A Test of Violence

"So she got fired?"

"Well—rather than saying she got fired. She pretty much proved it herself."

"That's the same thing."

I gave her a brief rundown of everything that had happened at the table read.

Lee Seha. She claimed she'd spent ten years grinding it out in the theater, and yet she could barely get a single line out. That oversized, stage-bound style of hers had every other actor in the room wincing.

She simply hadn't realized yet that the stage and the screen were entirely different animals. If someone taught her, she'd work hard at it...

...Yeah, no.

The words I'd overheard in the bathroom came back all at once. This was someone who trash-talked people ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even when nobody was around. If she ever lucked into a big role, I didn't even want to imagine how she'd look down on everyone beneath her.

"Perfect timing, actually. We've got some kids on our side who want to switch over to acting. I should sound the director out about it."

Our side...

"Aren't we an idol company? Is it even all right to pivot into acting like that?"

"It's not a problem. The thing is, if you're a popular idol, juggling singing and acting is brutal, and if you switch to acting and the results don't come, all of that debt lands on you personally. That's why nobody tries it unless they're pretty confident."

She dismantled my honest curiosity in a single breath, and I realized there was no law anywhere that said an idol company couldn't do acting.

"And look at you, Jiwoo. You're already doing idols and acting at the same time."

"Ah..."

Right. I was. I didn't sell my face to the public, but I was an idol.

VTuber idol Kuro. Somewhere along the way, the word idol had been completely overwritten in my head by broadcaster Kuro.

"I completely forgot. Is it because I've been so busy? How do you forget something like that?"

I had debuted barely a week ago. Maybe I needed to see a doctor.

"You don't have to worry that much. When you're busy, you forget other things all the time. Even I, today...."

"Unni?"

I checked Hoyeon's face in the driver's seat. She was driving in silence, and her eyes—pupils and all—had gone huge. Anyone could tell something had gone very, very wrong.

"Did you forget something?"

"Not exactly... the CEO asked me to handle something, and it was due by lunch today... what time is it?"

The sun was already down. The clock was crawling toward nine in the evening. Late didn't begin to cover it.

Hoyeon broke out in a cold sweat and pulled the car onto the shoulder.

"I'm going to make a quick call. Jiwoo, you..."

"Just do it here. I don't mind."

"You sure? Weren't you going over the script just now?"

The script in my hands had been memorized a long time ago. And not looking at it for a few minutes wasn't going to change a thing.

"Do you know how long ago I got this script? I already have the whole thing down."

With my permission secured, Hoyeon pulled back onto the road and dialed someone.

"I'm so sorry. I should have contacted you by lunch."

Contract? What contract?

If Jo Kyuhyun had gone so far as to ask Hoyeon personally, it had to be something related to me—or to Re:fresh.

"Of course we're extending it. Originally three months, and we're taking it to a year, right?"

Ah. Now I got it.

This wasn't a Re:fresh contract. This was a contract with me. And among the commercials I'd shot, the only three-month deal had been the hamburger one.

Good thing I ate so many hamburgers on stream.

I let a reasonably satisfied look settle on my face and sank back into the seat.

"Jiwoo... Jiwoo."

"Nn...gh? Unni?"

When did I fall asleep?

"You were out? Must've been exhausted. Want to sleep a little more?"

"No... I still have to stream today... wait, no. Today's a day off."

Streaming every single day was too much. Now that people already ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knew who I was, I'd promised Kumongdan that on days with an acting schedule I wouldn't turn on Kuro—I'd do a personal SNS stream instead.

Tomorrow I didn't have an acting schedule, so I could go live. I just hadn't decided what to do yet.

If I asked Yuwol, she'd hand me an answer in seconds... but I wanted to figure this one out myself.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm trying to figure out what to stream tomorrow. Now that I actually have to decide, all I can come up with is a game stream or a singing stream."

I'd never thought twice about it when I was the one watching. Sitting on this side of the camera, though, streamers who cooked up fresh content every day suddenly looked incredible.

"Hmm... or we could try making a large-scale piece of content ourselves?"

Hoyeon dropped that out of nowhere. Wait. Was it even that strange?

Large-scale content meant at least a few weeks of coasting. I wouldn't even have to think of something new.

Not bad, actually.

"What kind of large-scale content would work?"

"Beats me? Doing something with other streamers would give it scale, and a different kind of fun, don't you think?"

"That's..."

