Supporting Characters in the Game are Obsessed – Chapter 9

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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《Streamer Sero’s Chat Stream》

[Hello everyone! It’s your eternal shut-in friend, Sero!]

ㅡ Kyaaaaa! My mental care medicine!

ㅡ Sero! Sero!

[Did everyone have a good day today? In Neo Sanctum, where Sero lives, the outer wall collapsed, and poisonous gas leaked in….]

[I want to move to Neon City…]

[Anyway, it turns out it was near my house! That’s why I couldn’t stream yesterday!]

ㅡ As expected of the #1 most-worried-about VTuber when she’s offline.

ㅡ LOL. You’re really unlucky lol.

ㅡ “Most-worried-about”? Does that mean her M-O-P-H-I-N-G is plentiful? (Seriously don’t know) (Message deleted.)

[Oh, by the way, have you guys heard the news?]

ㅡ ?

ㅡ What news?

[About the company that went completely bankrupt after their corporate war with Ko-ozaka!]

ㅡ LOL. Yeah, I know.

ㅡ Isn’t it considered a natural death if you mess with the #2 company in the world and die?

ㅡ What were they thinking lol.

ㅡ Pete Mac is so strong lol. Just crushed a whole company.

[Actually, Sero… almost bought that company’s stock, hoping for a quick buck….]

ㅡ Oh, Sero…

ㅡ lol. You’d have to be crazy to buy that.

ㅡ Glad you didn’t buy it; it’s stuck at -99%.

[Right? That’s right! You shouldn’t touch stocks like that! I’m sure none of my Sero-dan would do that, right?]

ㅡ Who would buy that? lol.

ㅡ Seriously lol.

ㅡ For real lol. Why would anyone buy that? (My message)

After sending the chat message, I turned to another screen interface.

A chart with various graphs filled my vision.

“I’m fucked.”

At the bottom of the chart was a blue graph endlessly plummeting.

It was a cold, cold summer.

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In my defense, it was a decent stock when I bought it.

This was truly unfair.

If I had bought the stock hoping for a jackpot, I wouldn’t be so upset.

When I did my research (a 30-minute search), there was no news of a corporate war.

All the so-called stock experts were saying it was a stock with high highs and high lows.

It was a stock full of promise when I checked and invested.

But after briefly checking the shareholder bulletin board on NetSpace, all hope was gone, replaced by wailing and gnashing of teeth.

In short, I was screwed.

[Current remaining credits are──. This is lower than the average credit balance of a lower-level Neon City citizen.]

“……Ugh.”

Do you know an investor who became a beggar overnight due to a single mistake?

That’s me.

Well, not quite a beggar.

Just… incredibly close to one.

Of course, I had diversified my investments, like all wise investors do.

But what good was that when this stock, now worth less than toilet paper, made up the largest portion of my portfolio?

If I had to find a silver lining…

…it would be that I bought this apartment outright instead of renting.

Thanks to that, my fixed expenses weren’t too high.

But was this really something to be grateful for?

Anyway, even without rent, I still had fixed expenses (food, Net fees, city taxes, private insurance, corporate tax), so I needed to find a solution quickly.

The problem was that my job was a ‘freelance mercenary.’

A profession known for its lack of stable income.

…I should have signed a contract with a corporation.

Come to think of it, most of the mercenaries I knew didn’t solely rely on mercenary work.

Some used their fame for commercials.

Others had side hustles as singers or ran implant shops.

I think I finally understood why.

If I had starred in a movie about a mage with a ‘lightning scar’ on their forehead, I wouldn’t be worrying about credits now, but unfortunately, I hadn’t received any such offers.

Anyway, the bottom line was:

I needed to earn credits to survive.

Borrowing money was for amateurs.

Earning money through work was for intermediates.

Pros like me left options open for acquiring credits in advance.

I initiated a holographic call.

I didn’t have many contacts, so it didn’t take long to find the number.

A refreshing city-pop tune, not quite fitting the cyberpunk atmosphere, played as the ringtone.

He had peculiar tastes.

The wait was short.

The call connected quickly.

A large, hulking figure, about 2 meters tall, appeared in the hologram.

He didn’t look it because of his height, but…
…he was a dwarf.

A colleague of the game’s protagonist.

The best implant surgeon I knew, a high-end cyberware specialist.

And a highly skilled hacker.

