Chapter 38

[LIVE] Midpoint Funding Check, Thank You (211)

The moment Hayoon turned on the broadcast, viewers flooded in as if they had been waiting.

Honestly, Hayoon had believed that the rise in the average number of viewers was naturally due to her growing familiarity with broadcasting, and thus her ability to entertain the audience increasing…

‘Guess it was just the red pill effect.’

Despite her efforts to enhance her broadcasting skills, which had increased her audience, it seemed the mere exposure of the red pill had attracted even more viewers.

To Hayoon, or rather Haru as a broadcaster, this was admittedly quite a blow to her pride…

‘Well, for whatever reason the audience is growing, let’s just focus on that. That’s right.’

Regardless of the reason, the growth in broadcasting scale also meant more people willing to buy games.

– When is the streamer coming?

– When is the streamer coming?

– Do some cosplay.

– What are you eating now?

– Make some noise.

– Draw some yajjal (suggestive sketches).

“I’m right here.”

Today, the chat was particularly rambunctious. Hayoon greeted the viewers warmly, soothing the chaos as she began the broadcast.

“Since there’s no need for long greetings between us, I’ll get straight to it.”

– Sure.

– We like things straightforward.

– Do your thing; go go!

Thud.

Click.

Thud.

Hayoon navigated through a few clicks to the Patreon fundraising page of Cosplay Holic she’d bookmarked.

And there it was:

“Ta-da.”

23 million won in donations.

In just that time, Cosplay Holic’s fundraising page had broken its own records once more.

– Wow, holy…

– How does a dropout make 23 million won?

– If we add up what we give through the broadcasts and Patreon, you’re making 50 million this year alone. Damn…

– Yeah, yeah, go be rich.

The long-time audience of Hayoon, so to speak the “original residents,” were grumbling in the chat, intending to bicker with Hayoon over her flaunting money.

“What? Are you jealous? Are you serious, jealous of what a 17-year-old who didn’t even attend her entrance ceremony made? Really?”

-That’s all our money, so why don’t you draw some yajjal.

-Just lift the limit on risqué content; consider it your punishment.

-Come on, please draw yajjal already.

“Yeah? Want me to do that? But even after thinking about it, a ban still seems risky… I do have a criminal record, you know.”

Hayoon cleverly accepted their teasing while gently controlling the audience.

Today’s concept was Mmesgaki, and the original audience, drawn in by Hayoon’s rare method of control, began throwing in 1,000 won, 2,000 won donations while being swayed by her charm.

She occasionally shared affection by forming heart shapes with her hands in front of the cam that was fixed on the tablet screen.

[100,000 won donation]

-Your hands are so pretty. Can you show your face?

-??

-?

-Show your face? Are you out of your mind?

-Are you aware of how old she is?

-Are you not leaving?

The chat room froze due to a water buffalo newbie who didn’t understand the mood right off the bat and went straight for the aggressive remarks.

The veteran fans of Hayoon, who had been watching since the beginning of the year, swiftly responded with harsh retorts and jeers.

‘Is the 100,000 won supposed to be a fine…?’

Hayoon was just as shocked.

That person who dropped the hefty donation, clearly thinking that as long as they paid a fine, doing wrong was fine.

The surprise came from their complete lack of tact in asking for her face at such a sensitive moment.

-Are you water buffaloes not leaving?

-What? I donated and still can’t see her stream?

-I bought a Cosplay book and am just curious about her face.

-This is not a person, but a place where we view yajjal.

-It’s bragging, damn K-pop fans.

The chat room immediately turned hostile, and Hayoon, who had been trying to embrace new viewers with a light heart, clutched her throbbing head.

‘Completely incompatible?’

The original audience of Hayoon’s stream and the newbies were completely opposite in nature.

Typically, it’s hard to identify the overall type of viewers since most people just quietly chat, but looking at the loud donors reveals the tendencies.

The original audience usually contributed amounts between 1,000 won and 10,000 won, engaging in back-and-forth exchanges, whereas the water buffaloes who had recently joined…

Had a tendency to startle with such suffocating directness.

After hesitating for a moment on how to mix the two,

“Manager, can you freeze the chat?”

-Freeze? Not mute the chat, but slow mode?

“Yeah, that.”

-Understood.

As Hayoon asked her manager U-seo-jin, he immediately activated slow mode, as if he were waiting for this.

Thus, the heated viewers were half-forced not to chat anymore.

Subscribers mode allows only subscribers to chat but without any cool-down period, whereas slow mode slows down everyone’s chat participation.

