A Crazy Company’s Crazy Broadcast - 1
Monday.
The living room of the dorm, where the members and their manager had gathered.
“Aeri, what is it? You suddenly called us in here for this?”
“....”
Kim Ae-ri opened her mouth in a voice so small it might as well have been crawling out of a tunnel. Her fingers kept fidgeting, and her eyes darted back and forth.
“Sorry. I tried to do some broadcast viral marketing, but I got caught. I deleted it right away, but by then they’d already turned it into a meme and started roasting me....”
“?!”
“?!”
The younger one’s awful mistake.
Manager Go Min-young and the oldest, Choi Ye-seo, went light-headed.
“What on earth did you do...?! ”
The investigation began at once.
“....”
“....”
A while later, Min-young suddenly let out a dry laugh, and Ye-seo shook her head. After checking the captured post, there was nothing especially problematic about it.
“....”
“....”
They both let out a breath of relief.
“Phew....”
So she was just being a little ditzy...
No trashing other streamers, no private information.
This isn’t the worst-case scenario after all.
With that settled in their heads, they only scolded Aeri a little.
“Aeri, next time just stick to the official SNS and write something like ‘Please take care of us’ or ‘Please look forward to it.’ The post itself wasn’t a problem, but people don’t exactly love hearing rumors spread behind their backs.”
“And if it’s something related to the broadcast, don’t act on impulse without a plan. Talk to me first.”
“I’m sorry....”
The youngest, Kang Do-dam, shrugged.
“Honestly, it just turned into noise marketing, so isn’t this kind of a win? Aeri unnie’s viral skills are legit pro-level. I saw it at first and thought she was some real troll. I almost called in the mods, but it felt off somehow, so I’m glad I shut up.”
“....”
Ye-seo sighed.
“Do-dam, when did you even go in there and look at it?”
“Yeah, good work. Internet communities are already my front yard.”
“....”
“And it is a little surprising that someone with such fragile mental armor like Aeri unnie tried viral marketing, but it was kind of hilarious, so isn’t it fine? If you fail, you get blocked. If you succeed, you get upvotes.”
“Haa.”
Do-dam turned her head and gave Aeri a thumbs-up.
“Don’t worry, unnie. I gave it ten upvotes from my alt account too.”
“Th-thank you.”
“What on earth are you girls talking about...?”
Aki tilted her head.
“Up... votes? Do-dam, what’s that?”
“Getchu~”
“Getchu?”
“Yeah, it means I got your heart.”
“Oh? So Aeri unnie was trying to get people on the internet to do that?”
“Yep. She got the boomerangs’ hearts.”
“Amazing.”
“Yeah. Exactly.”
Aeri’s face kept getting redder and redder. Out of sheer humiliation, her head sank lower and lower, like rice stalks bowing under autumn wind.
Ye-seo said, baffled, “Do-dam, stop teaching A-young weird things.”
“Hehe, busted.”
“Is it something weird?”
“Yeah. So don’t worry about it, A-young.”
“O-okay....”
Once Min-young, the manager, realized it wasn’t a big deal, she clapped once and called the situation over.
Clap!
“All right, then let’s get ready to head out again. We still have plenty of time, but we should get to the studio early and prep. I’ll start the car and wait out front, so everyone get ready and come on out.”
“!”
The moment she finished speaking, Do-dam somersaulted into her room.
“Roger that—!”
“Do-dam....”
Wearing a baseball cap, Aki smiled.
A 3D studio... so this is finally usable this quickly.
The spark that set everything off had been last Friday, on the day Aki had gone to her convenience store part-time job.
*
Current viewers: 551
After receiving her 3D model, Berry had been streaming every day. She had already streamed often before, but with her heart fluttering at the sight of that swaying, frilly dress, the frequency had only gone up.
“Ready to roll? It’s your chatty little Berry here! Hello! Hello! Hellooo—! How have our boomerangs been? Wow! It’s the weekend tomorrow! Time really flies, doesn’t it?”
Berry haha! What is this stream...! Isn’t it overflowing with energy!
“Waaah—! Thank you for the donation—! I love you! I haven’t even finished saying what I wanted to say and you’re already donating...! Thank you!”
Good day to you as well. This girl will also broadcast with full spirit today! Thank you for the donation—please look forward to the plan! Keep watching over me! Bigm—!
...
...
...
Shockingly high-tension streaming had begun.
Berry was so excited that even through the screen it was obvious how much fun she was having.
“Now, now, look! This is 3D! Pretty great, right? Huh?”
Yap—!
Berry moved around the room. With one sharp little sweep of her body, the frilly dress followed the motion. Then she wandered about, trying to act cute from one angle to the next.
Swish.
