“…Do you watch Twis often?”
“Uh… just occasionally when I’m bored?”
“And yet, you just happened to come across my stream?”
I was a little suspicious.
She wasn’t someone who regularly browsed Twis, yet she somehow stumbled upon my stream by chance?
If she had told me she found it through some other route, I might’ve believed her.
I stared at Seolhwa, silently urging her to come clean.
“I watch Yuki’s streams sometimes. They’re fun.”
“Oh.”
If I remembered correctly, Yuki was the person I met in that battle royale game.
Of all people, Seolhwa just had to be watching Yuki’s stream.
“Uh… I see.”
“You are streaming, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“Ohh…”
When I admitted it, Seolhwa looked at me with eyes full of curiosity.
“I’ve never met a streamer before. Especially not someone I know personally.”
“Well… it’s not like I’m that famous or anything.”
“Huh? But when I checked the other day, you had a ton of viewers?”
“…Wait, you’ve watched my stream live?”
“Yep.”
That was unexpected.
I hadn’t considered the possibility that she had actually tuned into one of my live streams.
It was… a little embarrassing.
“I saw that, uh… World Cup thing? It was fun.”
“Oh, that one.”
Thank god.
If it had been any of my other streams, I might’ve felt a little awkward.
But the World Cup stream?
That one wasn’t too embarrassing.
“I liked listening to your song evaluations. It was entertaining.”
“I was just casually rating them from my room.”
“Well, it sounded pretty legit to me.”
“I’ve just picked up a few things here and there.”
As we were chatting.
“Oh! I’ll go grab the delivery.”
Seolhwa quickly got up and brought the food inside.
With that, we started eating and properly got to work.
“We’ve hit the highest user count in history…!”
“…It’s finally happening. Honestly, I didn’t expect things to take off like this.”
“Yeah… I thought only hardcore fans would stick around, and the game would just fizzle out.”
Perhaps from staying up all night, the woman absentmindedly ran her fingers through her dry, messy hair before quickly moving around the office.
And the reason was simple.
The game’s user base had exploded in a very short period of time.
“Phew.”
Compared to just a few weeks ago, the player count had skyrocketed.
And given the nature of mobile games, revenue had increased exponentially as well.
Unable to suppress the grin forming on her lips, she grabbed some documents and headed straight for her superior.
“What do you think about moving forward with this?”
The proposal was simple.
They wanted to expand the small offline pop-up event they had previously held into something much bigger.
Of course, there was a chance people wouldn’t show up this time.
It could just be a temporary surge of interest.
But the chances of success were high.
It wasn’t just the player count that had increased—it was actual paying users.
With that in mind, the woman stared intently at her superior.
“Hmm… Sounds good to me. If we’re going to do it, let’s go all out. Start looking into placing bulk orders for the merchandise, too.”
“Yes! Understood!”
Since they had already pulled off a successful event before, the approval process was much quicker this time.
Feeling satisfied, she immediately grabbed her phone and sent a DM.
[Me: Hey,]
[Me: We’re planning to hold a large-scale game event in about three months,]
[Me: Would you be open to meeting in person to discuss it?]
Hoping for a positive response.
Three days after working with Seolhwa,
I suddenly received a message that left me momentarily stunned.
Hadn’t it only been a short while since they commissioned me for artwork to sell as merchandise?
And now, they were asking to meet in person?
‘…There have to be plenty of artists better than me.’
Why would they insist on working with me?
Finding it curious, I sent a reply.
[Me: I’m fine with it.]
[Me: Let me know the schedule sometime next week, and I’ll adjust my time accordingly.]
Meeting next week should be fine.
The game company had always treated me well, so there was no reason to turn them down.
A short while after sending the DM.
[Heart X Memorial: Understood!!]
[Heart X Memorial: We’ll reach out again then!]
[Me: Sounds good.]
Just as I was about to put my phone down, a thought crossed my mind.
There was something I was curious about.
[Me: By the way,]
[Me: Is there a particular reason you keep choosing me?]
