Chapter 21: Hyper ULTRA rainbow RGB glowing computer!!!

About a week had passed since the company dinner.

I kept streaming like usual and managed to rack up a decent amount of money.

Not as much as the first monetized stream, of course, but I was still pulling in a solid income.

Miho and I did another craft collab stream.

The part we had to do after the last stream was mining.

We had to dig deep underground and gather resources for a long time.

Naturally, the focus shifted from gameplay to chatting, and for nearly three hours, it ended up being basically a Just Chatting session.

“Remember during the company dinner? Miho, you totally groped me all pervy-like…”

“W-Wait, me!? When did I ever…”

“Yeah… Mama Miho doesn’t remember. I was just a one-night fling to her…”

“No, that’s not what I—”

“You grabbed me so aggressively. In front of so many people.”

“O-Okay! I get it! Please stop…!!”

“Touching all the most sensitive parts of my body…”

“KYAAAAH!!!”

It was amazing.

Miho, blushing in embarrassment.

Apparently, she didn’t remember a single thing.

Guess she really is a lightweight when it comes to alcohol.

Good thing, too.

If she had remembered, she probably wouldn’t have been able to look me in the eye for a while.

Aside from the collab, something else important happened.

It was that special day that only comes once a month.

NewTube payday.

You get paid on the 15th of every month, so I applied for payout on that day.

And just like that, I received a transfer for all the superchats I’d received so far.

Half of it went straight to the company, and what remained for me was about 20 million won.

It was far less than the 50 million from the first stream, but still more money than I’d ever seen in my life.

Seeing my usually empty account balance full for once…

I was finally saying goodbye to a diet of stir-fried bean sprouts.

Now I could order takeout food drenched in glorious MSG.

“Hmm… What should I get? Tteokbokki? Pizza? Chicken? Maybe chicken with beer…”

“Aren’t you supposed to stream later? And be quiet, I’m trying to install your PC here.”

Rin snapped at me in her usual sharp tone as she plugged in the cables.

That’s right.

I bought a brand new PC.

And I invited Rin over to help install it.

“Rin~”

“Yes.”

“I’m boooored.”

“Just wait a bit. I haven’t even finished assembling the case.”

“When do the rainbow lights turn on?”

“…I said I haven’t finished assembling it yet.”

She replied with a clearly irritated expression.

She has gotten a lot sharper compared to before…

Maybe she’s completely relaxed around me now.

She used to feel like a cute, squishy cousin during our first collab. But now she’s like a snarky real-life little sister.

Not that I’d know, being an orphan.

“Anyway, this is a really nice build.”

“Yup! I bought the best setup I could find online.”

“What kind of specs are we talking about? Wait, maybe you don’t even know…”

“Roughly a J9 13th-gen CPU, NTX 40 series GPU, 32 gigs of RAM.”

Rin’s eyes widened as I listed it off.

“You really know your stuff, huh?”

“Yup.”

“Then why ask me to build it…?”

“Because I’ve got butterfingers. I’d probably break it.”

“…Yeah, fair enough.”

Rin nodded with a look of total understanding as she recalled how clumsy I usually was.

…That kinda pissed me off.

So that’s really the image she has of me?

…Well, she’s not wrong.

“With these specs, you’ll be able to run just about any game.”

“Exactly! I bought it specifically to play heavy-duty games.”

Nowadays, high-end games have insane quality—and insane hardware demands.

Because of that, I hadn’t been able to play the latest titles.

The old PC could barely run StarCraft, Korea’s national pastime. There was no way it could handle AAA games.

But those days were over.

Now that I had this ‘Hyper ULTRA Rainbow RGB Neon Monster Machine,’ I could run anything.

Like, for example—

“That new release, Eden.”

“Huh? You’re playing Eden too, unnie?”

Rin perked up at my mutter.

“I was gonna start today.”

“Then let’s play together! I just installed it yesterday!”

She beamed at me with the brightest smile.

Eden was a cyberpunk title, if I remembered right.

She looked like the kind of high school girl who wouldn’t be into that genre, but I guess she liked machines after all.

…That explains her PC-building skills.

