Chapter 26 : Streamers who want to be one , come to me (3)

“So, Seoyeon, do you know what a VTuber is?”

“VTuber?”

Virtual YouTuber—shortened to VTuber.

Despite having YouTube in the name, it was funny how few VTubers in Korea actually streamed on YouTube.

“I know it very well.”

Seoyeon nodded.

Too well, in fact.

She had actual experience working in the VTuber industry.

If anything, she was something of a veteran.

Seeing that they were on the same page, Hayun smiled brightly.

“I knew it! VTubers are really popular these days. If you look at viewer numbers, the top-tier VTubers even surpass female face-cam streamers.”

A quick glance at Soopjijik streaming rankings confirmed that.

Among female streamers, most of the top positions were occupied by VTubers.

And it wasn’t just a passing trend.

At first, people thought VTubing would be a short-lived fad, but it had managed to maintain its position for years.

As long as online streaming culture existed, VTubers weren’t going anywhere.

“I actually tried VTubing myself for a bit.”

Hayun’s voice suddenly sounded a little awkward.

“Really? How did it go?”

Seoyeon asked, taking another bite of her seasoned fried chicken.

She had always assumed Hayun, or rather, Rydel, was strictly a face-cam streamer.

It was surprising to hear he had tried VTubing.

‘But why haven’t I seen any of those videos?’

She had looked up Rydel’s recent content before, now that they were getting closer.

But she had never come across any VTuber streams.

“W-Well… it didn’t go very well. And it was a long time ago, just a brief experiment…”

Hayun lowered her  head, her face turning red.

A dark past.

To Hayun—no, Rydel—her VTuber era was an embarrassing chapter of her career.

‘I must’ve been out of my mind.’

When VTubing first started gaining traction and establishing itself, many viewers had shifted from face-cam streamers to VTubers.

At the time, Hayun had felt a serious sense of crisis.

“At this rate, I’ll just fall behind!”

I, Rydel, couldn’t afford to become a loser of the times.

With that thought in mind, Kim Hayun had tried to diversify the market.

“Ugh.”

Thinking back to that time, a sharp pain lingers in my heart.

Back then, there weren’t thousands of viewers like there are now, and I didn’t have much broadcasting experience.

I was just an inexperienced rookie streamer.

It could only be called impatience.

“V-Virtual streamer Delnyang, nya…”

“I-I’m from Cat Star, nya…”

“Nice to meet you, nyan-nyan!”

“The enemy jungle established themselves in mid, but our jungle is like… what the hell, nyan.”

With a cheaply bought VTuber model and hastily thrown together settings, Rydel, or rather Delnyang, debuted.

Hahahahahahaha.

What’s the host doing?

Hahahaha.

LMAO Cat Star hahahaha.

Please do “Meow meow” hahaha

Rydel, this isn’t it…;;

Is adding “nyan” to everything really the solution?

Hahaha.

Amid the viewers’ ridicule, it failed miserably.

Was it the forced cuteness that didn’t suit me?

Or was it the overused cat character that was the problem?

Looking back now, everything except for breathing was a total disaster.

Anyway, just a few days after transitioning to a VTuber, Rydel’s viewers halved, and Kim Hayun never touched VTubing again after that day.

I even cleaned up the channel completely. (Although, somewhere on YouTube, there was an edited version still floating around.)

“Still, it’s not bad if you start from the beginning.”

Of course, it wasn’t because the VTuber market was bad that it failed.

It was just that the problem was trying to drift into VTubing when I had already established myself as a cam streamer.

The existing viewers couldn’t adjust and left.

Fortunately, I quickly gave up on VTubing (to be honest, I couldn’t endure the concept).

Since I hadn’t lost my broadcasting skills, my viewers quickly returned.

Except for occasionally having nightmares, there was no lasting damage to my career as a broadcaster.

“Anyway.”

If a cam streamer like Rydel tries VTubing, it would be a minus, but if you start as a VTuber from the beginning, it wouldn’t end in failure.

“It’s much less stressful than showing your face.”

“Sounds good. VTuber.”

Yoo Seoyeon nodded.

VTuber.

It certainly wasn’t bad.

“If only I wasn’t so shy.”

No matter how much I thought about it, revealing my face in front of thousands of people was just impossible.

It’s tough for regular people, but with the added debuff of being introverted, it was incredibly difficult.

“Maybe it’s better this way?”

Right now, VTubing was booming.

Kim Hayun carefully looked over Yoo Seoyeon’s face.

A mischievous beauty, and her figure was… impressive.

Though she often ruined herself for broadcasts, if she walked down the street, every man out of ten would turn their head to look at her.

Even such a beauty was considering a career shift to VTubing.

“A clever move.”

Starting a VTuber broadcast could actually be a better opportunity.

“But, isn’t there a lot to prepare for a VTuber?”

