After the meeting ended, Sua was deep in thought.
“A solo broadcast? Just me?”
Her emotions were mixed.
It felt like a fun idea, yet at the same time burdened her greatly. However, her contemplation didn’t last long due to the inner Sua voices protesting strongly.
─It’s unacceptable. Absolutely not.
─I also don’t find it to be a good idea.
“…Is it that bad?”
Sua could only scratch her head and ask again, unsure if it was indeed such a big deal.
Han Sua spoke up as the representative.
─Of course not. Was there any reason Sua-seonbae was fine at the shooting site? There were two factors: managing her image through her appearance and proving her ability through acting.
“That’s true, right?”
─But, what will happen if you just set up a camera and broadcast? Sua-seonbae’s appearance won’t be on display, and there won’t even be a script to perform from.
─Your true identity will be revealed.
─Principally, it’ll be a huge issue.
─No! Absolutely not!
Strangely, even Steel Sua and So-hee Sua joined in to dissuade her. To be honest, Sua herself couldn’t completely ignore their point.
“It’s important to grasp the theme.”
Even though it’s just a one-day broadcast and she couldn’t utilize her special advantages, she couldn’t call herself particularly competent. Therefore, Han Sua’s words seemed a hundred times correct…
…No! Don’t accept it so easily, Lee Sua!
Sua flared up.
“Compared to before, I’ve gotten somewhat smarter, and through my special advantages, I’ve learned a few special abilities. I can somehow use them…”
─Even after all that, you’re still below an average person.
─It’s like a monkey evolving to be a caveman.
“…Is that so?”
Han Sua continued.
─Imagine this? People get excited upon hearing the news that the youngest member of NeoLive will appear. Let’s say around 30,000 people gather.
“Oh?”
─Just imagine, every time you say something, 2,000 people leave. It’s not impossible.
“…”
Sua unintentionally made a face of aversion.
That might even be scary, and she would undeniably get hurt.
Just then,
“Lee Sua!”
The deer—Go Eun-bi—lightly tapped Sua and smiled.
“How was it?”
“Eh? Uh.”
Sua just nodded vaguely.
“The avatar you made was really pretty. Thank you.”
Sua appreciated the compliment.
After asking about Sua’s preferences some time ago, Eun-bi had created the avatar. Today, she understood this, and indeed, the character was very beautiful.
However, Go Eun-bi shook her head.
“No, no, that’s nothing. I was asking about your work life. Has it gotten better since before?”
“Suddenly, what do you mean work?”
“Because we gave you the inability to express emotions. I thought there might be some changes since then. Right?”
“Oh.”
Sua blinked her eyes.
“Thanks to you, I overcame a crisis.”
“Good, good. It’s nice to hear you say that.”
Sua hesitated for a moment before saying,
“Uh, well, I’ve heard about the one-day broadcast.”
“Hmm.”
“Even if I don’t excel in communication, I can just play games and then unveil my identity, right?”
At this moment, Sua could honestly ask the question. After all, Eun-bi had been her friend for a long time.
But Eun-bi just shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, it would have been fine before, but now the scale has massively grown. There might not be time left for you to do that?”
“…The scale has grown that much?”
While the old Sua would have been excited by this story, the current Sua wasn’t. She had already heard the truth about the dangers of broadcasting from the Sua Association, which made her quite uneasy.
“What, what happened? How much has it grown?”
“Do you know Minecraft?”
“Minecraft? I know it.”
Sua nodded.
It’s a full-body VR game. You can mine using tools like pickaxes or shovels made of wood, collect materials, build houses by stacking blocks, and eventually hunt monsters.
Sua continued somewhat unwillingly.
“Right? It’s an utterly boring game if you play alone, usually, it’s done by kids with a lot of internet friends.”
“That’s correct. This time on Fajizik, they’re hosting an event called “Everyone’s Playground” involving 100 streamers.”
“100 streamers playing Minecraft! How many viewers would that even get?”
“All 100 streamers’ audiences will be watching.”
“Huh? But why are you suddenly telling me this?”
Sua truly questioned,
Suddenly what Minecraft? With too much information, her head was already steaming.
“Listen carefully. The day you’re broadcasting happens to be the opening day of ‘Everyone’s Playground.’ You also have to participate.”
“For me?”
“You’re officially NeoLive’s youngest member, right? It’s only natural.”
“Hmm.”
