Chapter 73: The Night before the storm September, Part 3

“Hmmmm…..”

Choi Arin, who had been pouting her lips, spoke up.

“Well, it’s decent.”

It was a curt response.

In truth, it was a natural reaction.

In a way, the two were in an exclusive contract relationship.

So, even if she didn’t know the details, it was understandable that she would feel a bit hurt that Hayoon was planning to use someone else for the rigging.

But…

“It’s definitely usable.”

She couldn’t bring herself to lie.

The quality of the rigging in the portfolio Hayoon showed her was outstanding.

Even if Choi Arin spent another month on it, she wouldn’t be able to close the gap.

That’s why she said it was usable.

It was a small act of defiance, showing that she could tell the work was excellent but still using the term “usable” since Hayoon was choosing to outsource.

Still, she added “definitely” before “usable,” so it wouldn’t negatively affect Hayoon’s judgment.

Choi Arin also believed that Hayoon had a reason for not using her, and she vaguely guessed that it was to solve the most pressing issue, time.

It was literally a childish act of defiance.

“Right? I’m sorry I can’t ask you to do this one. I’d prefer to entrust it to my people if possible, but seeing how you’re preparing for the senior’s broadcast, I thought I should help out in my own way.”

“Help out? How?”

“You know I stream, right?”

“Of course?”

“I’m planning to make a Vtuber avatar. If I work on it this week and outsource the rigging to someone who can meet the deadline, it should be ready by mid-October at the latest…”

She would stream with it, help Hong Seo-hyun, and get through the initial adjustment period after her debut.

Hayoon explained why she was choosing a new rigger and outsourcing the work.

Only then did Choi Arin’s expression relax.

“Oh, that’s a relief….”

“Huh? What is?”

“N-no, it’s nothing.”

Hayoon just brushed it off casually.

She was relieved to know that there was a valid reason to use an outside source.

Choi Arin could relax, knowing that it wasn’t due to her own work speed or skill.

She smiled faintly and sighed in relief, patting her chest.

‘Phew, that’s a relief.’

She was fundamentally starved for recognition.

Her middle school friends and parents didn’t really understand what she was doing, and she barely kept in touch with her middle school friends now.

Since everyone at Meister High School was focused on their own thing, she naturally craved the praise Hayoon gave her.

‘I was worried she was bringing in someone else…’

Fortunately, it seemed like Hayoon still considered Choi Arin her exclusive animator.

Choi Arin was satisfied to have confirmed her position, and as she was calming herself down, she suddenly…

“Chest…?”

“Yes?”

She uttered the word “chest” as if possessed.

It was so out of context that Hayoon furrowed her brow and widened her eyes.

After a moment of silence, Choi Arin…

“Your, chest….”

She pointed at Hayoon’s chest with her index finger and opened her mouth.

“Why is it growing so fast…?”

It was sheer astonishment.

When she first met Hayoon at the end of last year, her chest was just “voluptuous.”

But now, she felt like Hayoon was quickly catching up to her.

It felt like Hayoon was approaching a full C-cup, if not quite a capital C.

“Are you taking some kind of medicine?”

“Wh-what medicine would I be taking?”

Choi Arin, who knew the typical growth rate of a woman’s chest all too well, couldn’t hide her bewilderment and poked Hayoon’s chest pocket.

Startled, Hayoon covered her chest.

“I’m not taking any ‘medicine’.”

“Not taking any ‘medicine’?”

Then she answered irritably. Choi Arin just stared blankly.

Not taking medicine meant she was doing something without taking it?

Maybe she was using some kind of drug that was popular among teenagers these days, inhaling it in powder form or injecting it directly into her veins…!

“As if!”

“Oh, if you say so….”

Perhaps she read Choi Arin’s wild thoughts.

Hayoon shouted, and Choi Arin deflated, shrinking back to her usual self.

“Is it your diet… or genetics…? Are you mixed race by any chance?”

“You’ve seen my mom. Do I look mixed race?”

“Maybe your father’s side is Western.”

“As if. Seriously…”

“It’s strange….”

But Choi Arin mumbled, still unable to comprehend Hayoon’s phenomenal growth.

Usually, girls with large chests experienced rapid growth between late elementary school and early middle school.

But Hayoon was strangely growing while in high school.

‘Does this mean I can grow a bit more too?’

After a moment of contemplation, Choi Arin decided to think positively.

No matter how she looked at it, this was absurd.

She decided to hope that she, too, could grow as much and as long as Hayoon, since teenagers these days were supposedly developing much faster than previous generations.

‘Sigh, just how big is this chest going to get…. Everyone’s noticing it….’

Hayoon swallowed a silent curse towards her perfect development, which was working overtime without her noticing, and tried to steer the conversation away from Choi Arin’s fixation on her chest.

No matter how used to being a woman Hayoon had become, talking about her chest was still a bit much.

One night in September.

“Alright, alright, how’s this? Does it look pretty?”

-It’s amazing.

-The way you come up with OR character designs is truly an art form.

Hayoon was streaming, drawing illustrations to be used as thumbnails for Utaite Scarlet while building rapport with her viewers.

This way, when she did a collaboration stream with Scarlet, there would be less resistance from her viewers.

Conversely, it would give her the support to push for a collaboration when Scarlet’s newly acquired fans were receptive.

Since there was bound to be resistance if they held a collaboration stream too soon after her debut, before the Vtuber and her viewers could form a bond.

Hayoon was creating a safety net, a buffer, and a tailwind for that purpose.

“I’ll reveal my self-character soon. Probably around mid-October, I think.”

-Self-character? -Really??

-Finally, I’ll have an illustration to show people when I say who I watch.

-Sigh, it’s about damn time.

She also mentioned her self-character.

Of course, unlike what her viewers expected, Hayoon’s first self-character would be a virtual avatar.

Considering that she had been accepting requests for illustrations of overseas Vtubers from her viewers recently, there seemed to be little resistance to virtual avatars among her audience.

‘Especially since the avatars for me and Scarlet will have extra detailed parts, making the rigging quality very high.’

It wouldn’t feel too two-dimensional, so viewers shouldn’t have much trouble getting into it.

“Alright, alright, I’ll draw one last picture for today and then call it a day. Please request a drawing.”

Hayoon skillfully managed her viewers and built up to her sign-off.

There’s a saying, “leave them wanting more.”

Even if she had planned to draw one more, saying she’d draw one last one before leaving created a sense of gratitude rather than disappointment.

“Alright! That’s it for today!”

After drawing a dragon girl who had polymorphed into a human, with scales covering her genitalia, Hayoon signed off amidst the cheers of her viewers.

“I’m glad you all seem to understand my philosophy now. I’m going to head off.”

In the early days of her streaming, many viewers questioned her, asking if what she drew was furry, since they couldn’t tell the difference between furries and monster girls.

But not anymore.

Now, her viewers knew the difference between a harpy, which had talons for feet and wings for arms but was otherwise human-like, and a bird-headed avian furry.

They cheered for today’s dragon girl, understanding that it was a monster girl and not a furry, and genuinely enjoyed Hayoon’s drawing show, shouting “Wow! Scales! C*nt cover!”

Hayoon felt a sense of accomplishment.

Satisfied with how the day’s stream went, Hayoon went to the kitchen to get some water.

“Huh….”

For some reason, there was a box next to the wall by Hayoon’s room.

And Hayoon could vaguely guess what this box was.

“The photo book, huh?”

It was a photo book.

She wasn’t sure if it was the Cosplay Holic photo book or the one with her cosplaying as Scarlet, but it was clear that something had been completed.

Hayoon went back to her room, grabbed a box cutter, and returned.