Angel?
Angel?
The representative's office at IG Entertainment.
"Whoa — is this for real?"
Kang Seong-min's smile refused to come back down from the corners of his mouth.
On the screen floated Muse Family's projected quarterly revenue report.
"I-it should be right?"
Kim Hye-min, seated across from him, tilted her head.
"Compared to the same period last year, it's jumped tenfold."
"In under three months they, they hit it big with five tracks already."
Kang Seong-min made no effort to hide the satisfaction on his face.
Choosing not to run a VTuber business themselves and instead hitching a ride with Muse Family had, in hindsight, been a stroke of pure genius.
If they had built their own division from scratch, they would have burned through hundreds of millions in payroll, equipment, and trial-and-error costs alone.
Instead, they had handed over gear and taken a fifteen-percent stake in return — which meant they were simply sitting still and harvesting the fruit.
"They even picked up the title of first VTuber to break onto terrestrial television."
"Y-yes."
"Word is they're even slated to take home awards at the year-end ceremonies?"
"R-Rookie of the Year and a few other things?"
Kang Seong-min let out a hollow laugh.
"Isn't it ironic? The competition for Rookie of the Year is our own company's girl group."
The girl group IG had debuted this year. They had poured no small amount of money into them — and now their main rival was a VTuber from a subsidiary label.
"At this rate, Lunari's going to take it. The fans are going to pitch a fit at the company again."
"W-well, what can you do. That's just how this industry is."
And now she turns ice-cold again.
He clicked his tongue at the air as he watched Kim Hye-min answer so calmly.
Ah, if only that section chief had managed to snag them back then, they'd be our artists.
If Hye-min hadn't poached Yeong-il and Lunari, would things have been different?
No — better to have them at a company where he still held shares than to have lost them completely.
Pointless regret.
"Must be a shame about the ads, though. Being VTubers, they have to be picky about what they take."
"Ah! S-still, digital ad rates are climbing. Game ads, and, uh, there's money coming in from goods too, apparently."
Kim Hye-min passed along the summary Han So-yeong had prepared and watched the corners of Kang Seong-min's eyes twitch with pleasure.
Look at him. He's loving this.
Whether sales rose or not, her real thoughts were elsewhere.
It was happening far faster than expected.
She hadn't shown it, but even Hye-min was surprised.
She had figured it would take another year or two.
The company's growth had already outrun the plan.
I may have underestimated them.
Yeong-il was still turning out songs even now, wasn't he?
With Yeong-il's ability alone, they could generate enough revenue to keep the company afloat.
On top of that, the newly arrived Yui was already a famous streamer, and Lunari's earnings were stable.
A few awards at year's end. When the mood was at its absolute best —
That's when I hand it over and leave.
By rank, it should go to Yeong-il?
But he seemed to have some mental issues.
Then So-yeong?
So-yeong was capable and diligent, but at her core she was closer to an unambitious working professional.
Not really the type for the representative's chair.
Still, if you handed it to her, she'd probably handle it fine.
It's one of the two anyway.
Let them figure it out between themselves.
Kim Hye-min let Kang Seong-min's revenue bragging slide in one ear and out the other as she rose from her seat.
Lunari was so busy that I figured she wouldn't have time to squeeze in vocal practice on top of everything else.
And yet — somehow? She had been practicing in scraps of free time, and she had nailed every bit of the feeling I'd asked for.
The moment I said I was satisfied, she went and locked in a recording date at lightning speed.
Why the rush?
Don't tell me she's worried I'll actually hand the song over to Yui?
Considering everything from the song's origin story to its structure, that was impossible.
I had only meant that Yui, of all people, could probably plant her feet and sell a track with this kind of vibe too — that was all.
But when she lit up with "I'm ready! Should we book the recording?!" that pure fire of motivation left me laughing helplessly.
Moments like this, she doesn't feel like a nuna at all.
Directing was handled remotely, same as last time.
