Annexation
The flood of notifications that came overnight was too much to even check one by one.
When I'd ended my stream yesterday, there had been some reactions, sure—but nothing this extreme.
Wondering what on earth had happened, I started reading through the countless comments, and soon understood why.
Then I froze in shock.
"…No way. Is this real?"
Sato Jun.
The author of the famous manga featuring the samurai character I'd drawn yesterday.
He had retweeted my artwork.
"…Unbelievable."
Now it made sense why so many people had gathered.
It wasn't unusual for mangaka who were active on Bluebird to retweet fanart, but Sato Jun hardly used social media at all. For him to suddenly retweet my work—it was bound to draw attention.
The manga in question was an older series, but one that had achieved classic status, and with a new anime adaptation on the horizon, it had been trending again lately.
And then there was me—the artist who'd been inactive for over a month—suddenly posting a piece completely different from my usual style. Of course that invited strange speculation.
Some commenters even thought I'd gone into "secluded training" and come back stronger.
That misunderstanding only existed because Kim Soo-hyun had never posted a drawing this painstakingly detailed before.
Regardless, having the original author himself retweet my art was shocking.
But then…
"Damn…"
Fragments of Kim Soo-hyun's old replies to comments drifted through my mind.
Harsh, scathing responses—when critics belittled her art, she hadn't hesitated to hit back hard.
Now that one of her works was in the spotlight, I realized it was only a matter of time before those old replies resurfaced.
It was too late to delete them; screenshots were already floating around. And I couldn't exactly abandon the account either…
After a moment of hesitation, I came to a conclusion.
"…It's not like I was in the wrong, right?"
Yes, the wording had been sharp. But she only lashed out when someone struck first.
And the kinds of people who'd drag me down for that were going to hate me no matter what I did.
…At least, I hoped so.
With that, I quietly turned off Bluebird's notifications and tossed my phone onto the bed.
Having one of my favorite mangaka share my work was such a joy that I chose to ignore whatever storm might follow.
That afternoon, my manager contacted me.
[The collab date has been set.]
"Oh really?"
[Yes. Since everyone's schedules are pretty open, it was easy to arrange.]
"Well yeah, we all stream in the evenings anyway."
[Haha… true, but each of them still had at least one day they couldn't make it.]
"Huh, surprising. I thought everyone would be free."
[Apparently, they're all preparing cover songs.]
"Cover songs?"
[Yes. They volunteered, so the company decided to support them. If you'd like to try one too, we can support you as well.]
Wow, they'd even support cover songs?
I did remember seeing chatter in the group chat about everyone working on one. Some had even been stressing about music video production. With company backing, that must have gotten easier.
For a moment, I was tempted. But I shook my head.
"Mm… I don't have any plans yet."
[That's a shame. Understood.]
The manager didn't press. After all, cover songs were up to each member. More wasn't necessarily better.
Besides, he already knew I was participating in Hyunsoo's album.
Come to think of it, I hadn't told anyone else yet.
If I told Hyejeong or the other members, I could already picture their shocked reactions.
"…No, not yet."
As much as I wanted to see their surprise, I decided to wait.
Better to keep quiet and then casually recommend the song once it released.
Would they recognize my voice?
Well, they'd know the moment they heard it.
Since I wanted to do it properly, I'd keep practicing at the vocal academy until I was ready to record and send my part to Hyunsoo. If it didn't match his vision, he'd give me feedback.
[Oh, and it looks like the collab content will be decided today as well.]
"Already? The date's one thing, but the content too?"
[We had to move quickly since the date was set a bit early. But honestly, what matters is simply having all six members together. I suspect it'll be something simple—maybe a co-op game.]
"I see… makes me a little nervous."
[You? Nervous?]
"Haha… my viewers can be a handful, you know?"
[Ah… right, that part.]
This collab mattered.
In the past, our audiences had been small enough that clashes were rare.
It was more like a tiny village, where everyone got along.
But now, after external collabs, promotions, and the song release, our numbers had ballooned.
I'd only just managed to unify the old and new viewers… Who knew what would happen when all our fandoms mixed?
"I'll do my best. I can't cause trouble for the others."
The worst-case scenario would be fanbase conflicts.
That would be a nightmare—for me and for them. Especially with everyone busy working on cover songs, I couldn't afford to burden them.
