Is This a Festival? - 2
Live Now: Gather Round on Thursday, Flatfishs! “Nice, this is nice and lively!”
-Live viewers: 13,844
Do-da played an FPS game with her viewers.
Of course, it wasn’t a normal viewer-participation game; it was a broadcast with the people gathered at Do-da PC Cafe. She urged on her team and held the line for the last ten seconds.
“Okay, okay. Good, just like that. Don’t get scared. Nice and steady, good! No, not like that, don’t rush in!”
In one corner of the screen, the relay feed from the PC cafe was showing.
Even on a weekday evening, the place was packed.
They were the people who had managed to join at Do-da PC Cafe, along with the ones watching their games. Every one of them had food truck snacks in one hand.
Everyone watched the game with bated breath.
It wasn’t even a rank-up match.
Still, the atmosphere was electric.
It felt like those days hanging around in front of an arcade together.
Above all, Do-da’s voice, carried through the cafe’s biggest screen, did a lot to create that mood. It gave the whole thing the feel of an official gaming event.
Do-da played while sneaking glances at the relay feed.
“There! There! Our good little Flatfish! When you’re gaming, put the hot dog down and focus! No, not the boomerang! Right, that’s it! Nice!”
Her mouth never stopped moving.
But the moment she saw an opening, she fired.
Tang!
“Nice!”
Thanks to Do-da’s performance, the deadlock on the field collapsed. At last, they pushed into the enemy side with only one opponent left. Then they won the 3-on-1 fight in a landslide.
“Ho-eeeit! Kyaaaah-hooouu—!”
Click
Click
Tatatatata—!
The crack of gunfire and the roar of skills.
A grand sound rolled through the back of the PC cafe.
And then the match was decided.
The result was victory for Do-da’s team.
The people watching the game around them burst into cheers. The Flatfishs in blue T-shirts bounced up and down. That feverish energy spread even to the chat.
When the KDA result window appeared, Do-da roared.
“Kyaaaaoooot! Everyone, keep your eyes on me! Thanks for the donations, thank you!”
With a beastlike cry.
Like spinning a topknot.
She whipped her head around violently.
Whoosh
Whoosh
Whoosh
Whoosh
Whoosh
Then Do-da returned to normal. As if nothing had happened. In a languid voice, she declared flatly, “...Good work, everyone. This is the sweetness of victory.”
Then the Flatfishs’ foolishness continued.
“Thanks for the donation. By the way, anyone want to battle? We’re open until the 30th, so if you want to come by, keep coming.”
Do-da smirked and, true to her word, handed out gifts. It was a game where, win or lose, every team member had been promised a gift card.
“All right, everyone, take your gift cards! Kyaaaoot—!”
[Waaaah—!]
“Next round is a gift-card match too! Starting now—!”
[Waaaah—!]
Cheers rang through the PC cafe. It was only a gift card, but the experience of playing games with a VTuber and leaving with something in hand was precious.
All the more so in times like these.
*
Live Now: Want to Spend ♨Friday Night♨ with ♡Berryri♡... Or rather, kyaaa~☆ What were you thinking! ☆Room Escape☆, I said! Hmph!
-Live viewers: 9,711
Berry streamed from Berryri Land.
On the giant screen inside the building, a pink, pink girl was waving her hand. People stood there laughing, each with a drink in hand.
“Wow! There are so many people! Shall we wave to our Boomers?”
[Berryri is cute!]
“Thank you! Thank you! Berryri loves all of you so much too! And how about the Flatfishs, Ace, and Carrot? Let’s wave together!”
[Waaaah—!]
“....”
[?]
“You won’t call me cute just because I’m a different member’s fan?”
[Be, Berryri is cute....]
“Come on, that’s all you’ve got for such an adorable girl?”
[....]
Berry shouted into the broadcast that played both on her personal channel and throughout Berryri Land. For a moment, a production effect flashed pink light over both the screen and the building.
Fwaaat!
“Berryri is...!”
People wearing pink T-shirts shouted loudly.
[The cutest in the world—!]
[Waaaah—!]
Then the chat’s foolishness kicked off too. Even the evacuees who’d been swept in by the law eventually caught this madness.
...
...
...
Berry read the chat packed with foolishness, one line at a time. With this much activity, she could have skipped most of it, but she read every message as if savoring it.
“Hehehe...!”
Her tired mind and body, worn down by preparations for another live stream, were healing.
Her back was already sore from dancing earlier in the day, which had left her feeling gloomy.
Berry was hurt by the three members’ words. It felt as if they were scolding her for preferring jirai-kei outfits and gothic lolita even after getting older.
Of course, that was only her own paranoia, born from her menhera streak. Even so, she restored the self-esteem she had chipped away at herself through the viewers’ reactions. That was Berryri.
“Berryri~!”
[The cutest in the world—!]
Berry laughed.
People are calling me cute...!
Cute.
Cute.
Berryri is the cutest in the world.
