Chapter 60: New Face Interview, Part 3

Hayoon sent Hong Seo-hyun away, saying she had something to think about.

After that, she called in Choi Arin and Do Jin-ho, who had been out for a while.

“Do you two know about Vtubers?”

“Oh.”

“What’s that?”

Reactions came back immediately.

Do Jin-ho seemed to know, judging by his look, so she continued the conversation, focusing on Choi Arin, who knew almost nothing about this.

“To explain it as simply as possible.. You know how on YouTube, there are people who broadcast with an illustration displayed?”

“Ah, I know. Those people who make their own characters and broadcast with them.”

“Those people use variations of their character illustrations to express emotions, right? So there are many people who like the edited versions more than the live broadcasts.”

“Right? I also have a few people I subscribe to and watch their videos, but I don’t really watch their live broadcasts.”

“You can think of Vtubers as the characters in those edited YouTube videos moving throughout the live broadcast. To help viewers immerse themselves.”

“Uh, okay…?”

However, there was an error in the input process.

The process of accepting and understanding Vtubers through knowledge is a difficult process for people who are close to ordinary people.

Especially in cases like now, where there is almost no awareness of Vtubers, it is even more mysterious.

“The character moves? Why? Isn’t that distracting?”

“Do you know what cam broadcasting is?”

At that time, Do Jin-ho interjected.

“Cam broadcasting(using a webcam or camera to stream video)…. Ah, you mean people who broadcast with their faces showing?”

“Right, like female cams or male cams. Vtubers show their faces through the cam, but it goes through an animation filter once. It feels like….”

Do Jin-ho went into YouTube on his phone and found a Vtuber who was currently live streaming.

And on that small screen.

-Hello. Friends~.

An animated character boasting fluent English was showing a variety of expressions and communicating with the chat that was coming up in real time.

‘But this person…. He even watches Vtubers?’

While she was thinking that he was no ordinary person.

Hayoon turned her attention to Choi Arin.

“Ah, I get it. It’s to show expressions without showing their faces, right?”

“Right, right. That’s it.”

“But why is this important?”

“Oh, yeah…?”

She finally succeeded in making Choi Arin understand what a Vtuber is, and now the question continues.

It was Hayoon’s turn to step up.

“That Hong Seo-hyun senior, you know? The one we just met.”

“Oh, her? What about her?”

“She wants to be an Utaite YouTuber.”

“What’s an Utaite again?”

“Ah, this.. so….”

There was another commotion, and Choi Arin was injected with knowledge about Vtubers and Utaites in a few minutes.

“So, it’s a YouTuber who specializes in uploading songs, right? Especially JPOP( Japanese pop music).”

“That’s right. It seems like Hong Seo-hyun wants to receive illustrations from us instead of payment.”

“Huh? Why?”

“She seems pretty serious about becoming an Utaite YouTuber, but as you know, illustrations are not cheap. Utaite YouTubers need at least one or two new concept illustrations for each video.”

“Ah, I see…!”

“I get it now.”

And after a few more words, Choi Arin and Do Jin-ho immediately understood what Hong Seo-hyun was aiming for.

But.

“So why Vtubers?”

Choi Arin still didn’t understand what context Vtubers came out in.

And the explanation for this.

“She’s trying to connect them.”

“Connect them?”

Do Jin-ho started.

As someone who knows this industry well, he seemed to have roughly understood what Hayoon was planning.

“Vtubers are basically often people who are good at singing. Hong Seo-hyun fulfills the first condition, and she doesn’t seem to be interested in school life either….”

“We give her a character we create and add Vtuber modeling to it, and have her broadcast. Since I have some broadcasting experience, I can help with the settings.”

“You broadcasted too?”

“Just for a bit to promote Patreon and the game…. Haha….”

Although even that is currently on a long hiatus.

“Anyway, if Hong Seo-hyun has no strong will for school life and wants to grow an Utaite YouTube channel, we should fully support her to do live broadcasts as well.”

“And use the scale of the live broadcasts and YouTube grown that way to promote Cosplay Holic?”

“That’s right.”

