Now That I Have Become a Woman, I Am a Vtuber - Chapter 117

This thing called rest is truly ironic.

It’s nice when you first get it, but if it continues, you start to feel restless, don’t you think? Especially for a workaholic like me who streams almost every day, it’s even harder to accept rest.

I took a day off with the mindset of wasting time, but the next day, I felt restless.

So, it’s the second day of my forced vacation.

I picked up my guitar and headed to Hyunsoo’s studio for the first time in a while.

When was the last time?

Honestly, I don’t remember well.

But I do keep in touch with Ah-young and Hyunsoo occasionally.

We don’t usually say much, though.

Feeling like a band member, I slung my guitar bag over my shoulder and entered Hyunsoo’s studio.

“Wow, how long has it been?”

“Suhyun! Long time no see!”

When I entered the studio, for some reason, everyone was gathered in the lobby.

“Hey, you came?” Hyunsoo, who was at the center of the group, waved lightly.

Has he grown taller? Did he gain some weight? He was handsome even when he was skinny, but now he looks even more refined with some weight on. Lucky guy.

I thought to myself that if I had that face when I was a man, I would have had multiple wives and concubines, as I walked inside.

“Why is everyone gathered here?” I asked casually while putting down my guitar bag and hanging up my coat. Ahyoung answered right away.

“We’re working on our new album!”
“Oh, it’s about time, isn’t it?”

Recently, the band in this studio officially became Hyunsoo’s band members. Slim Gold is now a full-fledged band, not just a solo artist.

“Yeah! We’re going to make it better than last time!”
“Well… I sincerely wish you the best.”

I’m one of the people who wants Hyunsoo to succeed. After all, we have a connection, and if Hyunsoo does well, my career as the album cover artist will also rise, won’t it?    

 “Unni, why do you sound like you’re talking about someone else?”
At that moment, Hyunsoo, who had been sitting leisurely on the couch sipping cocoa, looked at me and said.
What does that mean? No, more importantly, now that he has his own band, he seems to have gotten a bit cocky.

Hmm… it feels like just yesterday when he spilled a drink on my clothes.

“Are you not relaxing?”
“Yes.”
After quickly asserting dominance, I headed toward the couch where everyone was sitting.

“So, what exactly were you talking about?”
“We were picking songs.”
“Songs?”
Didn’t they just say they were working on a new album? So, they should be making songs… Ah.

“Did you already make some songs?”
“Just a few. They’re songs I wrote when I had some free time, and a couple turned out to be pretty good.”
I was stunned by Hyunsoo’s answer.
This crazy genius…

“Well, I guess the album will come out pretty quickly.”
“Yeah, we’re aiming for the first quarter of next year.”

The first quarter of next year? Wow, that’s pretty fast. Usually, it takes about a year to work on an album, or at least half a year. Well, it depends on how many songs there are.

“You just started thinking about it, and it’s coming out that fast?”
 “No, I’m a bit extraordinary, aren’t I?”
 “…?”

Ha… Where did that humble kid go? Now he’s become an arrogant celebrity.

“Wow, if you look at me like that, I’ll get hurt.”
“What look?”
“The look I used to give you, Suhyun.”
 “…”

Now he doesn’t even lose an argument, sigh.

“Anyway, what brings you here today?”
“Oh, right.”

The reason I came here… I picked up the guitar bag I had placed to the side and said,

“Because I’m bored.”
“What?”
“I’m on a short break, and staying at home is too boring.”

I really came because I was bored. What else could I do?

No, to be precise, I did have something I could do, but I didn’t want to do it during the rare vacation I’d received.
“By the way… do you not have any friends?”
At that moment, Kanghyuk’s quiet remark struck straight to my heart.

“…That’s not it.”
How many friends do I have, after all?
From Hyejeong to the members of the Heavenly Realm, and even friends living far away in Japan.

Though, I can’t count them all on ten fingers.

“That seems right… By the way, have you been practicing guitar?”
“Oh, the guitar?”
Guitar practice… I took the guitar out and positioned myself.

“Want me to show you?”
It seems they forgot.
I’m a former Guitar Hero aspirant, after all.

Discussing my guitar skills with me, huh?

With everyone’s attention focused on me, I played the guitar. And then…

“…Surprisingly, you haven’t improved at all, have you?”
“Do you know there’s dust on your guitar?”
“This is an insult to the guitar!”

I received all sorts of harsh criticism.
…Is it really that bad?

It’s not like I haven’t practiced at all.

Though recently, with Tenshi visiting and preparing for advertisements, I haven’t touched it.

