A Meeting with VR
Clemoomoo. Thirty-one years old, and a father of two.
He built his broadcasts around Legend of League while reaching for every kind of variety game besides, and this year he was closing in on his sixth in the business—a veteran with a considerable career behind him. He hadn't drawn much of a crowd at the start. But set among the other streamers who stood out for their effortless patter and their conspicuous ignorance, he showed off a learning of his own and better-than-average skill at games, and only lately had he begun to catch the light.
An average audience of 1,500, and 40,000 members in the fan club. Not the very top of Shindaeryuk TV, but a streamer of real substance, someone you could fairly call upper tier.
"You know VR streams have been getting seriously popular lately, right?"
"I do. There are videos pulling two million views, three million—enough that you can't miss them."
Every trade is like this, more or less, but the people who pull ahead are the ones who can read the current. Game broadcasts boom, then the crowd migrates to mukbang, those marathon eating shows, and from there to travel and trips overseas. When election season draws near, politics takes the spotlight. And the thing carrying the most heat these days was VR.
A leap in technology I couldn't have imagined as a kid. I think the first time I ran into the idea of virtual reality was around middle school—a comic that hooked me with VR games as its premise, and novels after that. I still remember reading them in secret straight through class, picturing some future version of myself actually playing a virtual-reality game.
How fun would it be? How electric?
I had a feeling the people going wild for VR now were the ones who'd felt something close to what I felt back then.
In that sense, Clemoomoo's proposal was exactly the kind of thing that stirred my interest. So I gave him a positive answer first, while tacking on a few worries as caveats. For one, I was a complete beginner at VR. For another, I didn't own any of the gear to do it.
His reply on both points was crystal clear. He would lend me a spare headset, and he even promised to teach me himself, down to the details. To make that happen, though, I would have to visit his house in person—but I wasn't worried. Clemoomoo was a famously henpecked husband, and while he coached me in the streaming room, the rest of his family would be under the same roof.
I really have been blowing up lately, haven't I?
My average viewership was bouncing between nine hundred and a thousand, and the fan club had crossed ten thousand. YouTube was on a tear, too. So of course he was stepping up this aggressively, with my current momentum and my prospects both in mind.
I thought it over for a moment, then said yes. From where I lived to Clemoomoo's place was an hour. Round trip, two. But if an investment of that much time came back to me as a more developed version of what I was doing, I could bear it just fine.
For a week, I lived flat out.
Every other day I worked out at Myung-hoon's Gym, and on my days off I went to Clemoomoo's house and practiced handling VR. Through all of it, I never once took a break from streaming. The diligence of it was enough to impress even me.
Once the controls had settled into my hands, Clemoomoo recommended I make a unique character of my own, but I figured it was still too early to sink that kind of money in. I had this month's rent and taxes to pay. The truth was, I was broke. Cashing out Water Balloons was an option, but that was a move you saved for the last of all last resorts. Until then it was points, no exceptions—points, and only points!
"You've both been working so hard. Have some fruit while you keep at it."
"Ooh, nice."
"Thank you. We'll enjoy it."
Clemoomoo's wife had brought us a snack. A refined impression, a calm voice—the very picture of a gracious wife and mother. Peeking out from behind her legs and reading the room was a mischievous three-year-old boy, and cradled in her arms was the daughter she had given birth to at the start of the year.
Clemoomoo smiled, perfectly content, looking from his son to his daughter. It was a genuinely lovely sight.
"Noona! Noona!"
"Hm? Yeah. What's the matter?"
He had come right up to me and called out in a lisping little voice. Cute kid. The moment I crouched down to meet his eyes, the rascal—who had been grinning wide—suddenly shot out a hand and grabbed my chest, the very source of my pride.
Squish—!
"......!"
"Oh my!"
"Ghk!"
The air froze in a heartbeat. Oblivious to how serious things had gotten, the kid blurted out a huge, admiring cry.