[Haha… but Miro, you've been handling things well so far, haven't you?]
"I guess I've gotten the hang of it."
Since my streams had been chaotic from the start, I'd picked up some instinct on how to manage viewers.
[You're doing great. Just keep it up.]
"Haha… what if this is already my peak?"
[Then just release another song.]
"…I like that idea."
Since my debut track, there hadn't been concrete plans for a follow-up.
I'd heard vaguely that the company wanted to watch our streaming progress first before building the next song from scratch.
[Anyway, good luck on your stream tonight.]
"I never said I was streaming today."
[So it's a break day? I was planning to tune in while working overtime.]
"…Wait, you actually watch my streams?"
[Just as background noise while I work. Like a radio.]
"…I see."
Of course the manager watched our streams—it was part of his job.
But hearing him admit it directly left me with a strange feeling.
[Your streams are always a bit short. It feels like you run away before I finish my work.]
"Hmm… then maybe I'll go longer today."
[Oh, so you are streaming today? I'll have to work overtime while watching, then.]
"It's Saturday, though."
[…I still work from home.]
The Six… maybe it wasn't such a great company after all.
"Well… good luck then."
[…Thanks.]
And with that, the call ended.
That night, I accidentally dozed off and didn't stream at all.
Less than a week later, the day of the collab arrived.
I finished my setup and went live right at the scheduled time.
[Celestial Project Collab (Miro)]
yo yo
Collab today?
Bring a dude on stream and you're dead lol
Why don't we use nicknames anymore?
First time catching you live!
Please stream longer today
The viewers poured in the moment I went live.
Ever since the YouTube channel was created, there'd been even more new influx.
Thankfully, since I'd set things straight in advance, there weren't any fights between the old guard and the new crowd.
"As announced, today we're doing a Celestial Project collab."
?? announced where?
Been a while since a collab ㅇㅇ
When's your ranked placements in LoL?
"I can't do ranked placements yet—I'm still not level 30."
When the hell are you grinding that?
Spam more normal games already
What about ARAM viewer matches?
Everyone had been waiting for me to do placements on my streaming account.
But lately I hadn't had much time for LoL.
I used to play with the other members sometimes, but lately everyone had been too busy.
And solo queueing was boring. I'd rather spend that time drawing.
"I've just been busy, no time for it."
Busy with what lol
The others are all putting out covers, aren't you doing one?
No karaoke stream?
"Covers? I don't have plans right now."
[Thank you, ArtisanMiro, for the 10,000 won donation!]
Then what the hell do you do during breaks?
"Thanks for the 10k! But hey, who said I was slacking? Haven't I been streaming nearly every day?"
You only do 2 hours and quitㅡ
Can't you go longer?
At least do café reactions like the others
Do you even read manga anymore?
"Café? There has to be something to read. Manga? I've been holding off lately."
[Thank you, ㅇㅇ, for the 1,000 won donation!]
Your fan board has been pretty active lately.
"…Active?"
The café? Not the main community?
Curious, I checked my fan board after seeing the donation message.
"…Whoa, you're right."
Before, maybe one post every 10 minutes.
Now, even while I was live, it was five posts per minute.
"Why is it so active?"
Why are you asking us? lol
Newbie swarm ㅋㅋ
The influx moved to the café
It's been getting busier and busier
"Wow, I'm honestly touched, everyone."
Then keep it up ㅇㅇ
And stream longer
"So I can finally do a stream just reading café posts now?"
Some of the other members spent the first hour or two of their streams going through café posts, using them as talking points.
I'd always been a little envious.
I wanted to read posts about myself live too, but I never dared open the community during a broadcast.
Don't spend all day on café content, that gets boring
Just check it regularly, pls
Forget café, do a World Cup bracket again
"Well, I'll decide on future content later. For now, shall we get into the collab?"
I glanced at the group call room and saw members trickling in one by one.
yessir ㄲ
But what's the collab about? (no clue)
Probably like last time, Royal Ground?
No Minecraft?
"You want to know what we're doing today?"
Before joining the call, I switched the stream display to show the game we'd agreed on.
A simple purple background with bold text in the center.
"We're playing Gartic Phone."
Conveniently, the manager had picked a game that happened to fall squarely into my area of expertise.