Chapter 115: Summer Vacation, Part 1

Baek-seol. Shiro Yuki’s official first activity.

The first video on her ASMR channel was uploaded.

Naturally, the thumbnail was an illustration drawn by Hayoon.

Several online communities were already buzzing with posts like, “Is Haru really building up the second generation? There’s no way she would take on another illustration commission at this timing otherwise.”

After playing the first line of the ASMR video—“[Is there a man out there? Come here.]”—Hayoon began explaining the thumbnail to her viewers.

“If you look at the thumbnail, it’s a police officer, right? Do you see how much effort I put into drawing a sexy police uniform? Just look at the wrinkles…”

Naturally, starting the thumbnail explanation like this made it impossible for the viewers to concentrate.

–Hey,
, what are you doing, cutting it off like that?
–She said, ‘Man, come here!’ Hey!
–Are you doing this because you’re a woman? Your contrarian nature is driving me crazy.

But…

So what?

Hayoon chuckled and continued her usual thumbnail explanation routine.

She started explaining the details, like the shading and the wrinkles on the clothes, sharing insider information about illustration techniques.

When she did this…

[Donation: 10,000 won]

–Hey,
, don’t make the viral marketing so obvious.

[Donation: 1,000 won]

–So, is this the third one?

[Donation: 1,000 won]

–Okay, okay, I get it. I’ll go listen to it myself, you
.

The viewers, feeling provoked, would inevitably go check it out themselves. The increased searches would slightly benefit Shiro Yuki’s YouTube algorithm.

YouTube was a wilderness where survival depended on the blessings of the algorithm.

Hayoon was trying to provide initial traction this way, helping Shiro Yuki adapt to the harsh world of YouTube.

“Did you watch it?”

–Uh…
–It’s
hot.

“Okay, you enjoyed it with your ears, now enjoy it with your eyes. I’ll draw some lewd pictures of a policewoman.”

–Yes!
–That’s what I’m talking about.

She offered a reward to the viewers who made the effort.

[Donation: 100,000 won]

–Are you even trying to hide it?

“Ahhh! Our anonymous donor has donated one hundred thousaaaand won! If you have any specific illustration requests, I’ll prioritize them!”

I want Scarlet in a police uniform. Draw her sexily.

“Policewoman Scarlet? That’s not bad. I’ll draw it quickly, so wait a bit, okay?”

While the marketing strategy of “mutual exchange leading to joining our company” worked well for Lucy, Baek-seol’s Shiro Yuki and Jo A-yeong’s Vivian had no foundation, so every bit of initial traction was crucial.

So, she took a different approach.

[Donation: 1,000 won]

–The voice is
hot, but will I get sued for writing this kind of comment? She seems like she’d be a good ASMR Vtuber, but I’m scared she might cross the line.

“Well? Would anyone really sue unless you’re being incredibly offensive? I don’t know about her, but I would definitely think about it.”

–If you’re thinking about it, it means she probably won’t sue. Hmm.
–Ah, you’re so transparent.
–Okay, okay, we’ll go listen to it.
–You’re so transparent, Haru.

She was being almost blatantly obvious.

This approach, so different from the one used for Lucy, also had the effect of concealing Lucy’s affiliation with BGG Company, killing two birds with one stone.

Hayoon continued her stream, bantering with the viewers for another two hours before ending it.

“Haaa.”

It was a fulfilling stream after a long break.

Now that she had done her part, it was time to return to her daily life.

Naturally, when Hayoon drew an illustration, a related post would appear on Hong Seo-hyun’s fan cafe. Hong Seo-hyun, who usually read posts on her fan cafe as a warm-up, couldn’t have missed the illustration of Scarlet as a policewoman.

“Hey!”

The very next day, as soon as she arrived at the Igloo, she came to Hayoon and whined.

“How can you just draw something like that? The fans are going crazy, saying they’ll raise the lewdness level of their fan art.”

“Ahaha… Did I push it too far…?”

Honestly, even Hayoon thought the illustration she drew during the last stream was a bit too lewd.

Thinking about how to make it sexy, she had drawn Scarlet handcuffed to a school’s horizontal bar, crouching down while being looked down upon by a line of delinquent high school students…

Not only was the composition suggestive, but her stockings and police uniform were ripped in a rather indecent way…

The resulting fan art was incredibly lewd despite the lack of actual nudity.

