Sleepover With Chae Money, Part 1: Avatar Option Pulls

"Heeheehee. Huhuhuhuhu. Shahahahaha."

This feeling of trembling, happiness, and nothing but laughter, like I was high on something! That’s what people call dopamine, right? This is why I can’t quit Unknown Universe!

"Did you see that, ChatMoney?! If I really set my mind to it, I can do it myself too! Sometimes I can pull it off without your help!"

"Good work. That’s impressive."

"What are you laying the groundwork for like that?"

"Seeing you tear into the game up until a moment ago, then suddenly flip like that was startling. It’s not easy to watch someone’s whole range of joy and despair live in front of you, so thanks to you I got a rare experience."

"Ahem."

"It’s not that I’m scared. More like, if you’re going to make internet broadcasting your profession, you need a certain amount of madness. I’m rooting for our Haruru."

"The fact that I fully transcended SSS-grade Mika, pulled the server’s first +10, and now landed a four-line Pluto option..."

Of course, Goddess’s Grace was part of it, but it wasn’t like ChatMoney had no role at all.

"If it hadn’t been for ChatMoney, I couldn’t have done any of this. The joy of sharing only grows when you divide it, right? I’ll share my achievements with you."

"Thank you."

"D-do you really have to say the amount like that? Ahem."

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"Anyway, I’m glad it dropped. Phew. I’m really glad it dropped..."

After letting out several relieved sighs in a row, I still couldn’t quite believe it, so I looked over my avatar one more time.

"Kya-hihik! Just looking at it makes me laugh."

"You know I learned Cosmic Energy Charge from a skill book before this pull, right? The synergy is insane."

To be honest, I’d been worried that if I didn’t even land three lines, I’d end up ruining the mood during the steak mukbang later, but I’d briefly forgotten about my third mother, the truly GOD-like Lady Luck.

"Goddess of Luck, thank you for bestowing your blessing. I will simply worship you, and worship you again."

"I think lunch today’ll go down smoothly even if I’m just eating plain rice with no side dishes while looking at my items."

Speaking of food, Chat Manager said she’d make steak for me, right? What time is it now? Crap, it’s already around lunchtime.

"I just checked, and you spent two whole hours rolling option converters? Unknown Universe is seriously insane."

"Of course Unknown Universe is a crazy game, so I can’t help being crazy too."

"You worked hard. Want to go eat steak now?"

"Oh yeah, victory steak flex!"

"And everyone, please spread the word about me landing four lines in the community too!"

The reason was, of course, to promote the NewTube channel while I was at it. Haruru’s official channel currently had 8,000 subscribers. I was right on the edge of breaking 10,000, so I started shilling NewTube in the middle of all this.

"That’s right. For reference, the current number-one video in views is the one I uploaded recently, and it’s also the one rising the fastest: the server’s first +10."

"Our Haruru hitting 10,000 subscribers is just a matter of time, then. Got anything planned for the 10k milestone?"

"Yeah, what should I do? I’ll have to think about it while eating steak."

"You really have to say ten thousand won ten thousand times? Um..."

I rolled my eyes quietly and looked at ChatMoney. But the cursed modern technology caught it instantly and applied it to the virtual character.

"One hundred million."

"That’s right. One hundred million."

"But this isn’t like hitting one million subscribers or anything, and saying I’ll drop 100 million because I reached 10,000 doesn’t make sense... I’ll think about it for now. It doesn’t have to be something in Unknown Universe itself; doing something a little different sounds good too. Like a song cover, maybe?"

"I’m not purging ants! What’s wrong with my singing? Even ChatMoney praised my singing, didn’t she? Right?"

Knock, knock!

Just like that, the future manager knocked on the door and called for the boss, burying my question before it could be answered.

"Everything’s ready. Let’s go to the cooking studio."

"Let’s go, Haruru."

"Yes, ma’am. But about that question from earlier..."

"Singing? I’m pretty good..."

"Why does the ending feel strangely weak?!"

"It’s your imagination. Our Haruru’s tone is nice... her tone is nice. Her tone is nice, okay."

"Let’s go already. You’re hungry, right? I’ll make it for you."

It felt like she was hurriedly trying to dodge the question, didn’t it? Whatever, probably just my imagination. Let’s eat. Steak, no less!

"Yup~!"

"Wasn’t I supposed to say this earlier? The cooking broadcast is on ChatMoney’s ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠main channel, at Shining Parade!"

"Didn’t I tell you? The Shining Parade main channel, ChatMoney’s stream!"

Normally I should have been nervous, but I don’t know. Right now I felt like I could do anything.

After ending my broadcast, I headed into the cooking studio. It felt like I’d been coming to work at the company for almost a month now, and yet this was my first time here. When I said that, ChatMoney answered kindly.

"Come by next time when we do a cooking broadcast."

"Cooking, huh..."

When was the last time I’d cooked anything? Probably only when I fried eggs and ham in a pan. Most of my meals had been taken care of by convenience stores.

Still, maybe I should set aside a day and try it sometime.

Since ChatMoney’s cooking broadcasts were doing well, maybe I could even hope for some spillover effect.

"Sure, maybe I’ll try it sometime later."

ChatMoney checked the ingredients before the broadcast and quietly started a test stream. That was some serious preparation.

"I’ll set it up so the cutting board and my hands are visible... Haru, you just sit there and eat."

"Come on, I still have some shame. But I think it’d be fine to show my hands now, right?"

They were tiny, cute hands, but objectively speaking, they were adorable. I could proudly show them off. Probably.

"If you’re okay with it, I’ve got no reason to stop you."

"Then the day has finally come when I reveal my hands to the world."

That was when ChatMoney looked at my hands and smiled with obvious fondness. I didn’t know why, but it was the kind of smile a mother gives her daughter.

A little later, the private test broadcast ended. Now, in just a moment, I’d be joining ChatMoney’s stream for real.

These days, ChatMoney’s cooking broadcasts were really taking off. Whenever she streamed cooking, she drew an average of 15,000 viewers, and sometimes as many as 20,000. It was daytime, sure, but today was the weekend, so it might even go higher. It made me realize all over again just how big our boss really was.

"Nervous? Want me to turn it on in a bit?"

Just as the boss had always helped me, I wanted to help her this time. I closed my eyes for a moment and planned how the joint stream should go. For the record, this was the kind of thing I didn’t even do often on my own stream.

"Let’s do it!"

"Good. Did you think of a stream title? If not..."

"Of course I did."