Chapter 29: I tend to raise my daughter to be strong.

“Please let it be good this time…”

Like the famous otter meme, Jina clasped her hands together and muttered “Gazuuaaaa,” but her voice lacked energy.

It wasn’t that she had bet all her money on coins again.

After being burned badly by All-Blue, she had deleted the cryptocurrency exchange app without any regrets.

What Jina wanted was an SSR-grade 3D accessory generated by the generative AI.

“Spring, cute impression, pink, cherry blossom shape… Please this time…!”

She entered the prompt and pressed the ‘Generate’ button, and the AI model that Jina had personally tuned began to slowly synthesize the result.

Jina placed her coffee on her leg and looked at the screen with a bit of anticipation.

But after dozens of seconds, the image that appeared on the thumbnail was simply the worst.

“Damn it. It failed again.”

It was a bizarre accessory with a crooked ribbon piercing through the middle of a flower.

She modified the parameter values and pressed the generate button again, but this time the result was even more absurd.

The ribbon was torn to shreds, and flames, not petals, were floating around, making it look like something out of a horror movie.

“Did it finally go crazy? Or did my head go crazy?”

When she saw such disastrous results, she resented her clumsy hands that couldn’t make proper models.

Of course, she could already neatly refine high-quality models.

But it was impossible for her to create a model from scratch.

It was a belated realization, but Jina was a computer graphics researcher.

Not a 3D model designer.

Of course, it was an excuse that wouldn’t work in the professional world.

“I don’t know~ I’ll just keep generating until I get something.”

Her mindset was to keep going until she won.

Thinking that there might be a lack of reference information, she even added Spring’s avatar, which she had already made, to the learning model and started generating.

The first one.

The avatar and the ribbon were mixed together.

It looked so bizarre, like a chimera from a certain alchemy animation, that she was afraid it would appear in her dreams.

…Wouldn’t it be fun to use it for a horror special later?

The fourth one.

Now the avatar looked like a person again.

It was thanks to the parameter that suppressed changes to the avatar.

…Instead, there were lots of apple-shaped patterns all over her body.

She looked like an alien.

After many hours of failure, a ‘plausible’ accessory was finally completed.

“Haa… I finally got something usable.”

It was just plausible, but the quality was quite high.

That was because Jina’s standards were set to Hana.

She wasn’t satisfied with just anything.

Jina slightly modified the last model and sent it to Youngjun, then checked the many failures left in the folder.

She thought about deleting them all, but she picked out a few that were fairly decent and made a separate folder.

“If I send it to Summer or Fall, they’ll make some kind of content out of it.”

Jina couldn’t hear Spring’s wailing voice from somewhere in the future.

Jina was a Mama who raised her VTuber daughters to be strong.

For the sake of content, she could coolly overlook a little bit of embarrassment.

No, rather, she encouraged it.

Late at night, just as Jina was about to finish her work, an email arrived.

The sender of the email was none other than Fall.

She wondered what kind of email she had sent, and it turned out that she had written a very long proposal for items to attach to her avatar.

“…Twitchy twitchy cat ears? A yellow star necklace?”

Looking at the document, Jina chuckled.

It was fun, at least.

But it was too cluttered and disorganized.

“If she puts all this on, her avatar will become an accessory display case.”

Jina closed the email and thought for a moment.

Still, there were quite a few ideas that weren’t bad if she looked at them one by one.

As expected of the idea bank of the Seasons.

The problem was that there were so many that she didn’t know which one to choose.

After some worry, Jina replied to Fall with a DM, not an email.

She told her to pick just three, no more, no less.

It was… true that she didn’t want to think about it and passed it on to Fall.

These kinds of things should be left to the young blood whose brains were working fast.

The reply came quickly.

[Fall: Do I have to pick just three…? (A cat emoji with sparkling eyes)]

[Jina: Yes]

[Fall: Just ooone more… No, can’t I pick just two more…? (A cat emoji with teary eyes)]

[Jina: No]

To emphasize once again, Jina was a Mama who raised her VTuber daughters to be strong.

Only a fixed number of toys.

She wasn’t the kind of person who would do everything they asked for, like a certain game director.

[Fall: Hmph. You’re so mean, Mama… Okay. But you have to make the ones I chose really cool! And pretty! Okay???]

[Jina: Yes]

At this rate, she wouldn’t get a reply until tomorrow night at the earliest.

Until Fall sent her a message, she could just work on the other avatars first and wait.

[Mama! What are you doing? Are you busy?]

The one who bothered Jina the most was surprisingly not Fall, but Summer.

She was even bothering Jina by calling her on voice chat.

“Well, I’m always busy. I was working on avatars just now.”

[I knew it. I had something to ask you about the avatar~]

She didn’t have to listen to the rest to know what it was.

It was probably about stripping again.

[Why, you know how Han Ari’s clothes change when she gets a 100,000 won donation?]

“I told you. It takes a long time to make, so it won’t be possible for the debut version, and it will only be possible for the 1st or 2nd anniversary.”

[I know~ So, I had an amazing idea that made me go ‘wow’! ]

“…I think I know what it is, but let’s hear it.”

[Every time a donation comes in, she takes off one layer of clothing! So at the moment when only a swimsuit is left, if another donation comes in, it’s… boom!!]

It was an idea that really made her go ‘wow’.

