I'm Announcing My Idol Debut!

They'd given us a week until the main tournament. For me, that was no time at all.

I hadn't spent years learning to sing the way other VTubers had. I didn't have a career—or a fanbase—to lean on, either. In the prelims I'd just gotten lucky: catching people at the exact moment they were getting bored, then hitting them with a song that made their eyes and ears light up.

In short, I'd lucked into first place in the vote. Pure luck.

That luck isn't going to work anymore.

This was the main round. The only people who'd made it here already had real skill. The prize for winning this project was a hefty ten million won—but more than the money, I needed something else.

I need the publicity.

A few days ago, Kang Ho-yeon had muttered it under her breath without even realizing.

"Members… we need more members… at least three… no, we need four more…"

This wasn't an MCN. It was an idol agency. Lately, thanks to me, people had started calling it a proper entertainment company rather than just an idol label—but nobody was showing up asking to become a VTuber at a place like that. Unlike an MCN, which stayed hands-off unless something serious happened, an agency meant strict management. Streamers clearly struggled with that kind of systematic discipline.

I have to promote this with everything I've got.

Even if I got eliminated this time—maximum publicity.

"The song I've prepared is…"

That was why I'd chosen this track. I was going to tell everyone. That you could be a VTuber even at an agency.

"I'm Announcing My Idol Debut!"

The pre-registered backing track poured out of the stage speakers.

Dum… dum-dum. Dum-dum-dum!

I hit the first downbeat dead on. I couldn't miss a single count. I absolutely could not let anyone say it was a fluke, that it was nothing special.

In the prelims I'd held a mic in my hand and sung. This time I'd fitted the avatar with the in-ear monitors idols actually wear. My hands were free. I glided across the stage with both arms spread wide.

This was my stage. My concert hall. Nobody could interfere. Even Dongsuk, who'd been locking horns with me until a moment ago, couldn't stop this performance.

This was mine. My stage alone.

I stopped mid-glide and pointed straight at the camera. For a split second the camera flinched, as if it had been startled. It wasn't even a person—how was it supposed to move? I chalked it up to my imagination and rolled into the next line.

The melody was bright and bouncy. The lyrics were not. It was a song about failing over and over, about having no strength left to stand back up—and standing up anyway, running forward, and finally making the dream real.

It was in the same family as The World I Wanted, the song I'd sung in the prelims, but the cheerful arrangement made it feel like a completely different track. That was why I'd picked it. And in front of all these people, I could say it without flinching.

A few days ago, I couldn't have done any of this. I still hadn't adapted to this body—to being a girl.

Not anymore.

I'd adapted completely. So I could do this, too.

I put on the cutest face I could manage. The avatar couldn't render a detailed expression—but if the cutesy lilt in my voice could reach everyone, that was enough. I tore around the stage and came flying back to center, then held up a single finger.

How else?

Luna caught herself humming along to Kuro's song before she even knew she was doing it.

By the time she noticed the chat, it was already a solid wall of HELL.

"Uh… everyone? Did I do something wrong?"

Luna stared at the chat with a hollow look. "This year" was all of three and a half months old. If her best decision of the year was already locked in…

She looked back at the stage, at Kuro dancing and singing her heart out.

What a waste. If she didn't have an agency, I would've loved to bring her in on what I'm planning… or maybe.

Switch MCNs?

The MCN Luna was signed to was up in April. After that, she could go anywhere she wanted. Building an idol group with Kuro didn't sound bad at all.

Looks like she came out here to promote the agency. Talent like that… and that voice is just too pretty.

Most of the time, people with beautiful voices were beautiful in person, too. Regular folks wouldn't notice, but there was a particular quality to a voice like that.

Chat had already split into camps over Kuro's Red Pill.

"Hehe…"

Chat flooded with HELL all over again. Whoever invented that spam, honestly.

"You want to know why I laughed? It's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠because… my MCN contract ends in April."

A few of them were already catching on. Not that it mattered. Finding out early would only make them jealous.

So what are you going to do about it?

Please. A bunch of shut-in hikikomori glued to streams in the corners of their rooms.

"…Did I just say that out loud?"

Judging by the reaction, she had. The slip had already left her mouth.

"So what? What are you going to do about it?"

After the indiscriminate massacre of chat was over, Luna looked back at Kuro's stage. She'd only looked away for a moment. Verse one had ended, and verse two had already begun.

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The second verse of I'm Announcing My Idol Debut! wasn't different from the first. The heroine had just grown a little, that was all.

