I May Be a Virtual Youtuber, but I Still Go to Work - Chapter 89

[Dingsam: You have been successfully registered as a participant, Magia-nim.]

[Dingsam: Please remember that the auction is on Friday, January 5th.]

[Dingsam: I look forward to your great performance ^^]

[Magia (Agent): Thank you.]

[Magia (Agent): Happy New Year.]

[Dingsam: To you as well, Magia (Agent).]

Whether it was thanks to Loopko’s quick work, I received a message from Dingsam, the host, less than two days after the Pajijik year-end party.

For reference, this Dingsam is also a member of the Makgeolli Crew, so he was scolded by Keugemang two days ago.

The reason was that he insisted on using honorifics with me, even though I told him to speak casually.

… I felt a strange sense of camaraderie.

Even if someone tells me to speak informally, I can’t unless I’m really comfortable with them.

Anyway, my participation in the tournament was confirmed, and since the confirmed members would be announced tomorrow through Dingsam’s broadcast and the tournament page, I decided to start preparing in earnest.

You might think everything will be reset once the teams are decided, but the results of a tournament depend on the skills you’ve built up beforehand and how well you can work with your team in the week leading up to it.

So, I need to prepare well until the auction starts in a week.

No matter how outstanding my FPS genes are, if I can’t adapt to the game, I’ll be left behind in an instant.

And didn’t I realize it for sure while supporting the members on the Wicker server this time?

If I do well in anything where there are a lot of people, especially streamers, they will follow me on their own.

If they follow? It becomes easier to form connections.

The fact that Loopko, who was so distant during I’m Wolf, treats me without hesitation and even gave me a spot in this tournament?

It was all possible because I lent him a lot of money on the Wicker server.

So, I have to do my best this time as well.

So that I don’t tarnish Parallel’s name and, on the contrary, leave only a positive image.

*    *    *

The next day.

Serena contacted me first.

[Serena: How about playing Combative together?]

It was a sudden offer, but I thought it was a good thing.

I was already wondering who I should learn Combative from.

Dora was going to participate in the <Gaemodaehoe>, a tournament exclusively for Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers in Naore, and Komari was busy helping Dora as her teacher.

Maru and Rain were busy handling advertising deals in their place and recording their new cover song.

The boss was now busy preparing for the full-scale selection of the second generation, so his broadcast time was further reduced. Just offer a silent prayer.

Anyway, I guess Serena will be my Combative teacher.

I asked the obvious question first.

“By the way, Serena-nim, what’s your Combative tier…?”

Just like Koreans ask each other’s age when they meet.

For gamers, especially those who play the same genre, asking and answering tiers is essential.

Since I can shine as a Diamond tier in Battle Colosseum, I was going to try to get above her if her tier was below my expectations……

[I’m barely hanging on to Diamond.]

Even if it’s a watered-down Diamond, Diamond is Diamond.

“I will treat you as my teacher.”

[Ah, uh. That. If you do that, I’ll be uncomfortable.]

Maybe it’s because I’ve gotten closer to Serena recently, but I unconsciously blurted out a joke.

“Sensei. Arigato Gozaimasu.”

[No. Please, I beg you, just treat me as usual….]

I found out later, but she, who introduces herself as a “healing-type VTuber” with pink curly hair and round eyes on her avatar, seems to change completely when she starts playing Combative.

In a way, it’s similar to how a cute, upright elf becomes a foul-mouthed person when she turns on Naore.

But this one was a little softer.

She usually says “What should I do? I’m in trouble, waaah” all the time, but when a ranked game starts, she leads the team to victory with clean orders.

She had decided to participate in Combative before me and jumped into internal matches a few days earlier.

Even though this is her first tournament participation, she is expected to be an expensive item and is being highly evaluated even before the auction.

Of course, you shouldn’t believe everything in the reviews of brainwashed simps.

I also praise the boss’s broadcast and give him a ride on a plane whenever I’m bored, but that’s not all true. (Usually, the goal is to embarrass him.)

But I definitely felt it while playing the game together, this person explains things really well.

[—— Up to here, it’s common to all FPS games, and from now on, I’ll focus on explaining the differences between Combative and Battle Colosseum.]

Maybe it’s because she knows that I’m a Battle Colosseum Diamond user, she skips over simple explanations and even has the sense to match my level.

