I Can See a VTuber’s Red Pills - Chapter 34

………

The black screen offered no warmth.

Only the Ggizzik platform logo floated, as if adrift in an empty universe.

The VTuber with the trembling voice and anxious eyes, who had clearly existed just moments ago, had vanished like a mirage.

Broadcast ended.

It was an all too sudden, and all too clear, expression of refusal.

I stared blankly at the screen, forgetting the cooling coffee cup in my hand.

‘Sh*t.’

The earlier situation replayed slowly in my mind.

The extravagant donation effect that had exploded.

And immediately after, the sharp cooling of the air I felt from beyond the screen.

Her appearance, frozen not just in surprise, but in a fear so profound it was almost suffocating.

I had seen it clearly.

That… wasn’t mere surprise.

It was a panic state, almost a seizure.

“……D*mn it.”

A low curse escaped my lips.

‘No matter how I look at it, this is my fault, isn’t it?’

‘Boss! Please, that tone! You sound like a total perverted old man!’

Jungyeon’s nagging echoed in my ears.

I felt like I really needed to pick a day and have it out with those community guys who taught me this kind of twisted culture and memes.

Anyway… the incident replayed in my mind once more.

It was just a quip I’d thrown out, like excreting it onto the community board after making a donation as usual.

I had expected reactions like Ajung or Rinne – flustered, or laughing it off as absurd, or perhaps even getting serious and scolding me.

But this one was different.

She seemed so fragile, so precarious.

Her real self, faintly visible beyond the screen, was more than just startled; she was terrified, almost as if she couldn’t breathe.

Like someone who had seen a ghost.

‘It’s not just about the money. That’s for sure.’

No matter how shocking ten million Butter suddenly appearing on a small-time stream might be, that wasn’t the kind of reaction it was.

Then, did the words ‘secret friend’ trigger something?

Perhaps it brought back bad memories from the past.

If not that.

‘…Surely there isn’t another reason?’

I quickly moved my fingers, habitually heading to the ‘Ggizzik VTuber Gallery.’

As expected, it was already in an uproar over my appearance and Solar’s abrupt end to her stream.

---

[Ggizzik VTuber Gallery]

Title: Breaking) Solar takes 10 million Butter and runs from stream kekekekekekekekeke

Boss Zelnaga appears -> Donates 10 million Butter -> “Wanna be secret friends?” -> Solar’s brain freezes “Ending stream because I’m

not feeling well, sorry”

This is an all-time dopamine hit kekekekekekekekekekeke

– ????

– Crazy bstard kekekekekekekekekekekekekeke

– Why does this bstard’s cooldown reset so fast kekekekekekekekekekekeke

– “Secret friends,” my a**, fcker kekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekekeke

– But Solar’s reaction was seriously bad, she was almost about to cry??

– Did Boss Zelnaga come to Solar’s stream??

-Dude, what were you doing when the live updates were flooding earlier?

-I just got home from work and opened the gallery.

-A gallery user with a job, top 0.1% damn damn damn damn

– I’ve been watching Solar’s stream for over a week, that b*tch has zero tolerance for this kind of stuff, for real. You just have to think of her as a normal person.

– Zelnaga, that b*stard, someone needs to fix his way of talking, I’m telling you. You crazy b*stards taught him this sh*tty stuff, it’s all your fault kekekekekeke

– For real kekekekekekeke

-Secret friends WTF kekekekekeke

– But still, to be that freaked out and end the stream??

– Isn’t the trainee rumor true then?? Like someone offered her a sponsorship deal during her trainee days.

-Ah, these fcking idiots are still going on about the trainee thing.

– Your mom is getting sponsored by me keke

– But what was Zelnaga so hooked on to suddenly throw a donation at Solar? kekeke

– Bottom-tier + Mentally unstable.

– Oh.. they had something in common kekeke

– Plus, she can sing+dance. Perfect for recruiting as an additional member for Starlight.

– Zelnaga = Bottom-tier rehab center director kekekekekekekekekekeke Ajung, Rinne, next is Solar kekekekekekeke

– But with that kind of mentality, can she even join Starlight? Looking at Ajung and Rinne’s viewers or chat, she’d never be able to handle it?

– But earlier, she wasn’t just surprised, she was practically having a seizure? Seems like she really had some kind of trauma.

---

‘Trauma, huh…’

I rested my chin on my hand, scanning the comments with an intrigued gaze.

A sponsorship offer during her trainee days?

Stage fright?

I had thought they were just rumors, but seeing Solar’s reaction earlier, they might not be entirely baseless.

Regardless, she was definitely special.

Overwhelming talent.

A fatal weakness.

And a precarious beauty enveloping it all.

She had a strong charm, different from Ajung and Rinne.

‘She’s too good to give up on.’

A faint smile spread across my lips.

Failure, paradoxically, fueled my fighting spirit.

The more challenging the prey, the greater the pleasure of conquest.

But I had to change my approach.

Getting directly involved myself could be the worst option.

In that case…

“Ms. Jungyeon.”

