Chapter 60

It was so obvious that I didn’t even mention it, but my game could be enjoyed in countless languages.

Translation was possible even if you didn’t know the language of the country in question.

After all, dictionaries exist in the world, and even idioms or slang could be fully understood if you searched hard enough.

However, even so, you still needed to know the language well to translate.

It was a matter of speed.

If you searched word by word, slowly like a turtle, and then reviewed whether it sounded awkward or not, also slowly, when would you ever finish translating?

Unless you had several times more time than others, it wasn’t worth doing.

In other words.

Those with the ability to skip manual labor were exceptions here.

I put every language that exists in this world into my game.

English, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Thai, Malay, Filipino, and so on.

Because of that, there was no one on Earth who couldn’t enjoy my game due to language barriers.

So when V-Hwang did a single stream, the sales skyrocketed at an insane speed.

Even the sales of <Resurrected Students Also Need Love>, which relies heavily on its story, were increasing. It was truly a cheat ability on steroids.

Collaboration streams, huh.

I turned on MTube and checked Yukimura Akane’s recent broadcasts.

She started with <Fantasy Life>, played <Excel Busters>, and just yesterday streamed <Resurrected Students Also Need Love>.

She’s thoroughly enjoying the full course of Han Yoorim.

I sneakily checked the viewer count at the time, and it showed numbers I’d never seen on V-TV Korea.

As expected of V-Hwang.

But why is Yukimura Akane’s nickname V-Hwang?

To explain that, I needed to know what “Novel Live” was, and to understand “Novel Live,” I first had to explain its parent company, “Novella.”

Novella is the developer of <Eternal World>, the current number one VR game.

Because of that, people think of Novella as a game company, but that’s a misconception.

If anything, Novella is closer to a publishing company than a game company.

Now, it’s a cultural empire encompassing broadcasting, games, movies, and comics, but their starting point and predecessor was ultimately a publishing company.

<Eternal World>? It was a game where all the characters owned by Novella made an appearance.

Novel Live is the same.

It’s a VTuber company created by utilizing all the resources of a publishing company.

Latecomers have it tough. The first-mover advantage is that powerful, and to move consumers who are already satisfied with existing content, you need an overwhelmingly strong advantage.

Even Novella, the publishing industry’s dinosaur, knew that.

So when they launched Novel Live, they used a certain tactic.

They strengthened the character traits of their VTubers in their own unique way.

Basically, VTubers act out RP (roleplay), but Novel Live took it a step further.

They commissioned their in-house writers to create novels and had their VTubers act out those novel characters during their streams.

It was a method only a publishing giant like Novella could pull off.

Of course, this method didn’t work right from the start.

It was innovative, but if being innovative solved everything, there’d be no such thing as a red ocean.

It started gaining traction after Yukimura Akane, a first-generation member, awakened.

No one is good at something right from the start.

The same goes for broadcasting. You need at least a year. Time to mature is necessary.

So Novel Live started gaining popularity a year later, alongside Yukimura Akane’s godly broadcasts after her awakening.

With that momentum, they rapidly expanded their scale, and it hasn’t stopped since, making them the industry leader now.

So Yukimura Akane is both a founding contributor and the company’s ace.

She’s the kind of figure who deserves the nickname “V-Hwang,” short for VTuber Emperor.

I’ve already read Yukimura Akane’s debut novella (this is what they call the short story released alongside her VTuber debut) and her full-length novel. It wouldn’t make sense to be a VTuber without studying V-Hwang.

Yukimura Akane was, in simple terms, a shonen manga protagonist.

Basically, live streams are, well, live.

In VTuber terms, it’s real-time broadcasting.

Unlike the old meta of uploading edited videos, keeping up a performance in a long live stream is tough.

Especially with an ambiguous concept like a shonen manga protagonist.

In a live stream, you inevitably end up talking about daily life, but have you ever thought about what kind of speech or daily life a shonen manga protagonist would have?

Surprisingly, wouldn’t it seem pretty ordinary?

So the shonen manga protagonist concept is incredibly hard to pull off in live streams, but the fact that V-Hwang made it work shows she’s truly a bundle of talent.

The collaboration stream was tomorrow.

Since I said anytime was fine, this is how it turned out.

Normally, a big company like Novel Live wouldn’t schedule something so hastily, but Yukimura Akane’s position is so unique that her wishes seemed to be prioritized over the company’s policies.

She single-handedly carried the company to a valuation of 5 trillion, after all.

If she wants to do a collaboration stream, even on short notice, they should allow it.

I pondered for a moment.

Thinking about Yukimura Akane’s RP, the settings of her short story, and her broadcasting style, I got an idea of what gift to give her.

I hope she likes it.

*

【External Collaboration】 Talk Show with the Genius Game Developer (Beautiful Girl) Who’s the Talk of the Town!!!!! 【Yukimura Akane/Novel Live】

143,291 people waiting ‧ Scheduled time: 18:00

Yukimura Akane brewed coffee while watching the chat scroll rapidly.

