Chapter 36: Nogada is hell

Jina tossed and turned all night, eventually sitting in front of her computer before the sun even rose.

She couldn’t sleep.

It was a mistake to have a meeting with Spring late at night, just before going to bed.

A mini-concert with piano accompaniment.

Ever since she heard about that plan, her mind had been a mess.

Words like ‘finger rigging’ and ‘piano modeling’ were still swirling in her head.

She still felt unsettled.

“So what should I do… No, what should I do first…?”

Jina kicked the scattered blanket aside with her foot and turned on the computer.

The room was a mix of modeling reference materials, a makeshift studio, and documents for outsourced work.

Her already small studio apartment felt even smaller.

Even though Hyoin had cleaned up her room once, she felt too bad to ask her to do it again, so she’d been tidying up in her spare time. But yesterday and today, there was no time for that.

“Fingers, or piano… Which one should I do first to make it easier to adjust the other?”

Jina muttered to herself and rummaged through the monitor.

Not only the room but also the computer desktop was a mess.

Various 3D tool icons, launchers for AI generation models, and project files were scattered everywhere.

Jina claimed that this wasn’t a random arrangement, but a deliberate scattering for work efficiency, but it was hard to believe.

Amidst the chaotic screen, Jina opened the programs she needed for work, including a notepad.

The hand moving the mouse was unhesitating. Seeing this, the claim of pursuing efficiency seems a little understandable.

•Work List

1. Improve finger model quality (Rig it like crazy!)

2. Piano 3D model (Not a polygon lump, a real piano)

3. Set collision areas for each key and match corresponding sounds (Pay attention to detail!)

4. Apply physics engine (If possible, I want to make it feel like playing a real piano in reality…)

Jina looked at the monitor and typed the necessary items to organize them.

“Looking at it like this, there’s really a lot to do.”

While wondering how she ended up taking on such a daunting task, she was already excited.

There are hardly any reference materials for this work.

Recently, the VTuber group, Isekai Idol, released a video of avatars playing musical instruments as a band performance concept.

But even that didn’t really show the avatars ‘playing’ the instruments.

They just pretended to tap or hit.

Pioneering a new field is always exhilarating.

Jiiiing-

At that moment, the smartphone placed next to the computer vibrated twice briefly.

Since she was about to get into the work in earnest, Jina checked the messages on her smartphone.

One was a message from Youngjun Kim, the general manager of Cosmo Live.

He said he received a call from Spring, apologized for making an unreasonable request, and asked for her cooperation again this time.

And the other one is a deposit notification from the bank.

As expected from someone in charge of Cosmo Live, they sent something as a down payment before the contract was even properly drawn up.

“This is also good motivation.”

Jina really likes Cosmo Live.

They are suckers… no, customers who know how to express their gratitude materially and clearly.

Jina decided to start with the fingers first.

If push came to shove, the piano could be downgraded to a mere pretense of playing, but the fingers, which would be shown in close-up, had to be very detailed.

She ran the 3D AI generation program and uploaded a 3D template model corresponding to a hand.

If ‘HANA’ was the masterpiece that Jina poured half of her life into.

The 3D template hand model, ‘HAN-D,’ is a masterpiece that Jina put half of her graduate school life.

It’s not ‘hand’, the English word for hand. It’s ‘Han-Deu’, short for Hana’s Dream.

It’s a model that contains Jina’s dark desire to someday touch Hana with those hands.

…It’s definitely not for sexual harassment or “come hither”!

The purpose is normal patting and stroking.

Really.

“By the way, this is the first time I’m attaching this to an avatar… I don’t know if it will work well.”

HAN-D is a hand model that exists separately from the avatar.

In other words, simply attaching it will not synchronize it.

Jina’s job is to transform HAN-D into a generative AI model and change it into a hand model that is compatible with Spring’s avatar.

After entering appropriate prompts and parameter values and running the program, the results were quickly output.

Jina frowned at the hand that appeared in the 3D preview window.

The initial value was a hand with five fingers properly attached, but a strange finger protruded strangely next to the thumb.

“I knew it.”

No wonder the results came out so quickly.

Jina tried several other attempts, changing the prompts and parameter values, but the results were not much different.

Eventually, Jina opened a separate 3D modeling tool.

“I’ll just adjust the size roughly with the parameter values and plant it manually.”

She uploaded Spring’s avatar to the modeling tool.

After removing the hand part from Spring’s avatar with her arms wide open, she attached the new hand model.

When she briefly tested the movement, the fingers moved erratically.

The index finger goes through the middle finger, and the ring finger bends outwards. It’s a total mess.

‘I don’t really want to do this, but…’

In the end, she used a little trick.

Since Spring will only play the piano.

She limited the rotation value of the fingers accordingly.

Instead, she added additional joints to each finger joint.

She can’t refuse this effort if she wants to give the feeling that Spring is actually pressing the keys with her hands.

After planting the joints and making fine adjustments, play again.

This time, each finger moves relatively plausibly.

“This is pretty decent.”

She stretched and looked out the window.

It’s still a dimly lit dawn.

When she thought something was strange and looked at her smartphone, the time was the same and only the date had passed.

24 hours, disappeared in an instant.

She slept soundly and sat in front of the computer again.

Today it’s time to make the piano.

“I can make the basic frame quickly.”

Even if the AI can’t properly reproduce human fingers, it makes things with a fixed shape like a piano very well.

