Became the Mother of Virtual YouTubers - Chapter 103
The sun was setting outside the window.
The sunset had disappeared, and the dim evening darkness softly enveloped the hotel room.
Seo Ah took a moment to catch her breath before waving her hand at the webcam in her hand.
“Hello~ everyone, did you have a nice dinner? By the way, is it lunchtime in Korea now?”
Considering the long time difference of 16 hours between Vancouver, Canada, and Korea, it certainly was a rather unexpected broadcast time.
Nonetheless, the loyal snowflakes, who had come after seeing the notification, began to drift into the broadcast one by one, forming a beautiful blanket of snowflakes.
– Best choice before lunchtime
– Did all the Lupin guys gather here? hahahaha
– As soon as I saw the alarm, I turned it on right away at work
– Did you think we wouldn’t be able to watch at this time, Kim Gyeo-reum!!
– But today’s studio background is strangely realistic…?
Looking at the bustling chat, Seo Ah—no, Gyeo-reum smiled pleasantly.
“Everyone, surprised, right? I’m in Canada right now. As I’m in such a special place, I’ve prepared a very special broadcast.”
With those words, Gyeo-reum slowly raised the webcam, beginning to illuminate every corner of the hotel room.
It wasn’t a virtual studio.
A space full of realism was being captured in real time on the broadcast.
In the center of the screen stood Seo Ah wearing the Gyeo-reum mask.
When Seo Ah walked, Gyeo-reum walked along with her.
When Seo Ah waved her arms, Gyeo-reum waved her arms as well.
It looked exactly as if an avatar had jumped out into reality and was alive.
– So Gyeo-reum was actually a female cam model, not a VTuber??
– The technology is really hahahaha
– No;; Seriously, how did you even do that???
After wandering around for a while, Gyeo-reum finally stood in front of the window and drew back the curtains.
Outside the hotel, the calm sea under the veil of darkness revealed itself.
Set against the beautifully illuminated blue night sea complemented by the city lights.
Gyeo-reum sparkled her deep blue eyes and smiled brightly.
“Sometimes, outdoor content like this or indoor content isn’t bad, right?”
– I can’t believe it even while watching…
– VTuber (Main content: Travel live)
– Seriously, did you teleport from some fantasy world?
– Shouldn’t we report this to the British Ministry of Magic or something!!
At that moment, a short sponsorship notification popped up on the screen.
[Anonymous donor has sponsored 10,000 won.]
[By the way, Gyeo-reum, what’s the reason you’re in Canada? Did you get a vacation??]
While she moved around with the camera and couldn’t check the chat properly, she could hear the voice messages quite well.
“Actually, Mama is presenting a very important paper in Canada this time. I came along to help her, taking on the role of a manager.”
However, there was no snowflake in this chat who would simply believe that.
What was present in this chat were only the malicious individuals who flocked to the broadcasts even during the weekday daytime.
– Man?ager
– Ma?anager
[White Snowflake has sponsored 1,000 won]
[Just honestly say you came on a trip, Kim Gyeo-reum!!]
[StarDust Zero Student has sponsored 1,000 won]
[Honestly, it seems like you’re just being a nuisance hahaha]
“Wait! A nuisance? If you think about it, this broadcast is actually showcasing the new technology Mama developed…!”
While Gyeo-reum was busy quarreling with numerous 1,000-won punchers.
Jin Ha, who was watching the broadcast and chat from behind the screen, burst out laughing.
“Oh, really…! Mama! Just ban all those people!”
“I don’t think they’re bad enough to be banned according to Young-Jun’s standards… Let’s just endure it?”
“That’s too much!!”
– ?? What was that voice just now?
– What? Are they in the same room with Mama??
– m o m o
– The two of them at night… Hehehe!
[Seasons_Summer has sponsored 1,000 won]
[What! Gyeo-reum said she was on a business trip and what’s she doing with Mama!!]
*
Knock, knock—
A knock echoed in the middle of the night.
Jin Ha, who was chatting about the live broadcast just a moment ago, stood up and opened the door.
“Sister, are you still awake?”
Standing at the door were none other than Hyo In and Ye Rin.
“I’m preparing for the presentation, so… could you help me look over some materials?”
“Of course. Come in. Let’s take a look together.”
Hyo In and Ye Rin entered the room.
In their hands were a laptop and a thesis printout marked with corrections.
“Seo Ah, you might find it a bit boring… Is that okay?”
Jin Ha turned to Seo Ah with a worried expression.
“It’s fine. I was actually curious about Jin Ha’s thesis content. Feel free to go ahead.”
“Then I’ll excuse myself a little. If you’re tired, go ahead and get some rest.”
Hyo In and Ye Rin approached the table in the center of the hotel room and set up the laptop.
While the laptop was booting up, they quickly skimmed through the printed materials.
“How did you interpret the formula in this part?”
“To maintain the linearity of the formula, I applied logarithms to separate the terms…”
“No, this needs to be considered as a single term. The logarithm is simply to adjust the penalty value according to distance…”
As the discussion about the thesis began, the atmosphere in the room quickly became heavy.
“Ultimately, this can be simply expressed like this, and it makes it cleaner…”
“Don’t just analyze it by the formula itself. I told you to look at the shape of the graph. Ultimately, these two variables need to be anatomically linked…”
Hyo In carefully examined the formulas and graphs on the screen, speaking gently about her thoughts.
