Plans for the Future
My second-year high school exam results came out.
The school ranking printed on my report card was twentieth. By grade bands, that scraped a three by the skin of its teeth.
For the record, that was Korean. My highest was math, where I had climbed all the way to seventeenth.
"…No way."
While I was still staring at the card in a daze, Lua drifted in and leaned lightly against my shoulder, peering at the numbers before she started praising me.
"Ooooh~ Not bad at all~? You used to be faster counting from the bottom, you know."
It was a fact, but hearing it from Kuroa Lulu herself somehow soured the mood.
I lightly pinched the cheek that was right next to mine.
"Ow!"
Oh. Incredibly soft, springy, and chewy.
Crazy. What even is this? I could get addicted.
Squish, squish, squish.
After I kneaded her cheek a few more times, Lua's patience ran out and she retaliated with a sharp jab to my side.
Thwack!
"Gahk!"
"You pervert… Why are you touching my cheek! A girl's cheek! Pervert! Trash!"
"Hey, you're the one who stuck yourself so close I had to peel you off."
"You're a pervert anyway! Pervert! Pervert! Pervert!!"
Lately I seemed to be hearing the word "pervert" from Lua an awful lot.
I wasn't particularly a pervert, though.
I mean, come on. My computer didn't even have the kind of porn every guy supposedly keeps around, and there were no adult doujinshi either.
Naturally there were no lewd stills of Lulu either. Honestly, if I searched I was pretty sure plenty would turn up, but I just didn't feel like looking.
Maybe in the past, but now I knew Lua was Lulu.
It felt like I would actually be committing a crime.
Besides, Lulu was a girl character either way. I had zero loli tendencies.
I decided to change the subject and asked her something else.
"You must have done well on your exams too."
"My grades?"
"Yeah, how were they?"
"Wanna see?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Lua held her report card out for me.
And the results were exactly as expected.
Korean, math, English, two social studies subjects, Korean history.
First place across the board.
"That's cheating."
"It's not cheating. It's pure skill."
"That is cheating."
I glanced around, confirmed no one was nearby, and immediately dropped into a whisper.
"Streaming this hard and still pulling these grades makes you a total broken character."
Lua answered in a voice that was pure confidence.
"Our school isn't exactly packed with geniuses, so if you just study steadily every day it's doable."
No, absolutely not. Steady daily study did not get you first place in every single subject.
And it wasn't only the academic subjects. She was tied for first in PE as well.
"They're going to call your name for every single excellence award."
"I didn't get the art one, though."
Art was… well, that was fair enough.
"Jinwoo, aren't you a grade-one in art?"
"Barely."
Just as she said, I was grade one in art. Exactly sixth in the school. Clinging to the cutoff by my fingernails.
Probably one of the kids prepping for art school had bombed the test. Our class alone had about three girls aiming for art colleges, and the other classes had another one or two each.
"Cheat. Total cheat. How are you that good at drawing?"
"I just have the basics down."
"In my opinion, being good at drawing is more broken than being good at studying."
"Absolutely not. Being good at studying is way more broken."
If it had only been first place in one or two subjects, maybe. First place in every subject except art? That made my argument the factual one, right?
"So, Jinwoo. How does it feel having better grades?"
I answered Lua's question without a second of hesitation.
"It feels amazing."
Yeah. Amazing. Especially the moment I brought these results home to my parents—that was the happiest part.
I had thought my parents had given up on my grades a long time ago. My older brother had always done well, so I figured they decided one underachiever was fine.
That wasn't it at all. They just never voiced their expectations. Because they didn't want to put pressure on me.
When I showed them the rough scores I'd calculated after the midterms and finals, they lit up, pulled me into a hug, and wouldn't let go.
They said I was so proud, so impressive, so grateful.
How could anyone feel bad after hearing that?
Seriously, they seemed just as happy as the times I bought them pizza with money from my videos.
"…Lua, thank you."
"For what?"
"I started studying because of you."
"…No. You did the work yourself."
Lua looked at me with a soft little smile.
It hit me all over again—Lua was genuinely beautiful. Her looks were broken-tier.
