chapter 33: Selling Illusions, Part 3

Min Hayoon started to lay it on thick.

Just as the sentence suggests, Min Hayoon was planning to sweet-talk Choi Arin into making a cosplay book.

Each of them could take on one heroine and do a cosplay, wouldn’t that be perfect?

People who like cosplay buy a cosplay book and get to play a visual novel, and people who like visual novels get to see the heroine’s cosplay.

It’s a win-win situation, Min Hayoon gets to make money, and Choi Arin gets a nice bonus.

She thought it was a near-perfect plan, but…

-That’s a bit…

“Why? Why don’t you like it?”

-Well, you know… These days, if your face gets exposed on the internet, there’s no such thing as privacy.

“It’s not like we’re putting on makeup and dancing in front of a camera, we’re just selling a book of our cosplay, what’s the big deal?”

-Still…

“If we only sell it as a physical book, only the truly dedicated will bother to scan it and spread it around. Besides, it’s a sponsor-only merchandise, so it acts as a filter to some extent.”

Of course, even if it wasn’t Choi Arin, Min Hayoon could find another cosplayer and proceed with the cosplay.

In fact, a professional cosplayer might even be better at things like handling the gaze than Choi Arin.

But…

‘It’s hard to find an external cosplayer who fits the bill.’

There’s a saying that the elbow bends inwards.

“Of course, I’ll pay you. How about 150,000 won per photo that will be included in the cosplay book? To be honest, I don’t know the market price for this, so I’ll have to look into it and adjust the pay.”

-N-no, no, it’s not about the money.

“Then what is it?”

However, Choi Arin still had a strong negative feeling.

And rightly so…

-What if we make it and no one buys it? Even if my personal information isn’t leaked, if I get criticized for being ugly and don’t even make money, I have my pride as a woman…

Choi Arin already lives with cosplay as a hobby.

But if the cosplay book made from her cosplay photos resulted in a loss or received bad reviews…

She might not be able to enjoy this hobby ever again.

It was natural for her to be reluctant.

“Then will you do it if it makes money?”

-Huh?

Min Hayoon asked bluntly.

“Will you do it if it makes money? If we can shoot with perfect quality so there are no bad reviews?”

If there’s no loss, if she won’t get bad reviews, then it’s fine?

“We’re going to use a funding site to collect funds and use that as production costs. We can check the sales in advance and then make the merchandise. If you…”

-Um…

“What I can say now is that the cosplay book will definitely be made, and we won’t compromise on quality to manage the loyalty of our fandom.”

-Okay…

“So tell me clearly. Whether you’re in or not, I’m going to pour money into the cosplay book, and since I’m spending money anyway, I want to spend it on my people.”

-Wh-what’s the baseline…?

Choi Arin, feeling troubled, passed the decision on to her.

Unlike Min Hayoon, Choi Arin isn’t the type to make bold decisions like this.

“Well, money would be the most straightforward, right?”

-Money, as in sales or total funding?

“Yeah, if we hit around 30 million won, will you do the cosplay?”

Choi Arin couldn’t help but be taken aback by Min Hayoon’s confident attitude and the large sum of 30 million won…

‘30 million won is not a small amount of money… It’s not easy to raise that much. And Min Hayoon is trying to make it big with this idea, but if I just keep refusing, it won’t look good, right?’

Gradually, Choi Arin’s mind was filled with the thought, ‘If she’s going this far, shouldn’t I give a definite answer?’

This isn’t an internet community, and when talking to someone you know face-to-face, you can’t just keep saying, ‘That’s a bit…’

She reluctantly accepted Min Hayoon’s proposal.

-O-okay. Thirty. If we raise 30 million won in funding, I’ll do the cosplay too.

“Confirmed. Wait a little.”

-Huh…?

At this point, Choi Arin was the one who was taken aback.

“Is 30 million won something you can earn by just waiting a little…?”

If Min Hayoon said it like that, it felt like it would really happen.

