Chapter 124: Top Comment
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 124: Top Comment
A full week had passed since that damn meal with my friends.
[It’s scheduled to be released today at 6 PM!]
I sent a reply to the message from my manager, who’d been quiet for a while, and poked at the rice on my plate with my spoon.
“Mmm…”
I was definitely nervous.
Winter break was already about halfway over.
January wasn't over yet, so there was still a little more than half left, but I hadn't achieved a single thing.
I’d even quit my part-time job a while ago, so my only source of income was the allowance I got from my parents.
I had no idea if my celebrity career would be a huge hit, but it was a fact that I was short on cash right now.
“What’s wrong? Who was that?”
Doah, who was sitting across from me, asked when she saw me sigh in the middle of our meal.
“My manager.”
“And?”
“She said that drama I made a brief appearance in is being uploaded today.”
“Whoa! That’s awesome! What time?”
Doah was as happy as if it were her own project, getting excited and suggesting we watch it together as soon as it came out.
“Ah, but I really wasn’t happy with how it turned out…”
“Still, you have to watch the one thing you’ve filmed.”
“Besides, it’s not even fun to watch! The story is just boring!”
I hated that it was just a bunch of fake otakus, and I hated that watching it had led to me exposing my embarrassing friends to the world.
“I can’t even pretend it’s good, but as long as your face comes out looking handsome, that’s all that matters. That’s how these things work.”
Doah said she had a stream today, so she couldn't stay out late.
We decided to just grab a cup of coffee before she had to go, so we sat down at our usual cafe and ordered our usual drinks.
“I love green tea lattes.”
Doah brought the mug to her lips with both hands and smiled happily.
“Aren’t you cold, Oppa? You always drink that.”
“It’s just… you know…”
It was less about the taste and more about the price.
Not that it tasted bad, though.
“Anyway, is there any news about your group’s album?”
The last I’d heard, their goal was to release a total of three albums.
Considering the time they had left, that meant a new song had to come out at least once every four months.
“Hmm… I think they’re having meetings about it internally. But we’re in a pretty passive position, to be honest.”
“…Passive?”
“Like, if the company tells us to do something, we just do it.”
Only after Doah shrugged did I understand what she meant.
“Ah… I see.”
“I’m not an aspiring singer, but isn’t it like that for everyone? Whether you’re an actor or whatever, you just do what your agency tells you to do.”
Come to think of it, it wasn't really my place to talk, since I was the one who just dove headfirst into a film set without knowing a thing.
“The thing I’m really preparing for right now is my solo concert.”
“Right.”
“Do you have any idea how much pressure I’m under being number one?”
Doah shook her head as if she was sick and tired of it, even as she smiled.
“Ugh… We’re still in meetings discussing cover songs. You know, songs to sing then.”
“Really?”
My dear Luka-tan.
I wonder what songs she’s planning to sing to tug at the heartstrings of the Pink Army this time.
“Have you decided on anything?”
“Well… it’s not confirmed, but I’ll probably do one song by a YM idol and maybe an anime OST.”
“I guess since you’re from the same company, it’d be weird to sing another company’s song?”
“It’s not that strict, but the production director said it would be nice to have at least one.”
There were plenty of famous songs by YM artists.
And of course, Doah would know a lot of them.
“Are there any songs you personally want to sing?”
“That’s what’s driving me crazy… It’s like this: there are songs I want to sing, but I have no idea if they’d actually suit me.”
It sounded like something out of a middle school career counseling session.
The things you want to do versus the things you have to do.
A classic dilemma of which to prioritize.
“What are they? Let me see…”
Doah took her phone out from the pocket of her fluffy-looking white fleece jacket and just showed me her playlist directly.
“This one and this one are… my absolute favorites… and everything below this is a candidate. Songs I’m considering.”
An image of Doah, one I never get to see, formed in my mind.
The thought of her sitting in front of that monitor, scrolling through the list and singing to herself, suddenly made me feel like I would go crazy from how cute she was.
“So… this one, I tried singing it at karaoke last time… Oppa. Are you listening to me?”
Doah frowned, as if she’d detected my barely suppressed, sappy smile.
“Ah. Of course, I’m listening.”
“Then why are you smiling? Is the thought of me singing this funny? Hmph?”
Doah thrust a cute little fist toward me.
“It’s just because you’re cute. I was imagining you doing all that by yourself in the studio.”
“What’s so cute about that? I’m working really hard. You wouldn’t know because you’ve never done it. It’s so much pressure when people come rushing in to ask you things.”
“Should I try it? Being a VTuber?”
I threw the comment out as a joke, but Doah’s reaction was cold.
“No. I think you’d be super unpopular.”
“…That’s harsh.”
