Avatar!
Every episode featuring Kang Sora had come to an end.
From episode five onward she never appeared again, except as the occasional flicker in Kang Shin-hye's memories.
Kang Sora was nothing more than a device — a reason Shin-hye could forget who her enemy was, a spark that could set things in motion.
A supporting role, through and through.
She was never supposed to become the lead.
That's right... she wasn't.
Wow...
I stared at the articles flooding the internet and found myself at a complete loss for words.
Even to my own eyes, episode four had been edited to an almost excessive degree. Every last write-up was packed with glowing praise. Sure, the agency had probably slipped a few reporters some cash for the kinder pieces — but this had blown past anything I'd expected.
I'd figured I'd be a brief talking point before the spotlight swung over to the other actors' performances. Instead, three days in, the news was still wallpapered with stories about me.
"Ugh... a day like this really calls for a drink. Shame I can't have one."
The betrayal of a new life: I was young again. In my last one I'd drunk and smoked at every spare opportunity, so I never imagined a teenage body would be the thing that tripped me up.
Still, when we got back to the dorm, Tsuki and Lee Yuwol threw a celebration chicken party, and I managed to put away a chicken-and-cola combo until my stomach was one bite short of bursting. I was a little sorry it wasn't alcohol, and watching Yuwol — our only legal adult — nurse a beer all by herself made me so envious I tried to sneak a sip.
I got shut down instantly.
I even stuck out my lip and begged for just one mouthful.
"No. We'll drink after you're an adult. You've only got three years left."
Yuwol shut me down without a flicker of mercy. It was the first recorded case of the world's most lethal aegyo failing to land, and I was just startled enough that I had to give up on the beer.
"Jiwoo-chan! Manager Unnie said to come to the company today! All of us together!"
"Not just me... you too, Tsuki?"
"Yep! Yuwol Unnie too!"
I just blinked at the sudden summons. This had never happened before. Even when there was work, they'd always called us separately.
"Hehehe..."
Tsuki was wearing the kind of sunny smile that said she already had a guess.
"Jiwoo-chan? You really don't know? Why Manager Unnie is calling all of us!"
"Hmm... I've got one idea."
"That's it!"
Apparently Tsuki had landed on the same thought, because she proposed we say it together.
"One... two!"
On her count, we shouted at the same time.
"The VTuber idol march!"
"Tsuki got caught sneaking out overnight."
"Hweh?!"
Tsuki nearly jumped out of her skin and started scanning the room like a hamster stashing acorns. Fortunately, the only people around were me and Yuwol. There was no one else in the dorm to begin with.
"J-Jiwoo-chan... you knew?"
"Obviously. Unnie knows too, right?"
"How could I not? I've only been streaming from home lately."
"Kyaaaaah! Jiwoo-chan! Unnie! I'm begging you! Please don't tell Manager Unnie!!"
Tsuki dropped straight to her knees and bowed her head. The second Kang Ho-yeon found out she'd stayed out without a word, Tsuki's body would be torn into five pieces before the day was over.
"Hmm... what should we do? Unnie, any good ideas?"
"Hmm... I've got one."
Yuwol clapped her hands and laid out the plan.
"Chat's been asking me to bring Kuro on stream a lot lately, right? So Tsuki can fill in for Kuro. She needs the streaming practice anyway."
"Will that be okay? If she messes up..."
"It'll be fine. Nobody's going to be a jerk to a beginner."
If she was putting it that firmly, I had no reason to stop it. I nodded and checked the time.
Around eleven in the morning. If she'd summoned us, Kang Ho-yeon would be pulling up in front of the dorm any minute.
Bzzz. Bzzzzz.
Speak of the devil. The phone in my hand buzzed — an incoming call. Kang Ho-yeon.
"Yes, Unnie. We'll get ready and come down."
"Good. You can look forward to today."
Look forward? To what? Tsuki, who'd heard the call with me, must have been picturing the start of our VTuber idol career, because her smile only got brighter.
The higher the hopes, the harder the fall. She was still young enough that she clearly hadn't tasted life's bitterness yet. I told her not to get her expectations too high.
But.
"Even so~ a chance to finally make my dream come true just showed up~!"
Trying to lecture a kid who was bouncing around like a child about the realities of life just made me feel like a terrible person.
"...Jiwoo. You're still a kid yourself."
JO Entertainment.
