Chapter 13: “Oh right… I said I had to go to the company… huh? It’s already 12?”

After yesterday’s singing stream…

I basically passed out and fell asleep right after.

I screamed way too much…

I should’ve just picked easy songs I could handle from the start.

But nooo, I had to go pick joke songs and s*x on the Beach…

“Ahem… Ah~ Aah~”

And now my voice is completely wrecked.

My throat stings when I talk, and my voice is cracking all over the place.

I went straight to the electric kettle, poured in some tap water, and started boiling it.

Once it was hot enough, I mixed it with a bit of cold water to make it lukewarm, then drank it.

“Slurp—cough!!”

I choked on it a bit and started coughing.

But maybe it helped? Even just forcing myself to drink warm water…

“…Ah. Aaah.”

My voice, which had sounded like it came from the afterlife, was starting to recover.

“Yeah, this’ll do for now.”

It’s probably not vocal cord nodules… right?

Even if the cracking didn’t go away, at least talking didn’t hurt anymore.

…Right?

“…I’m screwed.”

Didn’t Manager say all of us Gen 2 members were supposed to gather today?

I remember it being really important, like a full attendance kind of thing.

The meeting was at… 2 PM, I think?

I literally just woke up—so if I shower and get ready and catch the bus, I might just make it…

[12:23 PM]

“…Huh?”

Why is it already 12:30?

I just woke up, didn’t I?

Did I really overdo it during yesterday’s stream?

No, this isn’t the time to be thinking about that!

Even if I rush now, catching the bus might be impossible.

Actually, no—there’s a 100% chance I’ll miss it.

The bus comes at 12:30, and there’s no way I can get ready in 7 minutes—especially not in this body.

“GaaAAAAH!!”

I screamed and started getting dressed like my life depended on it.

Then I sprinted into the bathroom and tried to flatten my bedhead with wet hands—

“This… isn’t salvageable.”

My hair looked like a lion’s mane. It was sticking out in every direction like I’d been electrocuted.

…How does your hair even get this messed up just from sleeping?

I yanked open my drawer and grabbed a hairbrush.

Then I started furiously brushing it down.

But even though my hair was long, it defied gravity. The more I brushed, the more it poofed up.

In the end, I had to wet my hands and comb it like crazy until it finally started to resemble a human hairstyle again.

By the time I was done—

[12:38 PM]

More than ten minutes had passed by the time I left the bathroom.

“……”

Yeah, I was definitely gonna be late.

No excuse could cover this. I was just straight-up late.

Crap. What do I do?

If I call Manager now, I’m definitely gonna get chewed out…

It’d be a huge hassle for the company too.

Just as I nervously pulled out my phone to text Manager—

Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang.

I rushed over to the door and opened it.

Standing there was a woman with a sharp bob haircut and office attire—Manager.

“M-Miss Manager!!”

“You looked like you’d be late, so I came to pick you up.”

“Thank you!! I almost missed the last bus!”

I answered her in a cracked voice, and she blinked in surprise.

“Wait… is your throat okay? You sound awful…”

“Ah… I overdid it during yesterday’s singing stream…”

“Your voice is your livelihood. You’ve gotta take better care of it.”

“Hehe… sorry…”

She was worried even in this situation.

Manager’s a total tsundere, huh?

“But you know, tsundere heroines aren’t exactly trendy anymore.”

“…What are you even saying? Let’s go. We’re gonna be late.”

“Wait—I’m not done getting ready yet.”

“……”

Her stare was sharp, but I couldn’t help it.

At the very least, I needed to wear proper clothes.

It was still cold out, after all…

Anyway.

Thanks to Manager, I got to ride comfortably to the office.

---

It took about an hour in Manager’s car.

But we made it to the company on time.

As soon as we arrived, she led me straight to the conference room.

Apparently, if she left me alone in the office, I’d probably break a water bottle or something…

I told her, “I’m not a grade-schooler, that won’t happen,”

…Then immediately knocked over a decorative flowerpot.

