Does That Even Make Sense?

The next morning, a café.

A woman who stood out entirely too much had claimed a corner seat. A black mask hid the lower half of her face, yet her eyes alone carried a presence that was hard to look away from.

Those eyes, of course, were not the only reason she drew stares.

It was the outfit.

Frills heaped upon frills, black ribbons everywhere, her hair tied into twin tails — the look people called menhera. The woman was Ko Eunbi.

Sikarin, a VTuber under NeoLive. And in the group chat, Deer.

Ko Eunbi was currently digging through her phone in search of someone to call. Killing time on the phone while you waited for someone at a café was simple common sense, wasn't it? So it didn't matter who, so long as they could help her burn through the wait. She picked the easiest mark she had: a friend she was close to, someone she could be completely shameless with, and who was, by every visible measure, idle.

"…?"

What was this? The other end wasn't picking up.

"Why isn't she answering? She's unemployed."

Ko Eunbi was genuinely dumbfounded.

"Lee Sua, annoying me first thing in the morning…."

The Lee Sua who lived in Ko Eunbi's head was unemployment itself. Not just any kind of unemployed, either — a somewhat useful variety. No help to society whatsoever, but the moment Eunbi said they should game, she logged on without fail. A doll that existed for Ko Eunbi's benefit alone. Something like that.

"Damn it…."

She grumbled for no real reason. Calling Sua was fun, that was the thing — the way they needled each other without ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a filter, the way they dumped whatever they were actually thinking. But if she wasn't going to pick up, there was nothing to be done about it.

Ko Eunbi called someone else.

Mouse. Kim Seona.

Fortunately, Kim Seona answered.

"Who's this? Eunbi, is that you?"

"Yeah. It's me."

"Yeah, yeah. What's up, Eunbi?"

"Nothing. I'm at a café waiting for someone and I'm bored. But Sua — why isn't that girl picking up? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It's annoying."

"Let's see. Hasn't Sua been busy lately?"

"Busy with what? Did she pick up something new again? Soccer, baseball, basketball, swimming… She doesn't do a single one of them properly."

"Who knows? Maybe she's started acting?"

"…Acting?"

Ko Eunbi's brow drew tight before she noticed. It was like being told the sun had risen in the west.

"Acting? What acting? Is she an actress now?"

"She told me she'd even landed a lead, though it's probably a joke. This wouldn't be the first time we've messed with each other. In reality she's probably just going to some acting classes."

Ko Eunbi clicked her tongue.

"Does she have money just rotting in a pile? She sure knows how to enjoy herself. Sticking a foot into every field there is — I'm jealous. Seriously jealous. Meanwhile I'm busy working…."

"Work? Now that you mention it, what are you doing these days, Eunbi?"

"Me?"

Eunbi faltered for a second.

"Something incredibly hard, and rewarding… and also… the kind of work society thinks very highly of. I'm Ko Eunbi, remember. Anyway, the person I was waiting for is here. Hanging up."

Click.

Eunbi ended the call. Do that in an ordinary relationship and you'd be cut off a hundred times, a thousand — but these were people from a group chat that had gone on forever, and that made it possible. There was no pretense between them.

And the person she had actually been waiting for did, in fact, arrive.

"Eunbi!"

A woman came toward her, waving happily. The eldest of the VTubers under NeoLive — the same unnie who had quit acting after being harmed by Director Kim Jungi.

Sure enough, her face was bright again today. It figured. Director Kim Jungi had been driven all the way to the bottom of the pit.

The two of them were planning to wander the city together, but sharing a profession meant talk of work surfaced often enough. The unnie was the one to open her mouth.

"Oh, right. Eunbi, did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"The lineup for those short-film festival works we agreed to promote — it's been decided. Thirty films in total. The ones that made it through to the finals, apparently."

"Thirty…?"

Eunbi pulled a thoroughly revolted face.

"They're shorts, so every one of them is tiny. Just think of it as watching thirty donation clips. And the ad money coming in is supposed to be huge. From what I heard, it's the biggest ever?"

"Yeah? Then that's a different story."

Eunbi's eyes lit up. The world really did run on money.

Then, all at once, Sua crossed her mind.

"But, Unnie."

"Hm?"

"You tried to become an actress, right?"

"I did."

