Chapter 154: A Small World
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 154: A Small World
“The others were really curious about what you've been up to.”
The cheese stretched out long from the pizza, which we had bought only a short while ago.
“Ahaha. There's not much to be curious about.”
Doah, seeming a bit uncomfortable with Yoonje asking about her life, gave an awkward laugh.
“Everyone at school knows Taemin is pursuing acting, so they were wondering what you were doing since you took a leave of absence at the same time.”
“But Oppa hasn't really been doing much of that lately...”
Doah seemed to be checking my reaction, but I’d already come clean about everything.
“I just heard about that too. That's why there was a rumor going around for a while that you two had broken up.”
“As if I'd ever break up with Doah.”
It seemed people were far too interested in what others were doing.
No, actually, I didn't mind the interest itself. But having false rumors spread was not a welcome situation.
“Anyway. So what have you been up to lately, Doah?”
“I... um...”
As Doah hesitated, looking uncomfortable, I stepped in as her representative and summed up the situation neatly.
“Doah is preparing to study abroad.”
“Study abroad...?”
Doah just stared at me blankly, as if to say, ‘What are you talking about?’
Ah. What?
Studying abroad in the Metaverse is still studying abroad.
Isn't she basically a full-scholarship student studying abroad in another world? At this point?
“Where to?”
Since I hadn't thought about a country, I couldn't bring myself to say ‘the 2D world’ and just blurted out the first one that came to mind.
“America.”
“Wow. That’s unexpected.”
Funnier than Yoonje’s reaction was the look on Doah’s face.
To put it in one sentence, it was a look that basically said, ‘What the hell are you doing right now?’
“Ah, but it's not set in stone. I'm just looking into it while working a bit.”
Sensing she had to clean up my mess, Doah smiled brightly and answered Yoonje.
“I see. If you do go, what's Taemin going to do? He'll be so sad.”
“Oppa. Would you be sad?”
That ridiculous hypothetical question came back to bite me.
“Yeah. I'd be so sad without you, I might just go crazy.”
“Ugh...”
Yoonje, who was watching, shook his hands in disgust.
“Save that stuff for when you two are alone.”
“We were supposed to be alone, but you're the one who came to visit, you know?”
As Doah retorted coyly, I let out a small laugh.
“No. I’m the one who called him over today.”
“You invited a guest over? To the house?”
Her eyes were like those you’d give a sinner who’d broken a taboo.
Considering my behavior up until now, that might have been the correct reaction.
“Yeah. I asked him to help me with some music I’m making.”
“Ah... I see... So is that why you brought your guitar?”
“That’s right. Want to hear what we’ve done?”
One pizza would have been too much for the two of us, but with three, it disappeared in no time.
After neatly folding the box and putting it away, Yoonje took out his guitar and told me to play the backing track.
“Ooh...!”
My project file playing from the speakers resonated with the sound of Yoonje's guitar.
Even though she only heard up to the first verse, Doah clapped as soon as the music stopped.
“Wow! This is seriously amazing!”
“Hey, you have to be this good to get into a major university club. Man, I was one of two people picked out of seven applicants.”
I had my doubts about whether getting picked two out of seven was really that difficult, but there was no reason to rain on his parade.
“Wow. It’s so good! See, I told you the stuff you make is cool, Oppa. I’ve been saying it for a while!”
As Doah started showering me with comments like ‘I knew you could do it,’ Yoonje nonchalantly dropped a blunt, hard-hitting comment.
“Hey, Doah. I admit Taemin is handsome, but you must have a great personality too. Your boyfriend spends all day fawning over some other girl's avatar, and you just put up with it.”
This is what I’m talking about.
She’s the avatar!
Meanwhile, the avatar in question was breaking out in a cold sweat.
“No, I mean... people can like different things, you know.”
“True. But I don't think I could handle it if my girlfriend was freaking out over a picture of some male character.”
I couldn't stand it anymore and chimed in.
“Who cares. Doah said it's fine.”
“Yeah! Who cares!”
Doah chimed in, sticking right to my back.
Yoonje raised both hands in surrender.
“Alright. For now, let's go with this as the base, and I'll develop it a bit more and bring it back.”
“You’d really do that?”
I was planning to learn guitar myself to add the part.
“Dude, you said you have a month left. When the hell are you going to learn and finish this thing?”
“That’s true, but... I feel bad.”
I felt it was too shameless to accept help without offering anything in return.
“Ah, forget it. What are friends for?”
