My Secret Weapon
I had a secret weapon. But only amateurs pull it out right away.
“You’re all going to get seriously stressed. But even that kind of stress….”
“Everyone, calm down and listen. It’s not like I’m taking a break to do Christmas couple cosplay hanky-panky with my boyfriend or anything….”
“I’d love to do a hardcore VTuber self-discipline arc too, okay? But something came up.”
I cut the wordplay there and got serious, pulling up my calendar app. The dates for the twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, and twenty-sixth were clearly marked as business trips. Overseas ones, at that. Even I didn’t want to go. Christmas abroad? Come on.
“I really tried to get out of it, but it’s an important schedule….”
“Sob sob, my stream is ruined.”
To be completely, brutally honest, a secret weapon is called that for a reason. It’s not something you use casually. You save it for the one moment it truly matters. I really didn’t want to play it. But the chat was typing in full old-school cursive font. That meant this was a critical situation that couldn’t be brushed off. Sure, my average viewer count was only two hundred, but that made it even more critical.
“Actually, I have a plan.”
In a situation like this, there was no point in saving it.
No matter how much I explained, completely erasing their doubts was impossible. People believe what they want to believe. So I had to set the mood. Create an atmosphere where believing me was the natural thing to do.
“I will turn on a live cam stream from the hotel during my business trip…!”
Wayo was a super rookie VTuber who had built up a steady average of two hundred viewers over the past year. Yet I had never once turned on so much as a hand cam, let alone a face cam. And now I was offering a live cam stream where parts of my actual body might be visible?
“I’ll make the impossible possible!”
From my perspective, this was a massive loss. If I accidentally showed even a sliver of my face, it would be a total disaster in the industry. On top of that, I was currently in talks for an exclusive contract with Andel, a globally famous brand. It was a huge opportunity that had come after my previous contract ended a year ago. Doing a risky live cam stream at a time like this was honestly insane, but….
That was how serious I was about streaming. At this point the only ones who played with me were my viewers. Why do people work to earn money? To have fun, eat well, and sleep in nice places, right? My three great desires were fun, appetite, and sleep. I couldn’t throw away streaming, which fed one of those desires. And honestly, I just had to not get caught. I was extremely confident in my ability to pull it off.
Anyway.
“Does this earn your trust now?”
Thanks to my hard-line approach, the viewers seemed to accept it somewhat. They were still my viewers after all, so they had at least a minimum of trust in me. Plus, my honesty and the timing helped. There was still about a month until Christmas. This was more trustworthy than suddenly announcing a break on the day itself.
“So… shall we play some games now?”
The mood had settled, so I carefully changed the subject. There was nothing to gain from dragging this topic out any longer.
“Yep, yep. All you Jeochat Sanchaekgyeon, please leave now.”
Jeochat Sanchaekgyeon was the term for viewers who only watched the Just Chatting portion and dipped the moment gameplay started. My stream had a lot of them, so around forty out of two hundred and thirty people left in a rush.
“You sons of bitches…”
“The remaining Tongnamu Sinsa, come over here.”
If the ones who only watched the chatting and left were the half-mocking Jeochat Sanchaekgyeon, there were others who stayed until the end. These were the Tongnamu Sinsa. Even when chat activity was low, they actively typed to keep the stream alive, carrying the log on their backs, so to speak.
“Hehe, you’re not going anywhere.”
Where do you think you’re going? You guys have to watch until the end. You’re my true friends, you know? I even prepared a game for today.
“So, what do you think?”
The game icon appeared on screen. Before becoming a VTuber, I was a variety game streamer, so I played all kinds of games. Today’s game was an indie title considered one of the greatest masterpieces in the genre, where you pick one of one hundred and seventy-two characters and experience completely different battles every time….
“…Just so you know, this is a viewer participation stream. Looking for four players for a Jeungbaram party.”
“With no entry fee?”
“Ah, thank you for the one-thousand-won donation, WayoGram. Should I invite them right away?”
“Ah~ A deduction.”
“Ah! Our first customer has arrived.”
I saw the five thousand won and immediately sent an invite. That was half the minimum wage, after all. It might not mean much to model Ahyeon, but to VTuber Wayo it was a huge amount.
The moment I sent the invites, viewers who had guessed the price point started spamming donations. These quick-witted bastards. I sent the invites without even having time to raise the rate.
“All right, one-game-and-done party, let’s go~!”
“One loss and we’re done~!”
It had been a notice stream full of complaints and drama, but in the end a fun Jeungbaram party set sail.
It was the early dawn after Wayo had excitedly finished her stream. At an hour when normal people weren’t active, one online community was bustling with posts as if it were midday.