Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Legend's Director (3)
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VTuber music video production had rapidly evolved over many long years, through countless advancements in technology.
Back in the days before VTubers existed, when polygons replaced paper in the 1980s-style pseudo-MVs, it progressed into the mid-2000s.
The world developed a technology called motion capture.
A method of recording an actor's movements with hundreds of infrared cameras and applying them directly to a CG character.
Of course, VTubers didn't exist back then, but starting in the 2010s, the technology began to be actively utilized.
"...You're really telling me to take the megaphone?"
"You're the one who planned it, and the maps came from your head. No one's more suited than you."
After the VTuber boom began, once most VTubers had established themselves, the first thing they tried was planning content through motion capture.
It was an attempt to turn VTubers, who were little more than pseudo-panel shows, into living, breathing beings.
Indie creators usually started lightly with full-tracking gear, while corporate groups or big shots like Myth—what they called 'dinosaurs'—went for motion capture.
The characters breathed life inside the maps.
They captured those moments, recorded them, and turned them straight into MVs.
That was the first generation of VTuber MVs. The advantage? As long as you skipped high-end tech like motion capture, you could shoot with just full-tracking gear and a computer.
It was cheap.
"The studio is huge! Even in America, they don't have this level of professionalism! Wow, is that optical equipment?!"
"We're aiming to be a company that sees ten years into the future, so we invested heavily."
But as the VTuber industry market exploded and aligned closely with modern CG tech, MV production methods advanced too.
Methods like filming real actors on real sets just like reality, then overlaying VTuber characters as CG, or compositing characters onto live-action backgrounds.
Up to this point, it was still reasonably priced.
Shooting like a real movie and layering drawings or CG on top was tech that existed since the early 2000s.
You know, like Iron Man and that crowd.
But the world didn't stop there—it kept advancing relentlessly.
And the result was right in front of me now.
"Whoa."
An empty set with nothing in it.
I peered through the camera lens, and the map I'd created appeared.
Like peering into another dimension, the world my eyes saw and the one through the camera were completely different.
As if my map was actually there in that spot.
A ridiculous technology where looking through a camera in an empty space revealed virtual reality.
This was modern filming tech: 'Virtual Production' using optical equipment.
"The Earth advanced a ton while I was asleep."
"Ah, right—Legend oppa slept for seven years. I keep forgetting sometimes."
"This tech isn't supposed to be commercialized yet...?"
"True, but people these days would just go, 'Oh, cool tech exists~' They've probably all heard of optical tech at least once."
So people vaguely knew this kind of thing existed.
I still couldn't tear my eyes from the optical camera.
It wasn't just seeing my map on a screen—the space the camera pointed at transformed into my map, delivering an indescribable thrill.
The trees I made, the leaves, the lizards and anacondas I hid as Easter eggs in the jungle.
All of it was alive and moving.
It felt strange. The scenery on the screen or through the camera wasn't that different from what my eyes saw directly, yet it struck such a deep chord.
"How do I look? Shooting well?"
"What?!"
Then, with a somewhat deflating "Ta-da~", Myth slipped into my camera's view.
Myth—not Myth, but 'Myth'.
No matter how much Myth resembled her avatar, a real human and an avatar were fundamentally different.
I could tell at a glance.
I pulled away from the camera and looked at Myth.
She stood alone in the center of the studio—full of machines, nothing else—and overlapped with the Myth standing still in the jungle on camera, smiling.
"Real-time reflection?"
"Possible once registered. DreamLive actually uses it, and our company got the gear this year."
Myth stepped out of camera range and handed me the megaphone as she approached.
"Try it as much as you want, Seol-ah. You can do it."
Being a director sounded burdensome, but with something this fun, there was no reason to refuse.
I grinned and took the megaphone.
Sara approached from the side, bowing slightly with a "Please take good care of me~."
I said to her,
"I'm going to be pretty harsh. You okay with that, Sara?"
"Hehe, what do you take me for?"
Sara answered boldly.
