Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Lulu-chan Works Hard!
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After the collab decision with Lady Verdia was announced,
I kept pushing forward with meetings alongside Yuna—through Discord whenever I had a spare moment, or offline get-togethers.
Since this was our first external collab, I figured we should arrange something a little special.
Today was no different.
My new place after moving wasn't too far from Yuna's house,
so we met up at a café smack in the middle, sipping cool frappuccinos while hashing things out.
A bunch of ideas came up.
Like playing one of those trendy collab-stream games together.
Or taking some time to introduce each other's groups.
Or maybe sharing bits about the cultures in the countries where we each live.
And whenever we hit on an idea that felt like "This is it!,"
we'd fire off a message to Lady Verdia right away to get her take.
Even though she must be swamped, she'd reply to our messages in a flash.
She even suggested we hop on a three-way Discord call later to brainstorm together.
I'd thought we might need to run this by her company first,
but luckily, they'd handed full decision-making over to Lady Verdia, so no issues there.
A VTuber with a million subscribers really does wield some serious power.
"Once we get our hands on some mocap gear later, we'll unlock way more content possibilities, right?"
As we sifted through a few ideas shot down due to real-world limitations,
Yuna spoke up, her face a mix of excitement and a touch of regret.
Mocap—motion capture tech.
It's used everywhere now: games, anime, and even the VTuber scene lately.
Basically, it lets you capture and replicate human movements like making a mold.
The facial tracking we use for our avatars is sort of mocap lite, in a way.
But Yuna was probably talking about the ultra-expensive full-body mocap suits you wear head-to-toe.
"Yeah, definitely. Tech like Unity and Unreal Engine keeps getting better and bett…"
"Hehe, I can't wait. What would you wanna try first if we got mocap, Da-jeong?"
"Me? Hmm…"
I hadn't really given it much thought.
If I had to pick, it wasn't something I wanted to do—it was stuff I'd love for the members to try.
Listing them all out would take forever, though, so I hesitated to even open my mouth.
Honestly, even without full mocap, grabbing a full tracker setup would be plenty.
That alone would open up endless content ideas.
The price gap between the two is on another level entirely, so I'd never even dreamed of mocap.
"I wanna see Da-jeong splashing around for real like Uparupa. Water flying everywhere—whoosh! Wouldn't that be adorable?"
"W-Would that even work?"
Yuna's totally out-of-left-field suggestion caught me off guard.
Sure, slap my avatar onto mocap data, and we could fake some water play easy enough.
But actual water splashing whoosh!? Not sure if the tech could pull that off.
Then again, with how advanced things are these days, maybe it could.
"Then I'd love to see Yuna building a snowman in a snowy field."
"Ooh, that'd be fun! But could we roll snowballs like this to make it?"
"If splashing works, why not that too?"
I clenched my fist confidently at Yuna, who was mimicking rolling a snowball like a dung beetle,
tilting her head all cute.
Heck if I know—let's just go for it.
If it works, great. If not, oh well.
Man, picturing Yuki-chan excitedly building a snowman is already lethal levels of cute.
Watching it live might straight-up kill me.
"Hehe, we could use it for a group concert someday too! Right?"
"C-Concert?"
"Yeah! A group concert. Not solo stages, but all of us together on one. Sound awesome?"
"Ah… Y-Yeah. It does."
The words "group concert" made my heart shrink, then swell right back up.
And for good reason—I was just a regular Pista.
The last thing I'd drifted off to sleep dreaming about was a Blue LUV group concert.
I hadn't gotten to see it before time-traveling back,
but if I ever did, I'd be over the moon.
The four Blues decked out in stunning outfits, dancing and singing their hearts out on stage.
"I'd love to see that. It'd be their shining moment."
My overflowing sincerity slipped out unbidden.
Yuna, across from me chugging her coffee, suddenly burst out laughing.
"Pfft! 'See it'? That's fan talk. You should say, 'I wanna do it,' Da-jeong."
"Huh?"
…Oh. Right.
Yeah, the group concert stage I'd dreamed of didn't have me in it.
I'd automatically thought of it as the four of them.
"Y-Yeah, you're right. Hehe… slipped my mind."
"Happens. Oh, speaking of—Lady Verdia just replied!"
"Already? Lemme see!"
I scrambled to recover, but the convo flowed on like nothing happened.
We pooled Lady Verdia's feedback and started sketching out collab content again.
Maybe it was the thrill of collabing with her ultimate fave,
but Yuna seemed extra pumped today.
She was practically buzzing with energy.
Yeah.
For Yuna's sake—this dream come true for her more than ever—I'd give it my all too.
That day was different, but these days, meetings with the staff usually follow right after streams.
Morning: meeting with Yuna.
Wee hours: meeting with staff.
My days were packed end-to-end with meetings.
『Then should we hold off on editing this video and upload that short chat clip from the other day first?』
"Yeah, that sounds good."
