Chapter 138: Succeed

「Ahhhhh! Die!」

The ninja character with a drawn sword slashed through the empty air.

This was supposed to be one of the most powerful ultimate abilities in the game.

「Oh no, I fell asleep…」

My character fell asleep after getting hit by a sleep dart.

The teammates who had even given me buffs to make me stronger were endlessly flaming me.

[Wtf is adc doing!?!?!?]

[deadass shitty dps gap.]

[ah… no heals…]

[sorry…]

Being angry was one thing, but being wrong was another.

I apologized to my teammates like I was in tears.

「Uwaaahhh. Why’s nothing going right today?」

When I pressed the crying key to activate the tears effect, messages telling me not to cry filled the chat.

Ugh… so annoying… I just… hate everything…

「Should I end the stream early today? It’s just…」

The Han Taemin-brand invasion was annoying.

And the game wasn’t going well either.

I wanted to stream happily too, not gather people just to be irritated.

[Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go! Don’t go!]

[we were wrong…]

[I can’t live without Luka-tan ㅠㅠ]

[ill report all those guys for you!]

One username stood out like a sore thumb.

[Lucario: Please don’t turn it off!!!]

Excuse me, Han Taemin-ssi.

I can see all the messages too, you know?

Right now I was feeling terrible because of who, huh, acting like that?

Feeling irritated beyond belief, I declared I was going on strike.

「Huu… Sorry chat. Luka-tan is having a hard time today so she can’t stream anymore.」

Since the minimum time requirement would be met in about 10 minutes anyway, I’d be free to do whatever after that.

「I’ll just stream longer on Wednesday instead. Sigh. Bye everyone~」

pArmyBoo and pArmyCry emotes flooded the chat.

They looked pitiful at times, but currently it just felt like a fixed routine so there wasn’t much to it.

If I listened to all their demands, I’d probably have to do 24/7 streams.

After pressing the stream end button and sighing, I got up from my chair and leaned against the small sofa.

I deflated like a punctured balloon.

The messages I’d seen earlier flashed before my eyes.

[wow… he really likes this kinda stuff?]

[Han Taemin is amazing.]

[I came after watching Taemin oppa’s video, is it normally like this?]

Not everyone had bared their teeth to bite me, but one negative comment tends to be more memorable than 100 positive ones.

Just when I tried to fix up my mindset and let it go, I felt frustrated again.

-Ring

My phone vibrated.

It was Oppa.

「Hello?」

「Are you at the studio?」

「Yeah.」

「Should I come pick you up?」

Did he notice I wasn’t feeling well?

Oppa asked me very carefully.

「Yes. Please come.」

About 10 minutes passed.

I heard knocking outside the door.

“Doah.”

It was my beloved boyfriend’s voice.

When I got up and opened the door, he greeted me with a bright smile.

“I bought something to eat.”

He held out a black bag in front of me.

“…What is it?”

“Convenience store roll cake.”

Naturally going to the sofa and sitting me down, he unwrapped a disposable fork for me.

“Let’s eat.”

“Okay.”

When I stabbed a piece of cake with the fork and put it in my mouth, sweet and moist cream filled my mouth completely.

“You worked hard today.”

Oppa patted my head as I chewed.

Seeing his expression which for some reason looked apologetic, I shook my head.

“No, I only did a short stream today. What are you talking about?”

“Still, those… weirdos seemed to come because of me.”

That wasn’t something Oppa needed to apologize for.

It’s not like Oppa told them to do it.

“It’s fine. My stream was already crawling with weirdos anyway.”

I was used to it now so it didn’t affect me much, but people unfamiliar with the culture would definitely wonder what this was if they watched my stream.

“They all do it because they like you.”

Still, since he felt a strong sense of belonging to being a Pink Army, Oppa was earnestly defending them.

With that handsome face, chattering about how the Pink Army kids weren’t bad people despite how they looked.

“I get it.”

Only after I fed him a piece of roll cake did Oppa stop explaining.

