I Unknowingly Rejected My Favorite

༺ Downsides of Being Effortlessly Attractive ༻

Despite being a virtual idol group, Closer’s showcase was no different than the one you’d see on TV for real idols.

They announced the direction of their future activities and the release date of their first album.

Meanwhile, the viewers expressed their enthusiasm in the chat.

「Now~ Please look at the camera and strike a cute pose!」

The whole striking a pose shtick indicated that their individual talk time was coming to an end.

Fumurin’s avatar stretched her arms out and waved.

「Please give a lot of love to Closer~ I love you all, my Fumin~!」

Fumin was her fandom name.

During the interview, they asked the origin of the name Fumin, and she explained that it was because no matter what she did, her chat would always send her [Fumu…].

I could see why she was popular, but while cute, wasn’t really my cup of tea.

Needless to say, if I had to choose between them, then it would be…

「Okay! We’re down to one last member! Let’s talk to self-proclaimed Philosopherdol Luka-nim! Hello!」

「Yes~ Hello~」

At the moment, there were around 120,000 viewers watching.

There were more viewers compared to the final audition stream.

You’ve really become a world class, Luka-tan.

In fact, there were many English comments in the chat, as Koreans weren’t the only ones watching the streams, there were also people from overseas.

[RUKATANNNGGG~~~]

But this one chatter was definitely someone who was pretending to be a foreigner.

I didn’t know much about foreign chat culture, but I strongly suspected that based on the nuances of their Konglish.

「Wow~ You’ve made your debut at last, and your fans are showing so much love. What’s going through your mind? Can you believe this is all happening?」

「Oh, of course. Even though I didn’t even stream that much after I passed, there were still so many viewers…」

「Aside from the number of viewers, did anything else change?」

Luka hesitated for a moment.

「My computer specs are way better now.」

「Ah~ I see~」

The host laughed, probably not expecting such an answer.

「Things such as equipment is important, isn’t it~? Okay, so what was the first thing you did with your new computer after you got it?」

「…I played Legends of League.」

“Pfft.”

I burst out laughing.

No, Luka.

You should have said something like, ‘I’ve been using it productively, and I think I’ll be able to stream more demanding games now.’

It seemed like the chat also found her answer hilarious, as they reacted favorably to it.

[Ah lol it can’t be helped even if her pc changed~]

[lmao she’s too honest]

[A real gamer idol…!]

「If you don’t mind me asking, what rank are—」

「It’s rude to ask about a lady’s private life.」

Luka lowered her head slightly and blushed.

This was why I went through the other members’ things. All for this moment!

The fruit you’d get from waiting always tasted sweet.

「Well, we’ll reserve the game talk for next time if there’s another opportunity~」

The host smoothly moved on to the next question, seemingly amused by Luka’s reaction.

「Speaking of, you had a short clip that went viral right before your debut, didn’t you, Luka?」

As soon as the host finished speaking, the word that had become taboo in Luka’s streams began to pour out in the chat.

It was the main channel, so I wasn’t surprised it wasn’t on the automod’s banned words.

[Fuckdol! Fuckdol! Fuckdol! Fuckdol! Fuckdol! Fuckdol! Fuckdol! Fuckdol! Fuckdol! Fuckdol! Fuckdol! Fuckdol!]

[oh fuck. lololololololol]

[that’s karma for you lmao]

Luka nodded, her expression indicated that she had anticipated this question.

「How about you take this opportunity today to say a few words about that clip?」

「Mhm… Ahem…!」

Perhaps due to her being nervous, the pink-haired avatar cleared her throat.

「So… I didn’t expect that I’d be the last person to pass…」

「Uh-huh.」

「I was so surprised that I just kinda blurted that out. I wasn’t trying to be viral or anything, I did it on reflex, you know…」

As she laughed awkwardly while scratching her head, the host also laughed and responded to her comment.

「I’m sure everyone can relate to your honest exclamation! I hope the viewers will just overlook Miss Luka’s mistake as something adorable! We’ll look forward to your future activities~」

The formal segment ended there, and a light Q&A session took place, but I didn’t pay much attention to it.

I only glanced over when I heard Luka’s voice, but most of the questions were pretty casual.

She didn’t stutter, and her answers were concise.

It seemed like she had prepared everything well.

Instead, it was Leah and Fumurin who had some trouble.

