They Became the Big Players Among the Hako VTubers - Chapter 20
Rainy Day, Crazy People – 2Tok…
Todok
Took—
“…”
An unfamiliar ceiling.
Aki fidgeted her feet inside the tent.
The distinct smell of the sleeping bag and the sounds of nature brushing against her ears felt awkward.
This was her first time camping, after all.
‘This isn’t quite what I imagined…’
—Let’s go camping.
With those words from Seonwoo Teak,
Aki had pictured a campfire in her mind.
Like school trips or festivals—
Laughing cheerfully around a brightly burning bonfire.
For some reason, her heart had raced at the thought.
But when Seonwoo Teak set up two tents in front of the convenience store and they each went inside, her feelings changed drastically.
‘Isn’t this just… homelessness?’
The ground was dirt,
the roof was the sky.
The only thing shielding them from the rain was a single waterproof sheet.
Aki was lying outside the convenience store building right now.
The smell of wet soil and grass was palpable.
“…”
Swoooosh—
Todok
Todok
“…Something’s off.”
‘This isn’t it…’
It felt like she was living a primitive lifestyle.
She felt bad for the manager who had gone through the trouble of setting this up, but was there really any point in pitching two tents side by side when there was a perfectly comfortable break room right there?
Eventually, Aki sat up halfway and unzipped the entrance of her tent.
‘Should I chat with the manager?’
Ziiip
As she opened the zipper,
she saw Seonwoo Teak lying in the tent next to hers, looking at his phone.
On the screen, jagged stock charts flickered wildly.
‘He’s into stocks…? Didn’t expect that. He doesn’t seem like the type to care about money.’
Aki spoke up.
“Manager.”
“Yes.”
Seonwoo Teak glanced at her absentmindedly.
“Do you trade stocks?”
“Yes.”
“Do you make a lot?”
“A decent amount.”
“Wow…”
“…”
The conversation died there.
Aki had zero knowledge about economics, so she couldn’t keep it going.
Swoooosh—
“…”
“…”
Aki rested her chin on her hands while lying on her stomach, pouting her lips and wiggling her feet.
It felt awkward not talking when they were right next to each other.
‘Is he bored talking to me?’
“…”
What should I do?
Do we just not have any common topics…?
With that uneasy thought,
she quietly spoke up again.
“Manager.”
“Yes.”
“Do stocks or investments make a lot of money?”
“Depends on the person.”
“How much can you make?”
“Hmm…”
Seonwoo Teak set his phone down for a moment.
Lying on his back, he tapped his chin in thought.
Finally, he picked his phone back up and answered.
“For an individual, the maximum is about 1 trillion won.”
“1… 1 trillion?! 1 trillion won?!”
“Yeah, if you pull off a few extremely risky trades in a row. You’d need almost prophetic insight and timing bordering on miraculous.”
“?!”
A few trades,
and you could make 1 trillion won.
“Wow…”
Aki’s mouth fell open.
It sounded like something from another world.
‘I was already dizzy just receiving 1 billion from Big Man. Stock traders are on another level… Could I even make 100 million as a VTuber?’
Excluding Big Man’s generosity,
even 100 million seemed like an impossible number.
Somehow, it felt discouraging.
‘My dream isn’t even worth 100 million…’
Aki muttered hollowly.
“Idol hopefuls really are insignificant, huh.”
“…”
But Seonwoo Teak wasn’t finished.
“…1 trillion is just a number on paper. An individual can’t just withdraw and spend that much. The account gets frozen immediately.”
“Huh?”
“If a nobody makes that much, the real people controlling the market send scary guys after you like, ‘Gotcha!’”
“…?”
“Even if you team up with people from Yeouido, you’ll eventually get betrayed. Even if you try to protect yourself with a corporation, they’ll raid you indiscriminately.”
“?”
“About 100 billion? That’s the limit for what you can actually withdraw and use. After that, economic journalists come knocking instead of scary guys.”
“??”
Seonwoo Teak glanced at Aki’s face.
She kept tilting her head in confusion.
No matter how he looked at it, she clearly didn’t understand.
“…”
“…”
Aki awkwardly smiled and said,
“Uh… that was, um… hehe, th-thanks for the fun story.”
“What I’m trying to say is—”
“Yeah?”
