I'm Going Blonde!

The summer uniforms were finally fitted, and a new week began.

"You've got exams today, right? You've been working hard. You'll be fine."

Kang Ho-yeon offered her encouragement from the driver's seat on the way to school.

High school exams. Please. In my last life I'd clawed my way into college on nothing but fumes and spite. This was not going to be a problem.

"It'll be a breeze."

"Yeah. If it's you, Jiwoo, you'll handle it no problem. And… you're starting the summer uniform today?"

"Yes. I heard we were allowed to wear them from June, but I've been so busy with filming I only just got mine made."

"I heard. You got fitted with Jina. I figured the two of you would still be awkward around each other."

Me? Awkward with Jina unnie?

I had no idea what she was talking about.

"We're close, though? Closer than anyone?"

"Then who's the closest person in the group?"

"…Why do you ask?"

A thin sheen of cold sweat broke out along my back.

If I had to name the closest person… it would obviously be Tsuki.

We shared a room every night, and every morning she planted a morning erection—no. A morning kiss on my cheek.

Not that I was awake for it. I only ever found out after the fact, staring at the kiss mark on my cheek or the side of my neck.

Absolutely not.

It was not something I had asked for.

"No reason. We're about to start collecting question sheets, that's all."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Question sheets…?"

"You're starting activities soon, aren't you? The first broadcast won't be solo streams. It'll be a group one. And a few of the so-called viewer questions are going to be ones we plant ourselves."

"Why are you telling me that?"

Kang Ho-yeon flicked a look at me through the rearview mirror, as if the answer were obvious.

"So you can study ahead. You've already had your practice run at the drama press conference. The other members haven't."

"Ah…"

I had already stood on that stage as Kang Mirae, the lead of The Days We Had.

That had been a whole month ago. Time really did fly.

Back then my hands had shaken so badly from nerves that the noise around me had simply vanished. Without the trait, I probably would have fainted on the spot.

I'd layered Kang Mirae's unshakable, never-back-down confidence over myself through the effect of Look Only at Me, and I'd spoken to the reporters without a single tremor. They'd written that I had guts no rookie should have. "Secondhand newbie" had shown up in a few headlines, too.

"Then we should practice. Everyone else might freeze and not get a word out."

"Right?"

Lee Yuwol, at least, I trusted to ride it out. Years of broadcasting instinct would carry her.

The real problems were Jina and Tsuki.

Jina had a streak of boldness in her, so I wasn't too worried there.

Tsuki was the one who kept me up at night.

She's secretly so soft-hearted she can't even say anything mean.

If someone wanted to argue that she was a completely different person when she gamed… well. That was only because it was a game. Games were more than enough to rewrite a person's personality. Even I, without using a single trait, turned into an absolute menace the second I picked up a controller.

That was just how it worked.

"We're here. Do well on the test. I'll time it so I—actually, I'll just wait nearby."

"Yes. I'll give it everything I've got."

Today's exams were only Korean, science, and foreign language. Three subjects, done before one o'clock, before lunch. If Ho-yeon went all the way back to the company she'd just have to turn around and drive to the school again. I'd been the one to suggest she park at a café nearby instead. Cheaper on gas, easier on the driver.

"You made it?"

I stepped into the classroom and found Kim Woojin buried in his textbook—and Choi Wooseok conducting a full religious service.

"Studying? Please. Just guess! O god… O god of bubbling in C… grant me your strength…"

"This lunatic."

"What's studying now going to change? You should've done it when you had the chance."

"What are you talking about? When was I supposed to study? If I start now I can still pull a thirty."

Was thirty points somebody's dog's name? Ten minutes of staring at a textbook was not going to cough up a score like that.

"Why don't you look at the review points they gave us instead? You'll get seventy or eighty percent of it from there."

"Oho. Someone's been studying."

"Heh. I haven't done a thing either. When was I supposed to find the time?"

"True. With all the filming, you only showed up to school once last month, right?"

Twice.

Don't go docking me a whole attendance day.

"Then how about a bet?"

"A bet? What kind of bet?"

Choi Wooseok, who until a second ago had been praying at the desk beside me, dropped the suggestion out of nowhere.

"Last place treats at the PC bang. Full course."

"Full course as in… ramen all the way through drinks?"

"Uh… no. One food, one drink."

"Come on…"

One of each? What was that supposed to cover? You needed at least ten of each to make it a real meal. I said as much, and the color drained out of Choi Wooseok's face.

"I don't have any money! I don't work like you, I get an allowance!"