You ran with everything you had, and it still felt like standing in place. Luna knew that feeling. She'd wanted to be a singer. She'd sung until her throat tore, every single day. She'd ended as a trainee, and that was it.

She still couldn't give up singing. The path she'd chosen was VTubing—hiding her face, letting only the voice be judged. She couldn't quite call it success, but she hadn't failed, either. She'd been invited as a judge for VTuber Music Project Season 3, after all.

I can still climb higher.

Luna clenched her fist.

If I'm with Kuro!

And with that, Kuro's song ended.

There was no need to wait for the results. No matter how high-level a singer showed up after this, there was no VTuber here who could beat Kuro right now.

The host came up onto the stage and passed the microphone toward the judges' table. Luna took it first, and her honest feelings came straight out.

"…Excuse me?"

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

Congratulations on first place? Just like that? I had no idea what Luna was talking about. I could only tilt my head.

"Ah… I'm sorry. That was my honest feeling slipping out…"

"Even so, you can't just say something like that…"

Dongsuk started grumbling, and Luna's gaze cut straight across him.

"It's… the truth."

"Yes, it's my fault for saying what I actually thought, here of all places. But… I had reasons for thinking it."

Reasons? Well. She must have had them, to say something like that so boldly. By this point, I was curious. What kind of reason made a person say that out loud?

"Would it… be all right if I asked? Why you thought that, Luna."

She nodded like it was nothing.

"Of course. The reason's simple. In the prelims, the only emotion in Kuro's singing was that it was fun. That was it. The prelims were still good enough to get you here, of course."

She started bouncing in her seat, words picking up speed like she was getting excited.

"The reason's simple. This time, the song didn't just have the joy of singing. It had charm. The kind of charm you show to another person. That's what made our hearts race. Am I wrong? Anyone?"

Luna looked down the judges' table, asking for agreement. Everyone nodded. The only one who kept his head locked stubbornly in place was Dongsuk.

"Ah… I'm gonna have to disagree."

Dumping a load of crap right when the mood was good. I frowned before I could stop myself.

"Disagree…? What is that supposed to mean, Dongsuk?"

Luna's voice had gone sour too.

"Charm? Can't you just… do it? Like this. Kyu?"

Ugh. Bile surged up my throat. I came this close to meeting today's lunch all over again.

"Dongsuk… if you don't know anything about singing, keep your mouth shut. Charm like that? A three-year-old walking by could do it. What I was talking about was the charm in the song."

Luna chewed him out for me—no. For every single viewer.

"Ah… I'm sorry. Please pretend you didn't see that just now."

Dongsuk must have read the chat. Cold sweat beaded on him as he apologized. There wasn't a shred of sincerity in it.

"All right! Time's up, so contestant number five, Kuro, please return to the waiting room—and next we'll have VTuber number six!"

The host found the exact right moment to cut in and flip the atmosphere. I headed down off the stage with a new appreciation: not just anyone could do that job.

A few days passed.

Sunday. The finals.

The ones who made it up were, of course, Kuro—first in the vote, same as always—and one of the VTubers who'd been fighting tooth and nail since the prelims, scraping into second by a razor-thin margin.

On the final stage, my opponent gave it everything they had. The result still ended with my win.

"Unnie. Did we get a lot of applicants?"

"Uh… uh… about that…"

Cold sweat ran down Kang Ho-yeon's forehead. March was over, and April was announcing spring. The weather had warmed up, sure, but not enough to make anyone sweat.

"There aren't any?"

"…Sorry, Ji-woo. You went on the project, you won, you even promoted us… I think you won so overwhelmingly that everybody lost their nerve."

A joke had been making the rounds online: that VTuber Music Project Season 3 had started with Kuro and ended with Kuro. At first I'd thought it was just people messing around. Then the fallout got so bad a bunch of VTubers actually paused their music activities for a while.

"Haa… this isn't how it was supposed to go…"

"I'm sorry… I'm a pathetic manager."

Kang Ho-yeon hung her head and tore into herself. When she'd first brought me into the agency, she'd been overflowing with confidence. Now she looked like a career assistant manager who got chewed out by her boss every single day.

"It's oka—"

I was reaching out to comfort her when it happened.

"Wait… wait?! This is… the JO Entertainment VTuber idol application, right?! But… why is it this person?"

She froze staring at the monitor. Curiosity got me too. I checked the screen.

"Huh… why is this person here?"