I Want to Be a VTuber

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Seo-yeon, who ventured out alone, had very few places to go.

She managed to get something to eat at a nearby McDonald’s.

Even if she couldn’t talk, the kiosk could somehow handle it.

Wondering where to go next, Seo-yeon pondered for a moment.

“I’ve seen enough of Akihabara already.”

She wanted to browse around some second-hand shops, but she was sure she’d end up wanting to buy something if she did.

Seo-yeon knew she had a weakness for her interests and couldn’t restrain herself.

So, she decided not to look at all.

“I should go somewhere other than Akihabara today!”

Feeling somewhat adventurous and curious, Seo-yeon headed to the station.

When considering where to go, the first place that popped into her mind was Shibuya.

“There’s so much to see there.”

She heard the Pokémon Center in Shibuya was quite large.

With that in mind, Seo-yeon boarded the subway headed for Shibuya to check it out.

Reflecting on her travels thus far, most of it had been an otaku-style journey, so shopping there felt relatively mild for a change.

If Sora had been with her, she probably would’ve scolded her for not doing this sooner.

“This would be a nice gift for Dad.”

Seo-yeon knew that Young-bin liked Pokémon.

So, while she was at it, she thought about buying something and began to look around.

“Hmm?”

Two women dressed in what is often referred to as goth-loli fashion caught her eye.

They even had quite pretty faces.

She’d seen a similar style in Akihabara a few times, but it always amazed her each time.

In Japan, people really walk around dressed like that.

Impressive, she thought as she brushed past them.

“Every time I come here, it’s so crowded.”

“Yeah, there isn’t much to see either. Why not go to the Rush store downstairs?”

“Things like this are about the vibe, you know?”

She heard those words.

Seo-yeon turned her head instinctively.

Understandably, what she had just heard was in Korean, not Japanese.

“Huh, they’re Korean?”

It was a totally unexpected turn of events.

Who would have thought Koreans would be wandering around in such outfits?

Seo-yeon discreetly followed them with her eyes.

It looked like those outfits were part of a recent trend in subculture.

“Why on earth?”

Were those people peculiar?

Or was it similar to a cosplay sensation?

As she contemplated, she descended one floor down from where the Pokémon Center was located.

“Ah?”

A store that captured Seo-yeon’s gaze appeared.

It was exactly the clothing worn by those women she had just seen.

In other words, a shop specializing in goth-loli attire.

“That’s amazing.”

It caught her eye even more that a store like this existed in a place filled with ordinary clothing.

Just a simple curiosity.

After all, Seo-yeon herself was an otaku, and she couldn’t help but feel intrigued.

So, she quietly approached the shop, only to feel strange gazes on her.

“Why? Why?”

Even though she was pretty sure her face was covered by a mask, was there someone who recognized her?

“But, even so, I’ve only appeared in a variety show once.”

No matter how much of a sensation it was, surely more people wouldn’t recognize her.

She had obscured her face with a black mask and changed her hairstyle.

When she had appeared on TV, she had her hair down, but now it was tied back on both sides.

At first, she wondered if she was mistaken, but the gazes following her every move while she browsed the clothes left Seo-yeon feeling quite flustered.

Of course, those nearby didn’t actually recognize Seo-yeon.

It was just that—

“Seriously? Wow, no kidding.”

“Are those colored contact lenses? Should I ask where she got them?”

“Her outfit looks pretty ordinary. Probably an experienced one?”

Seo-yeon’s striking red eyes were indeed hard to overlook.

Plus, with the black mask, which was a signature of goth-loli fashion, and her hair styled into pigtails, she stood out.

Her attire might seem regular to some, but anyone could tell she looked like a budding goth-loli girl.

Even her fierce expression and fair skin made her striking, despite the mask covering her face.

Of course, from the shop assistant’s perspective, it was only natural for them to be concerned about Seo-yeon.

“Are you looking for something in particular?”

As she stepped closer to ask, Seo-yeon stared blankly at the shop assistant.

“What are they saying?”

Seo-yeon wasn’t entirely clueless about Japanese.

After all, she had watched enough to grasp the general nuance.

“Are they asking if I’m looking for clothes?”

The issue was, even if she could guess the meaning, she had no idea how to respond.

“Matase tāna? Damare? No, what should I say?”

After saying “Hey, lady” at the convenience store, she got an earful from Sora and Eun-ha when she returned.

