Kayak, who has now become a half-celebrity, would shake her head in embarrassment if you told her that. But it was undeniable. Just booting up the Switch app would instantly reveal her stream perched high up on the list.
The interest had been gradually increasing from the beginning. She appeared on Nicang’s stream, then on Taker’s, and eventually started her own. In the end, she even won a highly-publicized tournament that drew the attention of many.
By the time she won, it would be fair to say she had peaked as a rookie streamer. In other words, she was a rising star—a newly emerged celestial body.
Recently, in the Twitch scene, her name had been brought up more than once. Some felt a strange emotion seeing the sudden emergence of such a big name. The world of online streaming is like that, after all. New streamers flood in continuously, but it’s rare for one to attract viewers and interest in such a short span of time.
Especially considering this supernova was a woman, suspiciously skilled at games, and, to top it all off, had a perfect figure—it was truly a rare case.
Curiosity drove most people to the Abyss gallery, her stronghold, to ask what kind of person she truly was. This was part of the process of new viewers being drawn in by their interest in the streamer. Unfortunately, even the gallery that prided itself as her origin point couldn’t provide a satisfactory answer.
It was likely because it was something they couldn’t fathom either. Why on earth did such a bright young woman get into such a niche game? How did she possess such outstanding skills? And on top of all that, what was the reason behind her lovely voice and perfect body?
They had no clear explanation for the “three-year void” when Kayak had vanished without a trace while streaming without a mic or camera. So, to expect them to have a brilliant answer for this phenomenon was asking too much.
Regardless, Kayak’s streams and her name were only growing more popular by the day. It wasn’t surprising at all for someone keeping an eye on Twitch to become interested in her.
“Kayak… they say this person saved the dying Abyss?”
Muttering to himself, a man in search of the right character to embark on a crucial mission had been pondering for days. In line with that, he scoured online communities, researching streamers.
I researched streamers.
It seemed like I finally found the right candidate.
“I hope our game gets some love too.”
Their identity was a team leader from Envision, receiving orders from above to give advertising to suitable streamers.
The game, once called a masterpiece, had long lost its reputation. Users kept leaving, and it was now fair to call it a failed game.
Now, clinging to straws, they were trying various things, but the people’s reactions were cold as ice.
Recently, Envision had conducted a major patch that could be considered a significant upheaval. After this renewal, they were giving money to streamers who didn’t have any to spare and assigning them advertisements.
Hoping for a good outcome, the team leader decided to entrust the advertisement to the currently popular streamer, Kayak.
But there was one problem.
“This person doesn’t have an email address?”
Streamers usually leave behind an email address. However, there was absolutely nothing of the sort on Kayak’s broadcast home.
Normally, one would at least jot down an email address for communicating with viewers or for receiving advertisements.
I can’t believe there’s no email address. That means there’s no official contact line. How are they supposed to convey that they want to give an advertisement?
After grappling with this unexpected situation for a while, the team leader eventually left comments in two places.
One was the Abyss gallery, and the other was the latest video on the VTube channel that Kayak had created.
*
‘Kayak’
@Kayak
3.6k Subscribers: 4 Videos
I just finished broadcasting.
Having informed the viewers that I hired editors and promoted my channel, I proceeded with ranked climbing broadcasts and shot straight to the upper tier of Grandmaster.
I thought this was enough and ended the broadcast. Now, I was checking my VTube channel.
In the meantime, the subscribers had increased a lot. While it may be due to additional videos I uploaded back-to-back, the impact of promoting during live broadcasts was definitely significant.
In the coming days, or rather while broadcasting, I had to continuously mention VTube.
As I pondered what kind of videos I should post and what style of videos people would like, I felt like a new challenge had emerged apart from live streaming. Honestly, I felt lost and a bit overwhelmed, but I was also pleased to feel like I had taken a new step forward.
The employees are growing, and it’s not just me fretting over V-Tubing.
Take today, for example. While I was busy broadcasting, the two of them pulled out some videos they had stashed away and uploaded them without a second thought.
