Chapter 50: Everyone below the VTuber is Korean

“As Department Head Lee knows, my granddaughter has difficulty going outside.”

“…Yes.”

“She’s the only blood relative I have left, but she’s becoming less talkative… Hmm.”

A short sigh made the air in the reception room heavy.

“I’m worried about her in many ways, and I want to give her some strength, even if just a little.”

“I understand your concerns, Chairman Jung. Although she is known to be particular, given these circumstances, I believe she will definitely cooperate in some way.”

Hyun also genuinely wanted to help Gihoon and his granddaughter.

Of course, he was also an important business partner.

But more than that… he felt a strange pang of sympathy for the loneliness he saw in the usually unwavering, iron-willed Chairman.

In the end, he was a grandfather who cared for his granddaughter before being a businessman.

“Then I’ll leave it to you. Contact my secretary anytime once the schedule is set.”

“Yes, I will take responsibility for contacting you.”

A brief silence passed between them.

Gihoon nodded lightly and rose from his seat.

“I’ll be going now. Thank you for your hard work today, Department Head Lee.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you, Chairman Jung.”

As Gihoon headed towards the door, the secretaries waiting outside opened it.

Watching Gihoon’s departing figure with his staff, Hyun exhaled a breath he had been holding back.

He still felt a tingling sensation in his body.

‘Anyway… what should I say to Jina?’

“Yes, this is Lee Hyun from Freerose Lingerie, calling for Jina-nim.”

After about 10 phone call attempts and 30 messages, he finally reached Jina.

Even this would have been impossible without Youngjun’s help.

It was thanks to Youngjun relaying that Hyun wanted to speak with her, while passing on new work.

Jina was just too busy.

[Yes, Hyun-nim. What’s the matter?]

Jina’s voice, coming from the smartphone, was as languid and calm as ever.

It could easily be mistaken for indifference, but it wasn’t dry or brusque.

Hyun swallowed dryly and spoke slowly.

“It’s just that… I was wondering if Jina-nim would be willing to meet someone when you have time. Well, it’s not a very burdensome meeting or anything… maybe like a light fan meeting.”

[What do you mean by a fan meeting…]

“This time, I met Chairman Jung Gihoon of the Sehwa Department Store Group regarding a new product sales contract, and the Chairman’s granddaughter is said to be very interested in VTubers.”

Adding that she was a huge fan of the VTuber avatar models that Jina had created, Hyun conveyed the main point.

“So, I was wondering if you could possibly meet her, even if it’s just through a video call or VR chat.”

[…The Chairman’s granddaughter, you say?]

There was bewilderment in her voice. It was as if she was protesting that this was anything but a light fan meeting. Well, it was understandable. Who wouldn’t feel burdened by being asked to meet the granddaughter of a famous conglomerate chairman?

Hyun hesitated for a moment.

To persuade Jina, he would have to bring up the story of Chairman Jung’s granddaughter’s accident.

Even though the accident had been widely reported, he was very cautious about whether he could mention it, being practically a stranger. After much deliberation, Hyun carefully began to speak.

“Actually…”

Hyun summarized the conversation he had with Gihoon as gently as possible and told Jina. Not only had his granddaughter been in a major accident and become unable to walk, but she had also lost her parents.

Nevertheless, she was finding small moments of joy in VTubers and the virtual world.

In particular, he conveyed that the avatars Jina had created had been a great comfort.

[…I see.]

“Yes. So, if it’s okay with you, Jina-nim, I was hoping you could meet her. Of course, it’s a sudden request, but…”

Hyun felt a strange flutter in his chest.

Was he going to be rejected? He thought Jina might very well do so, and Hyun anxiously waited.

After a short silence, her languid voice flowed out.

[Would VR Chat be okay?]

Hyun’s eyes widened at the long-awaited answer.

“…Yes, yes! Of course, Jina-nim!”

[Then, would you coordinate the schedule and let me know, Hyun-nim? I’ll prepare accordingly.]

After hanging up, Hyun sighed, “Hoo-“

He had been able to deliver good news to Chairman Jung Gihoon as well, so he had overcome one hurdle for now.

“I’m glad it worked out…”

He thought Jina would be prickly, but he was relieved that she had unexpectedly agreed so readily, Hyun stroked his chest.

It was obvious that Jina wasn’t particularly difficult to deal with. Rather, she was quite easygoing.

Or rather… it might be more accurate to say she was just a patient of extreme laziness.

Several days passed after Hyun’s phone call.

Jina was quietly staring at the monitor in her studio apartment.

Today was the day she would meet ‘Chairman Jung’s granddaughter’ she had spoken about before.

About 30 minutes before the scheduled time.

