Chapter 68: A man who spent millions of dollars to meet his lover

Jina, with her wildly messy hair roughly tied up, leaned back in her workshop chair and stared at the monitor.

“…”

Normally, she should have been typing code already, but strangely, nothing came to mind.

[Aaaargh!! This sunfish b*tch died again!!]

The reason was simple.

Summer’s live broadcast, displayed on one side of the monitor, was unexpectedly too entertaining.

Until a moment ago, she had justified it to herself as background music for work.

But at some point, she couldn’t even touch her work and was just staring intently at the broadcast.

[Really… crazy… game…!]

The broadcast was much more intense than expected.

Saving Yoo Da-hee.

Watching Summer struggle in this vicious game was thrilling enough to make her palms sweat.

She had resolved inwardly countless times to focus on her work.

But each time, Summer smashed(?) her keyboard with high tension, making it impossible to look away.

‘Today’s background music selection was a total failure.’

Background music?

No, this was work-destroying music.

Jina, with her work file open, looked at the blinking empty cursor and smiled indifferently.

Still, she got to watch fun content live for the first time in a while. Lucky Jina.

[Yoo Da-hee, this b*tch, I’ll save her somehow. Going for a Kyeon-wang today! I’m absolutely not ending the stream until I beat this…]

[Cosmo_Youngjun has donated 1,000 won.]

[Summer-nim, let’s wrap up the stream soon. You’ll be late for your evening schedule at this rate.]

It was fortunate for Jina that Summer had an evening schedule and had to end the stream early.

What if Summer had gone through with the Kyeon-wang stream?

Jina clearly wouldn’t have been able to work at all today, just watching the broadcast.

‘I slacked off too much,’ Jina mentally scolded herself and adjusted her posture.

‘Now it’s really time to focus, I should find some other background music-’ As she was browsing the VTuber category.

Suddenly, the chat window stirred.

The big spender who had consecutively donated 1 million won twice to Summer at the start of the broadcast had just fired off another back-to-back donation.

Even more, this time, after 1 million won, they added 3 million won.

“…Suddenly?”

Below the donation amount, the donation message displayed in bold text caught Jina’s eye.

[And the person who made the real-time illustration generation AI model that Summer-nim linked to ChatRPG! Could I possibly get their contact information separately?]

It was a message looking for none other than Jina.

“…Looks like a decent job offer will come in soon.”

Rather than finding it absurd, honestly, interest was piqued.

It wasn’t even an advance payment on a contract; she started thinking that someone who donates that much during a broadcast might be preparing some big project.

Sure enough, Jina’s smartphone rang at the perfect timing.

It was a call from none other than Cosmo Live’s general manager, Youngjun.

Well, Youngjun was also monitoring Summer’s broadcast.

He must have seen the donation message content, of course.

“Yes, Youngjun.”

Over the receiver, the sound of Youngjun catching his breath was heard.

For some reason, his voice sounded slightly more rushed than usual.

[Jina, are you available for a quick call right now?]

“Yes, I am.”

[Are you perhaps watching Summer’s broadcast right now? The donation from the ‘ChatRPG’ account just now…]

“I just saw it, actually. It’s incredible, a 4 million won donation.”

[Yes, that’s already 6 million won just from today’s broadcast. They donated 2 million won when Summer started the stream.]

Youngjun continued, his voice tinged with admiration.

[The big spender is one thing… but the message content is the issue. That person seems very interested in Jina’s AI technology.]

Jina nodded.

Indeed, this smelled strongly of ‘work’.

The tone of the message itself was cheerful, like a child wrote it, but looking at the amount, they must want some project or collaboration.

“Then… the company must have received separate contact as well.”

[That’s correct. Inquiries have been coming into Cosmo Live’s official email since yesterday. They said they wanted to meet Jina somehow. They mentioned the real-time illustration generation AI model used in ChatRPG is incredibly innovative…]

Youngjun added to the situation with a somewhat excited voice.

[To quote their exact words, they said, ‘Imagination became reality, and I was very, very, very moved.’]

“Haha, they seem like a very cheerful person.”

Jina let out a hollow laugh.

Meeting someone with such passion didn’t seem like a bad idea.

Even if not strictly for work.

[Actually… the company is also keeping a close eye on this matter.]

To be precise, it wasn’t Cosmo Live, but Youngjun who was watching ChatRPG closely.

Right now, it was a relatively unknown new game.

But considering its future potential, he thought it would be good to establish a connection from now on.

[Well, sort of like buying low, perhaps.]

“Certainly, watching Summer’s broadcast, the potential seems ample.”

Jina herself was completely hooked on Summer’s broadcast. This she had to admit.