『Got it. If we start now, I can have confirmation ready by late morning the day after tomorrow at latest.』
"Hehe, thanks a ton."
I nodded at the reliable words from Neoul-nim, our first Mityube editor.
Our Lulu team's work speed is seriously top-tier.
Neoul-nim once joked, "When you give us this much, we gotta hustle like dogs."
But honestly, I don't think I'm paying them that much.
Just fair for the work, but they're always so gung-ho—makes me grateful.
『President! No staff welfare for tonight's wee hours?』
"Huh? Staff welfare? Did our Lulu team even have that…?"
In the middle of our usual meeting,
Hayang-nim—our mood-maker and thumbnail guru—piped up.
But I'd never heard of it, so I was totally baffled.
Did our Lulu team have staff perks?
I'd planned some Lunar New Year bonuses next year,
but that couldn't be what she meant.
『Frostwind! Frostwind! Stream's over—how about a quick 5-stack?』
"Oh, Frostwind? Sure. But why's that staff welfare?"
Sometimes meetings wrap with a little downtime,
so we'd queue Frostwind 5-mans—not a big deal.
But I couldn't grasp why it counted as welfare, so I voiced my confusion.
Hayang-nim shot back without missing a beat, in her signature high-energy tone.
『'Cause it's gaming with your ultimate fave—what else could top that?!』
『Ugh, yeah! You've barely called Frostwind lately—kinda bummed me out.』
"Eek…?!"
Th-That was it?
Lately, it'd felt like I was begging the staff to play with me,
and guilt was piling up, so I'd stopped asking.
"I-I'm fine with it. But don't you all have tons of work? Sure it's okay to game…?"
I agreed to the Frostwind queue since it wasn't a bad idea,
but worry nagged, so I voiced it cautiously.
Not that I thought they'd slack on work for games.
Just, a few rounds now meant true dawn by finish,
and starting edits then might leave them wiped tomorrow.
『Playing with Lulu speeds up our workflow twofold after! We're good!』
『Please, just one game to hype us up!』
『I-I feel bad, but… two games?』
O-Okay, I don't totally get it, but,
maybe it's like how editing fun Blue Oshi clips pumps my vibe.
Yeah, super fun stuff—or the afterglow—always cranks my energy.
Sure, sure.
If that's it, I can queue games all day for the team.
Go team Lulu!
『Um, President…』
"Yes! Did you need something, Sswung-nim?"
I fired up the Frostwind client to log in,
when Sswung-nim—the only quiet one, our Mityube thumbnail illustrator—finally spoke.
『Aren't you sleeping way too little lately? We're fine, so maybe just crash early tonight…』
『Huh? Lulu-nim, you haven't been sleeping much?』
"N-No, I'm sleeping fine."
Sswung-nim's genuine concern and Neoul-nim's question hit me with a pang of guilt,
but I shook my head hard and went to log in.
Then Sswung-nim continued.
『But President, your Discord was on till 5 a.m. last night… You woke up in the afternoon, and by 7 a.m., you'd sent a confirmation message.』
"Y-Yeah…?"
Sswung-nim pulling receipts left me flustered.
Oh yeah, yesterday I crashed late and woke early.
Tons to check, plus time zone diffs with Lady Verdia made it prime contact time, so…
『Wait, the day before, I saw your Discord on till 6 a.m. Green light was lit.』
『Day before? No way—I wrapped edits at 7, sent the video, crashed… Woke at 2, and replies were there before 9.』
"U-Um… Everyone, calm down first, let's just Frostwi—"
The testimonies piled up; I floundered, trying to pivot,
but…
『…President?』
『What's the deal here, Lulu-nim?』
『Lulu-nim. Explain.』
『No way—you barely slept for two days straight?』
"W-Well, see…"
I couldn't admit it'd been like this for a week.
As I fidgeted for an excuse,
『And now you wanna Frostwind too?! You'll collapse!』
『No Frostwind—go sleep!』
『Keep Discord on late tonight, and I'm telling President Kang!』
"Eek…! S-Sorry! Sh-Shutting it down now…!"
The staff's barrage had me kill the client mid-launch, begging forgiveness.
Sob, but I'm the president.
Way too harsh, guys.
No hierarchy in our Lulu team or what?
"O-Okay, I'll head out first… Just finish today's tasks and send 'em over."
『Yep!』
『Sleep tight, Lulu-nim.』
『See ya tomorrow!』
『Good night, President.』
Guess tonight's a wash; I ended the call meekly and left the Discord room.
Heh heh, but if they think I've fully bailed, they're wrong.
Today's Blue clips were goldmines of fun.
I'll edit a bit before bed, at least.
Click.
I smirked slyly, hit my profile, and switched from green online to offline gray.
Green light vanished, leaving just empty gray.
Finally, I stretched my hands and settled back on the keyboard.
Hehe.
Today? No more, no less—work till 5 a.m., then sleep.
Wake at 7, message Lady Verdia.
Two hours? Perfect! Yeah!