NOVEL WEB I showed Seo-yoon, who had just returned, the meticulously written plan and goals for the future.
She would surely be satisfied. It was quite a reasonable approach.
“Um…”
However, Seo-yoon’s reaction was lukewarm, contrary to my expectations.
Her ambiguous expression and slightly furrowed brow raised unnecessary anxiety.
Could it be a failure?
Honestly, I thought she’d pass it at once, but she didn’t seem pleased, which left me taken aback.
‘That’s strange.’
Could there be a problem? Perhaps she had a bias against the profession of a streamer.
After a while, Seo-yoon, deep in thought while staring at the monitor, finally spoke up.
“Oppa, it doesn’t seem bad. Actually, I was considering becoming a streamer too.”
Fortunately, it seemed her silence didn’t stem from discontent after all.
“But there’s something missing.”
“What is it?”
“Content. You need to decide how you will structure your broadcasts. Have you thought about that?”
I confidently nodded.
“Looks. Isn’t that enough?”
“……”
Seo-yoon, taken aback, soon burst into laughter.
“Surely it seems impactful.”
“Of course. The most common compliment I received while acting as the Pope was, ‘I was surprised you are more beautiful than I thought.’”
“…Really?”
Beauty is a common interest among all humanity.
Even people from another world were obsessed with appearances; even the proud elves were included.
“Your face might give you confidence.”
Seo-yoon stared at my face and continued.
“But a streamer with nothing but good looks won’t last long. Do you know why?”
I pondered briefly before answering.
“Is it because the viewers get bored?”
“Exactly. No matter how pretty you are, if it’s not fun, everyone will eventually leave.”
Her reasoning was valid, so I nodded lightly.
I had to pay attention and listen closely. A wise Pope should not make unilateral judgments but accept all opinions and counsel.
Soon after, Seo-yoon grabbed the mouse and entered a bookmarked site.
[iTube]
It was a video site that had existed before. I remembered going in occasionally to search for game攻略 videos.
According to Seo-yoon, the number of users had significantly increased since then.
“Nowadays, both kids and seniors all watch iTube.”
“Why has it become so popular?”
“Who knows? Maybe because TV is boring?”
It seemed that before I possessed this body, TV, which was once the center of all media, had now become obsolete.
“The world has changed a lot.”
“Like you?”
“I think it’s less changed than me.”
“True.”
Seo-yoon giggled as she typed a search term into iTube. It was in English.
“This person is the most famous among the returnees.”
At the top of the search results, a channel featuring a cat with lipstick appeared.
[Sister CAT]
@SCAT · 110 million subscribers
“…110 million?”
An unreal number beyond comprehension. I blinked, momentarily lost for words.
“Why are you introducing this person?”
“Analyze what kind of content they became famous for. It’s a bit different from real-time streaming but will be helpful.”
“Understood. I’ll refer to it.”
“And think about what kind of content you’ll broadcast.”
Seo-yoon, leaving me with a pile of homework, soon went to sleep.
I figured I could stay up for a night, so I decided to study.
But first, I had something to do.
“Both of you, go to sleep quickly.”
In the small room Seo-yoon had set aside for our family, I laid the twin girls down on the blankets spread on the floor.
This room was originally too small for all five of us to lie down together.
So, Liam and I took turns sleeping on the couch, and today it was my turn. After all, I had work to do tonight.
“I don’t want to. I want to play more!”
“I’m not sleeping.”
Yet, the twins seemed unwilling to go to sleep.
Their eager, playful eyes and pouted lips indicated that it wouldn’t be easy to settle them down.
They were usually obedient when I told them to close their eyes, but suddenly they had become defiant.
The source of the problem was, of course, the lazy ex-hero stirring up trouble.
“…Liam.”
“Why are you calling me?”
That handsome troublemaker responded while sprawled out, completely relaxed. His carefree demeanor was infuriating.
“Why on earth did you cast translation magic on the kids? It’s just a temporary measure, isn’t it?”
“Still, it was effective until they learned the language.”
“That’s a fair point.”
It did save me the trouble of teaching them Korean. But one significant problem had come along with it.
I suppressed the impulse to stomp on Liam’s foot and said,
“But why on earth would you show them comic books, a thoughtless action?”
My intended expression had been completely censored, resulting in an awkward way of speaking. It felt unpleasant, as if my tongue was moving against my will.
Even I found it somewhat difficult to manage my expression at that moment.
“Comic books? Oh, those books filled with pictures, right? The kids were curious, so I asked my sister-in-law to bring a few from the shelf…”
Liam, who had been rambling cluelessly, suddenly trailed off at the end of his sentence.
Avoiding my gaze, he spoke again.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Yes. You introduced ‘fun things’ to the kids.”
Erina and Ibailla each held a comic book in their arms. The covers revealed they were famous Japanese comics.
It was something I had read long before I inhabited this body, and it was a bit too violent for five-year-olds. A tad inappropriate as well.
Of course, they probably had no interest in violence or sex by now.
They were likely just fascinated and intrigued by the pictures since comics didn’t exist in their world.
“Erina, Ibailla. Give it to me.”
I said more firmly than usual and reached out my hand.
But the engrossed girls didn’t seem to hear me.
“Ah! My arms keep getting longer!”
“I want to have an adventure too.”
“Me too, me too!”
“And I want to fall into the ocean.”
“I don’t want that…”
They were having a serious discussion among themselves, not understanding the content at all.
They were simply too adorable, making me unintentionally sit back and watch before snapping out of it.
“Liam. You better open your eyes wide and witness this bleak and grim reality you’ve created with your irresponsible actions.”
Whether he realized he made a mistake or not, Liam rolled his eyes nervously and looked at me.
Then, he cautiously spoke.
