Uninvited Guest!
Time slipped by, and before I knew it another weekend had arrived.
"Good morning!"
I showed up at the office first thing and tossed a bright greeting at everyone who'd come in for weekend work. Not aimed at anyone in particular — just loud enough for the whole lobby to hear.
It had felt embarrassing at first. But this was the company I was going to be walking into from now on.
"Jiwoo, you're here?"
"Still full of energy today, huh."
"Is it that time already?"
Knowing I could inject a little life into people whose days were otherwise dragging by put me in a good mood too.
I was just about to tap my company ID against the security gate when I stopped.
Maybe I was imagining it, but it felt like someone was calling my name.
Had a Sudden Mission popped up from the system?
I checked the Status Window. Nothing. No Sudden Mission anywhere.
What is that, then...?
I turned, scanning the lobby for the source of the sound. A voice too young to belong to any of the office staff brushed faintly against my ear.
"I'm telling you! I came here to find Kuro-chan!"
"Ma'am, we really can't have this. We can't let anyone without a prior appointment meet with our staff."
"Gyaaaaah!!"
It was a sound that sat a little strangely on Korean ears.
Japanese...?
Why was I hearing Japanese here?
Plenty of people in the company could speak it, sure, but nobody actually held conversations in Japanese in the middle of a Korean office.
The voice that kept tickling my ear drifted over from a corner of the lobby again.
"I'm sorry. Please make an appointment first, and visit us then."
"Haaah... I just want to meet Kuro-chan... Why is everyone getting in my way? Seriously!"
A short girl tried to bull her way through on sheer stubbornness, but the security contractor planted in her path was not the sort of wall you punched through on impulse.
"If you keep this up, I'm calling the police."
"P-police?! Th-that would be bad..."
Her target was pretty clearly me — Kuro. I stepped up behind the girl, who had started trembling at the word police.
"Is something going on?"
"Ah... Miss Jiwoo."
The guard shook his head as if to say it was nothing worth my time. I let my gaze slide over to the girl.
Every so often kids showed up at the agency unannounced, dead set on becoming trainees. That was my first guess. Up close, though, she didn't quite fit the type.
If anything...
"Are you looking for someone?"
"...Ah!! Found you! Kuro-chan!"
She had come here for me. For Kuro.
The girl surged forward like she meant to throw herself at me, and the guard's arm shot out.
"It's all right."
"Still, this really isn't—"
I gave the visibly uncomfortable guard a small, easy smile.
"It's really fine. I think she's looking for me. I'll talk to her."
"...Understood. If anything gets dangerous, call me immediately."
"I would never cause trouble for Kuro-chan!"
The girl shouted it in Japanese. The guard had been speaking Korean the whole time; apparently he'd read her meaning off her face alone.
I took her to a café near the agency.
"Anyway... want something to drink?"
"K-Kuro-chan...? You can speak Japanese?!"
I nodded.
I'd learned Japanese in my last life, pulling all-nighters for work. Even in the countryside, if you used the local dialect — their own language — you scored points on first impression. It was a way of saying, I'm interested in you. I came prepared.
"Whoa... that's so cool!"
The girl's eyes sparkled as she stared at me, openly and without a shred of subtlety.
"So? Anything you want to drink?"
"Hmm....."
She hesitated for a beat, then started reading the menu with grave concentration. The board was only in Korean and English, though, which made it rough going for someone who looked Japanese.
"Ah... me... ni... kano..."
"Oh? You speak Korean?"
"Mm... a little? I learned it watching VTubers!"
Flushed with the praise, she beamed and settled on a drink. Judging by how little time she'd spent, she hadn't made it through the whole menu — she'd just picked whatever sat at the very top.
The cheapest thing they had.
"You sure about that? I'd recommend this one."
I'd heard Japanese people were fond of matcha — green tea. This café sold a matcha latte.
"But... money..."
"Don't worry about that. I've got a coupon for this place. Use it and everything's half off."
The part-timer behind the counter opened her mouth to protest that no, that was not how the coupon worked. I shot her a look that shut her up.
Even with the coupon, the discount topped out at about fifteen hundred won. The matcha latte ran well over six thousand. The girl looked broke, and she looked young. I wasn't about to shake a kid like that down for cash. I'd talk to her properly, then send her on her way.
While she waited at the table, I came back with a matcha latte and an espresso.
"Here."
"K-Kuro-chan bought this for me... I don't even want to drink it. I want to keep it forever..."
"Don't say weird things. Just drink."
"Yes!"
She took a sip of the iced matcha latte, ice cubes knocking gently against the cup.
"...Mm?!"
Her eyes went wide.
"I-it's delicious. I knew it — because Kuro-chan bought it, it's so..."
"I get it. That's enough."
Café patrons were starting to stare. The problem wasn't anything else — it was the way Kuro-chan, Kuro-chan kept ringing out, grabbing every ear in the room.
I took a sip of my own coffee.
"So. How did you know I was Kuro?"
I could have denied it. But she was carrying a conviction too sharp for that — the same kind Luna had.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
She clicked her tongue lightly and waggled a finger.
"Kuro-chan. Sloppy. Of course I analyzed you! Kuro-chan's movements. Your habits. Even the cadence of your speech! Analyzing a Korean accent wasn't easy, I'll admit... but I still knew instantly!"
The finger pointed straight at me.
"That you are Kuro-chan!"
