Did We Get Them...? - 2
The table Representative Baek Su-cheol had brought showed the live viewer counts from last weekend. To my surprise, the names of the ABCD members were really lined up near the top.
Looking at the table, the members all wore stunned expressions.
"!"
"We beat Romantic Drive's second generation?"
"Back during the 3D showcase, we were running around avoiding collabs with them...."
"And even by Pazijik's overall rankings, that's pretty high."
"Yeah."
"We're in the top ten now."
"...."
So that was why the live viewer count had felt so huge....
It was more than I had imagined.
It was sorted by the VTuber tag, sure, but in practice, once you excluded a handful of huge creators that were effectively carrying the Pazijik platform, you could count the ones above us on one hand.
People had mocked us for being a corporate VTuber group and acting like that. That joke didn't really work anymore. We had become, in plain terms, a top-tier creator group.
The members fell silent.
"...."
"...."
"...."
"...."
It wasn't so much joy as it was disbelief.
Until just two months ago, we had been dying slowly in a back corner of a third-rate platform, pulling ten-ish viewers. We had been imagining the company's collapse and thinking about taking different roads....
- Since we've broken away from the parent company without enough support, the only promotion we can realistically recover production costs through is the one Live Future proposed.
- It's going to be hard to expect viewers for a while.
- There may not be any new traffic at all....
- Still, we have to hold out as long as we can.
- We need to buy time to apply for government aid or creator support campaigns.
The despairing meeting still rang vividly in my ears.
After that, we had tried more than once to earn support money and failed every time.
....
....
....
....
And then.
All at once, like a lie, we had come back to life.
From the deep sea to the upper ranks of domestic platforms....
We had leapt straight up to the level of a major platform.
At that reality, everyone just stood there with their mouths open, silent and dazed.
....
....
....
....
But the man who had brought that dreamlike news, Representative Baek Su-cheol, was also the one who brought us back to earth. In front of the dazed members, he snapped his fingers.
Snap!
Snap!
"!"
The members all looked at Baek Su-cheol at once.
He smiled with satisfaction and said, "I understand how you feel, but this table has a lot of loopholes. So I wouldn't get too carried away celebrating just yet."
".... You're right."
Choi Ye-seo was the first to come back to reality. She gave a bitter smile and pointed out the flaws in the table.
"For one thing, two of Romantic Drive's first-generation members are on break, and among the second generation, the one with the highest viewer count, Haerin, is missing too."
"Mm, I saw on SNS that she was in Japan doing something."
Baek Su-cheol scratched his chin.
"Anyway, that means Romantic Drive is missing the members ranked first through third in viewers. You could say only their weakest members are left."
"On top of that, our PC cafe event blew up in the community, so the increase in subscribers was smaller than the increase in live viewers."
"Well, if the place is noisy, people will come by once to sample it. Their broadcast was in its normal routine, too, so it was the least interesting period."
In other words, the weakest wave on their side and the strongest wave on our side had just overlapped once.
"To say we definitely won.... that'd still be a stretch. It was more like a jab that landed hard on an opponent who wasn't in good condition."
"We're still almost double behind in subscribers, too."
"Our chief manager is smart. You didn't even need to say it; you knew everything."
"What? I'm not the manager."
"You are now."
"...."
After the usual small-company nonsense, Kim Ae-ri pouted.
"What? Then this just means the Big Plan only made us shine for a second? Sigh.... My heart was about to burst just now."
"Haha...."
Aki smiled wryly and patted Ae-ri on the back. Ae-ri, trying to hide her disappointment, clung to Aki and whined.
"Hmph, I don't know.... I'm mad now."
"You did good, unnie."
Then Kang Do-dam spoke up.
"But still, isn't this pretty amazing?"
"?"
"If the level gap is huge, your damage doesn't even go through, right? But if, in just one month, we landed a full Q-AA-E-AA combo and won the trade... doesn't that mean we've got a real shot?"
"...."
"Honestly, we didn't even burn through all of Big Man's money in one month. We were basically set to keep using it for a whole year. In a situation like that, just making the lane go even in one month is already insane, right?"
"!"
We could spend without restraint for a whole year.
And yet, after only one month, we could already see a path to winning.
Then....
What if we kept growing steadily over the remaining year?
What would happen?
"And once we start earning on our own at a larger scale, that one year is going to stretch out more and more, right? Then isn't this just a match we're guaranteed to win?"
"Huh?"
Oh.
Come to think of it, yeah.
"!"
"!"
Ae-ri and Aki both brightened. They didn't know the technical details of the game, but Do-dam's prediction felt like a plausible scenario.
Do-dam shrugged.
"Feels like we're just going to bully them hard in the late game."
It was a gamer instinct more than anything, but to Do-dam, this looked like a fight we were absolutely going to win. And Baek Su-cheol and Choi Ye-seo agreed with her.
"What Do-dam says is right. What we should be looking at here isn't 'Did we beat Romantic Drive?' but...."
"If we got this far in just one month, how far can we go in the time left?"
"Exactly! Our smart manager gets it! From here on, please take care of the live concert side too!"
"...I'm not going to be the manager. I'm already the deputy manager, editor, and a member."
"Tch...."