Using terms like “onnna” and “kisama” was absolutely forbidden.

No, she had promised herself multiple times to speak as little as possible.

Why was that?

She had just spoken like she did in anime.

“Um.”

Seo-yeon fell silent, causing the shop assistant to wonder and speak up.

“Are you perhaps Korean?”

“……Can you speak Korean?”

“Of course! I like Korean idols! I go to Korea often.”

Though her pronunciation was a bit off, her Korean skills were pretty impressive.

Anyway, from the shop assistant’s perspective, Seo-yeon was quite appealing.

Most importantly, she was cute!

Even her voice was lovely.

“Are you perhaps a celebrity? No way, right?”

Naturally, the thought that she might be a celebrity crossed the shop assistant’s mind.

Of course, it wouldn’t make much sense for a Korean celebrity to come to such a niche shop.

However, the assistant really wanted to see Seo-yeon wearing clothes from her store.

And so, leveraging all her customer service skills, she began chatting energetically.

“Since you’re wearing red lenses, they’d go wonderfully with outfits like this…”

“These aren’t lenses.”

“?”

The assistant looked closely at Seo-yeon’s eyes.

Oh, those red eyes are natural?

“Seriously?”

Curiosity sparked, but to be honest, from the assistant’s point of view.

“So Jealous.”

Having such striking red eyes without lenses was impressive.

As a personal preference leaning towards black hair and red eyes, she found Seo-yeon’s eyes enviable.

“Then you’re losing out, Miss.”

“Excuse me?”

“With such a talent, not embellishing it seems like a waste!”

Calling her red eyes a talent?

What kind of talent was that?

Was she saying it was a talent for being a goth-loli?

If that were the case, it wasn’t exactly an uplifting talent.

But once the conversation started, the assistant began talking a lot, almost like a machine gun.

“People visiting from Korea tend to buy these a lot.”

“Well, I guess that kind of outfit isn’t commonly worn in Korea? Cultural differences?”

“Anyway, so it feels like a liberation of self after coming to Japan! What do you think? Isn’t it pretty? Don’t you want to try it on? You can hardly wear it back in Korea! Being in Japan is a great chance to experience something new!”

As the assistant’s barrage of information started wearing down Seo-yeon, she began to think, “Is this really the case?”

It was true that it was an outfit hard to wear in Korea…

“Hmm, it does seem useful for when I’m trying to disguise myself.”

Since she was traveling in Japan, trying something she couldn’t do back home seemed like a good idea.

She briefly floated that thought, and although it wasn’t exactly cosplay, the vibe was reminiscent.

Moreover, the assistant kept saying it was a shame not to try it.

With other women nearby seeming to agree, Seo-yeon began to feel like she would miss out if she didn’t give it a try.

“Should I go for it?”

Not one to pass up on these things easily,Seo-yeon completely fell for it.

That was about an hour ago.

*

“Ugh.”

Seo-yeon felt the glares of those around her.

Honestly, at first, it had been quite fun.

The shop assistant had eagerly helped her pick out an outfit.

Coincidentally, there were accessory shops nearby that matched perfectly.

Dressed in full black goth-loli attire, a black mask, and her hair done up appropriately gothic with some hairpins, she really stood out when she finally turned to look in a mirror.

Well, that part was good.

Having just excitedly donned her new outfit, she emerged onto the streets of Shibuya carrying the bag of her previous clothes.

“What have I done?”

That’s when Seo-yeon snapped back to reality.

She realized she had let herself be swept away by the clever marketing.

Seeing her reflection in a café’s glass, it looked rather good on her too.

“Wow, I am pretty.”

A tiny bit of that self-absorbed thought ran through her mind.

No, that wasn’t the point.

Regardless, Seo-yeon felt a pang of regret.

“Well, this is an experience, right?”

She tried to convince herself, letting out a sigh.

At least she could be sure no one would recognize her.

Right, that was enough.

Thinking this, she continued walking when—

“Huff, gasp! You’re Joo Seo-yeon, right?”

“…….”

She even failed at that.

“How did they know?”

No sooner had she crossed the street than two men rushed over to speak to her.

And not in Japanese—Korean.

She wondered who they were but could roughly guess their identity from the camera in their hands.

‘Paparrazi!!’

As she instinctively grew wary, they hurriedly waved their hands and exclaimed, “We’re, we’re journalists! We’re absolutely not suspicious!”

