The Villainess VTuber Tears People Apart

I always only desired strength of heart.

I didn’t care if I couldn’t make much money. I didn’t care if I wasn’t popular. I didn’t care if I was criticized.

From the beginning, I had received more luck than others. It was a blessing that I didn’t deserve.

In reality, the woman named Kisaki Rinco was just a completely insignificant ordinary person.

Though she was called the VTuber representing EYEAI, she thought she didn’t have that much ability. She had simply debuted by chance as part of the 1st generation and managed to endure up until now.

Of course, she had better gaming skills than most.

But if you searched all of Korea, you’d find people who were more talented, funnier, and cuter than her.

Like Aurora, who debuted recently.

With so many talented people still buried in obscurity, was it right for her to enjoy such a blessing just because she debuted early? That was Rinco’s unresolved question.

If she had debuted with another company, she would surely have been buried in obscurity as well. She wouldn’t have made much money, and she wouldn’t have been popular.

Yes, she understood the phrase “luck is also a skill.”

She wasn’t a child unaware that the world wasn’t fair. It was only natural that someone would be treated better than their skill warranted, and others would be underappreciated for their abilities.

So maybe the luck of being chosen as a 1st generation member of EYEAI was also part of Kisaki Rinco’s skill.

But whether she could accept that herself was a different matter.

That’s why she wanted strength of heart.

Even if she couldn’t make much money, if she had strength of heart, she would accomplish things one day.

Even if she wasn’t popular, if she had strength of heart, she would soar one day.

Even if she was criticized, if she had strength of heart, she would overcome it one day.

She knew that as long as she could maintain her core, she could succeed in anything.

That’s why she wanted that strength of heart, the kind that would let her affirm herself.

But even now, as she entered her fourth year, she didn’t know how to attain that strength of heart.

If you want to train your body, you just need to stress your muscles.

Why is it that no muscle grows when your heart is tormented?

Sometimes, no, every day, she thought she wanted to be reborn in a wuxia world.

If she could learn martial arts, maybe she could become a better person than she was now, she would think.

But this world wasn’t a wuxia world or a fantasy world.

When she looked out the window early in the morning, she saw people heading to work, continuing even with broken spirits—a world like that.

So, what can fix a broken heart?

She still hadn’t found the answer.

***

Chuseok was approaching.

Sora had come to visit.

“Aren’t you going down for the holiday?”

As I was waiting for tea, I couldn’t help but ask.

Inagika had gone to Busan. She would be spending Chuseok with her relatives around this time.

Chel was the same. She had gone to Gangneung. Her maternal grandfather apparently lived there.

“Nah. We don’t really go anywhere even for holidays. My dad said I didn’t need to come home either.”

Sora leaned back in her chair, familiarly playing with her phone. She was in the middle of ordering delivery coffee.

So, was it just Sora and me who weren’t going anywhere?

I only contacted my family by phone during holidays. In fact, ever since becoming “Aurora,” I had felt somewhat uncomfortable with my family.

I had “memories of before I became Aurora,” but my family didn’t have any such thing.

That’s why, as much as possible, I tried not to touch the human relationships I had formed before becoming “Aurora.”

In that sense, my personal connections were quite narrow. You could say that almost all of my acquaintances and friends had come into my life through my involvement with VTubing.

“Rion-senior is leaving too, right? It’s obvious you’ll just get dizzy if you’re left alone. I don’t have anything to do either, so I thought I’d hang out.”

She spoke as if she were my mother or something.

‘Come to think of it, there’s been a weird meme about Sora lately.’

I turned on my phone, remembering something.

===

【Virtual VTuber Gallery】

[General] Sora is the mom of the 6th generation.

She overflows with maternal love.

[Comments]

– So true, lol

– She finally got pregnant with Laura’s baby

– UwU Mama Sora… Give me milk…

ㄴ So it’s not maternal love that’s overflowing, but milk, huh?

ㄴ [This is totally Lucky Inagika-level content]

ㄴ When did this meme start? lolol

===

[Fan Creation] ???: Why was Laura born so early…?

(Sora fanart)

I wanted to give birth to Laura…

[Comments]

– LMAO

– Honestly, this is better than that Ah-Whatever meme, lol

– This kid is becoming more and more bizarre.

– Soon she’ll sell yuri voice packs with Laura, lolol

ㄴ If it comes out, I’ll definitely buy it.

ㄴ For real, when’s it coming out????

ㄴ Did Laura-Sora beat Skotomo???

ㄴ Skotomo has been on hiatus for how long…

ㄴ Just let it go already, lol

ㄴ Nope~ Can’t let go of Skotomo~ Come back~ Please~~~~

===

Apparently, Sora was my mom. It was amazing, considering she was younger than me, but still, she was my mom.

“So, what’s a ‘voice’?”

