When I first started this game, I didn’t expect it to take this long. I had heard that the basic playtime was about six hours, or seven if it was a longer session. But now, it was okay.
“Phew. This shouldn’t have taken this long.”
At least I had cleared it. Now, it was time to relax.
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: You cleared it, huh ㅅㅅㅅㅅㅅㅅㅅㅅㅅ]
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: That was really fucking hard]
[Honestly, the manager probably had it tougher than the person playing the game ㅋㅋ]
[The broadcast went way longer than expected ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[The game was fun though]
[Twispookjjikmareupne: So, what now? Are you ending the stream?]
[Ending it, I guess]
[I’ve been streaming for 16 hours, what else is there to do? ㅋㅋ]
“Hm, I guess I should end it. I’m starting to get tired.”
It was the same kind of tiredness I had felt when starting the game, but today it felt worse. I probably hadn’t slept and had been staring at the screen non-stop.
[ㅇㅇ Ending is the right choice]
[See you tomorrow, bb]
[bb]
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: You did well today ㅋㅋ]
[Upload to YouTube quickly, upload to YouTube quickly, upload to YouTube quickly, upload to YouTube quickly, upload to YouTube quickly]
[I missed the beginning, please upload the replay soon..]
“I’ll upload the replay as soon as I can, but don’t rush me. Just because I want to upload it quickly doesn’t mean it’s going up faster.”
Replays take a long time to upload. The longer the broadcast, the longer it takes. So, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t upload it immediately.
[ㅇㅋㅇㅋ]
[Guess there’s nothing we can do]
[Guess I’ll watch the rest after I wake up ㅋㅋ]
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: bb]
[You did well ㅋㅋ]
[bb]
Just as I was about to end the broadcast...
“Hm? Wait a second.”
Something didn’t seem right.
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu:?]
[What’s up]
[Why, suddenly]
[What happened?]
[I don’t think it’s anything important though ㅋㅋ]
[What’s going on?]
[Twispookjjikmareupne: Sounds like a fuss… hmm…]
My subscribers had suddenly increased dramatically. It hadn’t taken long for me to hit nearly a million subscribers. Right now, I had 998,129 subscribers. Just a little over a thousand more, and I’d hit a million.
“Oh, I was just checking the subscriber count, and it’s almost at a million. I think I can reach it if I finish this and then end the stream.”
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Really???]
[For real??]
[Wait, I checked and it really is close to a million ㅋㅋ]
[When did the subscribers rise like this?]
[I saw it at 980k, but it really shot up while I was live ㅋㅋㅋ]
[Twispookjjikmareupne: The old favorite streamers are gone now...]
[Miss the good old days…]
The viewers were commenting, but it wasn’t really the old version of me that they missed. Back then, I wasn’t nearly as good at streaming as I am now.
‘I might have coasted a bit back then.’
Compared to now, I had grown a lot. I had learned how to manage the broadcast.
“Okay, let me display the subscriber count on the screen.”
I said that and fiddled with the settings for a moment, making sure my YouTube subscriber count appeared big and clear on the screen. It updated in real-time every time a new subscriber joined.
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Whoa]
[Subscriber count really grew]
[Seeing it displayed like this, it really hits differently ㅋㅋ]
[By the way, have you met the editor yet?]
[Twispookjjikmareupne: Honestly, I don’t think you’ve ever met the editor, have you?]
[Honestly, the editor did like half of it ㅋㅋ]
“The editor… I should meet them, but, well, they don’t seem to want to meet me. It’s like they want to keep me as some imaginary figure.”
It felt a bit awkward, but every time I texted with Haehoo, I got that feeling strongly. It seemed like they just wanted to see me from a distance without meeting in person.