Thankfully, it was plastic, so it didn’t break—but that got me stuck in the meeting room with no chance to wander off.

“Um, Manager? How long do we have to wait?”

“Just a bit longer. It’s only 1:50.”

“Ughhh…”

I groaned and slumped onto the table.

Still ten minutes left…?

If I knew this would happen, I should’ve just come late.

Instead, I followed Manager here early and now I’m bored out of my mind.

She sighed watching me lay there.

“Drink the citron tea I bought you. Are you planning to talk with that voice during tomorrow’s stream too?”

“Okay…”

Her scolding was 100% right, so I drank the tea with a pout.

Just as I was nearly finished with it—

The conference room door opened.

And a familiar voice spoke up.

“…Ah, hello…”

Long black hair falling to her waist, covering part of her face.

A quiet voice, gentle features—exactly like on stream.

But those meek vibes were completely contradicted by her massive… assets.

Among the Gen 2 members, there was only one person who carried that kind of load on her chest.

“Miho!! Long time no see!!”

“Ah… Hello, Yuki.”

Even though we’d done a collab before, it still felt awkward?

Miho quickly avoided my gaze and set her bag down at the table.

“So Rin’s the only one left now?”

“Yeah, just waiting on her.”

“I’m a little worried. She lives the farthest away out of all of us.”

“Yeah, Manager was nervous too.”

Rin would probably be on time.

She said in our group chat that she’d be heading out at dawn, so she should be arriving soon…

[2:01 PM]

And just as I predicted, the conference room door opened and in walked a familiar face.

“Huff… huff… Sorry I’m late…”

She was breathing hard—probably ran the whole way here.

Sweat dripped down from her reddish-brown hair, which clung to her cheeks.

Rin.

On stream, she came off as super upbeat, but in person, she looked just like your average young office worker.

And since she showed up slightly late, she looked really self-conscious—which, honestly, was kind of fun to watch.

Manager spoke first.

“It’s okay. The meeting hasn’t started yet.”

“Yeah yeah, Manager’s right. You’re not late at all, no worries.”

“Yuki, weren’t you about to be late too? Isn’t it weird for you to say that?”

“Ehh… is it?”

Well, technically Manager helped me make it on time.

And Rin was the one who actually showed up at 2:01, so she’s the one in the wrong here!

“Alright… let’s begin the meeting.”

With a sigh from Manager,

The very first Lunaverse KR Gen 2 meeting began.

---

It looked like a proper meeting, but honestly, we didn’t get much done.

It was mostly to help us get to know each other better, since we’d just debuted.

Still, we didn’t just sit around.

We talked about upcoming plans, like:

– Cover songs, where we record trending tracks and post them as videos.

– “Lives,” where we perform in real-time with tracking suits on.

– New outfits to breathe life into our current models.

Nothing we could start right away, but good to plan ahead.

And since things like covers and lives take prep time, it made sense that Manager wanted us to meet in person.

“Well then, let’s wrap up for today and head out.”

“Thanks for your work.”

“Good job, everyone.”

With a few short goodbyes, Manager and Miho gathered their things and left the room.

They probably live nearby in Seoul and just want to clock out fast.

…Meanwhile, my house is over an hour away.

So now, the only ones left in the room were me and Rin.

We’d never really talked outside of our group chat, so the air felt kinda awkward.

“By the way, Rin—aren’t you heading home?”

“Um… my next bus doesn’t come for about an hour…”

“An hour? That long? Where do you live?”

“I mentioned it before… in Gangwon Province.”

“Oh, right. That’s gotta be a few hours, huh?”

“Yes…”

Still awkward, Rin struggled to make conversation.

I could relate. I was feeling the awkwardness too.

Thank god for all my fake social skills—at least I could keep the small talk going.

“Hey, did you dye your hair?”

“Yes… I wanted to match the character as much as I could…”

“It looks great!”