“Voice? …Wait, why are you looking at that?”

Sora pressed the back button firmly, as if embarrassed.

“A voice is something you record for a roleplay situation and sell. Like a Valentine’s voice or a summer festival voice.”

“It sounds like a one-person play.”

“Exactly. It’s pretty cost-effective.”

You record your voice, upload it to a download site, and that’s it.

I heard that sometimes the VTuber themselves write the script. In those cases, since there’s no need to pay for a scriptwriter, it seemed like a very easy product for companies to sell.

“Since both you and I have good voices, we might get an opportunity someday.”

“A yuri voice, you mean?”

“…Not something so niche. I mean like a fall voice, or a Christmas voice.”

Compared to something like 3D modeling, making voices was much cheaper. Because of that, even rookie VTubers like us were easily given chances to create voice packs.

“Oh, the coffee is almost here. I’ll go get it.”

Sora stood up after checking the rider’s location on her phone.

With that, Sora left the room,

and soon the door opened again.

“Sora-unnie? Is she in the bathroom?”

It was Rion.

She was dressed for going out, even carrying a suitcase.

“She went to get the coffee delivery. Are you leaving?”

“Yeah.”

Rion nodded.

Since the ‘Horror Game Guerilla Collab,’ Sora had started coming over often, so she had gotten close to Rion as well.

It turned out that Sora was exactly one year older than Rion. So, Rion, who had initially called her “Sora-san,” had recently started calling her “Sora-unnie.”

If Rion hadn’t quit VTubing, she would probably still be calling her “Sora-san” even in private.

Rion was that diligent. She would have avoided calling a junior “unnie” on stream, so the nickname “Sora-unnie” would have never been used.

Though Nekozuka Rion hadn’t fully retired, it seemed like she really had no motivation to stream.

“Are you going to make Sora-unnie play horror games again today? …Like last time?”

Rion narrowed her eyes and asked.

I had gotten scolded a bit for revealing that I was making an MV during the last horror game collaboration.

By the way, it wasn’t just Rion who scolded me, but CEO Jung Hoyoung as well.

“Well, I don’t really have any plans for today, but Sora still has plenty of unfinished horror games, so who knows.”

“That’s a bit pitiful, isn’t it…? Is there any point to horror games? In terms of improving her skills in Labyrinthos, I mean.”

Rion asked as if she were concerned.

Now that I think about it, she had said something similar when I made her play Darkness Deception. She had told me to learn how to stay calm first.

“There might be, and there might not be.”

“What does that mean…?”

“It means Sora has to find the meaning herself.”

That’s what I said.

She had probably learned at least a little bit of calmness by now.

Horror games are originally scariest the first time you play them, but as you keep repeating the jumpscares and deaths, you eventually get used to them.

And in that process, you gain some calmness.

Especially when you play the game yourself and then watch someone else play, it makes you even more objective.

I thought she had probably picked up some tricks by now, but it would be difficult to expect a dramatic change.

‘It would be weird if playing a few horror games suddenly made her better at Labyrinthos.’

The problem with Sora was that she placed too much meaning on everything.

For example, some people place excessive importance on farming CS during the laning phase or getting solo kills.

They might overextend themselves to secure even just one more CS, or push themselves to secure a solo kill.

But that’s looking at the game in too microscopic a way.

In the end, CS and solo kills are just processes, mere components of the game.

“I wish Sora wouldn’t put too much meaning on the little things.”

But saying that didn’t mean it would change easily. Giving meaning to everything and feeling anxious about it was Sora’s nature and habit.

To change one’s disposition, they would need to experience something extreme.

Or realize a greater meaning themselves.

“Don’t push Sora-unnie too hard. You finally got close, and it wouldn’t be good if things got tense. This tournament is supposed to be fun for everyone, after all.”

Rion sighed as she said that.

“It’s not like winning the tournament is important. Anyway, you’re not even directly participating, so there’s no need to worry about your reputation getting hurt.”

“I’ve heard that before.”

“That’s why you just need to focus on beating Rinco-senior. People will be more concerned about that.”

After saying that, Rion pulled out her phone.

“It’s about time for me to go. Don’t cause any trouble while I’m gone.”

With those words, Rion left.

“Rinco, huh.”

I muttered to myself.

***

【iRadish Wiki】

2nd Labyrinthos VR League Summary

Worst Members TOP 3

TOP 1. Kisaki Rinco (EYEAI / Korea)

The main reason for Black Team’s early elimination.

During the draft, she was selected as Black Team’s first-tier pick, but ended up with a disastrous -20 points.

Though the matchup wasn’t in her favor, it’s painful to acknowledge that she couldn’t fulfill her role as the ace of Black Team.

Especially when you consider that Son Narin, who was selected as Black Team’s second-tier pick, managed to achieve +22 points, the comparison is unavoidable.