All the Mountains Turn Green, Green - 1
May 24.
The stormy Monday was over.
Office workers and students dragged their exhausted bodies home and, using only their big toes, turned on the computers in their rooms. Then they each grabbed a beer and a soft drink and tried to enjoy a lively evening online.
Just as that peaceful night was about to begin, some of them spat out the drinks they had in their mouths.
Then they cried out in voices thick with panic.
-What the fuck?!
-What the hell is going on...?
An unpeaceful piece of news had arrived for one VTuber fandom. It was a disaster for the fans cheering on Romantic Drive.
Black letters on a white screen.
Even the font was stiff, like an official document.
『...Accordingly, RD second-generation member Herin's Dream Live JP collaboration has been suspended due to unavoidable internal circumstances. All of Studio Romance wishes to apologize to the fans who waited with so much encouragement and support for failing to meet their expectations....』
Of course, the RD fandom went up in arms.
They had already been hearing scattered rumors that things were bad with Arc Network, the parent company they had originally belonged to, and this major announcement had yanked the trigger on all that anxiety.
Fans despaired at the sudden news that the collaboration had been canceled. They had seen this collaboration as the move that could break the deadlock of a situation that had been growing increasingly stagnant.
Even if they were still the number one VTuber group in Korea, they were still the ruler of a narrow niche subculture market.
Countless collaboration streams. Original songs entering the charts. Real-time viewer rankings on the Pazijik platform. All of that was only within Korea. If they really wanted what's next, they had to go outside.
And that had just been cut off.
The fans' despair and anger were on the verge of hitting critical mass.
-They barely even do events anyway....
-Tsk, domestic collabs are all the same old same old, too.
-The first-generation members are on break, so there isn't even anything to watch, fuck.
-How can they cancel something this suddenly?
-What an utterly trash way to handle things, as expected from Romance~
-Everyone, start parking now! Vroom vroom!
-I'm putting it in neutral.
-What happens if you put it in neutral going downhill? lol
...
...
...
But then, at that moment....
Another announcement was posted.
This one was decorated to the hilt with a bright, cheerful template and a cute font. Bonus points for the adorable illustrations of the RD members.
Announcement of a pop-up store opening! One, two, three... together, romance!
Collaboration cafe event extended! Let's all be happy together~
RD at the department store?! What's going on? (Thump-thump)
Everyone, come take a walk with RD! Start your reading drive with one book in hand!
...
...
...
"?"
Voices rose into a murmur.
-What is this...?
-Are those old posts?
-What the hell, is the forum post feed backflowing?
The announcements came up one after another in rapid succession.
The atmosphere, which had just been a pit of despair, looked ridiculous now. RD fans were thrown into utter confusion. It was enough to freeze even their supposedly excellent brains.
-Can someone sum that up in three lines....
And when someone who had read all the announcements from beginning to end condensed the situation into a single line, the mood flipped at once.
Read all the notices, and it turns out this isn't some forum post feed backflow after all. They'd just given up on going to Japan and decided to hold a ton of domestic events instead, lol? And it's underlined right there that Herin is participating in every event, lol. They canceled the collab because they were busy doing all that, lol.
-No way, lol.
-Ah shit, you really scared me, lol.
-This is exactly the kind of work Romance does~
-Starting the engine again! Vroom vroom!
-All right, everyone, disperse....
-But why are they suddenly doing all that? lol We're happy, of course, but they're opening event after event, and they only do one maybe every few months, lol.
└This, too, is surely thanks to Bigman's grace....
└Oh, is this prayer time?
└Bigman
└B-M....
└BigMan~
└The people who were about to floor it and charge straight into Bigman a second ago are incredibly disgusting, lol.
└Haha, if you turn the wheel before you crash, that's called drifting.
It was all momentum for a flood of events.
Once that became clear, RD fans finally relaxed. And they kept the good mood going by praising Bigman for making all of this possible.
The ones who had just been cursing Bigman and the Big Plan quietly deleted their posts. Then the people who had been trying to stay neutral gave them grief for it.
-What a shameless bunch....
-Ah, so now it's all about political survival skills, huh? lol
Their mockery grew sharper and sharper.
And in the end, a war broke out between the old folks and the shit-tossers. Those who had belatedly heard the news of the festival looked at the savage battlefield and fled again.
It was a peaceful night.
*
Tuesday morning.
I got up in the convenience store loft, washed up, ate a quick breakfast of discarded sandwiches, and came to my senses over a cup of coffee.
I inhaled the smell of it.
The fragrant aroma of coffee lingered in my nose.
Then I brought the hot mug to my lips.
Slurp.
The warm, bitter liquid swept away the crumbs of bread left in my mouth. I could feel the bitterness sharpening my senses in an instant.
...
Honestly, I was still a little tired.
Yesterday... no,
it was already 3 a.m. before I could fall asleep.
I rubbed at my still gritty eyes.
...
'I was the one who said they could ask me anything after the presentation.... I just didn't think they'd keep asking until night.'
My drowsiness cleared enough for yesterday's investment presentation to come back to me. It had happened while I was wrapping up the gathering and seeing the others off.
