Chapter 14: First Broadcast

A week passed after that, and the illustration I requested from Mayuri arrived.

“…It came out faster than I thought.”

Did she deliberately pay attention to it? A satisfactory result came out in a remarkably short time.

Ocean-like indigo hair and green eyes. Overall, it was a different impression, but it was an avatar that incorporated my features without me realizing.

‘It resembles me more than I thought, which makes me a bit anxious, but…’

Honestly, this couldn’t be helped. Being a game character, Ren’s appearance was exceptionally outstanding.

Since I myself am a perfect specimen of a manga character, isn’t it a waste not to use it?

‘Hopefully, I won’t get caught.’

I briefly worried if any viewers would recognize me, but I soon pushed such concerns aside.

Not only is the country completely different, but my voice tone also differs when speaking Korean, so the chance of even idol otaku familiar with the Japanese industry recognizing me was low.

“She must have struggled a lot…”

One by one, avatars drawn from various angles arrived via email.

Creating a virtual avatar is a considerable amount of tedious work.

Since the avatar must accurately represent a person’s movements, illustrators have to draw illustrations for each angle and expression individually, and the rigger must connect everything together.

It’s work that can take as little as a week, or as long as several months.

‘And she worked on several of these alone…’

Seeing the emoticon of a character collapsing from exhaustion sent along with the work, I could roughly guess the hardship she went through.

Mayuri is the type to strictly adhere to priorities, so she must have quickly finished the work that came in first and then started on mine.

[Thanks, let’s grab a meal sometime later.]

Out of gratitude, I sent her a message.

It might become what’s commonly called a Korean-style promise (an empty promise), but still, gratitude is gratitude. I really should treat her to a buffet later.

–Uh, Unnie is buying?

[…Well then, I should buy.]

She didn’t even charge for the illustration; I can’t freeload off my younger sister.

“Well then, should I get back to work too?”

I immediately sent an email to the worker I had looked up before.

Honestly, I was a little worried about what I’d do if they didn’t accept, but thankfully, they agreed.

How long had it been since I sent the illustration? A reply email arrived from the worker.

–Yes, it’s possible. The estimated cost is roughly this much…

The price quoted was about 7 million won in Korean currency.

Since Mayuri didn’t charge for the illustration, this amount was well within an acceptable range.

“Well then, should I wait a bit for now?”

There’s nothing much to do anyway. I should probably rest until then.

-Growl

The moment I stood up from my seat, a rather embarrassing sound reached my ears.

‘It’s about time to eat….’

I carefully stood up and opened the refrigerator door.

“…Ah, I didn’t stock it up.”

Seeing the empty refrigerator, I muttered quietly.

I opened it with a sliver of hope, but of course, there was nothing.

It wasn’t a place I stayed long anyway, so there was no need to stock up much food.

“…Let’s just go to the supermarket.”

No matter how much I didn’t want to go outside, I couldn’t keep relying on delivery food for meals.

Might as well get some fresh air and go out for the first time in a while.

Afternoon, when people actively strolled the streets.

Passing through the crowded streets, I entered a nearby large supermarket.

‘The quality of this batch is worse than I thought…’

In the produce section, I picked a few vegetables with the least damage and put them into the shopping basket.

There was no longer a need to manage my diet as strictly as during my idol days, but having eaten this way for a long time, I had become more accustomed to it.

After picking out some groceries moderately, I headed to the checkout counter.

I spent about 10,000 yen (about 100,000 won), so I should be able to survive on this for the next few months.

“Checkout, please.”

“Ah, yes! Uh…”

The cashier, who was automatically scanning the barcodes of the items placed, looked at me and shut her mouth in surprise.

“…Is something wrong?”

Feeling an inexplicable sense of anxiety, I slightly flinched.

Surely she didn’t recognize who I am.

“Um… This might be a bit rude, but….”

“Yes….?”

The cashier, slowly dragging out her words, spoke to me.

“Um, aren’t you perhaps uncomfortable…?”

“….Yes?”

The cashier asked me, standing there with a look as if seeing a strange person.

Well, it was a natural question, as she probably saw someone wearing a mask and a hat pulled down in this weather for the first time.

“…Ah, yes. It’s okay.”

After giving her a moderate reply, I packed my things and exited the supermarket.

After leaving the group, there was always one emotion I felt when meeting other people.

Anxiety.

Worrying if someone passing by would recognize me, or if they would curse me.

‘So this is how people who get malicious comments really feel…’

I thought I had gotten somewhat used to people’s words from my idol experiences, but perhaps that was my misunderstanding.

Being insulted by someone was something I just couldn’t get used to.

Pushing aside the needlessly anxious feeling, I quickly returned home.

There’s no harm in being careful.

“By the way, this is going to be troublesome if I’m like this every time I go out…”

If this situation continues, daily life becomes quite bothersome.

