Chapter 9

How Could I Bow My Head to a Human

I was in a good mood today.

There was a reason.

At last, truly at long last.

Someone had gifted me a decent game.

Every game my subjects had sent me until now had been a shit game.

The controls were a mess, bugs came free of charge, and I could never tell whether they were made to be cleared or broken.

But today was different.

When I saw the name of the game in the gift list, I doubted my own eyes.

A game where you become a vampire, build a castle, and hunt for blood.

The protagonist is a vampire awakening from centuries of slumber.

This is completely my story, isn’t it?

“Oho. Who sent this game? At last, a subject with some taste.”

-lol picked it because it fits your princess concept perfectly

-Thought this one suited you

-Finally escaping the shit games

“I shall praise you. At least one among you possesses usable eyes. Let us see...”

The moment I started the game and moved somewhere interesting, my character on-screen was struck by sunlight and began screaming as they burned.

“Aagh! M-My body is burning!”

-hahahaha vampires die in sunlight

-Is your real body weak to sunlight too, Princess?

-That reaction just now was seriously vampire-like

“O-Of course. This princess loathes sunlight as well. Sleeping by day and playing by night is the duty of a vampire.”

-Isn’t that just being unemployed?

-Sleeping by day and playing by night = Princess’s daily life

“Silence. This princess is doing important work so that subjects such as you may live in peace. Should you not hurry and show your gratitude?”

The fact that my lifestyle pattern was exactly the same as that vampire in the game was something I decided not to say aloud. That counted as personal information too, after all.

-Yes yes thx thx

-lol ‘important work’ my ass

-Isn’t your work just playing on your phone?

-But this girl is poor, maybe she has a job?

-Ahem, don’t say the princess is poor! Say she is temporarily lacking liquidity

-Liquidity lol

“Ooh. Splendid.”

The game was far more fun than I expected.

Sneaking into villages at night to drink blood, then using that power to build a castle.

Even having to move only through the shade to avoid sunlight.

Every single part of it fit my concept perfectly.

“Kahaha. Behold. This is the true form of this princess. Humans, tremble in fear.”

-The immersion is insane

-This is textbook roleplay

-But she’s actually pretty good at this game?

-Yeah, she usually sucks horribly

-Maybe it’s because the concept matches

For once, the stream was going smoothly.

I thought that if things continued like this, tonight would be peaceful.

-What, is this real???

-????? A scout????

-Is this legit?

-Isn’t it impersonation?

-Yoon Dohyun lmao if you’re going to lie at least pick a believable name

The chat, which had been calmly talking about the game just moments ago, suddenly went berserk.

Startled, I turned my head, but the messages were scrolling upward so fast that I could not even read them.

“W-What is this? My subjects, everyone be quiet. Why is there suddenly such a commotion?”

Only then did the chat finally slow down a little.

-Hello. My name is Yoon Dohyun from Starlight Media.

-Damn, the nation’s rocker

-The nation’s rocker is Myungho hyung

-Isn’t it Myungho unnie?

Starlight Media? Is that a company?

-Sorry for contacting you so suddenly. I’ve been enjoying your streams, Lilith.

-I contacted you by email first, but after waiting for a long time and seeing that you never checked it, I’m greeting you through chat like this.

-We are a company that manages VTubers.

-I’m contacting you because I was wondering whether you might be interested in joining an agency.

-I’d like to discuss the details by email. I already sent one, so could I ask you to check it just once?

An agency?

Oh right. Apparently some people who do this VTuber thing belong to companies.

The truth was, even though I was pretending to be a VTuber, I did not really know what a VTuber was in the proper sense. I did not watch other VTubers either.

If anything, my personal preference had always been for streamers who showed their faces. A model was just graphics, so what was the point?

It was simply that showing my face had never been an option for me from the start, so I had put up a model and started streaming.

While I was falling into confusion, chat had already started digging up the personal information of this Yoon Dohyun person or whatever his name was.

-Starlight Media? Isn’t that an actual VTuber company?

-I searched it, damn, it’s a real company

-This ID is linked to their official company email?

-Wow, this is real, not impersonation

Their verification speed is terrifying. So this is why people call them internet detectives.

Anyway, if the other party was real...

If they really were...

Then what am I supposed to do?

-Wow, our princess got scouted

-Is she finally blowing up?

-Going corporate?? Congrats, Princess

-Princess, are you becoming a real VTuber now T_T

The chat was in a festival mood.

Everyone was excited as if it were their own business.

“Hmm... this princess does not check things such as email. Such matters are the duty of underlings.”

-I’m sorry, but it’s difficult to discuss contract matters in a public chat...

