Became the Mother of Virtual YouTubers - Chapter 114
“The winner of today’s race is! It’s Winter from Seasons, who succeeded in a dramatic reversal with an incredible strategy!”
Suddenly, colorful fireworks began to explode over the map, which was now shrouded in darkness.
Receiving congratulatory messages filling the chat and applause from other members, Winter stepped forward with a shy smile.
Daon approached Winter and handed her a card the size of her avatar.
Written clearly on the sparkling hologram card was ‘Jinro World Beta Tester Invitation.’
“You know this is just a fashion invitation, right? The serial code will be sent to you later by Jin Ha.”
“I just got a DM from her.”
“Really? Wow~ I guess she was watching the stream. Then, we can’t skip your victory speech, right?”
As the camera of the official CosmoLive channel focused solely on her, Winter cleared her throat.
“First of all, I think today’s victory is thanks to Jin Ha.”
As the perfect daughter of CosmoLive, she started with a shoutout. Mama’s love is indeed Winter.
“We went overseas for a conference together recently, right? Jin Ha passionately explained the laws of physics in virtual space for a whole 11 hours on the plane back home.”
Winter smiled brightly, mentioning that the strategy used today was something she applied from what she learned during that time.
– Um… 11 hours is a bit much…
– Professor’s_secret_tutoring.mp3
– I bet you bled from your ears…?
[HyundaiPandoB 3749 donated 1,000 won]
[Ugh… Why do I have PTSD… P-Professor… Please stop… Agh!]
[StarDust0Kiseki donated 1,000 won]
[I wouldn’t be surprised if Winter thought about how she was treated the same way I was in grad school… Maybe I should just click ‘like’?]
– I’m okay
– I’m okay
– I’m a current graduate student and I just cried while clicking like…
Winter chuckled at the intense reactions in the chat and continued talking.
“And… to be honest, the competitor I was most worried about was Summer, but thanks to her focusing on the interference, I think I was able to win more easily.”
Following Winter’s gaze, the official channel camera shone on Summer.
Today, Summer’s performance was 2 kills (Spring, Cherry) and 1 d*ath (Merry).
Suddenly receiving attention, Summer scratched the back of her head and smiled awkwardly.
“Um… it’s nothing much, but actually, after seeing the prize, my motivation kinda took a hit…”
Everyone looked at Summer with puzzled expressions. Winter especially had a slightly flustered look.
“You lost motivation after seeing the prize? It’s a chance to experience the world created by Jin Ha ahead of everyone else!”
“Well, the thing is— I’ve already received the beta test invitation.”
“?!”
Winter was taken aback by Summer’s revelation, and other members stared wide-eyed, too. The chat exploded with countless reactions.
Summer, drawing it out annoyingly slowly, said.
“This RP World is called Jinro World, right? The world created by Jin Ha Mama and Roji. In short, Jinro World.”
“And?”
“Actually, a while ago, another operator, Roji, contacted me separately.”
“…?”
“They said they were sorry for the delay in the official release of ‘Saving Yu Da-hee.’ And they sent me the beta tester invitation for Jinro World.”
“What?!”
“Wow~ If I had gotten first place, I would have picked one more original content to put up for the invitation. That’s too bad~”
Summer laughed without any trace of disappointment.
– Oh my gosh, hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋ
– This girl never planned to get first place from the get-goㅋㅋㅋㅋ
– Hey, that was not my real intention!
*
“I watched the Sky Race Challenge.”
From the moment she spoke, her heart began to race.
A-ri tightly gripped her smartphone and gently perched herself at the edge of her bed.
They had exchanged phone numbers after the one-year talk show, and had talked on the phone quite a lot, but in this moment, she still felt nervous.
It felt like a fresh couple, who were each other’s first love, gradually getting to know each other.
That kind of shy excitement spread gently throughout her body.
[Ah, did you see it? How was it? Was it a bit fun?]
Jin Ha’s voice coming through the smartphone was soft and affectionate. As his drowsy voice flowed into her ears, her cheeks unexpectedly flushed.
Glancing briefly in the mirror, she could see her ears and face were red enough to be noticeable.
Calm down. Why am I acting like this?
A-ri intentionally cleared her throat and tried to shake off the awkwardness with a long response.
“I logged into Merry’s channel and briefly experienced the flight content in VR mode, and it was incredibly vivid. You were so busy you even went abroad, but when did you make this?”
[Ah, that? It’s nothing special. I just slightly improved on the technology I had originally developed.]
Jin Ha was always like this.
He spoke about amazing technologies that others couldn’t even think of, as casually as if he were just boiling instant noodles at home. Hearing him speak made it feel as if it was nothing special, and she couldn’t help but smile.
Now, whenever something amazing came up in the streaming world, she had developed the habit of checking if Jin Ha was the one who made it first.
He was truly an amazing and remarkable person.