“No matter how much money you make, there’s a limit where the scary guys at the top will smack you down. If you measure success by money, you’ll eventually hit a wall. That’s just how the world works.”
“Yeah…”
It sounded like a resigned statement.
But the words that followed carried weight.
“But human hearts don’t have that. There’s no upper limit to locking away your heart.”
“!”
“So personally… rather than just chasing money… I think it’s better to live doing what you love. It’s just as hard, but it’s honest and free.”
“Yeah.”
“So…”
“?”
Seonwoo Teak said,
“…It’s fine. Keep living like that. There will be people cheering you on precisely because it’s honest.”
“!”
Somehow,
Those last words resonated with Aki.
‘That’s someone like Big Man.’
Idol VTuber.
Few careers were as inefficient for making money as these.
But even with that inefficient life, Seonwoo Teak called it ‘better.’
To Aki, it felt like sincere encouragement.
Even if he didn’t know she was a VTuber.
Seonwoo Teak was someone who supported her dreams.
‘The manager is someone I can understand.’
Their worlds were connected.
A sense of relief washed over her.
“…”
“…”
Under the falling rain,
She received a strange economics lesson.
The lesson was cold yet warm.
Curiosity welled up inside her.
“Hey, Manager.”
“Yeah.”
“Why do you make money?”
“Because there’s something I want to see.”
“What is it?”
“A dream coming true.”
“Yours?”
“No.”
“Then…?”
“…”
Seonwoo Teak looked at her blankly again.
Aki’s expression turned excited as soon as she heard something she could understand.
Side by side in their tents,
They gazed at each other like neighbors.
A girl living in a world of dreams and passion,
Rather than money and solitude.
She spoke.
“…Manager?”
“…”
“?”
“There’s just… someone like that.”
Aki tilted her head again.
But Seonwoo Teak fell silent.
In front of the convenience store,
The rain poured down fiercely.
“…”
“…”
Tok
Todok—
Took…
The rhythmic sound of raindrops hitting the two tents side by side.
A quiet lullaby of water droplets spread.
Within it,
Aki’s eyes slowly closed.
“…”
‘The manager is weird… but a good person.’
With that thought,
She drifted off.
*
“Uh..hhh…”
“…”
The sound of Ayoung sleeping beside me reached my ears.
Just reading that sentence makes it sound creepy, but the rain falling from the sky washed away any eeriness.
I turned off my phone.
Tuk.
‘The 2 billion I set aside for investments will grow to 3 billion by next week. I can use it as corporate funds or for the Big Plan’s budget.’
1 trillion
Hundreds of billions
Talking about market-shaking sums of money, then returning to reality, left my head feeling numb.
It was like the salty taste from Incheon’s waters rising in my throat.
“…”
The scary guys’ fists were ruthless.
I don’t know how many loops I wasted.
In the end, none of it mattered.
Numbers crumble before structure.
Only after reducing it to ‘100 billion’ did I survive.
“…”
But ‘1 billion’ had meaning on its own.
Hearts could bloom even within structure.
“…”
I quietly turned to look beside me.
Ayoung had burrowed into her sleeping bag like a cocoon about to become a butterfly, mumbling as she slipped into deep sleep.
‘When she wakes up, she’ll be an idol again—so maybe it’s an oddly accurate metaphor.’
Perhaps.
I might never see the moment she spreads her wings.
This was the first loop where I cheered for Hako the VTuber.
And the 54 days I had left were short.
“…”
Even so…
It meant something.
Even if permanence wasn’t allowed.
It was the last meaning I could leave in this loop.
Numbers disappear,
but hearts remain somewhere.
I had to keep believing that to keep going.
*
Sunday, in front of the convenience store.
Aki greeted me wearing a baseball cap.
Her yellow hair shimmered under the morning sun.
It was a color that drew eyes even when she stood still.
“See you tonight, then.”
“Yeah.”
Seonwoo Teak answered while bouncing on his Sky Kong Kong.
Then, with a few more hops, he disappeared into the crowd of joggers.
Boing
Boing
Boing
“…”
The back of his head
popped up and down among the crowd before vanishing.
Aki laughed at the sight.
“Pfft, what is this, a comedy show?”
That childlike person
had been giving serious economics lectures just yesterday.
She giggled to herself.
It felt like she had a secret only she knew.