Huh? A gloomy atmosphere because of the law?
Who cares.
Everyone here was playing with Berryri and having a good time.
Everyone could just think Berryri was cute here.
“Hehe, hihit.... Fuhit.”
Her confidence surged.
Her self-esteem rose.
But that fantasy ended with one comment.
“?!”
Oh no.
She hadn’t thought of that.
Berry hurriedly tried to rein things in.
“A-all right... Then shall we go back to the fun room-escape game...?”
*
Before she knew it, it was Saturday.
It was past 2 a.m.
Inside the taxi heading home.
Representative Baek Su-cheol had clocked in on Wednesday and was getting off work on Saturday. Shockingly, he had spent all three nights and four days at the company. But at a time like this, he couldn’t afford to relax.
He nodded off and thought drowsily.
...
It’s a precious moment, a miracle really, when the atmosphere finally starts coming back to life. And on top of that, I still have to coordinate with the nationwide cultural-facilities network Bigman told me about.
The company might have been on the brink of collapse.
But as the head of an organization, his instincts were leading him.
This was the time to run hard.
If he didn’t run now,
he would regret it for the rest of his life.
...
He wasn’t sure how much he could trust the instincts of such an incompetent man, but at least as the president of a company, Baek Su-cheol thought so. So he intended to do his best.
In the end, though, I’m only going to sleep for a bit because the company people dragged me to.
And while he was at it, he had asked his older sister for a favor.
Now that his sister had descended into the mortal world, the timing was right.
Baek Su-cheol fiddled with the cashier’s check in his suit pocket. In the middle of all that disgusting busyness, he had still gone to the bank and withdrawn a 50 million won cashier’s check. It was the offering he meant to give his sister.
Rustle—
This time, we are definitely doing the ritual. This time, I need to drag out every scrap of my sister’s power, luck, whatever it is.
He would no longer allow failure.
That was his repayment to Bigman and the members who had believed in him up to now. It was foolish, but it was Baek Su-cheol’s own resolve and his own best effort.
“...”
Suddenly, Baek Su-cheol remembered Bigman’s voice.
“...He was young.”
Bigman’s voice had been younger than he’d expected.
The tone had been calm.
But it was absolutely not the voice of someone over forty.
“...”
Young.
Bigman was young, too.
The members were young, too.
They were leaving their futures in this place.
“So I have no choice but to do everything I can....”
His eyes slowly closed,
and when they opened again, he was in front of the apartment parking lot where he lived.
“Ah, I must have dozed off.”
Baek Su-cheol rubbed his eyes and walked slowly. He passed through the automatic door, took the elevator, and went into his home. Then he quietly opened the door.
“!”
He met his sister’s eyes in the living room as she watched TV. A late-night gugak concert was playing on the screen. A sweet melody hummed softly through the room.
-Nilliriya~
Baek Hyang tilted her head and said, “You’re home.”
“Sister.”
“Mm.”
“Is Daon asleep?”
“Yes. It’s 2 a.m.”
“I see.”
“Mm.”
The two of them fell silent.
“...”
“...”
Baek Su-cheol rubbed his eyes and said, “Sister, are you seeing things?”
He was so sleepy that he must have been hallucinating. It was the sight of a white-haired woman who was certainly no spring chicken, sitting on the sofa with her white legs all on display.
“But, Sister.”
“Mm?”
“Why are you wearing dolphin pants...? That’s what young people wear.”
“They’re comfortable.”
“...”
He said, dismayed, “Sister, you’re turning fifty the year after next.”
“I know.”
“...”
Ah, yes. My sister has always been like this.
She had a strange stubbornness when it came to fashion. What made it even more irritating was that she looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties, so it actually suited her rather well.
Too tired to keep trying to persuade Baek Hyang, Baek Su-cheol gave up and sighed. Then he pulled the cashier’s check out of his arms.
“Here.”
“What is this?”
“Do the ritual for me.”
“...”
Baek Hyang said quietly, “The company?”
“Yes.”
“You can’t call back blessings that never existed.”
“Then chase away whatever bad luck is hanging around.”
“That shouldn’t be necessary... There isn’t even any death-energy on you.”
“Still.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone’s staking their lives on this place.”
“...”
Baek Hyang nodded.
“...Fine. When?”
“As soon as possible.”
“Then let’s do it next week.”
“What day?”
“...”
Baek Hyang suddenly began counting on her fingers, calculating something. After a long mutter to herself, she spoke again.
“Friday.”
*
Saturday morning.
I was riding a spring rider in front of the convenience store’s outdoor table. It was a routine I needed in order to settle my mind.
...
A call had come in just a moment ago.
It was from someone I didn’t know.
But they were family to someone familiar.
[Hello. I’m A-Young’s mother....]
[...]
[...Would it be all right if I came by to treat you to a meal? Do you have time today?]
...
I couldn’t say no.
“...Mothers really are unfair.”