I Want to Be a VTuber-Chapter 175: Opening (3)

The lively sound of an electric guitar echoed through the hall, followed by the music that resonated along with it.

It was an unfamiliar song, and the audience and panelists mostly had puzzled expressions. It was as if Seoyeon had selected an old anime song for the performance.

However, back then, there were at least some people in the audience who had that "Ah, I know this!" look. The song had been famous enough that, even if it had been rearranged, plenty of people still recognized it.

Most of the reactions now were more along the lines of, "I've heard this somewhere... was it from a cartoon?" The general consensus was that the song was unique, but not so strange as to make people feel as alienated as they did now.

The show Masked Singer wasn't a platform for presenting original songs. Naturally, the audience came to hear existing songs and to see how the singer would perform them.

This wasn’t the place for unfamiliar content.

Seoyeon knew that much, at least.

'This is...'

But from the moment the sound of the electric guitar rang out on stage and the moment the Gray Crow grabbed the microphone and the music began, Seoyeon realized something.

She had heard this song before.

And not just at some distant point in the past—quite recently.

"CD? What is this?"

At Jiyeon's house, there was an old PC. One that could still read CDs.

These days, PCs don’t typically have CD drives. It’s rare to see anyone bothering with one.

Unless you go out of your way to order that part separately, it has become a relic of the past, barely even functional.

"It’s a game CD."

"Juseoyeon, are you picking up random junk again?"

"It’s a CD of a game my parents made during their high school years. A nostalgic memory, really."

"Sometimes, you stumble across nostalgia when you pick up random things like this. Isn’t it wonderful?"

Jiyeon’s sharp tone suddenly softened, though Seoyeon squinted at her suspiciously. Jiyeon simply averted her gaze with a sheepish smile.

How was Seoyeon supposed to know that the random CD she had brought over would be something this important?

And Seoyeon had never heard that her parents had ever made a game before.

Was it something like a high school club project where they made games?

Come to think of it, considering the line of work her parents are in now, it wasn’t all that strange.

Click.

Anyway, it was thanks to Jiyeon’s old PC that Seoyeon was able to play the old CD at her house.

She had thought about buying something to read the CD herself, but then there would have been compatibility issues, making it impossible to run.

A homemade game from over 10 years ago? Who knew if it would even run on a current OS.

But thanks to Jiyeon’s old PC, they were able to run it without any problems.

"This is..."

Jiyeon murmured quietly.

The game, surprisingly enough, exuded an old-fashioned charm.

There was something special about it.

"It has an opening song?"

The game had an opening song that played upon startup. The song didn’t seem to have a proper title. The word Opening was simply written in the corner of the screen.

The song itself was relatively calm. It fit well with the vibe of a typical fantasy RPG—a song that would encourage an adventurer about to embark on a journey.

But Jiyeon couldn’t help but think the voice was familiar. And soon enough, she realized it.

'Isn’t this Yeo-hee?'

Seoyeon hadn’t noticed it at all, but Jiyeon, who was a huge fan of Yeo-hee’s singing, could sense it faintly. The voice of the singer, though a bit raw, sounded remarkably similar to Yeo-hee’s.

Of course, the singer's skill couldn’t match the current Yeo-hee, but considering the singer might have been a high school student at the time, it was an exceptional performance.

'...No way.'

Now that she thought about it, they did say they were schoolmates.

At the time, she had just thought of them as classmates, but listening to this song, it gave her a different feeling.

If it weren’t for that connection, there would have been no reason for Yeo-hee to participate in the game’s production.

So, what exactly is going on here? Jiyeon glanced over at Seoyeon, wondering if she had realized this too.

But Seoyeon just listened quietly, without any apparent recognition.

The Opening.

It seemed hastily put together, and the video that played alongside the song was crude. It was nothing more than a collage of illustrations, similar to what people called a “mad movie.”

However, the very fact that they had included a song at all made it special. It was a game that had its own charm, feeling a bit rough but endearing.

A song that strangely tugged at the heartstrings.

Seoyeon raised her head, stepping down from her stage and looking at the new singer who had just stepped onto it.

The Gray Crow.

No, the fact that she knew this song meant that she had to be someone connected to Sua and Youngbin.

Could it really be?

The thought crossed her mind, but the song itself confirmed it.

The Opening.

Though the song didn’t even have a proper title, it fit better than anything else with that name.

A matured voice, different from the freshness of back then.

Years had passed, and now that song was spreading beyond mere memories to reach the world, right there on that small stage.

To put it simply, this was a small whim.

"Unnie, are you serious? There are so many other songs you could choose!"

