Now That I Have Become a Woman, I Am a Vtuber - Chapter 74

“I’m telling you! I really can’t dance!”

After that, I kept making a fuss.

Just like a kid who doesn’t want to go to the dentist, lying on the ground throwing a fit, I begged the manager… but…

[No matter how much you say it’s impossible, Miro, there’s nothing I can do.]

In the end, I’m not a child. I’m an adult shackled by this contract…

I didn’t expect this from THE SIX. This is too much.

The betrayal feels chilling. Were they just letting me be all this time for this exact moment?

“…When does this start?”

Hopefully, there’s some time left?

I should at least work on building my stamina in the meantime. Swimming? Running?

Just thinking about exercising with this cursed body leaves me short of breath, but if I could at least do some simple exercises to build strength…

[Hmm, probably right after Chuseok ends.]

“What??”

[Dancing isn’t something you can master quickly, you know. I’m not an expert, but I’ve heard you need a solid foundation.]

Right after Chuseok? Are they kidding me?

This is practically exploitation.

The company is seriously bullying me!

“Is there really no way around this?”

But as the underdog, all I can do is ask desperately…

[…Are you really that uncoordinated, Miro? You don’t look it.]

“That’s just because of my natural body shape. I’m all bones and skin without any muscle.”

[Somehow, that just makes me mad. Anyway, why don’t you use this as an opportunity to get some exercise? Stamina is essential if you want to go the distance as a streamer, isn’t it?]

…Is it, though?

Well, it’s true that building stamina is necessary if I want to keep streaming for a long time…

But dance training still seems like a bad idea.

“How long are these sessions anyway? An hour? Two hours?”

They wouldn’t bring an instructor in just for a single hour. Most likely, it’d be two hours, a reasonable duration.

With six members, breaks, and if I manage to stall a bit…

[I’m expecting it’ll be around five hours.]

“What? Five hours?”

[It takes time for everyone to gather. Doing longer sessions less frequently will benefit both you and the instructor more than short ones.]

“That makes sense, but who’s going to ensure I have the stamina for that?”

[Hang in there. I’ll make sure you get fed well.]

It’s like I’m getting rations in prison or something…

“Hah… You’re really pushing it.”

[It’s not that bad. All you have to do is show up and work hard for a bit, and in exchange, this year-end live will be incredibly grand.]

“Really?”

[Yes, you know we’ve made a technical agreement with the company in the homeland, right? We’re planning to use that technology to make this live performance truly unforgettable.]

Now, hearing that makes me a bit excited… Fine, fine.

The company’s actually putting in a lot of effort; maybe I should just think of it as three months of hardship and get on with dance practice.

“…Then I’m putting ‘dance lessons’ as the reason for my streaming break.”

[Oh, dear, how did it come to this?]

How did it come to this? Isn’t this all because of the company?

[Anyway, good luck. I still have to inform the other members. It’s best to deliver such wonderful news personally over the phone, after all.]

“Manager, really… But why am I first?”

[I thought you’d be the least enthusiastic, and yet you’ve thrown quite a tantrum—in a different sense, though.]

…Well, won’t the other members raise a fuss too when they hear about the dancing?

I thought about the members for a moment.

First, Roah… hmm, they seem like they’d have some sports background, so I’ll skip them.

Haru… looks like they might’ve been in the dance club, so they’re out.

Maho… with that build, they’ve probably got good stamina, right? Honestly, a bit envious.

Mile seems like the only one who might be as disinterested in exercise as me.

Anna was a musical actor, so she’ll probably handle dancing just fine.

Thinking it over, it seems like there aren’t many who’ll put up a fight. Even if Mile grumbles, I bet they’ll eventually accept it with a sigh.

Wasn’t everyone supposed to be an indoor gamer?

For some reason, I’m feeling a bit betrayed by the members.

[Nothing else to say? I’ll hang up then.]

“…Yeah.”

With a shudder, I ended the call with the manager.

Dance lessons right after Chuseok…

I’m already dreading the day.