[Me: There must be plenty of artists better than me.]
Of course, I was confident in my art.
I made a living off it, after all.
But there would always be people out there who were more skilled.
And then.
[Heart X Memorial: There’s no one better than you.]
[Heart X Memorial: We’ve looked everywhere, and there’s simply no one who can draw as perfectly as you. So please don’t say that..!]
A long, passionate DM arrived.
It was written so firmly that I could tell just how serious they were.
‘…They really do like my art, huh?’
Up until now, I wasn’t completely sure.
But now, I could tell—they genuinely trusted my work.
Maybe that’s why.
I found myself liking them more and more.
Should I draw a new illustration for them as a token of appreciation?
That thought crossed my mind.
“Haah…”
Stretching out my stiff body, I sat down in front of my computer.
It was time to start streaming again.
What should I do for today’s stream?
I had done a World Cup last time, so doing another one today felt like overkill.
With those thoughts in mind, I started the stream.
[Stream has started!]
As soon as the stream notification popped up, viewers began to pour in.
[+HurryAndLeave: ᄒᄋᄒᄋ]
[Finally, you’re on LOL.]
[Why now, why now, why now, why now, why now, why now, why now, why now, why now!!!]
[Is there a reason you can’t just start your streams earlier? Genuinely curious.]
[Pepe: I almost snapped my neck waiting for this LOL.]
[Why are you so late!!!!]
Come to think of it, today’s stream had way more viewers than usual.
I was aware that my audience had been growing recently, but compared to last time, the increase was even more dramatic.
Finding it a bit odd, I checked my follower count.
And then.
“Huh? When did my followers shoot up like this?”
The number of people following my stream had skyrocketed.
Even my VOD views were through the roof.
[+HurryAndLeave: Well, because it’s fun…]
[It’s been spreading like crazy LOL.]
[This place is a hidden gem for World Cups.]
[People from other communities came just to watch the World Cup, too.]
[Pepe: I mean, I’d check it out at least once too LOL.]
I could definitely feel my stream growing.
If this had been before, I probably would’ve thought I was being view-botted.
[Viewers: 351]
I had over 300 people watching me live?
Finding it fascinating, I started setting up the poll for today.
“Alright, let’s get straight into voting. Since I haven’t streamed in a while, I’ll skip the small talk and just start.”
[+HurryAndLeave: Damn.]
[Now this is it LOL.]
[This is how it should be.]
[The one and only Yott.]
[Truly a god-tier streamer…]
It seemed like the viewers preferred this approach as well.
With that in mind, I kicked off the poll.
Oh, but this time.
There was no “World Cup” option.
I planned to do World Cups at most once every two weeks.
No matter how good a dish is, if you eat it too often, you’ll get sick of it.
Pacing it out would be better.
“I’ll set the poll duration to… 20 minutes. In the meantime, let’s browse the café a bit.”
Ever since I created the community café, streaming had become way more convenient.
It was a great way to pass the time during breaks.
[+HurryAndLeave: Oh hoho.]
[Damn, it’s chill time.]
[Increase the café member limit! Increase the café member limit! Increase the café member limit! Increase the café member limit!]
[Yeah, you have to increase it LOL.]
[With this many viewers, how can you not increase the café limit…]
[Pepe: Not really my decision LOL.]
Looking at the chat, it was clear that people were frustrated about how limited the café spots were.
Which was understandable.
Even I thought the café capacity was a bit too small.
“Alright, I’ll add 20 more spots.”
So, I decided to open up 20 additional slots.
The reason I wasn’t adding more was simple—I only wanted verified members.
I didn’t want random troublemakers sneaking in and ruining the community.
Of course, the café manager would handle moderation, but still.
[+HurryAndLeave: Whoa, he’s actually adding 20 more people.]
[That’s crazy generous.]
[20 spots? That’s barely anything LOL.]
[Then don’t apply, genius.]
[Pepe: Oh, this is nice.]
[Please let me get in…]
And just like that, an impromptu selection process had begun.