The Final Passers
Sunday arrived in the blink of an eye.
For an entire month, the Wooga-dol audition had sat at the center of every controversy on Pangea TV.
Truth be told, I was personally curious myself.
If Kyuringx got eliminated, who would take her place?
I'd thought it over, and no matter how I looked at it, the popular picks were unlikely to make the cut. People's personalities don't change that easily. Park Na-na, Baiyo, Elsa, Yun Seo-a — they already had solid fanbases of their own, and they were old enough that keeping them under control would be no small task.
From Ssa-yo's perspective, they were pure white elephants.
Which meant the opportunity would naturally fall to the younger, fresher newcomers.
Na-ro-si and Han A-yeon, maybe?
Knowing the future, Na-ro-si stood out. She'd been active across a wide range of content, and by 2025 her name recognition was solid.
Well… it's already out of my hands.
The moment I handed over the intel on Kyuringx, my involvement with the Wooga-dol audition was finished. The choice now rested entirely with Ssa-yo.
I knew I wouldn't be able to focus properly on a stream today, so I came on early.
"I'm wrapping up soon, so everyone go watch the Wooga-dol audition today. It's the last day, after all. I'll rest a bit after I end stream and then go watch myself."
Raiding was out of the question today. The moment I'd left the Wooga-dol audition, any justification for raiding had vanished. And on a day like this, not raiding was simply good manners. Do it anyway and scatter the viewer count, and you'd be hearing mosquito-buzz data complaints before you knew it.
"Ah, it started."
Just shy of 7 p.m., Ssa-yo's stream went live.
The flood of viewers pouring in was no joke. Even the ones who'd already checked out of the Wooga-dol audition still wanted to know the final results, it seemed — they were slipping into their seats for a look.
He's pretty nervous, huh.
Today they opened straight in VRC. The venue was larger and cleaner in design than the concert map I'd used. I'd put in the work myself, but there was only so much one person could do. The Wooga-dol audition stage, backed by official Pangea TV support, was clearly on another level.
Today I can just sit back and enjoy the show.
I snagged a beer from the fridge and settled back into my seat. How long had it been since I'd last rested like this? My body was already going soft and heavy.
"Ahhh!"
I took a long, cold pull and watched the screen. Three judges appeared, greeted the viewers, and began walking them through the stage.
"Twenty thousand… that's insane."
A viewer count I still hadn't hit myself. Even a rotting herring has its bones — Ssa-yo's residual pull was something else.
A moment later, the final stage contestants' profiles flickered across the screen at the front of the stage, one by one. Starting with the first act, Bomyeoreum, then Kyuringx, Na Hae-ri, Ji-ho, Park Na-na…
A short round of banter among the judges, and then the first performance began.
Bomyeoreum singing So I Can Be a Page.
"Not bad."
Same song I'd performed at my concert. Bomyeoreum's stage was solid enough. She hadn't been a vocal-focused contestant to begin with, but the bright energy and freshness coming off her were genuinely pleasant.
Next up: the potential time bomb, Kyuringx.
True to her reputation as one of the strongest vocalists in the pool, she put on an excellent performance. Chat was eating it up. But there was nothing to be done about it. You couldn't pass a bomb like that and put her in a crew.
After that, the contestants' stages kept rolling by. I watched them while crunching through the frozen snacks I'd brought as beer food.
It was a strange feeling. Back when I was just a viewer, I'd focused purely on a streamer's singing and stage presence. I couldn't do that anymore. The cost of the set and the outfits, the tech they were using, the editing style — all of it hit my eyes first now.
Was this what they meant by seeing as much as you know?
I could feel not just the individual streamers, but the collective effort of everyone who'd built this stage. And that made it all the more moving. I could roughly guess how hard they'd worked, how much they'd struggled.
"Baiyo's final stage was truly wonderful."
"I'm genuinely moved. A whole month has flown by, and everyone's put together stages this impressive."
"The vocals have improved a lot too. Compared to the first round, it's honestly startling."
Being the finale, the judges stuck mostly to praise today. Ending on a warm note was better all around. But as long as this content was an audition, a ending where everyone was happy was impossible. In the end, there had to be passers and failures.
Whew. Finally.
