〈 Chapter 572 Part 2-1-02 〉
“Ah, I really don’t get it…”
The Young Man once again failed in his attempt to enter the route. The “Game Over” screen that appeared before his eyes naturally made him irritated, but he had no one to blame but himself for his own playstyle.
“Yandere endings are scary….”
They say loving women can be terrifying. He just tried walking on three legs and attempted various methods to enter the Phoenix route, only to end up brutally killed. Though there was no physical pain, his heart ached.
Achievement Unlocked!
“This shouldn’t count as an achievement…”
It’s been well over a month since the DLC release, and yet despite the developer claiming they’ve been preparing for a year, the game still hasn’t reached a 100% completion rate.
“Are these guys just researching how to kill off the protagonist?”
Seriously, they kill off the main character in all sorts of ways. Getting attacked by monsters is one thing, but dying at the hands of heroines or allies happens quite often too.
– Of course, most of those cases involve some pretty dumb mistakes.
“Ugh, this is so frustrating…”
Scratching his head, the Young Man logged onto a streaming site. Among the many competitive games being broadcasted, <Blue Sky's Death Dinass>, a notorious 19+ visual novel, was surprisingly ranking within the top five most viewed streams.
“Why are people watching this thing…?”
The Young Man couldn’t understand. Even though this stream claimed to be a walkthrough, games like these are usually more fun when you play them yourself rather than watch someone else. Unless you’re watching someone else do what you can’t…
“Ah, I guess that makes sense.”
Watching streams can provide a form of vicarious satisfaction. Especially when you’ve given up on routes you can’t access yourself, or when you enjoy seeing your favorite streamer develop chemistry with a heroine.
“Anything interesting…?”
The Young Man was more into gathering information. If he found anything new during streams, he’d try to experience it himself. This led him to browse through major corporate streams with over 10,000 viewers down to smaller, lesser-known ones.
“Hmm? What’s this?”
Among tens of thousands of streams broadcasting <Death Dinass>, one particular stream caught his eye.
<Experienced Rookie Cheongnyeonjang's Maiden DLC Broadcast (feat. Husband)> Viewers: 2.
“What is this?”
Did someone start a stream then abandon it? The game was still running, but the streamer’s face wasn’t visible.
“No cam feed?”
The Young Man clicked the stream to relax his mind. Maybe this “experienced rookie” would be different.
[Hmm…I wonder what happens if I choose the female commander?]
[Doesn’t matter either way. The heroines will accept whatever your true feelings are, even if you’re the same gender.]
“Whoa.”
Familiar yet strange voices startled the Young Man. Two distinct voices he never expected to hear live sent shivers down his spine.
“But I’ll go with male.”
[Why?]
“So I can romance the heroines…!”
“That’s fair.”
Despite feeling somewhat sacrilegious, the Young Man couldn’t help but agree with the streamer using such a divine voice for lewd comments. Though the “(feat. husband)” part felt a bit off, couples streaming together wasn’t unheard of.
‘Using 19+ VN to make money from your wife? Wife okay with playing as male protagonist? Yikes.’
Money sure is scary. Curious about who these people were, the Young Man hovered his hand over the keyboard. Besides himself, two other silent viewers were also watching.
[LastCommander]: Excuse me
[LastCommander]: No cam?
[LastCommander]: Is it off?
[Ah, the cam? We’re currently scanning body data, so it’s temporarily off. Oh, you just arrived. Nice to meet you.]
“…Geez, creepy.”
The Young Man got goosebumps. Even if they were trying to mimic voices, it would be impossible to replicate them this perfectly. If this was intentional concept play, both partners were master ventriloquists.
“One is P-jang and the other is P-hyung.”
For a concept stream, it was incredibly unique. With body data being scanned, it seemed like the person was playing VR for the first time.
[LastCommander]: Is your wife playing?
[Yes. I’ve cleared it before, but this is my wife’s first time playing while watching beside me.]
[LastCommander]: Doesn’t your wife mind playing this?
[……We met through this, so it’s fine.]
While the player’s body data was being scanned, the conversation between the young man referred to as “husband” and the Young Man filled the broadcast.
[LastCommander]: Are you voice actors for Phoenix? Is this a roleplay?
[…Not voice actors, just our real voices. My wife’s too. We’re really married.]
[LastCommander]: I see haha
The Young Man suddenly became curious. How does the wife feel about playing as a male protagonist romancing other women? Would she take over herself in the heat of the moment? Or would they just skip those parts?
[Ah, we’re done.]
Just as the Young Man was about to ask his question, the mysterious voice spoke again. Despite sounding identical, maintaining polite speech even in personal thoughts impressed the Young Man-
“Damn it!”
When the woman appeared on screen, the Young Man let out a string of curses. Combining VR gear with streaming software created a system that showed the player’s full-body avatar as if filmed by a nearby camera.
[Woo, another viewer! Nice to meet you, LastCommander.]
“Whoa, damn. What is this?”
She looked like she stepped straight out of a cosplay convention where the developers opened a dimensional gate. More importantly, how did she achieve such vivid blue hair and eyes?
[I’m Cheongnyeon!]
Introducing herself as Cheongnyeon, the woman spun the VR position camera 180 degrees. The Young Man gasped at what appeared on screen.
“Phoenix?!”