And honestly, there’s a certain thrill in checking people’s reactions, so I found myself enjoying reading the comments.
Even the video uploaded a few hours ago is getting a steady stream of comments. Just a few minutes ago, another new comment popped up.
@maskn1229: 3 hours ago
“Your form is insane ㄷㄷㄷ”
@qqkk1111: 2 hours ago
“Your voice is so nice ㅠㅠ Where do you broadcast?”
@chuncheonjoa: 2 hours ago
“Hmm… is that all? Isn’t that all they do?”
@Nvision_KR: 12 minutes ago
“I’d like to contact you regarding an advertisement, but there’s no communication channel, so I’m leaving this comment. If you see this, please reach out to Envision’s official V-Tube…”
“Envision?”
What’s this comment? Is this some new trolling? Upon closer inspection, it was indeed an official channel.
Envision. That name sounded quite familiar—mostly from not-so-great associations, though.
Anyway, why is Envision reaching out to my V-Tube? Based on the comment, I could roughly guess what the matter was…
Beep—
That was when my phone started vibrating like crazy.
It was a call from my editor, Yusia.
“Boss, are you available to talk right now?”
“Yes, Yusia. What’s up?”
“It’s nothing much… but could you log into V-Tube for a moment?”
What Yusia wanted to tell me wasn’t too far off from what I expected.
To summarize, Envision was interested in hiring me for a game advertisement.
“They didn’t have a specific contact point, so they left comments on V-Tube and the Abyss gallery. On the gallery, it got buried quickly because everyone thought it was just trolling, and I just discovered it on V-Tube and reached out to you.”
“I see.”
“I found out just now, but I realized there’s no email address for your broadcasting station. You might want to set up a dedicated email for this sort of thing.”
Well, I definitely felt the need for one after this incident. An advertisement? I hadn’t even considered that.
Thanks to that, Yusia, who isn’t even my dedicated manager, is now putting in the effort to reach out on that front.
These days, I’ve been getting a lot of random emails and annoying spam, so I intentionally kept my address hidden.
So, I intentionally left my email address down because I was getting a flood of emails.
I overlooked the fact that I need a formal communication channel.
Well, I can just put the email address back up later. That’s not the important part right now.
“Envision wants us to play for at least 4 hours and tell them clearly what’s good about the game and what’s not.”
“Even the not-so-good parts?”
“Yeah, I was taken aback by that too…”
Usually, game companies hiring for ads prefer glowing reviews about the game. Maybe they think there’s no need to let users know about the inconvenient stuff upfront.
In that sense, Envision’s advertising approach was quite unique. It felt like they wanted my honest opinion as a user, beyond just the ads.
“What do you think, Shia? About this ad.”
“I think it’s good. The fee is pretty decent, and it’s not a bad first ad. This could lead to more ads elsewhere… And above all, I appreciated the request to mention both good and bad points. It feels like they genuinely care about the game.”
“Exactly. I liked that part too.”
Honestly, I’m not the best at lying.
I liked how they wanted a straightforward evaluation without any pretense. It meant I could just chill and enjoy the game, sharing my thoughts as they came to me.
Also, before Envision changed the world, the game that used to hold the position of a top-tier game was the one that’s now failing to keep up with Abyss’s popularity.
The irony of that game slowly fading away now that I was chosen for advertising was kinda satisfying.
I still vividly remember the contempt and harassment I faced from Envision’s users.
When I was caught up in the debates about why I was even playing a game like Abyss, hearing comments like “Well, your game flopped!” made my hands and feet shake in frustration.
If I’m hosting an ad broadcast, a good number of users are going to tune in. The game’s management team is innocent, but I was planning to use part of that time to vent some personal feelings.
Yeah, this feels good. I’m already excited. I had thought about taking time to play separately, but now I get an ad opportunity!
“Can I get the contact details of the person in charge? I need to ask about the ad date and other details.”
With a cheerful heart, a little tune escaped my lips.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
