Chapter 200: I Rejected My Favorite Without Knowing, But...
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 200: I Rejected My Favorite Without Knowing, But...
“Unnie was absolutely head over heels for you, Oppa.”
Fumurin, whether because she had some stories she’d been dying to tell or just wanted to tease Doah, grinned as she revealed everything that had happened that day.
Of course, it wasn't the kind of talk that would hurt anyone's feelings.
It was all just about how much Doah liked me, loved me, and so on.
While telling her to stop, Doah, seemingly with no cards left to play, just stomped her feet and repeated, “Stoooop it.”
“Phew! Thanks for the coffee, Luka-tan~ Unnie, next time we’re meeting in my neighborhood, okay?”
Fumurin’s lip piercing glittered under the cafe’s bright lights again today.
“I’m not going. You and I are meeting separately later. Jeez.”
“No, Unnie~ I only told your man the good stuff to score some points with him, why are you being like this~”
“Ugh~ So tilting. Hey. You, get out. Just get out. Lee Gahee.”
Doah dragged Fumurin outside as if she were demolishing a house.
“You take care too, Oppa! See you again, Mini-me Orabeoni~”
...Mini-me?
I’d never heard that nickname before, but I smiled and waved.
“Get home safe.”
“Okay~”
After parting ways with Fumurin and returning home, Doah locked her bedroom door and refused to come out.
-Knock, knock, knock
“Doah. Can I come in now?”
“Yeah… come in…”
When I opened the door and went inside, my girlfriend greeted me with a somewhat haggard look on her face.
“You just had fun, so why the long face?”
“Because I’m cringing so hard right now.”
“Is it because you mentioned us living together?”
“Aaaaaaaaargh!”
When I brought up what I’d just heard, Doah let out a sound like she was being tortured in an electric chair and buried her face in a pillow.
“I’m nebber drinkin’ again… just you watch… I swear…”
Her voice, muffled by the pillow, came out with a rather cute pronunciation.
“But hey. The people who need to know will find out eventually anyway. And since we’re continuing with it, it’s not something we can hide forever.”
“But the girls will tease me! Ugh, it’s so annoying! Did you hear what Fumurin said? Now, whenever I go to a gathering, I’m definitely going to be the butt of the joke!”
Getting mad at me won’t change anything...
She’s the one who said it, but she’s taking it out on me.
I felt a little bit wronged.
“You must have told Jennifer, too, right? That the ‘Oppa’ you mentioned back then was actually me?”
“I don't know… I really don't remember. Ah. I drank way too much that day.”
“I get that it was a day for that, but it’s a bit much to have no memory of it at all.”
“Ah. I need to call Fumurin. I have to hear every single thing I said.”
Saying she had to make the call, Doah banished me from the room once again, and I was left with no choice but to head to the living room.
I took out my phone, went to a video portal site, and started watching the Closer graduation clips that still dominated my algorithm.
[CLOSER, Who Genuinely Didn't Know Their Own Future]
The members' confessions in front of the campfire would be remembered as the greatest hidden camera prank of all time.
YM got a ton of flak for the event, but if their goal was noise marketing from the start, they definitely achieved more than they could have hoped for.
It even made it into the news portals, and muggles who didn't know about VTubers were all reacting like, “So, who are these people?”
You could say their understanding of internet broadcasting was maxed out.
While I was watching a video of Luka sobbing as she said her goodbyes, I heard the sound of frantic footsteps rushing out from the bedroom.
“Ah! Han Taemin!”
A single squirrel appeared, its cheeks puffed out.
“What’s up? Done with your call?”
“Ah. Stop watching that!”
“...Don’t want to.”
“No. I said stop watching it. How many times are you going to watch it~”
“I always watch your videos five or six times.”
Huffing and puffing, she charged at me.
The whining voice of the real-life Doah and the sobbing voice of the virtual Luka mixed together.
It was like the whole world was just Doah-Doah.
“Turn it offfff!”
She finally managed to snatch my phone and immediately hit the stop button.
Tossing my phone onto the sofa, Doah climbed onto my lap.
“You’re so mean.”
“I know.”
“I’m in a world of trouble because I went around telling everyone how much I like you, and you want to do this?”
“I’m in a world of trouble too, because I like Luka so much.”
Doah’s eyes narrowed, and she quickly corrected me.
“Not Luka, Doah.”
“Right. I’m in trouble because I like Doah so much.”
Doah stared at me for a moment before pressing her lips to mine, and we shared a rather deep kiss right then and there.
“Hello, Mini-nim!”
“Ah, yes. It’s a pleasure to be here.”
“First, could you please give us a brief introduction?”