“Ughhhh…”

So, I added an extra day to the streaming break announcement I was working on.

I tacked on a note about the internal company meeting.

People always resent the last one to drop the ball.

THE SIX.

Prepare to face the wrath of the Miro fans.

They can call me petty if they want.

This is the best rebellion I can manage…

With that, I scheduled the break notice.

Since there’s plenty of time, I can add more details later if I think of any.

With the announcement done, I closed the window and exited the forum.

I’ll save reading the posts for the actual stream to avoid spoilers.

Honestly, there’s probably no other streamer who thinks about their stream as much as I do.

Since I’m already at the computer, I figured I should do something, so I scanned the desktop icons.

All the same games as always.

But just thinking about having to dance made me lose all desire to play.

Ah, maybe I should look that up.

Come to think of it, I’d been meaning to search for this but kept putting it off. Specifically, I wanted to look up Tenshi-san.

After playing a game together the other day, I’d thought I could learn a lot from her bright personality. So, I decided to check out what kind of streams this grand senior does.

I had a general idea of her company and who she was, but I’d never actually watched her streams. Aside from mostly playing FPS games, I didn’t know much else about her.

I went to Tenshi-san’s YouTube channel and sorted the videos by popularity.

What popped up was a 3D live performance.

The term “3D live” was written in English, so I could read that much, but the rest of the title was in Japanese, and I couldn’t understand it. Anyway, it’s a one-hour live concert video… so it’ll probably be helpful to me.

I remembered that female Kim Suhyun had watched other VTubers’ 3D live performances before. I recalled being impressed at the time, and I wondered if it would feel different watching it now.

With the intent to study, I started the video.

I was a bit excited to see how a major VTuber’s performance would look, but at the same time, it was hard to imagine the Tenshi-san I gamed with dancing and singing seriously, creating a bit of a mental gap as I waited for the performance to load.

The show began with Tenshi-san appearing alone on a well-crafted concert stage.

Man, this is impressive. The technology of a company famous for its VTubers is certainly on another level.

While I admired the stage, the music started, and Tenshi-san’s singing began.

“Oh…”

It’s good.

It’s really good.

Her voice is amazing, and just her opening lines add a sweetness to the song.

This was beyond my expectations. Maybe I hadn’t imagined her singing so fluently in her native language, only having seen her struggle a bit with Korean.

The stage that started with admiration quickly turned into a continuous stream of amazement.

A high-quality stage, a beautiful voice, mesmerizing dance moves, and a variety of guest appearances from her wide network of connections—the performance felt packed with her determination to show everything she had within that one hour.

Back when female Kim Suhyun watched performances, it was as a viewer, just enjoying a well-done show.

Now, watching it as a junior VTuber, I could see the detail in every moment.

How did they pull that off?

Did she really do a flip there? How did the trackers not glitch? Wait, can a VTuber even pull off a flip?

Who was that guest who just appeared? Their skill isn’t ordinary.

Every moment was filled with surprises.

I felt a sense of respect building up.

Is this really the same Tenshi-san I played games with?

This performance must be the peak of VTuber Murasaki Tenshi’s live shows.

The view count on YouTube speaks to that.

And for me, a VTuber with less than a year under my belt, this high-point live performance from such a major figure was a massive shock.

After watching the live concert, which lasted just over an hour—long if you look at it that way, but short in some respects—I felt a lingering sense of admiration.

Am I… feeling some respect here?

More than that, there are even VTubers in Japan with more subscribers than Tenshi-san. What kind of performances must they put on?

The homeland is on a different level.

With the Celestial Project, we’re among the only popular VTubers in Korea, but Japan’s scale is just different. As I mulled over a slight sense of reality sinking in, mixed with anticipation that I might one day perform such a live show with my own team, a notification chimed on my Discord.

Who could it be?

The only people likely to message me on Discord would be my fellow members. Was something up?

I opened the message, thinking I’d share the link to the live concert I’d just watched, only to see the sender wasn’t one of my team members.

