’s just that I need to claim the Unknown Universe evening on-time reward..."
"I see."
The boss always kept her feelings hidden well, but for some reason I could tell exactly what she was thinking right now.
"I’m garbage. Please let me be cleaned up with the rest."
"What, over something like this? Looks like there’ll be a lot worse things ahead."
Honestly, I thought so too. No, that wasn’t the point. I quickly grabbed my on-time rewards and then helped the boss with the cleaning.
Before long, my one-room apartment, which had been on par with a trash heap, finally looked a little more like a place a human being could live in. I’d probably never received this much kindness in my life, in so many different ways. Maybe this was the first time. I bowed my head.
"Thank you, sincerely, for everything today, Boss."
"Don’t do that. We’re family now."
Family.
I’d grown up without parents for my whole life, so I didn’t really know what family meant. But today, I felt like I was beginning to understand.
"I’ll repay this kindness. I really will."
"You don’t need to put that much weight on your shoulders. I’m satisfied as long as you don’t cause any trouble."
"...Ghk."
My conscience jabbed at me from all sides.
"And I hope you don’t lose that determination to keep working hard even if you become popular someday. I’ve seen too many people like that."
"Don’t worry about that."
If I didn’t work hard, I’d end up back in that damn previous life. There had never been any option for me to slack off in the first place.
"I'll never forget why I started, and I'll keep streaming. The GOAT of the streaming world... no."
Even that title wasn’t enough to describe her anymore.
"ChaeMoney."
Apparently pleased with her new nickname, she looked utterly at a loss. She even let out a moved sigh and shook her head in wonder.
"I really don’t even know where to start with correcting you."
"I worship you, streaming-world GOAT ChaeMoney."
"How far is that thing going to keep stretching?"
After the cleaning, the boss carefully loaded everything she’d brought into the car. Only then did I realize it wasn’t just pizza and chicken.
"You looked like you weren’t eating properly. Besides, you said on stream you were going to become a pantry hunter."
"Seriously! If you give away everything like this, what’s left for you? ChaeMoney, you absolute idiot who only cares about her employee!"
"Ugh. I want to leave now just so I don’t have to hear that."
I saw her off in front of the car. She said I didn’t have to come this far, that I must be tired, but I had something I really wanted to say.
"I’ll do it. For you, Boss, who’s cheering me on this hard, I’m definitely going to make it. The pinnacle of Unknown Universe!"
"You might actually be able to do it. What was it again? Because the goddess of luck..."
"Because the goddess of luck is smiling on me?"
"Right, that."
The boss gave a small laugh and got into the driver’s seat.
"Come to think of it, the cafe was going wild over you."
"With praise...?"
"Heh. Go check for yourself in a bit."
***
Lying on the bed in my much neater studio apartment, I held up my phone.
Shining Parade Official Cafe
What on earth had been posted to make everyone go wild over me?
"..."