chapter 13: BunnyRun’s Comeback: The Art of Chaos and Solo Grind

In the gallery, a frequently mentioned person is often called a galju (gallery owner).

Therefore, the VR Broadcast Gallery  also has its own galjus—internet broadcasting giants like Gajunsik.

Most of them are men, but there are exceptions. Sometimes, women also become galjus in the VR Broadcast Gallery.

Interestingly, female galjus don’t need to be part of the broadcasting elite to achieve that status.

Of course, these women generally have a respectable number of viewers. However… compared to the male galjus, their level inevitably feels inferior.

This phenomenon reflects the nature of the broadcast gallery.

The gallery members aren’t necessarily fans of streamers.

What matters to them is the commentary. The streams serve as tools for commentary; the broadcasts themselves aren’t a crucial element.

That’s why, even without watching certain streams, the gallery members still bring them up for the sake of discussion.

Female streamers often fall into this category.

They don’t attract much viewership, but they become recurring topics because the teasing is amusing.

They’re more than just temporary playthings—they’re cherished ones.

Well, not that male galjus are exempt from being treated like toys, but female streamers are discussed purely for the sake of ridicule.

It isn’t deliberate.

It’s just that female broadcasts seem boring to the gallery members, so they don’t watch them. This naturally results in the conversation centering on mockery.

For male galjus, the teasing blends with actual broadcast content, since people watch their streams too.

It’s a straightforward dynamic.

“We miss you… ‘Blue Hair Lady.’”
(A clip of BunnyRun on cam, criticizing VTubers as a whole.)

“Ah, wise BunnyRun. They’re hard to come by these days… We miss you.”

—”Didn’t she become a VTuber herself, though?”
—”Exile to the Broadcast Gallery?”
—”Has it already been six months since she disappeared to reflect?”
—Loo will hit six months soon.
└”She’ll be back any moment now, lol.”

BunnyRun was one of the female galjus in the VR Broadcast Gallery.

True to the gallery’s obsession with mockery, every word she spoke sparked a dopamine rush.

It’s not easy to provoke dopamine with just words. If it were, comedians wouldn’t have such a hard time.

BunnyRun’s statements always danced on the edge. Or rather, “dancing on the edge” implies a certain calculation, but BunnyRun wasn’t particularly the calculating type.

She was just someone without any filter—a person who eventually got herself into trouble and ended up having to “reflect.”

That was BunnyRun.

“The Blue-Haired Girl is back, LOL.”
(A clip of BunnyRun awkwardly greeting her audience with a bunny-ear avatar.)

“The six-month rule is real.”

—”A streamer’s ‘reflection’ is just a fancy vacation, lol. Plenty of sex and travel.”
—”So is she not turning on her cam anymore?”

VR Broadcast Gallery members primarily watch streams with webcams. But that doesn’t mean they reject VTubers entirely.

Back in the days of minor galleries, merely discussing VTubers could get you banned. People would censor names like [“ ” is totally roasting Gajunsik, LOL] or blur VTuber figures in screenshots.

Nowadays, though, they no longer go to such lengths.

However, that doesn’t mean VTubers are frequently mentioned.

In essence, talking about VTubers in the VR Broadcast Gallery is like discussing writing techniques in a genre fiction gallery—no one cares. It’s the kind of topic that draws dismissive comments like, “Take it to the web novel gallery.”

To be fair, ostracizing VTubers still feels like the norm.

But banning them? Now that’s a bit extreme.

Honestly, this level of tolerance could make even Mother Teresa weep in admiration.

Anyway, let’s get back on track.

Every rule has exceptions.

And BunnyRun was one of those exceptions.

She was one VTuber whose broadcasts wouldn’t attract the usual “Go to the VTuber gallery” comments.

Even if someone made such remarks, it was often playful banter rather than serious criticism.

This leniency came from the fact that BunnyRun was originally a webcam streamer before becoming a VTuber—a rare transition.

BunnyRun is still young and beautiful, so giving up her webcam seemed like a waste of her biggest asset.

In reality, it was a waste.

Still, she decided to become a VTuber for a straightforward reason:

Whenever she appeared on camera, her face would inevitably end up in drama-fueled videos, which became a hassle.

Sure, one might argue she could avoid controversy altogether. But the kind of person who could avoid drama wouldn’t have gotten into it in the first place.

Besides, considering she took a six-month hiatus after becoming a VTuber, BunnyRun’s choice proved to be the right one in the end.

“What did I do during my break? Part-time jobs, of course.”

Part-time jobs? Yeah, right. More like taking a relaxing vacation and indulging in fun (deleted).

“Part-time jobs? LOL, why? Is this your way of asking for donations?”

“Look, it’s my first day back, so I was planning not to ban anyone. But I won’t tolerate nonsense. And what’s with the donation talk? The part-time jobs were just a backup in case my return flopped. I mean, I can’t exactly kill myself if the stream fails, can I?”

“Suicide jokes, LOL.”

“Are you planning to take another break for this?”

She really has no filter.

“Don’t overreact. If something like this becomes controversial, I might as well quit streaming.”

With that, BunnyRun popped a candy into her mouth.

Her virtual avatar mirrored the action, sparking lively chatter in the chatroom.

