The Unwilling Gallery Master

Yeah, as long as it’s not me. My reputation’s already weirdly bad across communities, including the gallery. I just did what I was supposed to do, so what’s the problem…? Well, whatever. That’s not important right now. Anyway, my rep’s already in the gutter, so if my stream viewers start stirring up trouble on the communities, what’s gonna happen? The answer was simple. What else could happen? I’d just sink even lower. There’s definitely a bottom beneath the bottom, and I’d get to experience it firsthand. No way in hell I wanted that.

Being an internet streamer means your public image is everything, right? The thought of my already crappy image getting even worse… That would definitely make earning pocket money harder. In other words, my stream needed drastic measures. And those measures were pretty straightforward.

Thanks to yesterday’s Jumping Up stream, 17 viewers had already gathered the moment I went live.

The chat atmosphere was off. It seemed like people had come over after seeing the mess in the gallery. Tons of chats openly calling me “gallery owner” or “Ho123.” …But honestly, it’s not my fault. How am I supposed to stop those gallery trolls? Still, since they’re my viewers, I had to do what I could.

“Ahem. Hello.”

When I cleared my throat and greeted them, the kind viewers who’d been waiting welcomed me…

There’s no way that kind of chat would be here. I’m not stupid enough to not know that yet.

“I’m not doing Jumping Up today. Like the title says, I have a major announcement…”

I fiddled with the pitch-black stream screen and showed it to everyone.

“Ta-da…”

The chat flooded with question marks, clearly not expecting this. Feeling a bit of thrill at the reaction, I continued.

“I checked the New Dimension Gallery after yesterday’s stream, and it was a total mess…”

“Of course it’s not my fault at all, but still, it’s a disaster caused by you guys who watch my stream, right? So I felt some responsibility… And this is the solution I came up with.”

Why had the New Dimension Gallery turned into such a mess yesterday? Because my viewers had nowhere to freely chat about my stream. At first I thought they could just talk in the chat, but Tyuni said this was completely different from that. In other words, the problem would be solved if I gave them a place where they could freely post ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠about my stream. And that place was the “Lene Fan Cafe” I’d made today.

“If we have a fan cafe like this, there’s no need to chat on the New Dimension Gallery or other ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠communities, right…? So from now on, here…”

Huh? The reaction was weird. I thought they’d like it…

And it wasn’t hard to figure out why their reaction was lukewarm.

“Lema Gallery…?”

…Seriously?

“Uh, you mean the Lene Minor Gallery?”

At the chat’s reaction, I let out a dry laugh and searched “Lene Minor Gallery” in the search bar. What appeared at the very top was:

An undeniable minor gallery of mine. I hadn’t completely failed to anticipate it, but I never thought a minor gallery would pop ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up this fast… Well, even if they’re my viewers, they’re basically people who hang out on the New Dimension Gallery. They probably didn’t want to see it turn into a mess either.

“…So none of you are planning to use the fan cafe?”

Looking at the chat reactions, it seemed the fan cafe wasn’t going to take off. …Well, to be honest, I also find gallery-style fan communities way more convenient. No need to log in every time, and fan cafes are just annoying with all the ranks and stuff. Still, I’ll leave the fan cafe up just in case the stream grows bigger and I get more viewers later.

“If you guys prefer that, it’s fine… But since you’ve made a minor gallery and all, please try not to cause trouble on other galleries as much as possible.”

These people have zero interest in the fan cafe I made myself. Well, fan cafes do have a lot of rules you have to follow. With that thought, I scrolled through the gallery, but as expected, there wasn’t anything particularly notable. It was a gallery made just yesterday, and I’m basically a small-time streamer to begin with. There were only four concept posts with my gameplay clips, regular posts didn’t even fill three pages, and nothing had over 50 views… If you looked at it without any context, it’d be a total dead gallery. Well, it is a dead gallery. At least the regeneration speed had picked up a bit because I was watching it live right now.

“Coronation?”

What the heck was that supposed to mean?

“Ah…”

So they were telling me to become the Lema Gallery owner. It didn’t really matter, but…

“Hmm. I don’t mind taking the owner position, but I probably won’t do any managing even if I accept…”

I hadn’t planned on managing the fan cafe either. What I’d wanted to make was just a place for my viewers to chat comfortably, not to control them under the excuse of rules.

…Yeah, that was true. If I didn’t accept, the current owner would have to manage it anyway. So in the end, after accepting the owner position of the Lene Minor Gallery—aka “Lema Gallery”—I made an account and left a post.

Immediately after, a gallery manager delegation notification popped up, and I hit accept right away. The first thing I did after that was—

—appointing the five visible high-tier nicknames as sub-managers… that is, sub-owners. As a bonus, I blocked them to prevent any refusals.

“I mean, I’m not gonna make rules or anything. But we still gotta do the minimum that needs to be done…”

For example, deleting posts that cross the line too hard. For example, deleting tactical nukes… Even if it’s a gallery with almost no users, as long as there are active members, you never know what kind of trouble you might get dragged into. I knew all too well that malice on the internet had no limits. For instance, if someone who held a grudge from yesterday’s incident on the New Dimension Gallery came over to troll, we’d need someone to clean it up. This appointment was to prevent that kind of thing.

Honestly, even the people watching the stream right now probably knew that. The fact that the chat was reacting like this meant… the ones freaking out were probably one of those high-tier nicknames. The ones enjoying it were either randoms or high-tier nicknames who’d dodged becoming sub-owners. It was unfortunate, but it couldn’t be helped. Sometimes a cow has to be sacrificed for the greater good… Besides, it’s not like I’m the one managing it, so it doesn’t matter to me anyway.