A dainty-looking girl like Rin being a tech geek.

Guess VTubing attracts all types.

“Let’s do a collab! Eden has multiplayer. We can run through the main story together!”

“Hold up—I haven’t even installed it yet.”

And my new PC wasn’t fully set up yet either.

Not to mention transferring files from the old one…

Yeah, no way I’d be playing anything today.

“Next time. We’ll do it next time. Let’s do something else for now.”

“…You’re speaking like streaming is already a sure thing.”

“If it weren’t, you wouldn’t have called me over in the morning, would you?”

“…Touché.”

Yeah, I’d asked her to come early specifically so I could stream tonight.

At ten in the morning, no less.

If I were taking the day off, I would’ve called her in the evening.

I’m no morning person. Getting up at 10 AM was torture.

“Hey, while you’re here—wanna do an IRL collab stream?”

“IRL collab?”

“Yeah! We never got to do one before since you lived far away.”

“True.”

She used to live in Gangwon-do, so we rarely got to meet.

Even during pre-debut gatherings, she’d often have to skip.

Come to think of it—Rin’s way more sociable than Miho.

If it were Miho, she would’ve stuttered like, ‘I-I-I-an IRL collab?!’ at that suggestion.

Must be an MBTI thing.

[TL Note: MBTI is a popular personality type test in Korea. Rin is likely an extrovert (‘E’).]

She’s the poster child for an extrovert—friendly and natural even after barely knowing you.

Though with her weird tastes, she’s probably an introvert deep down…

“So, what’s your answer?”

“Sure! I didn’t have anything else planned anyway.”

“Then it’s settled!”

Thus, the second-gen duo’s first ever IRL collab was officially born.

---

[Domestic VTuber Minor Gallery]

[☆Wooooomb Puuuunch!!!!]

(Yuki screaming clip.mp4)

(₩1,000,000 ‘clink’ donation clip.mp4)

LMAO

This girl has no chill.

[Likes 23] [Dislikes 1]

–wtf lol

–she’s insane

–Womb punch! Womb punch! Womb punch!

–I’ll… become the Womb Punch…

–I believed in you!! Dammit!!

–Clink~

–She’s nuts…

–Screwloose chick…

–A VTuber that lets you belly-punch her? We eatin’ good tonight.

[☆So here’s the problem with Yuki << this chick right here]

(image: crab stabbed by knife.jpg)

That crab’s already dead.

[Likes 14] [Dislikes 0]

–Upvote without saying a word

–For real tho lol

–This is the way

[That womb punch freak lol]

She didn’t get suspended for that? It looked super risky… Wouldn’t be surprised if we get a “We’re sorry” video with a black background soon.

[Likes 4] [Dislikes 3]

–Still fine for now

–Didn’t YouTube relax guidelines after that freedom of expression incident?

–Yeah

–Rules got looser

–She’s lucky

–Back in the day, that’d be an instant suspension

[☆Creeeepy Miho-mama’s drunken rampage]

(link: Miho/Yuki collab “chewy noodles” clip)

“So during the dinner, right? Miho totally started groping me all lewdly…”

“She went so hard, like, in front of everyone. Sensitive spots all over my body…”

Miho-mama turns into a perv when drunk? Is this a real-life yuri between Yuki and Miho-mama? Yuri’s taking over!!

[Likes 32] [Dislikes 2]

–Yuri boom incoming??

–Juice it! Juice it!

–That dense, slippery snail yuri with Miho-mama and Yuki…

–Onee-loli? Can’t resist that

–STOP with the real-person shipping!

–”Grind it”

–Miho-mama’s a perv? Kinda hot tbh

–LOL for real

–Heuhhng… big-busted perv mama…

–Yuri fans, noted.

---

[Back to Present – Setup Complete]

The PC build finished faster than expected.

When I came to, the huge tower case was glowing in the corner of my room.

The LED-lit graphics card glimmered with pride, radiating a satisfaction that couldn’t be expressed in words.

“Haaa… haa… look at that luscious water cooler detail…”

Rin stared at the case like she was in love, eyes turning into cartoon hearts.

