Chapter 102: Advertisement

“Has no one arrived yet…?”

10 AM on a weekday.

Perhaps due to the time, the café was quiet.

Yushia entered through the door and took a seat near the entrance, where she could easily see anyone coming in.

Every time she heard the sound of the door opening, she glanced over like a meerkat, her head popping up and turning toward the entrance.

It was clear she was waiting for someone.

Just then, the door opened, and a man walked into the café.

He looked around, scanning the interior, and then headed straight toward Yushia.

“You’re here early. I thought I was the first one to arrive.”

“No, I just got here too.”

The face was now a familiar one.

The man scratching his head as he sat down was one of the people Yushia had been waiting for.

His name was Kim Jae joon, and like Yushia, he was one of the editors for Kayak’s VTube channel.

That’s right, today’s meeting was arranged to discuss the direction of KayakTube.

Once a week, Kayak and the two editors would gather for a regular meeting called “Is KayakTube Okay Like This?” (a name Kayak had come up with himself).

The meeting was always held under Kayak’s lead.

If it was difficult for everyone to meet in person, they would hold the meeting on Discord.

That was how important the VTube channel was to them.

However, today’s meeting was not just about discussing VTube.

At least, that’s what Yushia believed.

“You’ll see when Kayak arrives, right?”

When she sent the signal, Kim Jae joon gave a resolute nod.

He had already been briefed by Yushia.

Kayak had recently been receiving an overwhelming amount of attention.

It was the aftermath of revealing his real face.

They had known this day would come eventually.

To some extent, they had even anticipated how intense the public’s reaction would be.

After all, Yushia herself had been stunned when she met Kayak in person.

However, just because they had expected it, just because they had anticipated the reaction to his face reveal, didn’t mean it was something to take lightly.

Streamers are in a profession where they live off of attention.

Some would even go as far as to deliberately stir up controversy or cause public outrage just to gain attention, believing that bad publicity is better than no publicity.

After all, people tend to forget scandals easily.

As long as it’s not a major crime, most issues just blow over.

As the saying goes in the streaming world: “If it’s entertaining, no one cares about the controversy.”

‘Still, attention isn’t always a good thing.’

For a streamer, attention was a double-edged sword.

It was necessary and beneficial, but the more attention they attracted, the heavier the burden became—a poisoned chalice.

Abyss Gallery wasn’t just a place for talking about Abyss.

Just like Kayak, the gallery discussed not only the game but also the streamers who played it.

It was a long-standing tradition dating back to the game’s flop era.

As someone who had moderated on Abyss Gallery, Yushia had seen her fair share of unfortunate cases.

Gallery-picked streamers—those who became the gallery’s obsession.

Many ended up losing their unique streaming style due to overwhelming attention, while others quit streaming altogether.

That was why Yushia was worried.

She was afraid that Kayak, too, might lose interest in streaming.

She feared that the flood of attention following his face reveal might overwhelm him and lead him into a slump.

During a recent stream, Kayak had swung his sword tirelessly alongside Kim Jae joon.

The chat had remained relatively clean thanks to their efforts, but even so, the sheer number of viewers suggested that Kayak’s mental stamina had taken a significant hit.

“Moderation is key. Anything in excess is as bad as having nothing at all.”

Moreover, from what Yushia could see, Kayak didn’t seem particularly ambitious when it came to streaming.

“If they intended to grow the channel, they would have revealed their face from the start…”

Since Yushia had been watching Kayak’s streams from the no-cam, no-mic days, she was certain of one thing.

Kayak was not someone driven by material greed or a thirst for fame.

In fact, they had often shown an unexpectedly modest and ordinary side.

No matter how envious others might be, if Kayak didn’t want it, it meant nothing.

Instead, it would only feel overwhelming and burdensome.

And so, the two editors had conspired before today’s meeting.

It wasn’t much of a scheme, but if they had to give it a name, it would be called the Kayak Nadenade Plan.

The goal was to ease Kayak’s fatigue from revealing their face to so many people and receiving excessive attention.

More importantly, they wanted to ensure that Kayak didn’t lose interest in streaming.

It wasn’t all that different from how managers took care of their celebrity clients.

Technically, they were merely editors.

However, both of them were also devoted fans of Kayak.

That’s why they didn’t want to overlook even the smallest details.

“I noticed they enjoyed something with blueberries last time.”

