I Unknowingly Rejected My Favorite

༺ Overly Immersed ༻

「Then, thank you so much everyone for watching today~ I think the next stream will be the audition!」

「Please give me a lot of support everyone~ Lubye lubye~」

Leaving behind viewers who flooded the chat with emotes asking ‘where you going?’, I pressed the End Stream button and sighed.

Aah… What should I do…?

If there was a clear difference between the two songs instead of a close tie, I was going to choose that song and finish my preparations for it.

But since the vote result was almost 50/50, it made me feel worse than when I hadn’t asked.

Also, since my chat told me what they liked about each song through their donations or chat, I opened up a notepad and organized them one by one.

The majority opinion was that I should go with number one if I was trying to show an idol-like appeal, but if I only wanted to make people listen to my singing voice, then number two would be the perfect option.

Throwing myself onto the bed, I looked at the ceiling with a blank look.

“Well… It’s already amazing I made it this far.”

Two hundred people applied to the audition, but a hundred and eighty of them couldn’t make it to the second round.

Only twenty people remained, which was ten percent of the total applicants.

They announced that half of that number would be cut in the third round. As for the final round, it was still unknown how many people would even get accepted.

When I took out my phone and checked Instagram, there were photos uploaded from Minji’s birthday party a few days ago.

Minji was blowing out the candles on the cake with a flushed face.

And my classmates were happily clapping next to her.

“…That must have been fun.”

Honestly, I wanted to go.

I had a good relationship with Minji, and I was also quite close to the other classmates who attended the drinking session.

But at the moment, I had to be careful about my health, like a student preparing for a college entrance exam.

One might think that I didn’t need to go this far, but I just didn’t want to fail the audition because of one careless mistake.

I was doing my best to take care of myself because I knew that the countless viewers who supported me would feel the same bitterness I was feeling.

  – Brrrr

When my phone vibrated, I opened Messenger and was greeted with a coupon for a delivery app.

I knew that no one would contact me, but I still felt disappointed for some reason.

There were times when I suffered from this empty feeling after turning off the stream.

It was as if I had just been in a noisy place and then returned to a deserted island with the click of a button.

As I scrolled down the screen, an unread message caught my eye.

[Major Class Group Project (12)]

…A group project with Taemin oppa.

Now that I think about it, when I met Taemin oppa a few days ago, he seemed a little strange.

Normally, he was a very reserved and quiet person, but for some reason, he asked me all kinds of questions.

But, the conversation felt a bit forced rather than natural.

I confessed to him before, so maybe he did it on purpose to avoid making the group atmosphere uncomfortable…

He didn’t have to do that though.

But every time he spoke to me, the perplexity hit me harder than his delicate consideration.

Oppa… Please just pretend like nothing happened…

“Ah… Dunno, whatever…”

There was no point in dwelling on it, it was something I couldn’t even talk about openly.

And obviously the upcoming audition took priority over the man who rejected me.

“I should practice singing…”

Just like that, another lonely night passed.

* * *

It was the summer of this year that YM, a major entertainment agency, announced its intention to nurture metaverse idols.

[YM Virtual Idol Open Audition]

The company had produced many famous idols, so people were very eager to see what kind of impact their new challenge and investment would make.

The slogan and project pushed by YM was [CLOSER].

While it was true that communication between fans and idols had become more interactive compared to the old days, they said that they wanted to venture into even closer communication than that.

[Most of the idols up to this point have worked their way up to the stage through a long training period in the company.]

[In a way, it could be said that this elaborate process has become repetitive and dull over time.]

[Therefore, we will present a completely different paradigm.]

[A new concept of virtual reality idols.]

[We will try to reach the public in the most advanced and closest way.]

[CLOSER! Please look forward to it!]

Surprisingly, they weren’t recruiting singer trainees or aspiring idols, but virtual streamers with virtual avatars.

Of course, it wasn’t just the pure streamers who took part in the audition.

There were a lot of aspiring singers who prepared their avatars in a hurry, and many others who participated to gain attention and controversy, just like any other audition program.

And for the first and second rounds of auditions, YM had a rather extreme criteria.

The first round was meant to showcase the participants’ streaming experience and personality, so those who started streaming in a hurry were eliminated, just like falling autumn leaves.

The company had a strong commitment to hiring only experienced newcomers.

Although she didn’t have a very long streaming career, Luka had gotten some pretty good feedback in the first round.

[First of all, I want to give you a good score for your solid concept. I also think the amount of time you’ve spent streaming and your career as a streamer is outstanding.]

[I haven’t heard your singing yet, but I can sense something in your voice. It feels closest to what people often describe as a ‘captivating voice’.]

[I will give you a pass.]

After the first round of auditions, Luka had succeeded in making her name more widely known.

The number of viewers for her personal stream increased, and the existing viewers were all sincerely rooting for her.

There were about five hours left before the third round of auditions.

The community was already buzzing about the contestants coming out today.

[Enter Pink Army Only]

As a hardcore Pink Army with the highest tier sub, I clicked on the post without hesitation.

[Tbh if it’s not the first song she did on the last stream, I don’t think there’s any chance for today.]

What was it with this bastard?

As someone who went out of my way to donate my money and make her pick the number two song, I couldn’t help but respond strongly.

[No no. She has to go with the ballad. You’re tripping.]

⤷[Srsly don’t even go calling yourself part of Pink Army.]

The reply that followed raised my blood pressure.

[I probably know Luka a lot better than you, wdym?]

⤷[lololololol audition nubs always look like this.]

My hands and feet trembled.

Seriously, the audition hadn’t even started yet, but this guy was already driving me crazy.

[Reveal your Twitch name. What sub tier. You.]

Honestly, I knew it was ugly to hide behind a mask of anonymity even at this age after serving in the military. But what do you want me to do when he provoked me first?

I could tolerate slander and insults directed at me, but I couldn’t tolerate my sincerity as a fan of Luka being ignored.

[tsk tsk tsk u mad I insulted ur life’s greatest achievement huh?]

…This bastard!

I slammed my fist on the desk.

Haa… Really, the way that guy talked showed that he had been going around like that for a long time.

What a funny bastard.

I fought back because he was the first one to provoke me by calling me a bandwagoner, but…

When he said that this was the greatest achievement in my life, it felt like I was punched in the gut.

Ugh, annoying.

Not wanting to deal with it anymore, I clicked the back button.

There was another Luka related post below.

[Honest Statement) Luka was a bit…]

I went in to see what the hell this guy had to say…

[cuter back in the day when she was a newbie.]

⤷[ah. this is fr]

At least this guy knew what he was saying.

The very early days of Luka’s stream.

When there were less than a hundred people watching her, she was a different person.

She read almost every single chat, and as a result, she was more often influenced by it.

For example, when someone accused her of burping that day, she would hold on to it and spend half an hour explaining it.

Her whining and denial made the viewers happier and prompted them to continue teasing her.

I wonder if there’s still a clip of that…

Gotta go watch it again.

She didn’t have an official clip channel, so if you wanted to see those clips, you gotta rely on the fans’ uploads.

「Ah~ You guys, it’s really not~ No way. Why would I burp!」

「This is just the sound that comes out when I push the chair, but you’re all making such a fuss over it. Ah, seriously. That’s not… Haa…」

The pink-haired avatar shook her head as if she felt wronged.

「Really… I hate all of you…」

Indicating that she was sulking, a distant voice came from the speaker.

Cute.

So cute.

I felt like I was going to drown in her cuteness.

After thinking that it would be a global loss if Luka were rejected in becoming an idol, I scrolled through the list of related videos below and waited for the official stream of the audition.

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