[Right. So about that… If you’re okay with it, would you mind meeting that person once in VR Chat?]

“Hmm…”

Separate from acknowledgment, bothersome things… are a bit hesitant.

[If Jina helps out again this time! I will once again treat our Jina! To a company dinner.]

Playfulness mixed into Youngjun’s solemn voice.

Jina smirked and played along.

“Hmm, the sake I had last time was quite good…”

[I’ll use the Daon Card Chance once more.]

The two burst into laughter simultaneously.

Then, Jina replied in a languid voice.

“Sounds good. Well, I was curious about what kind of person they are anyway.”

[Thank you, Jina. Then, I’ll reply immediately. I’ll contact you when the schedule is set.]

“Oh, and please tell Summer I enjoyed watching her broadcast.”

Saying she couldn’t get any work done today because she watched Summer’s broadcast.

As Jina grumbled in a languid voice, cheerful laughter returned from the smartphone.

---

As the sunset deepened outside the studio apartment window, Jina picked up her VR headset.

Checking the equipment with somewhat tired eyes, she steadied her breath as if trying to ease her slight nervousness.

She had received the VR Chat channel link from Youngjun beforehand.

‘Did he say it was a private channel decorated by the other party themselves?’

The moment she put on the VR headset and pressed the connect button, her vision went black.

With a brief moment of dizziness, a new world soon unfolded.

Opening her eyes, Jina stood in the middle of an unfamiliar room.

Straightening her avatar and looking around, a peculiar scene caught her eye.

The wallpaper shimmered like a rainbow, and furniture hung upside down from the ceiling.

It was a scene as if gravity had been reversed.

A scene impossible in reality, yet the textures and lighting were strangely realistic.

Even the wood grain of the floorboards felt underfoot was meticulously implemented, making Jina unknowingly tap the floor with her foot.

Tok, tok.

The sound echoing from her toes was incredibly vivid.

‘They must have put a lot of effort into this?’

She hadn’t thought there would be another pervert besides herself who painstakingly incorporates their personality into a virtual world while prioritizing realism and immersion.

As Jina inwardly admired and scanned the map.

Suddenly, a refreshing voice came from behind her.

“Waaaah—! I finally get to meet you, Jina?!”

A refreshing high tone that made her ears ring slightly.

As Jina flinched and turned her head, she noticed a small, SD-style avatar standing there, waving its arms.

Short lavender hair and a round body shape.

A very familiar silhouette caught her eye.

‘…Soda model?’

The model Jina had distributed for free before.

The very Soda model she thought was a failure, but upon regaining her senses, had become the sub-avatar for numerous streamers.

It had been modified in a very fresh way.

If one had to categorize it…

It was closer to a lower-tier version of MINA.

‘The way the studio map is decorated, and the way the model is modified…’

She got the impression that this person also had quite some skill in modeling.

“You’re using an avatar customized from the Soda model.”

“Wow?! You recognized it at a glance. As expected of the Soda model’s Mama…!”

At Jina’s casual remark, the small avatar nodded enthusiastically.

“That’s right, that’s right! By adding various things to the model Jina distributed, I was able to create a cute character. Ehet!”

The avatar’s bouncing movements were energetic.

She couldn’t guess the age of the person inside, but she thought they were good at RP (Role-Playing).

“Ah! Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself yet~ My name is ‘Rosy’.”

“Um… Is your real name… Rosy?”

“It’s not my real name, but it’s like my real name, so let’s just say it’s practically my real name!”

Adding thoroughness in hiding the red pill (real identity).

‘You? VTuber, you have talent.’

“It’s amazing. To change that simple model in such detail. You must have handled the rigging and texturing yourself, right?”

“Hehet, yes! Actually, when I was studying 3D modeling, I analyzed the Soda model structure extensively. From joint structure placement to UV mapping, and even bone composition, I studied it all!”

“Haha… Thank you.”

Jina laughed awkwardly.

She had seen many positive comments about the avatar model she created in the community.

But hearing it directly in words somehow felt slightly better.

“Anyway, nice to meet you. Rosy.”

“Yes! The honor is all mine. Hiya~ To think the Mama of Han Ari and Seasons is right before my eyes… It feels like a dream…!”

Jina was slightly flustered inwardly by Rosy’s blatant praise.

It wasn’t particularly unpleasant… but somewhat embarrassing.

“The avatar you’re using now was also made by you yourself, right?!”

“Well… yes.”

“No wonder! The animation was so natural~”

Rosy gave a thumbs-up with her avatar and made a fuss.

…At this point, she started thinking this person might have just burned 6 million won because they wanted to see Jina.