Chapter 17: Did you really come to the Vtube Interview?

There was a week between the document screening and the interview.

I continued to prepare as I had been doing, but as time went on, there were difficult moments.

I want to play Ori.

I’ve assessed my own condition. Now that I’ve endured this long, haven’t I proven that I can control myself enough? Just one game a day should be fine.

Whenever such thoughts arose, I deliberately sought out things to do, trying to shake off the whispers that felt like a demon’s temptation.

It was obvious that one game wouldn’t end with just one game. Even if I didn’t end up collapsing like before, it would be a disaster if I missed the interview.

For that reason, I was watching MyuTube videos even on the day of the interview.

If only I had meditated instead, the algorithm wouldn’t have recommended such videos to me so late.

【Makeup for a Guaranteed Interview Pass!】

[Views 61,229]

[Just Follow This! Makeup Tips for a Free Pass to Interviews]

[Views 250,785]

Makeup was one of the items that came with the house, without me having to buy it separately. Among the many

products, I had barely managed to find toner and essence. Since those two were enough to apply after washing my

face, I used them up and ordered them separately.

I had never done a full face of makeup, but to just watch and follow along…

For the base, I recommend a semi-matte finish! Match the tone of your neck to the foundation with a tone-up

cream. Blend out the edges around the jawline with shading, and even out your skin tone with concealer. For the

eyebrows, use an eyeshadow palette to create a rounded and soft image. You don’t need to look too innocent, so you

can add a shimmery highlight under your eyes!>

I understood the contents of the video perfectly.

That it was absolutely impossible to do makeup now.

I look in the mirror. My skin was clear and clean, without a single pore visible. It was also skin that had never tanned, even after traveling through many battlefields.

Feeling like I had wasted my attention on something useless, I decided to leave the house a little earlier.

I put some thought into my clothes. Unlike makeup, which I couldn’t understand even after watching, I was confident in dressing well without studying.

It was a kind of aesthetic sense unique to elves. I was sure that if I thought something was pretty and suited me, others would feel the same way.

I chose an ivory knit sweater and a black pleated skirt. It was the first time I was wearing a skirt here.

“There are no long skirts…”

There were winter clothes, but strangely, there were only short skirts. It was an oversight not to have checked in advance.

I took off the skirt that exposed more than half of my thighs. There was still a chill in the air from the lingering cold. I had to wear stockings.

I pulled the stockings up to my thighs with my fingertips. The thin and smooth texture wrapped around my legs and clung to my skin.

It was soft and warm. There was no particular discomfort. Still, it felt a bit awkward, and I found myself wiggling my toes.

Maybe it was a natural feeling. It was the first time in my life that I was wearing stockings.

I put the skirt back on and wore a beige trench coat. For shoes, I wore ankle boots with low heels.

The 17-pyeong apartment I lived in was located in Gyeonggi-do, but it was also near Seoul. The interview location was on the outskirts of Seoul, so it was a reasonable distance to take a taxi.

I hailed a taxi in front of my house. Estimated time 8 minutes… It wasn’t exactly in front of my house, but at the edge of the road, so I could just go out and wait.

***

I paid the fare and got out of the taxi.

I heard that Blooming Core used a dedicated 5-story building. When I arrived, it seemed that the first floor was an exception. There was a convenience store and a cafe. The building had a simple exterior overall, but it felt quite clean.

When I entered the 2nd-floor lobby, there was an employee at the desk. They were doing something, keeping their head down until I approached.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes.”

The employee’s eyes widened as they looked up with an indifferent expression. It was like seeing a squirrel that had suddenly stopped with its front paws in the air.

“H-how may I help you?”

“I came for an interview.”

“…What kind of interview?”

Was this really something an employee should say on the day of the interview? I stood there for a moment, slightly bewildered.

“Are you perhaps a 3rd generation applicant?”

“I don’t know why you’d add ‘perhaps,’ but… I am an applicant.”

“Ah, yes! I’m sorry. I’ll register your visit right away. May I see your ID?”

The employee took my ID and typed on the keyboard.

“Yes, applicant Shin Cho Ah. Confirmed. Please take this visitor pass and number tag. Please go to the interview waiting room on the 3rd floor, and refer to the signs and notices on the wall along the way.”

I checked the number tag. The waiting number was C-7.

As I had been told, there were signs and notices everywhere, so it wasn’t difficult to find the waiting room. There was also an employee sitting in the hallway chair in front of the waiting room. A woman with a stern impression, with her hair tied up tightly and glasses.

She definitely had that kind of impression… but when she saw me, her expression turned a bit blank.

“Um… You’re here for the interview, right?”

“Yes. I also received a visitor pass and a number tag.”

The employee looked back and forth between the number tag and my face for quite a while.

“That’s right. I was a bit surprised. I heard there were no foreigners among the interviewees this time…”

“I’m not a foreigner.”

“Ah, my apologies. Please wait comfortably in the waiting room until your number is called.”

The employee opened the door for me and I went inside. It was a space with water bottles and various snacks on the table.

