Became the Mother of Virtual YouTubers - Chapter 66
Too much money to refuseSummer, no, Hwimin.
Actually, she was quite a famous YouTuber.
Of course, she wasn’t famous from the beginning.
It started as an ordinary hobby.
Playing guitar in the corner of her room, singing self-composed songs, filming it, and uploading it to YouTube for fun.
Not even ten comments were posted.
Views? Hitting triple digits was considered a lot.
And even then, most were acquaintances.
But sometimes, when she busked on the streets of Hongdae.
Someone passing by would casually say-
“Oh, your singing is pretty good?”
There were people who said that.
Because that simple remark made her so happy.
Hwimin would return, sit at her desk writing lyrics, sit in front of her computer composing melodies, and sit in front of recording equipment singing for half a day, for a whole day.
Wanting to do a little better.
Wanting to be recognized a little more…
It was enjoyable even when calluses formed on her fingers from the guitar strings.
On the way home after finishing busking.
A sip of convenience store canned coffee, drunk while braving the cold night wind, couldn’t have tasted sweeter or more delicious.
One day, while living like that.
A cover song video she uploaded without much thought went viral through the algorithm.
Because the animation she saw in the movie theater was so moving, she couldn’t hold it back.
She played the OST on her acoustic guitar and sang.
The video wasn’t even properly edited.
It was just a video of her playing guitar and singing on her bed in a corner of her room.
If there was just one special thing…
Could it be her large chest resting casually on the guitar body?
The video views skyrocketed.
100,000, 200,000 overnight… eventually surpassing 1 million.
Simultaneously, thousands, tens of thousands of comments poured in.
[Your voice is really nice!]
[This person’s other songs are all f*cking good fr]
[Um… my eyes keep going to the top of the guitar hehe]
Amidst the favorable reactions, Hwimin’s channel subscriber count exploded.
At first, she was purely happy.
Her heart swelled with the thought, ‘Finally, people recognize my singing.’
From some point on, Hwimin’s attention was stolen by view count graphs and ad revenue charts.
‘The viewership this month is quite significant too?’
‘With this much, I can buy new instruments.’
‘I could even move to a bigger room?’
Her body felt like it was floating.
It felt like she had gained the whole world.
Because of that, she gradually started worrying about things other than the music itself.
‘What can I do to be more provocative and talked about?’
At first, it was just wearing slightly revealing clothes while playing the guitar.
But that was effective.
The video hit it big again.
Eventually, Hwimin’s videos increasingly started emphasizing her figure.
Stage lighting, camera angles, and… even clothing.
She became obsessed with ‘things that could be shown’ rather than the song itself.
Songwriting, composing too.
Before she knew it, she had stopped doing them.
[Your singing used to be really good… Now, only your body is visible. Looks like you’ve lost your original intention.]
Hwimin’s heart sank.
It wasn’t really a curse, just a comment expressing disappointment.
But that one remark dug deep into her heart.
Burnout hit her from then on.
It wasn’t that she hated singing, but when she tried to produce a note, her voice wouldn’t come out.
Something stuck in her throat tightened more each morning when she opened her eyes.
When she sat in front of the piano, the keys felt too unfamiliar.
The black and white keys mixed together, making the world seem gray.
Even when she picked up the guitar, she couldn’t finger the chords.
The calluses on her fingers throbbed painfully.
Time passed like that.
People still anticipated Hwimin’s new videos.
Advertisers urged her via email and DMs.
A little more time passed.
Subscribers gradually left, and contact from advertisers dwindled.
Days spent burning through her savings, just blankly watching YouTube and playing games, killing time.
She felt so insignificant.
‘What did I really want to do?’
Even thinking about it, her mind was empty.
Then one day, an advertisement caught Hwimin’s eye.
[Cosmo Live 3rd Generation Recruitment!]
[Want to become a new star illuminating the world? Apply now!]
At that moment, Hwimin filled out the application as if possessed by something.
‘My current self is hopelessly burnt out.’
‘But if I’m reborn with a new body called an avatar, maybe things will get a little better-’ There was that expectation.
And so, Hwimin.
Became ‘Summer’ of Seasons.
“…Sht. Another fcking dream.”
Hwimin muttered as she sat up.
For the first time in a while, she dreamed of her days as the YouTuber ‘Hwimin’, not the VTuber ‘Summer’.
An unknown bitterness remained in a corner of her heart, making her face naturally frown.
