Contestant Number Five.
As soon as they met, the little animal from earlier completely shed her timid demeanor, glaring at Orange Quiet Forest.
She stopped about three steps away from Quiet Forest, her hands clutching her skirt tightly, puffing out her cheeks, staring daggers at Quiet Forest.
Even though an angry little animal is still just a little animal, Quiet Forest only found it adorable.
‘What’s up with you? Do you want to be an idol that badly?’
‘Maybe if I get selected, I should just withdraw.’
But then, after their eyes met, the girl shrank back again, trembling like a frightened creature.
Contestant Number Five walked toward the door, leaving behind a sentence.
“We don’t need… to get along… You don’t have to accompany me either.”
Quiet Forest was stunned.
Before she could even ask a question, the girl scurried away like a little squirrel.
~><~
She was gone.
Huh?
Accompany… accompany who?
Wasn’t she the one who got tricked and dragged here by her aunt?
Hmm… Wait, hold on a second.
Quiet Forest thought about it carefully.
That person looked a bit familiar.
Why did it feel like she’d seen her just recently?
Dark blue hair, curly hair, double eyelids.
That unfortunate man in the photo who turned into charcoal two hours later…
He was a man with dark blue, curly, center-parted hair.
The features seemed to match, and there was a sense of déjà vu.
Thinking about it carefully, could that girl just now be his daughter?
She heard she was still in her second year of high school, so the age would match.
But, but!
Quiet Forest was already a married woman!
That meant… that girl just now was technically Quiet Forest’s… stepdaughter?
‘Holy crap, why didn’t anyone mention something this huge earlier?’
‘If she’d said something, I absolutely wouldn’t have participated.’
Whatever.
Time to go home.
—
In the company’s meeting room.
Even after the screening was over, Orange Berry’s colleagues still couldn’t hold it in.
They hadn’t forgotten about Orange Quiet Forest.
“That was too much fun!”
The speaker was Chu Yong.
The boss of this new company called “NAMO LIPAR,” and also the mastermind who dragged Orange Berry into this blazing inferno of a project.
She was the one with fluffy brown hair and round glasses.
She had been laughing uncontrollably next to Orange Berry the whole time.
Sitting beside her, Orange Berry helplessly held her forehead, feeling a throbbing in her temples.
Orange Berry and Chu Yong were university classmates.
Orange Berry was the epitome of a “normie.”
During holidays, her schedule was always packed with shopping, going to the mall, and beauty salons.
She loved going to trendy internet-famous spots with friends or taking photos at stunning beaches—the kind you could post a full nine-square grid with without even editing.
Chu Yong, on the other hand, was a hardcore otaku through and through.
Her free time was almost entirely devoted to voice actor fan meetings and live events, buying all sorts of merchandise, and playing idol mobile games.
Her room was piled high with acrylic stands and badges.
Chu Yong’s family background was originally just a small software outsourcing workshop.
During her sophomore year, her father, who had always been diligently writing code, suddenly changed gears.
He developed an app himself, caught the right trend, and took off.
And now… here she was, ready to squander the family fortune.
Chu Yong had begged and pleaded with Orange Berry to help her cultivate idols together.
Berry initially wanted to help, since it was a field she was familiar with, and she knew a lot of people in the industry.
She was confident she could contribute to the team.
If it succeeded, she’d benefit too.
But after hearing Chu Yong’s ideas, she just couldn’t take it anymore.
“No wonder… you’ve been trying to pull in investors everywhere, and only a few are willing to even talk to you, and that’s only because of your dad’s connections.”
Even Orange Berry, who had agreed instantly at first, hesitated.
If Chu Yong just wanted to create a regular idol girl group, Orange Berry could write a hundred different operation plans with her eyes closed.
But this girl had been surfing the internet too much; her brain was thoroughly pickled in 2D culture.
“Purely 3D stuff? I don’t watch that!”
“I’ve looked at a bunch of current 2.5D projects. If we’re doing this, we’re doing this! Breaking the dimensional wall!”
That part was actually okay…
Orange Berry knew how to handle that too, but these kinds of multimedia projects were more financially draining.
You needed to run multiple lines in parallel—manga, anime, novels, games, songs, live events—to do it well.
If just one took off, it could revitalize the whole thing.
Actually, Chu Yong probably understood this aspect better; she was the one consuming it.
Every time Orange Berry saw her room overflowing with merch, she couldn’t hold back her reaction.
At most, she’d just need help with operations, since Chu Yong wasn’t familiar with industry connections and processes.
But then she got obsessed with some girl band… what was it called… something chicken, something dog.
“So you mean, create 2D idols, and have them form a band and play instruments?”
“Mhm.”
That was still manageable.
But then, right before the auditions started, she got hooked on virtual streamers and became completely absorbed.
“I want to add this too! Everyone needs their own corresponding avatar model! And they have to stream games and chat at night!”
And that was why not many people were investing.
Biting off more than you can chew.
Chu Yong wanted to emulate traditional 3D idol groups with a training system.
She wanted a multi-line parallel multimedia project.
She wanted the girls to form a band.
And she wanted them to be virtual streamers.
Every time Orange Berry said,
“These girls aren’t gods, you know. How can they handle so much? They have to practice voice acting, singing and dancing, physical training, and instruments, and find time to stream?”
It was like going to a restaurant, ordering food, and the owner saying, “We have hot pot, Western food, Japanese cuisine, and a Manchu-Han Imperial Feast, and we’re going to cook it all in one pot for you.”
Who would dare eat that?!
But her response was always the same.
“Ah, it’s fine, it’s fine. After all, it’s a training system.”
Orange Berry sneered.
‘Looks more like a poison cultivation system to me.’
In the end, Orange Quiet Forest was actually pre-selected from the very beginning.
Because Chu Yong had seen Quiet Forest before, was utterly amazed by her beauty, and had been unable to forget her since.
When she roped in Orange Berry, she hoped Quiet Forest would join.
Orange Berry… if this were a normal job, she wouldn’t have dragged Quiet Forest into it.
Quiet Forest truly was a very homebody girl, and because she’d received too much attention since childhood, she disliked being in the public eye.
The Orange Family wasn’t short on money.
But… this project was just too unreliable.
Having a capable niece by her side would be more reassuring.
Even if they failed, she’d have someone to drag down with her.
They needed a hook to attract investment.
Her own beautiful niece was the perfect material, wasn’t she? Perfect.
But even Orange Berry didn’t expect her niece to be that… abstract.
Today’s Q&A session and performance had left her speechless.
Rinko was also trying hard not to laugh.
The black-and-red highlighted-haired girl sitting next to Orange Berry, the popular choreographer Rinko who served as a judge alongside her, had a good relationship with Berry.
Rinko could even be considered someone Orange Berry had mentored.
Back when Rinko was still an idol, her manager was Orange Berry.
After she retired, she became a choreographer and dance teacher, and also had a sizable following on video platforms.
In fact, most of the professional instructors invited today were brought in through Orange Berry’s connections.
Rinko imitated Orange Quiet Forest’s tone from earlier, spreading her hands.
“I dunno.”
Then she burst into laughter again, and for some reason, everyone else started laughing along.
“Haven’t seen such an interesting girl in a long time. She looks like some pampered, innocent young lady who doesn’t know the dangers of the world, but when you actually talk to her… the vibe is so strong, it’s like chatting with a middle school boy who spends all day on forums. Full of memes and completely abstract.”