The Third Outing
In just two days she had become the tragic heroine of the hour, yet Yu Nari felt no particular stir of emotion about it.
Hate comments had piled up for a while in the chats and fan cafés, but public opinion swept over the entire affair so swiftly that, far from being hurt, she was simply left blinking in bewilderment.
PrismTree sent over an apology, and people around her offered words of comfort.
None of it really mattered to her—yet thanks to the whole mess she had been able to pout a little during her call with Do-yoon, so she actually considered it a win.
If I whine again today he’ll think I’m annoying, right? What a waste.
Do-yoon had sung for her, but she had fallen straight into a dead faint while lying there listening, and now she was resenting herself for it as she spread jam on a slice of bread.
“Hello?”
“Nari Nari, you okay?”
“Yeah.”
She was more than fine—she was simply exploding with appetite from leftover longing.
“If it were me I’d be sooo mad!”
“I’m fine, though.”
To Yui the calm seemed almost unnatural.
Rookie streamers often crumbled under people’s malice, so she had been worried.
“Nom. This jam tastes bad. Gotta buy a different one next time.”
“……Okay yeah, your voice does sound way too normal.”
Nari had already pocketed more than enough compensation for the stress, so none of it bothered her—but that was outside the realm Yui could know.
“Hmm hmm, but you saw it went all the way to fourteenth on BlCat, right?”
“Yeah, same as with the challenge. Heaven’s helping us or something.”
“It’s ‘cause the song is good~ Think my OST will chart too? Just a tiiiiny bit excited maybe hehe.”
It was something that could have quietly passed by, yet Yui had gone out of her way to call and chatter about it; Nari felt grateful for that heart.
If I ever get a junior, I should look after her well, she quietly resolved.
Come to think of it, has Yui ever done mocap filming before?
The previous evening Han So-yeong had called.
Along with some half-hearted words of comfort she had reported that massive investment had poured into the company.
The key points among them were the distribution of personal VR equipment and the use of an optical motion-capture studio.
Nari, who knew little about VTuber gear, had said, “I already have the full-tracking equipment the company gave me before, though?”
“The VR gear I’m talking about is personal mocap equipment. It’s gear in the tens-of-millions-of-won range, and it lets you shoot simple motion-capture content even at home.”
“Hmm.”
Sadly, even though she was a VTuber, Nari was not particularly well-versed in VTuber matters; she only barely grasped that it was expensive.
Fortunately Han So-yeong read the vibe and continued explaining at once.
“Mocap shows the user’s movements much more smoothly and precisely. Think of it like this: a VR full-tracker is roughly at the level of guessing your movements, while mocap gear is at the level of cloning every bit of data from your body.”
“Then what’s the motion-capture studio? Is it different from the mocap you do at home?”
“Optical motion capture is the cutting-edge technology of the VTuber industry. It can project your actions almost without error. Run, jump, do whatever—everything gets reflected. You can realize content that feels as real as reality itself, crossing the boundary between real and virtual. The catch is, you have to go to the studio.”
“Whoa……”
While talking with Han So-yeong, Nari at least understood that it was enormously expensive and outstanding technology.
Even so it still did not feel real, and Yui was a VTuber senior, after all.
Curiosity about actual experience—something Han So-yeong could not satisfy—welled up.
“Unnie, I got an offer to film at a mocap studio.”
“Huh?? Mocap? Why?”
“Yeah, it’s a collab stream. You know PrismTree, right? To calm that whole mess down, and also because our company contracted with a mocap studio so we can check it out.”
“What, they help just ‘cause you’re pretty? Seriously.”
“Those people didn’t do anything wrong, but they’re getting cursed at way too hard, so it bothers me too. It’s not even hard.”
Yui clearly did not like it much and kept sniping, but Nari pressed on with her questions.
“Anyway! You have to go to the studio yourself and put on the suit, right? I was curious if Unnie’s done it before.”
“I tried it once.”
“Oh! How was it?”
As if recalling the time, Yui hummed and chose her words carefully.
“Video quality got way better so fans loved it a lot. But the people filming, it’s hard work.”
“In what way?”
“The suit you wear is like tight spandex, you know? That worst. It sticks so your body shape…… shows, and if you wear it long you sweat and it’s uncomfortable. Going to the bathroom is also awkward.”
“Ah, yeah, putting it on and taking it off must be a pain.”