**(Murasaki Tenshi): Miro! Let’s play a game!**

It was Tenshi-san, who had added me on Discord recently.

Hmm… is it because I just watched her concert? She somehow feels a bit different.

Anyway, I had things to ask her, and since she reached out first, it seemed like a good chance to play a few rounds together.

After sending a quick reply, I launched the game, only to receive a call on Discord.

[“Moshi moshi?”]

“Tenshi-san? Oh, hi.”

[“Hello! I didn’t think you’d accept so quickly!”]

It feels a little strange that this slightly clumsy Korean speaker is the same person who just led that amazing live performance.

Soon after, we connected to **Royal Ground** and started gaming together.

Does she only play Royal Ground? I wouldn’t mind trying another FPS game with her, maybe one from the same company as LoL. I’ll suggest it to her sometime.

The game progressed smoothly. Playing alongside Tenshi-san, who’s excellent at FPS, and myself, who’s decent at games, we couldn’t help but breeze through it.

After securing first place and celebrating our “chicken dinner,” we returned to the lobby, and I took the chance to bring up what I’d wanted to ask.

“I watched your 3D live concert earlier. It was amazing, Tenshi-san.”

[“Arigato! But Miro, you sing well too, don’t you? I’ve been listening to your songs lately.”]

She listens to my songs? As far as I know, all I have are Celestial Project songs and the cover song I did last time.

“You listen to my songs?”

[“Yes, I saw your utawaku clip on YouTube.”]

“Oh, I see.”

Maybe a fan compiled my recent singing stream and uploaded it?

Since I’ve sung quite a bit, it makes sense that there would be at least one or two videos on YouTube.

“But more than the singing, I was amazed by your dancing, Tenshi-san.”

[Dancing?]

“Yes, I’m not good at it. Do you have any tips?”

This was the question I’d been wanting to ask since earlier.

In the 3D live performance, Tenshi’s dancing was really top-notch.

I figured, given her experience, she must have trained extensively for the performance at the company’s urging. As a senior in the field, she must have at least one or two golden tips, right? Or maybe some kind of shortcut to learn live-performance-style moves quickly.

But…

[There’s no such thing! You have to practice dancing until you feel like you’re going to throw up! It’s really tough!]

Tenshi-san dashed my hopes, even miming a gagging motion to show there’s absolutely no shortcut.

“Ah… practice…”

[Practice is the only way! There’s no fast track with dancing! You can’t just do one part for a live show. And if you mess up, you feel terrible for the people you’re dancing with and the staff!]

Right… so there really is no shortcut. And if you mess up, you feel sorry for the staff… which I guess translates to feeling a lot of pressure. I’m already getting anxious just imagining all the retakes and the disappointed looks if I keep messing up.

[Do you understand?]

“Yes… I understand.”

[But why ask about dancing? Do you want to learn?]

Hmm, should I tell her? From what I gathered, the year-end concert is supposed to be a surprise…

“Well, it’s supposed to be a secret…”

In the end, I decided to tell her. She’s in the same industry, so she should know how to keep things confidential. She doesn’t seem like the type to go blabbing, either.

[A secret? I love secrets!]

…Hopefully? Oh, whatever.

“So, at the end of this year, I might have a live performance. And I’ll have to dance… that’s what I’m worried about.”

[Eh? You’re doing a live performance?!]

She seemed genuinely surprised at the mention of a live performance. I suppose it’s shocking, given that I debuted less than a year ago and that these kinds of events are rare in Korea.

“Yes.”

[Hee—h, eto… then… then…]

Then what? Does she have a good tip to share?

I listened intently, hoping for any advice she might give.

After a moment of thought, Tenshi-san spoke again.

[“Do you need a guest? If it’s a Miro live, I can be your guest. But in return, Miro, you have to come as a guest on my live too, eto… deal?”]

…What?

Instead of a tip, I received an unexpected proposal. And it’s an offer that could only be a bonus, never a drawback.