VTuber Project Preliminaries!

The day after we wrapped the drama shoot, I swept an arm across the bed through my rumpled hair, groping for my phone. With eyes that had barely cracked open, I checked the time.

Around eleven in the morning.

Everyone else would already have left the set and then some. The realization that I was well and truly fucked snapped my eyes wide.

"This is bad..."

I had said my last goodbyes to the other actors after yesterday's filming. I'd still meant to pay my respects as a rookie before heading out today — but five straight days of a shooting death march had left my body completely wrecked. Even now I was just lying there on the bed, eyes wide, unable to so much as twitch.

"Ah... whatever. I'm going back to sleep."

Spilled milk. There was no putting it back. Somebody would call me a rude little brat, and somebody else would figure I'd earned it after working myself into the ground.

"Still, I do have to get up..."

The lodging was only booked through today. I had to be out before noon, so it was about time I dragged myself upright.

That was when it happened.

Vrrrr.

My phone spat out a vibration. Who was texting me first thing on a weekend morning? I picked it up, brow furrowed.

"Huh?"

I... I'd actually passed the first-round audition?

The VTuber Music Project was built in four stages: a first-round video-file audition, a second-round public prelim, a third-round main tournament, and then the long-awaited finals.

Only the people who cleared the first round — the ones who'd proven they had basic singing chops and editing skill — were allowed to advance to the public prelims.

I had already sailed through that first round on a voice even the vocal academy director would acknowledge, plus an editor the agency had lined up for me.

"That's amazing! So the public prelims start today, then?"

"W-well, yes, but there's a problem."

"A problem?"

Getting into the public prelims took more than showing up. First I had to install VRChat on a computer so the avatar could actually move.

I hadn't prepared a single thing — and of course the prelims started at two.

Current time: noon.

Barely two hours left. In that window I had to get home, install VRChat, and apply the avatar. The whole chain had to run without a single hitch, start to finish, or it simply wouldn't happen.

I haven't even bought a computer yet... Will the old relic at home even run it?

My leg bounced with nerves. The odds were fifty-fifty. It would work, or it would fail.

I went back over the text that had just come in. One line jumped straight off the screen: fail to enter on time, and you were eliminated on the spot.

"Gayeong unnie... if we get a ticket, I'll pay it. Could you maybe press the pedal a little harder?"

"That..."

Choi Gayeong shot me a look of pure dismay in the rearview mirror, our eyes meeting more than once.

"Absolutely not! I don't care how urgent it is — speeding is out of the question! What if we get in an accident?"

I'd been in such a rush the stupid words had just fallen out of my mouth.

"I'm sorry... that was a dumb thing to say. Please drive safely."

"I'll push it right up to the edge, as far as I can."

"Th-thank you."

Thanks to Gayeong unnie, we got in faster than the estimate. I tossed off something that barely counted as a goodbye and bolted upstairs to my room.

"I'm home!"

It was lodging the agency had arranged, so there was no family here — but I called it out anyway, the way I did every day, and shot straight for my room.

"What... is this."

The computer on the desk was not the black, dust-caked machine I knew. A sleek white case sat there instead, looking like it had walked out of a catalog.

"Th-this..."

"My girl. What could possibly be so urgent that you run into your room without even saying hello?"

"Huh? Mom, why are you here? No — more importantly, what is this?"

I pointed at the new computer. Ji Hyuna answered like it was nothing.

"What do you think? It's your school-admission present. Your dad and I finally splurged. The internet's already installed, so you can use it right now."

Ji Hyuna's terrifying sense of timing dropped me right into her arms on the spot.

Even if you'd just bought a new PC, getting the internet and the server set up ate half a day by itself. Wipe that wait off the clock, and I'd still have time to install VRChat and even run a test.

"Mom! I love you! Thank you!"

"Honestly... if you like it this much, why did you keep turning it down?"

"Ah... haha... about that."

"More importantly — you had something urgent, didn't you?"

I'd forgotten in the rush of gratitude. I hurried to hit the power button.

"Whoa..."

A riot of glittering LEDs bloomed from the tower, and the monitor woke.

"Huh...? A mic?"

I'd been so hypnotized by the computer that I only now noticed something new sitting on the desk.

Until now I hadn't owned a broadcasting microphone. I'd been planning to take the prelims on a headset mic. With this, I could put out a much better voice.

"That arrived yesterday — a gift from the agency. I wanted to set it up for you, but wanting and knowing how are two different things. So they came by and installed the whole thing themselves before they left."

"Ah... I'll call later and thank them."

"You do that. More to the point... was it today?"

Watching me, Ji Hyuna had already clocked that the audition was today.

