Chapter 2

Let’s Be Careful with Contracts

Current viewer count: 101.

Barely, but it had passed a hundred.

“This can’t be right...”

Is my phone clock wrong? Don’t tell me, has someone learned professional hacking?!

I turned my head and checked the magnificent clock hanging on the wall. This one’s analog, so it can’t be hacked.

But the result was the same. It was two in the morning.

My stream had over a hundred viewers at this hour?

Something was clearly wrong.

“...Is it a server error?”

As far as I knew, there weren’t many people on Earth who would come to my tiny stream at this hour.

Maybe around forty at most. And that was being generous.

But suddenly three digits? Hadn’t I more than doubled?

-She’s here

-She actually turned it back on lol

-We were waiting for you, sis

Waiting?

For what?

“...Who are you people? I know nearly all my viewers’ usernames, but I’ve never seen you before. Where did you all suddenly come from?”

-I came after seeing the clip

-Oh, that one lol

-This is the stream with the vampire young lady, right?

-I watched a few times at first, then stopped for a while, but a clip popped up so I came back

-Me too, me too

-Didn’t ask, don’t care

“Young lady?”

-In the clip, someone was shouting ‘Young lady!’ like crazy

-Yeah, her voice was scary as hell, almost pissed myself

-Nngh, I already did

-(This message has been deleted)

-Dumbass

No way.

Did the sound from when Ms. Sejin knocked on the door and yelled earlier get picked up?

“What clip are you speaking of?”

-Right before you ended the stream, some woman called out ‘Young lady~’ and it went straight out on stream

-Your scream was loud as hell lol

-The other clips uploaded with it were all funny too lol so I came by

-Are you actually some rich young lady?

-For real, from a rich family?

-Then why are you always begging?

-lol exactly, even your model is free

Cold sweat trickled down my back.

This was bad.

The microphone had still been on.

During that brief moment before I panicked and shut off the stream, it seemed Ms. Sejin’s voice had been broadcast in full.

Calm down.

Calm down, Shin Yua.

Even if you are dragged into a tiger’s den, you can survive as long as you keep your wits about you. And this is not a tiger’s den, but my cozy room.

All the more reason to keep my head straight at a time like this—

-But what if she actually has a maid? lol

-Isn’t her whole concept that she’s a vampire princess living in a huge mansion?

-The lore is insane, seriously

-Maybe that earlier thing was staged too?

...Huh?

Oh.

What is this...?

Things were taking a strange turn.

They had already accepted the earlier incident as part of my character setting.

A vampire princess living in a grand mansion. And the maid who serves her.

It was a setting I had roughly thrown together, but somehow it was fitting perfectly.

...Don’t I just have to take this free meal?

“Hmm. So you noticed.”

I lowered my voice as much as possible.

“Yes. There is one girl in this mansion who attends upon this princess.”

-hahahaha

-I knew it

-The detail is insane

-But she sounded really angry just now

-The maid gets angry at the princess?

“That is because this body possesses such a free-spirited soul that I occasionally give the girl cause for worry.”

-Ah, so you caused trouble and got smacked on the back lol

-A princess getting scolded by her maid

Kgh.

Sharp bastards.

They were so close to the truth that cold sweat broke out across my back. Though I had not actually been smacked.

“Insolent. This princess is scolded by no one.”

-You literally just got scolded

-Your voice is shaking?

-I’ll let it slide because you’re cute

Ahem, ahem.

Anyway, the crisis had passed.

This was all thanks to constantly babbling about being a vampire princess.

Sometimes nonsense has its uses.

Well... strictly speaking, it was not really much of a crisis in the first place.

How could anyone possibly figure out that some tiny VTuber hardly anyone watched was the granddaughter of a major conglomerate chairman?

“So then, what brought you all to this place?”

-We already told you, we saw a compilation of your clips

-Princess, do you have dementia?

-Are you actually a grandma lol

“How insolent. This princess is a vampire who retains eternal youth—. Wait, a clip compilation?”

They came after watching clips from my stream?

I was a tiny streamer with barely thirty viewers. How in the world had my clips spread around?

-I uploaded it lol

While I sat there bewildered, some guy proudly raised his hand in chat.

-Sis, you’re funny as hell normally, so I wondered why you weren’t getting popular. I cut up some videos and spread them around all the communities I use

-I didn’t just post them to communities, I promoted you to some people I know too

...This bastard.

“You there. You have confessed your own crime.”

-? Why?

“So you are the one who spread word of me all over the place.”

-Yep haha no need to thank me

Thank him, my ass.

“Who gave you permission to spread this princess’s noble visage without leave?”

-What????

-You’re getting mad after he promoted you for free?

-What the

-Never seen a streamer like this before

Of course they would be dumbfounded.

He had promoted me for free and got yelled at for it.

But what could I do? This was how I truly felt.

I had no desire to suddenly blow up.

Quietly, casually, killing time while shooting the breeze.

That was what my stream was supposed to be.

But if the number of people suddenly increased—

It would become a pain.

“This princess loves the tranquility of the night. Your crime of disturbing the peace is grave.”

