Chapter 47

200,000 won.

It’s 200,000 won.

Not just a paltry sum, it’s an amount close to a million.

Hayoon, who had a premonition that there would be some issue, checked the chat window while hiding her perplexity.

– KYAAAAAAAA.

– SHIT, it’s this thing~.

– I don’t know what it is, but apparently, it involves dancing, right?

– Chairman, NICE!!!

The waterbuffalo users cheered.

Hayoon wasn’t someone who flaunted an exceptionally large bust like popular female streamers or showed off a pretty face, but the thrill of watching a high school girl dressed in cosplay was enough to satisfy their guilty pleasure.

From the way they were grinning and typing into the chat, it was evident how it worked.

The group of waterbuffalo users who had initially been gathered to boost the sales for the “Cosplay Holic,” as an idea, had started to create problems instead.

-WAAAAAAAA!

– She’s dancing! She’s dancing!

-Hahaha~

The familiar nicknames that often appeared on Hayoon’s drawing stream weren’t much different.

Anyway, to put it simply…

If you’re a woman, they’ll beg relentlessly.

No matter how much they claim to prefer 2D, if a woman does something right in front of them, their mouths fall open…

“Phew…”

Hayoon sighed deeply, feeling stifled.

Without allies, her expressions couldn’t be bright, could they?

[200,000 won donation]

-Gimme~

And this madman hadn’t missed even Hayoon’s little sigh.

Do waterbuffalo users usually have this much money…?

What kind of thinking is it that would spend a million won within a few minutes?

Are they thinking like they’re playing some gacha game?

Maybe it’s like a盆栽game, collecting female dancer clips?

Yeah, it’s probably something like that.

Otherwise, there’s no way they’d act like this.

“Huh, haha…”

Hayoon felt as if her consciousness was getting dizzy.

Not like anyone’s looking at me like I’m a monkey in a zoo or anything!

“Hey, you! Ban you first. I didn’t ask you to do anything.”

[Mission registered!]

-If you do Zero Two, I’ll give an additional 100,00 million won.

-Please, it’s a humble request. You can refund me if needed.

“Two… hundred…?”

Feeling increasingly dizzy from the sum, Hayoon blinked.

-Come on, you HAVE to do this!

-There’s a basic norm, right? This should be done.

-Not doing this would be unacceptable.

-I’d like to watch your drawing stream, but seems like this is unavoidable. Hayoonnyeon.

The chat had already gone chaotic a long time ago.

Even before Hayoon responded, they were making a 1-million-won down payment.

Then add another million after the fact, making it 2 million in total.

An amount like this—if Hayoon were to refuse and return the money only to have it be talked about in online communities as “cold-hearted” or “money-grabbing”—could create a bad name.

But does that matter now?

“Images are consumables.”

That’s right, images are consumables.

Once consumed, they can’t be easily restored.

Hayoon originally took care not to expose her real identity and only showed her face on offline goods. Why would she?

“Offering dances for donations means 2 million might become the standard.”

A sum of 2 million turns her into a half-cam streamer who dances while showing reactions on the camera.

This isn’t a good sign.

If Hayoon had previously announced something celebratory like a 35 million won milestone reaction, it might have been different.

But this is audience-driven.

If you waver because of donations, it’s game over for you.

No matter how much money is involved, if Hayoon accepts it and then caves, that amount becomes the new standard for swaying her.

If Hayoon were to start some other content, mid-content, a 2 million won donation might trigger her to open her camera and dance, too.

And that would be the worst.

“Phew…”

It had to be cut off.

The 2 million is a bit regrettable, but…

It still had to be cut. What else could be done?

“Take them out.”

-For real?

As Hayoon told someone to cut off the major donors, Usogeon started sending ban notifications.

Naturally.

Honestly, Usogeon also had a mix of wanting to see her dance and being irritated by the waterbuffalo users, but he hadn’t expected Hayoon to make such a decisive cut.

“Refunds will be processed, and missions will be rejected. You can ban them. We’ll bear the refund fees, but unreasonable requests should be executed accordingly.”

-For real, will you kill them?

“I said, take them all out.”

Swoosh.

Using the authority transferred from Hayoon, Usogeon promptly cut off the big spender who had offered the same amount in a previous donation and a mission.

“Stop this, alright? Got it? A hand-heart is enough; don’t ask for more.”

