Became the Mother of Virtual YouTubers - Chapter 93

[(Announcement) Debut 1st Anniversary Special Broadcast with a Special Guest!]

A-ri calmed her racing heart and posted an announcement on her fan cafe.

It was rare for A-ri to write a broadcast announcement.

But this time, she wanted to share her joy with her fans as soon as possible.

Not long after the announcement was posted, the fan cafe bulletin board went wild.

– An unprecedented collaboration is coming!!

– Wow, has it really been a year since Han A-ri’s debut?

– Something big is coming.

– Mama’s first experience… this is pretty valuable!

– I was really curious about who it is, lol.

The explosive reactions quickly spread beyond Han A-ri’s fan cafe.

In no time, it took over other VTuber fandom communities.

[(Breaking News) Mama confirmed to appear on Han A-ri’s debut 1st anniversary broadcast]

I knew Mama would appear on the broadcast someday, lol.

As expected, the eldest daughter’s love is Mama, lol.

So, is it a guy? A girl?

From just the name, it sounds like a guy…

But if you listen to the Seasons, it seems like it’s a girl? (Please!)

Winter <<< the person who seems to be going crazy right now.

For real, lol. I worked really hard on building up the collaboration, but in the end, Han A-ri seems to be sensing it right away, lol.

Those who didn't buy Han A-ri coin at its low price, are you regretting it??

Oh no, Winter!!

Some were excited about Jin Ha's first broadcast appearance.

While others cried out looking for Seasons, especially Winter, who is another daughter of Jin Ha.

This news quickly spread within CosmoLive.

A group chat room with Seasons members burst into flames in no time.

[Fall: Oh my gosh, you all!! Did you hear? Jin Ha Mama is appearing on Han A-ri's broadcast!]

[Fall: (A chick gasping in shock)]

[Spring: Really?!]

[Fall: I know! The person who said they would never appear on the broadcast no matter how much Sachyo and the manager try to persuade them!]

[Fall: They completely fell for Han A-ri!!]

[Spring: More than that, I'm curious about how Jin Ha Mama could be contacted...]

[Spring: Jin Ha Mama, who is busy preparing for NiseLive concert doesn't even reply to messages...]

[Summer: Wow~ they say the meek cat is the first to climb onto the stove~]

[Summer: Jin Ha Mama's first experience, just snatched it away~]

[Summer: (A cat's eyes shining brightly)]

[Spring: W-w-w-wait, Sister Summer!! First experience? What does that mean?!]

[Summer: Hm? I just said they're appearing on the broadcast for the first time~]

[Summer: Our Spring, what kind of thoughts might you be having?]

[Summer: (A cat wearing a mischievous smile)]

[Spring: Kyaaah!! Sister Summer!!]

[Summer: Whoa whoa~ Calm down, calm down]

[Summer: By the way, why is our Winter so quiet?]

[Summer: Winter???]

[Summer: @Seasons_Winter]

[Summer: Winter, how do you feel about someone else having the first collaboration with Jin Ha Mama?]

Unsurprisingly, the most fired up was Winter.

[Winter: Jin Ha]

[Winter: Why are you only collaborating with Han A-ri?]

[Winter: Why not me?]

[Winter: I was the first to suggest we collaborate, I'm the one who wants it the most, and you know I really like Jin Ha, so why, why, how can this be?]

[Winter: It’s too unfair, it’s so pathetic, it’s too unfair...]

Broken Winter went on a rampage.

The image of calm and cool beauty had long since evaporated.

*

Jin Ha let out a helpless laugh after seeing the flood of Winter's messages filling her smartphone screen.

“It’s just setting up a panel and exchanging words.”

When she playfully sent a message saying, ‘If only Winter hadn't cursed...’, she was bombarded with every crying emoji in existence.

After sending a message saying she would appear on Winter's broadcast soon, Jin Ha stretched briefly.

On the monitor in front of her stood Han A-ri's avatar, HANA, with its arms wide open.

The charming avatar with its fine, silvery-white hair and aquamarine eyes was brightly smiling on the screen.

“I can't go empty-handed to the housewarming.”

To celebrate Han A-ri's debut anniversary, she planned to add new features to the avatar as well.

“This time, focusing on emotions and expressions...”

Jin Ha muttered to herself, enlarging the expression data for the avatar to examine.

