Chapter 34: Psychic Technology

Even in this era, there were programs that recognized faces and made virtual characters make facial expressions.

A representative example is FaceRig, and there is a video of someone using the program as early as 2014.

A YouTuber reviewed FaceRig and said, “I bought this to play pranks with my friends, but this raccoon, high on something, gave me a 15,000 won sense of shame,” which gained popularity.

Facial capture technology has been around for a long time, but it was mostly used for facial recognition.

Moreover, the recognition was often inaccurate, causing frequent mishaps such as one eye not opening properly or the head tilting in a strange direction.

So, let’s put facial capture aside for later.

We started with the simplest method.

“Ugh…, will I get used to this…?”

Osorin, in order to complete the task Sua gave her, pressed the hotkeys on the keyboard without turning on the broadcast.

She had been doing this for several hours already, so she could press the hotkeys comfortably without looking at the keyboard.

“Let’s start from the beginning again. First, the default expression….”

Osorin’s character is standing on the OBS screen.

Whenever Osorin speaks into the microphone, the character’s mouth moves as if it’s speaking.

Occasionally, the eyes blink, making it seem like watching an animation.

“Next is the smiling expression.”

Pressing the hotkey changes the character’s expression.

The mouth opens wider than before, and the eyes curve downward, creating a brightly smiling expression.

“Angry expression.”

The eyebrows raise, and the mouth closes tightly.

“Pouting expression.”

A slightly relaxed face from the angry expression.

The cheeks are slightly puffed up.

“Surprised expression.”

Like a cat whose fur stands on end when surprised, the shoulders raise, and the pupils become smaller.

“Why is there a crying expression…?”

Large teardrops hang from the eyes, as if saying “Boohoo.”

In addition to these expressions, it was also possible to set very detailed expressions.

For example, making a shadow appear on the face in the grinning expression, or removing the highlights from the eyes in the default expression, etc.

It made her think that there would be no difference between this and broadcasting with a cam.

“Even if it’s a little hard for me, I think people will like it more….”

It takes a little time and effort to get used to it, but she didn’t give up.

It was for her broadcast, but also because she had faith in Sua.

‘I’ve never failed when doing what Sua told me to do, so it’ll be the same this time.’

A way of using illustrations that she’s seeing for the first time.

There are some streamers who decorate their characters with simple gif files, but there was no one who handled all expressions like this.

Someone walking a path no one has ever taken before might hesitate in their choice, but she didn’t hesitate because she had absolute faith in Sua.

“Okay, let’s practice a little more.”

To be able to set natural expressions according to the situation.

She couldn’t show an unfinished look, so even after the broadcast ended, she continued to practice alone while watching games or dramas.

A few days later.

She turned on the broadcast with a pounding heart.

-Oha (Osorin Hi)

-Oha

-Finally turned on

-What are you doing today?

[What content am I doing today? I’m just going to chat today.]

[Do you know how hard it is to come up with games or content every day?]

[So today, I’m just going to talk to you guys.]

[Sometimes, this kind of calm broadcast is nice, right?]

-Booooo

-Boooo dereliction of duty

-Let’s play horror games

-Play Battlegrounds.

-Are you doing Discord viewer participation?

[Today, I’m going to tell a simple story. Is that okay?]

[You all probably saw the clip of what Jina said, but there was a time when Jina, Racoon, and I met and had a company dinner. I’m going to tell you a story about that time.]

[Okay, then first, open Paint. And…]

She takes a moment to catch her breath and changes the ‘hidden’ layer to ‘visible’.

Then, Osorin’s character appeared in the lower left corner.

[Amazingly, when I speak, she speaks too, right?]

-Oh, her mouth moves.

-It’s cute when it moves LOL.

-Cutting-edge technology!

-Her eyes blink too.

-I see people doing this sometimes these days.

-Nice.

[The reason we had a company dinner was to celebrate the launch of my YouTube channel. You all saw the video of me becoming friends with Jina after cheating in the audition, right?

That was the first video, so Jina joined the celebration party too.]

[It was a sudden appointment, but I was glad that both of them readily agreed.]

[So, the day of the company dinner came, and I met Racoon first…, Whoa!!!]

She quickly changes to a surprised expression and continues the story.

[I really froze as soon as I saw her, okay?]

[Racoon told me not to go into detail, so I’ll just say this much.]

When she changed to a smug expression, it somehow looked like she was holding back laughter.

