Debut Jitters

People were flooding in, and my body trembled uncontrollably, but I still had to do what needed to be done. With shaking hands, I put in my earphones and leaned toward the mic.

"Hic… starting… uuu, I’ll do it now."

"I-I’m just… happy… I’m crying because I’m happy. Thank you for watching."

After telling everyone not to worry, I took a deep breath. I was nervous. I’d practiced hundreds of times, but the nerves wouldn’t go away.

Haah… I should’ve practiced two hundred more times.

Wiping away my tears, I placed my hand on the mouse.

"I-I’ll switch the slides now."

Oh no, what do I do?

The number of people kept rising. The chat was moving even faster than when I first started the stream. My body shook, but I also felt grateful. I was nervous, yet the support pouring in was enough to ease that tension. There were no insults or mockery. Drawing courage from that, I flipped to the next slide.

A chalkboard-style slide appeared.

"O-okay, today I’m only doing this much and then ending the stream… I-I already did Q&A last time, but since there are more people now, I thought I’d do it again…"

Every time I spoke, waves of encouragement flooded in. I felt deeply moved. With my heart pounding, I flipped to the next slide.

The profile page appeared.

The PPT had a very lively design and font. As expected from the collaboration between Jiwoo and my teacher, it felt completely different from my usual self.

"Th-this is my profile… uuu… my height increased a bit? Ah, that’s a lie."

People were teasing me about being short. I stopped growing in middle school, but I didn’t think I was that small, so I timidly pushed back.

"I-I don’t think I’m that small…"

After saying that, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠continued with the profile explanation just like I’d practiced.

"Um… so, my name is Snake…! It’s written in English so you might misunderstand, but I’m not a vampire… it’s the snake from s-snake…"

People started paying attention to my fan name. My fan name was Jireongi, Jireongdan. It was literally the earthworm that wriggles in the dirt. Worried someone might feel uncomfortable, I quickly explained.

In this world, controversies could spark over the smallest things. I didn’t want to crash and burn on my very first stream.

"Sorry for calling you Jireongi…! B-but it’s cute, so I couldn’t change it."

When I explained while shrinking back, worried I’d get scolded, everyone told me it was fine.

Everyone reassured me it was okay. Without realizing it, a laugh slipped out.

"Hee, thank you…!"

"I’ll continue…!"

Everyone likes it…!

Feeling a bit more excited, I kept talking without hesitation. From that point on, my words came out louder and clearer. All the endless practice was finally paying off.

"This white snake on my shoulder is Hayangi…. Isn’t it c-cute?"

"Hayangi represents my managers… They’ll appear later. You guys are the Jireongi."

"N-no RP yet."

When I answered that there was no RP, people started reacting with surprise.

"W-why are you like this. I really don’t have RP."

When I firmly stated there was no RP, the next reaction that popped up was “poor thing.” I had no idea what was so pitiful about it.

"I-I’m not pitiful at all!!"

Shouting that, my face turned bright red as I hurriedly flipped to the next slide.

"Next is… the fan characters. Both are cute. The black one is a little scary……"

"L-look, the first Dark Jireongi has appeared… C-congratulations."

As soon as I said that, the chat started scrolling rapidly.

Startled by the sudden appearance of so many Dark Jireongi, I quickly tried to calm everyone down and flipped the page.

"E-everyone calm down! I… think I like the white Jireongi more."

"P-please turn the sound on."

"Ah… r-right. Uuu, I’ll move on."

Feeling a bit sorry, I looked at the next slide.

"Um… for content, I’ll do variety games and casual chatting."

"I’ll play EoW a lot too… but if I only do that, I’ll… g-get tired of it."

Well, it couldn’t be helped. I’d already gotten tired of it. There were too many toxic players, and I just didn’t feel like playing anymore. I’d still play it on stream, but if I started feeling stressed, I’d end it right away.

"I’ll play it on stream too… but if I get flamed, after that match I’ll turn off EoW for the day and just do Just Chatting……"

Everyone praised me. Feeling excited, I let out another laugh.

"S-so… that’s the end of the introduction…! Clap!"

Everyone was chattering noisily. Smiling softly, I flipped one more slide.

The Q&A screen appeared.

Everyone got excited when the Q&A screen appeared. Trembling, I made one request.

"Um, now I’m going to do Q&A… P-please don’t send questions too fast like last time. It’s scary, and my heart hurts, so… please take it slow."

I said that because if the chat moved too fast I’d get scared and might not be able to answer everything. Everyone replied that they understood. Sitting upright on my chair, tense, I prepared to answer questions.