“No, …?”

She was sure of it.

She’s gotten herself into something.

Right after the call with Choi Arin.

Min Hayoon finished setting up the stream and immediately turned it on.

Today’s stream title is.

[LIVE] Announcement regarding face reveal (102)

This is it.

A secret skill that every no-cam female streamer can use at least once.

Face reveal clickbait.

-Face reveal stream?

-Are you revealing your face?

-Hello.

It was one of the secret techniques Min Hayoon had learned while studying internet broadcasting-related communities, and as expected, for the first time today, the number of viewers exceeded three digits.

-What is this?

Even the chat manager seemed bewildered by Min Hayoon’s aggressive title and the onslaught of unfamiliar nicknames.

In this chaotic atmosphere, Min Hayoon.

“For now, I don’t have any plans to reveal my face on stream.”

-What, why the clickbait then.

-‘For now’

-For now?

The face of ‘Haru’, a cosplayer and illustrator who was briefly mentioned in the Girl’s War community.

Perhaps it’s already forgotten, perhaps there are almost no people who have her photo, and only a vague impression that she was pretty remains.

The reality of cosplayer Haru.

She will subtly reveal it and induce funding.

Of course, this is not something that should be rushed into today.

There are still several weeks left until the demo is completed, and internet buzz never lasts long.

So.

“I’m thinking of doing a lookbook or something.”

First, she’ll softly lay it on thick with a lookbook.

Unlike regular photo books, cosplay books tend to be polarizing.

-Lookbook?

-Are you confident?

-What, a high schooler with barely any experience is going to shoot and sell a lookbook;;

-Isn’t it better because she’s a high schooler?

-Chat deleted.

-Can’t you just draw us some lewd pics?

The viewers immediately showed interest and started acting knowledgeable.

Of course, there were some who were clamoring for her to just draw them some lewd pics…

She draws a lot of those for them normally.

Today is not their turn.

“So, will you buy it if I sell a lookbook?”

-Do we have to buy it?

-Some lewd pics.

-Can’t you just reveal your face and show us?

“Hey, I need to make money too. If I sell it in the form of a lookbook and don’t release it online, you guys who buy it will feel good too, right? It creates scarcity.”

“Ah.”

-Well, scarcity is only created if you’re famous, isn’t it?

-A streamer with 100 viewers is using face reveal clickbait and talking about selling a lookbook, that’s a bit much.

-Have we been a bit too stingy with our donations lately?

Besides, the existing viewers didn’t feel much value in buying Min Hayoon’s lookbook.

Since Min Hayoon usually draws them a lot of hot pics, these guys are spoiled and don’t have much interest in Min Hayoon herself.

-Sigh, fine.

-Let’s just do what we usually do.

The reaction in the chat room was a bit upsetting…

[100,000 won donation]

-Forget the lookbook, just buy some pretty clothes and wear them. Don’t sulk.

“Whoa, thank you for the donation!”

Anyway, she had planted the seed.

She was determined to make them feel like they had to be interested in the lookbook, and eventually the cosplay book, by constantly appealing to them.

An illustrator and streamer ‘Haru’ with 1,200 followers on a streaming platform.

Having 1,200 followers means that the number of people who know about Haru is at least three times that number, which is 3,600 people.

And one of those 3,600 people.

‘Monster Breast Milk Juice’ Woo Seo-jin, one of Haru’s chat managers and also a big spender.

-Yeah, yeah, should I just do a cosplay? I have cosplay experience too.

“Why is she using face reveal as bait for weeks…”

Seeing Min Hayoon using face reveal as bait to milk her viewers, he wondered if this was the same person who got suspended for drawing lewd pics on her first day.

But Woo Seo-jin is also human, and since Min Hayoon is so confident, he couldn’t help but be curious.

So, he started looking into Min Hayoon’s cosplay a bit more out of curiosity.

“Uh…?”

He tasted paradise.