Chapter 62: Utaite Scarlett Debuts, Part 1

A little less than a month passed.

It was now just before the seventh month of 2020, the season when the heat was rising and everyone was wearing summer school uniforms.

“Haaa! Done!”

Hayoon clenched her fists with a loud shout.

“Finished?”

“Really?”

“Yes, I’m done. There are no more illustrations I need to draw for the original work. Now.”

Hayoon had finished all the illustrations she needed to do for Cosplay Holic.

The moment had come when she could finally focus on planning, so she could also put effort into the Utaite YouTube project with Hong Seo-hyun.

“I’ll be out for a bit.”

“Okay, see you.”

“See you later.”

After saying goodbye to Do Jin-ho and Choi Arin, Hayoon hurried to the 2nd year Content Design class 3 classroom.

She didn’t want to appear idle in front of the two who were still busy working.

She planned to quickly get the work from Hong Seo-hyun and move on to the next task.

“Hong Seo-hyun, senior?”

“Ah, I’ll be right out.”

As Hayoon peeked her head into the classroom, Hong Seo-hyun came out as if she had been waiting.

The two went down to a nearby staircase where there weren’t many people.

“Have you thought about what I asked you to think about?”

“Think…. Uh, that….”

They began to discuss the design of the virtual character that would become Hong Seo-hyun’s face.

However.

“So far…. just the name.”

“Just the name?”

“It’s the name I used on Soundcloud, Scarlet.”

Scarlet.

One of the many words that mean red.

It seemed like a name chosen based on Hong’s surname, Hong.

“Then, let’s go with red hair.”

“Huh?”

“Honestly, since you haven’t decided yet, it seems like you need some advice. Do you agree?”

“Th-that’s…. true….”

Hong Seo-hyun spoke with a slightly dejected expression.

Hayoon turned on her tablet and immediately started sketching.

“Do you prefer long hair or short hair?”

“L-long hair.”

“Straight or curly?”

“Uh…. Straight?”

“Hmm.. It’s hard to find a point of focus..”

Hayoon, who started sketching from the head, tilted her head as if something was missing, and then drew round glasses.

The kind with a chain attached.

Then.

“It’s starting to look like something.”

“R-right?”

The somewhat NPC-like impression changed to that of a smart girl.

“Bust….”

Hayoon’s gaze moved past Hong Seo-hyun’s face and down to her slightly protruding chest.

There was volume, but it wasn’t large.

Slightly smaller than Hayoon’s current bust.

“Should I make it bigger? Or smaller?”

“B-bigger….”

“About this much?”

“A-a little more…….”

“Okay.”

It seemed like she had some desire for a larger bust.

Hayoon shaped the chest line to be quite large and also made the hips ample.

A large chest without hips is like a steamed bun without red bean paste.

Now that the body shape was decided, the next step was the concept and the outfit to match the concept.

“Don’t you have any ideas for a concept at all?”

“Uh, high school student…?”

“Even if you use it for 3 years, the positioning becomes ambiguous. The shelf life is too short to use as an RP(Role play).”

“S-shelf life….”

Was she shocked by Hayoon’s unconventional choice of words?

Hong Seo-hyun couldn’t hide her bewildered expression.

“How about a lab coat?”

“A lab coat?”

“White clothes and red hair go well together, and it wouldn’t be bad to go with an intellectual concept by adding an on/off function for the glasses to the virtual model.”

Hayoon didn’t have time to accommodate Hong Seo-hyun’s awkwardness.

It was almost July, and she had to debut in October.

Even if they proceeded quickly, it would be tight.

Since Hong Seo-hyun had barely come up with a name in a few weeks regarding the RP, there wasn’t much room to hesitate.

They had no choice but to give her options and get a yes or no answer.

“Wouldn’t a lab coat be okay? It would definitely make me look intellectual…!”

“Hmm, but just a lab coat is a bit plain…….”

“P-plain…?”

“Let’s go with a missing bottom look.”

“Huh…?”

Hong Seo-hyun agreed to the white outfit and the lab coat, so she decided on a baggy white shirt and a missing bottom fashion as the basic design.

Yes, definitely.

Hayoon was satisfied, saying that ideas came to her much faster when she discussed them with the person involved.

“I’ll have to work on the details like the eyes later, but I’ll use this as the base. I won’t reveal whether she’s wearing anything underneath, so you shouldn’t mention the bottom during your broadcasts.”