It took longer than when we had recorded Black Cat and the other tracks — not because she struggled with the recording itself, but because we spent the session talking through the video concept as well.
"Pajamas, huh… What about something like cat pajamas?"
"Her model already has nekomimi. If the pajamas are covered in cats too, it might be overkill — so maybe we compare a plain pink pajama set against one with just a little cat detail."
"Oh, got it. So meticulous — as expected."
We decided to produce the music video in an animated format.
We had already put out five tracks, but this would be the first music video our company made itself.
They said they would reflect my and Yu Nari's opinions as much as possible, which was exciting and a little stressful at the same time.
Han So-yeong was scheduled to meet with the production company that would take the outsourced work, so we needed the direction and storyboard locked down before then.
"Do-yoon-ah, Do-yoon-ah, have you tried the snacks in the recording studio?"
"Ah, that snack box?"
It had been nothing but mint in there.
Still, the peach mint candies hadn't been bad.
"I think these peach mint candies are the best."
"Oh, same."
In the booth, Yu Nari must have been unwrapping one. There was a rustle, then a soft nyam.
"Hff — we matched~ Fresh and sweet. Mint candy's pretty good, right?"
"Probably only because it's peach."
"Aww~ Next chance we get, want to try other mint stuff?"
"Do we have to…?"
Did it specifically have to be mint? There were so many other good flavors.
"I'll recommend ones mixed with peach! I really think peach and mint go great together… What about you? Did you hate it? Don't they go well?"
"I don't hate it."
Whether they went well… hard to say compared to a regular peach candy.
"It wasn't bad?"
"Hmm~ Okay. Satisfied with this for now."
Was she a mint evangelist or what.
Watching Yu Nari get so happy over something so small, I nodded to myself — she really was a simple person.
Chatting like that, the recording wrapped up in a comfortable atmosphere.
Mixing is always best done at the company.
Especially this time, with a music video coming out, I wanted to put something of a craftsman's spirit — or at least something close to it — into a proper finished product.
So I planned to book the company studio again.
Going outside was starting to feel familiar.
The pride lasted only a moment.
"Ah, we hired a security guard at the office? You'll run into him when you come in, so please don't be startled. I'll give him a heads-up ahead of time."
Apparently the company headcount was growing.
A few people in security, management, and content.
Han So-yeong had said that since the path down to the recording studio was right by the entrance, I probably wouldn't run into the third-floor office staff — but still.
The difficulty had just spiked out of nowhere.
Still… not enough to make me run away.
I just had to come and go quietly.
It wasn't like anyone was going to recognize me and say hello.
Move like a ninja. Swish, swish.
I steeled myself with that resolve and ran mental simulations right up through the night before.
Then came the big day.
I arrived in front of the building.
With trembling hands I punched in the entrance code, then slipped my body carefully inside.
Mask on, hood up, and every movement cautious on top of that — even I had to admit I looked incredibly suspicious.
"Excuse me — are you the one who reserved the basement studio?"
A rough-looking middle-aged man near the lobby counter approached.
"Y-yes…"
"I see. One moment."
The second I answered, his gaze poured over me like an X-ray.
Ugh. Massive pressure.
I endured it for a few seconds, and then he smiled and kindly showed me the way.
"Watch your step going down."
What exactly had he looked at to let me through?
Was this security system even working properly?
The suspicious look I couldn't quite aim at the guard himself crashed uselessly into the floor instead.
He let me in easily, and yet humans are so ungrateful.
I snickered to myself and headed into the recording studio.
The moment I sat down, the first thing that caught my eye — same as always — was the snack box Yu Nari had mentioned.
Only the contents were similar and yet completely different.
"Whoa. Everything is peach and mint?"
Had Yu Nari's influence taken hold?
Last time she had gone on about how peach and mint went so well together, and now —
Peach mint candy, mint peach jelly, mint peach caramel, peach mint pudding.
