Chapter 21

I’m translating the chapter into the required HTML structure and converting the in-universe notice/chat/comment content into styled blocks while keeping the narrative flow natural in English.CHAPTER_TITLE: First Boss Hunt

I hadn’t uploaded it to NewTube yet since I wanted it as proof, but I showed them the full archived replay saved on my computer.

"Do you hear it? That clear, beautiful sound of support?"

"Whoa."

"Good grief... I only got a one-million-won donation on my anniversary, and then this happens just two days later! I guess that’s what you call a real whale on NewTube? There are some incredible people out there."

Jua, especially, looked completely stunned, rewinding the donation message and listening to it over and over.

"But what kind of person is this, anyway...? They’re not going to throw money around and then ask to meet up or something, are they? That’s kind of scary."

"No, it’s not like that."

I kept the video playing and let Mone’s voice come through.

"Oh? She’s a woman."

"That too. And if you listen a little more..."

Her goal was to tear down the Doom Guild from the start. She’d only reached out to me to make that happen. There was no personal feeling in it at all.

"So there’s no need to be scared."

"Donating that much money just to destroy a game guild without any personal feelings... that’s even scarier..."

Oh dear. It seemed Senior Jua was still a little too young to accept the darkness of this whale life. On the other hand, the boss just sat there watching the video with a blank expression, as if she were thinking about something.

"Hmm."

Ah. Right, I’d made that promise. It was something I’d blurted out after getting that one-million-won donation because I was too excited.

"If it’s 170%, then after receiving a one-million-won donation... does that mean you’d invest 1.7 million won?"

I started rambling, trying to explain myself.

"Aggressive investment! You know how it is. Until a place gets established, you have to do, uh, what was it... burn money? Compete by bleeding people dry...?"

"Yes. That’s right."

There was just one problem: the bleeding wasn’t happening with my money. It was happening with the boss’s money.

In other words, it was a ridiculous situation where she spent the money and I got the credit. Still, the boss simply smiled and said,

"Do your best. The response has been good lately."

"Is she actually a goddess? Why the hell? She doesn’t even say a single bad thing, this idiot!"

"There she goes again."

Apparently it hit Jua’s sense of humor perfectly, because she burst out laughing.

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

"Hahaha. I really like Haru a lot. Come to think of it, did you see the NewTube video go up? It’s already hit 100,000 views."

"Really?"

Well, when I checked earlier this morning, it was already in the 80,000 to 90,000 range. Since it had made it onto the trending gaming videos, hitting 100,000 was just a matter of time.

[A 3 million won gacha summoned under the gaze of the Goddess of Luck... Mika fully transcended at SSS grade!]

Damn. And with that many views, there were all kinds of comments stacked underneath.

The path of the whale VTuber.

Honestly, I thought it would collapse in a spectacularly ugly way, but the start was so good it felt like I might actually take off. So, with my voice rising all by itself, I said, "Episode 2 will be me teaching the Minari Guild a lesson, and episode 3 can be recruiting for the Legend Guild. Boss, I’ll organize the funny parts and tell you what to expect."

"Mm."

"I’m getting fired up too! I need to work even harder on today’s stream."

It wasn’t just Jua who’d been energized, either. Mizuki showed up with the manager.

"Ruu-chan! Hi, Haruru."

"Nice to meet you, Tama."

"Mizuki? You’re here already? Wasn’t your stream supposed to be in the evening?"

Then she clenched both fists and looked right at me.

"I watched a little bit of Ruu-chan’s stream today, and it was so amazing and fun! I got so excited I rushed over because I wanted to stream already."

With the huge donations, the stream reactions, and now even my coworkers showering me with praise, I honestly didn’t know what to do with myself. After enjoying it for a moment, I grabbed the leftover lunch box.

"Then I’m a little hungry, so I’m going to eat some din—"

"Did you eat lunch properly? You didn’t skip a meal, did you?"

The boss asked with a worried expression.

"Nope. Surprisingly, even though I ate until I was full, I still had this much left."

"Eat a lot, Ruu-chan! You worked hard on stream, so you need to recharge. And if you eat a lot, you’ll grow taller too."

"I think ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I’m already done growing."

In my second life, my body age was already twenty-two.

"No way. Your growth plates might still be open. Don’t give up!"

"R-right."

I went to the pantry, ate the leftovers from my lunch box, and checked my phone. Just then, Tama’s stream began. It was only her second day, but the mood of her broadcast was completely different from mine.

Everyone was praising her to the skies. And the viewer count? A Japanese VTuber who sings well and loves Korean culture like K-pop! That rarity factor was huge, and before I knew it she’d already broken 8,000 viewers.

Just as Mizuki had watched me and gotten fired up, I was watching her and finding my own resolve. Then the boss stepped into the pantry.

"What brings you here?"

"I came to catch you in the act."

"Tsk. They say if your tail gets too long, someone will step on it. I guess I didn’t hide my fox tail well enough."

"Heh heh."

The boss sat down beside me and picked up her phone.

"Sally started streaming too. Want to watch?"

Senior Sally too?

Do I go with the irresistibly cute Tama? Or the high-energy Sally? Ugh... I can’t choose! So I decided to watch both at the same time.

"Oh, and in a few days, you’ll get subscriptions and subscriber emotes."

As she said that, the boss showed me the subscriber emote settings. There were all sorts of things, from Haruru waving a cheering stick to every kind of expression, but one thing was missing.

"Boss, I came up with something funny for the subscription reaction. Could you add this to the emotes too, so it synergizes with that?"

"What is it?"

She nodded with obvious satisfaction at my suggestion.

"Then I’ll get it ready for the day subscriptions go live."

"Nice."

***

A few days after that, today’s stream had more to do than ever before. First, subscriptions and subscriber emotes had finally arrived; second, it was the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long-awaited day we were going to take down our first boss.

[Stream title: Haruru finally has subscriptions! And our guild is going to hunt an Element boss for the first time!!!]

"That’s right, hello, Haruru, everyone. Yes! We’ve got subscriptions now too. Subscribe and you can use the super cute Haruru emotes! I’m going to keep working harder and become Haruru, the black fox who never slacks off!"

"Shut up."

"Nice~ DaeRuru123, thank you for my very first subscription..."

I put on the 8-bit sunglasses the boss had asked for over my avatar. Then I delivered the line I’d prepared.

"Flex."

At the same time, the subscriber emote of me wearing sunglasses and flexing appeared. That was the special request I’d made to the boss last time.

"Yes~ Flex."

"I’m not getting forcefully graduated! Don’t you know my first video already passed 100,000 views? Episode 2 and 3 are both aiming for 50,000 views... and my subscriber count’s already over 5,000."

"Hahaha, the start is good, but the road to the top is still a long way off. Please keep cheering me on."

"Have fun gaming. I’ll take care of the bad apples again if they show up."

"I’m not doing that! And none of our guild members have done anything rude, right? If they have, send me screenshots or any other evidence right away."