Myth's reaction to Sara's response somehow looked stunned.
"Um, Sara. I have to go stream soon, so I can't watch much, but if Seol says anything too harsh, come tell me, okay?"
"Don't worry! I can handle it!"
Sara thumped her chest confidently.
▶
Legend oppa, QWER-nim.
Sara Iris's impression of her senior Myth unnie's boyfriend was that of a kind, good person.
He'd slept for seven years, retaining a child's innocence while feeling the weight of adult responsibility.
Sometimes the gap seemed to trouble him, but Myth unnie filled it perfectly—they were the picture of a perfect couple.
So when Legend oppa uttered the word 'harsh', Sara didn't think much of it.
How harsh could that kind oppa really be?
"Cut! Sara! There, you need to look more groggy when you get up!"
Just the first scene.
In the scene of Sara getting out of bed in her room, on the sixteenth take, she collapsed onto the prop bed.
The one thing Sara overlooked about Legend: he never compromised on his work. Ever.
Even the flower field that bloomed that day, or the maps he made on the spot—most were handcrafted, no copy-pasting.
Strictest with himself on his creations, he was unhesitatingly strict with others too—a fact Sara hadn't realized.
"Th-this is good enough to pass, right? We don't have much time, and wasting it on the first scene..."
"Fine."
Legend nodded blankly at Sara's whine.
She'd assumed he was in a frenzy and stayed quiet, but maybe he was more reasonable than she thought?
Sara looked at him hopefully.
Chasing perfection was great, but in limited time, some compromise was needed.
But Legend's response was cold.
"If you're satisfied, then fine."
Ah, this was the type she shouldn't accept.
His words were gentle, but his eyes burned quietly.
...I'd underestimated Legend oppa. Have I been too complacent lately?
Sara reflected.
It wasn't Legend oppa there holding the megaphone—it was QWER.
'If that level of obsession created those maps, those works...'
She couldn't whine weakly either.
She'd come all the way to Korea for his maps—his work exactly.
If she whined and ruined it, what would be the point?
For the first time since starting acting, Sara's eyes gleamed.
"One more, please."
"Good. To recap the first scene: You groggily get out of bed, rub your eyes, and look out the window. The window's framed there."
"Got it."
The midnight studio.
Two flames ignited in what should have been a quiet space.
And Myth watched quietly from afar, hidden so they wouldn't notice.
We'd snuck into the studio after her stream ended and asked, hiding beside her,
"Weren't you going to help?"
"Um... I planned to step in if Sara struggled too much."
VTubers say the inside person matters most, but not for MVs.
Nowhere is the inside person less crucial than in VTuber MVs.
DreamLive forces all VTubers to shoot themselves, but indies and small corps don't.
Human talent varies wildly, so stand-ins are just accepted.
"But seeing them now, no need for me to step in."
Butting into those two burning flames would just ruin the work.
Aaah, less time with Seol was truly disappointing, and a twinge of dissatisfaction at Sara and Seol alone together...
But work was work.
Myth knew how vital this was for Sara—and suffering kids everywhere—so she had no urge to interfere.
Plus, honestly—
"Hey, us."
"Yeah, unnie?"
"Doesn't Seol look cool?"
"...Out of nowhere?"
"Just—working inside the room versus holding that megaphone. Totally different vibe."
"Unnie, please stop salting me. No one's gotten as much as I have."
"Ahaha, sorry, sorry."
Seol working so seriously looked cool too.
Myth rummaged in her pocket and pulled out her phone.
"What're you doing?"
"Gotta capture this moment."
If only I could be the only one in your world, but that's impossible in reality.
So Myth turned on her camera and framed her boyfriend diligently guiding Sara.
This way, she could keep this version of you inside me.
The camera's focus chased Legend without missing a beat.
"...That's terminal."
"Love's always like that. Hehe, you'll get it when you fall in love someday."
"Doubt I could love like you, unnie."
"Who knows."
Love is truly unpredictable.
Myth smiled sweetly.