The feature Jin Ha intended to apply to HANA was an emotion deepening expression module. It was meant not only to mimic Han A-ri's facial expressions but also to apply a new algorithm that would allow the avatar to accurately incorporate both verbal and non-verbal emotional expressions detected from Han A-ri into the avatar's muscles and skin surface.

When feeling shy, she wanted the cheeks to blush. When surprised, she wanted the eyes to widen significantly, with a sparkling effect. When flustered, she wanted the face to turn pale with beads of cold sweat on the forehead. If a horror game were to be played, she imagined the pupils could tremble or the eyes could roll back. When smiling brightly, she wished there would be dimples on the cheeks. And in emotional situations, she wished that HANA would tear up and cry alongside the empathic Han A-ri.

Jin Ha opened a notes app in one corner of the screen and briefly outlined the technology needed for implementation.

First, she would extract emotional elements in real-time from the speaker’s voice.

Calculating the emotional parameter values of joy, embarrassment, surprise, fluster, anger, sadness, etc. in real-time based on specific words and tones.

Depending on the intensity of the emotional parameter values, she could activate or restrict the avatar's facial muscle rigging to create natural expressions. Moreover, if the parameter values exceeded a certain threshold, added effects such as flushing, tears, and cold sweat would be generated automatically for more realism.

In other words, it was a system that would simultaneously analyze voice, expression, and emotions, thereby moving the avatar's facial muscles more effectively and even implementing special effects.

“There are emotion data samples for the voice data already trained... let’s refine the fine muscle responses first.”

The sound of a mouse click and keyboard typing lightly resonated throughout the room.

Every time Jin Ha’s fingers moved, various expressions appeared on HANA's face and disappeared in turn.

[When joy parameter value exceeds 90%, create subtle dimples on the cheeks. Adjust to concave surface.]

[When embarrassment parameter value exceeds 75%, apply a red Gaussian filter over both cheeks.]

[When sadness parameter value exceeds 80%, apply a pupil trembling effect. Activate liquid tear rendering when exceeding 95%.]

Each time the algorithm was inputted and executed, HANA's face caused vivid transformations as if it were a real person from the physical world.

When she felt shy, the cheeks naturally flushed.

When surprised, the pupils wobbled, and a sparkling effect was added.

Jin Ha quietly admired every detail of the process.

“I made it, but... seeing it like this gives a real sense of life.”

She chuckled to herself, thinking that one day she might wake up to find HANA popping out from the screen and lying beside her. It seemed implausible, especially since her body had already been transformed into a woman.

“Well, that aside... for now, additional work...”

It felt a little unsatisfying to wrap things up here. When emotions surged, more dramatic reactions were necessary. For that case, she implanted ‘tear ducts’ under the eyes of HANA.

[Activate tear ducts to maximize emotional index]

According to the algorithm, when the composite emotional parameter values exceeded a certain level, tiny particles would gradually form around the eyes, creating an animation effect of tears streaming down.

The implementation of interactions between avatars and liquid objects was something she had already tackled when creating Fall's fitness content.

After applying the feature, Jin Ha played an AI-generated voice sample for testing.

[Everyone, thank you so much.]

[I'm so happy today.]

HANA's eyes reddened, and soon transparent tears welled up. As the corners of her eyes curved into a crescent, the clear tears trickled down her cheeks.

The faint shine and remaining blurred water marks on the sparkling tear droplets added to the realism.

“...Good, perfect.”

With this, Han A-ri herself, as well as the lost core group of the fox troupe, would surely be satisfied, Jin Ha nodded with a pleased expression.

“This should be revealed as a surprise gift, right?”

Gearing up to name the new VRM file ‘HANA_ver3.0_final_final_real_final,’ her fingers hesitated for a moment.

Seeing the avatar still sniffling on one side of the screen, she felt a twinge of concern.

Even though she hadn't really done anything wrong to Han A-ri.

‘Thinking about it, I don't think I've paid much attention to Han A-ri since the beginning of this year...’

Unlike other clients, including CosmoLive, who actively appealed to Jin Ha if they wanted something, Han A-ri had rarely asked Jin Ha for anything, maybe because of her personal space or perhaps out of a sense of debt.

In terms of work.

And personally.

“...Maybe I should have exchanged numbers in advance.”

Muttering to herself absentmindedly, Jin Ha closed the screen with a shy smile.

As the monitor plunged into darkness, she quietly rose from her seat and headed to the kitchen to brew some coffee.

Though there were still a few tasks remaining, today her body felt lighter than usual.