Chapter 45: Sponsorship Settings

Thump thump thump-

The sound of keyboard keys being struck.

In a dark room, a man was intensely searching for something on his computer.

Like his half-bloodshot eyes, the state of the man’s room was not good.

The room’s interior barely let in any light.

The bedding was completely disheveled.

Among them, the most striking thing was the brightly colored wall, contrasting with the gloomy room.

Attached to the wall were idol posters adorned with bright colors.

All sorts of idols were gathered in the room, but one group stood out among them.

In the center, an idol poster torn as if slashed lengthwise with a knife caught the eye.

Though damaged like this, one might throw it away, but the man kept it carefully hung on the wall as if it were some treasure.

“…..Found it.”

Perhaps God had finally answered his prayers.

The man finally obtained the search result he desired.

[⸻The garbage truck schedule changed recently, so it’s quite noisy. I need to practice my lines.]

A post uploaded several years ago featured the image of a beautiful woman.

The photo, roughly taken on the street, clearly wasn’t posted willingly by her.

“……”

Of course, for the man, this was actually a good thing.

While the person in the photo was important, that wasn’t what he needed right now.

What was important was the background next to her.

What did the alley look like?

What signs were hanging on the buildings?

Click-

The man, after briefly analyzing the screen, placed a location marker on an internet map.

It was certain she was in this vicinity, at least.

Now, the specifics needed to be gradually narrowed down.

The man zoomed in on the map and examined it carefully.

“…No matter how I think about it, it can only be here.”

His eyes landed on a street densely packed with small apartments.

Having been caught several times by the talkative neighborhood ajumma, it was a dangerous place to visit directly.

However.

‘That doesn’t matter.’

Sakamiya Ren.

A shameless woman who deceived her fans for her own desires and even sold her own body.

He would definitely find her and ask.

Why did she do it?

Were we just sources of money?

And if everything the reporters said was true…

‘…..It can’t be helped.’

At the thought that naturally came to mind, the man’s expression contorted.

“I can’t forgive you….. Ren!!”

The man screamed, tearing at his hair.

If she truly betrayed her fans, then he, as a true fan, would punish her.

The man turned on the street view again and surveyed the area.

From a certain angle, an alley that looked similar to the photo came into view.

This was the only place with any possibility.

Ultimately, he decided to visit that neighborhood he had been to before, once again.

As if foreshadowing the impending incident.

The sky was stained red.

---

“Cough!”

Ren, having swallowed water the wrong way, coughed.

“Are you hurt somewhere?”

“Ah, no. I’m fine. I just swallowed water wrong…..”

Baekro, with whom she had somehow started talking openly, worried about Cheongha.

What is it, is someone talking bad about me?

To suddenly choke like this.

The two continued playing the game, following Solnamu’s orders.

“By the way, Cheongha-nim.”

“Ah, yes?”

“Cheongha-nim, how did you end up debuting as a Virtual? It seems like you could have just done it without a camera…”

Baekro asked cautiously.

Internet broadcasting belongs to the niche realm known only to insiders.

Among them, Vtubing could be called the abyss of abysses, the niche of niches.

‘Her voice is so good, it seems like she could easily succeed just by doing it normally…?’

Why would such a person choose the path of a Vtuber?

“Hmm, well.”

The reason I started Vtubing…

‘At first, it was simply aimed at attracting attention.’

If you keep headbutting an empty field where no one is, people will wonder what this person is doing and come check it out at least once, right?

‘Still, I think I made a good choice.’

Honestly, even if I had started internet broadcasting personally, unrelated to an agency, I think I would have become a Vtuber one way or another.

It’s convenient because you don’t have to reveal your real face, and above all, I feel like I have more freedom than during my idol days.

Considering it that way, the reason is…

“Well, if you just want to do it, there isn’t really a specific reason, is there?”

Honestly, aside from the initial period of denial when getting into it, isn’t it the best option for people who want to avoid excessive attention while still communicating realistically with others?

Well, in conclusion, I kept doing it for various reasons and eventually became serious about it.

That’s probably how it can be summarized.

“And, Vtubing is more fun than no-cam broadcasting, isn’t it?”

-Agreed

-Honestly, if the streamer wasn’t a Vtuber, we wouldn’t have come.

-Aren’t most people here from the V-cafe?

-Ah what, did everyone here come from the cafe scene?