“I don’t know about others but I have a little gap with my avatar, right? So I have to move even bigger and I get tired fast and the huff-huffing all gets streamed live.”
“……Pfft.”
Imagining Yui flapping her short arms and legs made Nari clap a hand over her mouth to stop the laugh.
“……And the most annoying thing is the staff staring at me while I’m like that. Super embarrassing. Only I am thrashing around in the tight suit.”
“That does sound like a monkey in a zoo.”
“Yeah, so VTubers who are a bit sensitive about the red pill usually don’t go to places like studios. I thought about it too, but mocap isn’t a common chance so I only filmed that once.”
“I don’t really have red-pill pressure, but yeah, it’d be embarrassing. So Unnie, you’re not planning to go to a mocap studio anymore?”
“……Dunno. Fans did like it, so for fan service maybe a few more times would be okay? I kinda think that.”
Seeing that even for Yui it was a hard-to-come-by opportunity made it clear this was impressive technology.
Separate from the collab with PrismTree, Nari decided it would be good to take part just for the mocap experience.
“……I’m jealous.”
“Hm?”
“What entertainment agency supports VTubers all the way to optical mocap? Our MCN doesn’t even look into that stuff so I had to scrape my own money for an event. Equipment was old and the suit size didn’t fit so it was rough.”
She had always seemed full of complaints about her MCN.
Watching Yui grumble, Nari dug through her own past memories.
When recruitment emails had come from various MCNs, she had instinctively wanted to follow Do-yoon.
Had she already had a crush back then?
Do-yoon really is my lucky charm.
“I’m going to take part in the motion-capture content. Thanks, Unnie. I’ll tell you how it went after. Gotta call the manager now.”
Nari smiled shyly and shoved the remaining piece of bread into her mouth.
She told Han So-yeong she would cooperate, and before long articles poured out everywhere.
Following Nari’s suggestion, I had pulled open the double blackout curtains that covered the window.
After that I often imagined myself walking down the street whenever I looked outside.
Even if I still ducked back into the room like a turtle the moment someone passed by, it seemed to help with the image training.
As a result:
“You’re coming by yourself without a pickup? Then how about Thursday? Nari has her mocap shoot that day so I’ll be tagging along and no one will be at the company. You can use it comfortably.”
I had asked Manager Han So-yeong whether I could borrow the recording studio for mixing the OST.
I had even boldly declared that there was no need to come pick me up—I would go on my own two feet.
Feeling proud about something like this at the age of twenty-one did bring a tiny, tiny bit of self-loathing, but growth was growth, so I decided to enjoy it.
The day of the studio visit arrived quickly, and I finished every preparation I could think of.
After covering myself with a cap and mask, I opened the door with the practiced ease of a third outing and headed outside.
I might have looked natural this time.
Hiding the satisfied twitch of my lips behind the mask, I left the apartment complex.
Now all that remained was calling a taxi.
The goal was right in front of the Muse Family building entrance.
I opened the taxi-hailing app I had installed in advance and poked around, but it was not easy.
No matter how I tried to set it by GPS, the pin kept landing on the opposite side of the road.
Is it because of this old phone?
Rather than wrestle with the phone here, it would be better if I just crossed to the other side myself.
Full of ambition, I moved toward the crosswalk.
I had already gone to a convenience store alone, endured a short exchange with the clerk, and even spoken directly with Park Gi-dong during recording at the studio.
On top of that, the harsh image training in my room had brought me nearly up to ordinary-person level, if I said so myself.
At the peak of my confidence, nothing could frighten me.
I stood right at the crosswalk and waited for the light.
“Yaaaah~ Isn’t this cute?”
“Yeah, right? I think the green one would look better, though?”
Two young women chatting were visible on the opposite side.
The red light turned green at some point and they walked steadily toward me.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
My heart rate climbed noticeably and produced an unpleasant noise.
My vision blurred and a ringing seemed to fill my ears.
I immediately dropped my head low, shifted my body to the side, and awkwardly took a detouring step forward.
In a daze I walked and walked, staring only at the faded white paint and black asphalt.
Only after the opposite sidewalk entered my field of view did I stop and look around.
I could see the receding backs of the two women beyond the crosswalk, and a calm world came back into focus.
Fear drained away and a sense of accomplishment settled in its place.
I had stepped aside while walking, but I had not run away.
The process had been a little pathetic, yes.
