Overindulgence
The third round of the audition was slowly drawing to a close.
And my stream… had gotten pretty weird.
[Thank you SeniorCenterBoardFlipperMiro, for the 20,000 won donation!]
What are you doing today?
"Thank you, Kyung-ba-dwi, for the 20,000 won! I haven't decided what I'll be doing today yet!"
Now you're just shameless lol
Not running the stream properly?
In the other channel… 20k means… at least two songs, tsk tsk
Why won't she sing?
Hey hey, Miro-nim doesn't do singing~
To put it bluntly…
…my stream atmosphere had gone to hell.
That guy, SeniorCenterBoardFlipperSomething, was surprisingly my channel's "chairman"—the top donor, making up more than 50% of my total donations.
At some point, trolls from the community had found their way in and stuck around, and now they were the regulars.
Compared to other audition participants' streams—where viewers supported the streamer no matter what, cheering them on—in mine… something had gone wrong.
Viewer numbers were among the top, but the quality was awful.
Like a demonic cultivator in wuxia who uses the Absorbing Star technique: plenty of inner power in quantity, but hollow inside.
"By the way, Chairman, do you have any plans to change your nickname?"
I knew it wasn't good etiquette to single out a viewer, but honestly, this "chairman" was part of why the vibe was so messed up.
When the top donor acts like that, others naturally follow suit.
[Thank you SeniorCenterBoardFlipperMiro, for the 30,000 won donation!]
Do you have a problem with my nickname?
30k?
Coming in strong, huh?
That's enough to cover three solid meals in a day.
At hourly wage, that's almost three hours of work.
Any small-time streamer would've bowed down instantly. But I'm different.
I made my avatar's face flush red on stream.
"B-but… if you keep doing that, I might have to… ban you?"
A warning, but with an escape route disguised as a joke.
If I didn't, the forums would explode with a thread titled something like: "Female VTuber disrespects viewer donations".
Experience talking.
That actually happened a few days ago.
gasp
huh
oh
eh
gasp
[Thank you SeniorCenterBoardFlipperMiro, for the 50,000 won donation!]
Are you serious?
50k? Damn…
This was a battle of wills.
I could've just laughed it off and pocketed the money, but then I'd lose control of the stream.
I switched my avatar's face to a frown.
"Grit!!"
Then I pulled up the viewer list, right-clicked the chairman's ID, and kicked him out.
wow lololol
Did she really send him away lol
Guess 50k means nothing to her?
Explain yourself!
A ban was too much;;
As expected, chat exploded.
But I wasn't worried.
Honestly, what's it to other viewers if someone else—not them—drops 50k and gets banned?
They were only making noise to see my reaction.
And the way to handle that was simple: just spout anything random to redirect attention.
"The weight of my convictions is as vast as the heavens. Don't think you can buy the sky with gold."
Wuxia quote again?
Old man vibes.
What are you even saying lol
But your voice makes it sound like a game character line.
Lately I'd been mixing random wuxia lines together and spouting them off the cuff.
I'd only started reading wuxia novels recently. With the audition going on, the only time I went out was to convenience stores or vocal academy. Lounging around at home, I'd picked up the hobby.
I started with the famous ones that female Kim Soo-hyun knew by memory—and they turned out pretty fun.
Anyway, if I kept babbling like this…
[ㅇㅇ님, thanks for the 1,000 won donation!]
So what are you doing today?
There was always someone who would steer things back on track.
"Ah right, let's decide what to do today."
By rolling with those people, incidents like the one just now naturally faded into the background.
Phew… maybe I'm becoming a streaming genius?
Group game?
Finish the World Cup you started.
Why not play LoL?
Let's see a new Steam release.
Just chatting then?
Leaning back in my chair, I scrolled through the chat and thought about today's content.
"Should we just do some chatting?"
Just Chatting.
Short for "Just Chatting"—basically, starting a stream and just talking with the audience.
Sit down, read chat, respond to donations, share thoughts. Simple, popular, and doable once you have a steady viewer base.
Of course, one careless slip of the tongue could ruin everything, but I doubted that would happen.
Besides, my chat moved fast compared to my viewer count, so I always had things to talk about.
sure
Not playing games? freeloading hard here;
ang kimotiiii lol
What's happening today?
Ugh, bring some real content
Some grumbled, but that was just… like grade school boys teasing the girl they liked.
"What did I do today? Well, I just woke up and started streaming."
zero discipline lol
Miro-nim, your lifestyle's just like mine.
I'm a full-time house guard, and she's right.
[ㅇㅇ님, thanks for the 1,000 won donation!]