But what can I do? There’s no other way to solve it.

I just had to wait like this until people’s interest cooled down.

‘I should prepare for the broadcast…’

To forget bad things, working is indeed the best.

You don’t get distracted by miscellaneous thoughts.

How much time passed after I finished all the broadcast preparations? The long-awaited work arrived.

“This is the first time I’m seeing virtual like this…”

Seeing the complex setup for the first time made me nervous.

Should I test it once first?

With the function applied, I tried moving my body.

“…It really works.”

Lean left, it goes left.

Lean right, it goes right.

The avatar on the screen tilted following my body’s movements.

Body movement is confirmed, next is the facial test.

“First… blink.”

As I closed and opened my eyes, the avatar in the screen also blinked following me.

‘Open mouth, wink… and what else…’

I think I saw it in a Shorts video on U-Tube in my past life, but it was so long ago I don’t remember well.

For now, it’s probably best to try making all the expressions I can roughly manage.

“Sad face, happy face, angry face…”

For now, expressions, blinking, and mouth shapes could be reliably reproduced.

Although it didn’t reach the quality I saw in my past life, this much is sufficient for the beginning.

At this level, it wouldn’t fall behind compared to other Vtubers.

“…Well then, I should start now.”

With the pre-prepared background displayed behind the avatar, I immediately entered the streaming site.

Now that I’m starting a personal broadcast, not idol promotion, I should create a new, different account.

Entering the sign-up window at the top of the site, a field for choosing a nickname appeared.

There was no need to ponder much.

There was already a name I had thought of during the past few weeks.

“Right, this should be good.”

I started typing the name I had thought of beforehand into the nickname field.

[ {Kim Cheongha} is an available name.]

Kim Cheongha, my new name decided after long deliberation.

‘A too flashy RP or nickname might evoke resistance from first-time viewers…’

…Actually, that’s just an excuse. The desire to simply be called by a Korean name is greater.

Next, after entering the password and phone number, etc., a new account was created instantly.

Then there’s only one thing left to do.

“….This is a little nerve-wracking.”

All preparations were finished, but trying to actually start the broadcast, I began to feel nervous.

I thought I was used to appearing before people, but this seems a bit different.

“This title should be safe enough.”

To increase the viewer pool for the first broadcast, it’s important that the title isn’t too burdensome either.

The viewers I’m aiming for can be broadly divided into three groups.

First, people interested in animation or subculture.

Next, fans who know about Vtubers and like them, although I don’t know how many exist.

Finally, people who enter this stream out of curiosity after seeing my avatar.

To capture even the last group, a relatively ordinary title would be helpful.

[Korea’s First Vtuber, Kim Cheongha.]

While moderately attracting attention, I succeeded in choosing a safe title that a small streamer starting their first broadcast might use.

“…Starting.”

Along with the unconsciously uttered monologue, I pressed the broadcast start button.

Meanwhile, across the sea in Korea.

Park Jumin, a third-year high school student this year, was studying at a study cafe.

‘Should I rest a bit…’

Perhaps because he had studied nonstop for several hours, his neck and shoulders kept aching.

No matter how imminent the college entrance exam was, constantly studying wasn’t good.

Unlike machines, humans need adequate rest.

Thinking so, Jumin put down the mechanical pencil in his hand and turned on the laptop he brought.

Jumin’s tastes were diverse. He liked animation and games, but what he liked most was internet broadcasting.

The eloquence and gaming skills that naturally drew people in. And even the real-time communication.

“It’s not time to start yet…”

Jumin muttered, looking at the digital clock displayed at the bottom of the laptop screen.

Most of the broadcasters he liked preferred evening or afternoon broadcasts.

It wasn’t time for them to turn on their streams yet.

“Can’t be helped, I guess…”

Eventually, Jumin went into the full broadcast list.

Then he saw countless broadcasts.

“Why is there nothing worth watching…”

To be precise, there was a lack of novelty.

Things that major streamers, so-called ‘large corporations’, were already doing identically. There was no reason to specifically seek out a small streamer’s broadcast.

Starting to get bored, Jumin also accessed sites other than Switch.

Live Stream, a site he entered feeling it was better than not looking, although it wasn’t much better compared to Switch.

Soon, while searching using his interest keywords, Jumin discovered a broadcast.

[Korea’s First Vtuber, Kim Cheongha]

“Vtuber…?”

It was a word he felt he had heard somewhere, but what caught his eye wasn’t the title.

A single character, displayed on the screen, quietly closing her eyes.

Curiosity piqued, Jumin entered the broadcast, and the viewers already present were busily chatting.

The current viewer count was 15. For a first broadcast, it was a very high number of viewers.

‘Is that intentionally displayed…?’

Just as Jumin harbored that question, the character on the screen opened her eyes.