Chapter 84: Is This For Real?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 84: Is This For Real?
“...An agency?”
The only group I belong to is the Pink Army, though?
At the manager’s sudden question, I blinked like an idiot.
“You just have the look of a model~”
I’d been called handsome a few times, but this was the first time I’d ever been told I had a model’s look.
The fact that it was coming from a manager at an entertainment agency made me feel a little strange.
“I don’t have one.”
There wasn’t much else I could say.
What else was I supposed to say when I didn’t have one?
“Wow. Your features are just so good. Oh, where is my mind?”
She suddenly started rummaging through her pockets and pulled out her wallet.
What she handed me was a business card.
[Park Yejin, Assistant Manager, YM Virtual Business Division]
“If you give me a call and visit the company, I think it could be a really great opportunity for you.”
“I worked in the street casting department until last year, so I have a really sharp eye for faces! I really do.”
I was just here to help Doah move.
But for a moment, the star of the show, Doah, seemed to have been sidelined.
“Uh… um…”
My girlfriend, who had been standing there quietly listening to our conversation, finally spoke up.
“Wouldn’t it be better to talk inside…?”
It was mid-December.
The streets were dotted with frozen patches from the cold snap.
There was certainly no reason for us to stand here shivering while we talked.
“Ah. Right. Where is my mind? I’m sorry, Luka-ssi. Just a moment.”
The manager tapped her key card to unlock the door, and Doah and I each picked up a monitor and a computer case.
“Come on in.”
We entered the building and went up the stairs. The manager went ahead to open the door for us.
“Here it is!”
Her voice was filled with excitement.
And it was certainly justified.
“Whoa.”
“Wow.”
Doah and I let out gasps of admiration at the same time.
It wasn’t exceptionally large, but for a studio that would be used by one person—Doah—it was an incredibly pleasant and spacious area.
“So, do you like it?”
The manager wore a triumphant expression, and Doah nodded her head vigorously.
“Totally! It looks even bigger than it did in the pictures.”
There was a neatly arranged desk and chair.
Below, there was even a cabinet designed to hold a computer case.
“The furniture in the back is something I prepared by pinching a little from the company’s budget.”
Behind the desk area was a small sofa and a table.
It looked like a spot designed for her to take breaks during her streams.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t get you a refrigerator.”
The manager clicked her tongue in disappointment, but Doah shook her head frantically as if to say it was fine.
“Not at all! I’m so grateful for just this.”
“As for the full-body trackers, you’ll all probably receive them around January or February, once the content planning is complete.”
“I see.”
As Doah looked around the room with a happy expression, the manager gestured for her to go and sit down.
Doah sat in the computer chair, pushed it all the way back, and then spun around in the middle of the room.
Her childlike antics made me smile, and I watched her with a fond expression.
“Wow. It’s so spacious you can even do this.”
“Of course. You’ll be having something like a sports day in here eventually.”
I knew that many VR games required intense physical movement.
“Excuse me, but what’s your name?”
The manager turned her head toward me, and I flinched again.
“It’s Han Taemin.”
“Taemin-ssi. Would it be alright if we continued our earlier conversation for just a little longer?”
It’s not like I could say no.
With a reluctant expression, I agreed.
“You’ve heard of our company, right?”
As much of an otaku as I was, it was nearly impossible for anyone who’d spent their teenage years in South Korea not to know of YM Entertainment.
They had produced several legendary idol groups. How could I not know them?
“Yes, I have.”
“I really recommend you just come in and have a chat with someone from our side.”
Perhaps because she was in a different department now, she didn’t seem to want to have a full-blown discussion right here.
“The treatment and conditions go without saying, and you’ll be able to work on various projects with our other celebrities. Please, I hope you’ll give me a call.”
“Ah… okay…”
I took the business card out of my pocket to look at it again and said I would contact her later. The manager then chatted with Doah for about thirty minutes before leaving the studio.
Doah and I were left alone.
A strange atmosphere hung in the air between us.
“Oppa.”
Doah turned her chair toward me and called my name.
“Yeah?”
She beckoned me over with her hand.
I walked over to her without a word.
“What is it?”
“Your hand.”
When I held out my hand, she grabbed it and pulled me firmly toward her.
My upper body naturally leaned forward, and my arms ended up wrapped around her shoulders.
