Chapter 67: Dating? (5)

Even though a few days had passed since the outing with the members, my body still felt sluggish.

For someone like me, who had been a homebody for over a year, going out consumed more energy than I thought.

Still, well, it wasn’t bad.

The taste of PC Bang ramen, and foolishly pouring money into a claw machine.

I was sprawled on the sofa, meaninglessly flipping through the tablet screen.

That damn doll picture I took yesterday was still a hot topic in the community.

What a bunch of jobless people.

Why were they so fired up over a single doll?

‘Ah.’

Then, suddenly, a forgotten fact flashed through my mind.

[Starlight Dream Stage]. The sponsorship I promised to the participants.

At the end, I had decided to give all participants, not just the winner, access to the recording studio and various other support.

My memory of exactly what I promised was hazy.

I think I just blurted things out in the excitement at the end of the broadcast.

‘Ah, suddenly it feels like a bother.’

Should I check with Yoon Taesoo?

No, before that.

I naturally moved my fingers and opened the ‘Ggizzik VTuber Gallery’.

This place was the fastest for things like this.

These guys knew like ghosts what I did and what I needed to do.

As expected.

As I scrolled down a little, posts containing my familiar nickname caught my eye.

---

[Ggizzik VTuber Gallery]

Title: Zelnaga, you fcking bstard, my nugu is starving to death.

It’s been ages since the singing contest ended, why are you still silent???
Our nugu is sucking her thumb, only believing in your promise, you fcking bstard.
You said you’d support everyone at the end, that you’d sponsor them ten million won or something.
Don’t tell me you’re gonna bail????

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Title: Anyone know Ppiyo’s recent situation?

Naga-bro definitely said he’d sponsor all participants ten million won, but he seems to have forgotten and there’s no word.
Our Ppiyo has been eating only ramen for weeks because she has no money ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Is Naga-bro watching??? Hurry up and give us the money, ffs ffs ffs.

---

Title: So what exactly is the reward for the winner, Riley?

Is it true that Naga-bro changed it to support for everyone at the last minute, so the winner’s merit became f*cking useless? lol
Riley is so pitiful, she worked hard to win but gets the same as everyone else.
Did Naga-bro really throw fairness out the window?
Did he give her anything extra???
If you were going to do this, you should have said so before announcing the winner so she wouldn’t feel deprived, ffs.

“Haaah.”

Another sigh escaped.

This gallery, really.

It was true that I had forgotten, but being nagged so openly like this didn’t feel good.

Still, they weren’t wrong.

I did go big at the end.

I had already told the company to arrange recording studio and motion capture studio access for them whenever they needed it.

The problem was the ten million won sponsorship that had turned into a participation prize.

‘Ugh, let’s just consider it overdue homework.’

It was annoying, but there was no helping it.

I couldn’t take back words I’d already spoken, and I didn’t want to hear that I’d starved some nugus to death.

I searched on my tablet for the list of the 10 finalists of the ‘Starlight Dream Stage’, which should be saved somewhere.

Fortunately, Jungyeon had neatly organized a file with their IDs and broadcast links.

I clicked the first link.

She happened to be live.

That magical girl I found unique, Ppiyo.

On the screen, a cute avatar was energetically hosting a just chatting stream.

Her voice tone was quite high-pitched.

[Ppiyo Ppiyo☆ Everyone~ It’s Ppiyo’s magical spaghetti (cup ramen) mukbang time~☆]

‘…Magical spaghetti?’

It seemed she called cup ramen spaghetti.

The picture of cup ramen displayed next to the broadcast screen was impressive.

‘Are they really living on just ramen, as the gallery folks said?’

I pressed the donation button without hesitation.

I wrote several zeros in the amount field.

[Zelnaga has donated 10,000,000 Butter!]

[Stop eating cup ramen and buy yourself something delicious;;;]

For a moment, Ppiyo’s broadcast screen froze.

The chat window froze along with it.

[…Huh? Huuuuuuh?! W-wait a minute?! What is this, what?! Zel-Zelnaga-nim?!]

Ppiyo rubbed her eyes as if she couldn’t believe it and checked the screen again.

Her avatar shook violently.

[Hoeeeeeeeng?! Is it really Zelnaga-nim?! Am I, am I dreaming right now?! Uwaaaaaang!!]

Eventually, the tears burst out.

Magical girl or not, she started crying like a child.

The chat window finally exploded.

― Hoeeeeeeeng lololololololol

― Ppiyo is seriously so fcking cute lololololol

― This bstard finally came, ffs. Why were you so late, you fcking bstard? Our Ppiyo almost starved to death.