I knew our name recognition was higher than when we'd first started streaming, but building content with other streamers required that kind of friendship. Or at least knowing someone who knew someone.

"The only person I know is Aruru."

"Yuwol might know a few people?"

"It'd be hard for you to wrangle every streamer by yourself."

"Now that I think about it, something that size would take a lot of staff too."

The company had fewer than thirty people, and putting content like that together meant you needed people who could handle basic coding and software. How many of those did we even have?

Too much. Large-scale content was beyond our weight class.

"Then how about this? Re:fresh hasn't streamed together once since debut. Why not use this chance to all go live together?"

"A team stream, then. Not a bad idea, but..."

We already called each other during streams, or charged into the next room mid-game to dole out punishment. It got chaotic enough that viewers sometimes asked whose stream they were even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠watching.

"And we can hardly call it a team stream without Tsuki."

"About that... there is a way."

"A way... you mean bringing Tsuki to Korea? That seems a little difficult..."

It had been about a month since Tsuki went back to Japan. Her grandfather was not going to want to send her here again. That part worried me.

"What are you talking about? We can just go this time. And I already called Tsuki's grandfather. His voice was completely... terrifying?"

"Well... he was scary, yeah."

The first time I'd only heard his voice and seen that first impression, I'd locked up too.

But.

"If we all travel as a group, won't it be expensive? It'd be cheaper for Tsuki to come here."

"There's not much difference. And when I talked to Tsuki's grandfather, he said if we ever need to film in Japan, just ask. Said he's pretty well-connected...."

Ah. Well-connected.

Why did my ears hear dark connections?

He said he'd washed his hands of that life, but if you visited the house, a bunch of scary-looking older guys were leaking a faint, menacing Force. The funny part was that not a single one of them was yakuza.

They were all students in Tsuki's mother's cooking class. That had been a genuine shock.

"Wait... cooking?"

"Hm? Is there something you want to eat?"

"That's not what I—do you think all I ever think about is food?"

"Wait, it wasn't?"

"...."

I had nothing. She wasn't wrong. I was, at that very moment, deciding what to destroy for a late-night snack.

Chicken feet. I was definitely wrecking some chicken feet later.

"What if the members did a cooking competition?"

"A cooking competition? For that we'd need... a set, ingredients... that's a lot of money and a lot of time."

"Don't worry about that. I'll find us a set."

"For now... all right."

Hoyeon still didn't look like she believed me, but she took one look at my completely honest eyes and nodded, however reluctantly.

"You really don't have to worry. I know someone with a huge kitchen. Big enough for ten people to cook at the same time."

"Someone I know too?"

"Well... if you know them, you'd know them."

"Who?"

"Tsuki's mother."

"....What?"

Fortunately, getting permission was easy.

The last time, she'd been a little chilly, like she was still trying to get a read on me. This time, the moment I called—

That warm, honeyed voice kept catching in my ear.

I asked if we could film in Japan and if she'd be willing to cooperate. Tsuki's mother didn't even hesitate. She said of course.

What had changed?

The only difference I could think of... I dropped my gaze and gave the view down there a testing squeeze.

"It got a little bigger?"

I was still growing. My chest was creeping upward bit by bit. If this kept up, by the time my growth plates fully closed I'd be looking at about 170 centimeters and an I-cup—and that thought made me genuinely uneasy.

No... where would I even buy an I-cup... seriously.

"How did it go?"

"She said she'll handle everything, from the kitchen to the ingredients. She'll even put us up for the night. Just bring our bodies, apparently."

"She's... that kind? The last time I called..."

Hoyeon pictured her previous conversation with Tsuki's mother and gave a full-body shudder.

"All's well that ends well. Let's head back. I want to rest too."

"Yeah. We're almost there."

Another ten minutes of driving, and we reached the VTuber Idol Dormitory.

I wanted nothing more than to dive straight into bed—and then I heard voices from the next room.

"Sounds like both of them are streaming..."

Oh, it was like that, was it.

Streaming without me? That was unforgivably petty of them. I opened my phone and started a Kuro stream.

"Aaa, everyone, it's not like that. I just got back to the dorm, and the next room is streaming their hearts out, happily playing games."

"Why I turned the stream on, you ask... can you all see this?"

The phone camera swung onto the breaker box.

Oh, it was.

You were all thinking the exact same thing.

"Well then. I'll test our members' violent tendencies."

I opened the breaker box and cut the power.

Clack!

".....Huh?"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"