With a face like that, the fact that she'd only ever received that one confession was probably cheating in its own right.
Of course, the aura coming off her usual blank expression made her hard to approach. The guys who still confessed after seeing that face just seemed even more impressive.
"Jinwoo, what are you going to do about college?"
College, huh…
"Right now I just want to go into something video-related. Streaming, maybe."
"You make great videos, so that should work out."
"And honestly, I think my track record is pretty solid. Portfolio-wise."
"That good?"
"Yeah."
Portfolio, resume, whatever you wanted to call it.
Experience running a Newtube channel plus the substantial income that channel generated were enormous assets for me right now.
That was why I could say I had some confidence.
"You'll do great. Definitely."
"Here's hoping."
After that we fell silent and just kept walking.
Eventually it was my turn to ask.
"Hey, Lua."
"Hm? What?"
"What are you going to do about college?"
"College…"
Honestly, a guy hovering around the early threes and late twos had no business asking Lua that. She could seriously apply to pharmacy school through the liberal-arts track and get in.
But I had a reason for the question.
"Going to college is basically for future employment, right? But you already…"
Lua was Kuroa Lulu. One of the most recognizable and popular VTubers in Korea.
Did a VTuber that popular even need to worry about college?
No. Absolutely not.
"…I don't know either."
"You don't know?"
"Yeah. But one thing's certain… the work I want to do doesn't really have much to do with college."
"I see…"
I nodded and looked at her.
"So you're not going to college."
"Probably not. Even if I do, it'll probably be something broadcasting-related like you."
"You want to be an entertainer?"
"Something like that."
Lua smiled faintly, tilted her head, and looked at me.
"If it's you, Jinwoo, you already know what I want to do."
I already knew?
At the cryptic remark I tilted my head the same way she had, and Lua snickered.
"Jinwoo, you look ridiculously dumb right now?"
"Out of nowhere?"
"Yeah. Cute."
Grinning, she pinched my cheek the same way I had done to her earlier.
She would never know how hard that light touch made my heart pound.
"…Ahem. So, Lua."
"Mm-hm."
"I'm gonna head back for now."
"Okay. Get home safe."
"See you later."
"See you later~"
Lua waved as she turned toward the neighboring apartment complex. I watched her go until she disappeared, then stepped into my own building.
And I pulled up the documents I had prepared on my phone.
Among them was a personal statement.
Why a personal statement all of a sudden?
Because I needed one. Along with a résumé.
What I wanted to do was none other than become a VTuber editor.
More precisely… an editor at Fantasy Live.
Everything about Fantasy Live—from the internal reviews to the direction the agency was taking as a VTuber company—felt right to me.
As a VTuber fan, and as an editor.
So I wanted to apply. To become an editor at Fantasy Live.
If I actually became one… then I would be able to tell Lua with my head held high.
That I was Mangjjonku.
That I was Mangjjonku of Luludan.
That I was the clipper Mangjjonku who had helped build Lulu's fame.
If Lua ever found that out, how would she react?
……Would she actually chew me out with that springy little mouth of hers?
Hoping she wouldn't, I went home, handed my report card to my parents, and immediately turned on the computer.
Once it booted up, I selected the videos I thought were my best work and compiled them into a single portfolio.
I reviewed the prepared documents over and over (with some help from my brother), then sent the résumé to Fantasy Live's company email.
All the preparations were finished.
If I actually got in, that would be when I told Lua.
That I was Mangjjonku.
"Hoooooo…"
I let out a long breath and stared at the ceiling. That was when Mom came flying into the room.
"My son~! You did so well~!"
"Mom!?"
While I flailed in her embrace, she hugged me even tighter and declared,
"Shall we have beef today? Let's throw a beef party!"
"I'm fine…!"
"No way. Our baby boy brought home grades like these—we have to buy beef! Junwoo! Junwoo!!"
"What?"
"Your little brother got a two-to-three!"
"What!? I'm going to buy the beef right now!"
Why the chaos? I had no idea.
Still, I was proud. Proud of everything I had accomplished.
Good job, Seo Jinwoo.