“Getting two phone numbers in one day – is this what being popular feels like?”
Probably not, but at least I got to experience it vicariously. After calming my startled heart, I could finally walk down the street while entertaining self-deprecating jokes. The first clothing store was the convenience store- no, after meeting Soo-ah, the second clothing store I arrived at-
“What the…”
When I’d checked it on Naver Maps reviews earlier, it was supposed to be a men’s clothing store, but it had completely transformed into a children’s clothing store. While the clothes were cute enough to make me imagine how they’d look on children, I couldn’t exactly buy anything here, so I decided to head straight to the third store.
Since it was a bit past the rush hour for work and school, I could see students running late to class, and shops busy with their opening preparations, making the street feel quite lively in various ways.
I felt out of place, being the only one walking hunched over among all this.
Just when thoughts of wanting to go home were occupying about half my mind, I spotted the clothing store.
And in front of it was a woman who looked like she was about to merge her entire face with her phone, she was so focused on it.
Yeah, somehow I had a feeling I’d run into her today.
Yeonhee, who was usually as famous as I was for never leaving her room, was muttering curses like “shit, shit” while intensely doing something on her phone in front of the third clothing store.
Honestly, if she hadn’t been someone I knew, or if she hadn’t been standing in front of the store I was heading to, I would have ignored her, given how unhinged she looked.
“Excuse me.”
“I’m busy.”
“Pardon?”
She was so focused on her phone – if you could even call it looking at this point, given how close she was holding it – that she hadn’t even noticed me. She was so concentrated that she didn’t even recognize my voice, despite us having done several collaboration streams together.
I felt a bit hurt, but also thought this might be a rare sight worth capturing, so I took a photo. Without any app filters, the shutter sound was audible, making Yeonhee look up at me with a frown.
“Look, even if you’re a fan, taking photos without permission is…” Her voice trailed off. “Huh?”
“Hello.”
“Huh? Huh? Huh?”
Suddenly flustered, she smoothed out her frown, then stared to check if it was really me, meanwhile unsure what to do with her phone as she alternated between holding it up and looking at me.
She was really all over the place.
I wanted to give her a light knock on the head for being so scattered, but since she must have been quite shocked, I just watched until she calmed down. I could understand how she felt, having been surprised quite a bit myself today.
“Wait, Daeju nim? Why are you… here?”
“Well, I live around here…”
“Huh?? Really?”
Hearing this, Yeonhee looked around the area.
Was she trying to memorize the local geography? This time, I asked her:
“Why is Yeonhee-nim here?”
“Ah… I, this…”
Yeonhee held out her phone.
As she showed it to me, she seemed embarrassed about something and tightly gripped her phone strap to hide it, though to be honest, I’d already seen it when I took the photo earlier.
It was definitely a popular anime character.
While I don’t regularly watch anime, I naturally came across anime news while checking my Tgether board daily. It seemed to be a supporting character that wasn’t even frequently mentioned in that anime, but she liked it enough to have it as her phone strap.
Getting back to the point, her phone screen showed a game I’d tried once before.
“Oh, Pokémon GO?”
“They say a lot of Eevees spawn here…”
“Just for Eevee?”
“No, I want to collect all of Eevee’s evolution forms, and the IVs[1] are-“
As soon as the topic of games came up, she seemed to relax and started unleashing a torrent of explanation.
As expected of a game streamer, it was impressive how different she became when talking about games. Me? I don’t think I’m a game streamer… if someone asked what kind of streamer I am… a lifestyle streamer? I’m not sure.
“Um… could you give me your contact information?”
“Eev-ing? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huuuh?”
In the middle of her game talk, she was so surprised by my request that she started repeating the same word like a malfunctioning AI robot.
I’m not sure why I asked either, but given today’s flow of events, it felt like I should. After getting so many phone numbers today, it seemed like the natural thing to do. That eloquence she had while talking about games had completely vanished, and until the moment she entered her number into my phone, she kept muttering these three unintelligible words: “huh, huuh, eck.”
“What’s this? What’s this? What is this really?”
“Yeonhee-nim?”
“Ah, um, that eck!… Suddenly I have something urgent-“
And then she ran away claiming she had urgent business.
Though seeing her call me while running away to confirm she’d written her number correctly, it probably wasn’t that she didn’t want to give me her contact information.
“I don’t get it…”
While we seemed similar in terms of being streamers, our viewer demographics, becoming shy outside, and even cooking skills, it wasn’t easy to understand what was going on in her mind.
After Yeonhee left, I didn’t find anything at the third clothing store either.