"So, about that. Becoming an actor is pretty hard, isn't it?"

"Why? You interested in acting now?"

"No. I've got this immature friend. She's our age, and out of nowhere she says she wants to learn how to act. Does that even make sense? Do people like that have any chance of making it in that industry?"

"Hmm…."

At that, the unnie took on the look of someone thinking very hard. Ko Eunbi hadn't actually been expecting some grand answer, but this was how her unnie was. Because Eunbi had asked, she meant to answer with real care.

"Eunbi. Is this friend of yours at least pretty?"

Eunbi paused to consider it. She considered it for quite a while.

"She gets told she's pretty a lot. Not as pretty as me, though."

The eldest nodded. When someone put it that way, the person in question was usually prettier than the speaker. First, confirmed: a face prettier than Ko Eunbi's.

…Which would make her extremely pretty.

Then there was at least some chance of flaring up for a moment. Just as a VTuber starts at an advantage with a pretty model and a pretty voice, an actor with a good face holds an enormous edge.

"All right. Does she have any talent?"

"No?"

"Staying power?"

"She doesn't."

"…."

Everything that followed was, to the eldest's ears, deeply disappointing. With no talent and no persistence at all, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠acting would be brutal no matter how pretty the face. Modeling, perhaps. Acting was another matter.

"Hmm. First of all, Eunbi."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry to say this about your precious friend, but…."

"She's not precious."

"Hm?"

The eldest assumed she had misheard and went on.

"Tell her to keep the acting as a hobby. And if offers of one kind or another start coming in, I want you to warn her to be careful."

"Why?"

"No matter how pretty the face is, if she can't actually act, the bad offers come pouring in. Sleep with me for one night, and I'll give you a decent chance — that sort of thing."

"Ah?"

"And afterward, of course, no decent chance ever shows up. All you've done is hand over your virginity."

Ko Eunbi hurriedly typed that part into her notes app. She fully intended to torment the girl every which way, but that was a privilege reserved for Ko Eunbi alone. She didn't want her going through something like that.

Once the note was finished, Ko Eunbi stretched.

"I really do have to tell her this. Thanks. Oh, more than that, I'm worried watching the movies is going to be way too boring. If it were a drama, I could get completely sucked in."

"What? You liked dramas too, Eunbi?"

"More precisely, I like Kim Seonil."

Classy Trash. Kim Seonil.

In truth, Ko Eunbi hadn't known him for long. She had stumbled across him in a teaser not long ago, but that fleeting contact had been more than enough to fall for him. If someone carved a crow into a handsome man, it would look like that — black all the way through, a look that stirred a secret hunger. It struck Ko Eunbi's taste dead center. And so now, you could say, she was waiting for nothing but 808 to air.

"Huh? You too? Then Special Task Force 808?"

The two of them held each other's gaze for a moment, then seized one another by the shoulders as if they had planned it.

"Unnie, want to watch the premiere together later?"

"Eunbi, shall we watch the premiere together?"

Meanwhile, Sua had only just gotten up.

The arctic fox that rises early catches more prey. Something like that. It was with that sort of thought that Sua had been waking early lately, and right now she was checking the script she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had just received.

And she was moved on the spot.

"Whoaaa, the grade's high right from the start. Nice."

When she checked the roles, those had changed as well.

"Good. Starting the experience right now!"

Sua jumped straight into it.

"…."

And once the experience was over, she sank into doubt.

"…So she wasn't just a piano genius?"

Kim Sohee was a piano genius living with savant syndrome. Which meant Sua had no choice but to feel uneasy.

These days, she was improving. Through Kim Yu-han she was slowly making a higher order of thought her own, and lately, living through role after role, she had been diligently growing the Musician gift. But savant syndrome, out of nowhere? What if, one day, the same symptoms simply appeared? What then?

…That really is a little unsettling.

Go back to being stupid? She truly hated that idea.

But right then—

"…What?"

Excuse me?

"Hey. No."

Just as Sua was working up a genuine sense of being wronged—

Ping— ping—. Her phone began to chime like it had lost its mind.

It wasn't that several people were reaching out. Just one person, sending like a maniac. Park Joon, the director of Sword.

Sua soon understood why the messages were pouring in.

Because what had been waiting for her was genuinely insane good news.