Ever since I'd won the project, the VTuber-idol offers hadn't exactly come pouring in — but a few people had wanted to meet Kuro in person. I'd stepped in and mediated those, too, and not one of them had recognized me.
The question of how mattered less than what she intended to do now that she'd found me.
"So? Why did you come looking?"
"That's...."
She unzipped the suitcase sitting beside her and pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper.
"Here! Please read it!"
"...A fan letter?"
That was what it looked like, until I read the title and realized it was nothing of the sort.
Name: Tsuki
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Japanese, written out by hand. I flipped the page and read through it carefully.
It was nothing like the personal file I'd seen on Lee Yuwol a few days ago. Every last bit of this had been filled in by hand — little boxes sketched in pen, the writing itself bunched and cute.
I had to ask.
"Why Korea, of all places? Japan's VTuber market is bigger than ours."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
She wagged her finger and clicked her tongue again.
"Japan doesn't have Kuro-chan! I came from Japan to Korea because I want to debut with Kuro-chan!"
She thrust out a chest that wasn't there, radiating pride.
Debut... with me?
I let the corner of my mouth lift a little and checked her personal details again.
Name...
"Tsuki."
"Yes!"
"Gender, female. And age... eighteen?"
The number and the face in front of me refused to agree. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the paper again. No matter how many times I read it, the eighteen stayed eighteen.
"You're... eighteen?"
"Hm...? Ah! If you count Korean age it's different! Probably.... seventeen! First year of high school!"
Tsuki poked around on her phone and reported back whatever the search spat out.
Seventeen. Same age as me.
Anyone looking at her would have said elementary school — middle school at the absolute most — and she was a high schooler. A helpless, incredulous laugh kept bubbling up.
I finished the whole record and set the paper down on the table with care.
It was packed with how much Tsuki loved VTubers, written in enough detail that the feeling practically rose off the page.
Even so. Even if this VTuber idol project was mine... I couldn't just pass Tsuki on my own say-so.
"I understand why you came. Before you can be a VTuber idol, though, you'll have to take a skill test. That all right with you?"
"Of course! I've been practicing so hard for this!"
Tsuki thumped her chest with total confidence. There was nothing there to bounce, so nothing bounced. That was fine. She had a kind of cuteness I didn't.
I took her to Kang Ho-yeon.
She'd looked so sure of herself. She'd pass easily enough, right?
"Hmm... this won't work. There's no way she passes like this."
After watching Tsuki sing and dance, Kang Ho-yeon shook her head.
"Luna had that husky voice that belonged to her alone. That tone. That's why she could pass even though she couldn't dance. But this Japanese girl... she doesn't fit anywhere. She's ordinary."
Ordinary. That was Kang Ho-yeon's verdict.
Coming from someone who'd been a scout-team lead at an idol agency and sat as an audition judge, it wasn't the kind of call you argued with.
"Uuu...."
Tsuki's eyes had gone red without my noticing. It wouldn't have been strange if the tears had fallen right then.
"Tsuki..."
"K-Kuro-chan... I'm sorry... I wasn't good enough... I just wanted to do it together..."
She bowed her head, fighting the tears down. Her hesitant mouth opened again.
"Kuro-chan... I'll... work even harder and take the test again. So... bye."
"Wait—"
"Jiwoo?"
I caught Tsuki as she started dragging her suitcase out of the agency. Kang Ho-yeon startled at the sudden move.
I knew. I knew exactly how biased this looked. But I couldn't afford to let anyone start doubting why I was doing it.
Fortunately, her skill sat at an ordinary level. If it had been hopeless, even I would have let her go cleanly. She was still a sprout. You didn't crush something that was still growing.
"Hoyeon unnie. Outsiders aren't allowed to use the recording studio here, right?"
"Th-that's right...?"
"In that case..."
It didn't have to be here. There were other ways.
I pulled out my phone and called a number I knew by heart.
"Director. I'm on my way."
"Hmm... this is complicated."
"That bad?"
"It's not that she can't do it. It's more like... how do I put this. There's this inexplicable cringe baked into it."
I scratched the back of my head with a wry smile. I'd braced myself for a scolding. I hadn't expected it to land quite like that. Still — she hadn't turned us away. That was something.
"You'll still turn her into a proper human being, though, right? You did that much for me. Please. You're the only person I can ask for this."
"Hmm... all right. I'll give it a shot."
Yoo Hyemin, the vocal academy director, nodded. My asking had something to do with it — but it was the you're the only one who can that put the steel back in a confidence that had been fading a second earlier.
"It's not just anyone. It's Jiwoo asking. In exchange, though, you'll owe me a favor later. Deal?"
"Of course!"
Yoo Hyemin smiled, bright and easy. An unnameable unease rolled in on the back of that smile.
What kind of favor was she planning to call in?
No. There was no one else who could raise Tsuki's vocals. There was only so much I could do myself. Handing her to Yoo Hyemin wasn't a choice. It was a necessity.
"Kuro-chan. I'm going to give it everything I've got."
Tsuki was showing her own nerve too. Nothing to worry about, then.
A few hours after she marched into the recording booth looking ready to conquer the world...
"Ku... Kuro-chan... save me... I was wrong... I can't do any more!!"
"Tsuki. Where do you think you're running? Back in the booth. You're still not ready to evolve from a beast into a human."
"KYAAAAAAAH!!!"
Tsuki's pitiful scream rang through the recording studio.