A heated breath escaped through her parted lips, along with a glimmer of drool.

She even pressed her cheek against the tower and started squirming her thighs together.

“I-I’m coming…”

…Coming?

Coming what, exactly?

Wait—Rin’s a girl, right?

Did she just… wet herself on my PC?

Did she squirt on my computer!?

But contrary to my panic, the floor remained mercifully dry.

Guess it was just a metaphor.

I let out a breath of relief and started trying to pry Rin off my RGB monster.

“Huehueh… hehehehe…”

“…Rin.”

“Sluuurp, yes?”

“You’re drooling on my PC.”

She was making the face of someone fully trained, totally subjugated by her beloved machine.

She really is a machine freak.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she started grinding on a washing machine next.

Then again… washing machines do vibrate…

Nope. Nope. What the hell am I thinking.

I’ve been living with Rin too long. Her degeneracy’s rubbing off on me.

I shook my head rapidly to dispel the thoughts.

Embarrassed by her own outburst, Rin coughed and quickly changed the subject.

“Ahem! Let’s just eat. I’m starving.”

Now that she mentioned it, it was already 3:30 PM.

We were well past lunchtime, so of course we were hungry.

I hadn’t had breakfast or lunch either, so my stomach was growling.

I whipped out my phone and opened the delivery app.

Picked the closest place with fast delivery and ordered something.

Before long—

Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang. I rushed out and grabbed the food, laying it out on the desk.

Rice balls wrapped in plastic.

Something soupy in a round plastic bowl.

Rin opened one of the containers, her face full of anticipation—

Then immediately puffed out her cheeks in disappointment.

“Black bean tteokbokki…? That’s so cursed.”

“I can’t handle spicy stuff, okay?”

“Still. Real tteokbokki is Yeop-tteok and nothing else.”

Rin still had that Korean spice resistance, but me?

Ever since I got this body, I became a certified weak-ass foreigner.

Spicy instant noodles are my limit.

Things like Yeop-tteok or “drug tteokbokki”? No way.

“Whatever. Let’s just eat.”

“Sure.”

We quickly dug in.

I was so hungry from skipping both breakfast and lunch, I devoured the tteokbokki like a starving animal.

The container was empty in no time.

We cleaned up afterward, packing everything into disposable containers.

Didn’t want to do dishes, so I ordered everything in throwaway packaging.

Sorry, polar bears.

But it’s not my fault the hot water in the sink doesn’t work.

And I’m not washing dishes in the bathroom, thanks.

Screw this garbage rental.

Now that I’ve got money, I really need to move.

Time to ditch this broken-down hellhole and live somewhere decent.

[4:57 PM]

By the time we finished eating, it was nearly 5.

Between chatting and snacking, time had flown by.

And if I was going to stream tonight, it was time to get ready.

“What game should we play?”

“How about the horror game we were playing last time?”

“Ah… Shadow House, that one?”

“Yeah. Can’t just leave it unfinished.”

“Mmm…”

Honestly, I hated it.

Because it was scary.

I didn’t expect my first horror game to be that terrifying.

Sudden monster jumpscares, pitch-black maps—

Everything about it poked at the deepest, most primal fears.

Still, it’d be awkward to quit halfway…

I mean, if I hadn’t started it at all, fine—but I was already halfway through.

“Alright. Let’s do that one.”

“Okay! I’ll get it ready!”

If a man draws his sword, he must at least slay a rotten pumpkin.

[TL Note: Korean proverb meaning you have to finish what you start.]

Even if I’m not a man anymore, I’ve still got that mindset.

Once I start something, I finish it.

Besides, it was still light out.

Best to play horror games during the day.

At night, I’d probably piss myself.

Last time I screamed so loud, I got a noise complaint.

“By the way, unnie, how about we turn off the lights and close the curtains for the horror game?”

“…No.”

“Eeeeh~ Are you scared?”

“I-I am NOT scared, okay!?”

“Sure you aren’t. You were screaming last time.”

“……”

Rin giggled behind her hand, grinning smugly.

But even with her teasing, I couldn’t bring myself to turn off the lights.

…Because I was scared.