Chapter 2 : Before a miracle happens

Before a miracle happens

LumiLive Season 1 Audition.

The project ambitiously started by KillogNote, a YouTuber with 1.15 million subscribers, grew far beyond his expectations.

KillogNote, a true “V-Taku” who frequently talked about VTubers on his broadcasts and openly shared his favorite VTuber from Japan’s HanaLive,

His love for VTubers reached its peak on September 28th.

“I will stand in Korea’s VTuber market.”

With a bold declaration, he gathered the few people in Korea interested in this field and formed the ‘LumiLive Project.’

He even boasted loudly that he would show everyone what a real idol is.

This project, started half out of passion and half out of ambition, was launched at a time when Korea’s VTuber market was still small.

They expected at most 100 applicants… but their expectations were completely shattered.

Even after filtering through documents, more than 300 applicants remained.

Applicants overflowing with passion and incredible talents that made you wonder how such skills were even possible.

People with singing skills comparable to professional singers…

People whose wit and humor made you curious about how their brains worked…

People who could speak so many languages that it was hard to understand why they applied here…

Of course, Japan’s HanaLive, a corporate giant, had odds where only one in tens of thousands was chosen…

But in Korea, where the market was still growing, this level of support was truly surprising.

After gathering managers, editors, and friends interested in VTubing, they rigorously selected four final shining talents.

The spirit of the dandelion. The pure and graceful leader, Hanasaki Yui.

The lucky fox. The comedian, Yoshida Misa.

The library librarian. The sharp-witted commentator, Fujimoto Rie.

Lastly, the wandering artist. The sexy one, Yamamoto Emi.

These four are set to debut this coming Tuesday, revealing themselves to the many waiting “V-Takus.”

“Hmph… My part is a little lacking. I’m not just pure, I’m a genius too!”

Rustle, rustle.

Something wrapped tightly in a blanket like a cocoon mutters while reading a long entry on PlantWiki.

“Hehehe. This part is funny…”

Pop! A head pokes out from the blanket.

A beautiful girl with long, messy brown hair rolls around on her bed with a goofy smile.

Just one look, and you can’t help but think, “How pathetic.”

Hanasaki Yui. Real name: Seo Ah-hyun.

A delicate girl with striking green eyes. When walking down the street, her looks would inspire dreamy fantasies from countless men…

“Imagine… ten thousand viewers tuning into my debut stream… a million subscribers…”

With a silly grin, she drifts into a daydream. Such a silly, silly girl.

A true otaku who passionately followed countless genres since her school days.

“Hehe… I can’t wait to debut~.”

Ah-hyun giggles while fiddling with her heavily decorated phone.

What she’s watching under the guise of “studying” are debut videos of HanaLive members.

“Oooh…”

Top-tier avatars respond to every tiny movement with fluid precision.

Naturally, since they’re Japanese, even their Japanese speech sounds flawless, blending into the high-quality animation seamlessly.

It was, honestly, overwhelming.

“As expected… HanaLive…”

Ah-hyun let out a sigh filled with a mix of admiration and slight relief.

HanaLive, the undisputed number one in the industry, had technology worth envying. Though the competition was fierce,

Their avatar and rigging quality were undeniably top-notch.

“Ugh! It’s fine! My avatar is incredibly cute too!”

Ah-hyun suddenly burst out of her blanket and shouted.

No one had said anything, yet she was already defending herself. If she were any less pretty, it might have been annoying…

But luckily, she was a beautiful girl.

And she had no reason to feel insecure. Her avatar was also of extremely high quality.

Golden hair, as if woven from the sun’s rays, and emerald green eyes that mirrored fresh spring sprouts.

Despite her innocent appearance, her abundant figure was more than enough to soothe the tired souls of society.

This avatar, crafted months ago by WhitePalette without much thought, was Ah-hyun’s life gamble.

She had saved every penny from her mother’s allowance to commission this high-quality avatar. It was her statement of determination.

With this avatar, I will become the symbol of LumiLive!

When she confidently displayed her avatar on her phone screen during the final interview, her hands were trembling so hard she could still feel it now.

But it was worth taking the risk. If she hadn’t, she would have remained just another ordinary otaku…

Ah-hyun mumbled as she stared at the calendar. A red circle marked Tuesday. Tomorrow.

The day she would debut as the idol she had always dreamed of becoming.

After one night’s sleep, her life would change forever.

“Alright… It’s almost time now.”

Ah-hyun glanced at the corner of her room.

