Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Recording the Audition Song
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‘Let’s start from the basics, step by step!’
The first thing my vocal teacher said after hearing me sing was that we should rebuild from the ground up.
‘Was my singing that bad?’
‘No, no, you might misunderstand. Your voice is so naturally gifted that it sounds great, but your fundamentals are so lacking that it feels unstable.’
‘Yes...’
Honestly, I felt a little downcast.
Hadn’t the director praised me, saying I was good?
But when she said that, the vocal teacher gave a wry smile and shook her head slightly.
‘She always praises first and foremost.’
‘Huh...’
That day, my confidence crumbled.
From then until now, I focused solely on vocalization and that one song.
And today was the day to reap the rewards of all that effort.
***
“Today’s finally the day, huh?”
The vocal teacher grinned at me as I warmed up my throat in the recording booth.
She was a woman in her early thirties, full of energy.
“Yes, I’ll record it properly today.”
“Good. I’m looking forward to hearing all that hard work pay off!”
“Hahaha... looking forward to it...”
The vocal teacher thought I was just recording the song I’d been practicing to keep as a memento.
I wasn’t ashamed of being a VTuber, but if I told her, she’d probably keep asking for my channel name, so I didn’t mention it.
The thought of acquaintances watching my stream... horrifying?
Aside from Hyejeong, who knew I was auditioning even before it started, none of my contacts knew about VTuber Miro.
Even Hyejeong didn’t watch my streams.
“Alright, let’s start recording.”
“Yep! Just relax and go for it!”
Feeling a bit tense, I focused on the melody coming through the headset.
The song I chose was, predictably, a Japanese one.
A song known to those in the know, with about 20 million MV views.
I sang on with a lively voice over the bouncy, tapping melody.
The lyrics captured the feelings of a girl who wanted to be loved for her true self, without the mask.
There were many reasons I picked this song, but the biggest was that it was one the girl Kim Suhyun had loved.
“---!”
In the short span of a few weeks, I’d sung nothing but this song over and over.
My other skills were still lacking, but this one, which didn’t require much technique, was at a professional level.
On top of that, I had my voice as a guaranteed ace up my sleeve.
Even with just the bare basics of training and practice, the sound coming out was already different.
“--!! -!”
For about four minutes, I sang as hard as I could, recalling all the theory the vocal teacher had drilled into my head.
“Okay, that’s good!”
When the song ended, thankfully, she gave me a big thumbs-up from beyond the booth.
However...
“How was it?”
“One more time!”
“Yes?”
“Let’s raise the ending note a bit more on that first line.”
“Oh, sure...”
I might have underestimated recording just a little—a very little.
*
“This should do it.”
By the time recording wrapped, the sun was high in the sky.
We’d arrived in the morning and gone straight through lunchtime, grinding on one song for nearly four hours.
“Great.”
“Really?”
“Perfect. Seriously.”
“Then I’m relieved...”
Honestly, I was exhausted.
“Wait here a sec. I’ll get it to you right away.”
“Thanks.”
I received the audio file of my recording.
Now I just had to go home, film myself singing with the virtual avatar, and overlay the audio.
Feeling a bit relieved, I sat on the sofa to rest when the vocal teacher handed me an ion drink.
“Good work.”
“Haha...”
“So, where are you uploading it?”
“Huh?”
“For submission? Or NerTube?”
“Uh...”
How did she know?
Wondering if I’d let it slip, I hesitated, and she chuckled.
“That’s the ‘how did you know?’ face.”
“Yeah... how’d you guess?”
“You can tell just by looking. I’ve taught a few students who were into that.”
“I... see.”
Embarrassed at being caught, I gave an awkward smile, and she stood up first.
“This is one of the best cover songs I’ve ever heard from my students—top finger-counting level.”
“Huh?”
“That’s how good it was. Sigh... is your voice just cheating?”
“Ahaha... thank you.”
“Anyway, you still have a long way to go, so don’t quit lessons, okay? I’m living for teaching you these days.”
“Yeah, I’ve got a lot left to learn.”
“Ugh, how do you say things so sweetly? Alright, take care. I’m heading out.”
“Okay, safe travels.”
After the vocal teacher left, I looked around the empty recording studio and stood up in a great mood.
