The Villainess VTuber Tears People Apart

“Company, huh.”

I thought as I sipped on the black tea.

I really didn’t want to join a company.

“You don’t want to join a company?”

“Of course not. There’s so much to worry about.”

I was the noblewoman, Laura Iris, whom even the Emperor couldn’t possess. But if I joined a company, there would definitely come a time when I’d have to be mindful of it.

One of the reasons I was trying to walk the path of a streamer was to exist nobly as the daughter of a ducal family. So, wouldn’t a company just get in the way?

“Unnie, in this day and age, indie VTubers are out of fashion.”

But Rion didn’t back down and said seriously,

“Indie VTubers can’t gain popularity or make money. I won’t stop you if you want to do it as a hobby, but the investment might cost more than what you earn.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. The VTuber industry’s pie is already tightly held by corporate VTubers.”

Rion explained about corporate VTubers. Summarizing that explanation went something like this:

For example, let’s say a company debuts five VTubers. If one of them, let’s call them VTuber A, reaches around 300,000 subscribers, the other four VTubers will also gain a similar level of popularity. (Roughly 100,000 to 200,000 subscribers each.)

The average streaming time for a VTuber is about 4 to 5 hours a week. Naturally, the time spent off-stream is much longer than the time spent streaming. So, during the time when VTuber A isn’t streaming, their fans will look for other VTubers to watch.

And since they tend to prioritize watching the streams of their fellow VTubers who debuted together, the result is that subscribers get shared among them.

“And it’s the same for the other four.”

When VTuber B isn’t streaming, B’s fans watch VTuber A, and C’s fans watch A when C isn’t streaming.

This means that subscribers are shared among the five VTubers within the same company, leading to a structure where the subscriber counts somewhat equalize.

“But what do you think happens when a new junior VTuber joins?”

The juniors start with some shared subscribers from the seniors. From the perspective of the subscribers, they get curious about their favorite VTuber’s junior, so they start watching.

And when a new generation of juniors joins after some time, they also share subscribers.

As this process repeats, it becomes difficult for subscribers to leave the company’s ecosystem—Rion explained.

“So, each company has its own fandom.”

Rion nodded at my words.

It wasn’t a difficult concept. It’s something commonly seen in the sports world too.

“In the early days of 2018, there was some merit to being an indie VTuber… But nowadays, there aren’t many people who seek out indie VTubers. So, if you want to become a VTuber now, it’s typical to join a company and start with an established fandom.”

The company even provides broadcasting equipment, creates the overlay, and assigns a manager.

“Not only that, but the company supports MV production, original songs, 3D modeling, new outfit designs, offline event planning, and advertisement opportunities. On the flip side, an indie VTuber would have to handle all that alone.”

“I see.”

After hearing all that, it’s clear that indie VTubers are at a significant disadvantage.

Moreover, as someone who’s always had people at my command as a ducal lady, I didn’t want to bother with anything other than the game. So, I wanted to delegate all those trivial matters to someone else.

In that regard, having a manager certainly seemed convenient.

“Rion, where did you say your company was?”

I put down my teacup.

***

A few days later, there was a car parked in front of my house.

“Oh my, whose car is that?”

No matter how generously I spent money, I had never bought a car. Besides, I didn’t know how to drive. Naturally, a noblewoman driving herself was unheard of.

Since I was planning to just stay at home and play games, and the only places I ever went to were the nearby bakery or convenience store, I never needed a car.

But for some reason, Rion showed up with a car.

“This is Dad’s car, but I borrowed it.”

“You borrowed it?”

“I’m going to start working as a manager, right? So, I thought it would be useful to have a car.”

That’s what Rion said.

“I need to commute, and sometimes I’ll probably have to drive the VTubers around.”

“Aren’t VTubers supposed to broadcast from their homes?”

“Not always. They might need to go to a studio to record original songs or attend events.”

“Sounds like they’re celebrities.”

“It doesn’t happen often, though. Usually, VTubers take public transportation and get there on their own… But, aren’t you getting in? How long are you going to stand there?”

Rion asked, puzzled. Has she not realized yet?

I crossed my arms and gave her a look.

“…No way, am I your chauffeur?”

Though she looked exasperated, Rion eventually opened the car’s rear door for me.

Once I was seated in the back, Rion closed the door.

“Feel free to start driving.”

“…If only you weren’t the landlord.”

Rion sighed as she got back into the driver’s seat and pressed the accelerator.

Back in my days as the ducal lady, I used to travel by carriage. Of course, the feeling of being in a car was quite different from that of riding in a carriage.

As I leaned back against the seat, we arrived much sooner than I had expected.

“This is Manager Lee Jungwoo from EYEAI.”