Ye-seo clicked her tongue at Baek Su-cheol.
"By the way, what's happening with the live concert hall contract?"
"...Among the two candidate venues, we're negotiating to rent the Colorful Star live house in Yongsan. It's a place that gets used a lot for subculture events, so the competition is fierce."
"I see."
"It's pretty famous, you know. At least pretend to be surprised."
"What? I really was surprised. I actually went there once when I was younger. That's impressive."
"Chief manager Choi...."
In that situation, the one who raised a hand to ask a question was Aki.
"Representative, then...."
"?"
"We just have to keep working hard like we always have, right? For the live too, we just keep doing what we've been doing, right?"
"...."
"Take lessons, stream, and work on the Big Plan, too."
"Mm.... Right."
Baek Su-cheol smiled quietly.
Miss A-young is basically the number one person responsible for creating this turnaround, and she doesn't even seem like she wants to brag that it was all thanks to her. If I were her age, I'd be shouting it from the rooftops....
Even after receiving a billion won, even after leaping from underground to the surface, even after stepping onto the same board as the industry's top players, the answer was still to keep working, just like yesterday.
That was all there was to it.
*
We scheduled the Big Plan meeting for Tuesday, to fit the members' lesson timetable. The members went straight to the lesson room and held a group practice session.
A few hours later.
The spacious lesson room was covered wall to wall with mirrors.
The members struck their final choreography pose.
After forgetting all this for the past few months, then taking lessons again for another month, their movements were starting to look convincing.
With Aki at the center, the three others each held their signature pose.
Ta-dan—!
....
....
....
....
Even after the music ended, they kept their smiles in place as sweat poured down their faces.
That, too, was part of the lesson.
....
....
....
....
One.
Two.
Three....
About five seconds later, the instructor clapped to signal the end.
Clap, clap!
"Good work!"
"Huff....!"
Ye-seo, Ae-ri, and Do-dam collapsed on the spot.
Unlike Aki, who had kept up a steady exercise routine even while busy, they had ordinary human stamina. Dancing four songs in a row was still hard for them.
"Pff—! Hah! Hah....!"
"Hoo, hoo...."
"Sssup, huff.... huff...."
Do-dam flopped face-down on the floor like a frog with her belly exposed, flailing her thin arms and legs everywhere as she let out exaggerated groans.
"Aigoo.... I'm done for, urgh, I'm dying!"
Ae-ri's legs trembled as she bowed her head. Under her pale chin, something that might have been spit or sweat dripped out in a stream.
"Huuuh.... huff...."
Ye-seo lay down quietly on the floor. Then she covered her face with a cold towel and completely gave out. For some reason, she gave off an eerie sort of energy.
....
The members were totally spent.
Aki wiped the sweat from her face and smiled bitterly.
They're better than a month ago, but I guess dancing in a row is still too much for them. A little more work before the July live should be enough....
Still, it was a relief that this was just the process of reawakening what they'd learned a year ago. If they had been starting from scratch, there was no way they would have made it to the live, even if it killed them.
The lesson instructor spoke to Aki. In the first place, she was the only one still in a state where a conversation was possible.
"Wow, you're really good. Your whole energy was different on your own."
"Pardon?"
"I'm serious, not just saying that. Aki, you were covering almost two people's worth of frame by yourself, so even when the other members were half a beat behind, you could cover for them."
"Ahahaha...."
The compliments kept coming.
"And your eye-line control was perfect, and when I saw you factoring in the virtual camera movement too.... Honestly, among all of you, you're the only one overpowering the performance itself. And on top of that, you're taking care of the other members too...."
"I-is that so? Hehe...."
Probably because she was receiving extra lessons every Friday at dawn.
At first I wondered why it cost sixty million won, but it's like my entire field of vision changed.... I really feel like I understand how professional stages move now.
- Do-da, swing your arm over there like this!
- Berry unnie, your feet aren't stamping, they're tapping!
- Clara unnie, look at the place with the red sticker!
Little bits of advice like that piled up and turned into detail.
Thanks to that, aside from the stamina issue, the ABCD members' performance had improved dramatically over the last month.
....
Everything was going smoothly.
Aki smiled faintly.
And then, to them, a collaboration proposal from Romantic Drive arrived.
*
I let out a sigh as I looked over the documents.
The format, made up of dozens of pages, felt familiar and suffocating at the same time.
[ABCD x RD2 Collaboration Proposal]
Produced by the Planning Division of Arc Network
...After looking only at the simple Big Plan proposal for so long, it's been a while since I've seen proper paperwork.
Flourish—
As I flipped through the dozens of pages, I could see the planner's intentions hidden inside the numbers.
It felt less like a full-on attack and more like reconnaissance.
....
They're probing us.
That kind of behavior pattern reminds me of investors leading mergers and acquisitions for a foreign-affiliated company.
"Hmm...."
When I closed my eyes, the other side's image started to surface.
Foreign-born.
Chaebol.
A suit-and-tie type.
Delicate temperament.
A woman?
As for what she really wanted, whether it was professional wrestling or mixed martial arts.... I couldn't tell just from the paperwork.
....
In that case, I'd have to accept it to find out.
I sent Lawyer Kim a text.