Calming the Fans with a Live Stream
The only two accounts officially registered under Seo Siyeon’s name were her YouTube channel and her Instagram. The YouTube account was closing in on one million subscribers, while Instagram sat at around seven hundred thousand. Yet neither had seen a proper upload in nearly a year. Instagram still received the occasional life update, but even those had stopped six months ago.
Of course, fans could still catch glimpses of Siyeon through the mouths of Blooming and Noirith members, or as the producer credited on their albums. But most of her fans naturally wanted the artist standing on stage, not just the name tucked away in the credits.
“Nothing’s going up again today…”
Ko Hyena, a fairly dedicated fan of Siyeon, had just escaped the hell of her assignments and immediately turned on her phone. She opened Instagram out of habit and was mindlessly scrolling through her feed when she spotted a strangely familiar account.
“…Siyeon?”
The moment she saw the username, she tapped the video that had just been posted. It was the first update in half a year.
While her friends’ favorite idols went live almost every week and dropped new songs every quarter, Siyeon was different. Hyena wasn’t without complaints about the fact that Siyeon still hadn’t returned after more than a year, but she understood that the girl was still very young. Still, it was a little frustrating that the only way to see her was through album credits instead of her actual face.
The girl in the video was as adorable as ever. She looked a little more mature than before, but her cheeks were still delightfully puffy and her eyes sparkled just as brightly. If anything, her movements and expressions seemed livelier than in the past.
Perched on Siyeon’s shoulder was a small bird with sky-blue feathers a shade lighter than her eyes. Hyena knew exactly what kind of bird it was.
“Isn’t that Seolha’s parrot? Was its name Jack…?”
Hyena was a fan of Siyeon, but she also liked Blooming—because it was the group Siyeon produced. The bird had appeared in the vlog Yu Seolha uploaded to YouTube not long ago, the one showing the new apartment she’d found. The background looked similar too.
And in the middle of it all, Siyeon was singing.
“…?”
Siyeon’s voice sounded both the same and somehow different. The clear, refreshing tone was still there, but every now and then a strangely raspy, throat-scraping quality slipped into her high notes—something that hadn’t existed in her voice before.
“…This song is ‘Peony Parrot,’ right?”
These days Hyena mostly listened to Siyeon’s title tracks, but she used to loop every b-side on repeat. She remembered this one sitting near the end of a full album. She wasn’t sure, but she guessed the parrot in the video was probably a peach-faced lovebird.
The gentle strumming of guitar strings blended with the parrot’s occasional chirps. Siyeon’s familiar vocals layered on top like they were completing a harmony. The whole scene overflowed with such pure romance that Hyena immediately understood why Siyeon had broken her long silence to post this reel.
As always, she opened the comment section. The very first comment, the one with the most likes, made her burst out laughing before she could stop herself.
“Pfft… yeah, seriously.”
She knew there had to be some reason Siyeon couldn’t return yet, but from a fan’s perspective there was no way to know what it was. That was exactly why comments like this dominated the top spots. Hyena left her own small wish in the comment box.
A few hours later she discovered that her comment had received thousands of likes.
“I told you. One short video isn’t going to calm down the complaints about the hiatus.”
Just as Yu Seolha had predicted, the comment section under my reel was in full riot mode—the first time I’d ever seen anything like it. The YouTube Shorts comment section was just as bad. It was surprising how quickly the views climbed, but the number of comments was downright shocking. On Instagram, there were more comments than shares. The count was almost catching up to the likes.
“…I think I really underestimated the fans.”
Honestly, after a year and a half away I’d expected a lot of them to have left. But quite a few were still waiting for me. It was probably because my situation was so unusual. The period I’d spent on hiatus was now longer than the time I’d actually been active. Still, the performances I’d shown during that short active period had been overwhelming. And since I was young—practically a child—people could still look forward to my future.
“…So what should we do?”
“Let’s go live once.”
“Hmm… I’ve never done it before. Have you, unnie?”
“It wasn’t that hard. You just pick out chats and talk to them!”
That was exactly what made it hard. Someone as naturally communicative as Seolha might not understand, but for an introvert like me—someone closer to the I on the personality scale—reading and responding to chats in real time during a live stream was far from easy.
“…I’ll give it a try.”
Still, there didn’t seem to be any other option. It wasn’t that difficult, so I decided to show my face to the fans at least once.
It was eight o’clock—when everyone had finished work and was spending their free time at home. After returning to the studio, I simply opened an Instagram live using my laptop. The face I saw through the webcam was, as usual, perfectly cute.
“Hehe…”
I was wearing the pajamas Seolha had given me earlier. They weren’t the exact same character as the ones she wore, but the little blue-eared puppy design was pretty charming. It kind of resembled me, didn’t it?
The moment I started the broadcast, the viewer count began shooting up at an insane speed. The chat was scrolling so fast it was practically invisible, and I felt a twinge of actual fear.
“Ah, hello?”
The second I showed my face and spoke, the chat froze for a brief moment before exploding upward even faster than before.
????
Wait, is this real?
Unnieㅠㅠㅠㅠ I missed you so much
Waaah
Your cheeks look a little slimmer?
“Did my cheeks get slimmer?”
That would be a bit of a problem. I considered my puffy cheeks one of my main charms.
No no no no no
They’re the same lol
There’s no way they’d disappear in just a year
In the meantime, the viewer count had already surpassed two thousand. Considering the broadcast had been on for less than a minute, the growth was ridiculous.
“Today… um, I’ll just take a few simple questions and then go to sleep. I saw the comments on the video I uploaded earlier and it seemed like that’s what you all wanted.”
This is the first time we’ve heard from you in years lol
When are you coming back?
What have you been doing lately?
Unnie please read my commentㅠㅠ
Is your voice change completely over?
“Ah. Yes. My voice change is finished now. I’ve been going to a vocal academy and doing vocal rehabilitation too.”
“Umm. No, I didn’t. Instead I’ve been getting growth hormone injections.”
“…One hundred and thirty-five centimeters. Still, I grew quite a bit in a year, didn’t I?”
You grew almost ten centimeters?
I’m scared you’ll pass 150…
“The username is LoliHunter. Hmm, but I really should get past 150.”
This wasn’t even an internet broadcast and yet the Instagram username was like that. Once again I was reminded that the world was full of crazy people. That aside, I was genuinely a little afraid lately that I might not reach 150 centimeters.
“I’m always making songs. Everyone, please keep supporting Blooming and Noirith a lot… Hmm? My own songs? Well… I’m working on them.”
After that, the questions continued without much substance.
“Favorite food? I’ve been really into mala hotpot lately. And for snacks, I like anything with matcha in it.”
“Song recommendations? What’s the point of saying anything… Please listen to Blooming and Noirith songs a lot.”
Then one particular chat caught my eye.
“A comeback. Right, everyone’s very interested in my return, aren’t you?”
Obviously lol
If they’re here, it’s a given
Siyeon, it’s about time you brought an album
You said you’d rest for a year, so you’re coming back this year, right?
“…The company will make an official announcement later. But I can tell you that the comeback won’t be that far off… That’s all I’ll say for now.”
Right below that, another comment immediately caught my attention.
“A boy I like? Hmph… I’m not a kid, you know. No, I don’t! None!”
Of course, there were still boys who occasionally confessed to me. That was why I was currently realizing that Seonghun—who was still offering me chocolate milk every day—was actually one of the better ones among the boys at school. At least he didn’t cause any trouble.
If he saw the clip of my answer circulating as “The baby talking about the baby’s romance”… he probably wouldn’t have said that.