Now That I Have Become a Woman, I Am a Vtuber - Chapter 40

“Ahaha… sure. Of course.”

When I asked if it was okay for me to take on this song, the composer surprisingly chuckled softly before responding.

“I was actually hoping to find the right owner for it.”

“Really… But am I truly the right owner?”

“Well, what if you aren’t?”

“What?”

What does it mean if I’m not?

What could that mean?

“If it’s you, Miro, you might not just be the owner of this song, but a good companion for it.”

“A companion? What does that mean?”

“You’ll understand later.”

The composer, who rarely spoke in such a meaningful way, regained a serious expression and said,

“So, after listening to the song, what do you think? Will you sign the contract?”

I genuinely found myself seriously contemplating this question.

I wanted to, but could I handle it?

This wasn’t just a feature.

It wasn’t a group song like the Celestial Project either.

It was purely solo.

I would have to fill the entire four-minute duration with just my voice from start to finish.

Would I be able to do it?

And it looked incredibly difficult in terms of complexity…

Still…

But…

“I’ll do it.”

Honestly, I couldn’t resist.

How could I give up on becoming the singer of this song?

I may not be greedy for fame or wealth, but this was too good an opportunity to pass up.

“Great. Then let’s sign the contract.”

“But, what name will we sign under? Suhyun or Miro?”

This was an important question.

Should I go with Suhyun or Miro?

I had already decided not to use Suhyun anymore, but isn’t it just words?

It’s not like I signed a contract; I can bend the rules a bit.

“Which one are you more comfortable with?”

“Honestly?”

“Yes, honestly.”

“Suhyun feels easier. I don’t have to worry about the audience.”

“If you use Miro, you’ll gain more popularity. It could bring in a lot of new fans.”

“Doesn’t that also mean they’ll have higher expectations of me?”

Personally, I find streaming really comfortable and fun.

If a bunch of random people who just came for the song flood in, it could be awkward for both me and the existing viewers. Our stream is a bit niche, even from my perspective.

But then again, thinking like this…

“Haha, aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves here?”

“Ahaha… I was thinking the same thing.”

These are the kinds of worries to have only once things go well, right?

“Then let’s go with Suhyun for the contract.”

“Sure, but is releasing the song all I have to do? What about promotional activities, like music shows…?”

Don’t most singers do that? It helps promote the song, after all.

“Well, it’s something to think about later. If you don’t feel like it, you don’t have to.”

“Really?”

“It’s more important for my song to find its rightful owner.”

Really? I don’t actually have to go on those shows?

To put it simply, whether I go or not makes a huge difference.

If he can be so certain about that… does he really just want to find the right owner for his song?

“Don’t look at me like that. I’d love to promote my song on music shows across the country too.”

“Oh.”

“But you don’t like that, right? It feels like a burden, so I just said it’s fine.”

“You just said it…”

“I know you won’t back down just because of what I said.”

“True.”

“So let’s just sign the contract.”

The contract proceeded smoothly from there.

I’ve heard since I was young that you shouldn’t sign contracts lightly, but… with 42 years of life experience, I can make my own judgments and sign this one.

“It’s not urgent, so take your time while recording your second album,” the composer said to me with a somewhat relieved expression as we parted ways.

It felt like I had just taken on something huge without quite realizing it, but… it’ll be fine, right?

After all, who am I?

I’m the featured artist on “Wonderland,” a track from Slimgold’s album “Fantasy,” currently lining up the real-time charts.

Not to mention, a first-gen participant in the Celestial Project and Miro, a YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers.

Wow, looking at it like this, it’s kind of insane, right?

Yeah, I’ve done well so far, so I should be able to keep doing well.

Thinking that, I headed home.

On the way home, I checked my phone and saw that the group chat was blowing up.

Curious about what was going on, I checked and saw the members seemed eager to know what kind of conversation I had with the composer.

Within the next two weeks, everyone would be meeting with the composer one-on-one anyway, so I didn’t understand why they were so curious.

Still, since they were interested, I started explaining in the group chat what kinds of questions were being asked.

Things like why certain suggestions were made, and then trimming down the list of suggestions that came up. As I was explaining what had happened, my fingers suddenly stopped.

The only things left to mention were the part about Hyunsoo and the fact that I had become the owner of the composer’s unclaimed SSR rarity song. Should I tell them?

They’ll all find out eventually anyway, so should I tell them in advance?

Or should I keep both under wraps and surprise them later?

Honestly, I felt a bit hesitant.

Maybe some of the members are feeling more emotional than necessary about my situation.

Even I have to admit, I’ve been really, maybe excessively, lucky in my situation.

So, for now, I decided to keep it a secret.

Me: Have you heard this song? It’s pretty good. (Link)

Well, I left a small hint, thinking that those who are perceptive enough might figure it out.

But the response came faster than I expected.

Mahohyun: What’s this, Suhyun? You know it too? I’ve been listening to it a lot recently!

Been listening to it a lot?

Me: Really? What do you think?

Mahohyun: I just like it. The song is my style.

I probed a little further just in case, but no matter how I looked at it, it didn’t seem like he had noticed I was the featured artist.

Maybe it’s the composer who’s the real genius here for realizing it.

Mahohyun: By the way, do you know who the female feature is? I searched, but nothing came up.

For a moment, I thought he was fishing for information, but Maho isn’t the type to do that, so I answered honestly.

