Maze 24 Hours
The strange silence was first broken by Maho, who had already seen me before.
"Ahaha, hold on a sec…"
Doing her best impression of my voice, she quietly pressed the mic mute button.
Beep—
The moment the mic clicked off, Haru was the first to speak.
"You!"
"…Yes?"
"You, you! Why were you wearing a mask?"
Why was I wearing a mask?
Well, because it was fun, obviously.
Just like I'd been curious about what the others looked like, they must've been just as curious.
So when the door opened and I appeared with an insect mask on, that was the first shock. Then, when I took it off, that was the second shock.
If you get the chance to tease, it's only natural to go for it, right?
Of course, I hadn't planned for things to play out this way.
I'd only taken the mask off because I wanted a drink of water, forgetting about my earlier plan to keep it on.
"…I just wanted to tease you guys a little."
"…Unbelievable."
"I honestly thought you had some kind of burn scar…"
Anna's comment startled me a little. No wonder she hadn't said anything about the mask before now.
So they'd all been quietly assuming something like that.
"I thought you had some reason too, but it was just… for fun? Just that?"
Stomp, stomp—Haru marched over, visibly fuming.
But then—halt.
She froze just before grabbing my cheek.
"Uh… is it okay if I touch your cheek?"
"…Now you ask?"
"It feels like I shouldn't."
"It's not that big a deal."
"Tch."
Squeeze—
Her slightly cool hands grabbed both my cheeks and pulled them down.
"Ah, ahhaha—"
"Wow, your skin—what the heck?"
"Shhoh yoooung…"
"What? Say that again."
Her grip loosened, and I regained my freedom of speech.
"I said, I'm young."
I was twenty-one. Of course my skin was firm.
My smug expression lit a fire in Haru's eyes.
"You done talking? That's a short will, you know!"
"Ah! Aaaah—"
"Ugh, you little—stop mocking us!"
"Mmph… ahhhmfff—"
"Speak properly! Last chance!"
Curious about my words, Haru loosened her grip again.
Fine. If she wanted to hear it—
"…Because it's fun."
"Gkk—"
Haru executed me on the spot.
So is everyone here now?
Hah lol
"Yes, that's right. We're all gathered in the room."
There had been some fuss, but the stream carried on smoothly.
Well, of course. All six of us were streamers ourselves. No way would a little gathering stop the show.
[Thank you for the 10,000 won donation, ILoveAnna!]
So how did you all end up meeting?
"Kyah—Thank you, ILoveAnna, for the ten thousand won!"
Anna did the reaction herself. Naturally—if the username was clearly one of her viewers, then she handled it personally.
As for how we ended up here…
"Oh, us? I called them together."
LMAO, that's the youngest for you
Gathered all the seniors, damn
Big Boss Miro
Yeah, I'd invited them.
It was a little impulsive, sure, but wasn't it nice for the members to meet in person once?
Thankfully, everyone agreed—and that's how today happened.
[Thank you for the 5,000 won donation, RoaSky!]
What were your first impressions of each other?
"First impressions, huh? Hmm…"
Judging by the username, that donor was Roa's fan.
I glanced over at Roa, sitting on the bed beside Haru, both of them petting Boksil.
Band-girl? Hongdae-girl? Tough older sister?
Whatever I said, it'd be shocking.
So instead, I let my eyes drift toward Mile.
The donor might've been Roa's fan, but hey, I wasn't naming names, was I?
"Well… first off, Mile unnie was smaller than I expected."
"…Miro?"
Sorry. But hey, Mile herself had admitted on stream a few times that she was short.
Saying "Roa's a badass tattooed, pierced short-haired girl" would be way harsher than "Mile is really small," wouldn't it?
"That's how it's gonna be, huh? Fine—Miro was a bug!"
A bug??
LOL no way
"But not anymore, right?"
I had taken off the bug mask.
And even looking straight at my face, could she really say that again?
"…Tch."
In the end, Mile could only clamp her mouth shut at my smug grin.
[Thank you for the 10,000 won donation, Anonymous!]
What's the member height ranking?
Height ranking?
That was easy enough to eyeball.
"Well, Maho unnie is clearly the tallest. As for the shortest, I think you know."
"Hah, and you think you can handle that?"
"Handling it will be the problem of future Miro."
After all, everything I dealt with now was because of past Miro.
This time, I'd just toss it forward.
"…We'll see."