“Cigarettes, LOL!”

“’Dam’ from MoonfiDam, confirmed.”

“Weird… Isn’t she supposed to be 17 in her lore? This doesn’t add up…”

“I don’t smoke,” BunnyRun grumbled, flashing the chat on-screen.

It was a warning—one more outburst, and she’d initiate a ban wave.

“Whoa.”

BunnyRun swiftly banned the annoying chat messages and spoke up.

“You guys know I don’t have tattoos or piercings. You’ve seen me enough to know.”

Yeah, but who knows what she’s done in the past year without the webcam on.

“Did someone force me at knifepoint to become a VTuber?”

“Turn the cam back on!”

“Actually, the drama vultures did threaten me with a knife,” BunnyRun added, sparking laughter across the chatroom.

Annoyed by her unintended role as a clown, she clicked her tongue and switched topics, returning to her part-time job story.

“Date, break up, date, break up—this happened five times in just six months of working. At this job, if you’re not dating someone, you’re considered a loser, but still, it was over the top. Was it at a theme park? No. Some other job. A ski resort? No, stop asking—I’m not telling you.”

“Why bother visiting the animal kingdom if you’re not going to enjoy the zoo, huh?” (deleted)

“Did you get involved too?” (deleted)

“Fun fact: The first person to use a narrative trick was Agatha Christie. And the latest person to do it? BunnyRun.”

“Do you think I had the mental energy for that? You’ve clearly never experienced online harassment if you think I could handle romance on top of that.”

BunnyRun spat out the candy in her mouth and continued.

“Apparently, this job has that kind of reputation now. Even the new hire sticks to the guys, which is just ridiculous.”

“What, did a cat pick this job for you?”

“I didn’t think it’d be this bad. I just took it because it’s close to home and the pay’s decent.”

Responding half-heartedly, BunnyRun glanced at the clock.

She had spent two hours chatting without even realizing it.

Sensing the shift in her mood, viewers jumped on it with comments.

“Better get to the grind, huh? Even on your first day back!”

“Hey, are you worried about the VTube algorithm?”

“If you’ve been inactive for six months, isn’t your channel already doomed?”

“That’s only true for mainstream VTubers. Channels like ours in the shadows aren’t as affected by the algorithm.”

“How about a round of Eternal World? Been a while.”

BunnyRun was known as a skilled female streamer, often reaching high Diamond ranks and occasionally Master in competitive play.

While her unfiltered commentary during live streams attracted most of her fans, her steady popularity on VTube was thanks to her impressive gameplay in Eternal World, with videos regularly racking up over 100,000 views.

So, even while chatting casually, BunnyRun would often play Eternal World, calling it “homework.”

This was one of those moments.

During her six-month hiatus, BunnyRun began grinding “homework” to update her neglected VTube channel.

After selecting her position and hitting the matchmaking button, she quickly found a match.

BunnyRun’s role was Solo Outskirts, the loneliest position in Eternal World.

Players often joked that anyone playing Solo Outskirts seemed to be playing an entirely different game.

And, in some ways, they were.

As she eliminated mutated creatures—the basic enemies found in the contaminated outskirts—her level climbed steadily.

Though the outskirts were vast, they had few resources.

The creatures were scattered far apart, and the key objects—named mutated creatures—only spawned occasionally.

This meant that if BunnyRun ever lost a 1v1, her progress would be severely delayed.

Granted, the outskirts were so expansive that a skilled player could avoid death indefinitely, but people who played like that usually didn’t pick this role in the first place.

Soon, BunnyRun encountered an enemy solo outskirter right before her first named mutation.

Characters in this position were often designed for intense 1v1 duels.

BunnyRun’s choice was Marvin Flail, a knight in full plate armor.

She executed a clean combo, slashing through the enemy player and securing the mutated creature.

The kill rewarded her with an item—a warhammer that oozed ominous energy.

“Off to a good start.”

“Lucky to get a weapon drop right away, huh?”

“A warhammer counts as at least a Tier 2 weapon.”

The hallmark of the Solo Outskirts role was its randomness.

Defeating a named mutation would randomly drop cursed items—ranging from weapons and armor to rare artifacts.

Many players in this role favored characters who could handle unpredictable drops.

Marvin, BunnyRun’s main character, excelled at using all kinds of weapons—swords, knuckles, hammers, spears, and more.

However, in exchange, he was terrible with magic-related items. Still, almost every other item had solid stats for him.

BunnyRun’s lucky drop fueled her momentum, allowing her to level up quickly.

Her growth was so rapid that the enemy outskirter gave up on the mutations and fled back to the city.

Satisfied with her progress, BunnyRun headed toward the city for the team fight.

Imagining herself smashing enemies on her own, she entered a Tier 2 area called [Floating Skyscraper].

Then, without warning, she was crushed at the enemy’s Urban Core.

Staring at her greyed-out screen, BunnyRun brought up the info window, stunned.

The enemy’s Urban Core was nearly fully geared, just shy of complete endgame equipment.

She then checked the kill-death stats of her team’s Urban Core and couldn’t hold back her frustration.

“What the hell has Han Yurim been doing to rack up a double-digit death count already?”