Ah! I Want to Touch Mazia's Model!

After the video went public, MoovGun kept his word and continued the World Cup. The stream maintained a solid thirty thousand viewers for nearly an hour afterward, doing its job as proper promotion. The steady imprinting through nicknames, Mazia's concentrated attention, the teaser video drop, and the World Cup flowing as if perfectly scripted even seemed to hook some of the foreign viewers in MoovGun's chat.

Thanks to the overall increase in incoming viewers, both cover songs and original tracks saw meaningful rises in view counts across the board. On top of that, the real-time search rankings on Z were completely dominated by tags like Parallel 1st Gen, 1st Anniversary, and 3D. With so many possibilities opened up by 3D modeling, everyone was buzzing with anticipation for that kind of content. Concerts, variety-style collabs that involve physical activity—there was endless potential for expansion.

This news reached Cheon Do-hee at midnight, two hours after the internal broadcast ended, right as she declared the end of the first-gen members' long, grueling motion-capture session for their new song (minus meal breaks).

"Operations Team Leader Oh must've stayed up watching the stream without sleeping."

"Oh, really?"

"She said she saw Mazia in a new light. If she'd known Mazia had this kind of talent, she would've recruited her herself."

"What did Team Leader Kang say?"

"She told her to become Operations Team Leader if she's jealous. Even though Mazia's technically on my team, I barely touch anything anyway."

Cheon Do-hee and Kang Ji-ho looked at each other and chuckled. They were laughing, but both were on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.

"Once the kids take off their suits, let's just send them straight home. I'm beat."

"Same here... I don't get why we're more exhausted when they're the ones running around."

"Well, they're young and excited, so it's probably easier on them. The people watching are the ones who get mentally drained. You keep noticing movements that still aren't fixed or parts that aren't quite right."

Both of them were thinking they'd just head home, crash, and shower in the morning. That is, until the first-gen members—after filming for a full fourteen hours straight at midnight, minus meal breaks—started whining about going out to eat.

"Let's keep playing!"

"Yeah, Let's go! Let's get some booze!"

And they weren't just whining in general—they were clinging to Jia specifically.

"What about Jia-nim? What about Jia-nim? What about Jia-nim? Three tries, four tries, five tries..."

"...You got it wrong, unnie."

"Idiot? Jia got three tries. Jia's five tries do like this."

"Rain unnie, you forgot the number four. Can't even count now?"

"Shut up."

"Look at all these people who haven't even played a game with Jia-nim running their mouths. I helped with Jia-nim's stream by drawing the illustration~."

"Huh? Are you trying to make us jealous right now? Do ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you actually want a bloodbath?"

"Calm down, both of you..."

"Fuck! I'm jealous! I wanted to hug Mido too! Fuuuuck!"

It made sense. During their individual filming times, all they had to look at was their phones, and the first thing that popped up when they turned them on was news of Mazia's stream appearance. Not only had she teamed up with MoovGun to dominate against celestial-tier players, but she'd also wrapped up the promotion perfectly and even got MoovGun to watch Parallel's song World Cup—with over thirty thousand viewers. The idea that someone like that had been quietly sitting in the monitoring room just watching streams was something the first-gen members simply couldn't let slide. They looked like they wanted to drag her over and bury her in praise.

Watching how Mazia had been trying to get closer to the kids lately, Cheon Do-hee wondered if bringing her along was the right call. But Mazia wasn't the type who enjoyed this kind of attention. Torn, Cheon Do-hee hesitated before sending a message anyway.

"...Yeah. That's the standard Mazia response."

If anything, it was for the best. If Mazia had come, it would've just been bothering a kid who was finally getting some rest. Having her stay home put Cheon Do-hee's mind at ease...

Do-hee felt her nose sting without realizing it. Mazia had already worked hard today, yet she was worrying about her boss getting home late.

"........."

This little gremlin. So that's why she was worried about missing the stream. Feeling petty, Cheon Do-hee quickly typed out a reply.

She took the bait again. Now Cheon Do-hee was the only one who looked petty for getting annoyed in the first place.

"How does this kid keep surprising me after five years?"

Still, she couldn't stop the smile spreading across her face. Where else in the world would an employee rush over at midnight just because her boss asked her to look after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the kids?

'I should give her double the usual bonus this month.'

She'd been handing out bonuses whenever unexpected situations popped up, since salaries were fixed. But as the president, she couldn't keep doing that indefinitely—someone would eventually bring up fairness. The ultimate solution was to promote Mazia and give her a higher salary. Even if Mazia had been downplaying her own value all this time, she wouldn't be able to refuse a managerial position with a subordinate under her.