Do Jin-ho figured out Hayoon’s intentions, and Choi Arin just clapped blankly.

“Of course, this requires your consent.”

“My consent?”

“Yes, making a virtual avatar can’t be done with just general Live 2D technology. You also have to learn how to do facial recognition….”

“Wait a minute, we have to do facial recognition too? Then just thinking about it….”

Although she has no experience in rigging, she has quite a bit of know-how in animation through years of training.

She could roughly estimate how long virtual rigging would take.

“It seems like we’ll have to work on rigging for at least two months…? Including the time to study.”

“Then, if I finish the original art in July, can you complete it by early October, working on it along with Cosplay Holic?”

“It’ll be a bit of a stretch, but it’s possible…. To be honest, I can’t produce perfect modeling. We’ll probably have to keep doing maintenance work until the end of the year.”

“Of course, we have to pay you for your hard work.”

“Haaa… If you’re going to pay me for everything, I can’t even run away….”

Choi Arin closed her eyes tightly at the thought of the overwhelming workload, but at least she was getting paid.

There was also a lot of time left until the first deadline in early October.

Still, as if there were still unresolved questions, Choi Arin asked one more time.

“I have some connections in this field, so if I work hard, I can manage, but what are we going to do when the rigging is done in October?”

“I already decided. We’ll have her debut as a Vtuber around that time and naturally promote our game one more time. We’ll use Vtuber Hong Seo-hyun to carry out a major promotion of Cosplay Holic. We’ll also release an original song.”

“Can we do that……?”

“Can’t we?”

“Uh, um… That’s…”

A Vtuber’s debut is basically the most important event to reveal that Vtuber to the world.

The debut is the time when the most potential viewers’ eyes are gathered.

It is a risky act for such a Vtuber to promote a game made by a complete stranger right after their debut.

Of course, Choi Arin didn’t understand this far and didn’t say it.

“Wouldn’t it be okay?”

Contrary to Choi Arin, who was being conservative because she didn’t know anything, Do Jin-ho, who was confident that he knew this field quite well, was positive, saying it would be fine.

“If we release the game on Halloween as planned, we’ll release Hong Seo-hyun’s original song less than a month after her debut.”

“Right?”

“That’s enough of a reason. We can mark the D-day for the original song release, and when viewers ask where the song is from, she can just passively answer, and that will be enough promotion. Besides.”

The biggest reason why promoting using Hong Seo-hyun won’t offend Vtuber viewers is.

“You’re going to draw it. The virtual avatar Hong Seo-hyun will use, and the illustrations for the Utaite channel she’ll run.”

“Ah, that’s true….”

“Who would hate it when she’s promoting a game made by her Mama?”

There is a concept called ‘Mama’ ( A Vtuber avatar creator ) in this industry.

It’s a culture where the person who drew the original art of the virtual avatar is called ‘Mama,’ and Vtubers act like they really follow them like a mother.

In that sense, releasing an original song and subtly promoting Cosplay Holic, which features illustrations drawn by Hayoon, who will be Hong Seo-hyun’s Mama, after the debut broadcast is within the acceptable range.

“There are almost no proper Vtubers in Korea right now. A domestically produced Vtuber who can communicate both ways is releasing an original song less than a month after her debut and promoting a related game.”

If anyone dislikes that, it’s a pretty spoiled complaint in Korea in 2020, where Vtubers are still a barren land.

“Hearing what you said, I’m more confident now. I don’t think there’s a big problem with the promotion strategy itself.”

“Isn’t it rather good? Let’s go with this.”

If Hong Seo-hyun walks a solid path after her debut, it will give wings to Cosplay Holic, which has been lacking a continuous promotion strategy since Hayoon entered the hiatus system.

 

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[Mission generated!]

-The idea to debut Hong Seo-hyun as a Vtuber!

-A natural Cosplay Holic marketing using the correlation between Mama and the original song!

-Excellent skill.

-Now, how about adding a cosplay book here?

This perverted status window.

-A virtual character that will become Hong Seo-hyun’s body.

-You, Min Hayoon, will cosplay that character!

-The reward is 1 random box!

-Please choose!

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It never misses an opportunity like this.