I arrived a little early, but there was already someone there.

“Hello…?”

I bowed my head awkwardly, and she responded by bowing her head in return.

And then silence fell. We were competitors, so there was no need to be overly friendly.

I didn’t find the silence uncomfortable. I closed my eyes and calmed my mind.

But the silence seemed to be quite awkward for the other person. She moved one seat over and spoke cautiously.

“Excuse me…”

I opened my eyes and looked into her eyes. For some reason, she couldn’t look at me directly and looked away.

“Are you really here for the VTuber interview?”

What is this? I feel like I’ve been asked a similar question three times today already.

“Yes. That’s why I’m waiting here, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I guess so…?”

After hearing my answer, she quietly moved her seat again. I closed my eyes again.

While waiting, another applicant entered. We exchanged light greetings, and silence fell in the room again.

After that, no one else came in. Unless they were all late, it seemed that each applicant had a different assigned time.

“Applicant C-7, please proceed to the interview room.”

Finally, the employee outside called my number. I was the first.

While waiting, I was recalling the last battle I had with my hero companions. The final showdown with the Demon King.

In a way, I was also facing an important battle now. But compared to the tension of that time, I could keep my mind at ease.

Yes, all preparations are perfect. Now it was time to show that preparation.

***

“Alright, now we just have the afternoon interview left.”

CEO Baek Sojin moistened her throat with a tumbler.

“There’s still some time left… Who’s the first one in the afternoon?”

Baek Sojin’s eyes sparkled as she flipped through the documents.

“Ah! It’s her! Shin Cho Ah!”

“Shin Cho Ah, the one with the song. Right?”

The general manager sitting next to her responded.

“Yes. The applicant whose song made you shed tears.”

“I saw you taking out a handkerchief too, CEO. And it’s not like it’s 100% T, everyone cries. Director Do was even sobbing…”

“Director Do also had a recent bereavement, so it must have hit him harder.”

It was a genre of song she had never heard before. There were no lyrics, and it felt like it was trying to convey the very resonance of sound itself.

But it was a song that evoked an intense emotional response in anyone.

The slow and sad melody was sad but beautiful.

It made you think of the things you had to lose even if you didn’t want to, the people you had to part with, and gradually made you feel sorrowful.

But from the middle of the song, it gradually embraced and soothed the sorrowful heart. As if gently placing a hand

over the wound instead of looking at it. Saying it’s okay. No matter how painful the loss and separation, the

memories of being together are beautiful. Now you can let go.

“I’ve heard that many people cried, but I still wonder if a song can really be that powerful.”

The director, who only participated in the interview, had not checked all the application materials.

“You should definitely listen to it sometime, Director. It’s that kind of song.”

“If it’s that good, is this person good enough to be a singer?”

“Yes. I think she has enough talent to debut as a singer.”

Pitch, rhythm, pronunciation. The technique of singing can be developed through practice and effort up to a certain level.

But conveying such distinct emotions? Baek Sojin believed that was a great talent.

“She’s competitive enough with just her singing, but she’s also very prepared.”

When asked to introduce the VTubers she enjoyed watching, there was no end to the list of VTubers. From VTubers that Baek Sojin knew well to VTubers she had never even heard of.

It was even wide-ranging. Not only Korean but also Japanese and English-speaking VTubers.

Because of that, she also showed considerable insight into questions about understanding the industry and VTuber content.

“If your current figure were leaked to the outside, it would be a big deal.”

The general manager smiled mischievously.

“Why?”

“Because honey is dripping from your eyes. People will say there’s already a designated candidate before the interview even starts.”

“Hey. Of course, if there’s a reason for disqualification in the interview, I won’t choose her. But I don’t think that will happen. Did you see the RP she came up with?”

The director shook his head with a bewildered smile.

“I thought she was a scenario writer or a novelist.”

The general manager next to him chimed in.

“Me too. The setting was so detailed that I even checked to see if she had copied it from somewhere. I was surprised to see that it was purely original.”

The question asking to come up with an RP was enough if it could confirm the applicant’s creativity and character design ability. The life story of the protagonist in the novel was definitely a bit much.

But Baek Sojin liked even that. What’s wrong with being too much, when being insufficient is the problem? It showed that she had that much passion.

Since it came up, she even read the RP again. Thinking of related questions with appropriate praise.

Knock, knock.

“Yes, come in.”

It seemed that the interview time had arrived while she was reading. She had just reached the last sentence describing the ‘current appearance.’

She has long blonde hair that reaches her waist and purple eyes. Her face is very small, and I think she’s pretty. She’s 169cm tall, with a G-cup chest. There hasn’t been much change since before she came to the modern world.

The moment the applicant who opened the door entered, Baek Sojin’s eyes were filled with astonishment.

Up, down, up, down.

Her head quickly moved back and forth between the applicant and the document. And she checked the sentences again and again. So this is. It’s not a mistake, it’s not forcing a connection. No matter who looks at it…

‘It’s just her.’