The Day of the Newbie Guide Shoot
The newbie guide shoot I had waited and waited for was finally here. And I had suffered plenty to reach it.
"How about this outfit?"
"That one's no good. This sort of style suits Eunha."
They had already picked something the day before yesterday, so what were they doing choosing clothes again? The day before that, too, the housekeeper and my mother had hauled me around until I was nothing but a dress-up doll.
"The outfit we chose yesterday really is better."
"Wait, Eunha, don't take it off yet. I haven't gotten a picture."
In the end I spent two days straight putting on a fashion show in front of the two of them, and the rest stream that should have lasted a single day became two.
Viewers grumbled a little about a rest day announced as one stretching into two, but, well...
Uploading a single photo my mother had taken was enough to settle most of the complaints. For the record, the face in it was mosaicked. I had put real work into this event, and giving the reveal away like that would have been a waste, wouldn't it?
Either way, for the past two days I hadn't been able to go live at all. I had been dragged from outfit to outfit, trying on dozens of them. So what was I, veteran of a two-day fashion show, doing now?
"We're almost there, miss."
"Okaaay."
We were heading for PCK Park, the arena where every domestic Project A pro match was held, and something like a theme park built for the fans. Today was the day of the newbie guide shoot.
"We got here faster than I expected."
On an ordinary day it would have been just me and the driver in the car. Today was different. My mother was famous enough that the staff could not possibly have failed to recognize her, so the housekeeper was coming to the set in her place. Rioat had makeup artists waiting there, but it was more comfortable getting it done by someone I already knew, so she had come along for that as well.
"You don't look nervous at all. Even if it isn't live, you're still standing in front of a camera."
"Well... I'm a streamer."
Streaming and standing in front of a camera were hardly the same thing, but I already had a pro's experience behind me. There wasn't much here to be nervous about.
"Is that so? Still, this is the first time you're showing your face, isn't it? That's what I heard from Hayeon."
"Mm. That... that's true."
She was right. The biggest difference between this shoot and every broadcast before it was whether I showed my face or not.
"Even so, I'm not really that nervous."
Set aside the life I had lived as a pro, the one I could never tell the housekeeper. I still had no resistance at all to showing my face. She looked at me and let out a soft little laugh.
"Right. For a second I forgot whose daughter you are."
The door clunked, and when I stepped out I saw the building of PCK Park, a sight I had looked at hundreds of times in my pro days. I never thought I would come back here like this.
"The sun's fierce... so where are we supposed to go?"
Worried her skin would burn, the housekeeper clearly wanted to get inside as soon as she could.
"Mm... they definitely said the second-floor stadium..."
I already knew the layout of PCK Park, and I had no desire to stand out in that glaring light either, so I decided to move quickly.
"This way."
Footsteps. There should only have been two sets of them, mine and the housekeeper's. So why was a whole crowd of footsteps coming from right behind me?
"You really have to hand it to Chairman Choi, the way he loves his daughter."
Because dozens of bodyguards were walking with me.
"This is way too much..."
I hadn't really felt it in the car. Out here, we stood out far too much. They moved on my father's orders, and I knew all too well by now that politely declining would not change a thing.
"Let's just go..."
Hurrying into the building, where fewer eyes would land on us, was the best I could do.
"Hehe. The princess treatment is a bit much for you, is it?"
This woman really did love teasing me. Last time I had asked her straight out why, and the answer had been ridiculous.
"It's because you get all flustered behind that cold face, and it's too cute. I like cute things."
I already knew that teasing me didn't mean she disliked me. If anything, it meant the opposite.
"Tch. You won't even react anymore."
Determined not to move the way she wanted, I gave her nothing.
"We're almost there."
According to the email, the shoot was at Stadium 2 on the second floor. This was exactly where the Project A pro league was played.
"Here."
It struck me all over again how long it had been. Until half a year ago I had had to come here three times a week without fail. Back then I had come as a pro. Now I was here as a streamer.
"You know the way awfully well. This isn't your first time, is it?"
"Th-that's because I did my research properly."
"Is that so? You're different from Hayeon in that, at least."
"M-more importantly, let's go in! They must be waiting for us!"
No one in the world but me knew I had once been a man, and a pro gamer besides. Even so, I had no intention of inviting pointless suspicion, so I hurried toward the set.
Or I tried to.
"Miss, this way for a moment."
"Eh?"
If only Driver Kwon hadn't suddenly stepped out ahead of me.
"Driver Kwon? What's going on all of a sudden?"
"Our people will go in first and check the interior. Please wait a moment."
Right. So the entry has to hit the site first. Something like that?
"Huh? No, you don't have to go that far..."
This wasn't inside Project A. I didn't think a place I had come to film would be dangerous, so I declined as politely as I could.
"I'm sorry. This is our manual... Team One goes in first."
"Yes, sir!"
Of course my words didn't take this time either. Their job was only to guard me, and they were perfectly ordinary people; I didn't think they would cause trouble inside. Still, just in case, I hurried through the door.