It was as if she was mocking, ‘You guys probably won’t know for the rest of your lives~’.

The reactions of the viewers who saw it were different.

-What is this??

-Wow, her expression changes LOL.

-The cutting-edge technology is amazing LOL.

-How did she do that?

-Everyone shut up, what’s important is that Racoon wasn’t a dude!!!

-No, he could be a small, cute, and precious boy.

-F*ck, then I’ll kill myself.

-How did she change her expression automatically???

-Is it FaceRig?

-Isn’t that 3D and the face moves too?

-Yeah, and the recognition sucks, so it doesn’t work this clearly.

[Did you really think I would turn on the broadcast without preparing anything and just do a chat broadcast?]

[Who am I?? I’m the super ultra broadcasting genius pretty girl Osorin~!]

She shows a laughing expression, a smug expression, and a big smile.

And as her eyes and mouth continue to move, it really feels like the character is talking.

A flurry of chat messages.

-No, crazy LOL.

-She really is a broadcasting genius LOL.

-Wow, this is amazing.

-Of course, the streamer wouldn’t have prepared nothing!

-The people who left saying it was a chat broadcast will probably cry after watching YouTube later LOL.

-Osorin, you have talent, just keep doing that.

-She’s really unique LOL.

Seeing those, Osorin was quite elated.

‘It was good to practice a lot.’

Seeing people like it made her feel good.

It felt like she was being rewarded for her efforts.

She continued the broadcast, suppressing the urge to shout.

[At first, we talked for a while at a cafe and then moved. What can streamers do outside? We have to go to a karaoke or a game room. First, we went to the game room.]

[It’s no fun to just play games, right? So we made a bet. The person with the lowest total score has to sing the song chosen by the first place in karaoke!]

[And the first game started with basketball.]

[The result was…,

Jina, who is the tallest and was in the basketball club in school, was first. I, who was in the volleyball club in school, was second. The last place was our small and cute Racoon~!]

[Racoon’s expression at that time was like this.

She was pouting, almost crying, and getting angry. Hehehe!]

-Didn’t she say her height was 160 last broadcast? How small is Racoon?

-Jina is 175.

-But damn, the first game was basketball LOL.

-So cruel LOL.

-No way he’s a guy if he’s under 160!

-The crying expression is so hot, damn.

-Hey.

-A guy who’s not even 160 with that expression, pouting and getting angry? This is good.

-Hey;;

[Eventually, Racoon got angry and said to play a game where we sit….

There’s no way she could beat us, who sit and play games all day, Kyahahaha!]

[Eventually, Racoon’s last place was decided by an overwhelming score, and we went to karaoke.]

[Ah, by the way, Racoon was a bit shy.]

[If I were to describe her with MBTI, she would be a complete capital I.]

[So I made her sing.]

[Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.]

[Racoon’s face turned red and she sang while sniffling….]

[It was really crazy cute….]

[I’m glad I recorded it on video.]

-Was it a Racoon bullying party?

-So evil.

-Argh, I feel secondhand embarrassment.

-Two insiders bullying an outsider…

-That’s bullying, you b*tch!!!!!

-Little Star LOL.

-She keeps saying Racoon is cute. Is this a guy? Don’t be ridiculous.

[I keep saying Racoon is cute. She’s really cute.]

[We went to eat chicken barbecue, and she ate it while acting tough even though she can’t eat spicy food, then she drank a lot of cola and leaned on my shoulder saying she was dizzy….]

[Hehehe….]

-The streamer’s voice is gone.

-At this point, regardless of whether it’s a man or a woman, isn’t Racoon’s chastity in danger?

-Protect our Racoon!!

-Racoon seduced her first.

-Hey, you’re drooling.

-Real-time unicorn horn breaking LOL.

-I’m still shocked that she has a unicorn.

-Why is the streamer so creepy when she’s this genuinely happy?

-Yeah, she’s just a perverted old man;;

Osorin continued to talk.

Now, she didn’t even notice that she was changing her facial expressions while talking.

The expressions that change like flowing water.

As the storyteller excites the audience with exaggerated expressions, the viewers who see it are immersed in the story.

Some were interested in seeing the new broadcasting system.

Some were amazed at realizing the principle of the system.

And one of the many viewers.

Someone gritted their teeth.

“I told her not to go into detail, but I didn’t tell her to go on a fangirl rant….”

Hmm.

It seems that Osorin likes to suffer.