Whether they were Japanese reporters or maybe paparazzi trying to make excuses… it didn’t matter to Seo-yeon.

What mattered was that they had realized she was Joo Seo-yeon!

Additionally, her outfit was ironically a goth-loli getup!

If anyone caught wind of this look back in Korea, it would undoubtedly spread like wildfire.

That would surely damage her image.

Yes, regarding the polished persona she maintained as an actress…

“Huh?”

Seo-yeon thought.

Wasn’t this better than being called a gorilla?

Despite the “goth-loli” tag, it didn’t differ much from Zero-ro’s outfit that Seo Hee wore in the theme park before.

“Besides, I already pulled a stunt like this on a variety show in Japan…”

When she closed her eyes, the moment from yesterday’s variety show came to mind.

Everyone packaged it as a performance by a genius actress!! but the image the Japanese had of her was that of a crawling ghost, which wasn’t ideal.

Seo-yeon now understood.

How difficult it could be to alter the initial impression left on people!

A goth-loli girl or a bizarre ghost crawling on the floor.

If one had to choose between the two…

“Who are you?”

Seo-yeon, who had been ready to bolt away, suddenly froze in her tracks.

If they truly were journalists, it might be worth hearing them out.

*

When Narumi Sora and Eun-ha opened their eyes, they were filled with despair.

That was because Seo-yeon had completely vanished.

“Should I try calling her?”

“No, I called her already, and she didn’t answer. What is Seo-yeon even doing?”

At Eun-ha’s words, Sora flinched for a moment.

It was so natural for her to say “What is she doing?”

But, there was no denying that Seo-yeon had a tendency to stir up a bit of trouble.

Whether she intended to or not.

Most importantly, she wasn’t very aware that she was a celebrity, leading to numerous instances where she didn’t bother to hide her face properly.

Especially in Japan, where she assumed no one would recognize her, she freely strutted around showing her clear face.

“Given the kind of issue we had yesterday, there’s bound to be someone who recognizes her…”

Eun-ha felt worried about Seo-yeon.

What if she got into a tiff with someone?

Of course, it wasn’t Seo-yeon that she was worried about, but rather the person who might pick a fight with her.

Eun-ha knew that Seo-yeon had recently become engrossed in martial arts manga.

Wondering if she might, by chance, take up martial arts again, she casually asked.

“Lions don’t train.”

With a line that sounded like something out of a manga, she flashed a confident smile.

In any case, it seemed like she wasn’t planning to learn martial arts, which gave Eun-ha some relief.

Though she had been worried about Seo-yeon for various reasons due to her recent image, Seo-yeon typically liked strong things at her core.

So if she were to get confronted in Japan… she definitely wouldn’t back down.

“Maybe we can find out what’s going on by checking the news?”

Surveying the panicked Eun-ha, Sora was the first to compose herself.

“Um, manager. Isn’t that a bit much to expect?”

Why would she think her artist would appear on the news?

The frightening part was that it wasn’t entirely impossible.

“Y-You’re right. I blurted that out because I was panicking. But Seo-yeon is a bit of a ticking bomb… she tends to explode.”

Of course, she was mostly a quiet and nice girl.

But once she got excited, she couldn’t control herself.

Particularly in Japan, her hobbies were deeply intertwined; she was practically on a hair-trigger.

To put it simply, it was a situation where an explosion could happen at any moment.

“Let’s try to keep in touch over the phone?”

“Though we shouldn’t just rush out in case we cross paths…”

For reference, Seo-yeon had left a note saying she would be heading to Shibuya.

Of all places, it was Shibuya, not Akihabara.

Several hours passed while they waited anxiously.

Clunk.

The door swung open as the sun started to set.

“Seo-yeon, are you alright…?”

Running toward the hotel entrance, Eun-ha stopped suddenly, frozen in place.

Curious about what was happening, Sora approached the entrance to find herself equally stunned.

“What could have happened?”

It was clear that Seo-yeon had a bit of a volatile side.

But who would have expected her to return as a full-on mine?

Incredibly.

“I, um. I had an interview.”

Seo-yeon suddenly dropped that bombshell.

“Uh, wait? An interview?”

No way, not in that getup?

Though it suited her way too well.

So much that it was a problem.

She looked like a comic character who had just popped into reality.

“And I think I’ll be making a cameo in a drama.”

“Eh??”

The shocking revelation left Eun-ha and Sora completely frozen.

This was something they had never anticipated at all.