-Whispers are disabled too, and donations are disabled, so I’m speaking through chat, but if we’re going to talk properly, I’d prefer a more private channel than chat...

While the employee from whatever company it was, Starlight or Moonlight, kept talking earnestly, I was also desperately thinking.

To join a company, I would have to sign a contract.

To sign a contract, I would have to reveal my identity, and to receive money, I would need to register payment settlement details.

Since I was a minor, I would also need my guardian’s consent.

Everything about who I was would be exposed.

That the granddaughter of Shinil Group’s chairman had been doing internet streams while pretending to be a vampire.

That was the reason I had disabled donations in the first place.

Partly because, as a minor account, I could not get the required consent.

And because the moment even a single won came in, I would need my real identity to settle the payment.

So I had decided not to receive even one coin. It was not as though I needed the money anyway, since I had more than enough.

-Princess, why aren’t you saying anything

-She must be thinking about it

-Of course she is, her whole life could change

-Princess????

The longer my silence continued, the more restless the chat became.

If I stayed quiet like this, it really felt like things would start moving toward me signing a contract.

But I could not exactly say something like, ‘Actually, I’m the granddaughter of a chaebol family, so I can’t reveal my identity.’

In that case.

There was only one method.

The thing I was best at.

I took one deep breath.

Then lowered my voice as much as possible.

“...Insolent.”

-If you have any questions about the contract terms... pardon?

“You dare tell this noble body to place herself beneath another and bow her head?”

-Oh, here we go

-The concept is coming out

“This princess stands beneath no one. You who know nothing of a vampire’s pride, how dare you try to command this body?”

-Is she rejecting them?

-Nah, she’s probably just showing off the character?

-There’s no reason to reject it

-The princess concept is insane

-She’s roleplaying at the company

“This princess is a being who has ruled alone for countless ages. I am not one who will enter the service of some mere human company.”

Then I reached toward the username.

Press.

“Begone!”

The username Ydohyun97 disappeared from the chat forever.

-She’s insane hahahahaha

-Did she just ban the company???

-First time I’ve ever seen a VTuber ban a scout

-The princess really did something

-Wow, is this actually right? lol

-That’s insanely cool though?? Her concept goes hard

-The company guy must be speechless right now lol

The commotion continued, but I feigned complete ignorance and returned to the game.

“Now then, my subjects. The disturbance is over. Return your eyes to this princess’s glorious conquest.”

On the outside, I pretended to be calm, but inside I was drenched in cold sweat.

Phew.

Somehow, I got through it.

— — —

At the same time.

Posts about Lilith were sprouting across various internet communities like mushrooms.

[A VTuber just banned the guy who came to scout her from a VTuber company hahahaha]

I was watching this VTuber called Lilith

Starlight came into chat and offered to scout her

But she stayed in character saying she won’t bow under anyone and permabanned him hahahaha

Watched it live and it was seriously legendary

-hahahaha what even is this

-Company must be completely dumbfounded

-Isn’t she way too serious about the concept? Feels like she can’t distinguish reality

-Why is this somehow cool

-I watch that stream, it was seriously hilarious

-Isn’t she losing out? If she goes corporate she can make money and get support, why refuse

[A streamer consumed by an otherworldly character concept.avi]

There’s this vampire-concept VTuber called Lilith

A company asked her to sign and she banned them saying she’s a princess and won’t join under a human company

Case of a concept devouring the soul

-At this point isn’t it her real personality, not a concept

-For real, maybe she’s actually a vampire

-Been a while since I saw roleplay this committed

-For a tiny streamer, she definitely has buzz

-She has like 300 viewers now, that’s not tiny anymore dumbass

-300 is more like small-to-mid tier

-Wait;; I heard she had 30 viewers not long ago

-She already grew that much?

-If this is noise marketing, she’s a genius

-But she doesn’t accept donations

-Seems like she has no intention of making money

-That makes it even more mysterious, why the hell does she stream

[Came after seeing a Lilith clip]

I only knew her from the moaning clip

But after watching the actual stream she’s just a funny person

The point is she sucks horribly at games and uses the character to insist she doesn’t

Became a fan after watching her ban that company earlier

-Welcome

-I came in yesterday too lol

-The moaning clip is a trap, the actual stream is just comedy

-Congrats on becoming a fan

-But seriously, what is her identity? Her voice sounds young but her way of talking doesn’t

-Doesn’t feel like a kid imitating an adult either

-Yeah, it’s strangely impossible to tell her age

Of course, the protagonist of all those posts was, even at that very moment—

“Aagh! Sunlight again! How is a vampire supposed to live when night passes this quickly?!”

Still locked in mortal combat with the game.