Swish.
Swish.
Her pink hair shimmered as it swayed, and the frills of her dress moved like wings.
Berry struck a pose straight out of a shoujo manga heroine. Her skirt fluttered softly, emphasizing the femininity of the look.
“How is it? Am I cute? I’m cute, right? Right?”
“Panties? I’m not wearing panties!”
“Ah, no! That’s not what I meant! I’m just talking about shorts underneath—”
Just walking around and hearing reactions like “cute” and “pretty” made Berry practically glow with joy. It was worlds apart from her usual 2D streams, where she had to keep chattering and being funny just to get a response.
This is way more fun than explaining foreign memes!
Berry moved with a soft, swaying bounce.
Hey, if you’re an idol, show us some dancing.
“Heehee....”
Berry is cute.
Berry is the best.
Berry is an idol....
“Hihihihi....!”
The chemical reaction inside her soft, squishy brain.
The patting and praise from five hundred boomerangs were a dangerous level of dopamine. Even if it was only the persona she used for streaming, there was no helping the way her inner need for approval got fed to the brim.
She had a weak enough mind that joy came easily to her.
She felt so blissed out it made her dizzy.
Ah...
So this was what I’d been enduring for a year for....
Her eyes watered a little.
Her shoulders went up with a pleased little shrug.
Berry grinned and bounced in place.
“Look at this! Look at this! Am I cute? Huh? Don’t watch those foreign memes today, just hang out and chat with cute little Berryry instead~”
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Just then.
Ding dong!
A phone notification rang in Berry’s ear.
“?!”
Before turning off the microphone, she hurriedly said, “J-just a second. Just a sec~”
The screen briefly went into standby.
Berry vanished from view.
“....”
Clatter.
Berry returned to the screen, but her attitude and tone were noticeably calmer than before.
“I’m back. Um.... So.”
“...Huh? No. Not a complaint.”
Berry hung her head.
The 3D sensor picked up every depressed little movement. It looked just like a six-year-old kid coming back after getting scolded by their parents.
“My manager unnie told me not to jump around too much in a small space. She said if I hit something and tear a ligament in my knee, it’d be a disaster.... That’s what I got lectured about.”
“Haa.... Uh, I’ll just stream in 2D again today~”
Berryry is cute. Do whatever you want!
“Th-thank you for the donation.... But I think I’ll just sit down and stream today. Shall we go back to our fun meme-explanation time? Haha....”
“Ah! The studio.... Well, because of another event lately, it’s been hard to rent one.... We’re also preparing a studio project of our own, so I think I’ll only be able to show it to you a bit later. Still, I’ll do my best so we can keep streaming in 3D as much as possible.”
The stream changed direction like that.
And watching it all in silence was one man.
“....”
The next morning, Saturday.
He quietly packed up his sky pogo stick and went outside.
Bigman had made up his mind.
A 3D studio... now that I think about it, there was a motion capture studio up for sale that I’d already been looking at on paper. They’d even sent me an acquisition proposal.
Hmm.
“I should buy it.”
Ppuk.
Ppuk.
Ppuk.
With those few words, a motion capture studio that had been in danger was pulled back from the dark. And the fact that it had become part of Big Plan A Company was delivered on Sunday.
CEO Baek Su-cheol received the call on Sunday morning.
“....”
For a long time, he said nothing.
Then, at last, he managed to speak.
“What...? W-what did you say? A studio? Us?”
*
And then Monday again.
The day they’d decided to do a trial broadcast at the studio.
The members arrived at the 3D studio.
Do-dam jumped at the studio entrance. She made a point of causing as much of a scene as possible.
“Kkiyooot—!”
“Do-dam....”
“What? The proper way to enter is by jumping. That’s just the rule.”
“....”
Ye-seo shook her head.
We’ve lived together for a year, but sometimes I still don’t get her.
Is this...
what kids these days are like?
Aki looked around and marveled. It was smaller than the studio where they had held their showcase, but still plenty large enough to show off dance and performance.
If we rehearse as a group here... it’s basically like doing practice runs every day, isn’t it?
“...I need to work hard.”
And the last one in was Aeri.
“Hihihihi....!”
Ah, so this was it.
The place where her nadenade life would begin.
“Yatta—!”
*
Berry appeared on screen.
This time, it was clearly a much larger space. It was still rendered only against a white background, but you could tell at a glance that the range of motion she could use had expanded dramatically.
The pink-haired girl trotted around in quick little steps.
Pat pat pat...!
“Ta-da~! The studio is ready—! The other members are still adjusting their equipment, so today it’s just me out here to introduce things. But you can still hear the members’ voices!”
Berry raised one arm high.
“Then, shall we begin—!”