― But honestly, isn’t it just a concept these days? Ppiyo’s been getting a sh*t ton of donations since she went on the singing contest.

― Is her ancestor going to advance the settlement date???

― Then even if she gets ten million won now, she can’t use it right away, right??

― Oh

― Ppiyo, don’t cry ㅠㅠ Stop ㅠㅠ

‘She is cute.’

I left a short comment and closed the broadcast window without lingering.

Next.

This time, it was Yue, with the moon rabbit concept.

Fortunately, this friend was also live.

A calm music broadcast.

She was singing a pop song with a clear voice.

Her singing skills were definitely stable.

[Zelnaga has donated 10,000,000 Butter!]

[Your singing is pleasant to listen to. Please sing a lot in the future too.]

Yue momentarily stopped breathing due to the sudden large donation while she was singing.

However, she didn’t panic and calmly finished the song.

[…Zelnaga-nim. Thank you very much. Thanks to you, I was able to stand on a good stage. I will use the sponsorship you sent preciously.]

Her calm expression of gratitude was impressive.

I liked this composed reaction more than crying and making a fuss.

Next was Veil, whose masked avatar was impressive.

This friend wasn’t live.

It was unfortunate, but it couldn’t be helped.

I’ll follow her for now and come back later.

Siren the mermaid, Lia the former idol trainee, and so on…

For the participants who were live, I donated ten million won each and left a short message.

Most of them cried like Ppiyo or calmly expressed their gratitude like Yue.

Occasionally, there were friends who were too surprised to speak.

‘Nine down. One last person.’

Finally, the last one, the winner, Riley.

A husky voice with a punk rock style.

A talented individual with songwriting skills.

When I clicked the link, she also happened to be live.

She was playing the guitar and singing what appeared to be an original song.

[…When you’re lost under the gray sky may my song be your little star ]

Oh.

Her voice is still good.

The lyrics were also quite direct yet hopeful.

I waited for her song to end.

[Phew… Thanks for listening. The song I just sang is an unfinished new song, I don’t know how it was.]

Riley put down her guitar and smiled shyly.

The chat was filled with reactions like ‘It was good’ and ‘Looking forward to it’.

I pressed the donation button again.

First, the same ten million won.

[Zelnaga has donated 10,000,000 Butter!]

[Your singing is still great, lol]

[…Huh? Zelnaga-nim?]

Riley looked momentarily surprised by the unexpected appearance.

But soon, she put on her characteristic cynical smile and said.

[You’re here now? Everyone was waiting. Did you come because of homework?]

― Zelnaga: Homework.. It’s not like that;;;

I replied briefly via chat.

This friend was no pushover.

[Well, thanks anyway. I thought you’d forgotten since there was no news.]

Riley shrugged coolly.

But I wasn’t planning to end it here.

I pressed the donation button once more.

This time, I changed the numbers a bit.

[Zelnaga has donated 50,000,000 Butter!]

[Sorry for changing the rules midway. I made the winner feel unnecessarily deprived. This is a special bonus for the winner.]

In an instant, Riley’s cynical expression completely vanished.

Her eyes widened, and she reread the donation message on the screen several times.

The chat window had already been overturned for a while.

― ????

― Yes?

― 50 million????? 60 million in total???

― Naga-bro, are you really crazy? lololololol

― Wow, fck lololololol Winner’s treatment lolololol

― Kyaaaah, this is it, fck. If you win, you should get at least this much lolololol

― He apologizes and then drops 50 million lololol

― Money really is the best lololololol

― Indeed, apologize with money!

― This bstard is sht at everything else, but he’s f*cking generous with his money lolololol

[No, no, wait a minute. Changing the rules, well, that can happen. But this is…]

Riley was flustered and couldn’t speak properly.

It was unlike her.

― Zelnaga: It’s fine. It’s weirder for the winner to receive the same as everyone else.

I hammered it in again via chat.

― Zelnaga: And

I left a final message.

― Zelnaga: Next time our company plans something fun, we’ll contact you first.

― Zelnaga: I’ll be looking forward to hearing more of your songs.

This wasn’t just empty talk.

She participated in Starlight’s first ever content and won.

She deserved that much treatment.

After my last message, Riley completely froze.

Her avatar on the screen didn’t move an inch.

The chat window was ablaze with words like ‘Ascended’, ‘Life Reversal’, ‘Great Na Ga’.

‘Done. Homework finished.’

I closed the broadcast window with satisfaction.

Along with the relief of having finished my overdue task, a strange sense of pride washed over me.

Money couldn’t solve everything, but at least it could provide opportunities.

And seeing someone shine through those opportunities.

I was learning that this too was quite an enjoyable thing.