"Whoa! So big! Bigger than Mommy! Way, way bigger!"
"......"
"Ahem."
Don't tell me this kid reincarnated.
His mother hurried over and hauled the little troublemaker away. Left alone with Clemoomoo, the mood locked up even more awkwardly than before.
Anyway, the week passed in that kind of atmosphere.
Clemoomoo said we should run the content over the weekend, so I put up a notice ahead of time: this Saturday, a joint broadcast on his stream. Maybe because it had been a while since a collab, I was looking forward to it even more.
The program for today's content was VRChat, the hottest title VR gaming had to offer. It had launched on Steam in February 2017 and held an unshakable first place among VR games. I'd watched related videos on YouTube now and then, but actually playing it myself had begun with Clemoomoo's lessons. It was a game with a great deal of freedom, from avatars all the way to building worlds of your own.
"Hello to everyone who came to watch today's broadcast. Welcome."
The broadcast began. The map that opened before us was a small bar, and Clemoomoo made his entrance in a handsome character he had specially commissioned. The bartender outfit suited him pretty well. But he wasn't the star of today's content.
He killed time with this and that until the viewers started getting antsy in the chat. Then he grinned and introduced the stars of the day.
"The moment we announced I'd be doing this with Miss Hani, the competition went absolutely insane. Our first lucky man, the one who beat odds of thirty-five to one—Mr. TastyLand. Everyone, a warm round of applause."
TastyLand's character came through the door and took the first chair. Casual clothes, a neat face. He even had the ease to wave at the viewers' jeers as he declared his resolve for the day.
"Today's winner is going to be me. I'll make sure Miss Hani has a great time!"
"Hoho, that's some confidence. Viewers, that was contestant number one, TastyLand. Please stand by for just a moment."
"Now, now, let's not everybody get too worked up... Second up. The man who says he'll capture Hani's heart today—the greatest romantic in the house, Mr. Leo!"
The Leo who came through the door this time was dressed in a tuxedo. A well-cut figure in a fit that clung just so, and a single rose tucked into the breast pocket that caught the eye more than anything else.
"Envy me all you like. Today's winner is me. Miss Hani's choice goes without saying—I'll be aiming for her phone number, too."
"Hahaha, our viewers' reaction is truly like a wildfire. Everyone's having such a good time that I, your host, am thoroughly satisfied. Then I'll bring in our last guest."
The last figure to show himself had a considerably sturdy build. Thighs and arms that looked twice as thick as TastyLand's or Leo's, and a sleeveless shirt and shorts that put all that muscle on display, as if he were showing it off.
"Our final participant, Mr. GymMan. You've put quite a lot of care into that avatar. Now that our last guest is here, let's welcome today's true star."
Even TastyLand and Leo, who had been sitting, got back to their feet and turned toward the door. Clemoomoo snapped his fingers to give the signal, and a low BGM began to fill the bar.
The door is opening. And in you come.
At first sight, I knew you were mine.
A familiar song. Glass Box—the track that had caused a stir when it appeared in Lovers in Paris, which aired in 2004.
Right on the cue we had agreed on, I moved my avatar, opened the door, and stepped carefully inside. With my head dipped just a little, I walked on, cautious.
You come up before me, bow your head, and the face that shows—
truly, dazzlingly beautiful.
I lifted my head a fraction. It wasn't a special avatar I had made myself, but the quality was quite good—and, following the script Clemoomoo had prepared, I was wearing a pure white wedding dress.
Somehow you don't feel like a stranger. My heart is racing.
You, who have carried off all of my heart.
I went up to TastyLand, then Leo, then GymMan, one after another, and smiled at each of them. I gave them a wave. Working their controllers, the three answered with every kind of reaction—slack-jawed faces, eyes swapped out for hearts. A small laugh slipped out of me before I knew it.
I'll say it carefully. I'll try to be brave.
From today, I love you. May I?
It was the start of the first content I would ever run in VR.