Chapter 44
Chapter 44
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Forum Frenzy and Debut Plans
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I opened my eyes, and it was already 9:30 AM.
I'd been held up until dawn the night before, so naturally, I overslept.
Still, considering how late I'd hit the bed in the early hours, it wasn't a bad wake-up time.
Forgot to draw the curtains, so the sunlight poured in and popped my eyes open on its own.
This house really has great natural light, anyway.
Is that part of what makes it so pricey?
Even after sleeping, I was still wiped out, but I dragged myself out of bed in a daze and grabbed some coffee from the fridge first thing.
Large pack from the convenience store.
As a caffeine boost, it's not half bad, but man, I really want some whole beans.
That means scouting out a grinder first, though...
Wonder if the electric one I used to have is out now.
FYI, hand grinders are a hard pass for me.
Bring one of those monstrosities home, and I'd swear off coffee entirely.
Now that I'm free from scraping by, there's all sorts of stuff I wanna buy.
But I've already got a ton of deliveries piling up.
Once the streaming gear arrives, I'll take my time shopping, I thought, plopping down in my chair.
The minor posts were packed wall-to-wall with collab talk.
Practically play-by-play coverage.
I skimmed through and tapped one at random.
"Man, this is so unfair."
If crap like this is blowing up the minor posts, the hype was seriously off the charts.
But having everything? Bullshit.
The drinking bash they dragged me to was just your standard Odin's Son Minor Gallery meetup—gaming addicts cracking up over "weak-ass builds" and shit.
My friend list had been a sea of dark, offline profiles.
It wasn't until past 3 PM that lights started flickering on one by one.
No way they're just getting up now.
Hell, even my prospective Boss logged on and—spotting me online—hit me with a call right away.
-"Prepping an avatar from scratch now would take a while."
"So no debut till then?"
-"Normally, you'd drop teasers first and build hype nice and slow... but..."
Boss trailed off, then said,
-"Wasting all this buzz would be a shame."
"Same thought here."
-"Plenty of options, then."
She laid out the choices one by one.
-"Option one: Debut with a premade avatar from a site, custom one later."
"Oh."
-"Downside: Slim pickings, and pricier than you'd think."
Couldn't really recommend it, she said.
Avatars themselves aren't hard to snag, but go exclusive? Prices skyrocket.
Especially 3D over Live2D... I peeked at the numbers, and holy shit, insane.
Even dropping that cash, good quality-to-price is rare.
Get boxed in like that, and your design or RP ends up slave to the avatar.
That's the biggest turn-off, apparently.
-"Next up: Commission an illustration first, take it slow."
"Starting no-cam like you did, Boss?"
-"Most folks need some avatar, even a rush job. But we're a weird case—no-cam vets across the first gen, so bending rules like this should fly."
She even shared her own debut war stories.
-"Florence... honestly, hasn't fully tapped the overseas VTuber fandom here."
"What about domestic VTuber fans?"
-"Uh... barely any domestic VTubers. We're scraping by on personal fans."
Blunt as hell.
I knew the gist anyway—no point lying.
-"We're small-time and indie, so come in with a light heart."
Didn't expect her to be this upfront, though.
"...Boss, you sure you can say that?"
-"That's why payouts are basically volunteer work!! Not proper corp-level yet."
So cautious last night, straight-shooter today.
Her vibe screamed "chill."
"Caught myself a keeper, huh?"
-"Hahaha! We're hooking you up with an avatar!!"
Guess providing the avatar makes me the VIP.
Fair enough.
-"Think of it as commissioning the illust first... then lock in your RP."
"My input counts?"
-"Of course. RP's gotta fit you. Push too hard, and it strains your throat."
FWIW, Florence RPs: Fairy. Dolphin. Boss.
Feels kinda half-baked for "proper" concepts.
How to phrase that nicely...
Straight-up would be rude, right?
-"Feels meh, yeah?"
"Uh... yeah."
-"First gen was experimental—heavy compromises. Kinda fuzzy even as VTubers."
"So am I first gen? Or second gen plans?"
-"You know that stuff too?! Wait, are you a legit VTuber superfan?"
"Nah, not that deep..."
-"You know gens, watch Oshi, do highlight clips? Superfan confirmed."
"...Yeah."
-"FWIW, I'm a superfan too. Captain and Vice are the Oshi."
Not shocked.
Makes sense a big corp dives into VTubing.
-"No need to go hardcore on RP. Second gen will be polished, but first gen lacked setup. Overdo RP, and it boxes you in."
"Launchpad treatment?"
-"Agh!! No proper payouts!!"
"How'd you snag Hanami and Iruka with this half-assed system?"
-"Them? Special cases."
Explanation: Neither cared much about growth or cash.
Hanami's straight-up rich kid.
-"Something about owning a building in Seoul."
"No shit, actual trust fund."
-"Streaming was a hobby for her."
"Iruka?"
-"Her... been a viewer since elementary school..."
Originally no plans to recruit Iruka (then streamer Luka).
But she threw a fit—"You ditching me?!"—and it just... happened.
-"Anyway, gotta commission that illust ASAP... Cool if I scout an artist?"
"Don't know shit about it, so yeah, full trust... Oh! Avatar doesn't need to be top-dollar fancy."
-"Huh? We're footing the bill."
"Money now = meh results."
-"..."
"Tech'll get better later—right now it's kinda jank..."
-"Stop!! Dangerous talk!!"
Same budget later = way prettier, so why rush?
-"You get this, but never say that about other folks' avatars?"
"Duh, obviously."
-"Whew. I'll compile a 'watch your mouth' list beforehand."
"Sweet, reliable. I'll bug you with questions as they pop up."
-"Feels like I'm your personal Q&A machine..."
Spot on.
Main reason I even considered debuting: soak up this insider knowledge.
After some back-and-forth, we moved to the big one: design and RP.
Avatar design ties straight to RP, so killing two birds meant a long chat.
-"Ditching animal ears for safe RP risks bland design..."
"Doesn't need to be too flashy, right?"
-"True, but too plain... Odd eyes or star pupils?"
"Sounds overkill."
-"Nah, not at all. Streamers need to stick in minds first."
Personally, I dug subtle points on a clean design over wings/horns/angel vibes.
"Ideally, something close to my face... Send a pic?"
-"Hmm... Plausible, but specifics could be iffy... Eh, send it. We'll see faces eventually."
Gallery flooded with selfies lately—plenty to pick from.
Grabbed a good one, uploaded to the chat.
Moment later.
-"..."
"Boss?"
-"What is your deal...?"
"Boss? Staffer?"
-"...Uh? N-no. My jaw hurts."
She kept muttering "Am I getting played?" for ages before a video call finally shut down her doubts.
-"Am I dreaming?"
Topic shifted, but whatever.