[Tada! Phoenix cosplay! It was tough to hide the inside of the helmet!]
[I’m the dedicated cameraman [Producer].]
A woman who looked exactly like Blazing Phoenix (human form).
And a man who resembled Blazing Phoenix (monster form) almost identically.
Seeing what appeared to be two Phoenixes streaming together gave the Young Man chills.
[LastCommander]: You guys prepared really thoroughly. Thought you were the real deal.
[Genuine? Genu-dde?]
[Means you look real. Sorry, he’s still weak with slang.]
[Why shorten Korean when speaking? Words not conveyed properly when condensed unnecessarily. Language is meant to sincerely express one’s heart…]
Click. The Producer muted Cheongnyeon’s mic. Having silenced the main broadcaster, the Producer pointed at the incessantly chatting Cheongnyeon while writing something on a sketchbook visible in the bottom-right sub-cam.
[Sorry, he has a condition where he dies without talking.]
“…Thorough concept indeed.”
Checking the time, the Young Man realized he had plenty of time before the online <Friendly Exchange Match> update of the DLC. Since he’d already set up his squad, he decided to relax by watching the stream.
“…Got time to spare, might as well watch a bit.”
The Young Man settled in to watch. Like him, others seemed drawn in by some inexplicable force, or perhaps lured by the stunning visuals after the body scan finished – the viewers already exceeded ten.
[UnnaAngel]: Is this cosplay play? Is that possible?
[OurNuriIsSafe]: Isn’t this VR avatar? So that’s her real face and body?
[PPP]: Wow P really bbal-tong ojinda
<Notice> PPP has been permanently banned by the manager.
“…That ban came fast.”
The Young Man shivered. The comment hadn’t been up for even 0.1 seconds before the offender was instantly removed.
[What? Ban? …Oh my, thank you for the compliment but this belongs to someone else. Puhehe.]
“…Claiming to be married but their mental fortitude is something else.”
Reading the chat, the Young Man was astonished by how nonchalantly Cheongnyeon brushed it off. There would surely be many more drawn in by appearances resembling Phoenix so closely, but maintaining sanity while doing so would be difficult.
‘No, playing a game where you flirt with other women as a male protagonist in front of your husband isn’t normal to begin with.’
How long could this broadcast last? With lottery-like excitement, the Young Man topped up his cash.
[LastCommander] subscribed for 1 month!
Thus, he became the first subscriber to this otherworldly broadcast.
* * *
Though first-person perspective is standard for VR game broadcasts, third-person viewing of the streamer’s gameplay is also possible in certain cases.
In the former, the player’s visual information is directly streamed, but in the latter, a ‘cameraman’ is needed to film the player’s actions from the side.
In that sense, I became the stream’s manager, chat moderator, cameraman, and commentator – overall, the <Producer>. While broadcasting risks revealing both Blaze Flame and myself, the key objective was showing ‘someone’ our broadcast.
A broadcast not for viewers, but to avoid falling into the developer’s traps.
There won’t be any nonsense like DMs during viewing triggering additional updates or mind control. Probably.
“Ah, subscription reactions? Never heard of it! Puhehe.”
Communicating without actually communicating. Qinghua, who claims to be an experienced beginner but focuses solely on gameplay after revealing her face post-scan, didn’t react much to the increased viewership.
“Can we turn off donations? The sounds keep interrupting my system settings.”
“Just ignore it like birds chirping.”
“Hmm…got it. I’ll filter out any commentary then.”
“Will that commentary even work?”
We know more than any player in this world.
‘Fine for minor characters, but we know more about important ones.’
Take for example the <Light Blade Survival Route> branching from the Seok Harang route – we know everything from how to enter the route to how to resolve it. Though our method is monster-style while the DLC uses hero-style solutions.
“Commentary will result in counter-commentary~! I know more than you think as an experienced beginner.”
Qinghua threatened the viewers in reverse. Some took it as a joke, but someone actually fell for it and spoiled DLC content.
[Nymn] Do you know who Sister Xiaolin is? 50,000 won if you do.
“Bonghyo, half-brother, and has one extremely loyal fan.”
The viewers froze solid. Qinghua’s casual spoiler left them confused. Of course, she paid no heed to the stunned audience and continued speaking.
“Do you know what video SR-6974 original Bonghyo is holding? Why does he have that? Not telling! Puhehe.”
Qinghua signaled me to cut her throat. Smiling, I issued a one-hour chat ban to the questioner.
?????
Won’t receive 50,000 won? Chat ban means no donation.
Going to re-clear Xiaolin route right now.
“It’s not about receiving money. We’re just here to let you watch us play. Rotten puddles’ skill broadcasts? Let’s see…around 20 people gathered now. Time for our experienced newbie quiz!”
Qinghua had already entered the game. The familiar opening had passed, and she selected male character – the original commander Xian.w.Hibiscus.
“I thought there weren’t options like this…”
Qinghua looked to me for help. I too had never seen this questionnaire.
<Please select your occupation!>
– Blonde Western Male
– Current Hero
– Professional Monster Hunter
– Mercenary
“…What’s this?”
“I don’t know either.”
Seems like besides Muhwagaboy, another dark history has emerged.
“But is ‘Blonde Western Male’ really an occupation?”
“You’re asking me…”
Location>Ending #15-929, [You said you only loved me!]>
