I Unknowingly Rejected My Favorite

༺ …I’ll Do It ༻

Wednesday morning.

Today was the day for me to serve Doah— No, for me to serve Luka-nim by her side.

What happened yesterday was still etched in my memory.

The live announcement of the results ignited the hearts of both contestants and viewers alike, and at the very end, the announcement of Luka passing the audition.

Many Pink Army spammed the chat with emojis, while Luka just stood there and let out a sincere curse that she often used in her streams.

「Oh. Fuck.」

At that moment, the camera closed up on her pink ponytailed avatar.

The host looked frozen, as if he had been stopped by her words.

Both the camera angle and the situation were nothing short of comedy gold.

If it was a public broadcast, that was the kind of scene they’d edit out, but since it was a livestream, the viewers were hit with Luka’s unfiltered curse.

「Ah… Luka-ssi seems very happy! Everyone, please cheer for her!」

A comment one beat late.

Followed by the simultaneous laugh of the rest of the candidates.

As the final touch, Luka covered her face with her hands, only God knew if she did that because she was embarrassed or touched. This clip of hers was still getting a lot of attention as it went viral.

That thirty-second clip got more than three hundred thousand views in just a day.

The comment section was also a treat to see.

[Wow… We even got a Fuckdol now.]

[btw. isn’t she so real for blurting that out? wwwwwwww]

[the host brain freeze is a killer lmaooo]

If I may be honest, I myself had watched that clip about ten times, even though I had seen it happening live.

Seriously, Luka-tan, your curse sounded so satisfying.

Of course, some people didn’t receive the scene of her cursing well, but generally, people thought it was cute or realistic.

Maybe I’d burst out laughing if I were to see Doah’s face.

Could I endure it?

My heart was thrilled, yet I couldn’t resist the urge to tease her.

But that wasn’t going to happen.

Streamers and VTubers who didn’t show their faces tended to be extremely reluctant to have their identities revealed.

In fact, there were cases of people taking a break or stopping streaming entirely because of threats to reveal their identities.

As a true fan, pretending not to know the streamer’s true identity for their sake was the norm.

Besides, I wasn’t some spoiled brat in the first place. I had no intention of threatening her with something along the lines of, ‘Hahaha, I know your identity!’

I was content by just cheering her from behind.

I pushed open the door and stepped into the classroom, once again searching for the scattered members of the group.

The easiest way to find them was to look out for the back of Junseok’s head.

His light brown and curly perm was really noticeable, after all.

It didn’t take long to find him.

”Junseok, hi.”

”You’re here, Taemin.”

There was no sign of Doah or Minji around.

”Where are the girls?”

“They left for a moment to go to the bathroom. They came first.”

The girls’ bags and clothes were left on the seats where Junseok pointed with his chin.

“I see.”

“Ah. By the way, I think the group project is way too much for the whole first semester.”

After taking off my coat, I agreed with him.

“It’s annoying, for sure.”

“Right? Why can’t it be until the midterm? Why do we have to do it for the whole semester?”

While I agreed with the statement itself, there was room for debate regarding the actual outcome.

Because it let me meet Luka in real life.

For Junseok, this was a mere group project, but for me, it was a small piece of happiness.

“Well. It’s better than having two different groups in the same semester.”

After some small talk with Junseok, the girls came in.

“Oh! Taemin oppa hello!”

Minji greeted me cheerfully.

“Uh. Hi.”

“Hello.”

Doah bowed her head slightly and walked to her seat.

As expected, it was obvious that she was uncomfortable with me.

The sudden realization that I was an existence hated by Luka-tan made me feel sick inside, but it was my karma.

I was the one who rejected her, I had no right to complain.

However, the fact that the same Luka who cursed ’fuck’ yesterday was sitting right next to me made it quite difficult to control my facial expressions.

“…Did something good happen?”

It seemed like she saw the face I was making.

“Ah. I just remembered that I saw something funny yesterday.”

When Junseok asked me suspiciously what I was doing, I scratched my head and glossed it over.

“But you had a perverted look just now.”

Junseok pointed it out with a smirk, and I smacked my lips awkwardly.

I wanted to smile widely and show that clip of Luka-tan and say, ’Isn’t this fucking adorable’, but that would be the equivalent of me stabbing her in the heart.

Moreover, there was this thing called a ’social facade’.

As a faithful practitioner of the social facade, such an act was impermissible.