“They should be here any minute. Let’s order in advance. A warm drink would be best. They’ve been using their voice a lot lately, so something like a hot tea…”

When it came to talking about Kayak, Yushia and Kim Jae joon were perfectly in sync.

While the two were busy preparing to greet Kayak and carefully planning how to take care of them—

Ding—

‘They’re here!’

Finally, Kayak arrived.

With their preparations complete, Yushia and Kim Jae joon exchanged glances and watched as Kayak walked toward them.

‘Huh?’

But something was off.

Kayak looked completely different from what they had expected.

“Good morning. You two are here already? Am I the last one?”

There was a subtle smile tugging at the corners of their lips.

And they were humming softly.

It was the exact opposite of what the two editors had anticipated.

Rather than appearing tired or worn out from the overwhelming public attention, Kayak seemed surprisingly cheerful.

The two exchanged puzzled glances, unsure of what to make of it.

“Uh, boss… are you okay?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

Kayak sipped the yuzu tea that Yushia had ordered for them, saying it was good for the throat.

The fragrant aroma filled the air.

The warmth of the tea seemed to soothe them, visibly easing their fatigue.

“Ah, no, never mind. As long as you’re okay, that’s all that matters.”

“Right. You’re doing well too, right, Jae joon?”

“Yes. No issues on my end.”

After asking Yushia a similar question, Kayak got straight to the point.

It was time to start the meeting.

Is KayakTube Okay Like This?

Or Kai-Okay for short.

Today marked the 26th Kai-Okay meeting with the editors.

Realizing how much time had passed since they started was a bit sentimental.

Launching the VTube channel while simultaneously running a secondary content channel was a bold move.

It was practically a desperate gamble.

However, whether it was because they had chosen the right people or because of Kayak’s natural star power, the results had been evident from the first month.

The channel had already surpassed 400,000 subscribers and was now closing in on 500,000.

Somehow, Kayak had felt that they had to hire both editors.

Hiring only one would have felt like a waste.

Back when they made the decision, there had been a lot of skepticism.

They had received countless emails—

Messages filled with warnings, saying that running a VTube channel like this would only lead to failure.

That they wouldn’t be able to avoid losses.

It was hard to tell whether the senders were genuinely concerned or just cursing them.

But in the end, Kayak had proven them wrong.

Reaching this level of success in just half a year—it was almost frightening, even to Kayak themselves.

Maybe I was meant to run a business.

I shouldn’t have been living the life of a mere salaried employee.

The thought of almost letting my foresight and unique talents go to waste was somewhat terrifying.

Honestly.

“Hehehe…”

“…Boss?”

Lost in my own thoughts for a moment, I snapped out of it when I caught Kim Jae joon’s gaze from across the table.

He was looking at me as if I were some kind of lunatic.

Right.

We were in the middle of a meeting.

“Ahem, what were we talking about again?”

I cleared my throat and feigned ignorance.

Thankfully, Kim Jae joon dropped his skeptical gaze and continued speaking.

“We’ve received a lot of ad offers. I’ve got three, and Yushia has four.”

“Ads…”

Ads, huh?

Come to think of it, had I ever done a sponsored stream before?

There was that one time when I promoted Envision, a game that used to rival Abyss.

But after that, I had streamed without any advertisements.

“What kind of ads came in?”

I had set it up so that all ad-related emails went to the editors’ inboxes rather than mine.

It wasn’t because I forced them—it had been their own voluntary decision.

“Mostly game ads… but there are some cosmetic brands too. This one here is a pretty famous brand. It actually suits your image quite well.”

“My image?”

“Yeah. Clean, clear… I guess that’s how they see you too.”

Honestly, I hadn’t expected this.

Cosmetic ads, of all things.

I had only ever considered game-related offers, so this caught me off guard.

It was definitely the result of revealing my face.

But whether it was a good or bad thing, I wasn’t sure.

One thing was clear, though—it didn’t particularly appeal to me.

Yushia continued explaining the details.

She thoroughly briefed me on which companies had made offers, their requirements, the payment conditions, and so on.

And in the end, only the hardest part remained.

“From what I can see, they all seem fine. You can just pick whichever ones you feel like doing, Boss.”

“I agree.”

“Hmm…”

Having too many options was its own kind of problem.

After a long period of deliberation and careful consideration, I finally chose one ad.