Emergency Substitute Deployment
By the time our party of six — the boss, three Gen 1 members, the manager, and me — arrived at the hospital, Daon, the last member of Gen 1, was lying on an emergency room bed with an IV drip in her arm.
"Daon, are you okay?"
"Boss... sniff!"
The moment the curtain was drawn back, she threw herself into the boss's arms, sobbing.
I'd taken a quick look the instant we walked in, and there were almost no visible injuries.
The boss patted Daon on the back, gently soothing her.
"Daon, where does it hurt? You weren't badly hurt, right?"
"Hic! That's not it..."
Once she'd calmed down a little, Daon wiped her tears and explained what had happened, step by step.
She'd overslept and was taking a taxi to the office. The driver slammed on the brakes to avoid a car making an illegal U-turn, and she smacked her forehead against the seatback behind the passenger seat.
Complaining of dizziness after the accident, she was loaded into an ambulance and brought here.
They'd immediately run X-rays and a CT scan to check for a concussion and make sure her neck wasn't injured.
"Was the result... really bad?"
"No, there's nothing wrong with my head or my cervical spine."
When Daon said the doctor had found no problems at all, Narae muttered under her breath.
"What? You bawled the second we walked in and I was worried sick, and it turned out to be nothing..."
"But they said they found a small tumor-like growth near her vocal cords."
"...………."
Ah. This is bad.
"I-I said I was sorry, so stop looking at me like that!"
"Narae clearly needs to work on her habit of listening to people all the way to the end of a sentence."
"I shall add that to her training curriculum."
The manager pulled a notebook from her pocket and, gazing at Narae as if she were a misbehaving toddler, wrote down the new mandatory training.
"I-I'm really sorry. I'll buy you all dinner sometime."
"It's fine, Narae. I know you didn't mean it."
"Thank you..."
Just as Daon, with her angelic heart, was forgiving Narae —
The boss, who had been pondering something with a grave expression, spoke up carefully.
"If that growth really is a tumor. In other words, cancer."
"Then... I don't think I can be a VTuber anymore."
"Hoo..."
With a deep sigh, the boss dragged a hand down her face.
"...Daon."
"Yes?"
"Let's think positively. The results aren't in yet, and if something really was growing on your vocal cords, better to find out early, before it became a real problem. Right?"
"But..."
"Ah-ah. No doom and gloom. For now, let's think about one thing only: you recovering safely and coming back to us healthy. Can you promise me that?"
"Sniff, hic! Bossss...!"
"There, there. Let's shake off all the sad thoughts and go home."
A mix of guilt and grief spilled over, and Daon burst into tears all over again.
The boss held her tenderly.
The Gen 1 members and the manager forced cheerful expressions and did their best to comfort her.
I stood one step back and observed them.
My bond with these people was far too shallow for me to wedge myself into that tearjerker of a scene. Besides, my capacity for sentiment had withered and died a long time ago.
Ten days had passed since Daon's accident.
The mood in the office was, to put it mildly, anything but good.
Understandably so — Daon had been officially diagnosed with early-stage laryngeal cancer.
It was a blessing they'd caught it early, at least.
"So. How long until she makes a full recovery?"
The manager answered the boss's question with a grim face.
"They say she'll need a recovery period of at least two months after the surgery."
"Two months... two whole months. How much time was left until our Gen 1 debut, again?"
"About a month and a half."
"Which means..."
"Daon cannot debut as part of Gen 1."
"Ha."
As the worst-case scenario she'd been dreading became reality, the boss squeezed her eyes shut like someone facing the end of the world.
Understandable. The Live2D modeling was already finished, and the promotional group PV for Gen 1 was in its final stages — and now one member had dropped out.
Even if her Live2D model and illustrations could be reused for the Gen 2 debut down the line, the group poster and the PV footage would all have to be reworked.
And the cost of that was nothing to sneeze at.
"I suppose we have no choice but to go with three."
"If it were any other reason, maybe, but with a health issue involved, that's the only way..."
Just as the boss was slowly coming to terms with reality, her eyes swept across the staff — and stopped, quite casually, on me as I sipped my tea.
Then they lit up, as if she'd spotted a single ray of hope in the depths of despair.
"Hold on."
"Yes?"
"What was the virtual character concept Daon was cast for?"
"A brownie house fairy who lost her job because of her clumsiness. Maid outfit, and her name is Meido Mei."
"House fairy."
"Yes."
"Maid."
"Yes."
By this point, everyone's gaze had followed the boss's and settled on me.
