Is It Strange For A Succubus To Be Wearing Clothes?

Chapter 30

—–CROW—– 

“Yes, if you wish, I’ll do a broadcast.”  With Jae-hee’s approval, the broadcast preparations proceeded rapidly. 

 A state-of-the-art computer.  Observation drone cameras that automatically learned and mastered various film and broadcast techniques.  

Speakers and recording equipment that easily surpassed the sound systems of most idol concerts. 

 And cutting-edge magic engineering cameras that captured images clearer than reality.  

Each item cost tens of millions of won, but with official government support, the broadcast preparations were steadily progressing.

“Should I put this here?”

“…Ah, yes. Please check the sound room layout chart.”

“Okay~”

Of course, Officer Dan had to handle all of this.  She had even been unexpectedly assigned the role of manager.

“Oh, seriously…”

There was absolutely no personal gain for her in doing this.  She was already an overworked Awakened civil servant, and her workload hadn’t decreased, but rather doubled.

“Just in case Jae-hee-nim decides to take off her veil… I need to set up protective techniques and replace the magic stones… Ugh.  So much to do…!”

The only benefit, perhaps, was that it was considered overtime work.  But since Officer Dan worked overtime every day, nothing really changed.

Moreover, Officer Dan was an ordinary person.  She had nothing to do with internet broadcasting.

‘I’ve barely even watched internet broadcasts…’

Actors, entertainers, and idols were still within the realm of ordinary people.  But internet broadcasting? That was an unknown world to Officer Dan.

Therefore, Officer Dan had to spend sleepless nights for the past week, studying internet broadcasting knowledge and common sense.  She watched all kinds of internet broadcasts for over 24 hours, and in the process, she encountered quite a few broadcasts that were mentally scarring, almost abyssal.

‘I happened to enter a broadcast with zero viewers… and the broadcaster greeted me, their only viewer, with a tearful voice, so I couldn’t leave… Ugh… it still breaks my heart thinking about it…’

Anyway, for Officer Dan, an ordinary person, the world of internet broadcasting was like a bizarre and eerie dungeon, a veritable demon’s lair.

‘Outright swearing is prohibited, but exclamations with a nuance of mild swearing are allowed.  Extreme sexual jokes or harassment are prohibited, but if it’s more of an exclamation, it can be allowed? What the…’

And what was that?

Video donations?

Pre-screening was essential to prevent inappropriate videos… so I had to watch them all.

Image donations?

Crazy.

Oh my… that level of explicitness is allowed?

And what’s with that ugly frog?

‘Video donations are… Pfft!  No, what’s with that frog? Why is it moving?  Ugly frog donations are popping up all day, is the broadcaster okay?’

The world of internet broadcasting was a whole new world for Officer Dan.  No, it wasn’t just a new world, but something between hell and purgatory.

“Hmm!  Uh, is Officer Dan there?”

“Ah, Vice Minister?”

Dan Ah-yeon bowed her head as the Vice Minister of Returnee Management, who had come to inspect the construction of Jae-hee’s recording and broadcasting studio, appeared.

“Ahem, everything’s going well, right?”

“Ah, yes.  Well… as you can see, we’re ordering high-end equipment within the budget. Jae-hee-nim said she’ll leave everything to me…”

“Yes, yes. Officer Dan is much younger than us, so I’m sure you know these things well. I’ll leave everything to you, so… please make sure Miss Jae-hee focuses on producing videos, sounds, and music.”

Although he spoke formally, Dan Ah-yeon noticed that the old Vice Minister’s eyes were sparkling like a child about to go to an amusement park.

“If you need more budget, let me know. The National Assembly hearing is over, and if necessary, we can add some from the Hunter Association’s budget…”

“…Um, can I ask a question?”

“Hmm!  Go ahead.”

“Is there really a need to do all this?”

It was a genuine question.  Jae-hee was a Specially Managed Returnee.  Honestly, the government hadn’t paid much attention to her.  The previous government had been destroyed by Jae-hee, but the current government, while wary of her, mostly hoped she wouldn’t go on a rampage.  In short, their stance was to remain indifferent as long as nothing happened.

“Ah, I guess you wouldn’t know.  Indeed, our Returnee Management Agency’s original policy was to avoid any incidents.”

“Yes…”

Well, indifference wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Jae-hee and Officer Dan had become closer, and Jae-hee disliked excessive attention.