Was I just... moved?
Hearing that from a guy who was usually busy trying to shake me off because I was annoying made me reflect on myself for some reason.
“Thanks, Yoonje.”
“Nah, nah. It’s nothing. In return, though.”
I felt like I would grant him any favor he asked right now.
“Hey. Can I get a few of your autographs?”
“That’s not hard, but what for?”
“I figured I could casually give one to a girl and tell her I'm friends with you. Thought it might work.”
...Give me back my heartfelt emotions, you bastard.
The noisy CLOSER group chat.
Lately, probably because I wasn't going to school, I felt like I was spending more time chatting here than in any other group chat.
[Ah, Kim Luka is going to ruin my solo concert.]
As always, Clover unnie started things off.
I had no intention of taking it lying down.
[No, I'm the one who's screwed. Everyone liked my concert, but after they see Clover's, they're going to say Luka was nothing special.]
[Fight! Fight! Somebody win! Unnies, can I tell the story of this fight on my stream?]
Our youngest, Murin, seemed to be enjoying the whole thing, egging us on instead of trying to stop us.
[Aahhh, it's next month and I still haven't even picked my songs!!! Seriously, what songs should I do?]
[Just stick to what you're good at, unnie! It's better to do something you know well than to risk your voice cracking during a live performance.]
Leah, who had been quietly observing the conversation, sent a single message.
[But when else are you going to try challenging yourself if not now?]
Ugh... so annoying...!
Ah! Seriously, that's something only Leah could say.
Of course, Clover unnie was a slightly better singer than me, but in front of Leah, the rest of us were just comparing acorns.
[Leah-tan, stop flexing lol]
As soon as I sent that, Murin jumped on the bandwagon.
[Upvote if you think Leah unnie has never had to worry about something like this~]
Seeing the thumbs-up reactions flood in made me laugh out loud.
[I think it'd be good to include a few songs the fans like, too.]
As expected, Jennifer unnie, the closest thing we had to a model student, gave her earnest, long-form advice.
Ugh, so much pressure. I'm gonna do something else.
Since it wasn't about me anyway, I muted the chat for a bit and took care of other things one by one.
I sent over all the video sources back then, and the second album...
Haa... the recording for the second album is coming up soon too.
A change of seasons meant it was time to prepare a new album.
I wondered if I could really satisfy the Pink Army, whose expectations were at an all-time high after the first album and my solo concert.
-Bzzzzzt
I have the group chat notifications turned off, so there's no one else who'd be contacting me.
Could it be Oppa?
He doesn't usually message me at this hour.
The person who contacted me privately was a bit of a surprise.
[Luka.]
[Huh? What's up, unnie?]
Even if we had a reason to talk to each other, we usually just did it in the group chat.
Did I do something wrong to her...?
[Are you free on the 12th or 13th, by any chance?]
[Hold on...]
They were weekdays, but since I was on a leave of absence from school, the distinction was meaningless.
[I have a stream on the 12th. Other than that, nothing. Why?]
[Ah. I was wondering if you could meet me on one of those days.]
[Whoa! What! Are you coming to Seoul, unnie? Should we get all the Seoul members together?]
We wanted to have a get-together, but since our members were scattered all over the country, we could never easily pick a date.
[No, no, no. I'll probably be with my boyfriend most of the time.]
[Ah~ I see.]
Clover unnie had mentioned she had a boyfriend she'd been dating since before she started streaming and VTubing.
I think she said they were in their fifth year now.
[So is it okay for me to be there?]
[It's just that my boyfriend seems curious about the people I work with...]
I finally realized why she hadn't used the group chat.
[Umm~ So you want me to meet him?]
[Yeah. If you feel weird coming alone, we could make it a double date.]
The word 'double date' didn't bring back the best memories, and I couldn't help but think of my boyfriend's face.
Thinking about how he was completely drained of energy by Murin and her boyfriend still made me feel sorry sometimes.
[I'll ask my boyfriend about it. If he's not up for it, I'm fine with going by myself.]
[Ah~ Okay, okay! Then I'll definitely treat you to a meal! Heh. Luka, just tell me if there's anything you want to eat~]
[Unnie, in that case, Luka-tan wants~]
Seizing the opportunity, I listed all the things I wanted to eat, and we fell into a happy dilemma.
I'd always thought this VTuber job was just so fun, enjoyable, and happy.
But our world was truly a small one.
A world that was difficult for others to understand.