And I had a pretty good guess where this was going, too.
Like a chess player seizing the initiative, I spoke first.
"No."
"Seha..."
"You can call my name as wistfully as you like. Still no."
"Seha. Please, just this once. Pretty please?"
"Since when is a VTuber debut a 'just this once' kind of thing?"
"Awww, come on. I'll even give you a raise."
"You could promise me a mountain of gold and I still wouldn't have the slightest intention of debuting as a VTuber."
"Hoo... Fine, then."
Had she finally given up in the face of my flat refusal?
Shaking her head, the boss picked up her smartphone.
"I'll just have to call my mom and have her cancel the company card."
"Have you no heart at all, madam?!"
"But if I don't, you won't do what I ask."
Tch! Resorting to blackmail the moment she started losing the argument?
The effect was devastating.
I was well and truly checkmated.
"Becoming a VTuber isn't some easy thing in the first place, is it? I have no confidence speaking in front of people, and certainly none in acting cute."
"It's fine. I know you can do it."
"And how exactly can you be so certain?"
"Because you're the top graduate of the International Private Service Academy, aren't you?"
"What does that have to do with—"
"You— you're WHAT?!"
Park Jungsoo suddenly barged into the conversation.
His eyes were practically bulging out of his head.
"You graduated top of the class from the International Private Service Academy?! The so-called modern-day butler-and-maid training grounds, famous for its graduation rate that never climbs above ten percent?! No wonder your skills with cleaning, massage, tea brewing, and everything else were nothing short of extraordinary. But then why on earth, with credentials like that, are you at this shit-hole sweatshop of a company?!"
"Jungsoo?"
"Yes? Ah— I-I'm sorry, Boss! That's not what I meant, I swear—!"
"Just sit down already... What's wrong with our company, huh."
the boss grumbled under her breath.
"Anyway! Everyone. Seha debuting as Meido Mei — thoughts?"
"I am, of course, in favor!"
"Jungsoo, sit down already."
"I'm in favor as well. Now that word has already gotten out through the boss that Gen 1 would debut with four members, changing it to three at this point would raise questions one way or another. So if we go with a four-person lineup including Seha, we save money and avoid stirring up a controversy before we've even launched. Wouldn't you agree?"
"I don't think it's a bad idea, per se. But I believe testing should come first. Everything we've seen so far proves Seha's skills are outstanding, but a maid is only ever a concept — the talent for actually performing as a VTuber is a different matter entirely."
Yuseon from Business Planning: in agreement.
Siyeon from Manager Monitoring: conditionally in favor, then.
The moment it became clear no one was casting a vote against, the boss's face — sunk in despair mere minutes ago — bloomed wide open, as if she'd never worn any other expression.
"Great. Then we'll count that as unanimous."
"I did not agree..."
"You have a complaint about an opinion passed through a fair and legitimate democratic process?"
"Trampling the minority's voice for the majority's benefit isn't democracy — it's the dictatorship of the majority!"
"Talking back... to your boss? Would you like a taste of card suspension?"
"This is tyranny!"
"Hehe. Say what you like, but a settled matter stays settled."
And so my involuntary VTuber debut was decided.
The news that I might be debuting as a VTuber in Daon's place spread through Gen 1 in no time.
And, of course, it reached Daon herself.
Her surgery was scheduled for the very next day, and she'd been admitted to a major hospital — which is where I went to see her.
"...I heard you're debuting as a VTuber in my place."
"Nothing is confirmed. It's merely a test."
"Is that so? Because listening to the boss and everyone else, it sounded pretty confirmed to me..."
"Not. Confirmed. Yet."
"Pfft."
Frankly speaking, I didn't think the boss was about to come out and say something like "You have no talent. Debut canceled" at this stage.
In all likelihood, I really would be debuting in Daon's place.
She was smiling on the surface, but what must she actually be feeling, with months of debut preparation collapsing in a single moment?
Hardly anything pleasant, that was certain.
Which was why that smile of hers only sounded sad to me.
"...Are you truly all right with this?"
"Sorry? With what?"
"The VTuber debut. I know how hard you prepared for it."
"Well, that's not wrong, exactly... but I don't want to be a burden on the boss and everyone else, either."
Despite her words, Daon's eyes betrayed a deep, unmistakable regret.
"Besides! This isn't the end of the road forever, right? Once the surgery's done and I've recovered well, I can just start over and prepare again, step by step."
"I see."
"Yes. So when I come back... I'll be counting on you then, senior."
"...I'm not a senior."
Not yet, anyway.