“T-Thank you…”

Honestly, her real-life face looked even softer than her character.

She also wasn’t wearing the ribbon her model usually had in the back, which gave off a different impression.

And her chest was…

“…Full C.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

Looks like they modeled that part pretty accurately.

Miho’s rocking a G-cup in real life, so it makes sense, I guess.

…Goddamn it.

Why am I stuck with A-cups?

If I ever meet the entity that turned me into a girl, I’m going for a flying knee strike to the face.

They could’ve at least given me a B-cup. It wouldn’t have killed them.

It’s not like I was small when I was a guy either!

[4:46 PM]

“Yikes, it’s already this late? I’m gonna miss my bus!”

“Y-You’re heading out?”

“Yup! There’s one at 5. If I miss it, I’ve gotta wait another hour.”

“Safe travels…”

“You too. Take care.”

I grabbed my phone and threw on my jacket in a rush.

As I was heading out—

“Oh, right.”

Something hit me, and I turned back to Rin.

“From now on, just call me ‘unni.’ It’s fine.”

(TL note: ‘Unni’ means ‘older sister’ in Korean, used by women to address older women casually.)

“O-Oh… unni?”

“Yeah! And let’s do a collab sometime, okay?”

“…Okay! Unni!”

She smiled, finally relaxing a bit.

I gave her a small smile in return, and stepped out of the meeting room.

Maybe we’re a little closer now?

I hope we get to become better friends from here on out.

---

That evening.

Back home, I munched on Nunenune snacks while opening up NewTube.

Today was one of the rare days I had off.

Even though the meeting ate up most of my morning, I had no stream tonight—so I could rest.

“…Rest, my ass. I’ve gotta figure out content.”

I still hadn’t decided what to do for the next stream.

Should I invite Miho and finish that collab in Craft?

Or maybe continue the burger game?

Honestly, the burger game would be beating a dead horse.

I already milked every bit of content out of that one.

No point dragging out a meme game that only had mayonnaise going for it.

“So I guess I need a new game…”

What should I play…

Oh yeah—there was that new cyberpunk FPS that just came out.

What was it called again… EDen?

I looked it up on NewTube, and tons of videos popped up.

Looks like not only big Korean streamers but also a few overseas VTubers already played it.

Yeah, this could be great content.

It’s got long gameplay, so I wouldn’t run out of material for a while.

And it’s popular, so it might help draw in new viewers too.

“…But not tomorrow.”

I couldn’t stream it right away.

Why? Because my PC couldn’t handle it.

EDen was super polished and needed serious specs.

The minimum recommended graphics card was 8GB.

My setup barely handled 3D, so there was no way it could run that thing smoothly.

“If not EDen, then what’s left…”

There was that R18 RPG Maker game I played briefly before…

But yeah, probably can’t play that on stream.

Or can I…?

“…If I stick to the virgin route, it should be fine, right?”

(TL note: Many adult games have ‘virgin’ routes where no explicit content occurs. Yuki is suggesting this might make it stream-safe.)

There aren’t any explicit scenes in that route.

And for an adult game, it’s got decent gameplay too. Should be okay for a stream.

Plus, it’s full of material for innuendos.

As I was debating this idea—one that would make Manager grab her neck in horror—

Ding!

A message popped up on my screen.

[Rin: Unni]

[Rin: Do you want to collab tomorrow?]

[Yuki: Collab?]

[Rin: Yeah.]

[Rin: I already collabed with Miho, so…]

Fair enough. I did already do one with Miho—leaving Rin out would be awkward.

I quickly typed back.

[Yuki: Sure, sounds good]

[Yuki: What game do you want to play?]

[Rin: Oh, a game?]

[Rin: Hmm…]

[Rin: Hold on a sec]

Rin went silent for a bit.

Then I saw “Rin is typing…” pop up.

And finally:

[Rin: A viewer recommended one last time, but…]

[Rin: How about a horror game…?]

And just like that,

Tomorrow’s stream content was decided.