Chapter 18: Texting First

༺ Texting First ༻[unnies.]

I’ve been too busy to chat with anyone recently, but I found myself chatting with them to discuss what had been happening with Taemin oppa.

Obviously I couldn’t tell my friends at the university, and my close friends were all busy living their lives, so it’d be awkward to suddenly bring up the story of me confessing and getting rejected.

[Oh, what this? Hey girls~ Our idol is here~]

[really??? luka, long time no see!]

Before I started streaming, I had been playing online games with these unnies. I invited them to a voicecord and then started typing on the keyboard again.

[there’s a problem…]

I hadn’t even finished typing all my messages, but they had already sent out explosive responses.

[What is it? Have you met another guy already, Luka?]

[is it about the secret life of an idol ahahahaha]

[hey stfu for a sec luka can’t talk. what is it?]

Just look at this. What a noisy bunch.

Then again, that was the reason why I liked playing with them.

Even if I wasn’t good at the games, I could still have fun with them.

While I still played games outside of my stream, I still found the time I played with them back when I was in high school the most enjoyable.

Though our relationship started as an online one, after several years of interaction, sometimes I felt more comfortable talking with them compared to my close real life friends.

Also, they were the ones who encouraged me to start streaming.

Back then, I never expected that it would grow to such a scale…

Of course, all of them watched my audition streams.

[is it okay if the story is a bit long?]

[Seated and ready.]

[insert popcorn meme]

[ah. don’t beat around the bush, summarize it in three lines.]

[i told you before about the oppa who rejected me…]

I told them about how I was working on a group project with Taemin oppa and we went to the VR Experience Center together. Their reaction to that was also explosive.

[No, Luka. This is 100%. He has feelings for you.]

Really…? Was that really it…?

[ehh? noway… what feelings… hah…… it looks like he’s just playing around.]

Each chat message from the unnies seemed to sway my emotions.

Some of them claimed that he was interested in me, while the others claimed that he was just a trash who loved to play around with girls.

I hadn’t added any further explanations, but during their back-and-forth, Hanbit unnie, the eldest one among them, intervened to mediate the dispute.

[So, what’s your problem, Luka?]

My problem… was…

[i just want to know what oppa is thinking.]

[If he does have feelings, will you meet him again?]

That was a difficult question.

Honestly, I hadn’t even thought that far.

[…I don’t know.]

I just couldn’t imagine it.

Because his rejection was so blunt that it made me think it was pointless to even fantasize about him liking me.

[no. unnie! guys like that definitely know their worth, right? are they stupid not to know how handsome they are?]

[Right, but…]

As the conversation turned to the topic of ’attractiveness’, my gaze naturally shifted to the full-body mirror standing next to my bed.

If we were to weigh oppa and me on the appearance scale, he would certainly win by a landslide.

At least, boys didn’t scream in excitement as if they were members of an idol fan club when they saw me.

[But for now, we should just observe a bit more, right? It’s hard to say anything based on just one separate meeting.]

[fr fr you’ll keep seeing him during the group project anyway. just wait and watch a bit more.]

[silly luka, if you’re really curious, why don’t you try messaging him first? that should give you a clear idea, right?]

…Texting first?

Just the thought alone made me dizzy.

Even the thought of sending him a gift card as a thanks for what he had done for me had me break out in a cold sweat. And they expected me to text him for no reason…?

The hurdle was way too high. No way I could surpass that.

[anyways, if anything progresses, i’ll let you know. thanks, unnies~]

After sending such a message to end the conversation, I let out a deep sigh.

I started this conversation to relieve some frustration, but it only added to my worry.

”Really, what should I do…”

Fiddling with my phone and looking at Taemin oppa’s messenger profile, I started preparing for the stream.

* * *

[Hello everyone~ Pink Army!! This is Philosopherdol Luka!! Wow~] Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ɴovᴇlꜰirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

[Some of you might have noticed that my channel name has changed. I’m finally officially a member of the virtual idol group CLOSER!]

[New avatar! New stream setup! If you want to meet Luka reborn as a rookie idol under YM, join my live stream tonight at 10 PM!!!]

[See you later~ Bye~]

10 PM… Perfect timing.

Having checked Luka’s stream announcement, I organized what I needed to do in my head.

“Taemin, let’s wrap up and start cleaning before we close!”

“Okay!”

Cheering internally at the manager’s words, I quickly stuffed my phone into my pocket and dashed into the restroom.

Usually, I would have done the cleaning half-heartedly and went straight home, but today was different.

I was focused on finishing up quickly so I could go home and watch Luka’s stream.

“Manager! I’m all done!”