Following Rion’s lead, I met a man.

I heard that he was the manager responsible for “Nekozuka Rion” and was quite a high-ranking person at the company.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Aurora, Rion’s cousin.”

“Wow… I know it’s rude to say this when we’ve just met, but you’re really beautiful.”

“Oh my, isn’t it nice to be called beautiful? I don’t see how that could be rude.”

“Sorry, Manager… My unnie’s way of speaking is a bit unusual…”

For some reason, Rion lowered her head.

But Lee Jungwoo just laughed.

“I like it. Rion was right to recommend you.”

We took our seats.

“I’ve heard a lot about you from Rion. I also watched the stream you did with Anna. Our company would love to scout you, Aurora.”

“Scout me? Do I need to go through an audition?”

I thought VTubers were selected through auditions.

When I asked, Lee Jungwoo shook his head.

“Generally, we select through auditions, but when someone truly talented comes along, we scout them. And our company sees potential in you, Aurora.”

If that’s the case, then it can’t be helped. It seemed that they were quite eager to have me, given that I was such a perfect human.

I was convinced.

“We’ll need to finalize the details, but it would be great if you could debut sometime in August.”

“Manager? You mean next month? Isn’t that a bit too soon?”

“Like Rion said, it’s tight, but debuting in August would be ideal. Our 6th generation VTubers are scheduled to debut in August.”

The 6th generation.

Rion was in the 4th generation, and Anna was in the 5th, so they must be talking about the generation after them.

So, it seemed I would be joining this company as their junior. Hmm, it felt a bit strange.

“But Manager, what about the Live2D modeling… Can it be done in just a month?”

“We’ll need to be strategic about that. I’m thinking of using a model based on your real-life appearance, Aurora.”

“My real-life appearance? You mean using my unnie’s face as it is?”

“Yes.”

Lee Jungwoo nodded.

“Of course, I don’t mean to use it exactly as is. Here’s how I plan to do it. Aurora, you’re already beautiful as you are, and frankly, you look like an anime character who’s come to life.”

An anime character who’s come to life, huh.

It wasn’t entirely wrong. This body—Laura Iris—was originally a character from a game, after all.

“So I want to make the most of your appearance in the modeling. That way, we can reduce the time spent on character design.”

“But if you do that, won’t people be able to recognize my unnie in real life…?”

“If we change the eye color or hair color a bit, and choose an outfit that’s far removed from reality, it’ll be hard to recognize. We’ll need to work on the character’s setting, though…”

“A villainous noblewoman.”

I suddenly spoke up.

“Can you make the setting that of a villainous noblewoman?”

“A villainous noblewoman, huh… That sounds good.”

Lee Jungwoo stroked his chin as he looked at me.

“We can make it so that she was expelled from her family and became a VTuber… If we dress her in a lavish gothic lolita outfit, it’ll be even harder to recognize her. And if we add a hat to the model, it’ll be nearly impossible.”

“But won’t a complicated outfit take longer to model?”

“We’ll have to ask the illustrator to work on it in VR. If we use the time acceleration system, we should be able to secure enough time.”

The time acceleration system, meaning the one that makes time in VR flow five times faster.

When I first experienced it, I thought it was a revolutionary system that let you enjoy games for a long time. But hearing that they were planning to use it to grind the illustrators shocked even me, a villainous noblewoman.

No matter how good the technology, it becomes ruthless depending on how it’s used.

I learned something as a villainous noblewoman.

“Of course, this is only if you agree to join our company, Aurora. What do you think?”

“It’s not bad. However, I haven’t heard much about the streaming activities yet.”

Honestly, the VTuber modeling part didn’t seem like something I needed to worry much about.

It wasn’t like I was becoming an actor, nor was professional acting required for roleplay.

Even if acting was required, it wouldn’t be a problem. As the daughter of a great ducal family, if I studied acting a bit, I could easily surpass any professional actor, couldn’t I?

So, whatever the design or setting turned out to be, it wouldn’t really matter to me.

As long as it didn’t go too far off-track, it shouldn’t be an issue. After all, I noticed that most VTubers don’t really stick strictly to their RP.

It seemed that as long as the VTuber model was beautifully drawn and of high quality, that’s all that mattered.

But the streaming aspect seemed more important.

“If it’s about streaming, I believe VTubers should generally do the content they want. Of course, there won’t be zero interference from the company… But since we’re assigning Rion as your manager, streaming shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Lee Jungwoo looked at Rion.

Receiving his gaze, Rion nodded.

“Oh my, Rion will be my manager?”

“Yes, it would be convenient for you, and also for us. It’s best if the manager is someone who understands the VTuber well.”

“I see.”

I took a sip of coffee.

“Sounds good.”