"Why, what’s wrong?"

"No one’s going to recognize a song like that."

Isn’t this basically a self-composed song?

No matter how you look at it, it’s not a song that fits the tone of Masked Singer.

"Why are you making a big deal out of this? This song was sung at a music festival back then, and it was a bit of an issue. It was the theme song for a game that a high school student made!"

"But it doesn’t even have a proper title."

The title of the song was just Opening.

No other title—just that simple name.

At the time, they had tried to come up with a proper name, but nothing fitting came to mind.

So, Youngbin said this to her:

"Opening is good."

As a song marking their first beginning.

A song for the adventurer setting out on a new journey. What better title could there be for such a song?

Well, perhaps it was just laziness.

Looking at the stage, she felt the gaze of a masked rabbit looking up at her.

Of course, she couldn’t see its expression, but the surprise was evident.

A child who, unlike their father, seemed to overthink things needlessly.

Perhaps they took after Sua instead.

Yeo-hee gripped the microphone in her hand.

A strange song, a strange melody.

But it was fine.

A song that stirs people's emotions comes from empathy.

And, considering the nature of Masked Singer, an unfamiliar song could feel even stranger than on any other stage.

But in the lyrics and in the theme, people would find something to relate to.

Perhaps some people would even recognize it.

The words she had said to her manager weren’t lies.

At the time, the song had been a bit of a sensation.

It had been a self-composed track inserted into a game created by a high schooler, and it had circulated on the internet for a while.

Of course, back then, there wasn’t much awareness of copyright or anything like that, so it had spread illegally.

'Anyway, that’s how it was.'

The source of this c𝓸ntent is frёeweɓηovel.coɱ.

She tore her gaze away from the rabbit and looked out into the audience.

Among the crowd, which was swaying to the rhythm, she spotted two frozen figures.

She had seen them from afar during the semifinals, but now, up on stage, she could see them even more clearly.

They had aged since she last saw them.

Their appearance showed the passage of time.

Her manager had told her:

"They’ve become part of your memories."

Well, it wasn’t wrong.

In the end, she had become part of their memories, unable to meet them anymore.

They looked cool, even in their changed forms, but not everything about them pleased her.

Unlike her, they had families now.

They had responsibilities, things they had to protect, which meant they had more on their minds.

But as for her, she was still a child.

Still stuck in the past, unable to move on from what they had once said to her.

"Creators must live with a youthful heart."

That’s what he had said to her when she was feeling down.

"...What?"

"Exactly what I said."

"You’re saying I’m childish?"

It had probably been when she had received harsh criticism for her song.

There were countless people who could sing well.

Just being able to sing well wouldn’t guarantee survival in this world.

In the face of that overwhelming reality, she had begun to feel anxious, wondering if she could truly live off her singing in the future.

She must have been feeling quite down at the time.

"You love singing, don’t you?"

"Just because I love it doesn’t mean it solves anything."

"But you have to love it. Always."

Creators must live with a youthful heart.

He had always said that.

At first, she thought it was just nonsense, but now she understood.

"It’s your dream, right?"

A creator must love what they do, and they must be able to continue loving it.

But eternal feelings don’t exist. They eventually fade away.

That’s why you have to keep loving it.

You must hold onto your youthful heart, or you won’t be able to continue loving your dreams.

When you get worn down by society and the times, when you can no longer love your dreams in the face of reality, that’s when you truly grow old.

You can’t stay young.

Once you’ve aged, you can’t go back.

When your dream becomes just a job, you lose even the ability to love it.

"So you have to stay a kid for as long as you can."

That’s what he said as he reached out a hand to her while she sat crouched on the floor.

"There’s no need to rush."

It was as if he was asking her if her dream was so weak that it couldn’t wait even a little longer.

It was okay to start late.

As long as you can keep loving it, an opportunity will surely come.

"You sing well."

Sometimes, even the most insignificant compliment can become the trigger for everything.

At that moment, it felt like the simple praise from a classmate had made her believe that she could really achieve something.

And maybe that was what had sparked her dream.

'I was lucky, though.'

Of course, it might have just been a foolish hope.

There are countless people who sing well.

No matter what you want to do, there will always be countless competitors.

To have the talent to realize a dream is, in itself, a huge blessing.

But even so...

Isn’t it all right, regardless?

Before she took the stage for this performance, Yeo-hee had initially planned to sing a different song.

She had prepared a song familiar to the public in advance.

But she had chosen not to sing it.

The moment your dream becomes your job...

He had said it.

Is your dream so weak that it can’t wait even a few years?