"Who told you not to work? How old are you to still be living on allowance…"

"My mom said a student should act like a student and banned me from part-time jobs."

"What beautiful parents. That's right. A student should act like a student. Truly outstanding people."

Phew. I'd almost gone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠full holier-than-thou for a second there.

"You're so full of it."

"Anyway!"

I let the comment from the side roll off and hammered out the terms in detail. Contracts and bets were the same—if you didn't lock them down tight, somebody always had something to say afterward.

"All right, everyone sit. We're starting the exam."

While we were still nitpicking the conditions, the bell rang and the homeroom teacher walked in.

"Ah, shit…! I haven't even looked at the review points!"

"We're fucked… As long as I score higher than you two, I'm fine!"

That was Choi Wooseok's last cry.

"Huh… huh? Why is this…"

After the exam, the unofficial tally came in.

Me: 94. Kim Woojin: 36.

And Choi Wooseok closed the curtain at 9.

"Fuck… this is a scam."

That evening, a new video went up on JO Entertainment's NewTube channel.

The title was Coming Soon.

That was the entire pitch: a title telling you to look forward to it, and a black screen. People clicked out of sheer curiosity, wondering what on earth it was.

The video opened on darkness. Then the lights came up, one by one—four in all. Each time a light hit, a silhouette resolved out of the dark.

A yellow-haired avatar.

A blue-haired avatar.

And Luna's renewed avatar.

The comments started guessing from the silhouettes alone.

The guess was that this was the arrival of the VTuber idol Kuro.

And the guess was right.

The video ran thirty seconds. The last light came up.

Kuro's voice rolled out of the video.

The instant Kuro finished speaking, the date and time swallowed the screen.

"This is… a success, right?"

"A success? This is a massive success! The company NewTube has never seen numbers like this!"

One hour after the video went up, the view count had already blown past a hundred thousand.

Until now, JO Entertainment's average sat somewhere between a thousand views and, on a good day, still under ten thousand.

"Everyone seems excited. I won't be able to stream for a while either."

Lee Yuwol let out a heavy sigh at the thought of going dark for the remaining stretch. It couldn't be helped. Luna's viewers still had no idea she was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠renewing and officially debuting alongside Kuro.

"Then why didn't you tell them? People would love it."

"Because… that's content. A streamer has to turn even the smallest nothing into a broadcast angle. That's how you stream every day without the viewers getting bored."

"Ah… I see."

Another lesson learned.

What Yuwol meant was: stop looking at this like a regular person.

That wasn't hard. The original body, Lee Jiwoo, was already an actress and a celebrity—not a regular person. Little stories civilians never heard, the tiny things that happened on set… stretch them just a little and they became video material.

"Tsuki's so excited to stream with Jiwoo-chan!"

"Me too. Before that, though… we'll have to go to Japan, right?"

"Y… yeah…"

Tsuki's face clouded over.

She'd told me she'd flown to Korea with nothing but a passport and a scrap of travel money, over her parents' objections. No matter how many times I turned it over, her nerve still astonished me.

The first time she'd shown up at JO Entertainment—if I hadn't been at the company at that exact hour, security would have thrown her out and she would have been wandering the streets. Korea was safe from crime, relatively speaking. Relatively. Safe was not the same as zero. A girl as pretty as Tsuki walking around lost was a magnet for the wrong kind of trouble.

"Hm? Jiwoo-chan! Why are you looking at Tsuki like that?"

"No reason. Just… never do that again."

"Hm? Tsuki doesn't know what you mean, but okay!"

The shadow lifted off her face and she beamed, bright as anything. I gave her hair a light pat.

I really thought everything would keep unfolding without a hitch.

A few days later.

School exams were over, and I was enjoying a lazy afternoon nap at the dorm when the phone on the pillow buzzed.

"Who is it…"

We'd gamed with the members until dawn. I'd basically pulled an all-nighter. My eyes ached and my whole body felt like lead.

"You're heavy. Tsuki… get off."

No answer.

"Tsuki?"

I peeled the blanket back.

Nobody was underneath it.

"What the… First, the phone—it's Tsuki?"

The caller was Tsuki.

"Hello?"

What?

What was she talking about?

"Wait! Where are you right now?!"

Her voice was dark.

Damn it. I should have caught it sooner.

Tsuki had been acting strange lately. Every night she'd sat there clinging to her phone with that mournful look, and whenever I asked if something was wrong she only gave a little shake of her head.

An airport announcement leaked through the phone.

"You're at the airport right now! Wait there—I'm coming!"