The Dark Knight Gets Banned
“...This is making my head spin.”
In the back of the taxi, Rion unconsciously pressed a hand to her forehead. After hearing what Manager Lee Jung-woo had to say, she’d checked the community boards only to find that her cousin had somehow become a superstar. Even Rion had no idea how things had gotten this far. She was supposed to be the person who knew Lora better than anyone else.
It must be the fact that she’s never lost once combined with the limb-severing thing…
In the end, it seemed like all of this had happened simply because she was too good at the game. It was true that her cousin played with an almost unnatural level of skill. Sometimes she didn’t even seem human. That was probably what people called talent, but Rion knew it wasn’t just raw talent that had carried her this far. After all, Lora poured nearly every waking moment of her life into gaming. So from Rion’s perspective, it only made sense that Lora would dominate Labyrinthos.
Still, the limb-severing… there had to be some reason behind it. Her cousin could be rather arrogant, but she wasn’t the type to play dirty. She was someone who genuinely loved the game for what it was. There was no way Lora would ever do anything that disrespected it.
“We’ve arrived.”
The taxi came to a stop with a soft squeak. As soon as they reached their destination, Rion snapped out of her thoughts. She was worried about her cousin, but… for some reason, she was starting to feel like worrying any more would only end up hurting her.
Lora was probably lounging at home right now, playing games without a care in the world. She probably had no idea what kind of firestorm was raging across the community boards. And even if she did see it, Rion could easily predict her reaction.
“Oh my, something like that happened? Well, more importantly, I’d like to queue up for another match.”
That was exactly the kind of thing she would say. She really was a game-obsessed maniac. The kind of person who wouldn’t flinch even if a meteor fell from the sky. It would be far more economical to worry about herself than to waste energy worrying about someone like that.
Rion got out of the taxi and immediately made a phone call.
"Hello?"
“It’s me. I’m here now.”
"Just enter the passcode and come in."
—Click.
She hung up after saying only what was necessary. …Wasn’t that a little rude? But since she’d experienced similar treatment from Aurora countless times before, Rion didn’t feel much of anything. She entered the apartment passcode as instructed and took the elevator up to the twelfth floor.
And there, Rion came face to face with a garbage dump.
“Ugh… the smell…”
The air was stale from lack of ventilation. Mixed with the overpowering stench of strong-smelling food, it created an absolutely foul odor. The moment she stepped into the living room, she saw a mountain of empty disposable containers. She must have ordered something heavily seasoned. The kitchen sink was piled high with dirty dishes, and a laundry basket sat overflowing with clothes that had been left untouched.
Rion carefully stepped across the slightly sticky floor that clearly hadn’t been cleaned in ages and made her way to the innermost room.
“Ah, Senior, you’re here?”
A woman greeted her with a completely indifferent expression. Empty plastic bottles and cans rolled across the floor. Clothes were strewn haphazardly across the bed, and used tissues littered the desk.
“…Sorry to say this the second I walk in, but can’t you clean up a little?”
“It’s too much hassle.”
“Even if it’s a hassle, it’s something everyone does.”
“It’s my house, so what does it matter?”
What does it matter? In time, bugs would definitely start showing up. It could even become a nuisance to the neighbors. But Rion could already predict that saying any of that would be pointless. A few words weren’t going to change a person. After serving as Aurora’s attendant for so long, Rion knew better than anyone that habits and quirks weren’t things that could be fixed just because someone else told you to.
“Anyway, does that mean you’re going to be my manager from now on, Senior Rion?”
The woman—Shiroki Anna—said. Of course, “Shiroki Anna” was only her VTuber name. Her real name was Jeon Sojin, or something like that. But there was no chance Rion would ever call her by that name out loud. On stream, Jeon Sojin had to live as the VTuber Shiroki Anna. If her real name ever slipped out, it would shatter the viewers’ immersion. That was why VTubers almost never called each other by their real names, even in private. A single mistake on air could cause an absolute disaster.
“It looks like I’ll be doing it temporarily.”
Rion pulled out a chair and sat down as she answered.
"Rion, you will be working as Anna's manager for the time being."
"Anna's original manager is going on maternity leave. We were planning to hire a new one anyway."
"Just treat it as getting used to the job. Anna doesn't require much hand-holding, so it shouldn't be too difficult."
"You're a diligent person, so I'm sure you'll do well."
Just like that. She had barely signed the contract before being thrown straight into the field. And she hadn’t even properly learned the job yet. Rion was secretly astonished that the company could run things in such a slapdash manner.
“I see. I’ll be in your care.”
Anna gave a small, polite bow. Her face remained utterly expressionless.
Shiroki Anna was a fifth-generation EYEAI VTuber, roughly a year behind Rion. It felt strange. The moment she decided to retire from being a VTuber, she ended up becoming her junior’s manager. Still, if it had to be someone, she was glad it was Anna. Being the manager for a first- or second-generation senior would have been awkward, and working under one of her fourth-generation peers would have been even worse.
On the other hand, a fifth-generation member like Anna was… comfortable, in a way. Anna wasn’t the type to pay much attention to others, and she was naturally quite blunt. There was no need to worry about reading the room.
“I didn’t get a proper handover from the previous manager. So if there’s anything you need, just tell me.”
“Things I need… Nothing really comes to mind.”
Anna tilted her head.
“I replaced my streaming equipment not too long ago, and one of my ASMR mics broke, but I have a spare so it doesn’t matter… There aren’t really any problems. What else should I say?”
“Don’t you have any schedules? Like going to the studio to record a song, or any ad deals, or offline events, or guest appearances on other streams?”
“Nope. I don’t really want to do any of that stuff anyway… It’s too much hassle…”
Anna scratched her stomach absentmindedly.
Isn’t she a little too unmotivated?
Come to think of it, Rion hadn’t interacted with Anna much before. Their generations were different, and since Anna mostly did solo streams rather than collabs, they’d rarely crossed paths. From a distance, Rion had simply thought of her as “that perpetually low-tension junior,” but seeing her up close like this, she realized the girl was a full-blown lazy hikikomori.
It was true that she wouldn’t require much work, but… was she really supposed to take care of someone like this?
“Then is there anything you want to do as a VTuber going forward? Anything you’d like me to support you with?”
“Something I want to do… I do want to compete in a tournament.”
“A tournament?”
Anna nodded.
“The Labyrinthos VR Streamer League.”
Teach Anna
📍 Objective: Train Shiroki Anna so she can participate in the Labyrinthos VR Streamer League
🎁 Reward: Payment from Anna's management + ???
***
[There's a streamer who wants to compete in the Labyrinthos tournament... So, I was wondering if you could teach her a bit, sis...]
Rion had said exactly that.
A tournament, of all things?
“When you say tournament, do you mean a professional gamer tournament?”
[It's not quite on that level. It's a private tournament only open to streamers. This one is pretty big, but it doesn't have the same prestige as a pro league.]
“So there are streamer tournaments too.”
She really had no idea. She knew absolutely nothing about the streaming side of things.
[There are rank requirements to even qualify for the streamer tournament, but her rank is really low...]
“So you’re asking me to pass on my teachings.”
[Y-yeah... ...Is that not okay?]
“Hmm.”
She didn’t want to. It wasn’t exactly the kind of offer that sparked her interest. She was already busy with her own games; where would she find the time to worry about someone else’s? If it had been an invitation to appear on a streamer’s broadcast, she might have considered it, but unfortunately she had no interest in that sort of thing. She had never even taught her own cousin and roommate how to play. There was no way she would bother teaching some complete stranger.
[They said they'd pay a consultation fee.]
“Explain a little more in detail, won’t you?”