“Haah… but honestly, I don’t really like it when girls confess their love to Oppa.”

Saying they love Han Taemin, that they’ll marry him.

Of course, I knew from looking at idol and actor comments that this was perfectly normal, but thinking that the target was Oppa, I still couldn’t seem to get used to it.

“Doesn’t Oppa feel anything when he sees the Pink Army fawning over me?”

Come to think of it, that was true.

These guys even make perverted comments to me sometimes.

“Luka-tan is everyone’s idol.”

…Don’t make that face.

With a stern and solemn expression, Oppa grabbed my hand.

“And everyone talks like that but it’s because they’re cheering for you.”

Right.

This person is fundamentally different.

His accepting mindset itself was different.

To Oppa, I was Luke the Vtuber from the beginning.

It made sense that he wouldn’t feel particularly uncomfortable about that.

But I…

“Oppa, wait a moment.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Can you bend down for a second?”

“Like this?”

When Oppa bent his upper body, I stuck out my tongue and licked the cream that was on the corner of his mouth.

“…You left this for me to eat, right?”

“No, I didn’t.”

My boyfriend laughed as if my action was absurd.

Oppa’s hand patting my head was very warm, so I pushed my head forward meaning I wanted more.

I think I prefer Oppa being my Han Taemin alone after all.

For this pathetic truth I couldn’t bring myself to voice out loud,

I disliked myself a little.

“Taemin-ssi! Really! The response is so good right now.”

Inside YM’s company building.

Before going to acting lessons, Manager-nim said he had something to discuss and dragged me into the seminar room.

“Ah… you mean that interview video?”

“Did you see the view count?”

“Yes.”

“It’s almost reached a million in just one week. There are tons of comments too.”

I tried to look up everything about me when possible, but there was so much I couldn’t even keep up.

“I think our decision to go with an honest concept back then was a stroke of genius.”

Spreading rumors to the whole world that I was a VTuber lover.

I thought this might help Doah, but seeing the invasion of tourists who came in and harassed her made me not entirely happy about it.

If anything, I felt a bit sorry.

“As I mentioned before, broadcast and project appearance offers have been pouring in.”

“Yes.”

“Really. We got an offer with groundbreaking conditions for a newcomer.”

Groundbreaking offer…?

When I blinked and asked what it was, Manager-nim held out his phone to show me a document.

“It’s a drama that will air in the second half of this year. The production company is this one, and here are their recent works…”

After hearing the full explanation, I swallowed nervously.

“So you’re telling me to join this?”

I didn’t know directors’ names or anything, but hearing the titles of recent works they’d handled, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

They were hits big enough for even me to know about.

There were tons of 10-minute drama summary videos circulating, and I remembered occasionally coming across clips.

“I was really shocked when this offer came in too. But the director seems to want to try using newcomers. Taemin-ssi was on that list.”

I checked the written lineup once more.

Unlike last time, this time there were names of actors I knew among the leads.

Real celebrities who existed on TV.

I would be working directly with them.

“I really recommend you to absolutely do this. We often can’t get people into projects by these kinds of directors even when we try to push them in.”

I understood this was a big project, but I had doubts about whether I was the right person to do it.

Even if they were using newcomers, still.

Would it be okay to use someone with one month of acting school experience?

My self-esteem had already been considerably worn down during practice, so my hesitation doubled.

“Um… can I think about it more and decide after seeing the script?”

“Taemin-ssi, this isn’t an opportunity that comes every day, genuinely.”

Perhaps frustrated by my reaction, Manager-nim looked at me as if wondering how to explain this.

“Don’t you want to succeed?”

I chewed my lips at the word “succeed.”

In a way, I might be incomprehensible from his perspective.

Joining an entertainment agency, getting this much push, and trying to turn it down.

But for me, this work was…

For me, success was…

I closed my eyes and let out a short sigh.

“When do I need to give you an answer?”

It was time to think seriously.