A VTuber's New Year's Eve Dilemma

As the rising supernova of the year-end streaming scene and a super rookie VTuber with an average of two hundred viewers, I, Wayo, mostly stream alone. I don't do many collaborations. Instead, I treat the viewers like friends and broadcast that way. I'm basically a lone wolf. But that doesn't mean I have zero connections in the streaming world.

Back when I first started, when my average viewer count barely fluctuated between twenty and thirty, I happened to connect with a couple of people and played games together. Those people were the streamers ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Haebin and Seong Hayeon. These days everyone calls them Haeganom and Yeongukno. And for good reason….

Both of them used to be low-tier streamers grinding it out with me, but after joining a few large-scale servers and competing in streamer tournaments, they each hit around fifteen hundred and two thousand average viewers and became solid mid-tier streamers.

My hands trembled like I'd just watched two friends who studied together in a basement suddenly pass the level seven civil service exam. Of course, I was the one who had zero interest in that kind of broadcasting growth and turned down their frequent invitations to join large servers or streamer tournaments. Still, the viewers kept making comparisons. Having been unmatched among my peers since I was six years old, this kind of humiliation was hard to endure, which is why their nicknames naturally became Haeganom and Yeongukno.

Anyway, the reason I'm thinking about these two right now is….

Before turning on my stream, I checked my messenger and saw messages from both of them.

"Hmm."

I pondered while glancing at the clock.

Today was the monumental day that marked the end of the year. For VTubers, anniversaries and special dates carry even more weight. The more special the occasion, the more you absolutely cannot skip streaming. After all, I couldn't let the viewers who firmly believe in the equation Anniversary = Day I go to a motel with my boyfriend fall into anxiety, could I?

That's why many VTubers run all-night endurance streams from the 31st straight through to the morning of January 1st. Given that endurance broadcasts require preparing a variety of content, selling out your fellow VTubers makes for excellent material and clip-worthy moments. They must have contacted me in advance to use that angle.

"Hmm…."

Staring at the messages only deepened my dilemma. Oh, and it wasn't about how to reply. It was about the broadcast itself. Because….

I haven't prepared anything.

Come to think of it, I hadn't done any prep for the endurance stream. I'd just gotten back from an overseas business trip, after all. On top of that, things had been chaotic since my little sister came home, so I hadn't even thought about preparing stream content.

After thinking it over a bit more, I simply turned on the stream. Sigh. When have I ever prepared that diligently for a broadcast anyway? At my core, I'm a variety game VTuber. I just need to play games that fit my character. What, a twenty-four-hour endurance stream? Fine. I'll approach it with the mindset of playing twenty-four different games.

With that solid mindset, I started the stream. If there's a game where ten random users each play one of one hundred seventy-two champions, creating completely different scenarios every match, isn't that basically the same as playing a new game every round? On top of that, League of Legends was once a nationally popular game, so most of my viewers understand it without much difficulty and feel familiar with….

"...I'll only play two games. It's my promotion match."

"Yep."

I quickly queued up for ranked before the viewers could change their minds. My position was naturally top. For a lone wolf VTuber like me, top is the correct choice.

"...."

For reference, I had been demoted a few days ago and currently sat at Emerald 4 with 75 points. Two wins would bring ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me back to Emerald 3, the threshold of my former glory and within striking distance of Diamond. I focused hard and played those two games.

"Ah."

I suffered two straight losses.

"...One more game?"

"Okay, I'll switch to another game."

I asked the viewers just in case, but their response was sharper than a guillotine, so I immediately accepted it. Yeah, I could always grind the points later…. Still, that last game was totally winnable. So bittersweet….

With slightly moist eyes I stared at the League icon for a moment before launching a pre-installed game.

"Alright, the new game I've brought is this one. It's trending lately, right?"

When I launched it, a pixelated but extremely charming waiting screen appeared. It was Teamfight Manager 2. You take over as the coach of a pro team in an AOS genre game, slowly building the team up from the third division. The ultimate goal is to win the world championship and become the best team….

"...Then what am I supposed to do?"

I pouted as I spoke. They complain even when I bring a game. For reference, yesterday I had found and brought a genuinely new game instead of League. It was a Korean RPG Maker title, but after two hours they roasted me for bringing such a trash game. That's why I end up playing League all the time. At least with League I only get called an addict. I don't get accused of bringing boring games.

"Hayeon's doing a half-cam stream?"

While carefully scanning the chat for anything worth doing, news about my former colleague's half-cam stream caught my eye. It made sense for Haebin since she started with facecam before becoming a VTuber, but Hayeon used to only do handcam. Had that changed?

"...Should I just take a quick look?"

Feeling a strange sense of bitterness, I typed her name into the search bar.

"I don't usually follow people anyway."

I brushed off the viewers' pointless jabs and hit enter on the search bar. The moment I did….

"Uh…."

My mouth fell open.

"Ah, no way."

First, I was shocked by the viewer count. A whopping five thousand people were watching, twenty times my own numbers. Second….

"The outfit…."

My internet friend was wearing what could only be described as a slutty bunny girl costume.

"This isn't okay. This can't happen."

After the initial shock, I clutched my forehead at the sight of my friend's corrupted state.

I'd assumed that since it was half-cam, only her upper body would show a little. I didn't expect her to prepare a full costume and do a proper cam broadcast.

"If VTubers all start turning their cams on like this… there's no end to it. This is a race to the bottom."

As someone in the industry, I couldn't help but lament. It starts with just the hands, then both arms, then the upper body, and eventually the lower body too. At that point, why even call it VTubing? If you broadcast showing everything except your face, you just become a faceless young person on camera. Of course, I also started VTubing because I didn't want to show my face, but… as I continued, I realized this VTuber thing had its own history and that the role-playing wasn't just simple pretend. That's why I felt some satisfaction with the job. But now everyone was just trying to outdo each other in this bleeding competition.

If turning on the cam for special occasions becomes a VTuber's ultimate technique, then VTubers will no longer be able to exist as VTubers. And above all else….

"...I can't. I'm Princess Koopa."

The important thing is that it's a method I can't use. ...If you're a VTuber, just reveal a new skin for the occasion. Don't turn on your cam and inflate your viewer count like this.

"Sigh."

"...Let's stop here."

I hurriedly closed the tab I had been secretly peeking at.

I couldn't let them siphon off my viewers. I couldn't possibly lose the modest audience I'd gathered to some VTuber using those kinds of dirty tricks. …It looked like a few dozen had already been lured away and disappeared, but that much could be considered the price of curiosity.

"...It's already night."

I said this while turning my gaze toward the window. I'd started streaming in the evening and played two games of League, and now it was gradually getting dark outside. Winter nights do arrive quickly, after all. In exchange, winter mornings are heavy sleepers and come late, so the New Year's Eve night and New Year's dawn would stretch on for quite a while.

And so, ignoring the incoming Discord call, I stared out at the darkened window beyond. …Next year I really should aim for around four hundred average viewers.

The next day. As scheduled, I signed an official fashion brand contract with Andel.