Feeling like she would just recall the old days again if she lay back down in bed, Hwimin immediately tidied up her bedding.
As always, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and washed her face quickly like a cat, just wetting her hands.
In the middle of the studio apartment, too small to be called a kitchen-living room.
Hwimin put a piece of bread she barely found into her mouth and turned on the electric kettle.
Tearing open a packet of instant coffee mix, pouring it into a cup, the time waiting for the water to boil… felt strangely long.
Munching on the bread, she checked the time on her smartphone.
11:40 AM.
She had overslept quite a bit more than she thought.
“Uwaaah~ Still, I won’t be late for the broadcast.”
Hwimin leisurely stirred her coffee and took a sip.
As the sweetness went down her throat, she finally felt her body slowly waking up.
11:50 AM. Only then did Hwimin slowly sit down in her chair and turn on the computer.
Actually, one of the best things about being a VTuber was not having to dress up.
In the past, she would have had to spend a long time preparing to look good in front of the camera.
Even if she didn’t show her face in the video, she had to do what needed to be done.
But now, isn’t there an avatar to cover her shabby face and body?
In the monitor that finished booting up, a glamorous virtual avatar with red hair appeared.
Summer.
It felt quite awkward when she first saw it, but before she knew it, this appearance had become quite familiar.
“Wow~ It’s not easy to be hotter than me.”
Remarking that Jina Mama’s work is amazing whenever she sees it, Hwimin burst out laughing, “Eheheh-“.
11:59 AM. After finishing the simple setup, there was only 1 minute left until the broadcast started.
Hwimin slapped her cheeks, raising her energy.
It was time to seriously become ‘Summer’.
“Alright, is everyone seated? Hi hello today too~!”
The broadcast started, and Summer’s mouth moved cleanly in sync with Hwimin’s voice.
The viewer count displayed in the bottom right of the chat window began to rise instantly.
“As I announced yesterday, I came a little early today~ I have an external schedule in the evening that I need to go to.”
[-Summer Hi~]
[-Are you continuing Caffeine Love today?]
[-Harem ending, let’s go!!]
Despite it still being daytime, thousands of viewers flocked in.
Thanks to the ChatRPG ‘Caffeine Love’ playthrough yesterday becoming a hot topic in the community.
“Of course, I have to continue~ Then right away…”
Just then, a huge donation notification window popped up on the screen with a loud sound effect.
[ChatRPG has donated 1,000,000 won.]
[Hello, Summer-nim! Thank you so much for playing ChatRPG so enjoyably~!]
Summer’s eyes widened.
A donation of this magnitude had never happened on Summer’s broadcast before.
[-Big spender appeared]
[-Crazy 1 million won]
[-Is that the official ChatRPG account??]
A bright smile spread across Summer’s face.
“Wow~ Such a big donation… Thank you so much!”
Uncharacteristically using polite speech, she reacted with high tension.
It was a refreshing donation that blew away the unsettling dream from last night.
But the big spender’s donation didn’t end there.
[ChatRPG has donated 1,000,000 won.]
[But maybe… if it’s not too much trouble, could you play the ‘Save Yoo Da-hee’ session within ChatRPG just once?!]
“W-w-w-what?! Received 1 million won and another 1 million won…?”
Summer’s eyes, which she thought couldn’t get any bigger, grew even wider.
It looked like they might pop out of the screen.
“Aigo… You donated 2 million won, of course I have to do it! Guys, it’s okay to postpone Caffeine Love for a bit, right?”
[-This is pretty big?]
[-2 million is honestly acceptable]
[-It was too much money to refuse…]
The chat window atmosphere heated up accordingly.
It was firepower unbelievable for a daytime broadcast.
“Ah, but… should I add ‘Includes Paid Promotion’ to this? I really did it without intending to receive an advertisement.”
[-Looking at the amount, it’s practically an ad LOL]
[-Our Summer isn’t worth that much]
[-Unofficial sponsored broadcast LOL]
“Anyway, what kind of game is Save Yoo Da-hee? Judging by the name, it feels like a rescue simulation…”
[-Yoo Da-hee = You Died is a famous meme]
[-Why does this smell like a horror game LOL]
[-But isn’t Summer a badass woman who speedruns horror games?]
“Let’s see… What, this was just uploaded? Alright, let’s go~”
Along with the ChatRPG typography appearing on the screen, the chat window scrolled up quickly once again.