-This character is seriously from another world

-Don’t streamers usually like it when someone promotes them?

-What is she even saying lol

Well, it had already spread. What could I do?

I could not exactly chase them out.

“Hmph. I shall forgive you just this once. Since you have come, offer your greetings. My new subjects.”

-lol subjects

-Hello, Princess

-We humbly present ourselves before Your Highness

Yes, this was more like it.

It was troublesome, but.

...Maybe it was not entirely bad.

“But why are you all still awake at such a late hour?”

-‘not s1eeping’?

-Gasp, damn

-The baseball game only just ended lol

-What baseball game goes this late?

-It went into extra innings

-I came after watching baseball too

-Me too

-Me too!

-Wow, there are a ton of baseball fanatics here

“Hmm... I see. That does make sense.”

That, I could understand. In my previous life, I also had a team I supported. The Shinil Titans, operated by Shinil Group—. Not them, but their rival team.

Filled with resentment from being worked like a corporate slave, I always wished for the Titans to get destroyed, but somehow it was my team that got crushed every time...

So it had been a long time since I stopped watching baseball.

Anyway, baseball just happened to end at this hour, and the people wandering around looking for something else to watch had stumbled into my stream by chance.

-So what kind of stream is this?

-What do you mostly do here?

-But what’s with the quality of this model?

Once the mood shifted, the newcomers began asking questions. The last one shall be executed for blasphemy.

“This is a place where this body converses with her ignorant subjects and, at times, enjoys games as well. In short, an all-purpose stream.”

There was really nothing special about it, but phrased that way, it sounded like there was.

Like I was some kind of multi-entertainer who did everything.

-All-purpose, my ass lol

-She says that, but she just tells stories like some old geezer and suddenly starts gaming

-She’s been rotating through the same few free games for a month

-I’ve never seen this girl play a paid game

-Her repertoire is basically just four games over and over

These bastards.

My regular viewers immediately ruined it like clockwork.

“I-Insolent! This body plays paid games too!”

-When?

-I’ve watched all month and never seen it once

-It’s always either free battle royale or free indie games

-And she sucks at them too

Kgh. The last one gets muted for ten minutes. How dare you spread false information.

But I could not refute the claim that I only played free games.

Because I could not buy paid games.

Of course there were plenty I wanted. I had hundreds of games on my Shtoom wishlist alone.

If I had my way, I would buy every masterpiece in the world and spend all day playing them.

But I could not make purchases.

Because I was a minor.

There was more money than I knew what to do with sitting in my bank account, yet I could not actually touch it.

If I wanted to buy even one game, I had to go ask Ms. Sejin to make the purchase for me. And that was nowhere near as easy as it sounded.

So my wishlist just kept growing endlessly while the games I actually played were all free.

“...Free games are fun too, anyway. Free games are incredibly good these days.”

-That’s true

-But didn’t you say you were a variety streamer? lol

-Maybe she’s just broke

-Then if someone buys you a paid game, will you play it?

Oh.

Oho.

What did you just say?

“If you buy it for me? Of course I will.”

Opportunities belong to those who seize them. Being prepared, I did not let that fleeting moment pass and immediately jumped on it.

“Now then, this princess shall grant you an opportunity. Who among you shall offer a game to this body?”

-???

-You’re asking us to buy you one?

-You said you were rich, so why are you asking us to buy it lol

The newcomers who had never seen me before were dumbfounded.

-Ah, she’s always like this

-She’s always claiming she’s rich while begging for games

-Self-proclaimed vampire princess, self-proclaimed chaebol, actually a beggar

“Ahem! This body is most certainly not a beggar! I am merely experiencing a temporary liquidity shortage!”

-Liquidity lol

-A vampire talking about liquidity

-Economic vampire

After we bickered like that for a while.

-What’s your Shtoom ID?

Some guy asked that. Since I did not recognize the username, he must have joined today.

“Shtoom? Why do you ask all of a sudden?”

-Just because. Tell me

Suspicious. Surely this bastard had not learned professional hacking, had he?

But whatever, it was only my Shtoom ID. I had no games anyway, so even if someone stole it, there would not be much of a problem.

Without thinking much of it, I put my Shtoom profile page up on-screen.

“Hmm... What think you? This is my account.”

-Wow, you seriously have zero games hahahahaha

-I’ve never seen an account like this in my life

-Then why the hell is your wishlist so huge hahahahahaha

-She really is broke

My wishlist was piled high with games I planned to buy once I became an adult.

Who knew? Maybe someone would take pity on me and send one.

This was this body’s sales strategy.

Begging... no, receiving tribute.

-Sent one

...What?

“What did you just say?”

-I sent you a game as a gift, check it

Oh.

Oooh.

Really?

My heart started pounding.

How long had it been since I received tribute like this? No, this was the first time.

[Gift Received Notification]

“Oho, most commendable! This princess shall accept your loyalty—”

-hahahaha

-Of all things, you gifted her that one lol

-Legendary lol

“...What is this?”

It was a game I knew very well.

The game that had made me clutch my stomach laughing while watching NewTube.