The talented artists in Scarlet’s fan cafe, seeing the illustration, were posting equally suggestive rough drafts, testing the waters.

Hong Seo-hyun was at a loss for how to react.

If she acknowledged it too much in her streams, it would escalate endlessly, but ignoring it would also be a bad move.

To maintain viewer loyalty, outright rejection was a bad strategy…

“What am I going to do? Now I’m going to receive fan art where my buttons are always undone, my clothes are ripped, and my stockings are torn.”

“Ahaha…”

There wasn’t much Hayoon could say.

If the fan artists retorted with, “Your boss does it too,” she wouldn’t have a response.

In this situation…

“Should we turn this into content?”

“Turn it into content?”

“Literally. We turn it into content. Maybe twice a year? We accept lewd fan art.”

January had already passed…

“How about June and December? We regularly accept highly suggestive fan art. Of course, only up to the level I drew?”

“Hmm…”

“This way, we can prevent uncontrolled lewd fan art from exploding. I think it’s okay to have a ‘scolding stream’ while showcasing the suggestive fan art twice a year…”

“A scolding stream?”

“Since your usual streaming style is gentle and approachable, like the girl next door. Showing some displeasure occasionally might be seen as a surprising charm…”

“Hmm…”

Of course, this was ultimately Hong Seo-hyun’s decision.

Although Hong Seo-hyun was approaching her second year of streaming, switching between a gentle and a harsh persona required skill.

If done wrong, she could lose both types of viewers…

“Wouldn’t it be better to go for a ‘shy’ vibe instead of ‘harsh’…?”

“Shy?”

“Honestly, even I find it difficult to make a ‘harsh’ persona work for streams, and my concept is closer to innocent, so innocent and shy would be a better fit.”

“That’s true…”

Hong Seo-hyun’s judgment was correct here.

Streaming was a side job for Hayoon, but Hong Seo-hyun constantly researched and worked on her streams.

She had increased her streaming frequency to six days a week after graduation, so the top streaming expert at BGG Company was now Hong Seo-hyun, not Hayoon.

“I’ll hold a fan art contest in June and December, only allowing suggestive fan art submissions to the fan cafe during those periods. I think that will resolve this issue.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll support any prizes you want to offer for the contest, so just let me know.”

“Okay.”

Thus, the slightly suggestive fan art issue was resolved by turning it into content. Time quickly passed, and summer arrived.

They somehow managed to cover all the topics in this month’s regular staff meeting…

But the conversation somehow drifted towards vacations.

“Shouldn’t we plan a proper vacation next summer?”

“Ah, Seo-hyun has a good point. Let’s go on a vacation.”

A plan that failed during high school due to the pandemic.

A summer vacation.

Naturally, the aftereffects of the pandemic still lingered, making it difficult to visit places like beaches and valleys.

It wasn’t that going there was difficult, but enjoying it properly was.

There would be strict capacity limits at restaurants and other facilities.

What was the point of going if they couldn’t enjoy it properly?

“Hmm…”

Because of this, despite Hong Seo-hyun and Choi Arin’s desire for a vacation, Hayoon couldn’t give a positive answer…

“But why next year? Is it because of the capacity limits this year?”

“Well, yes?”

Do Jin-ho unexpectedly spoke up on this topic.

“Then just go on a staycation. If you want to swim, rent a room with a pool or a spa and have fun, the three of you. It should be affordable if you split the cost.”

“Well, money isn’t the issue…”

If three women went on a staycation, Do Jin-ho, the only man, would be in a bit of an awkward position…

“Can I just have a 500,000 won bonus? Then I don’t have to go on vacation.”

“Why 500,000 won?”

“There’s a powerful character gacha coming up, so I need to save up.”

“Ah…”

“Why? This is life to me.”

“Are you really okay with not going on vacation?”

“I’ll just end up being the grill cook anyway, so getting a bonus worth 200 pulls is a good trade.”

“Hmm…”

Hayoon sighed briefly.

It was true that it was difficult to choose a vacation destination with a man in the group.

“I’ll give you 600,000.”

“Yes! 300 pulls!”

Hayoon reluctantly promised the bonus, and Do Jin-ho cheered. It was truly a case of different dreams in the same bed.