Damn, the tension
Power struggle, lol
Please come back alive
"I honestly thought Miro was super tall too, though?"
That voice belonged to Haru, who joined the conversation.
I glanced around—Boksil was now being doted on by Roa and Maho.
Lucky dog. Already neutered, but still.
"I'm about 170 cm, so yeah."
For a woman, that was on the tall side. No wonder Haru, who seemed a bit below average, thought I looked tall.
"And seriously, your proportions are insane."
Her eyes swept me up and down, almost envious.
If a guy had done it, it would've been creepy.
"…Aren't you staring a little too much?"
"I mean, you can't not stare."
That part I had to admit. I was used to it from seeing myself in the mirror every day, but the first time—even I had been shocked.
True, I'll give you that lol
It was insane lol
I wanna see it too
"You wanna see? Nope. Only I get to see."
Reading the chat on her phone, Haru teased smugly—and the chat window instantly ignited.
Aaaaagh!! HaruStan! MahoStan!
You bastard…
Show me too show me too show me too
Guarantee the viewers' right to know! Guarantee the viewers' right to know! Guarantee the viewers' right to know!
"Uh…"
The chat flared up without warning at such a light joke, and Haru visibly panicked.
Getting flustered over something this minor? What a waste of all that streaming experience.
If she froze over this, the next four hours of streaming would be in jeopardy.
Clearly, I needed to show them what real fire looked like, so they'd be inoculated against petty pranks like this.
"If you want it so badly, I'll show the viewers too."
"…Eh?"
I slipped into the soundproof booth and grabbed the mouse.
If they wanted a look, then fine—I'd show them.
Miro had Miro's own body to present.
"It's embarrassing, but please enjoy…!"
What appeared on screen was a full-body illustration of my Miro avatar.
Standing at attention, the kind of image you'd see on a character profile page.
"There. I'm showing you despite my shyness. Don't leak it anywhere."
Me
Rock
Do you seriously think we're clowns?
Lol, we're ending this today
Just because the other girls are here doesn't mean you're safe
Feeling cocky today, huh
That was what you called a real riot.
"Hey! You can't provoke the viewers like that!"
Anna's horrified voice came from behind me. I just smiled.
"They're angry now—what should I do?"
"Good grief…"
Anna thumped her chest in exasperation, which only made me burst out laughing.
"You think this is funny? Right now?"
"Ahaha… hurry and tell me how to fix it, unnie."
"…I don't know!"
"What's going—gasp!"
Meanwhile, Haru, who'd been distracted by Boksil, finally looked at the chat—and her jaw dropped.
With reactions that good, if I were a viewer, I'd keep stoking the flames just to see more.
And right on cue, the chat started flying by even faster.
"Wh-what do we do?"
"Should we apologize first?"
"…But what did we do wrong?"
Now that attention was focused, the others huddled together, fidgeting.
"Miro provoked the viewers."
"What?"
"Technically, Haru unnie started it."
"So it's Haru's fault?"
"Yeah, sounds right."
"Then Haru has to apologize?"
"Guess so?"
"…Huh?"
And just like that, by majority vote, Haru was chosen as the scapegoat.
"Alright then, Haru unnie, you handle the public apology. We'll go prep the next segment."
"Wait—what??"
"Good luck."
Leaving poor Haru as the sacrificial lamb, the rest of us moved on to prepare.
"Hold on, let me stash what I brought in the fridge first."
"Then I'll drop my stuff in the living room."
First we cleared the room and finished tidying the half-done cleanup from before.
We needed space for all six of us to sit comfortably around the mic.
"…For the trouble I've caused…"
While Haru muttered a baffled apology, the rest of us took our seats.
"Alright, are we ready now?"
"Looks like it."
"Haru unnie, you can stop apologizing."
"What? But I was almost done."
"Words aren't enough—you have to show it through action."
No more apology?
What's next?
Playing a game?
Six people's kinda awkward
QnA let's go
"What are we doing?"
QnA didn't sound bad, but that wasn't the plan.
After all, we were virtual idols.
If we gathered together, we had to do a concert.
Click.
As planned, I tapped the mouse, and the prepped instrumental began to play.
?? Is this for real?
LOL holy shit
It's happening
We knew we could count on Celestial Project!
"Alright, first up—Celestial Project."
What else could we do?
We had to sing.
"I'll go first!"
And so, the chaotic, turbulent Miro 24 Hours ended with a small concert—watched by tens of thousands of viewers.