“Uh, uh…?”

Hong Seo-hyun was shocked by the strange concept being developed.

However, she couldn’t properly refute Hayoon’s characteristically radical attitude.

“Then, please let me know the concept as soon as you decide on the song for your first video. I’ll draw a detailed character draft with the concept of a red-haired, red-eyed, bespectacled, smart girl.”

“Ah, okay.”

Hayoon had something about her that swayed people.

Even Hong Seo-hyun, a newcomer, couldn’t escape the flow led by Hayoon.

 

***

 

After school that day.

Hong Seo-hyun, who hadn’t visited the club room separately since she didn’t have a proper role after officially joining the Game Release Club, came to the club room.

Because of Hayoon’s call.

“Oh, you’re here?”

“Yes, hello.”

“Yeah, fighting.”

Do Jin-ho, the oldest, glanced at her and focused on his work.

Now was the time when Do Jin-ho’s abilities were most crucial.

Now that almost all the resources except for the sound were complete.

Do Jin-ho couldn’t rest even if he wanted to.

Even if he was sleeping, if there was a place where a bug might occur, he had to get up and work on it.

He put his earphones in his ears and went back to programming in a hunched posture.

“Hi….”

“Uh, uh…. Hi.”

Choi Arin, who was the same age as her, didn’t look too well either.

She was busy breathing life into the illustrations Hayoon handed over and studying virtual avatar rigging on her own.

Like Do Jin-ho, she had to pull all-nighters.

Awkwardly responding to Choi Arin, who greeted her with a tired look, Hong Seo-hyun headed towards Hayoon, who was sitting at the back of the room.

Hayoon had reserved a spot for her, knowing she would come.

“I’m here.”

“Yes, welcome. I thought of a few more concepts, but why don’t you tell me what you had in mind first?”

“Uh, um…. That….”

Hong Seo-hyun sat across from Hayoon but felt suffocated as soon as she received Hayoon’s first question.

She really liked JPOP, but Vtubers were completely new to her.

She knew several Utaites, but they were just faceless singers, not giving themselves RPs.

It was too unfamiliar to Hong Seo-hyun.

If the concept she came up with was inspired by some concepts she quickly looked up on Namuwiki.

“Detective…?”

“There’s already a big name in that field…….”

“Then, police officer…?”

“To carry out my RP, I need to have some related knowledge. Have you seen any noir films?”

“Uh, no….”

Honestly, she didn’t know.

Hong Seo-hyun lowered her head, embarrassed.

“Since the avatar will have a smart girl concept, how about a doctor?”

“Doctor?”

“Yes, doctor.”

Hayoon offered a suitable solution.

“You like Korean adaptations, senior. So, like a Korean language doctor…. You also know Japanese, so you can teach Japanese and Korean…. and talk about music….”

The concept would be a doctor.

There was also the alternative of a professor, but the word professor had a bad connotation.

Doctor has a good connotation because of the term “know-it-all doctor.”

Later, when Hong Seo-hyun graduates, they can use the concept of “high school graduate doctor” as a meme.

“A doctor who teaches Korean, Japanese, and music in a baggy shirt and a missing bottom look. Wouldn’t that be attractive?”

“Uh, no….”

“What do you mean no? It’s a concept that men can’t hate. Don’t you think so, Do Jin-ho?”

“Huh?”

“We’re going with the RP of a doctor who lectures in a baggy shirt and a missing bottom look.”

“Sounds good!”

Do Jin-ho, who was working while listening to music with his earphones on, gave a thumbs up after vaguely hearing the latter part.

Hong Seo-hyun, who was watching his reaction blankly, nodded as if she had no choice.

“Okay, let’s go with that. I can teach things like Japanese or music to someone who doesn’t know anything.”

A doctor who teaches Korean, Japanese, and music.

Scarlet.

That was the moment Hong Seo-hyun’s RP was completed.

“Good. I think this will work for the RP, and how about the first song?”

“First song, if it’s the first song…….”

“If it is?”

“As expected. ‘Love‘ would be good.”

Utaite Vtuber(someone who primarily does song covers, but uses a virtual avatar to represent themselves online instead of their real face or image)

Scarlet’s first YouTube video was the biggest hit song of 2017.

A Korean cover of ‘Love‘ was confirmed.