Leader Lee Jiwoo!
The debut date for our VTuber idol group had been set. July 28th — the same day as my summer closing ceremony. They said we had to wrap up every last bit of preparation so we could jump straight into the real thing the moment school let out early that day. Roughly two months left.
We're out of time.
Every last one of them was a raw gem that had been tucked away out of sight. We couldn't polish them to perfection, but we had to at least refine them enough to put on display. Each of us had one ugly flaw, after all — mine was stamina, Tsuki had two left feet, Lee Yuwol's problem was her dance lines, and Kim Jina's was singing.
Somehow, we all had completely different weaknesses. Which also meant the other members could work that much harder and cover whatever each of us lacked.
"Now we have to decide the most important thing — the leader."
The moment Kang Hoyeon tossed that out so casually, every member's gaze locked onto me.
Why were they looking at me?
In a situation like this, obviously—
"Yuwol unnie should do it. She's the oldest."
A leader ought to be either the oldest person or, even if they were young, someone with outstanding leadership. As far as I could see, nobody here had particularly great leadership, so the oldest, Lee Yuwol, was the right choice...
...or so I thought.
Somehow, the atmosphere had gone strange.
"What are you talking about? Of course it has to be you, Jiwoo."
"M-me...?"
Jina started it.
"I'm in! Jiwoo-chan leading Tsuki... just thinking about it, hehe... no, I'm so happy!"
Did Tsuki's face just turn into a dirty old man's?
"Hic... I'm so disappointed. Getting scolded just for being the oldest... I can't be the leader..."
"That's not— I didn't mean it like that."
Lee Yuwol covered her face and started crying. Judging by her voice and the way her shoulders bounced in a perfectly regular rhythm, she wasn't actually crying. In other words, she was faking it.
Ugh...
Now it looked like I was the villain who'd made a girl cry.
"Okay, okay. I wasn't trying to make it about age. I'm sorry."
I apologized with everything I had.
Only then did Lee Yuwol drop her hands and lift her head, going so far as to pretend to wipe tears she hadn't even shed. She'd mentioned once that she'd done a bit of child acting. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought I'd actually made her cry.
And then it went like this.
"Jiwoo-chan! That's so mean! You can't make unnie cry!"
"Right... I'm sorry."
Tsuki had actually fallen for it.
I planted my hands on my hips in warning. It wasn't as if I didn't feel a little wronged. But no matter what I said, it wasn't going to make this better.
"So... who's going to be the leader?"
I went with changing the subject. Steering the conversation back where it belonged, I started thinking it over again.
If Lee Yuwol didn't want to be leader, there was still Jina.
I stared straight at Tsuki's face.
"Jiwoo-chan?"
Tsuki tilted her head.
Yeah, not Tsuki.
She was too innocent, too childlike, to be a leader.
"That's what I'm saying. Why are we even deciding this? Just have Jiwoo do it."
"Come on, that's ridiculous. Why would I be the leader? I'm the youngest here."
Tsuki was the same age as me, and her birthday came later than mine, but in Korea we don't pick the youngest down to the month. We were both the youngest, that was all.
"Youngest or not, you're the one who gathered us all, Jiwoo. So you do it."
"Still..."
"Then let's put it to a vote."
Jina raised her hand as she spoke.
"All in favor of Jiwoo as leader. Hands."
"Hands!"
"Obviously I'm in."
"As your manager, I think Jiwoo would be fine too."
Everyone except me raised their hands.
"With four votes out of five, I hereby announce that Jiwoo is the leader. Bang. Bang. Bang."
Jina pounded the table with her fist and even delivered the verdict.
And just like that, I became the VTuber idol group's half-forced leader.
"Haa... what even is this."
Three days later. Wednesday, May 14th.
The moment school let out, I headed straight to a driving academy for a motorcycle license. I hadn't gotten one in my previous life either. The reason I'd come looking for one now: the film I was joining, Magnificent Bride, had a motorcycle scene.
You could dress a bike up to look expensive, but there was a chance I'd actually have to ride one. Might as well learn for the future and pick up the license while I was at it.
You had to be over sixteen to get the license, but my birthday had already passed. I still couldn't forget the look on Tsuki's face when she first realized it had already gone by — that crushing disappointment.
About time?
I'd already used Monday and Tuesday to get through the audiovisual training and the written exam. The only test left was today's skills test.
The course had three sections — a cranked offset, an S-curve, and a run of consecutive lane changes — and you needed 90 out of 100 to pass. For someone who'd already gotten a driver's license once, this shouldn't be too hard.
Lee Jiwoo, please proceed to the testing area.
A woman's voice called my name over the PA. I sprang up from where I'd been waiting and walked toward the skills course.
Plenty of people around were staring at me like I was a curiosity, here to get a license. Even while I was waiting, some of them came up asking for autographs.
There might be people who recognize you and come over, so carry a pen every day.
Remembering Kang Hoyeon's words, I pulled a pen from my pencil case, wrapped up the impromptu signing session, and climbed onto the test motorcycle.
