Chapter 11: People who are crazy about vtubers

Cosmo Live.

It’s a virtual YouTuber company that was among the first to bring Vtubers, who were popular in overseas internet broadcasting industries like Japan, to Korea.

It wasn’t a smooth ride from the beginning.

The ambitiously prepared first generation, ‘Nova,’ didn’t see much success and their contracts were terminated in less than a year. They experienced the bitter taste of failure. The timing wasn’t right. The homebody ‘pasta-viewers’ of Korea weren’t ready to accept ‘Dura-Han’ and ‘wooden boards’ yet.
(TL Note: Dura-Han and wooden board seem to be a derogatory term for Vtubers)

However, the second generation, ‘Astra,’ with members Cherry and Mary, who rose from those failures, became a huge hit as soon as they debuted.

With a solid concept, colorful designs, singing skills comparable to professional singers, and incredible variety show sense, they quickly exploded in popularity. They completely captivated the hearts of the ‘pasu’ (pasta + unemployed).

As a result, both of them still maintain a large fanbase and continue to be successful.

Building on Astra’s success, Cosmo Live was preparing for the debut of the third generation, ‘Seasons.’

Unlike Astra, which had only two members, they increased the number to four.

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.

The ambition was to expand the worldview by assigning each character a theme of the four seasons.

“Is the mixing for the cover song recording finished?”

“How’s the music video coming along?”

“What about the merchandise orders? What? It’s still a long way off?!”

Thanks to this, the company was always busy.

Not only the CEO and the talents but also the management staff were busy working day and night.

Standing in the middle of this scene was Youngjun.

He had an MBA from a prestigious overseas university, but he loved Vtubers so much that he jumped straight into the Vtuber industry. When he turned down numerous scouting offers from overseas investment firms and suddenly returned to Korea to join a no-name company called Cosmo Live, everyone called him crazy.

Certainly, Youngjun was crazy.

He was crazy about Vtubers.

Youngjun’s title at Cosmo Live was General Manager.

He took on all the planning and operations on behalf of the new CEO, who was busy broadcasting.

As such, he had a lot of work to do. He lived a life where day and night were reversed, and every day was hectic.

Nevertheless, Youngjun felt a sense of fulfillment every day.

‘After I finish this, I’ll go join the Cherry and Mary collab stream and stir things up.’

This is the perfect example of aligning one’s passion with their profession.

For a hardcore viewer like Youngjun, Cosmo Live was the best workplace.

3 AM. The time when broadcasters are most active.

Youngjun’s smartphone suddenly rang loudly.

Winter (Seo-ah)

Seeing the name displayed on the screen, Youngjun flinched.

The first thought that came to his mind was, ‘Did she get into some kind of trouble?’

She was the delicate and calm eldest sister of Seasons.

But when it came to gaming, Winter, Seo-ah, was a keyboard warrior with a sharp tongue. It seemed that in the past, she used to frequent community ‘best posts’ and ‘incident and accident’ boards. With a sense of foreboding, Youngjun quickly answered the phone.

“Hello, Manager-nim? It’s me. Winter of Seasons. I just sent you a link, can you check it out?”

As soon as the call connected, Seo-ah poured out her words in an excited voice.

It was unlike her usual self, so Youngjun frowned and cleared his throat.

“Winter-nim, as I’ve said before, RP (Role Playing) is the lifeblood of a Vtuber. If someone whose concept is being calm gets so excited…”

“Never mind that, just look at the link I sent you.”

Only then did the word ‘link’ register in his ears.

He checked the address, and thankfully, it wasn’t a link to some gallery, cafe, or any other community.

Relieved that it wasn’t an accident, Youngjun breathed a sigh of relief.

When he clicked the link, a paper written in English unfolded before his eyes.

Youngjun involuntarily gagged at the sight of complex formulas interspersed among difficult technical terms.

It was a reminder that he was also a liberal arts major. He was a bit better at math than most liberal arts majors, but seeing the formulas meticulously created by a top-class engineering student made him want to gag.

He suppressed his body’s எதிர்ப்பு and didn’t press the ‘back’ button because it was Winter who sent this link.

If a streamer belonging to the company could read it without any issues, but the manager couldn’t… honestly, that would be embarrassing. He had to maintain his image as a “study abroad” type.

Enduring the throbbing headache, Youngjun quickly skimmed through the paper.

As he scrolled down and turned the page, a colorful image caught his eye.

The character in the image looked quite familiar.

Long, silver-white hair that shone like stars, and sparkling, water-colored eyes.

Soon, a Vtuber who had recently debuted came to Youngjun’s mind.

“This is… Han Ari, isn’t it?”

The monster rookie, Han Ari.

She had quickly risen by attracting an unimaginable number of viewers for a rookie, and was already considered a dangerous entity in the industry.

The debut of Seasons was also pushed back because of Han Ari’s debut.

Who would have thought that a Vtuber without an agency would rise so quickly?

‘I wondered who the crazy person was who implemented the ridiculous idea of changing outfits when donations are made…’

From the perspective of Cosmo Live’s manager, he resented this person for delaying Seasons’ debut schedule.

But as a fan who loves Vtubers, he was very grateful and respectful.

Apart from business, he wanted to meet them at least once.

Youngjun took a deep breath and asked.

“So, Winter-nim, why did you send me this paper?”

