A Cold Voice
Fortunately, the strange misunderstanding did not last beyond a single day.
The problem had been the deliberately edited clip uploaded to the community; anyone who watched the full VOD could confirm the truth for themselves.
Work proceeded normally as well. With the Bad Potato Company members gone, construction speed had slowed a little, but that was unavoidable.
Is the conversation with Lucy going all right?
It might have sounded impulsive, but the proposal had been fully calculated. I had already planned to move out of this inconvenient house the moment I had the money, and it just so happened to line up with Lucy’s own worries.
Lucy had been thoroughly flustered at first, yet after we talked it through calmly she answered that she would give it serious thought. I told her to take her time; my funds would be locked in stocks until mid-February anyway.
If we live close together under the same roof, I’ll be able to learn more of her private circumstances. In this life I will absolutely never tolerate a sudden room visit like the one before the regression!
If anyone wanted to commit debauchery, they could do it after they died. With both of my eyes wide open and watching, there was no chance.
Besides, the longer we spent together, the more streaming feedback I could give her. If it raised Lucy’s broadcasting ability, I was more than willing to endure the minor inconvenience of sharing a house.
Back in the military we slept ten to a barracks. Living with just two people is a piece of cake.
Of course that did not mean I was forcing the choice on her. Lucy’s voluntary decision was what mattered. We were in the same crew and had already met offline, so we had grown quite close. Still, less than half a year had passed from our first meeting until today.
By ordinary standards, this is a proposal more likely to be rejected than accepted.
So I kept an open mind. Living together would be fine; if it did not happen, I simply needed to pay a little more attention.
Hmm. Calling it cohabitation for no reason makes the mood weird.
Good thoughts, good thoughts, good thoughts!
At any rate, most of the busy work had been handled cleanly and the Sky Island construction was progressing steadily. The ratatouille stockpiled for the future was piling up so fast it looked ready to fill the warehouse.
Then I should deal with the annoying matter soon, shouldn’t I?
Tsk. I clicked my tongue without meaning to. I logged into Discord and searched for Blueby’s nickname. It was time for the conversation I had been putting off.
I first learned of Blueby in the second half of 2023. At the time she was recruiting crew members; Lucy, who normally only streamed on her remote island, unexpectedly applied and was accepted with a comment that her singing was lovely.
I was delighted. Blueby was not a superstar streamer, but she was clearly a larger presence than Lucy, and more importantly Lucy was finally leaving her isolated island to interact with other streamers. That alone was meaningful. So in the early days of the crew I even went and donated Candies, hoping Lucy would make a good impression on Blueby.
I was an idiot. I didn’t even know Blueby and Lucy had known each other since before Rabbit TV.
That was information I only learned after regressing. Had the crew audition back then already had its winner decided in advance? I still did not know that far.
Outwardly the crew’s activities looked smooth. Blueby exercised her characteristic control and steered the members exactly where she wanted them; together they hit it big on the MacaoTalk server. That was also the period when Lucy shone. There was a singing contest hosted by Park Bong-sik; Lucy, whom no one expected, made a surprise appearance and took first place. Watching Blueby quietly stick her straw in then, I finally saw the face hidden under the mask.
It wasn’t only Lucy. Mayo and Miho got hit the same way.
At the time Mayo was riding a rising wave as a rare underage virtual streamer. With Myeolmangjeon Season 2 approaching, it even looked as though her luck was turning. She was the only high-tier player in the crew, so the LoL floaters naturally settled into her stream. Then, out of nowhere, collabs with Blueby began increasing to match that exact window. After about two weeks, more than half of the floaters who had first discovered Mayo’s broadcast had scattered; the rest had moved over to Blueby’s stream.
I remember it precisely. After Lucy’s incident I found Blueby suspicious and kept meticulously checking the viewer data.
Only then could I be certain. Blueby clearly possessed formidable streaming talent. Creating her own opportunities and pulling floaters out of someone else’s broadcast was proof of real skill. Not just anyone could do it because they wanted to. The problem was that the targets were her own crew members—and I was the biggest fan of those crew members.
That alone is more than enough reason to be angry.
Exploiting the very people who trusted and followed her. Before the regression I hated Blueby. I never learned the full truth, but after Lucy’s room visit I even pointed to Blueby as the cause.
Now that I’ve regressed, the old sins are gone, right? I can’t just let it slide when the signs are already showing again!
The first time we exchanged messages under the pretext of helping persuade Lucy, she attached the condition that I connect her with Bebe-ttang. Fine—that much was acceptable. Give-and-take is the basic rule of social life. But even afterward Blueby kept clinging, trying to milk my relationship with Lucy for profit. So this time I used the Poko Server to dig a trap of my own, just to shake her off. I was already busy enough with the bet against Ju-ttak; I had no room left for a war of nerves with Blueby.
Yet she calmly stepped over that trap. She even joined Partner Company and built a solid friendship with Dananyang.
From what I saw in the community she was practically acting as Dananyang’s right hand and secretary. At that rate she would clearly claim a seat inside Park Bong-sik’s Mu-yang Group later on. In the original history Blueby would not even have crossed over to Pangea TV yet. Thinking of the far more intense start she was making because of the butterfly effect I had caused left a bitter taste in my mouth. Once she belonged to Mu-yang Group, at least among virtual streamers she would never again be blocked by lack of recognition.
Was choosing Partner Company a coincidence, or a thoroughly calculated move? What’s certain is that I can never let my guard down against Blueby.
I still did not know what she was hiding. The only guess I could make was that she was lying about her age and career. Especially the way she switched between her streaming voice and her ordinary voice as if she were a professional voice actor—that was a truly astonishing talent. It was so natural that the first time I contacted her through Lucy after the regression I thought she was a completely different person.
"Hello."
"Is now a good time to talk?"
The call connected after only a few rings. I had confirmed she was not streaming before dialing, yet the connection came faster than expected. Still, I continued without the slightest sign of fluster.
"You called at the perfect moment. I was just thinking about Seo-a-nim."
"……."
I tried to stay composed, but goosebumps rose on their own. It felt as though a gaze was watching me from somewhere at that very instant.
"That joke is a little scary. I’d rather not think about Blueby-nim if I can help it."
"Eh? That might have hurt a little. I thought we had a certain internal closeness, you know."
A soft laugh followed, as if she truly believed it. Was even this acting talent innate? I gave a light snort and answered in a cold voice.
"We said we’d have a serious talk last time, didn’t we? I’ve prepared the place, so stop the pointless joke-eating and let’s get straight to the point."
"You’re more impatient than I expected. Ah, can I speak a bit more casually? After all, I’m friends with Lucy."
"…… That doesn’t matter. Just out of caution—let’s not do any recording."
It had been one of the conspiracy theories that used to circulate in the dark galleries: that the V-mellodi crew members obeyed Blueby’s control so thoroughly because she had dirt on them with recordings or the like.
"Wow. Knowing even those scary methods, you’re no ordinary person. I already guessed you wouldn’t be ordinary after watching you succeed from the moment you debuted."
"Enough. What’s your business? Honestly, I have no desire to talk with you for long."
"First, let me ask one thing. What’s the reason?"
Blueby’s voice dropped low, seeming to tickle the back of my neck. What expression was she wearing at that moment?
"The reason you hate me this much. Honestly, I don’t know. Until Lucy’s matter I thought we had never even made contact. But you—perhaps…"
"……."
"Do you know the old ‘me’?"
The cold voice seized the back of my neck.