It was exactly the same proposal as she had expected, which was surprising.

“Um… Summer. As far as I know, Cosmo Live is an MCN that pursues all-ages broadcasts. Am I wrong? At least, we have to keep it PG-12, no, PG-15…”

[Mama, kids these days know everything. Don’t you know that early education is the trend these days?]

“I can guarantee that there are no parents in Korea who send their children to academies for s*x education.”

[But how do they all know? Self-directed learning! Autonomous children! Keeee~ For these admirable children, we should set an example.]

Jina’s vision went dark.

With the Seasons’ debut just around the corner, she could see the community burning brightly.

Youngjun had been sighing a lot lately, and half of those sighs were probably because of Summer.

Of course, the other half was probably because of the president who didn’t care about management.

“Anyway, it’s not allowed. It will really get caught by the broadcast review.”

[Whaaat?! You’re so mean, Mama! You stripped Han Ari!]

“Wh, wh, what are you talking about?! Don’t say things that people might misunderstand. I didn’t strip her, I just made her a little wet.”

[Oh? Then will you make me wet too?]

” “

When the embarrassed Jina couldn’t say anything, Summer burst into laughter.

[Just kidding, just kidding~ I know. I have to stay on the line, but not cross it.]

At Summer’s words, Jina let out a sigh of relief without realizing it.

She did keep the line.

She had at least a minimal awareness as a broadcaster.

This was why Youngjun didn’t exclude Summer, who often made dirty jokes, from the debut members.

“I’m glad you know that. Still… well, the swimsuit idea is good. It’s summer, after all.”

[Oh? Really?! Are you going to put me in a bikini?]

“That would be a bit difficult, so I’ll make it so that it won’t get caught by the Clean Bot. It’s a waste if the broadcast gets suspended.”

[If it gets temporarily suspended, I’ll just think of it as a short vacation~]

“Haha…”

[And even if Han Ari got suspended for a week, she made a big hit again with her comeback broadcast.]

“That’s… true.”

After the so-called ‘Han Ari Law’, which regulated the level of 3D models, the censorship of VTubers became quite strict.

No matter how strongly she raised her daughter…

Still, getting a red mark(?) was a different matter.

It was just past 11 PM.

Jina saved the avatar file and turned off the computer.

She was planning to finish work a little early today.

Then her smartphone vibrated.

The name ‘Winter’ was on the screen.

“What’s going on at this hour…”

Jina furrowed her brow and answered the phone.

She was a little worried because Winter rarely contacted her personally.

Could it be… that something urgent had happened?

“Hello?”

[Jina, can you talk for a moment? I’m sorry for disturbing you so late.]

Jina said it was okay in a calm voice.

It was really okay.

Compared to Fall, who suddenly sent long emails at dawn, or Summer, who made her heart flutter and then drop at any time – Winter was an angel.

[I just… suddenly wanted to hear your voice.]

Winter’s voice over the phone was lower and calmer than usual.

There was a subtle mix of hesitation in her trembling voice.

“Why, did something happen?”

When Jina asked casually, Winter took a short breath and answered.

[We’re… debuting soon. My heart is strangely fluttering.]

“”

[I’m excited, but I’m also anxious… I wonder if I can do well.]

Jina’s impression of Winter was that she was a calm and haughty older sister who would not be shaken easily.

But even she seemed to have a lot on her mind at this point, just before her debut.

[And… after watching Han Ari’s broadcast… I was envious, I guess, or I felt like you put a lot of effort into it, Jina…]

That last sentence had a slightly whining tone.

At Winter’s jealous whining, a faint smile spread across Jina’s lips.

“I put a lot of effort into the Seasons’ avatars as well, as much as Han Ari. After all, they’re my ‘daughters’.”

[…!]

Among them, she put even more effort into Winter’s avatar, Jina emphasized.

[I… know. It’s just that… I wish you could pay a little more attention to me… Hmm… Am I being too greedy?]

“Not at all. Rather, you ask for so little compared to the other members that I end up looking at you more separately.”

[I feel like I’m bothering you when you’re working… And I trust you, Jina. Even if I don’t say anything, you make it exactly to my liking.]

“Still, if there’s anything you want, please tell me comfortably. I’ll do my best to accommodate you.”

At those words, Winter made a faint groan as if she was choosing her words.

After a moment of silence, Winter spoke carefully.

[…When will we see each other again? I think I’ll be a little less nervous if I see your face.]

At Winter’s words, Jina smiled a little awkwardly.

“Didn’t we decide to get together with Youngjun and the 3rd gen members soon? I’ll show my face for a bit then.”

[I don’t want to be with everyone.]

“Then… shall we make a separate schedule?”

[Okay. Haha.]

Her lifeless voice became bright as if it had never been like that.

She was clearly trying to raise her daughters(?) to be strong.

She was trying to keep a little distance from VTubers personally.

Jina herself didn’t know why she was being so lenient with Winter.

After that, Jina and Winter continued their trivial conversation.

From trivial emotions to specific broadcast concerns.

Jina didn’t give any particular advice.

After all, Winter would know more about broadcasting than she did.

Instead, she just listened quietly and threw a short word of encouragement at the right moment.

That seemed to be the right answer, and Winter burst into laughter.

As they talked for a long time, Jina gradually realized.

The day of the Seasons’ debut was really just around the corner.