-But why is everyone like that on the internet then?

-Considering this place is a gathering of cafe or gallery folks, the chat is strangely clean.

Above all, being able to convey expressions without showing my face is a really big advantage.

Besides, showing the avatar and seeing the viewers’ reactions is fun too.

Especially people with pretty smiles like Hina or Airi would look amazing using it.

“Baekro-nim, you should try it sometime too.”

“Hmm, I’ll think about it.”

Her voice is cute and she smiles easily, so it would suit her well if she did it.

Since there were people in my past life who added avatars to their purely no-cam broadcasts, it was a perfectly reasonable suggestion.

“Hey, there’s someone outside.”

While looting inside a building, Solnamu caught the sound of approaching enemy footsteps and alerted them.

Let’s see, come to think of it, this is the first battle I’m fighting together with other people, right?

“Somehow, I feel a little nervous.”

“Huh? About what?”

“Well, this is the first time I’ve played Battle Field with other people.”

“What?”

At my words, Baekro’s voice held a hint of confusion.

It might seem strange for me to say this after playing with Solnamu several times, but that was Golden Watch, not Battle Field.

I’ve only played Battle Field solo until now?

Unlike other games, this one has team killing, so I need to be careful.

“So, Baekro-nim, you have to protect me?”

“Ah, yes!!”

Perhaps she was happy to be relied upon after a long time.

-What? Baekro?

-Told her to shoot but she sends a shield? lol

-Isn’t it you who needs to save her? lol

-You need to save her…?

-That sunfish?

“Hey, still, you’re better than me, aren’t you?”

She has all that experience accumulated as a streamer, surely.

And she did pretty well in the tournament too, she won’t die that easily, right?

“Throwing a grenade!”

Baekro, her confidence fully charged by the praise, pulled the pin on a grenade and threw it towards the window.

The grenade, flying vigorously forward.

Ting-

Hit the window frame with a clear sound.

“Eh?”

“Huh?”

Seeing the grenade bounce back and roll to their feet, the two let out small yelps.

Kwaang—!

“Aaaahk!?!!”

With the ensuing explosion, both collapsed to the floor simultaneously.

-??

-What was that just now?

-Did she die from her own grenade? lol

-Classic Baekro

-Never disappoints our expectations

-Lord, another clip for the World Cup~

-Are you nervous today? Seems like you’re setting a lot of legendary records?

-Hey lol, with a super nice voice noona right next to her, of course she’d be nervous lol

“Hey Kim Baekro, what are you doing, reallyyy!!!”

“Huooooh—!!”

At the sight of his two teammates suddenly dying, Solnamu, who was fighting far away, let out a shriek.

Like a pro, he finished off the enemies he was fighting and ran towards the building where the two were.

“I’m sorryyy”

“Ah, no. It’s okay. It happens.”

I comforted the downcast Baekro who apologized.

Hmm, even though the trajectory is drawn in red, it’s something that can definitely happen.

People make mistakes.

“Still, maybe I’ll try using the grenades from now on.”

Ah, but explosives are confiscated.

Regardless of the mistake, I somehow didn’t feel like letting her have them.

[Totoshya’s Supporter donated 5,000 Won]

=Stork bringing a bomb instead of a baby ㄷㄷ

“…Totoshya-nim, thank you for the 5,000 won donation.”

If it were 1,000 won, maybe not, but for 5,000 won, I should give a reaction.

Seeing that reaction, Baekro asked Cheongha, as if suddenly remembering something.

“Ah, come to think of it, Cheongha-nim, how do you receive donations?”

“Huh?”

Real-time chat and donations are one of the biggest differentiating factors between streamers and simple YouTubers.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a streamer’s main source of income.

‘So there’s another site that takes a slightly lower cut.’

In my case, I use a site called StreamNation, or Snap for short.

Viewers say it’s convenient to use, perhaps because it’s an app made by a place closely related to Switch Korea.

Many other streamers use it too, and the product reviews are said to be good, so there was even less reason not to use it.

And.

“What? Snap?”

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

At Cheongha’s answer, the two spoke out as if puzzled.

“No. Um, isn’t StreamNation only usable by domestic residents…?”

“….Excuse me?”

“You probably need Korean nationality and even a Korean bank account to withdraw funds from there.”

…..No wonder the default language setting was Korean.

So it was because only Koreans use it.