Chapter 23: A Somehow Strange Family Tree

Every Friday is a holiday for the Playground server.

To be exact, it closes for server maintenance, but whether it’s that or just taking the day off, it doesn’t make much difference.

“Menol concert?”

“Yeah. Large-scale servers like this usually hold a concert on the last day. I brought it up because you might be interested. You can apply if you want.”

And it was on such a holiday that I met Tsupi.

The reason we met wasn’t anything special. The amount of work today was small, and I had time to spare in the afternoon since my stream was scheduled for the evening.

Well… I could have done some work for tomorrow in advance, but honestly, I’m not that kind of person. As long as I meet my daily quota, I’m satisfied.

Anyway, for that reason, Tsupi called me to the Märchen headquarters. She just wanted to give me some work since I had extra time.

“Ugh. I’m not really interested in the concert.”

“Hmm. That’s a shame…”

From what I heard, the Märchen Playground concert, shortened to MenolCon, wasn’t just for Märchen members. Other streamers could also participate.

That made it more flexible, and even though I was with Märchen, participation wasn’t mandatory. So there was no need for me to step up and perform if I didn’t want to.

“If you join, I was thinking of reducing your workload…”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

“Tsk, not working, huh.”

While Yuwol could openly say she was with Märchen, Muil was in a position where she had to keep her work assignments private. So, that statement was a lie.

Muil had been the one who said she wouldn’t be satisfied if she handed her work to another costume illustrator. If she had posted her work, she wouldn’t be reducing it.

“I’ll grant you one wish. Apply for it~.”

In the end, Tsupi made a flower pose with both hands, trying to persuade me, and I was a little scared.

“No, why are you going that far to ask?”

“Because I want to see it?”

‘…If I get three wishes, I’ll think about it.’

“That’s too many. But, well, fine. I’ll grant it.”

I gave Tsupi a doubtful look, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak against her smiling face. Well, whatever. What’s so hard about joining a concert?

I guess I should think of a wish to ask Tsupi for later.

“By the way, about the 10th generation costume concept…”

It was also time to fulfill the purpose of me coming to the office.

“Oh, Yuwol. I forgot to tell you, but we got an email from EN last time.”

“Hmm? Oh, right. The one from Jiwoo. Why?”

“After this Playground server event ends, someone from the team will be coming over. Can you come to the office again then?”

“I guess we’ll know when that time comes.”

As I was chatting about the costumes, I suddenly remembered something I had forgotten.

There was the email about the costume inquiry from EN Märchen. Since I missed it, it had gone to Jiwoo.

I had completely forgotten about it up until now.

‘Hmm. I might need to reschedule things.’

As I was thinking, leaning back against the café chair, the bell rang, and the door to the café opened.

“Huh? It’s the first-gen kids.”

“…Hmm?”

At Tsupi’s words, I turned my head, and sure enough, I saw six people entering through the café door.

‘…Come to think of it, the first-gen members are ten generations ahead of us.’

Six senior members, from way back, were walking into the café together.

“Huh? It’s Tsupi!”

The woman at the very back of the group turned to look at us, spotted Tsupi, and shouted.

“Oh, it really is her. The team leader.”

“Wow, we’re meeting one of the top three hardest-to-see people from the company here.”

“Didn’t you see Anna unnie often?”

The first-gen members were now approaching us. What should I do?

“Can I leave first…?”

“No? You can’t.”

Tsupi smiled knowingly, and I resented her for it.

No, wait. What was I so afraid of? I was their papa—no, their mama. Even if my involvement was only in designing their outfits… technically, I was.

As my mind spun rapidly, the woman who had shouted first earlier ran toward Tsupi.

“Tsupi-nim~! I missed you!”

“It’s awkward to still call you the youngest now.”

“I want to be the eternal youngest!”

Judging by the conversation, she seemed to be the youngest of the first-gen members. If that was the case…

‘Rumi. Six years older than me. The youngest of the first generation.’

That matched the characteristics of the woman clinging to Tsupi.

“You guys had a mocap collab today, right? Were you well prepared?”

“Come on. Do you know how many years we’ve been doing this? Of course, we nailed it!”

“Yeah~. I never have to worry about the first-gen anymore.”

“You’ve been saying that for three years now.”

Here stands a struggling warrior, unable to squeeze into their warm conversation, dear readers.

At this point, wouldn’t it be fine for me to just slip away?

I gave up thinking and stared blankly at the ceiling.

