Chapter 38: Ready to tame

It had been 20 minutes since Da-young moved from the uncomfortable chair to the bed.

She brought the straw of her tumbler to her lips while still not taking her eyes off the screen.

As she savored the coffee being sucked up through the straw, she felt her mood lighten a little, and the complaints she had been holding in burst out.

“Seriously, if someone saw me now, they’d think I’m not a streamer, but a manager.”

She casually checked the public’s opinion and was watching the edited video that had just been uploaded when she felt the sorrow of a nanny looking after a child, causing her to smile wryly.

Since yesterday, when she started setting up the channel and asking about various things, it had reached a point where it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that she was raising the child herself.

‘What could she do?’ Even if the channel had 6,000 subscribers, Sehee unnie was still a beginner when it came to streaming.

With that much effort required, there was no other choice.

‘It’s not going to last long anyway.’

Like most things, this kind of situation was more about experience and instinct than theory.

If she set things up properly at the beginning, Sehee would probably handle things on her own later.

“The reactions… well, they’re not bad.”

She muttered indifferently, without any real change in her tone.

Gaining fame was just a natural step.

There were a few extreme reactions, but the content itself wasn’t problematic.

It was typical for fans to grumble when a pretty streamer quickly ended the broadcast.

That was just the nature of the “juice” (diehard fans).

Besides, not all the reactions were like that.

“Of course, Da-young. With me, the skinny chair model, promoting too, anything less would be disappointing.”

Ignoring the narcissistic ramblings of the “skinny chair,” Da-young sighed inwardly.

For some reason, her mind felt unsettled.

The desire to snap the skinny chair’s skull into a V-shape and the annoyance at its arrogant frog-like speech had been restrained somewhat.

Except for a few words, everything else was the same…

Probably, that arrogant little bastard was just waiting for a chance to redeem himself.

In other words, he still hadn’t been fully reformed.

The thought of delivering more corrective punches crossed her mind, but she worried that the skinny chair might “disappear” if she did that, so she decided not to act further.

‘What was it about this guy?’ In the end, she compromised by just fixing his tone of speech.

‘There will be a chance to turn him back into an angel with that innocent tone.’

Believing that the opportunity would come eventually, she decided to be content with the progress made so far.

‘Even with just the change in his tone, hadn’t he made huge progress?’

The “skinny chair,” who had been constantly pestering her about the lack of chat moderator activity, urged Da-young again.

***

“But when is Se-hee going to stream? I need to be put in as a chat moderator. Did you forget about me?”

“Well? Now that you mention it, she never said when she’d start.”

‘Should I contact her?’

Da-young replied casually while taking out her smartphone.

[Forming: Unnie, when is Pepe going to be put in?]

[Friede: Writing a message…]

Ah, she saw it right away.

The message, written in about a minute, was soon sent to Da-young’s phone.

[Friede: Pepe will be put in later… I have something to experiment with right now.]

‘Experiment?’

‘What kind of experiment was she talking about?’

The unexpected answer made Da-young tilt her head in confusion.

Ding..

Soon, the notification sound of her smartphone rang.

Se-hee unnie had written a new post on the Friede channel.

Could this be related to the “experiment” she had mentioned earlier? With curiosity, Da-young accessed the community section of the channel.

[Friede777 Channel -]

[Author: Friede777]

“Today, I will start the broadcast at 7 PM.”

What’s this?

Looking at the time, it was 6:50 PM.

Starting in 10 minutes, she thought, but the announcement seemed too ordinary to be worth much attention.

She didn’t understand what the “experiment” was, so she looked at Pepe, but there was no answer.

Pepe just shrugged and muttered, “I don’t know?”

Da-young finished all the setup and waited for the broadcast time to arrive.

She was preparing to try something different today, and her heart raced as she just stared at the clock.

She was full of anticipation, thinking about what kind of reaction she would get and how her audience would show interest.

Then the message panel lit up, signaling that a new message had arrived.

[Forming: Unnie, when is Pepe going to be put in?]

Pepe… oh, right.

Thinking about it, you’re one of the reasons for this too.

‘What should I do? Should I put him in right now?’

After a moment of thought, Da-young shook her head.

Now was not the right time.

There was still a need to observe a little longer.

Yeah. This was, in a way, an experiment.

[Friede: Pepe will be put in later… I have something to experiment with right now.]

She paused for a moment before quickly typing out the message and sending it, letting out a faint, amused smile.

The decision to try something new started the day before, when she uploaded the edited video and saw the reactions.

The previous broadcast had been successful, so she thought she could just show the same Soul Warfare ranked game again.

But as she edited, the chat history presented her with new dilemmas.

The first problem was the constant demand from certain users to perform specific actions, which was cluttering the chat.

Ah, among them, there were some inappropriate ones.

Even if it wasn’t Pepe, this could have been a problem waiting to explode.

She had already brought it up in the first broadcast, but she felt it would only get worse from here on out.

The second problem was controlling the level of attention.

She began to feel doubtful about whether this was really okay.

It wasn’t that it was bad, but she was afraid it would become monotonous if things continued as they were.

The same gameplay, the same excitement.

While it was important to follow the mainstream, this was the kind of thing that could get boring over time.

If someone asked her what she meant by “monotony” so soon after the first broadcast, she had no answer.

But this was something she had to prepare for in advance.

Sometimes, a little “spice” was needed.