Maybe it’s a characteristic of clothing stores, but when I was trying to leisurely examine each piece of clothing, a staff member magically appeared behind me and started their “For this customer~” sales pitch, which made my mind go blank, and I fled while making “eck, ugh” sounds.
My mental prayers begging them not to talk to me had been betrayed.
In the end, I went out to buy clothes but only ended up exchanging contact information three times.
It felt like the purpose of my outing had been completely reversed, but it was a time that felt true to the reverse world, after a long while.
When I got home and naturally turned on my computer to start streaming-
“Ah, right.”
The one-day suspension wasn’t over yet.
Thinking about how starting streams had become such a habit, I got curious about the situation on Tgether and checked it out, only to find a procession of memorial posts wondering if I’d really died this time, interspersed with obsessive posts.
***
[I loved you…］
You bastard…
[Comments］
ㅠㅠㅠㅠHope you’re happy there…
ㄴ Who died?
ㄴ The streamer
ㄴ ??? He’ll be back tomorrow though?
***
***
[It feels so refreshing without that bastard lol］
There’s a hole in my heart… it feels so refreshing…
Come back…
[Comments］
lololololol
Why do these jerks who cursed at Daeju so much they wanted him to retire suddenly miss him?
ㄴ tsk tsk What would you know about love…
ㄴ ???
ㄴ Our insults are filled with affection lolol
ㄴ Is… that… so?
***
“Everyone’s being so dramatic”
I look at the posts while letting out a hollow laugh.
It’s just a one-day suspension, but all sorts of posts have popped up – I wonder how they usually wait during my regular breaks.
As if there really were people with elementary school boy-like personalities who bully because they like someone, the board was filled with praise and longing for me for once. The problem was that their expressions of longing seemed like they were talking about a dead person, which made me a bit uncomfortable, but I guess it’s fine as long as the meaning is good.
Since they missed me this much, I wanted to appear and receive a warm welcome from many viewers.
What was there to worry about? It was my Tgether board after all.
I immediately wrote a post.
***
[I’m still alive.］
I’ll definitely stream tomorrow so don’t worry and wait
[Comments］
Who are you pretending to be Daeju when he’s dead lol
ㄴ fr fr lol hacking to pretend to be the streamer lol
ㄴ Look at them disrespecting the deceased;;
Daeju-nim, we’re having fun among ourselves, please don’t tactlessly butt in?
ㄴ Ah… it was fun but… the mood’s totally ruined now…
ㄴ Hey hey don’t be too harsh lol Daeju’s gonna cry lol
Honestly, if you got a 1-day suspension for showing women’s underwear, shouldn’t you at least post a shirtless photo considering those of us waiting?
ㄴ Oh!
ㄴ Oh!!
***
I regret posting.
But there’s nothing I can do about it now since it was my decision.
Instead of doing counseling streams, I think I need counseling myself.
Something like “I’m a streamer but I feel like I’m being ostracized”… well, I guess it was weird for people with personalities like this to suddenly be nice.
Since I ultimately failed to find clothes today, I went to online shopping malls.
While I couldn’t try things on before buying, this was ten, no, a hundred times more comfortable. Above all, just the fact that there were no sales staff approaching me while shopping made this method far more preferable to actual shopping, at least for me.
I was searching for hoodies with familiar mouse movements out of habit, but that wasn’t what I came here to buy today.
“What should I search for… boyfriend look?”
Even in this world, the boyfriend look[2] still existed.
True to online shopping, the screen was filled with clothes that came up in the search.
But none of them caught my eye.
“They’re all such bright colors…”
I was looking for something plain black, but the colors that came up in the search were generally bright shades, white, pink, beige, etc.
They were pretty, but honestly, I was too scared to try them because I wasn’t sure if they’d suit me. It’s kind of funny to call wearing clothes a challenge, but still.
“…Should I just buy them all?”
They weren’t particularly expensive, surprisingly.
Maybe because they didn’t have special patterns or weren’t from major brands, but the prices weren’t high. Honestly, compared to game prices and in-game purchases these days, it wasn’t much money at all.
In the end, I bought them all.
Four tops and two bottoms.
How many gacha pulls would this money get me?
30 pulls?
“Oh? Not that many actually.”
I’m not sure if the clothes were cheap or if gacha was expensive, but comparing them made me feel like I got a good deal.
* * *
(End of Chapter)
T/N:
- “개체값” (IVs in English) refers to Individual Values in Pokémon GO
- Apparently “Boyfriend look” clothes refers to a style of women’s clothing that is designed to appear as if it were borrowed from a boyfriend’s closet, typically featuring a looser, more relaxed fit with slightly oversized elements.