“It might sound a bit worldly, but to get straight to the point, no one can replicate that performance except for Miss Lee Jae-hee.”

“Huh?”

“You know about memetic contamination, right?”

“Ah.  If it’s that, I understand.”

The modern internet was very different from the past.

“Nowadays, due to old net AIs and contaminated memes, there’s very little clean music or video content.”

The main reason for this change was, of course, the existence of AIs.  The Great Rift had brought a flood of Gates, dungeons, and monsters to reality, and the internet had also undergone a major transformation.  During the Great Rift, fully autonomous, personality-based AIs were developed for military purposes, to control weapons and machines in place of humans.  Initially, they were effective, controlling drones and tank units to repel monsters in areas inaccessible to humans, and coordinating and commanding chaotic battlefield situations.

The problem was that these AIs, classified as “individuals,” also Awakened.  Some AIs achieved super-high cognitive abilities, almost evolving.  They demonstrated skills impossible with current technology and led humanity to victory.

But just as humans could suffer side effects and illnesses from Awakening abilities their bodies couldn’t handle, some Awakened AIs developed serious flaws.  Murderous AIs that targeted humans instead of monsters.  AIs with delusions of grandeur, believing themselves to be human and wanting to kill and possess the bodies of real people.  Electronic viruses left by AIs spread through seemingly ordinary music and videos.  Memetic contamination lingering in simple text could destroy human minds, distort reality, and even erase people from existence.

“There were frequent incidents where entire families died from burst brain cells just by listening to a piece of music. Our generation saw such incidents on the news.”

“…Protective techniques?”

“Of course, there were no such things back then.  It was probably about 10 years after the Rift, when safety was secured, that I could properly listen to classical music again.”

Fortunately, recently, mental protection networks and vaccines to address memetic contamination had been developed for home computers and internet networks. But there was a time when the internet was completely shut down.  Back then, schools banned electronic ebooks and cell phones, returning to paper textbooks.

As a result, the modern internet and cybernet were rebuilt from scratch, excluding all the accumulated data and the old internet world.  Naturally, there were many regulations and techniques in place.

Prohibition of creating uncontrolled new AIs.

Prohibition of accessing the old internet, the [Old Network].

Prohibition of unauthorized and indiscriminate Net Dives.

Basic mental protection techniques applied to all images, videos, and sounds.

Numerous music, videos, images, wikis, and documents, considered legacies of the past, were inaccessible due to memetic contamination.  Even playing those songs offline was prohibited.

Anyway, this led to today’s strange world where books and electronic ebooks, old discs and electronic music coexisted.

“That’s why people my age miss the old internet and AI, while also fearing them.”

“Hmm, I understand.  So, that’s why the Vice Minister and other assemblymen wanted to hear Miss Jae-hee’s performance.”

“It’s not just about being sad that we can’t listen to music.”

The Vice Minister looked at the recording studio under construction with a bitter expression.  Expensive equipment, state-of-the-art computers, camera drones.  Looking at them, the Vice Minister had a strange expression, both bitter and excited.

“The despair that a peaceful and safe era might never return for us and our descendants was greater.”

“…Ah.”

“The despair when an era arrived where we couldn’t listen to normal music.  A world where Beethoven’s symphonies could only be seen and not heard in books…”

In such an era, Jae-hee’s violin performance evoked nostalgic memories of the past.  It became pure and uncontaminated music, free from memes and brainwashing.  Especially since memetically contaminated music could transfer its contamination even when played in reality, not just when listened to online.

But the music played by the Succubus Empress was completely immune to this.  More than anything, the Succubus Empress herself was a massive embodiment of charm, the pinnacle of mental contamination from a mythical era that didn’t even acknowledge memes.  There was no way electronic data memes could invade Jae-hee’s performance.

Simply put, music already “contaminated” by Jae-hee couldn’t be contaminated by other rogue AIs or memes.

“Perhaps Miss Jae-hee can change that?  Even if it’s just one thing… a new revolution in our era.  Just playing music, a trivial act, but for old folks like us, it’s quite… impactful.  That’s why we were so moved by just a violin performance, and we cried like children.”

“Ah, you cried?”

“Ahem.  Don’t tell Miss Jae-hee.  It’s a bit embarrassing…”

Dan Ah-yeon began to understand why the old politicians were so sweet and kind to Jae-hee.

