The First Group Collab
After yesterday's debut broadcast, today was the group collab stream.
The collab would run as a simple talk show format.
[ Gaon Entertainment VTuber Group — First Group Collab ]
After agonizing over what to title the stream, I went with the company name — the closest thing to guaranteed bait.
"Ah, ah. Testing, testing."
"Hello, everyone~ Tonight's dinner is the leftover Rosé tteokbokki from yesterday."
"Oh, I don't actually like Rosé all that much. Cheese tteokbokki is the superior choice, obviously. Yesterday I only forced it down for content."
Honestly... I felt like I was going to die from this... Rosé was already on the strong side flavor-wise, and there were still two more leftover dishes waiting besides this one...
Should I call Nayeon...? A fresh high schooler was exactly the age to go insane over Rosé.
"A beast, of course."
"Beasts can be trained, you know. My ego is far too strong for that."
That one had been a joke... but apparently my image really had taken a nosedive.
I was chatting casually with the audience when something suddenly occurred to me.
"Oh right, I never introduced myself yesterday, did I?"
"Anyway, let me do a proper introduction before today's collab starts."
Our group was one with no RP. If anything, could we even be called idols?
Anyway, the point was that we had no fantasy character lore whatsoever.
Which led me to ask the manager, at one point, what kind of VTuber setup that was even supposed to be.
The answer that came back was:
"The single biggest reason our company launched a VTuber business was to secure the internet-streaming viewership. With that in mind, we judged it wiser to launch our first VTubers with something familiar to that audience rather than an unfamiliar concept."
She gave me plenty more explanation along those lines, and I was convinced.
And besides, I'd already proven it with results before my regression.
"Not a trainee. I just dropped out partway through university."
"Oh, I'm twenty — the maknae of the group. School and major are a no-comment."
Disclosing personal information was at our own discretion, and I'd figured that hiding my age would just draw more flak than owning it, so I laid it out there. Groups built their chemistry around age dynamics all the time, after all — and I got to keep the maknae title for myself.
"Well, don't believe me if you don't want to."
Because I hadn't argued too hard, it apparently made me sound more believable.
"Ah, it's just about time. Let me join the Discord."
Ding!
"Oh, Rose, you're here?"
The moment I joined, Minseo greeted me.
"Yes."
"Shall we each do a quick round of self-introductions to kick things off?"
And so the introductions began.
"Hello, I'm Rose. I'm twenty years old."
"Y-yes! I'm Shiru! I'm twenty-two!"
"Hellooo~ I'm Somi~ My age? Seventeen years old, +6 enhancement, you see?"
"I'm Hanbyeol! Twenty-four!"
"Teri. Twenty-five."
"I'm Wooju, and I'm twenty-seven."
In order: me, Lim Yuna, Yoon Sua, Kim Yubin, Shin Yerin, Jeon Minseo — youngest to oldest.
"And in age order, our types are: Clown-type, Timid-type, Sly-type, Lively-type, Cool-type, and Gentle-type."
"Huh? What does that mean?"
"You normally nail down archetypes like this on purpose — it makes them easier to remember."
"Th-that's true, but! I am not the Timid-type!"
"Alright! I'll take over hosting from here as your eldest unnie!"
"Wow... clap, clap, clap."
"Waaah!!!"
"...Rose, honey, couldn't you put a little sincerity into it? Clapping with your mouth is going too far..."
Ah — Minseo, a textbook F, must have been a little hurt.
"Wow!"
Clap clap clap!
"Huh? What is that sound?"
"You seemed a little hurt, so those were heartfelt belly claps and foot claps."
Doing both at the same time was a bit of a workout, though.
Seeing everyone enjoy it filled me with pride.
"S-still, for the sake of your image, maybe you should be a bit more careful...?"
"This is what they call gap moe."
Did women just have a different sensibility? I'd expected them to find it funny. It wasn't a bad bit, was it?
Well, as long as the viewers were happy, it was fine.
"Anyway! Let's continue with the stream! Today's main event is... deciding our group name!"
"Ooh! That sounds so fun!"
"Rose...? Isn't that forced acting just a bit much...?"
"Hmm... tough one..."
"We got sidetracked again! If there's a main event, there's a sub event too — sharing first impressions!"
"Huh? How am I supposed to share first impressions of people I've never even seen in real life?"
"Rose! Listen to your unnie just this once!"
"Yes..."
For the sake of the content, I deliberately softened my voice into something meek and obedient.
"Oh, sorry...! I didn't mean to snap at you just now..."
I sympathized with that comment too.
"You're kind of cute, you know?"
"Gah!"
"Wh-wh-wh-wh-what are you saying!"
Ooh, what a jackpot of a reaction.
"Wh-what kind of thing is that to say to your unnie!"
"You call cute things cute."
Viewed through a man's eyes — maybe because she was younger than my pre-regression age — the way Minseo worked so hard and looked out for everyone else was genuinely cute.
Ah — so this was what it looked like when a pot of simps started to simmer?
"A-anyway! Let me rephrase what I said! You just share the impressions you've gotten while talking with everyone!"
"Oh, I see, like that?"
"That sounds fun!"
"Wh-what if someone says something bad about me...!"
"You'd all better write nice things about me~?"
"Seems fine to me?"
We agreed to do the first impressions first, then decide the group name.
"Then! Shall we start with our maknae?"
"Picking on the youngest is only natural, after all."
"No! That's not what I meant!"
"I thought Rose would be a little more reserved at first, honestly."
"Same here!"
"Really, now?"
Was it my voice that threw them off?
"Your voice was just too good."
"I had no idea you were younger than me."
Pretty much the same answer across the board.
"Well... I am our group's eldest unnie, you know?"
"Yes."
"So I heard about how your audition went..."
"Oh, I put a lot of effort into that audition."
I had worked incredibly hard to bring a hastily conceived idea to life.
As a twenty-year-old woman who had never once touched stocks, I'd had to start from the very beginning — installing the trading app.
"...I see."
"I'm not telling audition stories! It's just that, from what I heard, the impression I got was... 'this kid is four-dimensional,' you know?"
"But! Talking with you now, your voice turned out to be even lovelier than I expected! And you seemed so cool and so kind... so I thought, 'she's a really good kid!' And yet..."
"'And yet?'"
"Well... something happened yesterday..."
"Hm?"
Everyone else's impressions of me matched exactly the archetypes I'd defined at the start.
"So in the end, the assessment I gave earlier was accurate after all?"
"...I want to argue, but it's facts, so I've got nothing."
"My T is a little on the strong side."
"...You do seem like it."
"Alright! Now let's decide our group name!"
After collecting all sorts of suggestions, three candidates remained on the table.
"Shall we settle it with a vote?"
"Sure. Either way, even if we pick a joke name, the ones who suffer most are the viewers who have to look at a group with that name."
The result: two joke entries and one serious one — so decided it was.
"Then! Our group name is! Solana!"
"Ooh, wow!"
"...Rose, I'm sorry, unnie's sorry... could you please stop now...?"
"Nope. It's fun, so I'm going to keep going."
"...Fine."
"And now, a special announcement!"
"Waaah!!!"
"Kyaa! You scared me!"
"You startled me too — why did you scream?"
"To make the people screwing around focus."
They were right on the facts, so I had nothing to say.
"Anyway! We just did our first-impression share, didn't we?"
"Yes."
"Yep!"
"So next week, we're holding an offline collab — sharing our first impressions of each other's real faces!"
"Wow."
Since I'd already known this was coming, my reaction was noticeably subdued.
"Waaah!!!"
"I can't wait!"
And so, our first group collab came to an end.