The game destined to remain forever in internet history—

The game that countless NewTubers and streamers had unanimously condemned—

The failure among failures.

The legendary shit game immortalized by review bombing, which caused a massive wave of refunds immediately upon release, and whose development studio supposedly fled in the middle of the night.

-hahahahahahaha

-She got baited

-”If you buy it for me? Of course I will.””If you buy it for me? Of course I will.””If you buy it for me? Of course I will.””If you buy it for me? Of course I will.””If you buy it for me? Of course I will.””If you buy it for me? Of course I will.””If you buy it for me? Of course I will.””If you buy it for me? Of course I will.”

-A princess who values her honor will keep her promise, right?

“Y-You insolent cur! How dare you give this princess something like this!”

-Weren’t you just talking about loyalty a second ago?

-He gave it to you, so you have to play it, sis

-A promise is a promise

Kgh.

How can people be so underhanded?

“...Very well. This princess shall personally evaluate it. Watch closely.”

Grinding my teeth, I installed the game.

— — —

There was no need to even describe what the game was like.

The controls were slippery, the screen was nauseating, and why did it keep crashing so much?

“Aaaagh! It crashed again! In what world is this supposed to be a game?! They charged money for this pathetic scrap of code? I shall sue them! I’m going to sue them!”

I was not joking. One phone call from me and Shinil Group’s legal team would come running!

Ah, but it was a foreign game, so that might be a little annoying. I will let them off just this once.

-hahahaha

-This is hilarious

-It’s so funny when the princess gets mad

-How are you going to sue developers who already ran away? lol

-And the princess didn’t even buy it

“I, this noble body, did not reincarnate to play garbage like this!”

-Reincarnate lol

-She refuses to drop that character even if it kills her lol

“Aaaagh! Another bug! There was clearly a path here, so what sorcery turns it into a wall all of a sudden?!”

-hahahahaha

-This is refund territory

-The developers ran away, who are you going to get the refund from?

-Shtoom handles all of it, don’t worry

But strangely enough—

Despite the horrendous quality of the game, I completely lost track of time.

The people in chat laughed with me at my screams, cursed with me, and got frustrated with me.

And reacting to them in turn somehow made it enjoyable in its own way.

If I had been alone, I would have turned this shit game off ages ago.

“Yaaawn...”

After getting so absorbed in the game that my eyes started going blurry, I checked the time and saw that it was five in the morning.

Three hours had passed, so I could not refund it anymore.

Oh, right. I was not the one who bought it anyway. Then whatever...

“...Already?”

The sky outside the window was turning pale.

One more round, one more round, and suddenly it was five.

It was not even Civilization, yet for a shit game, it was one hell of a time thief.

“That shall be all for today. This body must warm her coffin for a while. You may all withdraw.”

-You’re leaving already?

-You crazy bastard, it’s 5 a.m. right now lol

-That was a damn good night

-She says she’s going to warm her coffin hahahahaha

-Sticking to the character until the very end lol

-Good night, Princess

I did not know what in the world was going on anymore.

For now, sleep.

I was too tired for my brain to work.

I turned off the screen and collapsed straight onto the bed.

I felt like I was going to have good dreams tonight.

— — —

“Miss! Wake up!”

...

“Miss! I said wake up already!”

“Mmm... what time is it...?”

“It’s seven thirty.”

Seven thirty.

I only went to bed at five...

So that meant I had slept for two and a half hours.

...Wait, two and a half hours?

My sleep time was two and a half hours? Is this really how the granddaughter of a major conglomerate chairman is supposed to start her day?

I thought it was common knowledge that you needed at least six hours of sleep for a healthy lifestyle?

Could it be that Ms. Sejin was actually an idiot who did not even know something that basic? How did she pass the company entrance exam? Was there some special admissions track for morons?

“Why are you waking me up so early... People need to sleep...”

“You promised.”

Promised?

What promise? I never made anything like that.

I desperately rummaged through my half-asleep mind, but nothing came to me.

“You promised last week that you’d start personal training today. I clearly reminded you yesterday too.”

“...Me? When?”

Ms. Sejin’s expression turned cold, and she pulled a rolled-up piece of paper from her pocket.

“Here’s the contract. ‘I, Shin Yua, promise to diligently exercise for the sake of managing my health.’ You even stamped it with your fingerprint.”

“A-Ahem. Now that I look at it, I think I vaguely remember doing that.”

“...You think you vaguely remember?”

“N-No. I promised. I did promise.”

“Phew... well, never mind that.”

Good. For now, I got through that peacefully.

...No, wait, did I actually get through anything?

“Your trainer is already here. She’s waiting in the gym. You’ll get dizzy if you exercise on an empty stomach, so at least eat this on the way.”

“A-Already?”

“What are you talking about? I’ve been telling you this for an entire week.”

Ms. Sejin placed a banana and a carton of milk into my hands as I stood there blankly.

“...This is breakfast?”

“I’ll give you a proper meal after your workout. If you stuff yourself now and then start running, you’ll throw up. Hurry.”

As if having to exercise was not miserable enough, now breakfast was only this.

...

My life was ruined.