Plus, this time Cheon Do-hee had leverage even if Mazia tried to refuse—the successful promotion she'd done on MoovGun's stream. Mazia had always run away claiming she lacked education, expertise, and experience compared to other employees, but now she had no escape. Everyone at the company recognized her contribution.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, I arrived at the izakaya after catching a taxi. The place I'd visited after so long wasn't exactly welcoming from the entrance, though.

"Could you show me your ID? You look awfully young."

The pantsuit had been fine, but wearing just a hoodie made me look like a kid again. I reluctantly showed my ID, and while they let me in, the suspicious looks didn't go away. At least they let me through.

Anyway, after walking down the izakaya hallway and opening the door to the very last room—huh?

"What? Where'd everyone go? Only you here, Mari?"

Only one person remained. Komari, with her round bob cut, wearing a knit and shirt combo. She'd been sipping cola in the corner when she saw me, gave a polite bow, and kindly explained the situation.

"Rain unnie and Dora unnie went to karaoke after drinking."

"Again? What about Maru-nim and the boss?"

"They went to throw up. The boss went to pat her back."

An idol throwing up from drinking. Real professional. I kept telling them to drink in moderation. At times like this, I couldn't help but adore Komari. Even if she was a bit out there, she drank responsibly and listened to the boss the best. Since the boss didn't seem to be coming back anytime soon, I plopped down in an empty seat. That just made things twice as awkward. Komari wasn't very talkative to begin with, and I never initiated conversations with the kids, so silence fell instantly.

Still, I liked the quiet. I didn't mind this kind of silence. Streamers' mouths never got a break ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from talking during broadcasts. This was a good chance to rest and take care of their voices. The cola... was a mistake, but when else would I get to drink it?

Just as the two of us were sitting there quietly, Komari—who couldn't stand the silence—spoke up first.

"Jia unnie."

The word "unnie" made my spine tingle uncomfortably.

"Yeah?"

"Um, would you like to play a game with me next week?"

It sounded very blunt, but that was standard Komari. She didn't talk much, and her tone was always flat and calm, so people who didn't know her sometimes thought she was angry and got nervous for no reason. Still, she was cute. As expected, she was the only one among the first-gen members. The boss probably cherished Komari the most too, even if she'd never said it out loud...

"What game. Don't tell me it's NaoRe."

"How did you know?"

"You've been playing nothing but NaoRe all week. So of course it's NaoRe."

"...It's not every single day."

"Really? Out of forty hours of streaming, thirty hours were gaming, and twenty-eight of those were NaoRe, but it's not every day?"

"......"

Komari stared at me steadily and made an angry face. All it amounted to was puffing her cheeks slightly and furrowing her eyebrows. That face, which barely deviated from its usual blank expression, was pretty amusing—and it was reflected in her avatar too, which the leaf fans loved. Anyway, NaoRe...

I had zero interest, had never played it, and didn't even know the game.

"I'm a total newbie who's never even tried it once. And if you make a smurf account just to play with me, that'll cause problems too."

"You don't have to worry about that. It's not ranked anyway."

"I'll just learn it and come back."

"Ugh. No. It's fun when you don't know anything..."

I smirked and asked, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠"Ah~ You just want to see me flailing around because I don't know the game? Right?"

Komari immediately switched to a sulky posture. She was always so obvious about her pranks that teasing her was fun. Of course, this was only before she started ranked games. Once Komari queued up for ranked, you pretty much had to leave her alone. She started giving off a dangerous aura.

"I'll learn from the boss over the weekend. We already planned to go to a PC bang together."

"Tch. Fine."

Komari snorted and picked up her cola glass again. After taking a sip and swallowing, she went, "Ah."

"Right, I had something to tell you."

"What?"

"Pino-nim said he wants your company email."

"Pino-nim?"

Pino was the papa who'd breathed life into Komari's model. A Live2D rigger who specialized in outsourcing for major mobile game companies. We hadn't exchanged contact info before because we simply had no overlap. The planning team was the one who mainly communicated with him. But why did he want my email?

Komari soon explained the reason.

"Pino-nim said he wants to touch Jia unnie's model."

For a moment, silence hung between us. I understood what she meant, but the phrasing was a bit... Komari must've realized it too, because she avoided my gaze and muttered.

"I mean. He wants to do the rigging work. For unnie's illustration..."