She put the VR headset aside and loaded a simple private channel into the debugging window.

‘Soyul… was it? I heard she’s still a young friend.’

Jina suddenly felt curious.

Why her, and not the Seasons members?

More than that, how could the avatar she created be a comfort to that child?

‘I was just busy filling my own desires.’

She didn’t particularly remember imbuing it with artistic inspiration.

If she felt something from the avatar,

If she received a small amount of emotion…

That was thanks to the VTubers who breathed life into the avatar by creating excellent content.

Jina, at least, thought so.

“Well, I’ll just go and chat lightly without thinking too hard.”

At the appointed time, Jina logged into VR Chat.

The channel link had been sent to the other party in advance through Hyun.

A ‘prairie’ themed studio unfolded before Jina’s eyes.

Beneath the clear sky, a girl character could be seen above the swaying field of grass.

A loose hoodie and short bobbed hair.

With no particular change in expression, only the eyes were drawn round, the avatar provided as standard by VR Chat bowed its head towards Jina.

“Hello… are you, perhaps, Jina-nim…?”

“Nice to meet you. You’re Jung Soyul-nim, right?”

But, of all things, Jina’s avatar was unnecessarily high-quality.

As the two avatars faced each other, a strange sense of disconnect was felt.

“Ah, that’s right. I’m Soyul…”

Her voice was small, but she seemed to be trying to be polite.

The image of a conglomerate chairman’s granddaughter is often that of a selfish person living in their own world, but Soyul was nothing like that.

‘The reason is probably… because of the accident.’

Soyul’s avatar had slightly hunched shoulders, taking a posture as if her body was shrunken.

It was evidence that she usually lived ‘sitting down.’

“Umm… nice to meet you… haha. Something… umm… haha.”

A very, very awkward silence flowed. The conversation didn’t continue naturally.

Of all things, they were both very introverted people. Capital I’s.

In other words… their experience in leading a conversation… could be counted on one hand in their lives…!!

“That… the avatar you’re using now, is it the default avatar?”

In the end, Jina, who was a little older and had done a little more communication, managed to squeeze out a topic.

At this moment, it might be within Jina’s Top 10 Life Crises.

“Is this your first time using VR Chat?”

“It’s not my first time… actually, I’ve tried a lot of things… but somehow, I didn’t like any of them.”

Originally, she was using an avatar with a different number of digits in the price tag.

But.

“That… after seeing Han Ari-nim, who Jina-nim created, and the avatars of the Cosmo Live members, it felt awkward no matter what avatar I looked at…”

In the end, Jina was the problem.

Jina had set Soyul’s standards very high.

Until now, she thought that a little awkwardness couldn’t be helped, and that this was the limit of current technology.

But after seeing the models Jina had created, she had become unable to be satisfied with anything less than a certain quality.

“It’s like wearing clothes that don’t fit… the movements were very… unnatural. It’s more comfortable to use the default avatar in VR Chat.”

“I know what you mean. Hair digging into your body, skirts flipping over, frames stuttering, it’s a little uncomfortable, ah,”

“…! Yes…! Yes, that’s right! Seeing things like that somehow completely breaks my immersion…!”

Soyul nodded repeatedly.

Her voice also seemed a little excited.

She seemed very happy to have finally met someone who understood her.

As the two said, this isn’t simply a matter of whether the design is pretty or not.

How natural are the movements when operating the avatar?

The reason why the avatars Jina creates are unparalleled ecological disruptors is because of the ‘animation’.

In particular, Soyul spends many days at home all day long.

She enjoys online games, watches YouTube and internet broadcasts, and spends an overwhelmingly large amount of time wandering around VR Chat.

In other words, she is inevitably more sensitive to the movements of 3D avatars than anyone else.

“Ah. So that’s why you were using the default avatar.”

That’s why Soyul finds VR Chat’s default avatar more comfortable than expensive avatars.

Looking at this, Soyul is indeed a picky chaebol granddaughter.

“I also find that very uncomfortable, so when I create avatars, I put the most importance on implementing natural movements.”

“I knew it…!”

“The avatars of the VTuber people too, and this avatar I’m using, I put a little extra effort into it.”

Jina operated the controller to spin her avatar in place.

Her hair scattered softly, and the hem of her clothes fluttered naturally.

“Wow…! It’s really natural! It’s totally cool!”

Soyul clapped her hands and exclaimed.

As the topic shifted to VTubers, Soyul’s voice noticeably brightened.

Jina smiled contentedly and sighed inwardly.

She had a grasp of what to talk about with this friend.

As expected, the answer was VTubers.

Under VTubers, everyone was of the same Korean ethnicity, the whole world was a mess.