The box was packed with nothing but peach-and-mint snacks.
Nyam.
I popped the most familiar peach mint candy into my mouth.
I wasn't sure about the rest, but —
Once you start eating them, these are actually good.
I'd stick to something I could toss in my mouth while working, and grab the peach mint pudding on the way out.
Free food was not to be refused.
Maybe because my mouth was full of mint, even the studio itself seemed steeped in the scent.
Muse Family had turned down the follow-up offers for music show appearances, but M Town kept coming back with ideas from different angles.
They had even said they would wait as long as necessary if we were willing to sign a contract with them.
Han So-yeong flinched.
Did they figure out that terrestrial reached out?
One of the three major terrestrial networks had contacted them as well.
They must have judged the impact was real.
She had expected those conservative places not to move at all, and yet they had sent an appearance offer right away.
She also worried that picking one side over the other would create a headache later.
Since they had already decided not to do music shows for a while, she had rejected every single one.
At least problems like this — ones she could settle by consulting with the artists — were easy enough to refuse.
But with the company's scale growing by the day, the number of decisions Han So-yeong had to make and resolve on her own kept climbing.
With the representative dumping work downward, there was nothing she could do about it.
Setting a fixed goal and charging toward it was something she was confident in. Charting the direction of a company that was ballooning larger and larger, though — that was a considerable burden.
A weight that did not suit Han So-yeong, who loved her ordinary, small-citizen life.
Mental strain layered itself on top of exhaustion, day after day.
And right now, she was digging through her desk drawer, openly irritated and muttering out loud.
"Augh, of all the things to forget. Brain's completely empty! Now I've got to do the work twice!"
The scolding was aimed at herself.
She had stacked a character goods manufacturer meeting right after the animation studio meeting, trying to knock out every external appointment in a single day.
And she had left the goods sample products sitting in the office.
Because of that, she couldn't go straight into the consecutive meetings, and her whole route had become a waste of time.
"Ah, here they are."
She snatched them up and went thundering down the stairs.
Where is my head at. Making a mistake like this.
Once the employees who were starting to fill in one by one took on some of the work, maybe things would get a little better.
She had already posted the job listings.
Video PD, artist manager.
They had hired two for management and content; two left.
And I'll have to be the one running the interviews. Uncomfortable, so uncomfortable.
Ah.
Maybe it was because she had slipped into idle thoughts even while going down the stairs.
Slip—
"Uh—"
She had almost reached the bottom.
With the first floor right in front of her, her foot slid out.
Crash-thump-thump-thump—!
It hadn't been that high a fall, but the somewhat spectacular way she went down might have been the culprit.
"Uuuuugh."
Or maybe it was the accumulated fatigue.
Her mind was hazy.
She had rolled down the stairs and arrived at the first floor, at least.
Dignity be damned — she was sprawled flat on the floor.
"H-hey! Manager?!"
From far off, the newly hired security guard came running.
Ah. Good thing we hired security.
Otherwise she might have been found here as a cold corpse.
Hearing herself make such a ridiculous joke, she self-diagnosed that she must still be fine.
And then —
"Uh… S-So-yeong-nim? Is that right? A-are you okay?"
A much closer voice reached her, trembling hard.
Where?
With difficulty she turned her head toward the sound.
Right beside her, standing at the entrance to the stairs that led down to the basement, was a person.
Extremely close.
He must have been coming up from below and run straight into the scene.
The man looked startled — shoulders drawn in, frozen in place, blinking.
His mask was hooked under his chin, so looking up from below, his face was completely visible.
"Uh…"
There was only one person scheduled to come up from the basement today, but Han So-yeong's thought processes were not currently operating at full capacity.
Her wavering pupils soon lost their strength, and her lips moved so faintly the words barely made a sound.
"H-holy shit… an angel…?"
I thought I was fine, but am I dead?
And just like that, she lost consciousness.