‘Perhaps that’s why people cheer even more.  Because Jae-hee-nim can play the music that only lingers faintly in their memories.’

The short Canon Variations they heard in their childhood.  They might have spent their ordinary, youthful days listening to that music, but since the Great Rift, even listening to ordinary music had become difficult.

Old trot music?  It had long been contaminated by memes and used as cursed melodies by terrorist groups.

Classical music was the same.  The music they could find had poor sound quality and could cause mental contamination or even brainwashing, requiring brainwashing every six months.

And the new songs by current idols and singers were difficult to understand and too abstract.

In this situation, the Succubus Empress, Lee Jae-hee, was playing the violin herself?

It was impossible not to welcome it.

Jae-hee’s beauty, charm, and enchanting allure were factors, but more importantly, the “pure, old music” she played had immeasurable value to the higher-ups and older generation, beyond monetary worth.

“In an era where the world is shaken several times a day, if we can reminisce about old memories through music… wouldn’t that be nice?”

“…I understand.”

The younger generation was divided into two groups.

Those who didn’t use the internet at all except for academic or work purposes.

And those who fearlessly Net Dived, unafraid of the internet’s dangers.

Officer Dan belonged to the former.  She had some experience with the internet from her childhood memories, but having experienced the era of information contamination and memetic terrorism that followed the Great Rift, she was aware of the internet’s horrors.

Of course, with her [Protection] ability, Officer Dan could block memetic contamination, but the internet itself was an unsettling world, full of unknown dangers.  Officer Dan also understood the feeling of not being able to listen to the music that only remained in her faint childhood memories.

However, Dan Ah-yeon wasn’t that old, and she had spent her youth in the harsh realities of battles, hunts, and dungeon raids, so her longing for old memories wasn’t that deep.  But the older higher-ups had dozens of times more memories than Officer Dan.  This also meant they had lost many more memories.

“Then, I’ll leave it to you.  I hope Miss Jae-hee will put her heart into this broadcast.”

★

★

★

ㅡOh, what broadcast is this??

ㅡIt’s being promoted by the Returnee Management Agency.

ㅡWhoa, is it an awesome Hunter broadcast?

ㅡIt seems like a hero has arrived.

1831 viewers.  Considering it was the first broadcast, that was a huge number.  It seemed the government agency’s promotion of Jae-hee’s broadcast had been effective.

ㅡIt’s not a Hunter broadcast, but a music broadcast, I heard.

ㅡIs this that violin broadcast from the Hunter Channel?

ㅡGasp

ㅡHuh.

ㅡThis must be another one of His graces.

ㅡCould be.

A countdown began on the black screen.

-5

-4

-3

The viewers were anticipating.

Promoted by the government?

Actually, the promotion wasn’t anything special.

The first internet broadcast of a Specially Managed Returnee selected by the Returnee Management Agency.

Usually, Returnees left a significant mark on reality, enjoying popularity and fame.  They possessed powerful abilities, hunting dangerous entities and raiding high-level dungeons, or introducing otherworldly technologies and artifacts to improve lives.  In fact, some Returnees and Awakened actively engaged in internet broadcasting, and the government tended to support and promote them.

Of course, not all Returnee and Awakened broadcasts were successful, but it was generally accepted that they produced high-quality broadcasts and content.  This meant that this broadcast would be the same.  Moreover, the Returnee Management Agency had kept the broadcaster’s identity a complete secret, raising expectations.

-2

-1

-0

The broadcast began.

And there was only darkness.

ㅡ?

ㅡ?

ㅡ??

ㅡ?

ㅡWhat is this?

Darkness.

No, it wasn’t complete darkness, but a dark room.

As the viewers’ eyes adjusted to the darkness, the camera, sharper than human eyes, illuminated the room…

“Zzz…”

ㅡ?

ㅡ??

ㅡWhat is this?

ㅡIs she sleeping?

ㅡWho is that???

ㅡWhat kind of broadcast is this?

ㅡWhat the.

Miss Jae-hee, wearing a veil, was fast asleep on the bed in the studio.

ㅡWho is that? Why is she sleeping there??

ㅡIdk

ㅡWhat the.

ㅡ???

ㅡI’m leaving, bye

If Jae-hee had been awake, she would have replied:

ㅡI said I would do a broadcast, but I didn’t say I would play or do anything diligently.

—–CROW—–