Still, one way or another I had faced women without panicking and achieved what I wanted.
There was no time to linger in the afterglow before the taxi arrived.
I blankly entrusted my body to the rattling ride.
“You all right, passenger…?”
After a stretch of quiet the taxi driver spoke up.
“Eh, yes? Yes.”
My voice cracked from answering so suddenly.
“It’s just, you were all hunched over so you looked like you were in pain.”
“I-I’m fine.”
Ah, right—I was supposed to have earphones in so people would not talk to me.
I had been distracted and forgotten.
Luckily he did not say anything more, and the taxi shot forward quickly to the destination.
“Take care, young man.”
“Th-thank you.”
I scrambled out only to find he had dropped me at the building right next to the destination I had set.
Sejin General Hospital
Who knew there was a hospital next to Muse Family.
Did I look that sick?
I scratched my head sheepishly and walked the remaining distance.
Once I reached the front of the company, the fact that I had been there once before slowly loosened the tension in my chest.
I entered the door code the manager had given me, went down to the basement, and entered the studio code as well.
With a creak the door opened and the studio I had seen before greeted me.
“Whew.”
The road here had been harder than expected.
The quiet was stabilizing.
I was alone in the entire building.
I sank into a soft chair and started working right away.
I already had a complete mental map of exactly which parts needed touching, so my hands moved quickly.
About an hour of focused work passed.
“Done.”
The final mix of Spotlight was finished.
Once I handed it to Han So-yeong it would go to the mastering company, and when that was complete the web-drama production team would receive it.
Because my own voice was on the track, I felt the same nervous flutter as when I used to submit homework for inspection in school.
I hope they like it.
I tidied the space briefly to leave and pulled out my phone.
Exactly one hour had passed.
After all the struggle to get here, only one hour?
“Hmm.”
I sat back down.
I had to do something more or I would not even break even.
Maybe I could try a little work here.
I took out my phone and found the file I had recorded last time.
Keong, keop……
Kyang… eumnya…
Even hearing it again made me snort with laughter.
Watching VTuber streams had led the algorithm to recommend a certain song genre.
Vocaloid—people called it Vocaro—music made with synthesized voices that was popular in subculture circles.
It had a mechanical tone and at first glance felt unnatural, so I had not been drawn to it, but after listening to various tracks I found the well-made ones were addictive and exciting.
What would happen if I layered mechanical tones over Yu Nari’s soft, rumbling little snores?
A human sound that was regular yet drawn-out.
The three-dimensional quality of that snoring gave me a fresh idea.
I reopened the work program and created a new file.
Half a step. A whole step. A step and a half.
I raised the pitch little by little and listened.
I tried putting a vocoder on the “keong” sound and transforming it into a light electronic tone, playing with it like a toy.
Interesting sound coming out of this.
A mechanical reverb settled over Yu Nari’s breathing.
After correcting the pitch with Auto-Tune and giving it a melody, it soon took on the shape of a song.
“Haha.”
I looped the processed snoring and set the BPM to 175.
Fast and chaotic, but the progression kept simple.
Eumnya eumnya eumnya. Eumnya eumnya eumnya.
It sounded like baby babbling. Cute. Yet it refused to leave my ears.
Vocaloid tracks were like that.
They repeated meaningless sounds in the chorus, and that was the core of the addictiveness.
As I built the song it was coming out even better than the image I had sketched at home, which was fun, but—
How was I supposed to explain this to Yu Nari?
I had been embarrassed enough back when I made BlackOutCat by twisting the lyrics all over the place.
As long as she does not know what I made it from, it should be fine, right?
Great! Hide it!
Anyway, it would be hard to figure out just by listening to the song.
First I deleted the original file from the computer.
I gathered up the scraps of paper on the desk where I had scribbled song ideas all over the place.
And tossed them straight into the trash.
“Done.”
Time to go home.
I turned off the studio lights, stepped out, and opened the taxi app.
Please let the way back be smooth.
Optical motion-capture studio.
Inside the studio the staff were in the middle of preparing for the shoot.
Han So-yeong and Yu Nari, who had arrived early, were chatting in the waiting room when Han So-yeong checked the time and made a face as if she had just remembered something.
“Ah, around now the composer should have arrived at the company.”
“Huh? Where?”
“He arranged to use the recording studio today.”
Yu Nari’s ears perked up.