Of course not.

And he had lived that way, too.

That’s why she hesitated.

Should she grasp reality, or should she keep loving her dream?

Should she remain a child, or become an adult?

At forty, it was no longer a young age.

Anyone looking at her would call her middle-aged.

People would say it was too late to chase dreams.

But Yeo-hee didn’t care.

She had always been a child.

And she would continue to be.

She was a woman filled with lingering attachments.

Even if she remained a child, tied to her past from 20 years ago.

She could accept even that.

So what? Isn’t it wonderful?

Being able to keep loving something.

Some might call it foolish.

Some might point fingers and laugh.

But as long as she didn’t think so, that’s all that mattered.

If creation is suffering, then perhaps this suffering, too, was hers to bear.

If being foolish and lingering was part of her, so be it.

Like the title of the song she was singing now.

Her life had always been an Opening.

Seoyeon thought to herself.

Sometimes, songs can move people’s hearts.

At least, Seoyeon felt that way.

'Maybe I’ve been rushing things.'

There was no doubt that Seoyeon had been hesitating lately.

She had been questioning why she became an actress in the first place.

And about the things she had wanted to do in the past.

Her hesitation came from a deeply personal place.

She wondered if those dreams were truly what Juseoyeon wanted.

Becoming a Virtual YouTuber was something her past self had dreamed of.

Wanting to do that was, in the end, something that kept her tied to her past self.

If she pursued that path, she felt she might never truly become Juseoyeon.

Maybe it was an exaggerated thought.

But for some reason, that’s how it felt to her.

The same applied to acting.

At first, it was something her parents pushed her into, and her decision to become a famous actress was genuine.

But was it truly what Juseoyeon wanted?

Recently, she had been questioning that.

Meeting Yuna had made her realize that she was still tied to her past.

Perhaps the reason she became an actress was also because of her lingering attachments to the past.

The countless movies and shows she watched to learn about emotions.

The many actors she saw on screen.

Like them, through TV and the silver screen, she had wanted to show herself to her past parents.

To send them a signal that she was doing well.

And perhaps, because of that desire, she had become an actress.

Her conversation with writer Min Sehee had followed the same train of thought.

If she could completely let go of her past, maybe she wouldn’t have to deal with these doubts.

That’s what she had thought.

So, perhaps, she had been rushing things.

Trying to fully sever herself from her past.

Believing that if she could do that, she could move forward as Juseoyeon.

But this song seemed to deny that belief.

Oddly enough, the song was filled with memories of the past.

It was a song steeped in lingering feelings.

Yet the singer didn’t seem to mind at all.

As if saying, "So what?"

It was as if Seoyeon’s worries were being brushed aside as foolish.

As if the song was saying that, yes, even those lingering feelings are a part of you.

One of the lyrics said:

"Is your dream so weak that it can’t wait even a little longer?"

So there’s no need to rush.

It was true.

As long as she continued to love it, it was something she could do at any time.

And if she still had doubts, she could wait until she had a clear answer.

This song seemed to be offering an answer to Seoyeon’s doubts about her past.

There was no need to forcibly forget it.

There was nothing wrong with lingering feelings.

The important thing was how you acted on them.

As long as you continued to love it, your dream would never leave you.

Even until the moment you closed your eyes for the last time.

As the song ended, with one last strum of the guitar strings, Seoyeon continued to watch the stage.

She wasn’t the only one, either.

Surely there was another person here who had been dealing with similar doubts.

"Unfortunately, you lost by just two votes. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes."

Slowly, Seoyeon removed her mask as she spoke.

When she took off the mask, a small commotion arose in the audience.

That’s how impressive the song performed by Manlap Rabbit had been.

They had all assumed she was a professional singer.

But who would have thought that Juseoyeon would appear here!

As everyone stared in surprise, the Gray Crow—Yeo-hee—was inducted into the Hall of Fame as the champion.

By just two votes.

With a somewhat unsatisfied expression, Yeo-hee stood watching Seoyeon being interviewed. Then, she looked down at the stage floor.

Her manager was staring up at her with an exasperated expression.

"You said nostalgia was stronger."

"Well, I still won, didn’t I? Have a drink."

"By only two votes?"

Well, sometimes things happen.

It seemed like Seoyeon was saying something during her interview that was causing a stir, but Yeo-hee didn’t really care.

What mattered to her was something else entirely.

She noticed someone in the audience, amidst the commotion, silently giving her a thumbs-up.

Yeo-hee, catching his gaze, gave him a thumbs-up in return, smiling beneath her mask.