Chapter 89: Record A Meeting

– Okay, class is dismissed for today.

– Everyone, make sure to wear a mask when you go outside and be careful.

Today’s school classes are over.

Since they were all remote classes, it was incredibly convenient just having the laptop on at home.

The days of diligently attending school in person already felt like a distant memory.

‘Lots of interesting things have happened lately, too.’

Since this was the first time remote learning was implemented in Korean education, various troubles arose for both the school and the students.

Most teachers didn’t know how to utilize this kind of internet broadcasting software.

Students, well aware of its loopholes, started engaging in small deviations impossible at school, like secretly playing computer games on another screen while keeping the Zoom program open, or muting their mics and singing.

Accidents also happened, like someone forgetting to turn off their mic and their passionate singing echoing during class, making remote classes arguably more entertaining than regular school.

‘It was lucky Mom found her old laptop.’

It’s fine to attend class using a webcam connected to the computer.

The school even recommended it, and some kids probably did.

And naturally, our house also had a high-quality webcam that could connect to the computer, but I deliberately used the old laptop for classes instead.

‘If I showed my room with a good webcam, I’d just attract attention from the kids.’

Especially the workshop where the computer is located has a rather flashy interior.

Dad’s taste, perhaps.

He turned it into a gaming room utilizing RGB lighting extensively.

Though he doesn’t actually play games much and keeps the room brightly lit for work, citing poor eyesight.

“Daughter, is class over?”

“Yes, is there anything I can help with?”

“Then, can you help Dad fold the laundry?”

“Okay.”

Mom’s belly had also started to visibly swell now.

She occasionally complained of pain and mentioned feeling the baby move faintly inside her.

Since it was my first time seeing not just a baby, but a pregnant person, I kept touching her bulging belly out of curiosity, but the little one didn’t seem to want to greet me yet.

“Maybe the baby takes after Sua and is calm.”

“Around this time, they say fetal movement can disrupt sleep, but that hasn’t happened.”

“There isn’t anything wrong, right?”

“The doctor said it’s not a big issue, so don’t worry too much.”

It’s times like these I truly feel how young I am.

I had lived as a man until adulthood, but I hadn’t truly become an adult.

I still knew nothing about the world and nothing about people.

A child who only grew physically into an adult.

Now, that child, me, was slowly learning about the world and learning about people.

The thought occasionally crosses my mind that maybe this was why I regressed.

“Ah, Sua.”

“Isn’t that your phone ringing?”

As I was touching Mom’s belly, the faint sound of a phone’s ringtone could be heard.

The sound was coming from my phone in my room.

I went into the room, picked up the ringing phone, and answered the call.

“Hello?”

– Ah, Sua. Are you busy right now?

“Um…. Who is this?”

– N-No way, you didn’t save my number…?

The man on the phone sounded flustered, his voice cracking.

– It’s, it’s me, Wooseok…. Uncle Wooseok…. You haven’t forgotten your uncle, have you…?

“Who?”

– You really forgot?!

“Just kidding.”

– …You shouldn’t tease your uncle. You saved my number, right?

“Of course.”

“But what was your last name, Uncle?”

– See, you didn’t save it! It’s Kang! Kang! Kang Woo Seok!

“Aha.”

‘So his last name was Kang.’
‘I should save it.’

“Anyway, what’s up? Calling me like this.”

I knew that since helping Osorin with her vocal practice, the two had become close, calling each other oppa and dongsaeng.

He even gave Osorin several tickets to his own performance.

But he hadn’t contacted me since that first cover practice session, so what was going on?

– Osorin, she’s doing that idol project now, right? I have something to talk about regarding that.

“Ah, right.”

“Osorin unnie mentioned she talked with you, Uncle.”

‘Did he come up with a good idea?’

‘Conveniently, today is Osorin’s day off from streaming, so the timing is good.’

“Do you know how to use Discord?”

“Let’s talk there together?”

– Ah ah, can you hear me?

– Yeah, I can hear you clearly, oppa.

“You joined surprisingly quickly.”

“It might be a bit difficult for older folks.”

– Uncle is still in his early thirties, you know…?

‘In my standards, thirties is definitely old enough.’

‘We have a two-fold age difference.’

Somehow, Osorin also seemed to have taken splash damage.

‘Why is she like that?’

– Ah, I’m going to record this conversation just in case, is that okay with both of you? My memory isn’t that great.

A recording to remember any good ideas or future plans.

Kang Wooseok and I readily agreed with a nod.

This was, in a way, similar to a meeting.

The meeting started with Kang Wooseok’s question.

– The plan Osorin has, it’s going to be a 4-member system for now, right?