I felt like she would have been a good teacher even if she had taken up teaching.

It was surprising that she said she had almost no experience teaching anyone because her past life was as an idol trainee.

[There are a total of four classes. Infiltration, which attempts to break through enemy lines with flashbangs and other disruptive elements, Striker, which follows behind and quickly enters to eliminate enemies, Defender, which is needed to set up bombs and defend the area, and finally, Tactician, which blocks enemy entry or opens up the team’s path with smoke.]

Combative is a spiritual successor to the famous team-vs-team FPS of the past.

It is evaluated as being more lightweight by adding skills to create a hyper FPS feel, but simplifying the system and making it more intuitive.

However, that meant that the strategy was quite standardized. It was the so-called ‘national rule combination’ represented by Infiltration 1, Striker 2, Defender 1, and Tactician 1.

It’s not like Naore, where the place you have to go is fixed.

You could say that the role is definitely determined.

Of course, I was interested in the Tactician role.

You can use smoke up to three times in a round, and you can use it to open up attack routes or block enemy entry.

It was exactly my style.

Can’t I just play with a shotgun and smoke?

However, after listening to Serena’s explanation, the operation method was completely different from the smoke in Battle Colosseum.

Unlike the smoke in Battle Colosseum, which can be sprayed in the middle of the enemy camp and you can go in and out to tease the opponent, the smoke in Combative was strongly intended for ‘area separation’.

It was used to cover places where the opponent was likely to be waiting, forcing the opponent to move or hiding how many people were being put into the attack.

The reason for this was that the TTK (Time to kill) was significantly different from Battle Colosseum.

Unlike Battle Colosseum, where it takes at least 5 seconds to catch one guy in the late game, Combative kills people instantly if you have a good gun and hit the opponent’s head with one shot.

It was possible to one-tap the enemy by hitting the head, that is.

That’s why the importance of assault rifles is higher than in any other FPS game.

It’s more likely to win a battle by just dragging the crosshair along the head line than by aiming and hitting the head with a single shot.

In other words, I have to put aside my favorite smoke double-barrel for now.

Sadly….

Serena, knowing that, thought about a position that would suit me, who likes assault and smoke, and said this.

[In my opinion, Jia-nim, I think Striker is the right fit for you. It’s the simplest, you just have to follow the Infiltration, and basically, people with good aim do Striker.]

“Can I use a shotgun in Striker?”

[I don’t really recommend it. The opponent is spraying with an AR (assault rifle), but you have to aim accurately, and the distance can’t be too far. Assuming the skills are similar, shotguns are only advantageous in very limited situations.]

“But isn’t that established based on the pro scene?”

[That’s true, but… there won’t be much difference. Even if there’s a problem with aim at a crucial moment, the difference in gun performance always exists. Should I say there’s a difference in constants? A difference in class? Would it be easier to understand if I said that?]

“Ah. Aaaah.”

In Battle Colosseum, the excellence of guns also varies depending on the version.

It’s more common than you think for the strongest gun in the previous season to plummet and be thrown into a coffin in the next season.

FPS is such a balance-sensitive game.

Battle Colosseum, where it takes a few seconds to kill one guy, is like that, so how much more would Combative, where one-taps are possible, be?

So, there seemed to be no need to deny Serena’s words that it would be better to use a good gun and be deployed as a Striker.

However, she added this, perhaps knowing my tendencies.

[So, my recommendation is, the Smoker of the Striker.]

“Smoker?”

[Yes. It’s a Striker champ, but unlike other Strikers who focus on movement or attack skills, it has smoke.]

“Really? I definitely want to play that character.”

[Haha… I thought you’d like it. I didn’t know you’d like it this much……]

“It’s boring to play a game without a double-barrel and smoke. So? Can that character use a shotgun?”

[No.]

“Why? Can’t I just get close to them with that?”

[Smoker’s smoke is for escape, so if you try to use it for approach, you’ll get your head blown off. It’s different from Battle Colosseum.]

That damn one-tap is the problem.

Since it’s difficult to get out by moving like crazy like in Battle Colosseum, the whole team has to advance strategically, one move at a time, like in chess or checkers.

In a way, it’s also a game that’s more suitable for the pro league. It’s a game where you have to match your team’s teamwork strategically through standardization and formalization.