*
At the place where I was seeing the group off, RD's VTuber representative, Danhwi, Seo Eun-hwa, came up to me. Then she lifted her phone slightly and said, a soft smile on her lips,
"Manager, could I have your contact information?"
"...."
With a line that could be interpreted in several ways, Baek Su-cheol and Jo Tae-sik both jerked and looked at Seo Eun-hwa.
"Good grief, how young...."
"Eun-hwa?"
Beside them, Dodam turned her head in a threatening way and made a sound like, "Eee...?" She looked exactly like a baby owl whose territory had been intruded upon.
...
'I've never seen that expression on Dodam's face before...'
In that situation, Seo Eun-hwa smiled softly and said,
"It's not like I'm trying to seduce you that blatantly, Manager.... Even if the concrete stream plans won't start until next week, I'd like to get everything we can do this week moving quickly."
"I see."
I answered her.
"If you have any questions, I'll answer whatever I can. But I have no intention of touching the direction of the planning. That's part of the contract."
"...."
Seo Eun-hwa's smile deepened a little.
"I don't dislike that part of you, Manager."
"Is that so."
"Pfft! You're not reacting at all."
"...."
What was so funny about my silence, I didn't know.
She laughed with a hand over her mouth.
Then she spoke again.
"Heh. Well, it's not just about evaluating the previous company. I got so used to tapping on a stepping stone for hours before crossing that it's become a habit."
"...."
"But rules that are too free can... actually slow things down, too. I want to stay in contact with you and make at least the minimum set of guidelines ourselves. I also want to keep in touch with the partner companies."
"I see."
I changed my mind.
'I guess the difference comes from the organizational structure?'
In the previous loop, Aurora Prism Entertainment had moved forward without hesitation. That must have been the grit peculiar to a struggling startup. RD had naturally been pulled into the resulting Big Plan Committee.
So in this loop, too,
I had believed they would do well enough if I left them alone.
'But back then, several Big Plan projects had already been carried out, so there were a lot of things to refer to and they could follow along naturally.... And advanced management methods have reduced the headcount a lot.'
Come to think of it,
this loop's Studio Romance was the full package.
As a result of being properly acquired for a fair price, the first-generation members, who were on break, had not yet graduated, and most of the senior staff stationed in production and operations were still at their posts.
...
'So they're trying to be more cautious.'
Recognizing that difference, I exchanged contact information with the heads of each company. Then I looked at Baek Su-cheol and Jo Tae-sik and said,
"With this, whenever, wherever...."
"?"
...We'll be cheering you on.
That was the kind of opening it felt like I should have said.
But that was the previous loop.
So I pulled myself together and said what I'd meant to say all along.
"...Please contact me. If there's anything you're curious about, tell me everything."
"!"
And they really did contact me.
Until 3 a.m.
-Is it okay for us to proceed freely with the partner companies?
-Should I report the merchandise production costs to the manager?
-When should we gather regularly for meetings....
...
Doing my best, I answered everything in good faith so that they could become as self-sufficient as possible. In the end, the reason they were anxious was money.
[You may do whatever you like.]
After I finished contacting them like that,
it was already past 3 a.m.
*
Back to Tuesday morning.
Dressed in a suit, I bounced along on a sky hopper and made a list in my head. There was a lot to do, so I needed a morning meditation routine.
The sky and the ground bobbed up and down.
Boink.
Boink.
Boink.
Within that motion, my mind grew clear.
...
What I had to do today was....
1. Go greet the chief monk in the evening.
'I couldn't go on Buddha's Birthday because I was busy, so I should bring over the donation goods and at least have a meal on my way back.'
2. Watch the construction of the shower booth in the employees' break room in the afternoon.
'It was a little sudden that Ah-young said she wanted to install a shower booth in the break room. But if she needs it, and she wants to pay for the construction herself....'
And the morning....
"Boss!"
I got off the sky hopper and turned toward the familiar voice that had come from beside me. A short-haired girl was running toward me from far away.
It was Dodam.
It didn't take long before her face came into clear view. Sweating and panting, she still grabbed my hand in one swift motion.
Warm,
damp,
slender.
That was the feel of it.
...
I asked,
"Dodam, what's wrong?"
"Th-there's, there's...!"
Dodam answered.
"Boss! Did you see how much those RD kids are pulling off?! In a single day they went fully into festival mode!"
"Studio Romance does have experience planning events, after all. If they have the budget they were given, it should be easy enough to move straight ahead."
"Nngh...!"
For some reason, Dodam stamped her foot as if annoyed. Following her hand, my head bobbed along too.
She noticed it and hurriedly stopped stomping. But she still didn't let go of my hand. Sweat was slowly gathering in mine, too.
Dodam said,
"So, what I mean is, the plan we set up isn't to go wild with a bunch of different things like they did. We decided each person would pick a theme and do something around that, right?"
"I see."
"So I want the boss to come with me."
"Where to?"
Dodam grinned.
It was the kind of grim smile she wore when remodeling the arcade. A big patch of morning sky reflected in her eyes and made them shine blue.
"To our dream...."
...
Was it some kind of gaming facility?
She said,
"Come with me. To the e-sports arena....!"