Of course, the body of the piano and the keyboard are separate.

By assigning a separate layer to each key, she plans to put the key sound corresponding to each key.

First, the piano body.

She used a high-polygon model with a plausible wood tone texture and a slight reflection.

Some details were omitted. She simplified some parts because unnecessary frame drops would break immersion.

Next is the keyboard.

She ran a loop of code and pulled out black keys and white keys by type.

At first, she was thinking of putting in all 88 keys, but she compromised with a keyboard with 61 keys.

“Hmm… It will be difficult to fully capture Spring’s voice with a keyboard…”

But considering that it will be broadcast live, she has to give up what she has to give up.

Anyway, the keys at both ends are rarely used ranges. She’ll have to ask Spring for her understanding on this.

Instead, she greatly increased the immersion. She quantified the intensity of pressing the keyboard and set the volume of the key sound according to that value.

Put in a key.

Adjust the collision area to the size of the key.

Set the key sound.

Synchronize physical interaction and output sound.

Repetitive tasks that require concentration.

One stitch at a time…

Repeat…

And, repeated.

When the model was roughly framed, Jina tested it in a dazed state.

She had been staying up all night for several days, and her sleep debt was quite high.

But… even if she sleeps, she has to see if it works.

She connected Spring’s avatar and piano model to VR simulation and ran the tool.

Bending the fingers is perfect.

The interaction with the piano is also properly implemented.

If I press this…

Kwagwang!

“Kkeuaaol-alk!!”

The sonata of the underworld pierced Jina’s ears.

She was wide awake. No more sleep today.

“Ugh… It’s a total mess.”

There were many problems.

Jina held her head and examined the problematic parts one by one.

First of all, there was a problem where the fingertips got stuck between the keys, causing multiple keys to be pressed at the same time.

Jina readjusted the keyboard arrangement and repeated the process of narrowing the collision range.

She even thought about limiting the maximum number of keys recognized by one finger to one, but that would affect the performance.

The elastic modulus of the keyboard was also a problem.

Some keys went in too easily, while others didn’t respond at all, no matter how hard they were pressed.

This… I think I put in a few wrong values while I was dozing off.

The biggest problem is that the moment the finger touches the piano, the wrist twists and bends upwards.

Because of that, the palm is pressing the top of the keyboard as if it were sweeping it.

This is all because the hand that was properly attached to the avatar was torn off and a new hand model was attached.

“This… let’s fix it after I wake up…”

Looking back, all the bugs that have occurred now are mistakes made because she didn’t sleep properly and worked.

But now the end is in sight.

Jina stretched and unfolded the roughly folded blanket with her foot.

For reference, that blanket has been left roughly folded for over a week.

“Sister, I really, really didn’t want to admit it…”

Winter muttered, glancing sideways at Han Ari, who stood next to her.

“…I think I know what Winter is trying to say.”

Han Ari nodded slightly and replied in a voice without a smile.

After a short silence, the two of them spoke at the same time, as if sighing.

“Aren’t we more in sync than we thought, Sister?”

“Aren’t we more in sync than we thought, Winter?”

Right now, their voices came out at exactly the same time.

It’s so in sync that it’s annoying.

Han Ari sighed again and said.

“Honestly, I thought we wouldn’t get along at all. But… It’s unexpected.”

Winter snorted and looked up.

“I know. By the way… You sing well. I guess it wasn’t a lie that you were a trainee.”

“…Winter, did you also?”

“You don’t need to know. By the way, we can make a video to upload to YouTube right away, right?”

Winter shrugged and changed the subject.

Han Ari nodded with a sour expression.

“Will the staff at Cosmo Live help with the video editing?”

“Do we need to leave it to the company? We have Jina.”

Winter replied, typing a message in the hologram window.

“…Jina?”

“Why are you so surprised? Sister, you’ve received a lot of help from Jina with your content.”

Winter asks if all the hit content is thanks to Jina.

Han Ari muttered, ‘That’s true, but…’ and carefully continued.

“I’ve only received suggestions from Jina about what kind of content to try, but I’ve never asked her for anything in return…”

Winter was momentarily upset.

You’ve never suggested anything to me first… That’s too much!

Of course! I admit that I haven’t known Jina for long, and I’ve already received more than enough…

But I’m jealous! It seems like only Han Ari is monopolizing Jina’s love!

…Winter is trying to hold back these complicated feelings.

“Winter, by any chance…”

Han Ari suddenly asked Winter in a cautious voice.

“Are you… contacting Jina privately?”

“…Sister, don’t you know Jina’s contact information?”

When Han Ari nodded heavily, Winter’s expression brightened as if it had never happened.

“Haha. This, well – it can’t be helped. Since the number is. on. ly. with. me., I’ll contact Jina.”

Actually, she was just going to send Jina a message.

Because she’s always busy. She can’t be a burden.

But this chance to show off her superiority to Han Ari?

She can’t miss it.

Winter straightened her back and called Jina.

The ringing tone continues for quite a while.

“She’s not answering?”

“Ahaha… I guess so.”

‘Maybe she’s very busy…’ Just as she thought that, the call connected.

“Jina! Are you free to talk now…”

“Wi, Winter…”

What comes over the receiver is Jina’s dying voice.

“I’m so sorry… I feel like I’m really going to die right now… Ugh… Later…”

The moment the call was cut off, Winter’s face turned pale.

“Jina? Are you okay? Jina!!”