episode_0005

Arisawa Neon and I successfully completed our debut broadcast, and our viewership quickly grew to around 100 viewers each.

I didn’t know it at the time, but the YouTuber market was fiercely competitive. Even at this level, our broadcasts were among the top YouTubers.

To be honest, it’s no wonder the competition is tough. Even without natural looks, anyone can easily give it a try, so it’s only natural that people flock to it.

Of course, attempting it and surviving in that market are completely different stories.

In that sense, Arisawa Neon and I were lucky.

The collaboration we did as a test broadcast before our debut seemed to catch the algorithm’s attention, and more viewers than expected ended up watching it. Among my viewers, the clip of that collaboration spread in the community, creating a small buzz.

Especially Arisawa’s singing became popular in a fairly large community with a post titled “ “, and Neon’s patriotic remarks on Korea gained over 10,000 views on YouTube.

Thanks to that, hundreds of people flocked to our debut broadcast, and we were able to maintain a solid base of regular viewers afterward.

That’s why my reputation wasn’t bad on their broadcasts.

It’s not all thanks to me, but it was an undeniable fact that the collaboration I did with them played a significant role.

-Sensei Kita!!!

-Today, you look beautiful as always, Sensei!

-Kya~

-Wow, your figure…

…No. It’s a bit overwhelming.

Even so, isn’t it a bit much for a male streamer like me to frequently appear in female YouTubers’ streams? Isn’t the reaction a bit off?

Well, it didn’t really matter. After all, I had only a few days left before retirement. The fact that Arisawa Neon’s viewers were larger than mine didn’t bother me too much.

Of course, there were some viewers who expressed their discontent, questioning why I appeared in female streamers’ collaborations so often.

-But isn’t it a bit excessive to collaborate three times in a week?

-Really? It’s fun, though.

-Just leave.

-Thanks to Sensei, our broadcasts have grown, you jealous loser.

Moreover, the manager took immediate action on such chats, even if they were present. It wasn’t just a timeout ban; they issued a permanent ban.

Since it seemed like a severe measure, I also talked to Arisa about it.

“Well, you can express your dissatisfaction, but a permanent ban is a bit…”

“A permanent ban isn’t enough. If there were harsher punishments, I would do that…”

When Arisa, with her cold voice, said that, it was truly frightening. Her pronunciation was smooth, and her delivery was excellent, making it sound like lines spoken by a villainess in a drama.

Anyway, teaching both of them was progressing smoothly.

For Arisa, combat training stopped at raising her basic level and introducing various systems. We focused on teaching broadcasting language naturally while discussing game content and production roles, which interested her.

Arisa seemed to have no knowledge of internet broadcasting before. Even after the collaboration ended, we had to have conversations and teach her about various terms, things to be careful about during broadcasts, and mentality.

Fortunately, Arisa was quick-witted and smart, so she understood most things without me having to explain in detail.

“What does ‘ㅗㅜㅑ’ mean?”

“If you divide ‘퍄’ into consonants and vowels…”

“Oh! Then what does ‘퍄’ mean? It’s like ‘ㅗㅜㅑ’…”

“Well…”

There were some explanations that were a bit difficult.

On the other hand, Neon was completely focused on battles. She was almost on par with a high-ranking player, claiming that she had never missed a rank in any game. She could almost keep up with my 20-hour streaming pace.

Although she couldn’t play ranked games initially due to her low level, she started entering the ranks within a week.

Usually, for an ordinary person to reach the rank while playing casually, it would take at least a month. If they didn’t play the game frequently, it could even take several months. However, Neon started grinding ranks by playing non-stop day and night.

The magician chosen by Neon was not at the level of a master, but belonged to one of the most difficult professions to control in the game. Unlike the traditional image of a magician, this game’s magician had to fight within a shorter range than an archer while wearing robes.

Although they had various evasion spells and powerful firepower for balance purposes, many cases occurred where players chose them based solely on their cool appearance and ended up sacrificing numerous kills to enemies.

However, I didn’t want to meddle in Neon’s choice of profession. After all, isn’t the point of playing games to do what you enjoy? If playing a challenging character isn’t fun, they can always switch to a different character.

Furthermore, it was quite amusing that I, as a dark knight, would say anything about someone playing as a magician.

But my expectation that being a magician would be difficult was completely off the mark.

[KoreaTeamFighting (Magician) has defeated SoloSword (Warrior)!]

[KoreaTeamFighting (Magician) has defeated KaiserSage (Priest)!]