[How have you been, Han A-ri? Are you doing well?]
“I’m just the same as always. Um, except for one worry.”
[A worry…?]
“Seeing the CosmoLive members all gather to do such big content made me a bit envious.”
Without realizing it, she let out a childlike whine.
With Jin Ha, she ended up pouring out her honest feelings without knowing why.
When they had only communicated through emails, there was a distance, but after hearing each other’s voices, they had grown significantly closer.
“It’s a bit difficult to plan such content on my own…”
A-ri fidgeted with the blanket, expressing her true feelings in a calm voice.
“Setting up collaboration promises is hard, and my personality is quite timid, so suggesting something to others is really tough. But at the same time, it’s getting a bit challenging to keep doing my stream like this…”
[Well, Han A-ri, now you’re a full-fledged member of the big leagues. How about starting to look for an agency soon?]
“I’ve thought about it… um, but for the time being, I want to try doing it on my own for a bit longer.”
[If you need help, just let me know anytime.]
“Oh, no! I’ve already received more than enough help from you, Jin Ha! Besides, this is fundamentally an issue with my personality.”
In the end, realizing she needed to change, A-ri sighed silently.
Long ago, during her days as an idol trainee, the pressure from the agency and those around her still haunted her after she ultimately failed.
That’s why she couldn’t help but hesitate.
“It’s a bit of a different story, but Winter… I mean, Winter has been really helpful.”
[…Winter?]
“She subtly looks out for me, pretending not to. She introduced me to Merry and other musicians and really cared for me. I’m really grateful.”
If she said such things in front of her, Winter would probably get mad, but she really did have a bit of a tsundere nature.
A soft laugh slipped through from Jin Ha on the other side of the smartphone.
“…Ah! I’ve talked too much about myself. How about you, Jin Ha? You must be very busy these days, right? Preparing for Jinro World, isn’t it?”
[Ah, actually, I do have something to tell you regarding that.]
“To me?”
Jin Ha’s voice became a bit serious.
A-ri adjusted her posture and pressed the smartphone closely against her ear.
[Actually, I have a favor to ask of you, Han A-ri.]
“What can I do for you?”
She didn’t ask what the task was.
If it was a request from Jin Ha, she was prepared to take on even a somewhat unreasonable favor.
[I’m planning to start beta testing for Jinro World soon.]
First, they had distributed tester permissions one by one to the MCNs that had invested in world development.
On top of that.
[I and another developer, Roji, agreed to each bring one streamer along.]
So, Han A-ri.
[Would you like to be a beta tester for Jinro World?]
A-ri momentarily lost her words.
Jin Ha’s proposal was sudden and surprising.
“Me…? I mean, is it okay for someone like me to test it?”
It was only natural to hesitate.
After all, the comparison was too strong.
It was already well-known that the other developer, Roji, had selected Summer as the tester using her connections. Roji had said it was out of pity, but honestly, there was no streamer more suited to the virtual reality RP world than Summer.
Aside from being accustomed to VR content, she was excellent at role-playing.
Seeing her deep method acting, one couldn’t help but wonder why she hadn’t debuted as an actress.
The full version of the content that greatly boosted Summer’s profile, “Training Yu Da-hee,” had surpassed one million views.
Moreover, the music video for the song “I Hate That You’re Hurt” created from highlights had long surpassed ten million views.
The invitation that Jin Ha wanted to grant A-ri carried that kind of expectation.
[When I decided to invite someone, the first person who came to mind was you, Han A-ri.]
“Y-yes, but I’m not very good at games…”
[Game skill isn’t important. As long as you enjoy it, that’s enough.]
“I have a timid personality and struggle to get along with others…”
[Then how about using this opportunity to act out a more active personality? This is an RP world after all.]
With that lazy encouragement, A-ri felt her cheeks redden.
“I-I’ll try my best…”
A-ri’s voice trembled softly.
Receiving Jin Ha’s unconditional trust gave her a little more courage.
[Oh, so we might be able to see ‘A-ri the Fighter,’ huh?]
“Really! Don’t tease me!”
After that, A-ri exchanged various conversations with Jin Ha.
Even trivial topics failed to calm her racing heart, as it was natural for her to feel this way as a fan of Jin Ha.
“Then I’ll reach out again soon, Jin Ha.”
[Yeah, sleep well, Han A-ri.]
Only after hanging up, A-ri let out a breath she had been holding in, collapsing onto her bed.
“Ugh…!!”
Her face was so hot it felt like it had been burned.
Her legs were restless, and her fingers kept gripping the blanket tightly.
After feeling the excitement for a while with her face buried in the pillow, A-ri straightened up.
“Alright, Jin Ha has believed in me and given me this chance…”
She couldn’t disappoint him.
A-ri swallowed hard and sat in front of her monitor.
Nowadays, all the reference materials were available on YouTube.