In Leah’s case, she took more than three minutes to select a song when she was asked to sing a line of a song to her fans. Meanwhile, Fumurin received a lot of boos when she answered, ‘Yes, a little bit,’ to the question of whether the amount of the donos she received had increased or not.

It made me wonder how much money she actually got.

Well, considering the amount of donations that Luka got on stream after she passed the audition, it must be quite a lot.

「We’re going to wrap up today’s showcase here, and the collab stream between Closer members will be fixed every Saturday at 8:00, so please support the members! Now, one last word from Closer!」

Jennifer cued one and two with her fingers, and the members bowed their heads in unison.

「We’re the idols next door, Closer! Thank you!」

The stream ended with a group shout out.

I lay back down on my bed and smiled proudly.

The phrase ‘idols next door’ was a good one.

In fact, they seemed to be going for the concept of an idol group that was close to you like a friend.

The words moderation and refinement didn’t seem to suit them at all.

Still feeling the hype from the showcase, I crawled into my futon and was about to open up a gacha game when…

[A new message has arrived. – Kim Doah]

It’s Luka.

Maybe because of the hype from the stream just now…

Somehow, I suddenly felt nervous, like I was actually communicating with a celebrity.

I swiped my thumb to open the message window.

[oppa. what time are we going to meet tomorrow?]

Right… We were supposed to go to the arcade together tomorrow…

Well, I didn’t have much to do, so I should just try to match her schedule instead.

[Whenever you’re free. I don’t have any plans tomorrow.]

[then how about around 3pm? i have to do that vr thing junseok oppa asked me to do later that evening]

…Were you trying to say that you didn’t want to hang out with me for a long time?

You could literally just tell him that the thing worked well and be done with it.

[Okay. I’ll see you at 3. Is there anything I should bring?]

[no. just bring a 10,000 won bill or a 5,000 won bill if you have any]

[Alright, I’ll meet you at 3:00 in front of the entrance to your place.]

[okay!]

I didn’t expect her to contact me so soon after the stream ended.

Still, it felt good. I mean, there was no way that she’d do something like this for someone she disliked.

Anyway, as for rhythm games…

Since I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of Doah, I looked for a basic tutorial video for tomorrow’s game and watched it.

* * *

The first time I went to an arcade was back when I was in my second year of middle school.

I still remembered it vividly.

It was a freezing cold winter day after the second semester finals.

Puffing out my breath, I had just left a karaoke bar with my friends and one of them suggested we go to an arcade while we were at it.

Looking back, I wondered if it was a good thing I followed her.

I started playing rhythm games after that, and while it was great that I found a hobby that I loved, I also got beaten up by my mom for sneaking off to the arcade.

I had a lot of good memories of it, but obviously, me being beaten wasn’t part of the good.

Anyway, the arcade, which I still frequent as an adult, had become a second home to me.

The noise of the arcade’s unique mix of game sounds and the sound of coins raining down from the coin changer were nostalgic.

All I had to do was wear a sweatsuit and drag a pair of flip-flops all the way there and I could play around heartily…

“… Are you sure this is it, Kim Doah?”

Reflexively, I muttered to myself as I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

I had just realized something.

Had I… Ever gone to the arcade while wearing a skirt before…?

Not counting my school uniform… No, never…

There were only fifteen minutes left until the appointment, but I still hadn’t decided on what to wear.

Since Taemin Oppa was the one who invited me, I shouldn’t dress like a beggar, right…?

But being overdressed wouldn’t be good, either…

We were just going to the arcade.

Who the hell went to an arcade in full makeup?

Besides, that was the equivalent of me saying that I still liked him…

But since I also didn’t want to wipe all the makeup I had already put on and go outside without any… Alright, let’s just dress more casually this time…

I picked up a pair of jeans and a gray hoodie.

After folding the skirt up, I put it in my dresser drawer.

What time is it now…?

[15:03]

Shit. Is it a bug? Why is time flying so fast?

Feeling restless, I grabbed my phone and wallet, slipped on my sneakers, and headed downstairs, only to have a question mark hover over my head as I spotted Oppa standing at the entrance.

“…Uh?”

Taemin oppa had a similar reaction as he found me.

“…Oh?”

I could feel my body temperature rising rapidly.

You know… I was trying to make it as if I didn’t put much thought into dressing up…

But after seeing him also wearing a gray hoodie and jeans… I realized that I probably should have gone with that skirt…

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