“Clitia.”
“What?”
“Want me to kiss you?”
“……”
Did he really think that would work? It wasn’t funny at all. It was a ludicrous attempt.
“…I’ll let you off this time.”
And I was a fool who had fallen for a guy who would do something like that.
“Come here.”
Liam grinned and patted the spot next to him. What a dreadful guy he was.
“I’ll take it later. The kids are watching, remember?”
“So what? We do it all the time.”
Staring into Liam’s mischievous eyes, the words of the ‘wise one’ who had once been part of the hero party came to mind.
-You like the hero? Don’t do it. You’ll regret it later.
I had been worried back then, but now it only made me chuckle.
‘Far from regretting, I ended up having three kids with that hero.’
Indeed, the future is unpredictable.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I managed a slight smile at Liam.
“Please take responsibility and put the kids to bed.”
“Got it!”
His response was quick, at least, which was good.
*
I was holding Rohan, who had just woken up, while browsing the channel of the returnee known as ‘Sister Cat.’
“Dya dya.”
Rohan babbled, trying to distract me, but I expertly patted his back and remained focused.
‘Interesting.’
Sister Cat.
This American woman was a returnee who had once inhabited a character from a minor TRPG world.
A world where evil gods and demons waged war. Looking it up on the wiki, it seemed she had lived quite a tough life.
Anyway, Sister Cat’s main content was ‘experimentation.’
Recreating the swamp of the evil god she personally witnessed as a set.
Summoning low-level demons.
Testing what happens if she borrows a tiny bit of the evil god’s power.
All of them seemed like reckless and thrilling videos.
Was she risking her life to shoot these? I wondered, but it turned out Sister Cat indeed possessed more than one life.
‘That makes sense why it’s popular.’
Her content was stimulating, impossible for an ordinary person.
Having gone through various experiences myself, even I found it intriguing, so it was no wonder she garnered the attention of the people in this world.
After hitting the ‘subscribe’ button, I opened a blank document. I intended to decide what to do in my broadcasts by referencing her channel.
First, I slowly listed my specialties in my mind.
The most beautiful looks, miraculous healing abilities.
After ruminating, I realized nothing more came to mind. Those were the only two.
‘…that’s vague.’
Although neither was ordinary, relying solely on beauty and healing had limitations.
This was turning out to be more of a headache than I thought.
I closed my eyes for a moment to clear my mind.
“Daah!”
At that moment, Rohan patted my shoulder, as if encouraging me.
“Rohan, are you cheering for mommy?”
“Dyaaa!”
“Thank you. Please continue to grow like this. Just don’t take after your dad.”
Despite being my son, he was incredibly adorable, making it impossible to look away. Just watching him felt healing.
I spent a while solely taking care of Rohan.
Then, suddenly a thought struck me.
‘Aren’t I, myself, a vast content?’
I was a walking bundle of stories now.
Tales from my nun days, my first encounter with the rotten hero, fierce battles with the four heavenly kings.
Just sharing what I experienced would cause quite the uproar. There were countless topics that would pique people’s interest.
And when I grew weary of telling stories, I could just throw in a miracle. I could ask the goddess, who was close to me, for help.
‘Why did I worry?’
I tried to gather sacred power in my hand as a test.
Whoosh.
Once again, pink sacred power gathered in my hands without delay. Even having crossed dimensions, the goddess’s blessing still protected me.
This allowed me to act boldly without worry.
‘Why not just go for it?’
Considering all my earlier worries, the conclusion was relatively straightforward—and all the more satisfying.
“Dya, yay!”
“Rohan, be joyful. We’re going to be rich soon.”
Whether he understood my words or not, Rohan smiled widely.
Thanks to the cuteness of my son, an idea suddenly popped into my mind about what to do for my first broadcast.
I pulled up the green wiki and looked for the desired document.
[Apollis Tales]
The very game that had swallowed me.
The document about the ‘Apollis Tales,’ which had settled in my heart as an object of both affection and resentment, was quite thoroughly filled.
‘This is it.’
A smile naturally formed on my lips.
It was a smile that seeped out from my heart.
*
The next day.
I stopped Seo-yoon, who was preparing breakfast.
Since I couldn’t keep receiving, I decided to give back as well.
“What’s wrong?”
“Just a moment, please.”
With both hands clasped in front of my chest, I closed my eyes and whispered softly.
“Oh radiant sun, may your gracious sunlight shine upon those living a hard day.”
The effect of the prayer was immediate.
“Oh?”
A soft pink glow began to radiate above Seo-yoon’s head.
Soon her previously tired gaze became clearer.
Her skin smoothed out, and her hair became silky, as if time had turned back.
“What just happened?”
“It’s a blessing. I infused you with a week’s worth of it.”
“…….”
Could it be that she finally understood the Pope’s prowess? Seo-yoon was momentarily silent before speaking.
“Thank you. By any chance, what’s the name of the being you believe in?”
“Are you interested in the goddess? But aren’t you non-religious?”
“Well, if a real god exists, there’s no reason not to believe in them.”
That was true. I had fallen into faith for precisely the same reason.
I examined the revitalized expression on Seo-yoon’s face and smiled gently.
“Let’s talk about the details later.”
“Yeah. I have a lot to say too.”
Seo-yoon lifted the corners of her mouth in a grin, mirroring mine.
But her reason for smiling was different from mine.
“Oppa, what do you think about spreading the faith during broadcasts?”
“…Excuse me?”
“What if we set up a system where people can join for donations above a certain amount? Wouldn’t that be interesting?”
Was she suggesting to blatantly tie a sacred and holy religion to capitalism? It was something I couldn’t bear to hear.
“That’s a brilliant idea.”
I couldn’t help but find it irresistible.