The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

“So, I mean, technically there’s no reason you couldn’t do it, but...”

I hesitated, struggling to find the right words while looking into Claire’s sparkling eyes.

You know how it is. It’s like when a kid proudly announces, “I’m gonna be a celebrity when I grow up!”—it’s hard to be the one to explain just how impossibly brutal that path is.

Of course, if it’s a little kid, you can just smile and go “Oh, really?” and move on. Kids don’t hold on to that stuff for long, and they’ll figure out on their own how difficult it actually is as they grow up. And if they still want to do it, then at least you know they’re serious.

But Claire... strictly speaking, isn’t a kid.

She’s capable. If she wants to do something, she has the drive to follow through, and she’s bold enough to act on it too.

It’s just that she’s still unfamiliar with how this world works.

And Alice, standing next to her, was—

......

Well, either way, in this world or the other, jobs like actor or singer have always been something people idolize. Even if the backstage world of the entertainment industry was notoriously filthy in the 20th century, the surface always looked glamorous.

Streaming’s a bit of a different story, but still.

“There’s no reason you couldn’t do it?”

Claire echoed my words like a parrot, and beside her, Alice was clearly locked in, paying close attention.

There was no way either of them would ever become actors or singers in their world. Not because of talent or looks, but because of their positions. In Western countries, it’s not unheard of for people from good families to go into entertainment, but things are different when you’re royalty or close to it.

Alice was the crown princess, the next Empress, so that alone came with more restrictions than most could imagine. Claire... well, who knew what her future held? She was technically just a baron’s daughter for now, but after learning her real bloodline, she could get caught up in who-knows-what.

Then again, that was all stuff from another world.

......So, really, is there any reason they shouldn’t?

Now that I was really thinking about it... no, I guess there wasn’t.

The reason I’d never tried streaming was because I didn’t want my face plastered across the internet—and honestly, I wasn’t attractive enough to succeed anyway. If you’re not good-looking, then you need to be good at talking. If you’re not good at talking, then you’d better be amazing at games, or art, or roleplay, or... something. People need a reason to watch you.

Not that I’m especially funny or skilled now either, but—

We’re pretty, aren’t we?

It’s not even just a “foreigners look good” thing—we’re genuinely pretty. Me, Claire, Alice—we’re all eye-catching.

If the three of us sit side by side, that alone would probably draw viewers in.

Not to mention our insane levels of uniqueness. We’re literally “foreign beauties who speak Korean like natives”—that’s the title right there—

Oh.

Except I’m the only one who actually speaks Korean. Once our voices go out on stream, I have no idea whether they’ll sound like Korean to the audience.

I really don’t know.

“Why don’t we give it a try?”

But hey, that’s what tests are for, right?

It’s not like anyone in this country knows what we look like. So even if we do something embarrassing on camera, it’s not a big deal. No one’s going to dig up our pasts—there is no past to dig up. There’s literally nothing.

As for the language problem, we’ll figure that out after the first stream. If worst comes to worst, I can just sit in and act like their translator.

Claire’s eyes lit up like fireworks at my words.

“Honestly, I’m kind of curious, too. This kind of thing isn’t something we could ever experience in our world.”

Even Alice looked a little excited, her face showing a subtle anticipation.

Yeah. In their world, “videos” were still something recorded on film and projected. Nothing like this.

“It’s too late to start tonight, so let’s get everything ready tomorrow morning and try it out in the evening.”

“Does it take a lot to prepare? Are we being a bother, unnie?”

Claire asked with a hint of worry in her voice, and I laughed as I answered.

“It’s not that.”

I already knew I could use my smartphone in place of a webcam, and as for a mic... well, since it’s just a test, I could probably get by using the one built into my laptop. We could worry about games and everything else later.

Until I get a proper job, I’ve got nothing but time. So we might as well try a few things and see what works.

*

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t true that no one in this world recognized our faces.

Chronicles of Azerna wasn’t exactly a game every single gamer knew about, but it wasn’t obscure either. It had a dedicated fandom. A bit niche, sure—but it had figures, merchandise, doujins, and a long enough history behind it.

Living in the real world—the literal real world of Earth, in South Korea—alongside Claire and Alice, I’d momentarily forgotten: the three of us had crossed over from a world identical to the one in the game.

Of course we looked exactly like our game counterparts.

Granted, there’s always a gap between 2D art and reality, so we weren’t a 1:1 match, but honestly, we were so close it could’ve passed for “perfect cosplay.”

Even without wearing the game’s costumes.

"U-Unnie, a lot of stuff is popping up!"

"All of that is... what people are saying?"

"..."

[oh their Korean is really good]

[are you the Fangryphon trio?]

[damn that's insane]

[why is there a mop stuck in the shot]

You, get out.

I banned the guy who made the mop comment on the spot.

That was definitely aimed at Claire.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

The Claire next to me right now never went through any of that. Her entire future changed because of me in the first place.

"Everyone, please refrain from saying rude things. These are real people you're watching."

[LOL]

[the voice sounds exactly like her, like this could totally be the dub voice]

...Wait a sec. Voice?

[isn’t that literally Sylvia Fangryphon?]

[are you mimicking the voice too?]

Looking back at the chat, I saw someone had even mentioned “Fangryphon trio.”

Hold on. I wasn’t even a character in the original game.

"Unnie, unnie."

Claire poked me and /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ whispered.

"What’s cosplay?"

[lol she doesn’t even know what cosplay is]

[is she pretending not to know?]

And then—

[maybe she dyed her hair not knowing it’s cosplay? Sylvia seems kinda scary lol]

—someone donated 1000 won.

[so did she trick the other two into matching for the gimmick? lol]

[lmao]

[but tbh, it’d make sense, they look way too identical lol] 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Sylvia? What are they saying?"

Alice, who couldn’t read Korean, asked quietly.

No, wait. Hold on a sec.

[but if they keep calling her Sylvia, doesn’t that mean she’s in on it?]

[they’re totally faking it]

[explain yourself]

Explain what?

Judging by the way they were talking, they were just teasing, but still.

Between the chaos of the chat and Claire and Alice—completely unaware of what was going on—I thought for a moment about what to do.

Then I made up my mind.

“For now... yes, that’s right. I’m the one who made them cosplay. They don’t know what game the characters are from—I asked them to join me on stream, and they agreed.”

"Unnie?"

I gently grabbed Claire’s arm off-camera. She instantly understood what I meant and kept her mouth shut.

Alice seemed to catch on too.

“To be honest, we went live without any planning, so we’re going to end the stream here today. We’ll prepare properly and be back tomorrow to interact with everyone.”

[wait wait don’t go]

[you put together full cosplay, can’t you stay a bit longer?]

“It’s not that. We just really weren’t ready. As you can probably tell, we’re still adjusting to a lot of things... yeah. We’ll be back tomorrow. See you then.”

With that, I clicked the end stream button.

"..."

"Unnie, what just happened? And what’s cosplay?"

"Cosplay is when you dress up like a character from a story or game that you like—imitating their hairstyle and outfit. It’s not something people wear casually; it’s more about having fun pretending to be them."

"Ohh, so it’s like when people dress up as ghosts or knights during festivals. That makes sense."

Alice understood right away.

"So who were we cosplaying as?"

I picked up the game case still sitting on the table from yesterday.

"To those people, we’re characters from a ‘story.’ I have no idea why they’re recognizing me though..."

...Tomorrow, I need to go out early and buy the latest installment of Chronicles of Azerna.

And a capture board.

I think I’ve got a general idea of how to handle this streaming thing now.