"Who are you people?"
Never mind. These people had no interest in anything except guarding me. Ugh... whatever. First I had to clean up the commotion.
"W-wait a second!"
The noise snagged, thinned, and left a pocket of quiet just wide enough for a bow.
"Hello! I'm the streamer Eunha! Please take good care of me for today's shoot!"
Uh... is this resolved? It is resolved, right? Right?
I asked myself several times, and no one answered. Who would answer a question you had only thought to yourself? Still, the mood was bad enough that I had to tell myself something. The crew stared at me, dazed, every look asking the same thing: who was she, to pull a stunt like this? I had already introduced myself, for what that was worth.
"Um, Miss Eunha?"
Fortunately someone on the silent staff side spoke first. He looked fairly old, and by the eye I had developed over three years in the industry, he held a pretty high place here.
"Yes, I'm the streamer Eunha. Um... these people are my bodyguards."
I had said it a moment ago. I said it again. An ordinary streamer walking around with bodyguards was, by any common sense, something that simply did not happen.
"Bodyguards... ah. Well, a pleasure. I'm Park Sangheon, director of this shoot."
So he was the director.
"I'm sorry for the commotion. My father is extremely overprotective..."
"Your father... The commotion is fine. But the set is strictly off-limits to anyone who isn't staff..."
Director Park looked around at the bodyguards filling the set, then back at me. He seemed to be asking me to do something about it.
"Um, Driver Kwon."
"Yes."
"Could you wait outside? There are so many of you that the staff can barely move around..."
"But then it becomes difficult to protect you, miss. It also isn't allowed under our manual."
Driver Kwon granted most of my requests, but when it came to my security he stayed stubborn. Just as I was wondering whether I would have to find another way, the housekeeper came over.
"Hm? Auntie?"
She suddenly put her mouth to my ear. I braced, wondering if she was about to do something weird again. It was only an ordinary whisper.
"Try saying it like this."
"Uh... will saying it like that actually work?"
"Just try it. What's the worst that happens?"
She was right. I turned to Driver Kwon.
"Driver Kwon. Then could everyone except you wait outside?"
"Sorry? Why everyone except me..."
"Because you're the most dependable. The one I trust the most."
"Dependable... the one you trust... N-no, even so, the manual—"
"If the most dependable Driver Kwon is staying, what's there to worry about? Or is it too much for you alone?"
"Th-that couldn't be. In fact, I'm more than enough to guard you by myself."
The moment the conversation ended, he sent every bodyguard who had come onto the set back outside. A strange sense of superiority showed on him. This was basically toying with the man's heart. At this rate I really was a fox. While a faint guilt settled in, the housekeeper came over and patted my shoulder.
"Oh. You're better at this than I thought."
"It actually worked. I was sure he'd say it was absolutely impossible..."
"A block of wood like that never falls to a frontal assault. You have to aim for his pride."
I had no idea why she was teaching her friend's daughter how to handle men, but it had helped, so I meant to thank her.
"Save the thanks. We have to finish your makeup before the shoot starts. Come on."
"Okay."
With the housekeeper's help I finished my makeup, and before I knew it the start time had arrived.
"Miss Eunha, are you ready?"
"Ah, yes. I'm ready."
"Then please wait toward the center of the stadium. The table on the right is yours."
At the center of the arena, where players usually sat for their MVP interviews, three chairs and two tables had been set out. The right side was mine, then, and the left was for the hosts.
"E-Eunha?!"
I sat and waited, and a woman came up to me. She looked familiar. Ah.
"Interviewer Choi Hyeonju?"
"Huk...! You know me?"
Of course I did. She had handled the MVP interviews back when I was a pro. How could I forget? In those days, as KZ's ace, I had taken countless MVPs, and I had done just as many interviews with her.
"Wow, the rumors were true... You're really so pretty..."
Hearing someone I had always thought was pretty call me pretty left me with a strange feeling.
"Ah, I'm sorry. I'm really late—"
Before I could sit with it, another guest arrived. A middle-aged man stared at me blankly, mouth hanging open. I knew him too. Hwang Gihun, commentator and caster for Project A pro matches.
"Uh... hello, Caster Hwang."
He called the Platform Exhibition and both divisions of the league. There was no way I wouldn't know him.
"Ah, I'm sorry! Wait, you're actually Eunha?"
"...Yes, that's me."
I knew my looks stood out. I hadn't expected them to be this shocking. Maybe because I had been shut up in my room, I didn't have a very objective sense of myself. Han Seongun was something else, come to think of it. He looked at me and didn't react at all.
"Then we'll start filming in sixty seconds."
I already knew the script. Most of it I would have to answer on the fly, but still.
"Miss Eunha! Don't worry about a thing. Just trust us!"
The hosts were there for when a guest got nervous, so it hardly mattered.
"Then we're starting the shoot!"
And so the newbie guide shoot, the first time I would show my face, began.