As if she had been waiting for his question, Seo-ah immediately answered.

“Manager-nim, do you know? This is the person who neatly modified Autumn’s avatar.”

“…Is that true?”

“Yes. I thought Autumn had met a really amazing person… but that person turned out to be the one who created Han Ari’s model.”

Youngjun recalled Autumn’s drastically transformed model.

Of course, the appearance had hardly changed. There was almost nothing to change, in fact.

Instead, many things had changed in terms of detail.

The model’s movements became smoother and more natural.

Especially the physics engine applied to the hair was insane.

She even got a signature move. Twin Rush. It perfectly replicated the actions of a certain blonde tsundere childhood friend from a certain animation.
(TL Note: Twin Rush is likely a reference to Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion)

He wondered who created this masterpiece.

This was also the grace of Han Ari’s mama.

“So, Manager-nim.”

Seo-ah took a deep breath and added.

“How about we formally commission this person for our models?”

Winter’s suggestion made Youngjun’s expression complicated. He stared at the paper in front of him for a long time, lost in thought, and then shook his head.

“Hmm… I think that would be difficult.”

“Huh? Why? Is there a problem? I think this person has been sufficiently proven in terms of skill.”

“That’s right. They’ve been sufficiently proven. Not just proven… they’re too outstanding, that’s the problem.”

Youngjun smiled bitterly, saying that they were the ones who needed to prove something to this person.

“But we’re Cosmo Live. We have a name for ourselves.”

Seo-ah retorted, unable to understand.

“Cherry-sunbae and Mary-sunbae are doing well, too. And our Seasons’ schedule after debut is also…”

“Of course, we’re doing well. But this is a different matter.”

“What do you mean…”

“This is a person with a doctorate, who has written a paper that is being watched by major overseas companies. There’s no reason for them to work with us.”

Youngjun was also once someone who was on top.

That’s why he knew.

There weren’t many people in the world who were as crazy about Vtubers as he was.

Youngjun was a dreamer, but he was also more realistic than anyone else.

To protect other dreamers from getting hurt, he had to be at least that realistic.

“Even if we somehow manage to contact them, there’s a high chance that the negotiations will fall through. We won’t be able to meet their cost, and they probably won’t be able to meet our schedule.”

Normally, after hearing this, people would usually back down and say they understand.

But Seo-ah was stubborn today.

“Still, we can at least try talking to them. And from what I heard from Autumn, she didn’t contact them knowingly, but rather stumbled upon them by chance while placing a request on Crepe.”

“Crepe? Are you talking about… the freelance marketplace site I know?”

“Yes, that’s right. She said she barely got charged for the modifications. And the work took less than a day.”

Seo-ah’s words finally piqued Youngjun’s interest.

So, someone who takes on Vtuber modeling commissions as a hobby? A veteran hiding their power, or something like that?

“Alright… As Winter-nim suggested, I’ll try to contact them on behalf of the company.”

Youngjun said in a somewhat determined voice.

“However, since I don’t know what kind of person they are, I’ll start by commissioning a simple task to see how we work together.”

“Yes. You know much better than me about these things, Manager-nim. I’ll trust you and leave it to you.”

She had no choice but to trust and leave it to him. Seo-ah had already been blocked by that person.

The short message ‘No scammers’ still stung a little when she recalled it, but she felt a strange respect for the person who could change Winter.

“I’ll send an email first.”

“Yes. You can contact them through jinha_na.”

After ending the call with Seo-ah, Youngjun immediately composed an email.

First, he planned to propose a request for a renewal of the 2nd generation’s fansite.

There had been a lot of talk about it being too low-quality compared to Cherry and Mary’s fame, but it had been neglected due to other important tasks.

He sent the email with a ‘if it works, great, if not, oh well’ attitude.

He offered a fee slightly higher than the industry average.

Of course, it might be an absurdly low amount for a doctoral-level talent, but he couldn’t offer more than that.

‘If it doesn’t work out… well, it can’t be helped.’

Of course, he was willing to match a reasonable offer to some extent, but if they demanded an outrageous condition, he was ready to give up without regrets.

Youngjun closed the email window and pushed aside the documents on his desk.

Then he logged into the broadcasting platform, ‘Pasta.’

He opened Cherry’s broadcast on the left monitor, Mary’s broadcast on the right monitor, and the most active community, the Cosmo Live Gallery, on the center monitor.

[I really want to lick Mary’s b**bs (an emoticon licking very delicately in 8 frames)]

[Is Cherry queuing up now? I’m going to snipe her right away]

Manager Kim Youngjun’s work hours were over.

Now it was time for the hardcore viewer, Youngjun Kim.

Youngjun spent a frenzied night, slept soundly with the morning sun, and woke up with the evening glow.

“Hwaaam~ I slept for a long time.”

As soon as he woke up, he turned on the computer and checked his email.

[Re: Hello, this is Manager Kim Youngjun from Cosmo Live.]

Among the numerous emails, one reply stood out.

[Hello, this is jinha_na.]

[The proposed work sounds interesting.]

[The conditions and schedule are all acceptable.]

[Please share the details of the work when you are available.]

‘…That’s it?’

His hand gripping the mouse tightened slightly.

‘No negotiations, no other requirements… they’re accepting the initial offer as is?’

Youngjun couldn’t take his eyes off the monitor for a long time.

It seemed like there was another person who was crazy about Vtubers.