“...You might become a celebrity, you know?”
I couldn’t see her expression, but she didn’t sound overjoyed.
“What do you mean, a celebrity? Me?”
“Still. You know this isn’t a common opportunity, right?”
Well…
This was actually the first time I’d ever been scouted, so I didn’t have any data to know if it was common or not.
“But I have no intention of doing it. Not me.”
“Why not?”
I let out a dry laugh at her reaction, which seemed to say she couldn’t understand.
“Come on, Doah. You’ve seen me. I can’t even talk to people properly, and I just stay in my room watching anime. How could I possibly be a celebrity?”
It was true.
In MBTI terms, I was an extreme introvert, the ‘I’ of all ‘I’s.
If I took a job like that, I’d have to deal with people all the time.
I didn’t want to live like that, nor did I have the confidence to.
I liked my life just the way it was now.
I was just starting to feel like I was changing, little by little, after meeting Doah.
I had no desire to throw myself into another huge wave of change.
And I especially wanted to avoid getting swept up in something by pure chance, not by my own intention.
“There are plenty of introverts among celebrities, you know.”
“Anyway, I’m not interested.”
Not wanting to continue the conversation, I nuzzled my cheek against hers. Doah gently shook my face back and forth.
“Sigh. Well, even if it’s later, just think about it a little more.”
“Okay. I will.”
And with that, Doah’s studio move-in came to a safe conclusion.
I wonder what would have happened if I had just thrown that business card away then.
[Ah~ Hello~ Pink Army~~~ everyone~~~]
As if signaling her delight, Luka shook her head vigorously from side to side.
Her light pink hair swayed with the movement.
The Pink Army gave her an enthusiastic welcome.
Naturally, their reception was even more fervent than usual.
Because today was the day of reckoning.
It was the day she had to pay the price for her hiatus during exams and for ditching her last stream without clearing the game.
[You want me to keep my promise? Okay~ I get it~ I’ll be pulling an all-nighter with you guys tonight, so you better not go to sleep either. Got it?]
Of course, many would go to sleep, but she knew that we, the truly dedicated, jobless members of the Pink Army, would see it through to the end.
I was one of them, after all.
While some might genuinely be unemployed, the majority were true fans who, despite having things to do the next day, would stay up all night out of sheer love for her.
[Ah. You want to hear stories about my exams? Hmm… well, to give you the conclusion first.]
This was one of the slightly disappointing things about Luka being my girlfriend.
I was now hearing things on stream that she had already told me over the phone or in person.
Back when I didn’t know Doah, every single story was new. Now, about half of her daily life talks were stories I already knew.
[I totally bombed them~ Woo~~]
As she cheerfully announced her own demise, the chat was flooded with messages of laughter.
[What average do I expect? Hmm… If I get a B average, I’ll have to bow in the direction of the school.]
[No! I was inhumanly busy!]
[I had to stream, check whatever the company sent me, and then rush to my group projects to get things done.]
[Ah. Anyway, it’s not all over yet, but now that things are mostly sorted out, I feel like I can finally live again.]
She was in the middle of a rant about cramming for finals as part of her campus life talk.
[Luka-nim! Boundary is currently number 18 on the music charts!]
The message came through a 1,000-won dono.
Luka’s light pink eyes trembled.
[Nah. Stop lying. That’s not funny.]
Even as she said that, Luka-tan frantically navigated to a music streaming site.
And the thousands of Pink Army members watching were all left in shock.
Because no one could have predicted the chart performance of a freshly debuted virtual idol.
The site Luka checked wasn’t even number 18.
[#11: Boundary - CLOSER]
[Wait. Does this even make sense?]
Her jaw dropped. Luka refreshed the page several times, but the result remained the same.
[Wait. We’re number 11? Is this for real? No! No… uh…?]
As the chat exploded with messages of pure bliss, the shadow of her promise began to loom.
A fierce offensive from the Pink Army followed.
[HO]
[RROR]
[GA]
[ME]
[HO]
[RROR]
[GA]
[ME]
Luka sighed as if she had a headache.
[Ah. This is seriously too much.]
Then, my girlfriend, having finished the first part of her stream, sent me a single text message.
[Could you come to the studio right now?]
I was already fully geared up and waiting.