The next day, 4 PM.
I finished getting ready for the year-end party, and Seungyeon called me from home.
[I’m so jealous!]
“Really?”
[Of course. It sounds like so much fun. There will be so many famous broadcasters there. And Batchu KR, the VTuber, is coming too… Anyway… I’m really jealous! You have to tell me all about it when you get back?!]
“Batchu KR is…. Never mind. Okay, I will. I’ll tell you everything tomorrow and the day after. You’ll be working hard at the end of the year and the beginning of the new year, so get some rest.”
[Yes! Have a safe trip!]
It felt like the person watching was more excited than the person going.
But no matter what others thought, it was clearly a business trip and a business meeting for me.
I need to be serious. There’s a lot at stake.
I put my phone in my coat pocket and crammed my feet into the flats I had left by the door.
I bought them when I was coordinating my outfit, so this was the first time I was wearing them.
I didn’t want my heels to get blisters, so I put on bandages in advance.
When you go to work, you have to be fully prepared.
Beep boop.
The door locked, and as I walked down the front steps, the fierce December wind swept between my legs.
It felt like the first snow was coming soon, signaling the beginning of winter.
I watched my breath cloud and fade away, and started walking towards the subway station…
Vibrate vibrate. The phone in my pocket rang.
“Yes, boss.”
[Are you really going separately? The kids really want to see you.]
“I don’t want to be trapped in the car and tortured. I’ll go separately.”
It must have been on speakerphone, because the members were making a fuss.
[No, turn on video call! I’m curious! What are you wearing?!]
[Me too, sis. Hurry up.]
[Guys, calm down….]
[Holly Park Seat. Let me get some sleep!]
“See you all later.”
I ended the call immediately.
It’s scary even hearing them through the phone.
I was tormented by the four of them at the Christmas party a few days ago, so I’ve already exceeded my quota for the first generation.
Trapped in the car again, getting steamed with words?
That’s hell.
* * *
An hour later, somewhere in Gangnam.
The lobby of a large hotel was packed with people.
It seemed to take a while to verify everyone’s identity, so the line to get into the banquet hall, which was straight inside from the lobby, was almost as long as a snake.
It just kept getting longer and didn’t shrink, so it was blocking people’s way.
I couldn’t get through the entrance without the boss, so I decided to just wait in the hotel lobby.
It would be boring, but YouTube, which is always my friend, was reliable.
And if you move your eyes around, there are surprisingly many things to see.
First, familiar faces.
It’s already amazing that there are familiar faces in a place like this, but it’s even more amazing that some of them are people I used to play with on the server until recently.
Just the ones that stand out are Moogun, Ronze, Loopko, and Kamik.
The only guys I notice are guys because I hardly watch any female streamers.
I only watch VTubers, and I erase their real faces from my memory as soon as I see them, so I can’t know.
Anyway, I watched the people I knew do things for a bit….
Second, beautiful women who catch my eye.
They all had great style like the boss, so it was fun to watch.
After shrinking, I felt less pressure to look somewhere, so I looked very openly.
Maybe it’s because my appearance itself is harmless, but even if I made eye contact while looking, they would just chuckle.
Even now, everyone I make eye contact with giggles and glances at me.
… They smile so prettily, it makes me feel good for no reason.
Even that person over there came in a pretty high-quality cosplay.
I should casually ask to take a picture with them later.
As I was engrossed in watching for a while, I suddenly had a thought.
‘It’s not as uncomfortable as it used to be.’
How long has it been since I stood in a crowded place like this without worrying about what others think?
I used to have a habit of finding a corner first in crowded places.
I’ve gotten a little more confident from hanging out with the boss and the members, so I’m quite far from the corner.
But I can’t deny that I’m still close to the corner.
More than anything, it’s a good thing I’m hiding behind a screen. If I had turned on the camera and streamed,
50,000 people would have been watching the official broadcast in real time, so wouldn’t some of them have recognized me and run over?
Of course, the peace didn’t last long either.
Loopko, who was chatting with his brothers and friends in the lobby and peeking at the entrance line, suddenly looked my way.
If it ended there, I wouldn’t care, but he suddenly turned his head from side to side and said something, and then Moogun and Ronze also looked this way.
Only Kamik, who wasn’t very close to me yet, tilted his head.
Fortunately, they didn’t come my way, but the distance wasn’t that far, so I could clearly hear Loopko’s chilling mutter.
“Isn’t that Majia?”
For once, Moogun helped me.
“This bastard really doesn’t know VTubers. Who in the world makes their screen look exactly like their real face?”
“Really?”
If I had reacted even a little, I would have been caught right away.
No, but was what Iona said true?
Am I that easy to recognize?
Dora said she drew my screen to look like me.
I actually felt like it looked like me when I saw it.
But it doesn’t make sense that they can recognize it right away.
Even today, I’m not wearing the work clothes from the screen.
I have to pretend I don’t know until the end, because I’m uneasy.
The moment I act like I know, they’ll all swarm me.
It’s going to be exposed anyway when the members come.
It’s different having the members as a shield or not.
In a large, crowded place, you can appropriately use your allies as a shield, then run away and hide.
Like in Battle Colosseum.
Take cover and shoot. Run and take cover.
After that, I naturally stayed in the corner and waited for about 20 minutes, and the entrance line thinned out considerably, and the area in front of the entrance began to become less crowded.