Jin Ha naturally resolved Hyo In’s questions and paid close attention to even the small details.
“Um… So, uh… hmm… ahhh…!”
At first, Ye Rin struggled to keep up with the conversation between the two seniors. Knowing that the two were trying to use simpler terms since they knew she and Seo Ah were listening.
However, as the discussion intensified and delved into deeper content, Ye Rin felt her head starting to steam.
It was too much for a fledgling who had just completed her first semester of graduate school to track the detailed aspects of the paper.
But somehow, thanks to Jin Ha, she was able to keep up.
“This part is explained a bit difficultly, but to put it simply…”
Every time Ye Rin internally sighed, Jin Ha would break it down and explain it easily.
With the seemingly indifferent yet kind explanations, Ye Rin’s expression quickly brightened.
The content of the thesis, which had seemed so difficult, suddenly felt clear.
“Ahh… so that’s what it meant. Thank you, Jin Ha unnie!”
Ye Rin looked up at Jin Ha, her eyes filled with genuine admiration.
Now she understood why Jin Ha’s name was listed as a co-first author on the paper.
Jin Ha scratched her head and smiled gently before turning back to Hyo In.
“I don’t think I’ve seen this formula before…”
“Yes, it’s a new formula I added during the experimental process. Including this formula in deep learning showed better trends in scoring results.”
“That’s good. Since you know this part better, Hyo In, could you elaborate on it?”
“Yes, Jin Ha unnie!”
Hyo In smoothly picked up where Jin Ha left off, beginning to provide additional explanations.
It was a natural back-and-forth that felt like they had been together for years.
Every time Hyo In smiled at Jin Ha, Jin Ha too lightly smiled and nodded.
“…”
Seo Ah quietly watched that scene.
At first, it was just fascinating.
She was deeply engrossed in seeing Jin Ha’s moment of being in her element.
But as she noticed the strange atmosphere between Jin Ha and Hyo In becoming thicker,
Seo Ah felt a heaviness in her chest.
‘Is it okay for me to be here…?’
Watching the two of them so serious made Seo Ah suddenly worry that she had intrusively entered an important space.
There was no room for jealousy.
She felt embarrassed thinking she was a hindrance.
She envied Jin Ha and Hyo In, who were having conversations centered around the thesis.
“I’ll just take a quick walk. Feel free to work.”
Eventually, Seo Ah quietly stood up.
She thought it would be better to step aside than to be an unintentional nuisance.
With the sound of the door closing behind her, Seo Ah walked down the hallway with feelings more complex than ever.
*
“…Wow.”
In front of the scenery before her eyes, Seo Ah couldn’t help but exhale in astonishment.
Last night, when she left the hotel room,
After walking outside and filming a vlog,
And now, waking up groggily,
Jin Ha and Hyo In were sitting in exactly the same position.
Hyo In was hurriedly scribbling something on paper while speaking in a small voice.
Jin Ha was still gazing seriously at the laptop screen.
‘Seriously… have they really been like that all night?’
Seo Ah checked her smartphone in disbelief.
8 AM in the morning. It was definitely time for daylight.
It felt as if only Seo Ah had jumped ahead in time, arriving into the next morning.
‘…Crazy. Crazy, both of them are really crazy.’
Seo Ah sighed and rubbed her face with both hands.
It was astonishing, yet at the same time absurd.
Now she could understand a little better why Jin Ha rarely contacted her lately.
“Um… Seo Ah, are you awake?”
While Seo Ah stood dazed beside her bed,
Ye Rin walked in from the direction of the bathroom, rubbing her eyes.
Whether she was still half-asleep or if she had genuinely been bitten by those two research zombies,
Ye Rin’s face looked quite disheveled.
“Ye Rin, have those two seriously been like this since yesterday?”
Worried about interrupting the two of them, Seo Ah quietly whispered her question.
However, she couldn’t help the amazement that leaked into her voice.
Ye Rin stared blankly at them for a moment, then slowly nodded her head.
“Yeah, well… I dozed in and out a bit, but those two just stayed like that.”
She said she had worked late into the night with Hyo In in the lab several times.
But she had never seen them work all night and then continue through the morning.
Ye Rin spoke in a stunned voice.
Upon hearing that, Seo Ah covered her forehead with both hands and sighed.
Being surprised was secondary.
Part of her couldn’t help but find it absurd.
‘I wondered why I followed them here…’
Now she clearly understood.
Her earlier melancholy thought about having mindlessly followed them changed completely.
‘No matter how many preparations there are, this isn’t right?!’
This was primarily an issue of common sense and humanitarian considerations.
Those two zombies obsessed with work needed to be human again, no matter what.
“Well… This is a pretty typical image for grad students.”
Ye Rin added with a slightly awkward expression upon seeing Seo Ah’s serious face.
“Is it… typical?”
“Usually, when the deadlines approach, people end up working like this most of the time…”
At those words, Seo Ah glanced back at the two of them once more.
They looked so exhausted that dark circles were forming under their eyes.
Yet their eyes shone with intensity.
Watching the two of them exchanging serious and sharp opinions instilled a strange respect.
But simultaneously, Seo Ah’s determination grew firm.
‘If I leave them like this, they’re going to collapse during the presentation.’
No matter what, she would take responsibility for managing their condition and stop them.
That thought felt like the minimum role she could play as a manager who foolishly followed them all the way to Canada.