Now, it was Hayoon’s exclusive stage.

“Focus.”

-Aye.

-We’ll be quiet…

“Why are you fighting?”

First, Hayoon chose the tactic of ignoring it.

The chat didn’t immediately come up, which was obvious.

Slow chat, when written once, makes it hard to participate in the next topic because of the difficulty of rash responses, and getting criticized outright would embarrass the person.

When everyone hesitates to speak,

“Will you just sit there? Then I’ll choose.”

Hayoon used what’s known as the “Mod’s Power,” a streamer’s authority.

And immediately,

ChestMoreThanWaist: ????

A single viewer was summoned by Hayoon.

An 1 vs 1 chat window had opened.

“Here, the slow mode doesn’t apply. Speak your mind. What’s the problem that led to this fighting?”

ChestMoreThanWaist: Even with a 100,000 won donation, asking for her face out of the blue is a really inappropriate move, right? You’re also young…

“Are you trying to protect me?”

ChestMoreThanWaist: Yeah, something like that. But I didn’t chat myself so maybe give me a break…

“Not saying I want to scold you. I just wanted to ask out of curiosity.”

ChestMoreThanWaist: Oh…

“Anyway, I’ll remember your nickname, and I’ll draw a picture for you later. Good job.”

After chatting casually, Hayoon thought it was enough and closed the chat window, after which ChestMoreThanWaist thanked her, saying she’d eat the picture well.

Then the eye battle restarted between Hayoon and the 200 or so viewers.

“Don’t fight, or I’ll just stop broadcasting. If games sell well, do I really have a reason to continue broadcasting?”

-Ah, ah!

-You crazy bitch, what about our yajjal!

Hayoon started with the original audience members, those who were already hooked on her.

They had now reached the point where they couldn’t live without her.

Hayoon’s daily broadcasts had long been integrated into their routine. If she suddenly announced retirement, they would be furious, right?

“Ahhh, so. Let’s not fight. Your intent to protect me is good, but isn’t using ‘bingssokkim’ enough? Bingssokkim. Did you get it?”

-We’re sorry…

-It’s wrong that we didn’t use ‘bingssokkim’…

“When it’s hard to respond to someone donating 100,000 won without context, you should reflect on that.”

At such times, Hayoon scolds the newbies who donated 100,000 won earlier, naturally strengthening her ties with the original audience.

Of course, this might lead to the newbies leaving by spewing ‘Teret zzzzt’ and curses against the chat moderator.

Therefore, in such cases,

“Anyway, I had cosplay selfie photos to show you since we’ve already surpassed the targeted funding amount this time, but the atmosphere has been ruined because of that guy, so we’ll just draw pictures as usual today, right?”

-Ah.

-Let’s just cool it a bit.

-I can’t take it anymore.

Creating a common enemy is a good tactic.

By making one the devil, others will unite to criticize the one criminal, thus reducing hostility towards the instigator, Hayoon.

Now, even the water buffalo who might be a target of a witch hunt needs care…

“Still, I am grateful for the 100,000 won donation, so I’ll draw a picture for that person first. Is that okay?”

-Yeah, that’s the right thing to do.

-That person used 100,000 won and got scolded, so giving that much is fine.

Just like this.

Making someone a witch and having everyone criticize them, but also showing them special care can be done.

Everything was going smoothly…

[10,000 won donation]

-Well, sorry for crossing the line… Can I ask a question instead of a drawing? When will you show cosplay selfies? Is it possible tomorrow?

“Sigh…”

Hayoon couldn’t have anticipated this.

Could it be Aoko?

She couldn’t have expected such outright demands.

That’s why…

“Ahhh, what a drag…”

She openly displayed her discomfort and disapproval.

“Just, this selfie won’t be released. Maybe later, but sharing in this atmosphere is somewhat hurtful. Let’s just draw pictures as usual. That guy there, who is it? ChestMoreThanWaist, could you go first?”

She returned to her regular broadcasting routine after handing down a 7-day ban with some force.

The intended flow of broadcasting was broken, so the broadcast wasn’t entirely enjoyable, and she managed her emotions while winding down the day’s stream.

Since then, there was an extended period where cosplay or face revealing wasn’t mentioned at all…

“No way…”

Something was off.

20th day of fundraising.

The donation amount was showing a catastrophic growth trend…

“What…”

It finally surpassed 30 million won.

While she hadn’t thought about it until now…

“If this continues, I can cosplay with my sister…”

It was disappointing that the planned viewer conditioning didn’t go as smoothly as hoped, but at least securing something equivalent was a good trade-off.

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