Having completed the cleaning with the determination of a private scrubbing the barracks, I stood at the counter for inspection.

“What’s up? You got something urgent today? You finished really quick.”

“Ah… I do have something to take care of.”

“Is that so? I’ll handle the closing. You can go home. Good job.”

“Thank you for your hard work!”

Thankfully, the manager seemed in a good mood today and let me leave without fuss.

If he were irritable, he’d find some petty reasons to make me redo the cleaning.

Since it was only 9.30 pm at the moment, if I showered quickly, I could still catch Doah’s stream.

As I climbed the slope and turned, the familiar apartment building came into view.

…Strange.

The building next door, which I had passed by thoughtlessly before, felt somehow new and different.

Thinking about Luka streaming from here every day filled me with a strange feeling, as I headed straight back to my own place.

[21:50]

The stream was scheduled for 10 PM, but it seemed like Luka had started streaming about 10 minutes early.

[Luka~]

[Luka Luka!]

[oh! what’s with the waiting screen???]

As the viewers mentioned, there was indeed a new illustration on Luka’s waiting screen.

A cute-looking TV drawn against a light pink background.

On the TV screen, there was a cute phrase that looked handwritten.

[Transforming into an idol……]

What was this?

Did the company give her this?

I didn’t know its identity, but it was pretty cute.

While the viewers were greeting each other and waiting for Luka, right after the clock struck the hour, the screen suddenly turned pitch black as if it was bugged.

The chat flooded with question marks.

Thinking that it might be a problem on my end, I checked my computer, but after seeing the reaction of other chatters, it didn’t seem to be the case.

Ten seconds passed just like that.

「Surprised, huh? Kukukukuku」

Hearing Luka’s signature teasing voice, her chat raged.

Their messages ranged from telling her to stop doing that to those who outright cursed her.

「Ah, come on~ There’s always a reason for acting all smug like this. What do you think? Are you all ready to meet an idol?」

Normally, she wouldn’t hype things up to this extent…

Which meant that she had prepared something.

「Ta-da!」

The previously frozen screen started to move.

[Wow! What’s this?]

[uwaaaa!]

[Luka is so cute, Luka is so cute, Luka is so cute, Luka is so cute, Luka is so cute, Luka is so cute, Luka is so cute, Luka is so cute]

T-This… This was the power of money!

It wasn’t like I found her previous avatar ugly or anything.

Her previous avatar was cute, but it also looked quite ordinary. Compared to that, this one…

Goodbye to the clumped pink hair that could only move ever so stiffly.

Her hair moved so naturally right now, as if it mimicked the movements of a real person.

Not only that, her facial expressions also weren’t limited like before.

She could move her facial muscles freely now, as it tracked her face movements in real-time.

Luka only had a word to comment on this new avatar.

「…It’s awesome, right?!」

And I completely agreed with her.

I guess this was what would happen when a company that hoarded a huge amount of money got involved.

​​The YM logo, which was akin to a trademark, was placed at the top left of the screen.

「How about it? Do I look a bit more like an idol now?」

​​[Yess!]

[Love you, Luka!]

[woah… the quality is amazing…]

Luka’s avatar beamed, seemingly pleased with the people’s reactions.

「I was really surprised when I first got it. The manager tried this and that, even helped with the setup.」

Doah explained in detail what had happened while she was Luka.

「So, the important part starts here! The stream schedule is now fixed!」

​「I have to stream at the times set by the company, and once a week, I have to do a stream with the other members!」

「This week, because we have our debut showcase, there’s a collab stream scheduled for Saturday!」

Hearing this, I quickly took out my phone and started taking notes.

Luka’s schedule was basically my schedule.

「I’m still awkward with the other members, I wonder if I’ll be able to do well.」

By the way, she had never collabed with anyone before.

When her chat asked her about it, she told them that her solo streams weren’t very long to begin with. She didn’t have time to socialize with other streamers during her streams because her streams were too short.

「Anyway, my official streams are on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for four hours plus something extra. Think of collabs as one day on the weekend!」

Since she had an agency now, naturally her stream time would be increased, which was good, but it also made me worry about something…

This meant we could only do the filming for our project on days other than Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Almost less than half a week worth of time…

Ah, forget it. I’ll just say I’m also busy.

「So let’s just play casually today~ I’ll just play some of my usual games~」

After playing some rhythm games and FPS for about three hours, Luka ended her stream.

Feeling satisfied with watching a proper stream after a long time, I stretched out while letting out a deep sigh.

While the fact that she had a fixed time schedule now was great…

[You have received a new message. -Kim Doah]

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