“But who is this cute creature? I’ve never seen them in Märchen… huh?”

One of the first-gen members placed a hand on my chair and locked eyes with me.

Her initial curiosity turned into wide-eyed surprise.

“Could it be…”

“…Yes, I’m Yuwol.”

At this point, I didn’t even care. My avatar looked exactly like me, so it was pointless to make excuses.

“Kyahhhh! So you’re Yuwol!”

“Oh my god.”

“Wow… You really look exactly like your avatar.”

“There was an 11th-gen? For real?”

At my words, all the attention that had been on Tsupi suddenly converged on me.

Overwhelmed by their reactions, I was thrown into chaos until Tsupi stepped in to stop them. Ugh, my head was spinning.

“This is a public place, guys.”

“There’s a private room, right? Can’t we go there?”

“Someone’s already using it.”

At Rumi’s question, Tsupi answered, and the first-gen members all nodded in understanding.

“Well, guess there’s no helping it. What a shame.”

“Come to think of it, didn’t Anna unnie meet Yuwol on the server?”

“We did meet, yeah.”

“Tell us about it! We never got to run into them.”

Uh, I’m right here, you know.

Honestly, this was a bit overwhelming.

We moved to a different location. Märchen’s headquarters had private rooms, which were more spacious and quieter than the café.

“Wow… Twenty years old. I used to be that young once.”

“What are you talking about, you one-hit-point relic?”

“Come here, you.”

There were four sofas, each seating two people. Tsupi and I sat together, while the rest of the first-gen members divided themselves among the other three seats.

A square table sat in the center, where we placed the drinks we had bought from the café.

Starting from my left, let me introduce them one by one.

Anna, Rumi, Angela, Sarah, Mio, Mita.

Even though I knew all of them, I couldn’t easily approach them. After all, what I knew were their virtual appearances, not their real-life faces.

‘But seriously, Märchen, you guys do hire without looking at faces, right?’

At this rate, they could debut as an idol group right away. Looking at them, I couldn’t help but wonder—why were they even virtual YouTubers with faces like these?

But that wasn’t something for me to meddle in. Hmm.

“Uh… Is it okay if we just call you Yuwol?”

“Haven’t you already been doing that? Why ask now?”

“Ah, shut up.”

“An idol is cursing!”

While I was lost in thought, Anna carefully asked the question, and I quickly nodded.

“Yes, I don’t mind. You can also speak casually with me.”

Honestly, even though I had been living as an illustrator for Märchen, this was my first time talking to members from different generations. Not as the VTuber Yuwol, but as the illustrator Muil.

So, the first-gen members only knew the name “Muil.” Their knowledge of Muil was limited to just a name and a single email.

Of course, they never imagined I was Muil.

“Hey, if you read Yuwol’s name backward, doesn’t it spell Muil?”

“Mita, that’s a bit of a stretch.”

“But it kind of makes sense?”

Or maybe not.

Honestly, I wouldn’t have cared if they found out I was Muil. I just never mentioned it because I didn’t feel the need to.

There were no controversies or scandals attached to Muil’s name. I was just someone who drew art.

“Tsupi-nim! Is Yuwol also one of Muil-nim’s works?”

“That phrasing sounds a bit weird, but… well, technically, yes?”

At Rumi’s curious question, Tsupi glanced at me hesitantly while answering. She could’ve just said it outright.

If this had been a while ago, I might have felt differently, but lately, I didn’t mind the attention. In fact, I wanted people to take more interest.

I had already planned to reveal Muil as part of my content someday. Doing it now didn’t seem like a big deal.

“I don’t really mind if you just say it.”

At my indifferent response, the room fell silent for a moment.

Not that it mattered to me—I took a sip of my green grape ade and savored the taste.

“…Weren’t you against revealing it?”

At Tsupi’s dumbfounded question, I tilted my head.

“I never said that.”

From the very beginning, I always intended to reveal it eventually.

“Wow… What a messed-up family tree.”

“Rumi.”

It seemed like this revelation was more shocking to them than I had expected.

Was this really that big of a deal?

“Sigh… I must have misunderstood…”

“You could have just asked. I would have told you right away.”

“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“…Thanks for that.”

Honestly, if this had been the old me, I probably would have felt burdened. But not anymore.

“To be honest, I find it more surprising that you talk to Tsupi like that.”

“Same.”

“Agreed.”

It seemed like the first-gen members didn’t really care about me being Muil.