I'd meant to sit the prelims in secret. Given the personality I'd seen from her so far, though, there was a very real chance she'd park herself right beside me and watch the whole thing.

While VRChat downloaded, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I asked as casually as I could.

"Um... Mom? Are you planning to stay here?"

"My girl. You're embarrassed at the thought of Mom watching you sing, aren't you."

How did she know?

Was I that obvious? I startled hard on the inside and tried to lock my face down.

"You call yourself an actress, and every last expression is written on your face. Or is it that having Mom here makes you that uncomfortable?"

"That's not it... is it really that obvious?"

I'd tried to hide it. She'd caught me anyway.

"Of course. Though if it had been anyone but me, they probably wouldn't have noticed. If I couldn't even read my own daughter's face, what kind of mother would I be? One time going through that was more than enough."

She didn't have to tack that last part on.

The day I'd collapsed was still sitting in her chest, even now. I stood up and gently put my arms around her.

"It's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not because of you, Mom... I just didn't know what kind of shape my own body was in."

Even in the memories, Jiwoo had never blamed Ji Hyuna. If anything, she'd blamed her own body for going down that easily.

"Jiwoo..."

Ji Hyuna wrapped her arms around my back, and for a while we just held on to each other.

At last VRChat finished installing. I logged in and applied the avatar I'd gotten from Lee Boram.

It was my first time actually doing the work, but Boram unnie had already walked me through how to apply it.

I used the mirror function and checked my avatar.

It moved exactly as I did — but it didn't look like me, and the mismatch left a strange feeling in my chest.

Kuro. In Japanese it meant "black."

My avatar, though, sat a little ways off from plain black.

A girl with long black hair, blue inner two-tone highlights, and blue jewel-like eyes. The black dress she wore was dotted with cogs and blue roses — a prophet from the future, come to bestow songs.

That was the RP Boram unnie and I had settled on together for Kuro.

"Ah. Aaah."

I let my voice roll into the mic. The future-person concept meant I needed something a little calm, a little grave.

I spent about ten minutes lifting and lowering my voice until Kuro's was finished.

"Whoa... that's insane."

I checked the recording and couldn't help the awe. It was a voice of real elegance — the kind that belonged to a woman the whole world would fall for, and it suited the face perfectly.

Holding that voice as steadily as I could, I hurried toward the VRChat waiting room around 1:40. The second-round prelims were about to start.

"Wow... they must have thrown a lot of money at this. The waiting room's huge."

At this size, it was almost on the same scale as yesterday's film set.

I stepped inside. Avatars with hair in every color of the rainbow were clustered up with people they already knew, chattering away. Their voices sat so high I could hear every word without even getting close.

Ugh... my stomach...

Nerves? Not a chance. This wasn't like the busking, where I'd shown my actual face and sung. It wasn't acting either, with a crowd's eyes pinning me in place.

So what was this feeling?

"Hi there? I don't think we've met — are you a new VTuber this time around?"

"A newbie? Newbies are still entering this?"

"Where, where? Let me see."

A flood of greetings hit me all at once, and I understood.

Ah. This isn't nerves. This is...

My energy getting sucked dry. Even talking one-on-one with Jihwa unnie hadn't drained me like this. Dozens of people speaking at the same time, and I could feel my stamina dropping in real time.

No... if this keeps up, I'll collapse before I even sing.

I dipped my head the way a badly shy person might and fled to a corner.

Fortunately, nobody followed. Everyone just gave the same yeah, that happens reaction and left it there.

"Haa... haa... thank god."

I'd heard the old joke that when three women get together, the windows shatter. Women's voices sit higher than men's, so I'd always figured it was just a gag.

I thought the speakers were going ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to blow.

Not every contestant was like that. A few avatars were tucked into corners the way I was, reading the room. Others hovered, clearly hoping someone would talk to them first.

I left my avatar standing there and checked the audition rundown.

First a self-introduction and a simple profile. After that, you sang the song you'd brought for the second-round prelims.

That avatar looks expensive too.

Every avatar gathered here was pretty or cute, so nobody was going to be scoring on looks alone.

"I'll start singing now~"

Pretty voices, every last one of them. I closed my eyes and listened.

I hadn't come in with high expectations. Everyone would be much of a muchness, with the occasional standout — that was the light, easy frame I'd brought to the listening.

I didn't need to win. I was confident I could still land a high rank.

A little full of myself, maybe. But me? I'd even signed with an idol agency. I was sure of my singing.

I listened like that for a good while. Then, with a trembling hand, I picked a snack up off the desk.

"Ehhh... this has to be a joke, right?"

By the time the opened packages had multiplied one by one and taken over the desktop, I finally admitted it.

"...These people are amateurs?"

Not professionals?