“Sigh“
‘Well, at least I’ve tried camping now. Can I brag about it somewhere?’
Aki looked back at the convenience store fondly.
She wanted to reminisce about the short memories they’d made.
“…”
But…
The two tents were no longer there.
They were only meant for a single night, after all.
[CLOSED]
The convenience store door was firmly shut with a Closed sign hanging.
With the manager gone, only an empty building remained.
“…”
Somehow,
The sight felt unfamiliar.
It was like the cozy convenience store had vanished into the rain.
Even if she stayed,
There was nothing left to do.
But…
Even if the tents were gone,
the feelings remained.
‘I’ll just see him again tonight…’
“…Guess I’ll head back.”
Aki turned and walked back to the ABCD dorm.
And muttered to herself.
Again.
Let’s make more memories when we meet.
*
Monday is back.
The internet world was peaceful as ever.
「[General] Title: ABCD is kinda growing on me」
「Their streams are just Doda, right? Aside from her, they’re all boring as hell, but they don’t seem like bad people lol. They’re all honest and don’t talk nonsense. Just boring, that’s all」.
-True lol. Without Big Man, they’d fade into obscurity.
-Big Man…
-They’re… nice…
-HakoToku) They’re all wearing masks.
-BM
「[General] Title: I like Aki-chan’s streams lol」
「It’s like watching an underground Japanese idol singing awkwardly right in front of you lol. The roleplay is insane. Feels nostalgic, like watching a village girl sing.」
-Kids these days wouldn’t get it, old man.
-Big Man’s woman lol.
-Boring, not watching.
-She’s so pure it’s boring, but I can’t hate her lol.
-Isn’t the lisp just an act? So cringe.
「[General] Title: Clara’s anime knowledge is insane」
「Someone asked, ‘Did you watch the new anime this season?’ and she said she’s seen every season lol. She even knew all the mobile game terms. Total otaku.」
-Why “master” and not “slave”…?
-Master’s degree?
-Bruh, I was writing a thesis.
-Clara got caught faking her age lol. Fell for all the textbook traps. That late-20s energy… hnnng.
Amid the heated discussions,
One particularly awkward post appeared.
「[General] Title: So, about Berry… I think she’s kinda cute lol」
「Our ABCD cuties lol. They’re all adorable ♡.♡ But especially… Berry? Beri? She’s kinda cute, right? >.< Today’s stream is gonna be super special ♡ I really wanna watch…? What do you think? Just me?????」
Upvotes: 121 | Downvotes: 87
-What’s this cringe?
-What kinda act is this?
-I upvoted just because it’s so bad.
-LMAOOOO
-How long has it been since we’ve seen a simp high-diff?
People brushed it off.
Trolling like this was common.
So they joked around lightly.
-Lol, ABCD IP address tracked.
└No?? That’s not it lol;;
└Too late, already tracing IQ lol.
└Wait!!! Sorry;;;
└?
Then the post vanished instantly.
[Deleted post]
“…?”
People buzzed with confusion.
-?
-???
-Lol what?
-No way lol.
-Beri-ri…
-Did she really get caught self-promoting on a burner?
-??
-LMAOOO
-Beri-ri…
-She actually used a burner for promo? LOOOOOL
-This is peak Hako behavior lololol.
And so, it was immortalized.
「[General] Title: Too late, already screenshotted lol」
「[General] Title: SS) Berry gay Beri…」
「[General] Title: Lol she lurks, huh?」
「[General] Title: Ngl, kinda got me lololol」
「[General] Title: I’m a boomerang, but this is embarrassing;」
As the board buzzed,
A second log was thrown into the fire.
「[General] Title: This feels like promo?」
「《Important Notice!! ☆Big Plan☆ News☆ 3D Studio Tour with Beri-ri!! Confirmed!!》 ← Lol this」
-Lol so that’s what it was.
-Oh, the corporate-sponsored stream?
-They rented a 3D studio, huh?
-But why the promo? Lol.
-They must’ve been really confident lol.
People laughed and looked forward to it.
Then—
-Wait, they didn’t rent it—they bought it?
-??
-???
-What?
-The notice says the 3D studio is theirs now.
Cheers erupted.
It was time for whaling and flexing.
-“The constellation of money [Big Man] bestows a studio…”
└Big Man
└Big Man
└BM
…
…
…