Chapter 185: Come Visit Lulu-chan’s Birthday Café!

&R;&e;ad ​​ｏñ ​K̂atReａ&d;iｎgＣɑｆe

An unexpected announcement about a birthday café.

At least, from the cherries’ perspective.

Anyway, with this sudden, completely unanticipated good news, the chat exploded.

No—it didn’t just explode. The cherries were practically in a frenzy.

At least, until I barely managed to calm them down.

“H-Hey, cherries? I haven’t even finished explaining yet…”

[‘SYUEL’ donated 1,000 won!]

• Need an explanation? Don’t need it lololol.
• FR lol.
• Already understood everything lmao.
• My brain’s fried anyway, can’t hear you.
• Starting today, my birthday is July 7th. Damn it.
• So, if I save up my part-time wages by July 7th, I’m good, right?

What?! You didn’t understand a single thing!

What do you mean, ‘already understood’?!

And why are you saving part-time wages?!

This isn’t about spending money—it’s not like the birthday café is charging you!

“You didn’t get ANY of it! Sit down so I can explain! Sit! Sit! If you don’t sit down right now, I’ll cancel the whole thing—I’ll tell the CEO myself!”

[‘BoredDodari’ donated 1,000 won!]

• Gah, sorry! I’ll sit! Just please, not that…
• Uhh, don’t be like that…
• Goodness, if you take even that from us, we’ll have nothing left…
• Hey, hey, sit down, teacher’s mad.
• Break’s over, who’s still walking around? ––

Thankfully, after my little outburst, the cherries quieted down quickly.

See? This is the only way to get through to them!

What are you, a bunch of unruly kids?!

“Ahem! Let me explain again… First, the detailed schedule and application method will be announced later, so I’ll skip that. I’ll just go over the general setup and expected attendance!”

• Oh.
• Attendance matters
• If we go, we can squish Lulu-chan’s cheeks, right?

N-NOOOOO!

Of course not!

And I told you to listen quietly when the teacher’s talking!

Do you want a chat ban?!

“Anyway, since it’s technically a café, you can all come, have coffee or snacks, hang out, and leave! There’ll be small events in between too… And we’re planning to set up things like merchandise booths and a photo zone, so there’ll be plenty to see!”

• KYAAAAAA!
• A photo zone means we can take pics with Lulu-chan, right?
• Sounds like a solid lineup.

Mhm, that’s what I thought too.

Honestly, when I first brought up the idea of a birthday café to the CEO, I thought it’d be too last-minute to prepare much.

But turns out, the CEO is going all out with preparations.

Hehe, and there’s something else I’ve got planned that’ll really surprise the cherries!

“Right now, we’re expecting around 150 attendees, but that number might increase!”

• That’s fewer than I thought.
• Let’s make it 1,500.
• Who decided on 150…?
• At least it’s expanding.

R-Really?

I thought 150 was already a huge number.

Originally, I was thinking of keeping it small, around 100 people.

But when I mentioned that to CEO Kang, both she and So-eun unnie were shocked and said it was way too few, so we increased it.

Honestly, I still think 150 is plenty, but CEO Kang insisted on pushing for more…

But what if we prepare all this and fewer than 100 people show up?

All the leftover merch would just go to waste, right?

Kinda worrying…

Eh, whatever.

If there’s extra, I’ll just stash it in my house’s storage.

If anyone needs it later, I can always give it away, right?

“Oh, most importantly! They’ll be checking Blue LUV membership status at the venue! I didn’t think it was necessary, but since there’s free merch, they want to avoid issues. Just a heads-up!”

• Oh, nice.
• Gotta do this, lol.
• Otherwise, resellers will swarm in, damn scalpers lol.
• Would be cool if they checked subscription duration too, but that’s probably too much.

Yeah, that might be asking too much.

There are probably new fans who joined recently too.

I just hope no one shows up with bad intentions.

I doubt anyone would go that far for a birthday café, though.

“Seeing how excited you all are, I guess I made the right call asking the CEO.”

• ?
• Wait, Lulu-chan suggested this?
• I thought the company planned it?

Seeing the chat fill with excitement, I got carried away and let it slip—prompting a wave of confusion.

Guess they all assumed the company had arranged it in advance for my birthday.

“Hehe, yeah. Actually, I didn’t have any plans at first, but I told the CEO I wanted to give the cherries something special for my birthday this year. That’s when she suggested the café.”

• KYAAAAA!!!!!
• As expected, Lulu the Great loves her fans lol.
• She beats up fans harder than anyone but also cherishes them more than anyone… a walking failed moral compass…

Who’s beating up fans?!

You’re the ones who keep teasing me!

Of course you’d leave out your own faults!

Hmph!

[‘blue dear’ donated 1,000 won!]

