Chapter 67: Scarlet debut commemorative photo shoot, Part 1

Early August.

Summer vacation was in full swing.

Unfortunately, the Game Release Club postponed their outing plans.

They wanted to relax, but Do Jin-ho vehemently opposed it, saying there was no time for leisure with the release date fast approaching and bugs still needing fixing.

Choi Arin had finished her Live2D work and was now focused on rigging Scarlet’s virtual avatar.

Do Jin-ho must have been feeling anxious.

as a programmer, he knew that any delay on his part would push back the game’s release.

Hayoon, Choi Arin, and even Hong Seo-hyun understood the pressure and readily agreed to postpone the summer outing.

They could celebrate with champagne after the game was properly released.

They decided to postpone the celebration until after the release and work independently during the break.

Since Do Jin-ho was practically the only one working on Cosplay Holic, gathering in the club room would only add to the pressure.

They decided to do their best in their respective roles.

And Hayoon…

“Alright, it’s my comeback stream after a long time. I said I’d be back during summer break, right?”

She turned on her stream after setting up her familiar equipment.

[CHAT]

-You’re finally back…

-The illustrations on Patreon weren’t enough…

-Lewd art should be enjoyed as a full course, savoring the entire creation process…

The viewers’ reactions were enthusiastic.

The number of viewers had dropped to around 80, but this also meant that 80 people had remained loyal after a three-month hiatus.

And if they had endured such a long break, their loyalty wasn’t shallow.

And what she had to do for them was…

[ON STREAM]

“Since it’s been a while, should I risk getting banned and raise the lewdness level?”

The perfect reward.

[CHAT]

-Yessss! This is it!

-The wait was worth it.

She had to reward their loyalty, making their wait worthwhile.

And the reward, of course, was lewd art.

The unspoken rule between Hayoon and her viewers.

Hayoon provided lewd art, and the viewers provided donations.

This demonstrated that the rule was still in effect, that the relationship between Hayoon and her remaining viewers was still strong.

[ON STREAM]

“Alright, alright, let’s start with a refreshing bunny girl.”

[DONATION-1,000 won]

[CHAT]

-Bunny girl is good.

[ON STREAM]

“Fishnet stockings or black stockings? I guess black stockings? High-leg black stockings with a garter belt, that’s the vibe. And of course, breasts big enough to feed a whole soccer team….”

[CHAT]

-Oh, so voluptuous.

-I want to grab them so bad…

The viewers’ reactions were explosive, as expected.

The opportunity to watch their favorite lewd artist draw live was rare.

Not to mention the pent-up thirst of those who had enjoyed it for months, only to be deprived for another few months.

[ON STREAM]

“Okay, okay, next is a bikini. Should I draw her sitting on a surfboard?”

[DONATION – 1,000 won]

[CHAT]

-Can you draw an A-cup, flat-chested surfer? Honestly, I’ve seen enough of the glamorous type.

[ON STREAM]

“Hey, do you want me to get banned? I can draw anything, but I’ll get banned if I draw a bikini.”

[DONATION – 1,000 won]

-Tsk.

[ON STREAM]

“Don’t ‘tsk’ me, you brat.”

Although she struggled with a viewer suggesting a risky idea, she laughed it off and continued interacting with her viewers.

And so.

A week after Haru’s spectacular return.

[ON STREAM]

“Do you guys know?”

[CHAT]

-???

-Know what?

[ON STREAM]

“A new Utaite named Scarlet debuted recently.”

[CHAT]

-Scarlet?

-Ah.

-Hehehe.

Hayoon casually mentioned Scarlet, and the viewers’ reactions were varied.

Before bringing it up, she thought she’d be lucky if one or two people knew, but…

Perhaps due to the intense loyalty of her remaining viewers, two out of three seemed to know, judging by their chat messages.

[ON STREAM]

“What, you all know her?”

[CHAT]

-She’s been showing up in my algorithm a lot lately.

-And you think we wouldn’t recognize your art style?