Why'd you wake up so late?
"Thank you for the 1k donation. I stayed up watching anime. The one you guys recommended yesterday."
Since I always talked about manga, viewers had given me a list of anime to check out.
I picked one last night, watched before bed… but honestly, I stopped after episode 3.
It was flashy, but… honestly kind of boring.
lolololol
You watched that?
?? Which one?
So how was it?
"Well, just in case the author or studio ever watches my stream, I'll hold back my comments."
Then why did you trash other shows?
Now you're careful?
Yesterday you roasted that isekai trash anime nonstop.
Yesterday?
I remembered.
I'd stumbled across an anime bingo card, and most of the titles were ones female Kim Soo-hyun had seen. So I casually recalled them and gave ratings.
"But I wasn't wrong yesterday, was I?"
gasp
oh
huh
"These days, Japanese manga is just… ah, never mind. Tsk. Back in my day, I'd be tearing my hair out at the rental shop trying to decide what to borrow. Nowadays, nothing really grabs me."
[ㅇㅇ님, thanks for the 1,000 won donation!]
Then could you recommend some anime?
"Thank you for the 1k~ Recommendations? I actually prefer reading manga over anime, is it okay if I recommend manga instead?"
[ㅇㅇ님, thanks for the 1,000 won donation!]
Manga recs are fine.
"But I don't know what you have and haven't read… Have you read One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach?"
Of course you've got to read those.
Too long, I gave up.
That's just boomer taste.
Only read the beginning.
[ㅇㅇ님, thanks for the 1,000 won donation!]
But how long do I have to keep paying 1k just for answers? Are you baiting donations?
"Caught me."
I opened up Notepad on stream.
wow this woman lolol
ruthless, ruthless
milking money like this smh
"Alright then, today we'll do Miro's Manga Recommendation Show. Anything I list—if you haven't read it yet—you're going to go read it."
Truthfully, I had a bit of pride when it came to manga.
How should I put it? A strange pride from having read the classics that kids these days never touched—back in the days of comic book cafés.
And after gaining female Kim Soo-hyun's memories, with all her knowledge of modern anime, that pride only grew.
What she thought of as "masterpieces," in my eyes, were just decent at best.
I typed the first title into Notepad without hesitation.
[Slam Dunk]
"If you haven't read this, just shut off the stream now, go to a manga café, and read it from start to finish."
I watched the movie.
Ew, dentures smell.
Slam Dunk's a masterpiece though.
Legendary, undeniable.
Doesn't that stink of old age?
Better at basketball than Ohtani?
The movie was good though.
I watched chat spiral and let out a deep sigh.
Kids these days… How are they going to survive in this harsh world?
Where will they learn grit and passion that textbooks don't teach?
"Tsk, don't you smell the cafeteria food stink? A generation that mocks Slam Dunk has arrived."
But I knew my viewers weren't about to take my advice, so I just clicked my tongue and moved on.
[Thanks StationeryStoreEraserThiefMiro, for the 1,000 won donation!]
Hey… did you watch K-On? Back in my day… tsk…
"K-On? No, I haven't."
I'd heard it was famous, but neither male nor female Kim Soo-hyun had ever watched it.
And even now, I had no interest.
??
?
And yet you acted all high and mighty?
Ha, exposed!
"What… Isn't it basically like Bocchi the Rock? Probably fun, but I feel like it's a bit overhyped."
No way.
Actually, you're kinda right.
All boomers get out lol
Bocchi the Rock is legit though.
[Thanks StationeryStoreEraserThiefMiro, for the 1,000 won donation!]
I thought you were a manga pro, but you're just a surface-level poser lol. Didn't even watch K-On.
"Wait, is it that serious? Fine, I'll check it out before bed."
I sensed that if I kept refusing, they'd slap me with the "fake fan" label, so I cut it off there.
Of course, I had no intention of actually watching it.
"Alright, next one. Everyone's read this, right?"
[Dragon Ball]
I typed the four characters into Notepad and looked at chat.
"Raise your hand if you haven't."
…
Of course I've seen it.
hand
Who hasn't?
Now this one reeks of dentures.
Just seeing those two words in Notepad stinks of mothballs.
Seeing the masterpiece that once made my heart race now dismissed as an outdated relic—it made my blood boil.
"喝!!"
That day, my entire stream ended with me passionately explaining the Dragon Ball story arc by arc.
The next morning.
I frowned as I read a message on my phone.
I wanted to ask if we might arrange a meeting regarding the audition…] In short, it was a very polite request to discuss something about the audition in person. ---