“Oh, it’s over?”
As I clasped my hands and stretched with a big yawn, Claire walked into the room and said.
“Yes. I ended up keeping at it all day.”
Having never done any editing before, everything from start to finish was utterly inefficient. When I questioned whether it really needed to be this complicated, I found much simpler examples and templates. But I forgot what I did a moment after using them, so I searched again… and thus, several hours slipped away.
The result was barely about 5 minutes of content.
These days, short videos are pretty popular, but after spending several hours, coming up with a video that’s just long enough for a piece of royalty-free music was a bit shocking.
I thought it was difficult, but I never expected to get so lost in it.
“Eat and then do it.”
Claire said, placing a plate piled high with fruits on the table.
Most of it was apples, with a few pears mixed in.
The state of the fruits was all over the place. Most were sliced rather excessively. Honestly, some didn’t seem to have been ‘peeled’ as much as they were ‘chopped to bits.’
Of course, I was unsure if I could even slice them to this extent.
“Can I watch the video?”
“Of course.”
I got up from my seat and moved to the side of the monitor. Then, I poked the fruits with a fork and started eating.
Yum!
I hardly ate fruits while living alone; they were a bit pricey.
Even when I did buy some, I would only choose seasonal fruits that were the cheapest. Naturally, they looked all different, and the bags they came in were usually transparent or black plastic.
Maybe because of that memory, I was taken aback when the kids I went shopping with came back with beautifully packaged fruits in a box. It was a bit funny that I could buy a car or camping gear without a second thought but was so surprised by mere fruits.
But these fruits weren’t just pretty; they tasted good, and I understood why such fruits sold so well.
“Oh.”
When I turned on the video, a pretty tune played, and Claire gasped in admiration. It had taken a little time to choose the right music that matched the atmosphere while listening to each one. Plus, I had to check for copyright.
When we shot the video, we didn’t exactly take it seriously, so there weren’t any lines. There were sounds of laughter and scenes of us running around and shouting, though.
“I should’ve at least said something next time.”
“Yeah. It’s nice, but it definitely feels like it could use more of a story.”
“Still, I don’t want to make up a story or anything.”
“I don’t want the place we went to relax to turn into a filming location.”
Claire nodded along, seemingly agreeing with that.
“Should we at least add subtitles?”
“Hmm… Since it’s the first video, and I’m only posting it to check the reactions, do we really need to? The main purpose is to preserve memories.”
That’s definitely true.
I speared some fruit with my fork and popped it into my mouth.
“Hmm…”
As the short 5-minute video came to an end, Claire crossed her arms and seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, so I quietly continued to munch on the fruits.
“To be honest, I don’t have the confidence to edit this much.”
When I turned my gaze toward Claire, she had a very serious expression.
“Big sister can’t shoulder this all by herself. We’re already a burden as is.”
“I don’t really mind, though?”
“You’ve been sitting here for several hours today!”
Well, if you don’t want to do it, can’t you just not do it?
I mindlessly grabbed another piece of fruit.
“We all share these memories.”
Sometimes Claire would say these slightly cringey lines. Plus, seeing her with such a serious expression gave off a real protagonist vibe.
Honestly, I didn’t remember Claire from the game at all. It’s just that it’s hard to imagine a polygon character existing in reality.
But I liked those cringey lines. It seems like I still haven’t outgrown my middle school phase.
“Then let’s all watch the video and chat. I don’t want to force it, though. While we’re here, I want everyone to feel at ease.”
“…Thanks.”
Seeing Claire look apologetic like that made me shove a piece of fruit into her mouth.
*
“Wow…”
Among us, the one who reacted the most confidently to the video was none other than Mia.
“Do you like it?”
Alice and Charlotte’s eyes sparkled, but Mia was the only one who gasped out loud, so I asked her.
“It’s like magic.”
Is that so?
I suppose it could be. While you can think of photos as extremely finely drawn pictures, videos are a completely different story.
While we sometimes caught our faces on video during broadcasts, that screen usually just appeared small at the bottom. Plus, the angles hardly changed.
People can easily tell that the game screen isn’t human, and there are films with good cinematography, but they don’t show our faces.
However, the video we were watching now wasn’t just a simple smartphone video; it was shot with a large-sensor mirrorless camera.
Though I took it casually without knowing much about cameras, the colors were so beautiful, and the quality was so good that the video turned out exceptionally well. And since I edited it a bit, it looked even more splendid.
It seemed Mia was reacting to that.
“Would you like to learn how to do that?”
“Uh?”
“How to make something like that.”
At my words, Mia hesitated a bit.
“Is that okay?”
“Of course! I’m just starting to learn myself, so I can’t provide detailed instructions, though.”
“I want to learn!”
Hmm.
It felt a bit burdensome when she looked at me with such sparkling eyes.
I’m still a rookie, after all.
When I awkwardly looked up, Claire was watching me with a pleased expression.
Well, something good is good.
After all, if we’re going back, we need to show our faces, and to do that, we need to post more videos.
*
Even after posting the video, there was still plenty of time left before the broadcast started. Since we didn’t manage any special websites or internet cafes, there was no promotion.
But, somehow, the video started to receive comments.
I thought the video I made with pride was just an ordinary video, but apparently, it was special in some way.
“Aren’t we foreigners?”
Alice read a comment and laughed.
“We’re foreigners but speak Korean really well… Well, it’s only natural to think that. I feel like our looks always stand out when we wander around outside.”
“And someone below is questioning whether it’s cosplay or not.”
Charlotte, having been on air with us for quite a while now, knew what those words meant.
“For the next video, wouldn’t it be good to post one called ‘We’re Korean’? If we include names that sound peculiar for this country, more people might watch it.”
I seriously pondered Charlotte’s suggestion.
“If we’re too blunt about it, some people might dislike it, so it might be good to keep it low-key. How about revealing it when someone comments about foreigners doing ‘nationalistic’ videos?”
“Sounds like you.”
Alice replied to my opinion, leaving me momentarily speechless.
“No, well, that’s a compliment.”
Seeing me caught off guard, Alice quickly said that.
If it’s a compliment, then sure.
“Is it possible that we might really receive requests for broadcasts or something?”
Hmm.
Last time, Claire’s appearance spurred quite a buzz, yet we never received any contact… But that might be because our contact details aren’t publicly available. Since we uploaded the video to a streaming site, maybe we’ll receive an email from that site.
“What do you all think? If a TV station requests us, would you go for it?”
It might be wishful thinking, but you never know.
I thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask in advance instead of deciding later on.
To be honest, all five of us are quite stunning if I say so myself. And each of us has a pretty definite position.
… We might not be idols, but it’s strange that such five women living together have yet to attract attention through broadcasts.
“I’m curious.”
Claire was the first to respond.
“Since we’ll have to go back someday, participating in a regular broadcast might be a bit much.”
Alice added a condition.
“An interview would be fine, though…”
“Yeah, it seems reasonable just for an interview.”
Charlotte and Mia reacted cautiously.
Seeing everyone’s reactions, I nodded.
“Then if the day comes when we’re contacted, I’ll agree to a light interview.”
Everyone nodded at my words.
Well, we’ve just posted one video, after all.
There’s no way it’ll attract that much attention in just one day, right?
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.