At last, the moment had come. The end of this long, long journey. Even though I'd already stepped several paces away from the Wooga-dol audition, my heart was still racing. If I felt like this, what must the contestants and their hardcore fans be going through?
A short while later, at Ssa-yo's call, the contestants filed up onto the stage in a rush. The judges had already finished consolidating their opinions. All that remained was to call the five names.
And right then—
"Ah…"
A Discord call invite came in from Miho and Lucy. The two of them were already in a call together — that was unexpected.
I accepted, and Miho's voice came through immediately.
"Seo-a's watching Wooga-dol too, right? Figured we might as well watch and talk, so I invited you."
"Perfect timing. They're about to announce the passers."
"Seo-a, hi."
Miho's voice was noticeably buoyant — she must have been drinking, same as me. Lucy, on the other hand, was as calm as ever.
Come to think of it, talking Lucy around took a long time.
Miho had practically thrown herself at the opportunity, but with Lucy even the platform transfer hadn't been easy. Which was why, reluctantly, I'd had to cut a deal with Blueby.
The crew situation this time had been the same. The one who'd helped persuade a wavering Lucy was, absurdly enough, Blueby herself. According to Lucy, she hadn't even been trading for anything this time — she'd brought it up first.
I'd been so baffled I'd contacted Blueby on the spot and demanded to know what she was scheming. Blueby had just laughed, unhurried, and tossed around words like "friend" and "goodwill."
What a load of crap. I didn't believe a word of it. Someday I would peel that mask off and drag every last scrap of her black intentions into the light.
And while I was making that vow, Blueby had casually dropped a bombshell.
She was planning to debut on Pangea TV soon.
Wait — debut? Not a transfer?
In that instant, I realized it. I knew nothing about Blueby. Everything before V-mellodi, the period she'd spent with Lucy, was shrouded in a complete veil.
Tch. Now I'm just in a foul mood for no reason.
The beer that had been so crisp a moment ago suddenly tasted flat, like it had gone warm and dead.
I cut the short flashback short and refocused on the screen. The first passer was about to be announced.
"Who do you think's getting in, Seo-a? I'm thinking Kyuringx, Berry, and Ji-ho, roughly. Plus Park Na-na as the leader pick? Baiyo wouldn't be bad either."
"Hmm. Let's go with Berry for now?"
I'd once seen a post on FM Community saying Berry had been called first. So I answered Miho without much thought.
"The first successful candidate is… Berry! Congratulations."
"H-huh! Th-thank you. Hic—!"
The first passer was Berry, just as I'd expected. A voice thick with tears, barely able to string words together. After a moment to collect herself, we finally got to hear her acceptance speech.
"Whoa! How did you get that right? Lucky guess? Then who's next? I think Kyuringx."
In the original timeline, it would have been Kyuringx's turn. But this world was already twisted. I pointed to the next one in sequence — Bomyeoreum.
"The second successful candidate is Bomyeoreum! Congratulations!"
"Uhek? Wait, can you see ghosts or something?"
Hitting it again, Miho asked in a voice that actually trembled, like she was creeped out. Feeling mischievous, I told her that if she turned around right now, something would be standing behind her.
"KYAAAAAAAH!"
"Ugh!"
Ugh, I thought my eardrums were going to rupture. I had to grit my teeth and tell the still-shaking Miho never to pull that kind of prank again.
This woman was a total coward.
And Lucy's reaction in the middle of all this was no less remarkable.
"Miho, you really shouldn't scream like that out of nowhere. You need to mind your manners."
"Huh? Oh, yes…"
In the slightly chilled atmosphere that followed, the third and fourth passers were announced. Ji-ho and Na Hae-ri.
Just one spot left.
The tension climbed. A breathless moment for contestants and viewers alike.
"The final successful candidate is… Na-ro-si! Congratulations!"
"WAAAAAH!"
Crying broke out from every direction. Watching fully grown adults bawl their eyes out like that was somehow endearing.
A rewritten history had produced a new set of passers. How would the future change from here?
On a whim, I called out to Lucy and Miho.
"Next, it's our turn."
"Yeah."
"Let's go, let's go! We can do this too."
It had been a broadcast that made me think about a great many things.