“And honestly, if you’re going to stream, just show your face. Why would you pay for a 2D drawing when you have a face that already looks like one?”
I was at a loss for words at Doah’s surprisingly practical response.
“Oppa, right now the company does this and that for me. But when I first started streaming on my own, I had to scrape together my own money to make everything, you know?”
I had never looked down on streaming, but Doah seemed to have taken my words the wrong way and launched into a passionate speech.
“Alright, alright. I knew you had it rough even before we started talking at school.”
Was I not one of the original Pink Army members who had been there since Luka’s humble beginnings?
I held the name Lucario with pride.
“Back when I first confessed, if I had just said, ‘I’m Kim Luka,’ would you have said yes?”
That was a difficult question.
If Doah had told me from the start that she was Luka and asked me to date her…
“I don’t think… I would have.”
“Why not?”
“We got close because we just happened to talk and hang out, just the two of us.”
As much as I liked Luka, it would have been impossible when I had zero information about the person named Kim Doah.
“Of course, you being Luka is a huge deal to me, but… hmm… I probably would have thought about it and ended up rejecting you, or at best, I might have said something like, ‘Let’s get to know each other first.’”
“Oppa, you really like that phrase, don’t you? ‘Let’s get to know each other.’”
Suddenly remembering the things I’d said, I felt my ears grow hot.
“Hey. Well. It’s fine now that we know each other well.”
Feeling awkward, I chugged my cold coffee. Doah, as if finding me cute, reached out and pulled my cheek.
“Aigoo~ Honestly~”
I didn’t think I could live without Doah anymore.
*
A drama screening… well, it wasn’t anything that grand, but anyway.
We turned off all the lights and lay side-by-side on my bed with the tablet propped up in front of us.
6 PM.
Doah said she had to head to the studio right after watching this.
“Oh…! It’s up! It’s up! Let’s watch it now!”
Doah’s index finger tapped the center of the tablet, and episode 3 of [Love Rides the Waves.] was uploaded.
Ah, shit… this is so embarrassing…
So this is how she must have felt whenever I put on Luka's clips.
I was starting to understand why Doah would practically cough up blood whenever she saw me watching Luka’s videos.
As expected, the setting was a high school.
The main characters, whose faces I’d grown used to seeing on screen, were chattering away in a classroom.
Normally, you’re supposed to watch these things without much thought, but I was tense the whole time, wondering when I would appear.
After some pointless banter, school let out.
The scene zoomed in on Shin Gyumin, the wannabe otaku I’d deemed so cringey, as he was leaving school.
I could feel it instinctively.
He’s going to turn into an alley, and then I’ll show up.
Doah’s round eyes were fixed on the screen.
The sound of my gulping seemed exceptionally loud in the quiet room.
Shin Gyumin and the male lead walked into the alley, talking leisurely.
It was the exact same alley where I had filmed.
[Hey, Gyumin. Couldn’t you have just handed in the workbook yourself?]
[But if I did that… Hyerin might have gotten upset…]
[What’s with all this talk about Hyerin! Hey! A man shouldn’t be like that!]
[What do you know!]
For a character whose concept was a loser otaku, it was the first time Shin Gyumin had raised his voice.
[No! Even before, I! I told you I didn’t want to do it, but you!]
Thud, thud. Footsteps approached.
Ah… shit… wait a minute…
The two boys who were talking turned their heads toward the camera.
And the person who appeared was none other than me.
[Otaku bastard, you should know your place.]
No joke, I wondered if it was possible to make an entrance that screamed “third-rate villain” more than I just did.
The moment I appeared, Doah was next to me, desperately trying to stifle her laughter.
[Hey! It’s Eojin! Run!]
The group of protagonists took off running the second they saw me.
I was finally learning the rest of the story that I hadn’t known.
So the reason I didn’t have any more lines was because they ran away as soon as they saw me.
The role originally didn’t even have a single line, after all.
In any case, it seemed I had fulfilled my role as a cameo perfectly.
Since I appeared at the very end, the video finished after about five minutes.
I let out a short sigh and looked at Doah’s face.
“Aww~ My Oppa did a good job~”
Doah ruffled my hair just like she would with the Pink Army and planted a bunch of kisses on my forehead.
“Ah. Hey. Stop roasting me.”
“I’m sorry for acting up, Oppa. I’m just an otaku. Sob sob.”
My head started to throb at the sight of Doah pretending to cry.
“Don’t you dare, Kim Doah.”
“Why? I’m going to leave a comment, too.”
Doah opened the comment section as if she were really going to write something.
And the top comment waiting for us there was…
[Kim Eojin is fucking handsome;; What's that actor's name?]
It was a comment that had very little to do with the story.