Annexation
After the Celestial Project audition ended, full-on debut prep began.
First, we signed contracts remotely. Then, in a group meeting with the same manager I'd met at the company earlier, we went over the overall debut plan.
The schedule was tight.
Recording the debut track, doing a showcase, collab streams with famous The Six streamers as promotion—it was stacked.
The good news was the company seemed dead serious about backing us. One of the clearest signs? The avatars.
"This one's mine?"
[Yes, that's correct.]
I stared at the avatar moving on my monitor.
My old one had cost a fair bit, but this? Way higher tier.
Not only did it track my face for expressions, the quality had leveled up across the board.
The soft pink hair shimmered, the pale skin looked livelier than ever.
Staring blankly, realizing quality really has no ceiling, I heard my former handler—now officially my manager—continue over my headset.
[And your debut song should be finished tomorrow. I'll connect you with the composer so you can record.]
My jaw dropped.
A debut song?! I knew it was coming, but hearing it made the win feel real.
"Ha… I'm nervous."
[Hah, you'll do great. Oh, and this is a secret…]
He paused, like sharing classified info.
"What is it?"
[Don't tell the others. I heard the composer's especially looking forward to working with you.]
"Huh? Why?"
[He said your voice color was exactly his type.]
"Wow, really?"
A professional composer complimenting my tone—my lips curled up without thinking.
'Guess I'll toss the rest of those cigarettes.'
I'd been slowly quitting, but had kept a pack tucked away. No point anymore.
Thankfully, since I hadn't smoked long as a woman, it hadn't damaged my voice. And with how much fun practice had been lately, I wasn't about to wreck it.
[Anyway, you'll do fine. I've got to deliver the other avatars now, so I'll leave you here.]
"Wouldn't it be easier to hand them all out at once?"
[Presents are best given one at a time.]
"Ah, right…"
[Then, good luck with tonight's collab stream.]
After hanging up, I just stared at the ceiling.
When I'd first turned into a woman, I wondered how I'd survive. But now? An audition winner, about to record a debut track. Amazing.
I don't know how long I stayed there thinking, until my phone buzzed nonstop.
Bzzz—bzzz—
Checking, I saw the Celestial Project group chat blowing up. Must've all heard the debut song news.
Since our first meeting, we'd been chatting and calling nonstop. Only a few days had passed, but we'd gotten pretty close.
Same age range, same work, endless conversation topics.
Being a VTuber's lonely—having peers made it better.
And I was making an effort too, messaging often.
When I joined the chat now, the topic had shifted to streaming.
(Maho Hyun [Maho]): Is it okay if I mention the debut song in today's collab?
(Anna Lin [Anna]): Wasn't that the point of the collab anyway?
(Han Na-ri [Haru]): Can't wait to hear it www
(Kim Ah-rin [Roa]): What's with that way of talking?
(Han Na-ri [Haru]): Learn from your Japanese senpai culture.
(Kim Ah-rin [Roa]): (trembling bear emoji)
(Maho Hyun [Maho]): Right, Soo-hyun, can I mention it during the collab?
Scrolling down, I saw my name.
(Me): What?
Reply came instantly.
(Maho Hyun [Maho]): The song you sang when we first met! I wanna brag about it to the viewers!
(Me): Yeah, that's fine.
Of course it was. Not like it's anything but positive.
(Maho Hyun [Maho]): I asked since you don't sing much on stream!
(Me): (thumbs-up emoji)
(Han Na-ri [Haru]): Oh? Then I'll mention it too.
(Anna Lin [Anna]): Nope, I'm saying it first~
Seems like the others wanted to bring it up too. I just gave vague permission, threw on a jacket, and headed out for food.
Plenty of time before the collab.
Instead of my usual gukbap joint, I found a new tonkatsu place, filled up, grabbed some snacks, and got home. Everyone was already hanging out in the Celestial Project Discord.
'An hour early? The collab doesn't start yet.'
The company was handling prep—we just had to go live 30 minutes early, chat with the guest streamer, then start gaming.
So why was everyone gathered? I slipped on my headset and found out.
[No, delete that too!]
[Ah, uh… okay!]
[Hurry! Only an hour left!]
Turns out Roa was still fumbling with the game install, while everyone else hovered around giving "helpful" advice.
[Oh? Miro's here?]
"Yeah. Still not done installing?"
[Right?! It's driving me nuts! She's a total tech noob. But almost there!]