“And on the first night of ‘Everyone’s Playground,’ there’s a streamer talent show. This is important. NeoLive intends to win first place in any way.”
Sua’s head was starting to crackle.
“…”
While maintaining a calm exterior, the inner Sua had already twisted her eyes cross-eyed with an open mouth.
“…Win first place? Aren’t you already first?”
“Hey, Lee Sua. We’re only number one among Virtual YouTubers. This time, a lot of regular streamers are participating.”
“Hmm?”
Sua tilted her head.
“Do we need to categorize? Anyway, aren’t we all streamers?”
“It’s divided because the primary audiences differ. The audiences of regular streamers don’t get along well with Virtual YouTuber audiences. Their preferences are vastly different.”
“It must be a little disappointing for you. If they all got along, both sides’ audiences would definitely grow.”
“Exactly!”
Go Eun-bi was happy enough to snap her fingers.
“To get along with regular streamers and absorb their audiences, we aim to win first place in the talent show; there’s no better method than that.”
“Will winning first place make them like us?”
“Of course. ‘Everyone’s Playground’ is a kind of networking event. Once we win first place, all sorts of streamers will come to talk to us just for the opportunity to clip our content.”
“Oh, so by having conversations and mingling, we’ll eventually become friends.”
“That’s right. The more we appear on regular streamers’ screens, the less resistance their audiences will have toward Virtual YouTubers, and it all fits together nicely.”
“Ah…”
Bzzz!
But at this point, Sua’s brain stumbled.
“…?”
Upon reflection, it didn’t make sense to her.
“But why does the talent show involve me? Can’t I just stay quiet and reveal my identity at the end?”
“You have to appear in the talent show. Win us first place.”
The deer said it casually.
“The youngest member who wins first place in the talent show turns out to be Lee Sua. Can there be a hotter topic? Both of us will get massive publicity, and NeoLive can also prove its ability to recruit you.”
“Hmm, so it would be good for me?”
“That’s right, that’s right. Our Sua is indeed smart.”
“How do I win first place?”
“You don’t have special talents? Didn’t you boast about your singing before?”
“Oh, singing.”
After mutually exchanging bright smiles,
Sua suddenly grabbed the deer’s collar.
“…Hey. Are you insane?”
—
Hong Ye-ji’s house.
Minami Sawako was hard at work revising the script.
Despite being just a middle school student, she was trying her best. Even though her health wasn’t good and she couldn’t concentrate for too long.
Dada-da!
Thanks to Hong Ye-ji changing the keyboard settings to Korean-Japanese, Sawako was typing on the keyboard. She was currently tweaking various parts of Hong Ye-ji’s script.
At some point,
Sawako removed her hands from the keyboard and crossed her arms.
“あの、先輩。”
(Excuse me, Seonbae.)
Hong Ye-ji quickly turned on the translation app. What had she been doing just now? She’d been sleeping…
“The translation app is on. Please repeat.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your meditation.”
“I wasn’t meditating.”
“…Seonbae really considers others.”
Hong Ye-ji thought to herself, “What is she talking about?”
“So, why did you call me?”
“Ah, I have a question about the protagonist. I still have trouble figuring out who they are.”
“You can fill in whatever suits you.”
“Yes. Thanks to Seonbae, I learned one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Once I tried to fill randomly, I realized it’s actually very hard. My imagination is quite shallow. Please help me get the gist.”
“The gist?”
“A kind of hint. What kind of person is the protagonist?”
Hong Ye-ji scratched her stomach for a while before saying,
“Let’s depict them as excelling in singing and playing musical instruments.”
“Ah, persuasive. The protagonist is the daughter of a wealthy family, after all. It’s not strange that she received extensive education in arts and sports.”
“Yes, exactly.”
Of course, Hong Ye-ji had other reasons in mind.
‘The bigger the gap between the script and the actor, the harder shooting will be. Thus, the likelihood of quitting increases.’
Who would agree to be required to have impeccable singing and musical skills all of a sudden? They wouldn’t participate, right?
‘Sua doesn’t even sing well, does she?’
She thought about it for a moment,
‘…That’s unlikely.’
She’s never even heard her yell loudly.
“Seonbae, I’ll resume my focus then.”
“Yes, I support you.”
Hong Ye-ji laid her phone in landscape mode and quickly moved her thumb. Naturally, it was a rhythm game.
Dada-da!
…Hmm, how about becoming a professional rhythm game player?