• But why suddenly plan this? You’re already busy with the new song.
• FR.
• Grateful, but kinda worried.
• Lulu-chan, you’re not overworking again, are you?
• If you collapse again, we’ll cry…

Just as I was about to snap at another troll comment, a concerned message came through with a donation.

Others chimed in with similar worries—“We’re grateful, but don’t push yourself.”

I get what they mean.

I do have a track record, after all and my schedule has been tight lately.

But that wasn’t enough to stop me from preparing this event.

Sure, overworking is bad, but…

More than that, I really wanted to give the cherries a gift.

Because…

“Ehehe… Well, you see… This is actually the first time in my life anyone’s ever remembered my birthday.”

• Ah…
• She didn’t even get to celebrate my birthday before…
• Ah, now you’re making me cry again…
• I’ll go get tissues, wait a bit, Lulu-chan…

Ah, no! Don’t cry!

I said it because I was happy!

So stop making it all sad already!

“Th-that’s not what I meant! It’s just that I’ve never celebrated or been happy about my birthday with anyone before, so this feels like a really special opportunity.”

• So that’s why you’re hosting a birthday café.
• Then we’re the first ones to celebrate Lulu-chan’s birthday?
• It’s an honor for our family, Lulu-chan…

Ah, no, celebrating a birthday once doesn’t make it a family honor…

How far are you even taking this?

“Anyway, that’s why I wanted to use this birthday as a chance to do something for the cherries, who I’ve always been grateful for. If it weren’t for the cherries, I wouldn’t have become someone who receives so much love, and I wouldn’t have had so many people celebrating my birthday, right?”

• Lulu-chan’s all grown up now…
• Have you ever seen such a sweet VTuber, everyone?
• Lulu-chan’s better than my own daughter…

Huh…!

Ah, isn’t that a bit too harsh…?

Your daughter would be really sad if she heard that.

Ah, now that I think about it, the CEO’s mom said something like that before too.

Right in front of her, no less.

Is it just a passive skill all parents with kids have?

I wouldn’t know, since I don’t have parents to hear that from.

“Ahem! So, in that spirit, this birthday café will be entirely funded by me! In other words, it’s ‘Lulu-chan’s treat!’”

• Huh?
• What?
• Out of your own pocket?
• I thought the CEO was paying?
• What kind of company leeches off their talent? Tch.

I brought it up proudly, thinking of it as a gift for the cherries.

But somehow, the reaction isn’t what I expected.

I thought they’d just be like, “Wow! Lulu-chan’s treating us!”

I didn’t think they’d blame the company and CEO Kang here.

“Ah, no! Everyone! The CEO offered to pay, but I wanted to do it myself! So no misunderstandings!”

• Oh.
• Ah, so that’s how it was? Should’ve said so earlier~
• Almost caused chaos in CEO Kang’s stream, lol.

Phew.

At least they seemed to understand after my rushed explanation.

That was close—the CEO’s stream could’ve been flooded with troublemakers.

“Anyway, you all have to come and have fun that day, okay, cherries? I asked the artists to prepare lots of merch too! It’s limited-edition goods you can only get at this birthday café, so it’s super rare!”

• OMG.
• Limited merch?
• I’m definitely going, lol.
• Gotta use my leave days in advance.
• Lulu-chan’s birthday café + free limited merch? How am I supposed to resist?
• Couldn’t you have told us later, Lulu-chan…? Now the wait’s unbearable…

How hyped up are they?

Some cherries are already suffering from anticipation.

S-sorry.

But I can’t move my birthday forward.

Actually, CEO Kang did say it might be better to announce it later so they wouldn’t have to wait so long…

But I couldn’t help it!

I wanted to tell the cherries as soon as possible.

It was with good intentions, I swear!

Anyway, after finishing all the announcements,

I was about to properly start the stream when…

[‘Woo-ae’ donated 1,000 won!]

• LOL Lulu-chan, the other members are throwing a fit because they want to go to the birthday café too.

“Huh?! Th-the members?!”

• Yep.
• Yukiko-chan’s seething, lol.
• LOLOLOLOL.
• You idiots, why would you even go? LMAO.
• Red flags everywhere, huh?

Out of nowhere, I got this news. Frantically checking other streams, I heard voices in different colors from four screens:

“I’m going to Lulu-chan’s birthday café too! Why are you only strict with me?! I’m Blue LUV!”

“I asked the boss, and she said we’re not allowed to go… Is this for real?”

“Sigh… My world is crumbling… I want our youngest’s limited merch too.”

“Wh-what if we wear hats and masks and hide our voices…? Still no good, right? We’d get caught?”

S-sorry, members…

But there’s nothing I can do about this…

I-I’ll try to make more limited merch to share somehow.

Even if the CEO scolds me for it…