Chapter 88: This is work that has already been done

A few days had passed since Jina’s first meeting with Nise Live Korea Branch.

To discuss how to structure the concert stage, Jina scheduled a meeting with Kamishiro Rei on VR Chat.

It was a matter that could have been sufficiently discussed with people from the art or planning departments, but the meeting was arranged at Rei’s request, who wanted to actively voice her opinions during the planning stage.

Before the meeting, Jina checked Rei’s live broadcast.

Honestly, she didn’t usually watch live broadcasts of VTubers affiliated with large corporations.

The famous deep-sea explorer of Pasta, and the small-streamer raiding party. That was Jina.

It wasn’t particularly due to a hipster tendency.

The biggest reason was the thought that there was no need for her to add to broadcasts that already had plenty of viewers.

In the first place, YouTube is full of clipped highlights.

Since there are many fans, there are also many talented people, so they brilliantly pick out only the dopamine-inducing parts, making it unnecessary to watch the live broadcast.

On the other hand, if you miss a small streamer’s live broadcast, there are many problems.

In the short term, you miss that day’s dopamine, and in the long term, the channel itself sometimes shuts down.

‘Looking back, I started watching Cosmo Live’s VTubers’ broadcasts by naturally transitioning from watching the 1st generation members’ streams, who were small streamers until their graduation.’

Suddenly, the image of a certain energetic corporate VTuber faintly surfaced in Jina’s mind.

She, whose average viewership was only around 100 to 200 people.

[Your very own celestial maiden descended from heaven, Kamishiro Rei.]

Reborn with a completely different appearance, she became a mega VTuber with over 1 million, reaching 2 million followers.

Wearing the celestial robes of Nise Live, she had properly taken flight.

“Indeed, big corporations are different.”

As the broadcast began, Jina let out a light exclamation and watched the screen.

“A celestial maiden curious about the human world, huh…”

Jina unconsciously meticulously examined the avatar on the screen.

Indeed, true to the celestial maiden concept, it was both glamorous and elegant.

The shimmering silk clothes had intricate, faintly sparkling gold embroidery.

The long, flowing hair, a mix of faint sky blue and silver, added to the mystique.

The heavenly background unfolding behind the stage, with clouds scattering according to the avatar’s movements, was so vibrant it felt like she was really in the sky.

Despite being an avatar created two years ago, its quality didn’t fall behind the avatars of recently debuted VTubers at all.

Compared to the VTubers born from Jina’s hands, only a few flaws were visible. That says it all.

Not only the avatar’s quality, but her broadcasting sense was also extraordinary.

‘This celestial maiden is properly taming the woodcutters.’

While maintaining a certain distance from viewers with her characteristic aloof and noble attitude.

Her occasional faint smiles, endlessly stimulating anticipation, were captivating.

Every word, every gesture, every expression.

Everything seemed delicately calculated and designed.

The biggest charm Rei boasted was none other than her voice.

Hence, Kamishiro Rei God’s Generation Bell.

As she began to sing with her clear tone, Jina unknowingly let out an exclamation of admiration.

“…This level of quality even live? This is almost Mary-level?”

Jina’s work music playlist contained quite a few songs Rei had covered.

Rei sings well? Acknowledged.

But she never thought the live version would be almost indistinguishable from the recorded version.

Jina soon found herself wearing headphones, completely focused on Rei’s song, immersed in the broadcast.

Every time the clear yet deep tone rose to a high note, Jina felt a thrilling shiver run down her spine.

“She would have done well even if she debuted as a singer…”

Rei, even after finishing the song, showed no signs of being out of breath, wearing an elegant smile.

“She proved herself as a VTuber in the end.”

On Jina’s face watching that scene.

For a very brief moment, a hint of regret flickered past.

After the live broadcast ended, Jina connected to the VR Chat private room at the scheduled time.

The darkness before her eyes gradually lifted, revealing a virtual space that was both splendid and grand.

Soft clouds enveloped her feet, and the surrounding sky sparkled as if stars would pour down.

In the distance, a brilliantly shining palace could be seen.

Sabak sabak.

Stepping on the snow-like clouds, the celestial maiden gradually approached.

“Your very own celestial maiden descended from heaven, Kamishiro Rei.”

Kamishiro Rei.

The one who was communicating with the woodcutters just moments ago is now before Jina’s eyes.