I used the intercom to call Jungyeon, who should be downstairs.

A moment later, a slightly tired but still cheerful voice came through the speaker.

[Yes, Boss! What is it?]

“Could you come up for a moment? There’s something I need to ask you urgently.”

[Ah, yes! I’ll be right up!]

Not long after, Jungyeon opened the study door with a light knock.

She was still holding a tablet.

I had told her to stop her secretarial duties, but it seemed she still had work she felt she needed to do.

“What is it, Boss? Why do you look so serious? Is there a problem with the writers?”

I shook my head at Jungyeon, who asked with a worried expression.

“No, it’s not that. By any chance, do you know someone called ‘Solar’? She’s a VTuber on Ggizzik.”

At my question, Jungyeon tilted her head for a moment, then let out a small “Ah!” as if she remembered something.

“…Ah! Solar! Yes, I know her! She’s rumored to be a really good singer these days, right? But why? Is there some problem with her?”

As expected, Jungyeon already knew.

Her knowledge of the VTuber ecosystem was certainly useful.

“I just watched her stream for a bit, and her singing was truly amazing. So… well, I made a donation like usual.”

I tried to sound as casual as possible.

But Jungyeon’s expression was already turning icy.

“Like usual? …How much?”

“Hmm… Ten mil?”

“……Sigh.”

Jungyeon pressed her temples with a deep sigh.

“Boss, really. So? That can’t be the end of it, can it.”

“I wanted to get a bit friendly… so I asked her to be ‘secret friends,’ and she suddenly looked like she was about to faint, said she wasn’t feeling well, and ended the stream.”

“………”

Silence fell.

Jungyeon stared at me with an expression of disbelief.

And a moment later, the explosive nagging I had anticipated erupted from her lips.

“Bossssssssssssss!”

Even though I was prepared, the sound was startlingly loud.

“No, really! How many times do I have to tell you! Stop using that crude language! Huh?! ‘Secret friends’?! Are you in your right mind, Boss?! That’s a remark you’d have no excuse for if you got reported for sexual harassment! Are you some neighborhood pervert old man?!”

Jungyeon, who had somehow gotten right in front of my nose, stood with her hands on her hips, firing off words like a machine gun.

Under the barrage of nagging, I unknowingly leaned back in my chair.

“No, I was just joking, trying to be friendly…”

“How is that being friendly?! Please! Just! Think logically! Who would like it if a stranger, especially someone who’s streaming, suddenly throws ten million won at them and says something like that?! You’re lucky you didn’t get sued!”

Jungyeon pounded her chest as if she couldn’t contain her anger, then let out another deep sigh.

After the storm of nagging passed, she returned to her cool, collected secretary mode.

“Hoo… So. You’re hooked on this Solar person again, right? She seems to be your next target.”

She had now perfectly grasped my pattern.

“Her singing skills are undeniable. She’s a talent absolutely necessary for the Starlight Project. And she has some… interesting aspects.”

I admitted it honestly.

“Interesting aspects? Besides almost fainting because of you just now?”

Jungyeon threw a pointed remark, but I casually ignored it.

“I saw on the community forums that there are rumors she was an idol trainee in the past but her debut fell through right before due to something like stage fright. Looking at her reaction earlier, it doesn’t seem entirely untrue.”

I relayed to Jungyeon the gist of the rumors circulating in the community and my observations of Solar’s reaction.

I didn’t bother explaining in detail how I had observed that reaction.

“Ah… Stage fright? She was an idol trainee? No wonder her singing skills were no joke. So that’s why she looked so anxious.”

Jungyeon looked surprised by my words, but soon her expression turned sympathetic, as if deeply understanding Solar’s situation.

“So, what should I do, Boss? You’re not going to go on another donation bombing spree, are you?”

Jungyeon shot me a wary glance.

“No, I don’t think me stepping in is the right move anymore. It’ll probably just backfire. Ms. Jungyeon, you’ll have to step up.”

“Me? How could I…?”

“Approach her as the VTuber ‘Rinne.’ As a colleague in the same industry, contact her out of concern. As for my part, like I said earlier, just frame it as me being clumsy with my words, that I was just admiring her talent.”

In short, I was asking her to clean up the mess I had made.

I conveyed the specific approach strategy and key messages to Jungyeon.

Jungyeon listened to my instructions and fell into thought for a moment.

Then, with a determined expression as if she had made up her mind, she nodded.

“Understood, Boss. It won’t be easy… but I’ll try my best. If I approach her sincerely as a fellow VTuber, she might open up. Above all, it seems like a better choice than you visiting her again.”

“……Good. I’ll trust you with this. Let me know if you need any support.”

“Yep!”

Jungyeon replied curtly and immediately left the study, seemingly to prepare something at her desk.

I watched her retreating figure with a satisfied smile.

Now, all I had to do was sit back and observe Jungyeon’s capabilities.

“……But how did my reputation end up like this?”

I really felt like I needed to have a serious go at those community b*stards who made me this way.