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Ah, if that’s the case, there’s nothing you can do ㅋㅋ]
[There are some editors like that]
[Hilarious ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[If we actually met, it might break the illusion]
[Guess there’s no helping it]
[Twispookjjikmareupne: Imaginary animals, huh…]
[Twispookjjikmareupne: I was a bit disappointed when I met the streamer, thought they’d be flying around shooting lasers from their eyes ㅋㅋ]
[Durander ㅋㅋ]
[Weeeee]
While chatting, I checked my subscriber count again. It was slowly going up in single-digit increments.
Beep.
“The subscribers aren’t increasing as fast as I thought. I want to hit a million today and end the stream…”
Maybe it was greedy, but it didn’t feel unreasonable when I looked at it objectively.
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: It’s gonna be tough to hit it today]
[The viewers here have probably already subscribed]
[Just end the stream and go next]
[Honestly, you’ll hit a million if you sleep and wake up]
[Twispookjjikmareupne: Take a nap and come back]
“No, objectively, it’s not that greedy.”
That was true. There were about a thousand subscribers still missing. The stream had about 11,000 viewers at that moment. Even if everyone here subscribed, I could still hit a million if I had a way to push it further.
“Don’t you all have YouTube alt accounts? Go ahead and subscribe with those. I really want to hit a million.”
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: No way, do you think everyone has YouTube alt accounts? ㅋㅋ]
[If that were the case ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[So funny ㅋㅋ]
[Well, I have one]
[Twispookjjikmareupne: I have one too…]
It seemed like everyone watching the stream at this hour had an alt account. So I began urging them to quickly subscribe with those accounts.
“Please subscribe. I’m struggling…”
A little later...
[ Subscriber count: 998,129]
to
[ Subscriber count: 998,169]
to
[ Subscriber count: 998,324]
to
[ Subscriber count: 998,841]
The subscriber count started climbing rapidly. It was insane how fast it was moving.
“This is it. Hm, I like it.”
[Really boldly manipulating the subscriber count ㄷㄷ]
[At this point, it’s not manipulation, it’s just plain rigging ㅋㅋ]
[So funny ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Let’s hit a million ㅋㅋ]
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: I just made three more alt accounts]
[No way, lol ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Once again, it’s All-powerful Cthulhu leading the charge ㅋㅋ]
With the help of the viewers, I kept waiting.
Beep.
The subscriber count kept heading towards my goal.
“Ah, yes.”
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: This is it, this is it ㅋㅋㅋ]
[I can finally go to sleep, let’s hit a million ㅋㅋ]
[There are always people who unsubscribe just before the million mark]
[For real, there’s always people who unsubscribe right when you hit a million ㅋㅋ]
[Twispookjjikmareupne: Let’s go, let’s go]
[It’s really going up fast]
[Alt accounts <<< these guys are seriously powerful ㄹㅇ]
How much longer would it take?
[ Subscriber count: 1,000,003]
“Ah, done.”
Finally, I had hit one million subscribers. Of course, there were people who deliberately unsubscribed near the million mark, but the rate of new subscriptions was much faster.
[🗡️All-powerful Cthulhu: Congrats congrats congrats]
[Is this when you get the gold play button?]
[Looking forward to the unboxing ㅋㅋ]
[It’s going to be so much fun from here on out, hmm]
[Twispookjjikmareupne: Finally, I can go to bed, have a good sleep ㅋㅋ]
It seemed that my bond with the viewers had grown really strong over time. They seemed to know exactly when I was tired or not, and they always chatted accordingly. I felt thankful and spoke up.
“Then, I’ll be back next time.”
Saying that, I ended the stream.
[ The stream has ended! ]
As soon as I saw that message, I lay down on my bed and tried to sleep. I was tired, after all.
“Haah…”
And with that, I drifted into sleep.
Two days later, I received many congratulatory messages from people I knew. Even Pine, someone I didn’t keep in close contact with, congratulated me. And now...
“...I’ve received a lot of gifts.”
My house was filled with presents. They were all from people congratulating me for reaching a million subscribers. It felt surreal. I never imagined I’d receive something like this.
‘I should open them on stream.’
Thinking that, I turned on the stream again today, not knowing what the packages contained.