With Kang Ho-yeon at the front, we walked through the agency entrance like we owned the place. From the doorway on, people who spotted us started to stir. Nobody was cursing. What I heard instead was envy, with a thin thread of jealousy mixed in.
I turned toward the commotion. Seven women who looked like they were on the move — and among them, the workout buddy I got demolished with every morning. I gave a light wave. She started to lift her hand in return when—
"What are you doing? Let's go."
"Ah... okay."
They left the building without even returning the greeting.
"What the heck! Jiwoo-chan said hi first and they just walked past! That's so mean!"
"Well, maybe they're busy... you okay?"
Busy, huh...
If they were moving as a group, they probably did have somewhere to be. The problem was my workout buddy. Bae Ji-hyun's girl group, Ohmstar, was so obscure that almost nobody even knew they existed. We were under the same agency, so I'd tried digging around online, but finding any real information on Ohmstar was next to impossible.
"Well, they're probably just busy."
For people who were supposedly busy, Ohmstar still hadn't left. They were watching us from the entrance. Not all of them — but jealousy flickered in more than a few pairs of eyes.
Our debut timing had been almost the same. A few weeks at most? If anything, I'd been later. And yet entertainment news was buzzing more about me than any idol, so the jealousy was only natural. I hadn't seen anyone look at me that way in a long time. It felt strangely new.
"Uh... sorry, Jiwoo. People from the same company shouldn't act like that."
Kang Ho-yeon had clearly already noticed, and she apologized. It wasn't something she needed to apologize for, and it wasn't something I needed to accept an apology for.
"It's fine. It also means I worked that hard. When you're always climbing, you can't expect everyone around you to be nice."
I was already a master of jealousy. I hadn't wanted the lesson, but my last life had forced it on me anyway.
"Let's go. I'm curious now about this thing Unnie said to look forward to."
"Uh... y-yeah. Yeah, let's go."
I took Kang Ho-yeon's hand and led her into the office.
A familiar woman was already sitting there. Today was the third day since I'd invited her. I'd known she'd get in touch — I just hadn't expected her to show up this fast.
"You've decided?"
"Yeah. I decided, so I came. I want to give it a try."
The woman in the chair — Kim Jina — held out her hand for a handshake. That hand also meant let's work hard together as colleagues.
I took it.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Lee Jiwoo."
"I'm Tsuki!"
"Nice to meet you too. So that makes four of us now?"
Two and a half months since I'd first proposed a VTuber idol group, and we already had four people. Fast or slow, depending how you looked at it. Only one spot left.
Then—
"Ahem... about that. I have something to say."
Every pair of eyes swung toward Kang Ho-yeon. She dragged a whiteboard over from the corner of the office and started writing. Only a handful of words went up on the board.
Congrats! VTuber Idols
Even after reading it, I couldn't get my mouth to work.
"Unnie? What is this..."
"The thing is, we figured there's no point dragging this out any longer. Of course Jiwoo has constraints because of her acting work — her streams aren't consistent — but we can't just leave everyone else hanging. Yuwol and Tsuki's dance lines are still a little vague, and Jina's singing is... difficult, but once we lock those down, it'll come together fast."
Kang Ho-yeon looked at each of our faces in turn as she went on.
"You four are going to debut as a VTuber idol group. You've all got nicknames already, so now Jina just needs to pick one and we'll make her avatar. The framework's pretty much set, but if anyone wants something specific, speak up."
"Me! Me, me!"
Tsuki shot her hand straight up and shouted.
"Manager Unnie! I want a clean, refreshing look! Don't have to stick to anything Japanese! And if possible... I want to look like Jiwoo-chan!"
"Similar to Jiwoo... so a sharp yet intellectual image?"
"Yes, yes! Exactly that! And I'll keep using Tsuki as my nickname!"
Kang Ho-yeon noted Tsuki's requests on her tablet.
"I'd like Luna's avatar upgraded just a little."
"That's all?"
"Yes. If it changes too much, it wouldn't be Luna anymore."
I already had a finished Kuro, so there was no avatar to build — just a few extra features to add. That left one person.
"I'd like to keep Jina as my nickname too. As for the avatar... I don't really know this stuff. Anything's fine."
"Yeah? Then I'll show you a few image concepts. Pick one."
She pulled up several sample avatar images on the tablet and held it out to Jina. Jina studied them one by one, then made her choice.
"Then this one."