*
On the way home.
To celebrate myself, I stopped at a convenience store for drinks and snacks.
“Welcome~”
“Oh, hi.”
The pretty part-timer greeted me brightly as I entered.
Pushing aside questions about why someone like her worked here, I grabbed what I wanted, tossed it in a basket, and set it on the counter.
“Buying a lot today?”
I’d been coming here regularly, so we’d built up enough rapport for light chit-chat.
“Yeah, just finished a big task. Celebrating.”
“Aha~ I see? Need a bag?”
“Yeah, bag please.”
She smiled with her eyes as she scanned my items.
“Total’s 32,100 won.”
“Wow, that much?”
“Convenience store prices are brutal these days.”
“True.”
I hadn’t even picked fancy stuff, but 30k?
I pulled out my card from my slimming wallet and handed it over.
“All set.”
As I took back my card and swept the items into the bag, she pulled a drink from under the counter and placed it up top.
“What’s that?”
“My gift.”
“Huh? A gift out of nowhere?”
“Actually, today’s my last day working here.”
“Oh~ got it...”
“You’re the only customer I really talked to. So I prepared this. Glad you came today.”
“Aah, thank you so much.”
It wasn’t expensive, but I gratefully accepted her gesture.
Once the bag was full, I pulled out one of the snacks I’d bought and set it on the counter.
“Then this is my gift.”
“Huh?”
“Actually, today’s my last day at this convenience store.”
“What??”
“I’ll be going to the supermarket from now on. So take it.”
“Ahaha... what’s that about?”
I turned away only after seeing her pick up the snack with a dazed laugh.
“W-Wait, uh... n-no, never mind. Take care.”
“Yeah~ No pressure, enjoy the snack. Hope everything goes well for you.”
I left the store with those words.
‘...Was that kinda cool?’
The thought bubbled up from some lingering male instinct.
*
Back home, I loaded up the avatar and sang the song. It was just the avatar nodding along while singing, but the well-worth-its-price avatar was definitely a sight to behold.
Overlaying the audio from the studio recording made for a pretty satisfying video.
With my meager editing skills, I polished it a bit, added subtitles, sent it to the company email, and finally felt completely unburdened.
I’d done everything I could.
Now it was just wait for results.
Chiiiik-
I cracked open the cold canned beer I’d bought at the convenience store and stashed in the fridge, then pulled out the snacks.
With my part done, I planned to relax and watch the other participants’ final streams.
Logging into Twitch, all but two had titled their streams “Final Day” and were live.
One of them was naturally me.
The other...
“Roa, was it?”
I vaguely remembered a participant with light blue hair, blue eyes, singing K-pop.
Weird, final day and no stream? Maybe starting late?
Thinking that, I sipped my beer while checking the participants’ streams.
**
At The Six, all the 4th audition round videos from participants were up.
As expected, most had sent self-intros and highlight reels from their streams—shortest around 10 minutes, longest mid-20s.
And among them, one lone video.
A 3-minute-45-second clip.
Thanks to its short length, it had more views than others early on. I clicked it.
A pink-haired avatar with small horns sat alone in a cute room.
The avatar bobbed its head to the bouncy melody, green eyes sparkling, and opened its mouth. A refreshingly clear voice flowed out, just listening to it felt cooling.
“Ha... fucking good.”
Even I had to admit it sounded great as I slowly scrolled down to the comments.
- I love you Miro!! Accept my love..! I love you Miro!! Accept my love..! I love you Miro!! Accept my love..! I love you Miro!! Accept my love..!
-Who’s this?
-Welcome home honey dinner’s ready welcome home honey dinner’s ready welcome home honey dinner’s ready welcome home honey dinner’s ready
-Why’s the comment section like this only here?
-Song Queen Miro..! Song Queen Miro..!Song Queen Miro..! Song Queen Miro..!Song Queen Miro..! Song Queen Miro..!Song Queen Miro..! Song Queen Miro..!
-Fuck she’s so lovable... Fuck she’s so lovable... Fuck she’s so lovable... Fuck she’s so lovable... Fuck she’s so lovable...
-Need to clean up the comments ;‘
“Aaah... don’t get too carried away now.”
I grinned in satisfaction at the comments cheering me on.