The test wasn't hard. Just follow the course without stepping on the yellow lines. Simple.
"Hoo..."
I started to get a little nervous.
"We'll begin the test now."
At the examiner's words, I put my hands on the grips.
A beep. With the start signal, I picked up a little speed.
But...
I don't have the angle.
I hit a snag right from the start. Since the signal had only just gone off, I eased back a bit, lined the wheels up with the edge of the course, and set off. Moving at a crawl, I turned the handlebars. The wheels skimmed terrifyingly close to the yellow line without quite touching it, and I slipped through. Then I passed through once more.
A beep. With the pass signal, I entered the second course — the so-called S-curve. Unlike the offset, if you just handled the steering well, you could get through it easily. Just keep your balance.
The moment I left the S-curve, a path so narrow only one wheel could barely fit appeared.
A beep. Here I picked up a little speed and sailed through. Midway, nerves nearly made me let go with my left hand, but I tightened my grip again and kept the engine from dying.
One course left. The consecutive path course. Don't hit the traffic cones, reach the finish point at the end, and the test is over. Being last didn't make it hard. The extra space was the widest of any course so far. As long as I stayed calm—
A beep.
"Well done. You passed."
A staff member standing at the finish walked over and told me I'd made it. And with that, the three-day motorcycle license exam was over.
"Here's your certificate of passing. If you'd like, we can pick it up for you. What would you prefer?"
"That's all right. I'll go get it myself."
"Then just submit this."
"Thank you."
I took the certificate from the staff member and walked out of the building. Kang Hoyeon had been waiting in the parking lot for quite a while.
"How'd it go?"
I smiled and held up the certificate in my hand.
"Passed, of course. Something like this... was simple."
It hadn't been difficult. There'd been a moment in the middle when my strength nearly gave out, but as long as the result was good, that was enough.
"Yeah? That's a relief. It's gotten late today, so we'll pick up the license tomorrow. I already posted the photos we took earlier on social media. People who ran into you here and got autographs are probably going to talk about it anyway, so we got ahead of them."
To stop talk from starting later. Motorcycles didn't have a great reputation in Korea, so ugly rumors could spread. To head that off as much as possible, we'd posted photos first and done the groundwork before anyone else could.
"Let's go home. I'm hungry."
"Sure, let's go eat dinner. But... I heard something interesting."
Looking at me as I climbed into the van, Kang Hoyeon wore a mischievous little devil's expression.
"I heard... Tsuki stayed out overnight. And that she went to a PC bang?"
"Uh... that's..."
My voice trembled a little. Should I tell her, or should I risk it for Tsuki, who was like a friend, like a little sister?
"If you're honest, I'll let you off, Jiwoo."
"It's true. Tsuki stayed out overnight. Yuwol unnie and I tried to stop her, but she said she really wanted to try it at least once."
"Is that so? Got it."
I'm sorry, Tsuki-Tsuki. I had to do it to survive.
I pictured Tsuki, sacrificed for the team, and prayed with all my heart.
Please... just let her still be breathing...
That evening. The variety department office at the broadcasting station.
Inside was a massive table and a huge whiteboard mounted on the wall, the whole place cluttered with miscellaneous props in every corner. The master of this filthy office stood with his arms crossed.
"So... anyone got a good person?"
He hounded his team. He was the variety monster PD whose name came up first or second whenever people talked about entertainment producers — a man who'd been at it for nearly twenty years. PD Lee Janghyun.
His track record: anything he shot chewed up domestic variety and became a hot topic. Lately he'd been putting effort into discovering new faces. The results: failure.
"Is there seriously nobody? Anyone's fine. I want something fresh, a new kind of image."
"Finding someone like that, the way you put it, PD, isn't exactly ea—"
"Enough. You've all got people you've been thinking of, right? Let's hear them."
At PD Lee Janghyun's words, the team members each offered a name, bracing themselves to get chewed out.
"That's... the best you've got?"
Five names in total. None of them appealed to PD Lee Janghyun.
"Haa... is this how it ends? We just cancel the show?"
The talk of cancellation made the atmosphere even bleaker. That was when—
"Um... PD?"
One of the writers cautiously raised a hand.
"What about this actress?"
"An actress? Who?"
"You know, Lee Jiwoo? The one who's been all over the news lately?"
"Lee Jiwoo...? Ah, that rookie actress. She can act, I'll give her that... but would she work? The face is good, but her personality and all that."
"I poked around with the drama team a little. They said her personality isn't even worth discussing."
"That bad? For a rookie?"
The writer shook her head.
"Of course not. Too good."
"Tsk... figures. She's a rookie — like she'd already be showing her true colors? Haa... there's nothing that would really explode... wait."
PD Lee Janghyun stopped mid-sentence as a good idea hit him. His eyes lit up in a way that wasn't quite right, and the team felt a nameless unease.
"Good face... good personality... and she can act too? There's no such person in this world."
PD Lee Janghyun smiled.