The outdated, lagging computer that once allowed her to cook ramen while waiting for it to buffer was now gone.

Sparkle!

“So beautiful…”

It glowed brilliantly.

A brand-new computer built with parts and equipment sent by LumiLive. Whether it was because a major YouTuber had sent it, it was the high-performance computer Ah-hyun had always dreamed of.

Once a small dream, it was now a thing of the past. From now on, it was time to chase a much bigger dream.

With a fist full of determination, Ah-hyun sprang to her feet.

“Let’s do this, Seo Ah-hy—”

Riiing!

“Kyah! It’s… it’s the manager calling!”

Worried her delusions might be exposed, Ah-hyun calmed her excited heart and answered the phone.

“Y-Yes! This is Hanasaki Yui speaking!”

Although she didn’t calm down very easily.

[Alright, Yui. What are you doing right now?]

A husky, low female voice came through the phone. It was LumiLive’s manager, Bihangwoon.

“Bihangwoon! I’m studying by watching debut videos right now!”

[Good. That’s admirable. But I wanted to ask you something.]

“Uh…? What is it?”

Manager Bihangwoon is a cool person who tends to handle everything efficiently and quickly.

She replaces almost all communication with messages.

The fact that she called now meant something important was going on.

[Could you tell me the name of the person who created your avatar?]

“Eh, Mama? Of course, I can. Why?”

[It’s an art style I’ve never seen before, and the quality is incredibly high. It would be good to know in advance. We’re planning a collaboration with Mama in our content lineup.]

“Ooh…”

[Also, we might commission them for work in the future… Knowing ahead of time would be helpful in many ways.]

Ah-hyun paused in admiration before tilting her head.

Would it really be possible? WhitePalette never revealed personal information, not even their gender.

Well, if it works out, great. If not, there’s no helping it.

“Got it! Their name is WhitePalette… I’ll leave their SNS and website links!”

[Alright. Thanks. Get some early rest. Don’t be too nervous about tomorrow’s broadcast.]

“Yup! I’ll hang up now!”

Click—.

“Heehee… I should go to bed early! Can’t afford to oversleep!”

Honestly, even if Bihangwoon hadn’t told her, she would have gone to bed early…

But with such a good excuse handed to her, there was no reason to refuse.

“Oh! Before I sleep!”

Ah-hyun hurriedly turned on her computer before diving into bed.

Click. A small, cute blonde girl appeared on the screen.

Her bright blue eyes curved into a fresh smile.

After a moment of eye contact, Ah-hyun smiled softly and rested her forehead against the screen.

“Good night, Yui! Let’s do our best tomorrow!”

Rustle—.

And with that, the figure of a girl disappeared into the blanket.

Carrying great anticipation and a bit of worry.

Tick-tick. Tick-tick.

“Ahh, it’s so long.”

Lines of text scrolled up and down with the spinning mouse cursor.

As expected, documents written by time-rich Bill Gates types. So detailed and long…

“KillogNote… Turns out he’s really famous.”

[He is a general game streamer primarily focused on FPS games. From the early days, he only played A-Class Legends, leaving behind numerous legendary videos. A representative example is the ‘Our Dogs Incident.’]

Huh.

‘Our Dogs’…?

That phrase sounded oddly familiar.

“Oh! Was it that guy?”

She remembered. They’d crossed paths in a game once.

It was during a time when she was so hooked on A-Class Legends that she ignored her work and played games all day.

It was an experience both her male and female sides shared.

Enemies kept pouring in that day, and her magazine emptied again and again.

If KillogNote hadn’t turned on his mic and apologized, she’d have never known. After all, she didn’t really watch YouTube.

“Sorry! Our dogs are going crazy again!”

“Ahaha, it’s okay! Pffft.”

A grin naturally spread across her face.

“So it was him. I’m glad he’s doing well.”

Pfft. She had laughed so much back then. She never imagined it would become such a big deal.

They hadn’t known each other well, but now being connected like this brought back nostalgic memories.

The commentary was incredibly long. Is he really an FPS YouTuber?

[He seems to have fallen deep into the VTuber world. In casual conversations, he mentions Hanalive or his oshi, Takahashi Sayo. Eventually, on September 28th, he announced the Lumilive Project.]

“Wow. Isn’t that a bit impulsive?”

This is unexpectedly interesting.

When is Lumilive’s debut date? Hmm… Tuesday, December 17th…

Hmm…?

“That’s tomorrow?”

Wait. Did she just find out about it the day before?