Event Winner?
This time, purchasing Sweet Mare's album came with a special event.
Among everyone who bought the album, a raffle would award exclusive goods.
The exclusive package included things like a bromide poster with a handwritten signature, so of course I entered the moment I bought Lulu's album.
But I wasn't the only one.
"You entered too, hyung?"
"Yeah. I bought Aris's."
"You always liked Aris."
"I like the ones who are good at games."
My brother had entered the event as well.
Within Sweet Mare, his favorite was Aris, with Mei a close second.
It wasn't that he didn't get Lulu's charm — he just leaned a little more toward the busty type.
Me, I preferred cute over busty. Not that busty was bad. The size was secondary, that was all.
What mattered was a VTuber's personality. And Lulu's personality was exactly my type.
…Except for the part where that Lulu was Lua.
The cognitive dissonance still hit hard. That mesugaki disaster of a succubus was the same meticulous, polished Lua?
I still couldn't wrap my head around it.
Even knowing the truth, they looked like completely different people. I could hear the same voice, sure, but the tone and the way she spoke were so different that it felt like watching someone else entirely.
Maybe Lua actually had a talent for voice acting?
Anyway, that wasn't the important part.
The important part was the event.
Today was the day the results would be announced. And for maximum fairness, they'd decided to draw the winners live.
To keep anyone from rigging the live draw, Sweet Mare's side had prepared two things.
First: installing a number-drawing app and pulling the tickets right in front of us.
Second: publishing the order numbers and assigning ticket numbers based on those orders.
In other words, a structure that had no choice but to be transparent.
The event stream started, and a single VTuber model appeared on screen.
The model was a short-haired loli-type girl, and when she opened her mouth—
"Hello, everyone~ This is Representative Jonggil Shin~"
—a deep, refined male voice poured out of that cute little face.
What the hell. How is a voice that handsome even legal? Is this guy a cheat character?
For a second I almost fell for a man's voice. Shouldn't this guy have debuted as a VTuber himself?
And pairing that dandy voice with a cute loli model? Cognitive dissonance incoming at maximum intensity.
Naturally, the chat felt the same way.
"Haha, thank you for the kind words. If VTuber culture had been popular about ten years earlier, I might have become one myself."
He gave a textbook-perfect answer and settled into a light back-and-forth with the chat.
When the viewers started fighting over the model choice, the Representative finally spoke up.
"Actually, I was going to use a male character at first… but, well… Mei and Lulu insisted I had to go with a loli model. Aris said a male character would be better, but majority vote won out for the loli."
"Right? Lulu and Mei are the shadow rulers. Those two are the ones keeping this company fed, after all."
"Aris is keeping us fed too~ If it were just me, how would this company even run? Those three work so hard so the rest of us can make a living."
Even through the light banter, you could feel it. How much this man loved VTubers, how much he cared about his company, how much he cherished his talents.
I genuinely wanted to work as an editor at his company. The reviews had to be excellent.
Just in case, I pulled up a job-search site and checked the company rating. A full 4.2 out of 5.
Wasn't that basically an SS-tier workplace?
The only real downside was that the office wasn't in Seoul — everything else was listed as pure advantage.
What kind of dream job was this, and what kind of person was Lua for landing it?
I was in the middle of being deeply jealous of her when the Representative moved on to the actual event.
"Alright, then I'll start drawing the numbers right away~ This number-ticket program… I think I used this back when I was a student. Do kids still use this these days?"
The program he was downloading was none other than the classic blue-cannon ball-launch number drawer.
Anyone who'd gone through school in Korea would recognize it instantly.
"And here we have the total number of people who purchased our album this time~ Thanks to everyone's love and support~ we've hit this many~"
The number displayed on the ticket was a full thirty thousand.
That was just the first-week sales, right? Didn't that mean it could climb even higher later?
While I was still reeling from the album numbers, the Representative fired up the drawing program and started pulling tickets.
"Alright, first up~ we'll go with the special photocards and acrylic stands~"
—Pong! Pong! Pong!
From special photocards and acrylic stands all the way through to hanging scrolls and bromides, he kept drawing numbers.
The special photocards and acrylic stands were tempting enough, but the one I wanted most was obviously the bromide.
Unfortunately, my hopes died early.
—Pong!
"Hanging scroll~ number 324~"
…Number 324. That was me.
A hanging scroll was a pretty solid prize. The only unsatisfying part was—
"That's Aris's."
Of all things, the scroll that came up was Aris's hanging scroll.
My oshi was Lulu. So why on earth had I won Aris's scroll?
I resented the situation and still had to accept it, which was honestly just sad.
I should just be grateful I won anything at all.
And that was when someone knocked on my door.
—Knock knock knock
"Yeah~"
—Creeeak
The door opened, and of course it was my brother standing there.
"Hey, little bro."
"What."
"I've got a splendid proposal for you."
"What is it."
"Join the Aris fanclub."
I answered that nonsense with absolute conviction.
"I'm on Team Lulu."
"Then sell me that Aris hanging scroll."
"How much?"
Without a second of hesitation, my brother pulled out a fifty-thousand-won bill.
The moment I saw that cash, I put on my most satisfied smile and reached out my hand.
"Deal."
"Deal."
—Snatch!
—Handshake
I like to think that was a moment when brotherly love deepened. Or not. Whatever.
The next day at school, Lua was staring at me.
"Hey, Lua."
"Hi, Jinwoo."
Normally, once the greeting was over, she'd either go back to her book or start talking about something else.
Not today. She just kept staring straight at me.
"What."
"…Why aren't you saying anything?"
"About what?"
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
"About what??"
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
Hearing the same line three times was weird enough that I finally figured it out.
She knew. She knew about yesterday's hanging-scroll number.
How did she even find that out?
I blinked in panic, and Lua snorted a little laugh as she looked at me.
"Jinwoo, you really can't lie at all."
"What?"
"I was just fishing. But if you make a face that guilty, of course I'm going to notice."
That was when I realized I'd been completely played.
"Ah…"
"So? Whose goods did you win?"
After a moment of hesitation, I leaned in and whispered it to her.
"Aris's hanging scroll."
"Unnie Aris's hanging scroll, huh. The quality on those is really good. Congrats."
She whispered congratulations into my ear, and yet somehow it didn't feel congratulatory at all.
Even after that careful little exchange, Lua kept staring at me.
What now.
I blinked at her in confusion, and she let out a long sigh before leaning in to whisper again.
"…A Lulu fan can't even ask his oshi for a favor when she's right in front of him? Lulu is disappointed?"
……You've got to be kidding me.
My oshi was saying that? To my face?
This was too much.
Embarrassment, mortification, and a weird thrill all tangled together at once.
But the only thing I could actually say was this:
"Uh, Lua."
"Yeah."
"…I already sold it to my brother. The Aris hanging scroll."
At those words, Lua's expression went ice-cold.
Was that really something to get this angry over? I wondered — but I never got an answer.
—Thwack!
"Ow!"
"You bastard. Go crawl over to Unnie Jimin, then."
"Ow ow ow… Excuse me…?"
"Ah."
Only then did Lua realize the enormous mistake she'd just made, and she clapped both hands over her mouth.
So that was it. Aris's real name was Jimin.
"…I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
I had to pretend I didn't know about our Lulu's adorable little slip-up, after all.
Lua squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. It was ridiculously cute. Not Lulu — Lua.
I thought that was the end of the whole goods conversation…
…About three days later, that insane little succubus had gone and left her own hanging scroll on our front doorstep.
Lua? Have you lost your mind? Why would you smuggle this out.
……Thank you, Great Lua. I will treasure it as a family heirloom.