[KoreaTeamFighting (Magician) is on a killing spree!]

[KoreaTeamFighting (Magician) has defeated That’sVisible (Rogue)!]

[KoreaTeamFighting (Magician) is legendary!]

I was amazed as I watched. For a beginner, their movements, skill utilization, prediction shots, and overall gameplay were exceptional.

Of course, they weren’t on the level of the top-ranked players or professional gamers like me, but their basic sense was impressive.

[KoreaTeamFighting (Magician) has defeated BecauseYou’reCute (Spearman)!]

Then, Neon defeated a Japanese-named user and trash-talked them over the microphone.

“Dokdo belongs to us, you know!”

-What?

-Uh… Isn’t it wrong to say Dokdo belongs to us?

-Gasp!

-Neoni didn’t come from Japan, they came from Jjiritnara~

-Hahaha!

“How am I doing, Sensei?”

“Well…”

“I watched your broadcasts and studied a lot.”

“Huh? You must have been busy leveling up to a rankable level and didn’t have time to watch my broadcasts.”

“I watched them while playing the game.”

“Crazy bastard.”

“Hehe.”

At this point, it was scary. So, you turned on your broadcast, commented, and even managed to watch my broadcast while playing the game?

“Please wait a moment. I’ll rank up and play the game with you.”

“What are we going to do by playing together?”

“I’ve noticed that our teammates are not very skilled when playing the Mage Knight game, so we can’t progress. I’ll rank up and help you.”

I was momentarily surprised. Was she really paying attention to that?

However, since Neon and I wouldn’t be playing the game together, I casually smiled and brushed it off.

“Oh, and please use informal speech, Sensei.”

“Informal speech?”

“Yes!”

“Alright.”

As I spoke, Neon’s avatar smiled brightly and nodded.

“Then, Sensei, let’s definitely play ranked together later, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Promise.”

“Uh…”

“Promise.”

“…Alright.”

I ended up agreeing due to some inexplicable forcefulness.

Well, promises are meant to be broken anyway.

While teaching them, time passed, and soon the day to prepare for my retirement was approaching.

It felt a bit bittersweet to think about retiring, but it was inevitable.

Still, thanks to Arisa and Neon, I felt like I had wrapped things up nicely. Is this what it truly means to be a teacher?

[Are you really going to retire?]

[Yes. I have to live my current life too.]

Since I didn’t have any streamers I was close with, there was no one to tell in advance. Except for Gobang, the meat shield. Gobang.

[You don’t have to retire for sure. Many people do it as a hobby while having other jobs.]

“You know my personality. I don’t like those half-hearted things.”

“I understand. But make sure to say proper goodbyes to the kids.”

“But I’m single.”

Gobang didn’t say anything for a moment, then typed in the chat again.

“…I mean, say it properly to Arisa and Neon.”

“What? We’ve only done a few collabs. Why would I say something like that?”

“They might not think that way, you know? They met you before they even started broadcasting. For example, they might say that the first time they saw you was when you broke the egg in Al. To them, you’re like a father figure.”

“Is that some kind of imprinting effect? Are they chicks or something?”

“Anyway, it’s better to clearly communicate and avoid regrets later on.”

“Okay, got it.”

I replied, but I didn’t really have any intention of having that conversation.

It seemed like it would become a hassle. Besides, if I retire, everyone will find out eventually. Oh well.

And a few hours later, I wrote the final broadcast title.

“I’m retiring.”

-?

-?

-???

-What is this as soon as I come in? Retiring?

-Is it April Fool’s Day today?

-Did you close Jjokma?

I calmly explained to the viewers who came in after watching the broadcast. Some were disappointed, but most of the reactions were congratulatory.

The viewers knew better than anyone that it’s difficult to make a living by doing Hacco broadcasts day in and day out.

-Well, nothing we can do about it.

-Congratulations on finding a job!

-Still, it’s a shame that you’re retiring. You occasionally did broadcasts.

-Since it’s going well for you, let’s all congratulate you.

“If I’m not here, who will do Jjokma?”

-Oh my.

-What?

-That’s true.

-If you’re not here, Jjokma will fail~ (It’s true)

I chuckled. There have been ups and downs, but it has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

But where there’s a beginning, there’s also an end. It’s just not possible to do it forever.

“Still, it was fun, right? If it was fun, then it’s enough.”

With those words, I ended the broadcast.

Now, it’s time to face the real world outside the internet.