“Then why did you even bring the guitar?”
Kanghyuk, a guitarist at heart, stared at me with disbelief.
…It’s awkward when you look at me like that.

“Actually, I brought it just to look cool.”

But I did bring it to look cool.
Ha—this is all the composer’s fault.

They gave me a difficult song as my next guitar assignment, which is probably why I’ve dropped it.

The songs I had practiced before were at least ones I could reference on YouTube to help me…

But if you just give me the sheet music, what am I supposed to do?

 “Apologize.”
“Huh?”
“You need to apologize to my guitar for playing it.”

Kanghyuk said this while pointing to his guitar, which was neatly placed off to the side.

It still looked flashy, and it was clear it had been well-maintained—quite the opposite of my acoustic guitar, which had some dust on it.

“Wow, even after all this time, your guitar still looks great. Can I play it once more?”
“Argh!”
Well, aside from the flashiness, that guitar really had a certain appeal to it.

If I handed it to Roa, she’d probably become a stylish indie guitarist right away.

“Okay, enough with the guitar talk. Suhyun, do you want to see this?”
“Huh?”
While Kanghyuk was still clutching his neck, Ayoung, who had been listening to our conversation with a smile, interrupted and handed me a piece of paper.

“What’s this?”
“The list of people who said they’d do a feature for us, the legendary ones.”
“Is this all?”

Just looking at the names on the paper, it seemed like a lot. Is this the kind of response Hyunsoo gets?

“Hyunsoo gets a lot of love from seniors when he appears on variety shows. He’s super popular.”
“He really is the perfect son-in-law type.”

He’s young, polite… well, at least in public, and he clearly received a good education. Senior singers must like him a lot.

A young, handsome, polite genius is usually only disliked out of jealousy and envy.

Those who aren’t jealous at least have a favorable impression of him. So, I looked through the list of names for featuring… and it was quite impressive.

Even though I’m not familiar with celebrities, I’ve checked out some singers while preparing other songs for live performances. This list included national singers I knew, various well-known names, and even people I had seen at previous gatherings… it was very impressive.

“Wow, this is no joke!”

That’s why pure admiration escaped me.

“Right? I just want to pick them all.”
“Nope. Only one person per song.”

I nodded in agreement with Ahyoung, but Hyunsoo cut in firmly and said, “One person.”
From his tone, it was clear… this was not his usual self, but his “working mode” as a professional.

No one could change his mind once he got like that.

“How many songs are you doing?”

That’s what I was more curious about. How many songs were they planning? Since they were aiming for a release early next year, was it going to be an EP album?

“About 8 songs. If we do more, maybe 12. For now, we’re picking songs, and we’re planning to write a few that match the concept.”
“Wow.”

It’s rare to see a proper full-length album these days, with so many singles and EPs flooding the market. This is true, traditional professionalism. There’s a reason the seniors love him.

Even among our “celestial” group, we call it an album, but it’s really just one song with no real substance.

“Choosing people for this must be tough. If you told me to pick 8 people from here, I don’t think I could do it.”

Well, I’d probably pick four right away, and the other four I’d have to think about.

And there’s also the matter of face, right?

It’s true that getting a lot of requests feels good, but… when seniors ask like this, it’s a bit awkward to reject them and choose someone else.

As I thought about it from Hyunsoo’s perspective and looked at the featuring list, Hyunsoo, who was sitting, suddenly spoke up.

“I’d love it if you could do one too.”
“Me? But this lineup is already so solid.”

I reflexively denied the suggestion right away.

It’s surprising that they’d propose this with such a solid lineup, but I wasn’t considering it at all.
After all, I’m too busy, and it’s not really necessary, is it?
I don’t even have time to fit in.

“If you do it, I’ll give you a song too.”
“What?”
A song? Really?

“Yeah, there’s actually a song I made that doesn’t fit me, but it’s perfect for you.”
“Eh…?”
“You’ve mentioned it before, haven’t you? That one.”

That one… with so many people around, I had to speak in a roundabout way, but I was certain he was talking about Miro’s original track.
For a brief moment, a happy thought passed through my mind.

Hyunsoo’s original song for Miro? And if we announce it before a live show and then perform it at the year-end live?
Or, we could just announce it that day.

I didn’t think the song would be bad.
It’s Hyunsoo, after all. There’s no way the song could be bad.

If anything, Hyunsoo probably knows my vocals better than anyone other than the composer.
If he says it’s a good fit, then it’s bound to be a perfect match.

“…So what kind of song should I do?”
I answered, almost hypnotized, as if I were looking at a hypnosis app.
It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.