Me: Just some part-timer, I guess.

Mahohyun: No, that’s the stage name, isn’t it?

Stage name?

Well, I mean, technically, yes…

Me: Who would choose “Part-timer” as a stage name?

Mahohyun: Isn’t that pretty common? There were lots of names like that among old singers, like Sobangcha or other retro names. I guess I’m kind of an old-school guy.

No, that’s not it! It’s not like that!

This is the kind of misunderstanding that can happen?

But thinking it over again, I guess it makes sense.

Who would think a featured artist did it as a part-time job? They’d just think it’s a quirky name.

I need to have a talk with Hyunsoo about this.

Being a mysterious master who featured once and vanished is cool, but being a “one-song wonder” with the nickname “Part-timer” is not cool at all…

I told myself it was just a one-time thing, so it didn’t really matter. I figured the name “Part-timer” would draw more attention, but secretly, I liked the idea of being a mysterious unknown master.

With that thought in mind, I was almost home when I noticed a man standing near the entrance of my apartment building, smoking a cigarette.

“Isn’t that the guy from downstairs?”

Recently, he was the one who came up when I did that drunk singing stream.

I went down the next day to apologize right away, and now, here we are, bumping into each other again by chance. What a coincidence.

Well, it’s a coincidence, but I don’t have any intention of striking up a conversation or anything.

I hurriedly walked inside the building, trying to erase that embarrassing memory from my mind.

The weather these days has been so hot. Even though I’d spent most of my time in places with strong air conditioning, like the subway or the composer’s studio, just a few minutes outside left me sweating like it was pouring rain.

Once back home, I immediately took a shower to wash off the stickiness and then lay down on my bed.

Although my place was much smaller than the composer’s studio, lying there and feeling the cool air from the AC felt more refreshing than ever.

I felt like I might fall asleep any minute, so I grabbed my phone, which I had tossed aside earlier.

Before I dozed off, I wanted to take care of something I’d planned to do.

Immediately…

“Hello?”

“Oh, hi Suhyun. What’s up?”

I had to fix things before I became known as “Part-timer,” the weird one-song wonder.

“Hey, Hyunsoo, I saw your song climbing up the charts! Congrats.”

I started with some congratulations. Gotta keep things proper.

“Oh, you saw?”

“A composer I know showed it to me. He figured out I was the one who did the featuring.”

“You mean the composer from the Celestial Idol Project song?”

“Yeah, the same guy who wrote the song you called ‘mass-produced.’”

Might as well tease him a little since we’re on the phone.

“W-When did I say that?”

“You said something similar, didn’t you? He told me he was really pissed about it.”

“P-Pissed? Did you tell him what I said? That could’ve really upset him… Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine. It was your words, after all.”

“W-What?”

“I just said a singer said it, and he immediately knew it was you.”

“W-What??”

“You know how small this industry is, right? It’s so small that he could find your address in just a couple of connections. Maybe send him some gifts during the holidays.”

“Wait, seriously?”

Hyunsoo sounded genuinely flustered, which was rare.

Even a genius seems to fear their seniors, especially when it’s a senior who’s twice their age.

“Haha, I’m just kidding.”

“Really?”

“Half of it was a lie.”

“Right? You were the one who got scolded, weren’t you?]

“No, the part about him being angry was the lie.”

“Ahh…”

“Don’t worry too much; it wasn’t a big deal due to scheduling conflicts. So he just let it slide without saying much.”

“Still… why did you have to say I was the one who said it”

“Sorry… but it kind of sounded like I was criticizing his song, so I just told the truth…”

“So, you threw me under the bus because of the mood, huh?”

He caught on quickly! For a high schooler with no real-world experience, he’s pretty perceptive.

“Anyway, that’s not why I called.”

“Doesn’t seem like something to just brush off, but fine. What is it?”

Hyunsoo’s voice had dropped a bit, sounding a bit sulky.

“Cheer up; it’s good news.”

“Good news?”

“Yeah, but before that, let me share the bad news.”

I told Hyunsoo that somehow, instead of being known as a mysterious part-timer, I had ended up being seen as some strange singer with the stage name “Part-timer.”

His reaction to that news was subtle.

“So, what?”

“What do you mean ‘so what’? Don’t you realize how serious this is?”

“Aren’t you just going to do it once and then not do it again? Then it doesn’t really matter what people think, does it?”

Damn… He’s right.

Saying something like “it doesn’t sound cool” would be pretty embarrassing for me as an adult.

Luckily, I still had one card left to play.

“The thing is… I’ve actually been given a song by that composer.”

“What? A solo? Not for the Celestial Idol Project?”

“Yeah, he said it was a perfect fit for me, so we decided to work on it together.”

“How did that even happen? He usually gives songs to top-tier idols…”

“Anyway, I’m planning to release it under Suhyun, not Miro, but if my name is ‘Part-timer,’ wouldn’t that be a bit awkward?”

This seemed to finally make sense to Hyunsoo, and I could hear him starting to agree on the other end of the line.

“Hmm… yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Right? So, we should change it, don’t you think?”

“Do you have something in mind?”

“I actually do have one idea.”

This just came to me now. My desire is to have that mysterious, masterful vibe, right?

Then, I should just go with that.

“Just leave it blank.”

“What?”

“Erase the name. Just leave it as an empty space.”

Why not just have no name at all?

From now on, I’m going by Nameless (truly).