Chapter 39: 3rd Generation First Merge

On the 4th floor of a large cafe, coffee and slices of cake were placed on the table for each person.

“I thought I’d get used to it, but it’s still fascinating…”

Sara muttered while looking at me, taking a sip of her coffee.

“Are you still talking about that?”

I asked back, but Koharu took Sara’s side.

“She’s right. The more I look at you, the more thrilling it is. It’s always new. Worship D-Ria.”

“Do you use communities or something?”

Sara slightly frowned.

“No, everyone in the chat was saying that.”

“I don’t think communities are necessarily bad. I don’t use them, though.”

“Yeah. Ria doesn’t look like she would.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Then what do I look like I would use?”

Koharu grumbled.

“It’s good for people like us to stay away from communities. You could do an ego search and end up in a bad place mentally.”

Sara let out a deep sigh.

“That sounds sincere, was that from your experience, unnie?”

“Yeah. In my past life, I saw a community and was so shocked that I took a break from streaming.”

“Oh, no. You went through a lot. You did.”

“Don’t pat my head. I’ll kill you.”

As the two bickered as usual, Karen smiled.

“I don’t think there’s any need to pay attention to negative opinions. I think that anonymously writing bad things is a projection of their own deficiencies.”

“Wow, unnie, you sounded like a real Korea University student just now.”

“What, do you think I’m a fake one, Yuna?”

As Sara was giving Koharu a hard time, she suddenly remembered something and said.

“Oh. Speaking of which, Karen, are you Seo Dohee? I think I saw you on my friend list.”

“Yes. I’m Seo Dohee.”

“Ria kept her settings even outside of the open chat, right? What’s your real name?”

“Estel… I mean, Shin Choeun.”

Since it was relevant to the context, I thought it was right to say my Korean name here.

“Then since we met outside, shall we all call each other by our names now?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to keep it as it is until today? It’s our first group stream tomorrow, I’m worried we might slip up…”

Karen cautiously expressed her objection.

“Sure.”

Sara coolly accepted.

“But why doesn’t Ria unnie have a profile picture?”

“Do I really need to set one? Aren’t there a lot of people who don’t?”

“Huh? A lot of people don’t? You’re the only one I know!”

As Koharu overreacted, I looked around, and the others were also nodding.

“How do you all set it up? Let me see.”

I enlarged the profile pictures of the members that I hadn’t paid attention to before.

Koharu had a pretty anime character (which she said she drew herself), Sara had a picture of a cat, and Karen had a picture of herself taken at school.

We looked at them on the table, and the attention was focused on Sara’s profile picture.

“Unnie. Do you have any more pictures of Coco? What breed did you say it was? A ragdoll?”

“Ragdoll.”

“It’s so cute!”

Even Karen pulled her chair closer, her eyes shining.

After that, there was a lot of talk about cats, so I just listened quietly. I couldn’t find anything to relate to.

I’ve eaten wild cat meat before? Saying something like that would just make the atmosphere awkward. And it’s rude to people who have cats.

It wasn’t uncomfortable not participating in the conversation, but unfortunately, Karen spoke to me.

“What about you, Ria? Have you ever wanted to raise a cat?”

“Raise… Not really. But I did take one around with me for a while.”

“What does that mean? Did you get chosen by a stray cat and meet often?”

Koharu asked with an intense tone.

“No. It was a snow spirit I met in the north. When it appeared, it took the form of a snow leopard. You could say it’s similar to a cat.”

What’s with this awkward silence? I thought this was a relatable topic. I didn’t even mention eating cat meat.

Next to me, Karen burst out laughing.

“Come to think of it, Ria was like this when I first met her too. What happened was…”

Karen started spreading misinformation, saying that I was role-playing until the CEO pointed it out.

“So I wasn’t acting. Rather, I’m adjusting to you guys right now.”

“Wow, unnie, you’re so quirky. I should have known when I saw you didn’t have a profile picture.”

“What does not having a profile picture have to do with anything?”

I guess I couldn’t control my expression, because Koharu started making a fuss.

“Whoa. Unnie, your pouty face is so cute! A pouting beauty! I feel like I’d do anything for you!”

She quickly released my arm and pouted.

“Why on earth don’t you have a profile picture? Any selfie of you would be like a pictorial.”

“I don’t really take pictures in the first place. I’ve only taken one selfie.”

As soon as I said that, I realized I had made a mistake. The members showed great interest in the one picture.

“Huh? If I looked like Ria, I’d be busy taking selfies every day.”

“Why did you take one? How good could it be!”

“Yeah. Let us see it too, Ria.”

I tried to resist, but it was impossible to overcome the 3:1 odds. Unless I used force, but I couldn’t do that.

In the end, I had to show them the picture that became the model for the VTuber.