It wasn’t as if I hadn’t tried to be open about being an otaku.

I had done it before because I thought it would be less annoying, but what happened was that people tried to talk me out of it.

They kept telling me that there were better things to do in the world and I shouldn’t do that and so on.

I swear, those people just prattled on selfishly.

They still tried to do that even after I told them to respect my tastes. That was why I didn’t want to go through that process again.

“Okay, everyone. Good morning.”

Not long after, the professor came in, and class started.

The first hour was a lecture. The remaining hour was spent reviewing the progress of the group project.

Junseok showed the group members the PPT materials he had prepared to present to the professor.

“How is it? Good?”

“Yeah. It looks neat.”

“I agree, Junseok oppa. Really though, aren’t you like, the king of organizing?”

 Doah next to her also bobbed her head up and down in agreement.

“Hmmm… But I’m not sure if this aligns with the direction that the professor said.”

“Right. The professor said something about looking into it a bit more in the previous lecture.”

Back then, the professor definitely said something about having a clear direction for the project he had in mind.

We could only wait and hope that our strategy would work.

“I’d like to look at this group, would you mind?”

The professor, who had just begun to check the groups in earnest, walked over to us.

“Yes. For our group, during the previous class…”

Junseok was the god of bullshit.

I had no idea how he could explain our vague discussion so well.

It was almost like creating something out of nothing.

However, the professor’s expression was not so bright.

“Hmm… Just because it is aimed at the MZ generation, I don’t think it will work that way.”¹Millennials + Gen Z

He wasn’t a professor for nothing, I guess.

One by one, the explanations that seemed so perfect when I had heard them were rejected.

“So if you’re going to go with this as a strategy, it makes a lot more sense and more eye-catching if you go this way. But the preliminary research is still very poor.”

Everyone in our group was instantly stunned, as if a cat had caught our tongues.

“Yes…”

“It might be a little tight, but from what I can see, I think this group should go back to the beginning and analyze the target first.”

Minji and Doah frowned.

My expression probably wasn’t much different than theirs.

A do-over… He actually told us to do everything all over…!!!

Our two weeks of work came to nothing…

No, I guess we were lucky that this didn’t happen the third week.

I tried to look at the positive side, but I still felt sick inside.

“Since today is Wednesday, please refer to the advice I gave you today and create a new presentation by Friday at the latest.”

He only gave us two days.

Our group members’ faces turned white.

“My email address is on the syllabus, so please refer to it and send it to me with your student numbers and names. I will give you feedback over the weekend. Then you should roughly be back on track with the other groups.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

We said our thanks, but none of us actually felt grateful.

“Huff…”

A place once swept away by a storm.

Junseok put his hands together, wiped his face, and spoke with a voice full of mixed emotions.

“…So as he said… what do you guys think?”

“Ah… No wayyy, that’s total bullshit…”

Minji let out a frustrated whimper.

“Yeah, but it isn’t like we can ignore his words… He even said that he’ll review our work separately…”

It was inevitable that such professors existed.

Those professors who were a little too enthusiastic about their class.

Like, why would he even review our assignment on the weekends? It was the weekend, just take a rest…

“That…”

Doah, the quietest one among us, spoke up.

“Yes, Doah? What is it?”

“I have something to do for today and tomorrow… So I don’t think I’ll be able to participate…”

Although she had given advance notice last week, her tone was one of deep apology.

“But, since we have to turn it in on Friday, that means you can’t work on anything?”

Junseok’s sharp point made Doah flinch.

“…Yes.”

“Can I know the reason?”

The reason Doah would be busy today and tomorrow.

It was…

“It’s for personal reasons… I am sorry…”

“But Doah. Even if it’s for personal reasons, it’ll be a problem if you don’t participate at all. At the very least you have to explain it to us so that we can understand the reason.”

…There was no way that Doah could talk about it.

That she was actually a VTuber and that she was about to face the last important audition to become an idol.

Doah’s pupils fluttered in embarrassment.

“Doah. Can’t you at least explain to us?”

And so, she ended up in an unexpected situation where she had to make an excuse. Except that she didn’t seem to have the knack for it.

“…I’ll do it.”

I knew very well that interrupting others was not a good habit.

However, I also knew that sometimes, there were moments when it became a necessity.

“I’ll do Doah’s share too, Junseok.”

  Leave this to me, Luka-tan.

…Hearing that, Doah’s dark brown eyes widened even more.

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  Millennials + Gen Z

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