In other words, it’s not a game that suits my taste for running around with a shotgun.

I shouldn’t even look at it after the tournament is over.

‘But the higher the score, the better….’

5 days until the auction. If I learn as much as possible from Serena during that time and unite the team well after the auction, wouldn’t it work out somehow?

Of course, if the team leader fails at the auction, a terrible team could be born that would make it absolutely impossible to win.

Let’s talk about that later.

Right now, improving my skills is the priority.

“Okay. Then I’ll do as you tell me, teacher.”

[No. Uh. Please don’t call me teacher…! And aside from shotguns, it’s best to practice with the guns you want to use first—.]

“If you don’t like teacher, how about master?”

[Ugh.]

*    *    *

Surprisingly, the fact that I practiced with Serena spread to the gallery in less than a day.

Whether it’s the idol scene or the VTuber scene.

Crazy fans find out what their oshi is doing in an instant.

Was my Combative nickname too easy to identify?

I just used a normal malicious sniper format.

‘KimchiPizzaTangsooyukIsBestWithSauceOn’.

Isn’t that a very common nickname?

… — — Rapitz (VTuber) Gallery — — — …

★[I heard she played Combative with Magia in private, slandering Serena?]

★[Why are these kids playing games in private?]

[Were they always this close?]

[Can we expect another pro-Rapitz move from Magia this time?]

… — — — — — — — — — …

… — —  Parallel (VTuber) Gallery — — — …

[Ugh, I have to watch the tournament now]

[But is the Combative tournament worth watching?

[Battle Colosseum > Combative, memorize that formula]

[To be honest, Combative is more fun to watch than Battle Colosseum yes yes.]

… — — — — — — — — — …

Perhaps thanks to that, the fans’ mentions and expectations increased even more.

This trend was especially noticeable among Rapitz’s fans.

It’s possible to dismiss the fact that the members of each group are getting along as just a show.

But I’m an employee who knows the internal affairs of Parallel inside and out.

The fact that such a person played a game in private with a Rapitz member seems to be raising various expectations.

Of course, no matter what people think, I just treated Serena well as my teacher.

Thanks to that, I learned Combative thoroughly and became at least a one-person level.

[To be honest, I didn’t expect you to grow this fast. You shoot really well even without a double-barrel…?]

“Actually, I don’t really want to shoot.”

[Ahaha…. Well, there will be a chance. More than that, you always took the Mini Barrel for your pistol, right? You know that’s also a shotgun, right?]

“That’s too small. I need something bigger and longer….”

But maybe today will be the last day I can chat with Serena like this, giggling.

Once the tournament starts, we’ll be scattered into our respective teams and have to start the race for first place as rivals.

Well, Serena seems to want to be on the same team as me….

I’m a rookie with no data, so there’s a high probability that I’ll be unsold at the auction, but Serena is a tier 2 who can order, so each team is aiming for her.

You’d have to be really lucky to get through that 25% chance.

[Well, I should get ready to watch the auction broadcast. It’s been fun these past few days.]

“Anyway, good luck no matter what team you’re on, Master.”

Serena, who had barely gotten used to being called Master after four days, mumbled listlessly.

[… Yes.]

Me joking around is my way of showing that we’ve gotten closer.

Did that not come across?

I thought she’d quickly get used to my playfulness, especially since she approached me first.

But she seemed more awkward and troubled than I expected, so I’ve been holding back a bit.

Anyway, let’s get ready for the auction.

The tournament organizers asked me to turn on my broadcast during the auction, and there might be an interview in the middle, so I’m logged into Talk Code.

I connected to the official Ppajijik channel that’s broadcasting the auction, and it has a whopping 50,000 viewers.

Even though it’s just a player auction.

They say the official broadcast channel alone will draw at least 100,000 people on the day of the finals. If you add up the total number, it might be around 300,000 to 400,000, like the Wicker Town closing ceremony.

I feel like the scale of the numbers has suddenly changed since Wicker Town.

But since it’s unlikely that all these people will be watching me, I can relax and watch the auction.

… Ah, it’s starting.

[We will now begin the Combative Division auction of the ‘Hit-It Tournament,’ which opens the door to the 2025 Streamer Tournament!!]