“It’s an honor to meet you in person, Jina.”

“Nice to meet you. I was watching your broadcast until just a moment ago, it’s hard to believe that person is right in front of me.”

“Is that so? How was the broadcast, was it okay?”

“It was the best. Starting today, I’m a 1-day-old woodcutter.”

After melting away their awkwardness with smiles and broadcast talk, Rei seriously brought up the topic.

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Jina. They say you’re the most outstanding 3D artist in Korea.”

“Haha. The people around me have been praising me too much.”

“Even from what I saw, it was truly amazing. Han Ari, who changed the paradigm of VTuber modeling-related content, and also… the Cosmos Live 3rd generation members.”

The word ‘Cosmo Live’ was particularly emphasized.

Even after being reincarnated with a new appearance and wearing celestial robes.

Old memories were not easily shaken off.

“I was particularly impressed by Winter’s debut live stage. Can you decorate my stage to that level, no, even beyond that?”

“I’ll try my best. It’s a solo concert, after all. I need to pay more attention.”

“Effort doesn’t matter, just show me the results, that’s enough. And… I have a few ideas regarding the stage direction, would it be alright if I shared my opinions?”

A mischievous smile appeared on Rei’s lips.

“First, for this concert, I want to personally fly through the sky, move above the audience seats, and directly communicate with the fans.”

‘No wonder the avatar wearing celestial robes in the example idea Se-yeon showed was flying above the audience seats. Was it Rei’s idea?’

Jina crossed her arms and slowly nodded.

“Moving the avatar itself in the air isn’t difficult…”

“Beyond just having the avatar fly, I want to feel like I, the one controlling the avatar, am also flying.”

‘To give the audience a sense of immersion, wouldn’t it be a priority to immerse myself in the avatar first?’

Rei smiled brightly.

Although the intention to make Jina uncomfortable was evident.

“Certainly, immersion is important to enhance the quality of acting. I’ll give it a try.”

“…Yes?”

“It’s not particularly difficult. I’ve even implemented it once before.”

“??!?!?”

‘So, she means she’s done a production where an actual person flies on stage?’

‘…How? Using wires? Or did she hire an action actor double separately?’

‘No, more than that, didn’t she say she was a 3D designer? Wasn’t she someone who specializes in decorating VTuber stages?’

“Th-then how about this? The background of the concert hall changes instantly according to the mood of the song.”

Changing the entire background of a concert hall, not a studio, is much more difficult.

“From a bright sky to a dark night sky, and from a vibrant flower garden to an oriental-style city sparkling with lights… As if teleporting to another world in an instant.”

“A system to quickly switch the stage environment… This also seems possible by slightly applying the algorithm used in VR TRPG. That’s a good idea.”

At Jina’s indifferent reply, Rei’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

She had deliberately requested technically difficult productions to make Jina uncomfortable.

But she’s done this, and she’s done that.

…Then what on earth hasn’t she done?

“Th-then finally… I want a different scene to be visible depending on each audience member’s viewpoint. As if each person is watching their own unique stage, making everyone have a different experience.”

“Customized viewpoint direction for each audience member also seems sufficiently possible. If we capture the viewpoint with an eye tracker and display different scenes depending on the viewing direction… Implementation would be tricky, but it would be interesting.”

Rei was momentarily speechless.

Isn’t it a normal reaction to show reluctance and embarrassment when faced with such unreasonable demands?

Yet Jina didn’t hesitate at all, rather, she faced her ideas directly as if finding them interesting.

‘A person like this… why of all places at Cosmo Live…’

Rei, unable to bear it any longer, her tone sharpened slightly.

“…Jina, is it really possible? I don’t know much about 3D design, but I know enough to understand that my requests are all difficult.”

“It’s difficult, but it’s something that can be done anyway, and implementing it will make the stage richer, right?”

‘Thanks to this, this project will be even more fun,’ Jina thought, smiling calmly.

At Jina’s relaxed demeanor, Rei frowned slightly and grumbled.

“You’re not just saying fancy words, are you?”

“I’ll make a rough draft of the stage direction before the next meeting. Shall we continue our discussion while looking at that?”

At Jina’s words, Rei nodded with a reluctant expression.

She had deliberately made time today, intending to fluster Jina.

But now she felt strangely like she was the one who had been outmaneuvered.