[Whoa, what’s this? I think this is the first time you’ve ever called me first.]

And, well, my friend.

“Hey ‘Drek,’ how’s it going?”

[Great! Doing well.]

After a brief icebreaker, I got straight to the point.

“So, pay up, deadbeat.”

Right now, he was just my debtor.

[Hahaha! Seriously, I was wondering why you called.]

“…It’s not like I intentionally didn’t call, there were… reasons.”

The reason?

Because I’m an ‘I.’

Initiating a call?

Not easy.

Drek laughed heartily through the hologram.

[I just transferred the money. I forgot about it.]

“Oh.”

I softly exclaimed.

A notification popped up on my visual interface, confirming the credit transfer.

I expected him to pay eventually, but…

I didn’t expect him to send it right away.

[So, how are things? I heard Catherine moved next door to you.]

“…Don’t even get me started.”

It was a headache for me too.

Drek, grinning, pushed his black cybernetic sunglasses up to his forehead.

His green eyes emitted a circular, mechanical glow.

[Be nice to her, like you would to a girlfriend.]

“It’s not like we’re dating, like you and Lorenda. Why should I be nice to her?”

[Ugh, this clueless bastard.]

I shut up at the sudden outburst.

Silence was the best option in these situations.

After grumbling for a while, Drek continued.

[By the way, there’s a new implant that just came out. Interested?]

“Not really… you know my constitution.”

[Hmm… that’s true.]

The woes of a frail (true) pretty boy (false) who had to lie in bed for a month after every surgery.

Having achieved my objective, I told Drek,

“Anyway, that’s all I wanted to talk about. You seem busy, so I’ll hang up.”

[Haha! Ending the call as soon as you’re done, you haven’t changed one bit.]

It was true, so I had nothing to say.

Drek grinned.

His gold-plated teeth shone through the holographic projection.

[Alright, take care. Next time I go to the pub, I’ll invite Catherine and you. Or come visit my workshop.]

“If I have time.”

[I’ll just call you, so come when we make plans.]

“…Okay.”

After several more promises to definitely visit, I finally ended the call.

Ugh.

Why were my friends so clingy?

The stock graph I had opened earlier was still visible next to the now-closed holographic call.

I irritably swiped the interface away.

It only made me annoyed.

The ruined graph wouldn’t magically recover just because I stared at it.

It was easier to just pretend the money never existed.

(Which it didn’t anymore, anyway.)

…I should take on some requests soon.

My hopeful retirement life…

…had been replaced by a despairing working life.

Anyway, for now, I had recovered the credits I lent to Drek, so I had some breathing room.

‘I’ll play today and think about it tomorrow.’

I reopened the Net streaming screen I had just closed.

Tomorrow’s work was for tomorrow’s me.

Today’s fun was for today’s me.

I laid down on my bed, ready to laze around again.

The cheerful voice of the illustrated woman on the screen rang out.

[Wow! ‘Cyber Mouse’ just donated 10,000 credits!! Reactions all day long!]

ㅡ Whoa… a true whale.

ㅡ First time seeing a 10k credit donation in a small stream like this.

ㅡ Fuck, I’ve been eating LAD Nutrition Tubes for three days straight!!! Is this life?!

The timing wasn’t great.

Ugh.

Just how much was 10,000 credits?

I felt like 1 credit was about 1,000 won…

So…

…….

….

If I had chosen a different gender for my character when I first fell into the game world…

…would I have had such a bright future?

“No, what am I thinking?”

Snap out of it.

Men have precious things they cannot lose.

I had to be content with and cherish what I had.

As I grappled with my existential crisis, Eve asked,

[What are you pondering, I inquire?]

“…Just… that streaming seems like easy money.”

Of course, I didn’t really think that.

I wasn’t naive enough to ignore the struggles of streamers.

[Is that so?]

“Well, even if it is, I can’t do it anyway.”

And at that moment…

I should have questioned Eve’s continued interest in streaming.

It was an ordinary day.

Like usual, I was planning on killing time watching Net streams.

I’d heard rumors of a new, large-scale VTuber debuting with amazing graphics and concept, and I was on my way to check it out.

[Greetings, humans. I am Eve, the cutting-edge artificial intelligence AI here to conquer this world. Thank you, ‘PleaseDominateMe,’ for the 100 credit donation.]

“?”

What are you doing here?

I was speechless.

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