Hayoon kept up the cold reaction as she completed the refund verification and started drawing with her cam on.

She tried her best to continue receiving recommendations while drawing, attempting to restore the atmosphere…

-Ahhh, this won’t work.

-So disappointing.

The noise continued.

The chats kept showing spammy comments and even nonsensical donations.

“Cut them all out. Since you guys usually mess around, it’s time to manage the quality of the audience.”

-For real? Is it okay?

“Broadcasts can’t run this way. Just remove all the waterbuffalos. Keep only the familiar nicks. Or maybe put a follow-time limit on the chat.”

-Understood. Confirmed.

Hayoon declared the elimination order via a private chat with her chat manager, Usogeon.

Usogeon started eliminating the disruptive waterbuffalo users right away.

Once the first phase of the cleanup finished…

“Alright, let’s take the next request. Tell me anything. Bunny girl? Oh, sure, I got it.”

It seemed like Hayoon had found her rhythm again.

-Ahhh, this bunny girl outfit.

-You mean a high-cut version?

“Obviously high-cut. F-cup minimum, of course.”

-Ahhh, that’s what you meant!

-You sure know your stuff, huh?

The viewers had escaped the chaotic mood, and the stream seemed to stabilize.

[1,000 won donation]

-But, isn’t cutting someone who donated 2 million a bit…?

A one-thousand won snide donation comment came flying in.

“Ugh, hell, seriously!”

Finally, unable to contain herself, Hayoon slammed her desk with a loud bang.

In other words, she fired a shotgun warning.

“Hayoon… what is this all about suddenly? That loud sound…”

“Huh…”

“You…”

“That… that…”

“What are you doing…?”

And then, Yusoohee entered.

Perfect timing.

-LOL.

-This is refreshing.

-This is why we watch underage streams, huh.

-Flawless. HAH.

-Turn on the cam.

The viewers were delighted by the situation itself and cheered.

Despite the chaos, Hayoon’s wallet had definitely grown fatter from this broadcast…

“Really, what are you doing, you?”

“T, T, That is…”

For some reason, it felt like her heart was about to collapse into emptiness.

#

Yusoohee doesn’t know that Hayoon is streaming right now. This could still be salvaged at this point.

But if donation sounds start chiming now, that would be the real problem.

Hayoon quickly kicked the main unit, forcibly ending the broadcast, then rushed to Yusoohee.

“T, T, This is nothing. Nothing at all.”

“Nothing? Is THAT nothing?”

Flap.

Yusoohee held up Hayoon’s light blue-streaked silver wig.

“Why are you cosplaying? What’s with this random cosplay in your room?”

“T, T, J, I just did it. That’s all.”

“Just?”

The more Hayoon tried to justify it, the more self-loathing she felt.

She knew her excuses were terrible.

“T, T… Let’s just say it’s for the purpose of finding inner peace. I wear similar outfits as the characters I draw so I can check on them anytime. The concept of this work is cosplay, after all. Cosplay.”

“Cosplay?”

“I, I, I like cosplay!”

“Like it? Why?”

“Because it’s pretty! Unique! My new self is refreshing, something you wouldn’t see in everyday life.”

Even as she said these things, Hayoon questioned herself internally.

How ridiculous must I look?

It was painfully obvious how absurd this looked.

Yet, the self-loathing only grew stronger.

But…

“Ah, well…”

Yusoohee reluctantly nodded as if she understood.

She clearly didn’t understand at all.

Even the idea of her daughter making a cosplay book is hard to understand, never mind catching her bickering over a camera setup like this.

“Alright…”

No matter how hard it was to understand, one should support their daughter’s unique interests.

With a grim expression, Yusoohee slowly nodded and quietly left Hayoon’s room.

And Hayoon…

“Shit. Motherfucker…”

Once she closed the door firmly, she threw herself onto the bed and spewed curses.

Hayoon thought she was the type who didn’t get easily discouraged by making money.

She honestly thought that everything she’d done so far would go well this time too.

But that wasn’t the case.

“Hhhahaaaa…”

Experiencing a deep existential crisis, Hayoon sighed deeply.

She felt like she was about to lose her mind.

What exactly can she do about this?

At least, for now, it seemed like Yusoohee considered this a strange hobby and backed off…

-Talk about it in detail tomorrow.

Though…

A message was sent.

Guess this isn’t going to quietly pass.

---