Of all the moments in a broadcaster’s life, Akane enjoyed this the most.

Seeing the listeners waiting during the broadcast reservation time, screaming in the chat.

She sometimes even scheduled streams a day early just to see that.

Sipping her coffee, Akane thought about her collaboration partner this time.

Han Yoorim. A Korean VTuber.

So, she had this unique background of being a game developer.

The game Han Yoorim made was incredibly fun. At least, that’s how Akane felt.

The difficulty level of <Fantasy Life> perfectly matched Akane’s taste.

A game that might make someone else rage-quit could be someone else’s life-defining game.

Tastes are just that unpredictable.

And Han Yoorim’s <Resurrected Students Also Need Love> was also surprisingly impressive.

She hadn’t played it much yet, but the NPCs moving like real people were really appealing.

Especially the character named “Han Yoorim” caught her attention.

Every time “Han Yoorim” chattered, the chat would flood with “Super Kawaii wwww,” and Akane agreed. She was really cute.

“Han Yoorim” and Han Yoorim had the same name. Was it strong self-love, or was there some intention behind it? Akane was curious.

She had just added that to her list of questions. She definitely had to ask.

Actually, Akane rarely did collab streams with other VTubers from Novel Live unless it was an official schedule.

She did quite a few collabs with her fellow first-gen members (there were four at the start, but two graduated, leaving only Akane and one other), but recently, it was only once or twice a year. She was walking her own path.

So, when Akane requested a collab with Han Yoorim to the company, there was no particular reason.

She just really liked the game. That was it.

She really liked the game, and since the developer was a VTuber, wouldn’t it be okay to do a collab?

That was her simple thought process.

Normally, they would have rehearsed beforehand, coordinated the broadcast plan, and even hired a translator since they were from different countries, but Akane ignored all the procedures and pushed for the collab.

She just really wanted to have a conversation with the other person.

Why?

Because she was really curious about what kind of person could create such a spine-chillingly evil game.

Ding—. The grandfather clock rang.

It was time.

6 o’clock sharp.

The broadcast started.

After playing an animation promoting her latest original song, Akane killed some time.

One minute later. The screen switched, and Akane appeared.

“Good evening.”

—

Entry complete.

Akane looks so pure today.

Good evening~

—

After a brief greeting with her listeners, Akane finished some light chit-chat and got straight to the point.

“So, today, we have a guest.”

—

The developer of Fantasy Life.

A genius game developer (and a beautiful girl) www.

I enjoyed the game.

—

“Then, I’ll call them in.”

Akane invited Han Yoorim to her VR room.

Immediately after.

Han Yoorim appeared in the VR room.

As soon as she was summoned, Han Yoorim looked around and then spoke.

“Hello.”

Akane was slightly surprised by the smooth Japanese but quickly calmed down.

Practicing greetings in different languages was one of the basics for a VTuber.

“Good evening, Yoorim-san.”

“Good evening.”

“Ta-da! Listeners, everyone. The long-awaited, sensational genius beautiful girl game developer! Han Yoorim-san!”

“I’m Han Yoorim. And I’m not a genius game developer.”

“Eh. Then?”

Han Yoorim firmly corrected her.

Was there something that bothered her?

Just as Akane was starting to feel uneasy, thinking she might have made a mistake, Han Yoorim spoke.

“Don’t call me a genius game developer. Call me a super game developer.”

“…Are they different?”

“Very different.”

“In what way?”

“The former is a hymn to humanity, while the latter uses cheat abilities.”

Just from this conversation, Akane realized.

Indeed. She was the kind of person who could create such a spine-chilling game. There was something off about her.

“By the way, Yoorim-san. Your Japanese is really good.”

Akane thought she had only practiced greetings, but her conversational Japanese was also top-notch.

Almost native-level. Though you could tell she was a foreigner, her pronunciation was clear. That’s a huge advantage.

“Of course, it’s good.”

“Did you major in something related to Japan?”

“For otaku, Japanese is like Latin. Similarly, for game developers, English is like Latin, so I studied English hard too.”

“Now, I prepared a questionnaire for Yoorim-san. Want to hear it?”

“Wow.”

Feeling like they were drifting off-topic, Akane quickly steered back.

Fortunately, the passenger followed well.

“First question. By any chance—.”

“Wait a moment.”

Han Yoorim raised her hand to stop Akane.

Wondering what was up, Akane looked at her, and Han Yoorim continued.

“We have a gift presentation first, but I forgot.”

A gift? What was she talking about?

Not understanding, Akane tilted her head, and Han Yoorim spoke.

“Check your email.”

“Email? What did you send—.”

Akane blinked.

There was a massive file in her email.

What was this?

“It’s a game.”

“A game?”

“Yes. A self-made, unreleased game just for you, Akane-san.”

“Self-made, unreleased…?”

It was definitely Japanese, but the meaning didn’t click.

We. Definitely. Had this… collab scheduled before, right?

As Akane malfunctioned, Han Yoorim smiled and answered.

“It’s fun. Give it a try.”