After all, there was no need to keep eating the same meal every day.

It seemed necessary to slightly adjust the level of attention, much like changing side dishes.

While editing, I came across a viewer’s comment that gave me a good idea.

By addressing the problem, I could consistently engage with the audience and draw out their attention.

***

[-Friede777 Channel-]

[Posted by: Friede777]

“The broadcast will begin at 7 PM today.”

I posted a new announcement on the YouTube channel community.

Well, the dice have been rolled.

It doesn’t really matter if the announcement is posted 10 minutes before the broadcast starts.

‘It took some effort to prepare this.’

I just hope the results will meet my expectations—of course, I mean my own expectations.

The remaining 10 minutes passed in a flash.

The time had come.

As I looked down at my outfit before starting the broadcast, I considered what Da-young had said.

I was dressed in the ‘normal’ warrior gear—smoothly wrapped in elegant clothing.

Ah, if I wore that on top of it… it would really be something to behold.

Well, the best case would be for that situation to never arise, though.

After rechecking that the broadcast was running smoothly, I cleared my throat and adjusted my voice before greeting the viewers.

“Broadcast has started.”

Without any flashy lines, I simply started it casually.

In response to my voice, the chat exploded with fiery comments.

[Frha!]

[Host!]

[Friede, your voice, ehehe~]

“Open the door! I’m cold!”

[This is the perfect timing, sensei.]

[Let’s do an 8-hour full broadcast today.]

[Did you see the community reactions?]

[Yo, the broadcast is supposed to be on Switch, why is it on YouTube?]

Like a horde of zombies, viewers flooded in the moment the broadcast started.

The ever-updating viewer count and the overwhelming collective attention made the chatroom feel chaotic.

I shrugged.

This wasn’t an unexpected reaction.

“Yes, it’s a nice evening. Have you all had dinner?”

[Already devoured it.]

[I ordered chicken.]

[I’ll eat while watching!]

Let’s start the ranked game already, noona!]

As the pace of the broadcast picked up faster than the first stream, the speed of the chat was like a steam train devouring coal.

Glancing at the viewer count, it had surpassed 4,000 in less than 10 minutes.

At this speed, it didn’t matter whether it was trolling or anything else.

The chat was being overtaken in a second.

[Yo, this chat is moving too fast.]

[I’m getting dizzy ]

[How long has it been since we started and it’s already going crazy?]

[Sensei, let’s set a follow-only mode or a 1-minute, 1-chat chance.]

[Yo, are you the only one writing in the chat?]

[You follow too!]

[Chat’s going wild, huh. It’s meaningless even if you follow, right?]

‘But what is broadcasting? Isn’t it all about communication?’

Asking the viewers to communicate in a chat like this was like demanding excessive physical effort from them.

Indeed…

‘I might need to manage this.’

I was about to casually adjust the panel when a thought suddenly crossed my mind, causing my delicate fingers to freeze in mid-air.

Ah, this might be fun.

For a brief moment, a cold smile crossed my face, but it was so brief that the viewers probably didn’t notice.

I took a moment to calm myself, then awkwardly opened my mouth, maneuvering my hands through the holographic panel.

“How do I do this again?”

If another streamer were watching, they’d probably think, ‘Oh no, she’s not going to figure this out, is she?’

As I fumbled with various settings, the chat exploded with comments.

[Does she really not know the settings?]

[What?]

[Is she… clueless?]

[At this point, it’s bold of her.]

[Didn’t anyone teach her about chat moderation?]

“Guys, calm down. Hold on a second. And seriously, don’t talk bad about me.”

Let’s ban this guy.

The first ban of the season was made, and the chat went wild.

The peaceful atmosphere quickly gave way to chaos, which gave the viewers a fresh experience.

At first, they wondered if I really didn’t know, but seeing me fiddle with the screen and settings, new thoughts began to form.

There was something mischievous about the idea of making her squirm.

This new change was enough to ignite a new fire in the viewers watching me.

[?? Who got mad?]

[Seriously, what’s there to calm down about?]

“Stop, stop burning up the chat.”

[Our host keeps whining for us to stop.]

[This is so new, hehe~]

[Hey, Friede, let’s go with the ‘laissez-faire’ approach in the chat.]

[What does Marxism and laissez-faire have to do with this?]

[Oh, the Great Depression hit the chat, what the heck?]

As I dragged the moment on, the timing became perfect, and a cold smile crept onto my face as it showed beneath my helmet.

Without hesitation, my finger hit the panel with precision.

“Ta-da~! It wasn’t that I didn’t know.”

I quickly set the chat to follow-only mode with 1 chat per minute, and without missing a beat, I shrugged and announced.

And with that, the hooks started pouring in again.

[Meeting]

[????? What? You knew?]

[Are you messing with us like this?]

“You should’ve set this from the start, sensei.”

[Another victim of the establishment, huh?]

I let out a small exclamation of delight.

The chatroom, filled with texts, was now in a state of silent uproar.

‘Is this really the firepower you can generate in a follow-only, 1-chat-per-minute setting?’

Well, it’s still okay—there’s a flow to it.

The intensity gradually subsided as the chat fell into a lull, and I felt much more satisfied with this outcome.

With that energy, I stuck my tongue out at the camera and made a victory sign.

It might seem childish, but somehow, I felt like I’d won.

As I savored the intense attention from the viewers, a smile I could barely suppress escaped from my lips.