Inside the YM Entertainment building.
I was being interviewed in a study with such a great atmosphere you could mistake it for a film set.
“Hello. I’m the new producer from Bitdam. My name is Mini, Han Taemin.”
If I hadn’t tried acting, I think I would have felt awkward talking in front of a camera like this.
Surprisingly, that brief experience turned out to be helpful later on.
“Yes, Mini-ssi! I hear you’re quite famous these days as Bitdam’s hot new rising star~”
“Ah. I think it’s all thanks to Team Leader Ashblock. Haha.”
“Today, as we mentioned, we’d like to talk about the songs you’ve produced and about Closer!”
“Yes, of course.”
“Actually, from what we’ve gathered, we heard that Closer was the reason you started composing in the first place.”
I smiled slightly and nodded.
“Yes, that’s right. It was for Closer’s 2.5 album. I started working on my own to participate in the contest for their fan-participation album.”
“Wow. So was that your very first time? Or were you interested before, and that was just the catalyst?”
“No. I think I started solely with the thought of wanting to participate in the Closer contest.”
“Wow~ So your connection is even deeper than I thought.”
You could say that.
Now I even live in the same house as one of the members.
“I believe you said Luka-ssi was your favorite. Has your favorite member changed by any chance?”
Excuse me, sir.
Do you have any idea what would happen if I changed it?
“Nope. I’m still a devoted Luka fanatic. Ah, but of course, I often watch the other members’ streams as well.”
“Ooh~ It’s great to see such loyalty! I’m sure Luka-ssi will be delighted to hear that.”
After a brief chat about personal updates, we began to talk about the work itself for the documentary.
“When producing a song for the group Closer, what do you consider most important?”
“Hmm… First, I think I look a lot at the group’s color. I tried hard not to stray too far from the direction Closer has taken with their activities so far.”
“However, I focused on differentiating it from the concepts of their previous albums. I also considered making it easier for people who aren’t as familiar with subculture to get into them.”
Answering the questions wasn’t that difficult.
I had received the questionnaire beforehand, and these were also things I had genuinely thought a lot about when making the songs for them.
“Yes. Thank you so much for the interview today. Lastly, do you have any final words for the members of Closer?”
Staring into the camera lens, I just answered the unprepared question from the heart.
“I’m always cheering for you, and also… everyone… uh… please stream for longer! Don’t just stream for a tantalizing two hours and then turn it off!”
I figured that was a good enough representation of what the other fans wanted to say.
After finishing the interview and returning home, I heard the pitter-patter of feet running toward the entrance.
“You’re home?”
“Yep. I’m back.”
“You worked hard!”
Doah greeted me with a bright smile, as if something good had happened.
“What were you up to?”
“I was watching hedgehog videos.”
“...Hedgehogs?”
“Yeah. They’re super cute.”
“Have you eaten?”
“Not yet, I was waiting to eat with you.”
Doah, who suggested we cook with the ingredients we had at home, told me to hurry and wash my hands, summoning me to the kitchen.
“Oppa, you cut the tofu.”
“Alright.”
Tonight’s dinner was soybean paste stew and grilled mackerel.
I don’t think I ever grilled fish when I was living in my studio apartment.
Now that we have a proper kitchen and space to eat and clean up, I guess we can eat things like this, I thought.
“How was the interview?”
“It was fine. How I made the music, what I focused on, stuff like that mostly.”
“Really? Nothing difficult?”
“Not really.”
“That’s good.”
Doah diligently deboned the fish with her chopsticks, then placed a large piece of flesh on my spoon.
“You eat it. Why are you giving it to me?”
“Just because you worked hard. It’s on the house.”
The way she giggled looked incredibly cute.
After we finished eating, the two of us sat side-by-side on the sofa.
In just a few hours, Doah would have to go stream again.
“Oppa.”
Doah, who had been leaning against me and quietly watching TV, tilted her head back to look up.
“Hm?”
“Thank you.”
“All of a sudden?”
At her sudden thanks, I looked down at her face.
“I was just thinking about how I have to go stream again soon, and it feels like it’s all thanks to you, Oppa.”
“How is that thanks to me? It’s thanks to the whim of your hidden-camera-loving CEO.”
“But the reason the CEO made that decision was because the song you made was a huge hit.”
Being praised to high heaven by my girlfriend.
It didn’t feel bad, though.
“Then I’m thankful too.”
“What are you thankful for, Oppa?”
I’m… hmm…
“For coming all this way with me again, after I rejected you without even knowing you were my favorite?”
“What’s that? That’s weird.”
Doah giggled and gave me a peck on the cheek.