Yoo Seoyeon spoke up.

Debuting as a VTuber.

While it may seem easy because you don’t reveal your face, there’s actually a lot more to prepare than for a regular broadcaster.

From the model that will serve as the face to the hardware equipment.

“I don’t know much about this part.”

Yoo Seoyeon shook her head.

The part she was responsible for was setting up the character’s background.

She had just worked on the settings through outsourcing.

She didn’t know much about the important details like costs and how to broadcast.

“First, the computer specs… they need to be good. Can I check them out?”

“Yes.”

Kim Hayun sat down in front of Yoo Seoyeon’s computer.

With the skillful movements of an experienced streamer, she quickly navigated the system, and the computer specs were displayed in detail.

“Mm, unfortunately, it’s a little lacking.”

Kim Hayun gave a disappointed look.

While broadcasting itself doesn’t require extremely high specs, VTubing is different.

Since you’re streaming a model in real-time through motion capture, you need above-average performance.

With Yoo Seoyeon’s current computer specs, it would be difficult.

“If you’re only doing game broadcasts, it wouldn’t matter.”

For VR games, most of the resources are handled by the internal VR machine.

That’s also why VR machines are expensive.

It’s not just about outputting virtual reality; they also contain the components needed to run VR games.

As a result, the computer running the game doesn’t need to be exceptionally powerful.

However, the connected computer still consumes some resources, and if you need to run the virtual model and stream the broadcast as well, you’ll need a better setup than what you have now.

“And the virtual model itself is pretty expensive, you know? There are cheaper ways to start, though.”

Kim Hayun began to explain.

The so-called 3D “Ttuda” models, which are mass-produced and generic, can be bought cheaply.

Many personal streamers start with such affordable models.

But a good-quality model is usually expensive.

A custom-made 2D model can cost hundreds of thousands of won, and a 3D model can sometimes cost over ten million won.

“If it’s just a hobby, it doesn’t matter.”

If you’re streaming as a hobby, using a cheap model doesn’t matter.

But if you’re aiming to become a full-time broadcaster, you need to invest a significant amount of money into the model.

“Ugh, this is a lot of money.”

Although she made 4 million won from a collaboration,

if she buys a new computer and a model, all of it would vanish.

It might even not be enough.

“Plus, it takes time.”

VTuber models aren’t made overnight.

You need to find the right creator, give them time, and commission the model.

If you make the wrong choice, you might end up with a low-quality result even after investing ten million won.

“VTubing is no joke.”

“Yeah, it’s not easy. If you go the corporate route, they provide everything, but… hmm, no one is hiring for that right now.”

Kim Hayun paused for a moment in front of the chicken, then picked up a chicken breast.

“Actually, I think no-cam streaming would be the best option right now.”

Rather than using a mediocre mass-produced model,

it might be better to start with a no-cam broadcast and slowly save up to create a VTuber model later.

In fact, if you think about the future, that might be the better choice.

It prevents the image from being fixed by a mass-produced Ttuda model.

“I think that’s a good idea. You’ll be able to gain some broadcast experience too.”

Yoo Seoyeon nodded.

Kim Hayun’s advice was definitely worth listening to.

The person who would give up chicken wings to choose chicken breast was someone you could trust.

“By the way, what will your stage name be for the broadcast? I think the silver hair… might not be the best choice.”

“Yeah, I agree, that might not work.”

It was a name I had picked out randomly in the beginning, but I wasn’t planning on using it for broadcasting.

A name.

To be a broadcaster, you need a name for everything.

Not just VTubers, but broadcasters of all kinds, regardless of gender, use pseudonyms.

It’s actually rare for someone to use their real name.

Take Kim Hayun, for example; she’s broadcasting under the name Rydel.

Even celebrities, while their names may seem like their real names, are often stage names.

“I used to think Cha Eunyoo was his real name.”

I had once thought that handsome people must have names that sound special.

It turned out it was a name created for broadcasting, and his real name was quite ordinary, as I recall.

A name itself can have a huge impact on your image or vibe.

I needed a name that sounded fitting.

Kim Hayun clapped her hands.

“Then, since it’s silver hair, how about Johnny Silverhand?”

“That’s a bit of a terrorist-sounding name, don’t you think?”

There were various suggestions, like Silver Surfer or Sylvester Stallone, but neither Yoo Seoyeon nor Kim Hayun were very good at naming.

“I think we need to take our time deciding,” Yoo Seoyeon sighed. Naming was surprisingly difficult.

Her head was starting to ache. Now she understood why people paid to go to philosophy institutes.

“It’s not something you can decide quickly, is it? Once you settle on a name, it’s hard to change it later. But…”

Kim Hayun gave a slight smile.

Actually, this was the main point.

“I think it’s better to start the broadcast as soon as possible. I really want to give you a great opportunity, Seoyeon.”