"Hm… good luck. I'm gonna grab some snacks."
[Eh?? Aren't you too calm about this??]
"Too many cooks spoil the broth."
I left voice chat, set up my stream, and killed time with a few wuxia chapters until the start time.
When alerts popped up that others had gone live, I hit start too.
[Song King Miro – Bongbong Gathering Participation]
hey hey
mihai
finally live
what's Bongbong Gathering?
"Oh, Bongbong Gathering—it comes from wuxia novels. There's this event called Yongbong Gathering where dragon and phoenix prodigies meet. Dragons are guys, phoenixes are girls, so… yeah, Bongbong Gathering."
Could you just not talk?
Avatar quality leveled up
"Anyway! Today's a collab! Wow, winning the audition really got me on a collab schedule."
Wait, you're doing a collab?
With a guy??
hmm…
Sigh… the moment I mentioned a male collab, chat turned toxic.
All that "bitch this, bitch that" before, and now they're actually serious about me?
"Alright, since we've got some time left, wanna hear what I've been up to off-stream?"
Just play a LoL game ㅇㅇ
Did you level up in LoL at all?
"I played a few matches, but not many."
[Thanks to MasterMiro for the 10,000 won donation!]
So what the hell did you do during your break???
"Thanks for the 10,000 won! Break? What break? After passing the audition it was nonstop meetings, schedules, checking stuff, setting things up. That's why my avatar's new! Pretty, right? Look at the face-tracking."
I shook my head and made a bunch of expressions. The avatar mirrored them perfectly. Still proud of how well it turned out, I logged into the game.
"Today's game is Royal Ground. You all know it, right?"
Royal Ground.
A battle royale where the safe zone shrinks, players scavenge for guns, fight it out, and the last one standing wins.
"There's six of us, so we'll split into two teams of three. Plus, two famous LoG streamers from The Six are joining."
Why are they even in this?
Miro… my horns hurt… Miro… my horns hurt… Miro… my horns hurt…
"Why are you all so intense about this? Don't mess with them when we start, okay? I'll get dragged down too if you flame them."
Self-absorbed b*tch…
Got it, boss~
LET'S GOO~ LET'S GOO~ LET'S GOO~
"If you post weird crap in chat and they catch your name, you'll get banned here too."
I went hardline, threatening bans, and only then did chat calm down.
"You only behave when I bring out the stick, huh."
[Thanks ㅇㅇ for the 1,000 won donation!]
Viewers aren't animals, don't say you're bringing out a stick. Apologize right now.
"Thanks for the 1,000 won. Anyway, let's hop into the call."
Brushing off the donation, I peeked into voice chat. The two LoG streamers from The Six were already in with the others.
Ding—
"Hello."
I entered with the cheerful connection tone.
[Oh, Miro's here!]
"Hey hey."
[Ah! Nice to meet you, Miro! I'm LoG streamer Hangyul.]
[And I'm Nadan.]
Hangyul and Nadan.
The LoG streamers collabing with us today.
First time meeting them—never talked before.
"Yeah, looking forward to working with you both."
Honestly? I didn't think much of them.
Sure, both had hundreds of thousands of subs, but I'd only see them this once anyway.
[Alright, now that everyone's here, let's get started.]
Hangyul naturally took the lead—he had the biggest name and was smooth on the mic.
[Do you all have LoG experience?]
[Ah, yes! We can all play at least a bit.]
Anna answered on our behalf. As the eldest and most popular, it fit.
We did some light introductions and chatter to break the ice, then randomized the teams.
[Okay, Maho, Haru, and Miro—you're with me.]
[Then Anna, Mile, and Roa—you're with Nadan.]
The two pro LoG streamers captained each team. Format was simple: both squads drop into the same match, whichever team scores the first win takes it.
[Alright, let's split into our team voice chats.]
Once halved, things got quieter.
[Ahem, so… feeling confident?]
Hangyul couldn't stand the lull and piped up. To lighten the mood, I jumped in fast.
"Yeah, I'm confident."
[Oh? Really? How confident?]
"Confident enough that if someone yanked a teammate's ethernet cable, nobody would even notice they were gone."
LoG's a famous game. Both my old male self and my current female self had played it plenty.
And hey—I'm proud of my skills. I'm top 3% in LoL, after all. If I can main ADC, FPS is no problem.
[Great! Let's do this!]
Maybe my confidence rubbed off, because Hangyul's hype spiked—
and with that, the collab officially kicked off.