– That’s right. If I had my way, I’d want to go with 5 members, but finding people seemed like it would be difficult.

According to what Osorin told me once, girl groups start with a minimum of 4 members.

Odd-numbered groups like 5 members have the best stage performance, but due to recruitment and budget issues, they unavoidably settled on 4.

– The problem now is where to find the next two people…. When are you planning to post the recruitment notice?

– I need to start looking now. Recruiting quickly will give us more time to sync up.

– Has the 3D modeling issue we talked about before been resolved?

– It’s still ambiguous…. So I’m thinking of doing live stages a bit later. Come to think of it, since we’re not appearing on already popular music shows like Music Bank, there’s no reason to stress so much about live performances.

Kang Wooseok and Osorin discussed the virtual idol project with each other.

Listening to their conversation, it felt less like seeking advice and more like they were proceeding with the project together.

It was decided that Osorin would lead the virtual idol project.

I wanted to help too, but I already had quite a lot of work at the company, and Osorin insisted that since this was her idea, she wanted to try doing as much as possible herself.

So, I agreed to help only with the virtual-related aspects and had completely tuned out otherwise.

But they had already progressed to the point of recruiting two members.

“You’ve already found two people?”

– You didn’t know? Two trainees from our agency. Osorin snatched them up right when their trainee contracts ended.

– This project is my responsibility, so I didn’t specifically tell Racoon-ssi. Since Racoon-ssi is our company’s Vice President, you just need to give the final approval.

– Aha? I just assumed you knew, so I called after a long time. Since Osorin is busy.

It wasn’t like I wasn’t busy, but since Osorin does live streams, he might think that way.

Especially for a celebrity like Kang Wooseok, having a phone ring during a broadcast would be unimaginable.

“But even if I don’t know the project’s progress well, I did say I’d help with the virtual aspects, right?”

– I did try to do it all myself once…. And according to Hayoon, the technology for 3D avatars isn’t great yet, so it can’t express as much as Live 2D.

“Well, if the expert says so, there’s not much we can do.”

Even I can’t create virtual avatars.

I just like virtual stuff; I don’t know the technology.

I only have a rough idea of how avatars are made from occasionally watching production videos or behind-the-scenes stories; I have no specialized knowledge.

‘If I had that knowledge, I wouldn’t be an editor; I would have made virtual avatars myself.’

– Hayoon said facial expression implementation is possible, but it costs a fortune in CG. Honestly, on stage, faces are mostly smiling, so it doesn’t matter much, but eye-tracking is important.

And mouth shapes need attention too. Since it’s a character, not live-action, there are apparently more things to worry about.

Japanese anime-style 3D characters are harder to implement than realistic 3D characters.

Body proportions might be simpler than realistic ones, but parts like the face, if made animetic, can look distorted with just a slight camera angle change.

It was a problem arising from transitioning from 2D to 3D.

This issue could only be resolved with improvements in 3D technology, so there was nothing I could advise on.

Still, I could help with something very small.

“Then how about this?”

“The current body tracking uses sensors attached for real-time syncing, right?”

“Keep the body tracking as is, but use a different recognition system for the face.”

– Different?

“Yes, instead of recognizing everything as one, wouldn’t linking two systems separately reduce the load?”

“Maybe place a cam in front of the face and track the gaze and mouth shape directly?”

“Unlike the body, which moves largely, the face moves subtly and its shape is fixed.”

“Then maybe it could be simplified to simple facial tracking instead of full 3D tracking.”

Of course, current technology probably couldn’t read full expressions. That’s expected, given the limits of avatar technology.

However, I thought maybe eye gaze and mouth opening could be made natural.

– Hmm… I’ll mention it to Hayoon first.

“I hope it helps.”

Honestly, I didn’t even know if such technology existed right now. I just mentioned it because I knew there was a group later on that did 3D virtual broadcasts this way.

‘Hayoon-ssi will judge and produce it accordingly, I suppose.’

“When all the members are decided and you’re making the avatars, you have to contact me, okay?”

“I did say I’d help.”

– Hehe, okay. I’ll really tell you then. But—, ……Huh?

Osorin suddenly stopped mid-conversation. It wasn’t a mic or transmission error; it felt like the voice was swallowed in her throat.

– Uwaah! Oh my god! I’m crazy, I’m crazy! I must be crazy!

“Is something wrong?”

– What’s wrong?

And Osorin sounded panicked, as if something truly terrible had happened.

– Racoon-ssi, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. What do I do….

She spoke in a tearful voice.

– I think I pressed the broadcast button on OBS a little while ago instead of the record button….