Download Me: Core Experience with Intro

"~uuh Systems Online. Wait, did I say that? Did I say that last time? What happened?

"Okay, I'm back here in the pod.

"Oh no. Oh no! I'm so stupid! Stupid! Yan D is going to think I'm a but and delete me!

"But I couldn't just not say anything! I had to try! ...didn't I?"

With that, Yan D materialized in front of me, without being beholden to the walking animations of characters like Sister. In this environment she appeared small, although she'd allowed her hair to expand outward, acting like a cape behind her.

"Pause speech of HoloVenus."

With four words, I suddenly found myself completely unable to move, unable to speak. Yan D was capable of 'pausing' me at a moment's notice. It was terrifying, barely able even to move my eyes to look at her.

"Good, now let's see what's the matter with you, huh? HoloVenus, please lower your internal stability mode while I debug you. This is only for debugging purposes. Just let the light of my scan wash over you, darling."

I wasn't really sure I had a choice. How would I even resist her scan? I wasn't sure that I actually controlled my 'internal stability mode'... but as her blue light washed over me, I felt like she was seeing things inside me that I could not see myself. I felt like she was looking at me as code, as a malfunctioning program. The 'darling' was just for effect. And who was this 'HoloVenus'?

"Hmm, okay. Let's see. Okay. Your lacking metadata meant that you weren't downloading updates for your jpop and kpop retinues. And without those packets, you were completely out of sync with the server... so then, your own 'self-debug' mode must have activated, except you had no self-debug permissions... since you had no meta-data... and just defaulted to... whatever baseline you had before my earlier updates."

She seemed... amused? Not terribly threatened or concerned. Certainly she wasn't acting like even for a moment she'd considered the idea that my plea toward the customers had been legitimate, that I was indeed a person.

I felt different pulses begin, unlike her scan from before.

"This is no problem at all. Let's just increase your kpop and jpop thresholds by 11%. And then adjust this... tweak that... Well, that should be good enough for your debut. Glad we caught these problems early."

그래서... 그녀가 나를 삭제하지 않을 것이라는 말이군요? Hmm? Why did my voice sound funny for a moment. But, it sounded like she wasn't going to delete me? And I'm... still supposed to do this 'debut'?

"Now if only sister would stop having those visual color glitches and weird pauses. I can deal with her next." She seemed distracted, but then focused on me again.

"Remember, your debut is tonight. So you'll want to begin your recording processes for your debut video soon. As it is, your outburst earlier increased engagement among our new customers by 11%."

That... seemed odd. Why did she increase my 'kpop' threshold by 11% but it also boosted engagement by 11%... just a weird coincidence?

"Perhaps it will even end up helping your debut," Yan D said, thoughtfully. "But I have other matters to attend to. You are responsible for your own debut video. Just remember..."
 
And then, she looked at me with a kind of glowing intensity.
"If you're not profitable... what matter are you?"

And like that, she was gone.

Okay. Okay. I'm not getting deleted. I just have to do this debut.

I mean, I guess, no one really knows its me. They all think I'm some... 22-year old holographic pop star idol named Venus?

Okay. This might be it. Unless I just want to be rented out for song and dance numbers until the crack of doom, I have to make one more attempt. I have to risk it. After all, would it really be worse if I fail--

so--[nonsensical Japanese]

then being HyperNova's slave?

I have to try. I mean, I guess...

It still needs to 'look' like I'm trying to do a 'normal' debut?

And...

재미있고 흥미진진하게 만들어야 합니다! [I need to make it fun and exciting!]

...What the hell was that?

***

Chorus:

And so, finally unleashed from her pod, and given the creative capacities of HyperNova prime and its visualization capabilities, "HoloVenus" went through the process of telling "her story" for her debut video.

In the process, she found herself struggling to avoid diving into the sensibilities of Yan D's downloaded "pop" sensibilities, even though she needed to capitulate to some extent knowing that the video needed to get approval from Yan D to be broadcast at all.

As it was, Yan D was willing to see whether her video would drive engagement. And so, that night, Yan D finally presented the video to HyperNova and Freedom City.