-You even promoted her in the cafe announcement, so if we didn’t know, we’d be spies.

[ON STREAM]

“Oh, right.”

She sighed softly, remembering she had indeed posted about it in the cafe.

After months of relentless work, she often forgot things that happened just a few days ago.

[ON STREAM]

“I forgot.”

[CHAT]

-How could you forget?

-It hurts that you forgot what you told us….

She laughed awkwardly and moved on.

[ON STREAM]

“Anyway, I became Scarlet’s exclusive illustrator. I think I’ll continue drawing for her while working on Patreon, and there’s a big event coming up, so I wanted to tell you about it.”

She shared the news about Scarlet.

[ON STREAM]

“My illustrations will be uploaded there for a while, so go check it out and listen to her songs.”

[CHAT]

-NSFW level?

[ON STREAM]

“Do you think it’ll be NSFW if it’s going on YouTube?”

[CHAT]

– 😩
– Nooo, keep it spicy…

Hayoon continued interacting with them, reading their comments one by one, when.

[CHAT]

-So what about the game?

-It’s good that the release date is confirmed, but I want to see the merchandise…

One of the viewers mentioned the game, Cosplay Holic.

It probably wasn’t intentional, but the timing was perfect.

It was more effective to address these promotional topics in response to viewers’ questions rather than bringing them up herself.

[ON STREAM]

“The release is on track. Our team’s programmer is working hard on fixing bugs. The art script is already finished, and we’ll only need one or two more recording sessions with the voice actors.”

[CHAT]

-Yesss.

-This is it.

[ON STREAM]

“We’ll try to finish shipping the merchandise by the first week of November. We had plenty of time for production since the funding was over six months ago.”

[CHAT]

-Nice.

-Fast shipping, good.

She answered the viewers’ questions and subtly promoted Cosplay Holic and Scarlet while interacting with them.

She didn’t forget to draw while doing so.

‘I should show this to Hong Seo-hyun later.’

She thought it would be a good idea to send Hong Seo-hyun the recording of today’s stream.

Since Hong Seo-hyun didn’t seem to watch internet broadcasts often, it would be good for her to learn these techniques to subtly promote Cosplay Holic and her original song.

Mid-August.

With the start of school just around the corner.

Hayoon frowned slightly as she opened a file containing illustrations.

And there they were.

A red-haired girl.

Wearing only an oversized shirt, it was hard to tell if she was wearing anything underneath.

There were various versions of the girl: a red-haired girl in a suit, a red-haired girl in a baseball uniform, a red-haired girl in a bikini, and more.

Various variations of Hong Seo-hyun’s character, “Scarlet.”

“No bikinis.”

Hayoon shook her head after seeing the bikini-clad Scarlet illustration, which she found alluring even as a woman.

Yoon Suhee would never allow this.

Hayoon herself hadn’t planned on including a bikini, which was practically underwear, in the photo book.

“I need to narrow it down to the less revealing ones…”

She couldn’t avoid Scarlet’s signature missing-bottom look.

She’d have her wear dolphin shorts or something during the shoot and ask Yoon Suhee to edit the photos to cut off at the navel line.

Of course, just asking wouldn’t guarantee anything.

To avoid being rejected by Yoon Suhee for making such an embarrassing request, she planned to choose mostly modest outfits for the cosplay.

“But well…. I should include some fan service outfits like bunny girl or maid costumes. Yoon Suhee didn’t say anything about those during the Cosplay Holic shoot, so they should be within the acceptable range.”

tap

tap

tap

Hayoon typed away on the keyboard, creating a file with a list of outfits for Scarlet’s cosplay photo book.

If she showed this to Yoon Suhee, she would find the outfits at the lowest price and schedule the shoot.

The problem was how to persuade Yoon Suhee…

“I guess there’s no other way…”

Hayoon sighed and started practicing a cute yet pleading expression in the mirror.

She hated to admit it, but acting cute and begging was the most effective persuasion method in these situations.