“Hmm… You’re cosplaying. It’s really pretty.”

“Whoa. Unnie, it feels a bit… revealing?”

“Ria had a daring side to her? I didn’t know.”

Stop looking back and forth between me and the picture. Especially you, Karen, stop comparing my crop top and the picture.

I quickly retrieved my phone and put it in my pocket.

“It does feel a bit much for a profile picture, though?”

Karen muttered absentmindedly.

“In the first place, I need to be more careful about leaks, right? It’s not a good idea to use my face as a profile picture.”

I should have said that from the beginning. I showed them the picture because I remembered it too late.

Everyone agreed with me.

“Still, you should take a lot of pictures for personal use. It looks a bit lonely to have only one picture in your album. Let’s start with a group photo today?”

“Karen unnie, good idea! I’ll take it and upload it to the chat room!”

Koharu got up from her seat.

After taking pictures at the cafe.

We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant with private rooms, and finally, we all went to karaoke.

I downloaded the many pictures we took that day when I got home.

***

Everyone went home before the last train, so there was no problem turning on the stream the next evening. We didn’t drink any alcohol either.

Actually, Koharu wanted to, but Sara stopped her.

And so, the first group stream of the 3rd generation, Cosmo. It will be held on the official Blooming Core channel.

《Blooming Core》

《Cosmo’s First Group Stream》

《20194 Viewers》

We turned on the waiting screen long enough since there were four people, and after confirming that everyone was ready, we switched the screen.

Against the backdrop of a classroom, four avatars appear simultaneously.

– Cosmo’s first group stream!

– The universe has turned on again…

– Everyone’s back!!

– (I can only see one person’s chest.) [Message deleted by manager.]

– (The comparison is obvious when she stands next to Ria.) [Message deleted by manager.]

Since we adjusted the avatars to match each other’s heights, the upper body of my avatar, the tallest, was inevitably revealed.

But since it’s a group stream today, the manager was going to manage it with stricter standards than in my room.

“Okay. One, two.”

At my cue, the members speak together.

“Hello! We are Blooming Core’s 3rd generation, Cosmo!”

– The energy is good. lolol

– Idols, indeed.

– Everyone’s cute..

“Our debut as Cosmo was a while ago. Shall we each say a few words about our debut impressions? Let’s start with Koharu.”

We each talked about it on our individual streams, but since we’re all gathered here, we decided to talk about it again briefly.

– Is Ria the host? lolol

– MC Ria.

– It suits her because of her announcer-like pronunciation.

“The members decided I would be the host. Shouldn’t Koharu, as the oldest, have set an example in this kind of thing…”

It was decided yesterday. Since I was the main character of the gathering, they told me to be the host tomorrow.

What does that even mean? I still don’t know the reason.

「Huh? Ria. Why are you bringing up age!」

– Starting off by throwing shade. lolol

– Yeah, the oldest should set an example.

– Just let the old lady rest. lolol

Here, age was obviously referring to the 500-year-old RP. That’s why Koharu doesn’t call me unnie.

No, it showed that all the members were close enough to speak informally to each other.

– Why is only Ria still using formal language?

– A shy elf…

– Maybe we should do a ‘Let’s get closer’ segment. lolol

– (Is she an outcast?) [Message deleted by manager.]

– Include Ria too.ᅮᅮ

“Everyone. I’m also close with the members, you know? It’s just that elves maintain dignity even in close relationships.”

– Here we go again.

– So she was maintaining the concept…

– She’s doing this in a group stream too? lololol

– Ria, I’m embarrassed for you.ᅮ

“Today, we’re going to introduce the members in more detail through a keyword vote. The person in 1st place will receive a reward prepared by the CEO, and the person in last place will receive a penalty.”

Ignoring the chat’s reaction, I continued with the prepared lines.

“The keywords will appear in pink, and the good keywords will be in blue. If a member gets a pink keyword through the members’ votes, they lose 1 point, and if they get a blue keyword, they gain 1 point. Finally, we’ll calculate the scores, right?”

– Hmm.

– That’s complicated..

– Can’t you understand this?

– It seems like you’ll understand once you see it.

「Ugh. Ria, I don’t get it.」

Koharu made a crying face.

“Don’t worry. You’ll understand as we go along. Then shall we start right away?”

A large pink word appeared on the blackboard.

CRAZY

“It’s a pink word. The person who gets this word through the members’ votes will lose a point, right?”

– Ah lolol I get it now.

–

This will be fun. lol

– lololol Who will get it?

「We got an easy keyword right from the start.」

「Yeah. I don’t think we need to worry about this one?」

「Because there’s someone so obvious!」

The members all seemed to have someone in mind. I need to think about it a bit, who should I choose?