The four-person party that Moogun was in had grown to ten people and entered through the less crowded entrance.
I thought it was about time for the boss to come, so I took out my phone and headed that way, when suddenly someone appeared in front of me.
Not angry enough to look upset, but definitely with a personality, with upturned eyes.
Overall, clear features and eyes that had a violet color, as if she was wearing colored lenses.
If I had only seen that, I would have thought she was pretty and moved on.
But I realized it when I saw her earrings.
A round character with + and – symbols hanging like horns.
It was the ‘Plus Minus Squad’, Iona’s fan character, dangling from the ring.
But since pizza was on the line if the other person recognized me first, I kept my mouth shut for now.
Then Iona said.
“Found you. Am I right?”
“Who are you?”
“You’re going to pretend you don’t know me right away.”
Iona whispered in my ear.
“You’re Majia, aren’t you? Your voice is your fingerprint.”
Congratulations.
The prize is pineapple pizza, and there is no right to refuse.
“… I’ll send you the pizza gift certificate when I get home later.”
“Wow. I’ll enjoy it.”
*
In fact, Iona had been inside the year-end party venue for a while.
But while her classmates and juniors were walking around here and there, forming connections, she was periodically walking out to the lobby and just looking near the entrance.
Because she had an important task.
Meeting Majia.
[Team Leader Yeon Seong-muk: If you meet Majia, bring her to my seat right away]
[Team Leader Yeon Seong-muk: I don’t have time, so I’ll just thank Majia and leave]
[Iona: Yes]
At first, she was just going to meet Iona alone and thank her.
But today, suddenly, on the way to the party, she got a call from the operations team leader.
Thanks to you mentioning Lapiz on the Wicker server, Serena has grown a lot. Lapiz has also benefited a lot overall, so the company wants to thank you.
So she kept looking to see when Majia would come.
The team leader kept saying he didn’t have time, so she thought it would be right to show him her face quickly and let him go.
Then, wouldn’t you know it, she saw her?
One person who was particularly small among the many people.
Just in case, she spoke to her, and a lifeless office worker tone came back.
It was definitely Majia.
“How much detail did Maru tell you?”
“Not much detail… He just said she looks like her screen?”
Majia nodded, saying that was possible.
She seemed to admit that she looked like her screen.
“More than that, your eyes are really interesting. You look like a foreigner.”
“It’s from my great-grandfather’s genes.”
“Was he really a foreigner?”
“He’s Korean. My great-grandfather was American.”
As they were talking for a while, the operations team leader, who had been waiting in the banquet hall, ran out, straightening his tie
and clothes.
Iona pointed to the operations team leader, who was wearing thin-rimmed glasses.
“I’m suddenly sorry, but our operations team leader said he wanted to thank you when he had the chance. I just got a call a little
while ago, so I couldn’t tell you in advance, but would it be okay if I introduced you now?”
“Ah. Of course. But thank me?”
“You helped us on the Wicker server before. Because of that.”
“Ah, I see.”
Majia felt puzzled.
She didn’t think repeatedly mentioning Lapiz’s potion was something to be thanked for so much.
Maybe it was a warning for tormenting Iona with the dark history in the Demon King’s Castle.
Still, in a way, wasn’t it a meeting between people in the industry that would be difficult to arrange?
Following the advice of the public relations team leader, it was right to hand over the business card she had brought.
As expected, Lapiz’s operations team leader, who approached, also handed over his business card first.
A natural exchange of business cards, as if they had made an appointment.
[VIRDESS/Verdis]
[Operations Team Leader Yeon Seong-muk]
Lapiz was affiliated with an entertainment agency that also had regular singers and celebrities, so it felt a little different from
Parallel, which specializes only in VTubers.
But the team name was Operations Team, and the frame of his glasses was the same thin frame as Kang Ji-ho’s.
When she thought that he was playing the role of Kang Ji-ho’s team leader in Lapiz, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity.
Majia reflexively reached out her hand, and it was natural for the other side to accept and shake hands.
After shaking hands, Yeon Seongmuk asked Iona.
“Iona, can you excuse us for a moment? I want to talk to someone in the same industry.”
“Suddenly?”
“It’s an important story.”
“Ah, yes. Well. I’ll go get some air for a while.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
Yeon Seong-muk dismissed Iona and then looked around for a while.
It was the behavior of someone who seemed conscious of the people around him.
“First of all, thank you for taking care of Serena on the Wicker server.”
“You’re welcome. I just helped because Merisha and you seemed to be having a hard time.”
“And for promoting Lapiz while you were the Demon King.”
It wasn’t exactly promotion, but she decided to go along with it.
More than that, why was Iona dismissed when he was giving thanks?
Was he finally going to reveal his true colors?
Was the Lapiz potion an attempt to subtly bury her?
What was the dark history video of the members on the 4th floor of the Demon King’s Castle?
Before Majia could ask out of curiosity.
Yeon Seong-muk revealed the answer first.
“We’ve been watching you on the server, and we felt that you definitely have a talent for broadcasting. Not to mention your easy-to-
listen-to voice and impersonations.”
“Ah. Yes.”
“So, I was wondering, have you ever thought about debuting as a VTuber?”
Majia blinked for a long time and then asked again.
“… Me?”