episode_0048

“Thank you. Guest, please visit again later~”

“Ah, yes… .”

After responding to the employee’s sales pitch with an awkward smile, Aki and I almost ran away from the swimsuit store and went to a nearby rest area.

What can I say about hush money?

Perhaps because I bought Aki’s swimsuit and got one for myself as a bonus, the staff didn’t say anything until we left, even though we were caught entering the locker room together. If they had had their way, it could have led to an even bigger uproar.

“… … Phew.”

After 10 years of waiting, we sigh at the same time.

Aki glanced at me, and I looked at the distant mountain.

“Wow… . I almost got into big trouble.”

“Ugh, I almost got in real trouble… .”

Aki nodded.

Aki’s cheeks are still red, as if he knew he could come out quietly because the staff was half-watching him.

“I’m glad you didn’t say anything. If I had called the police or something… .”

There were quite a few other customers in the store, so I guess they all knew that Aki and I went into the locker room together, right?

Then, we see a couple making a nuisance in the changing room of a swimsuit store, a teenager going too far, and an employee catching him while making love inside the store… … . The same dishonorable stigma would have been attached to his face and spread everywhere.

“… … It really sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it.”

My body trembled without realizing it.

Aki looked at me blankly, and burst out laughing slightly as if I thought it was funny.

“Wow, how did you get through it anyway? Isn’t that enough?”

“Okay, that’s it. But there is no guarantee that things will go smoothly like this next time… .”

“Do you want to do it next time?”

“Huh? What are you doing?”

“Uju~chan just said that. There is no guarantee that things will go smoothly like this next time. That means that even though Iida, I will secretly kiss Atashi… ?”

“… … .”

I didn’t think much when I said it, but after listening to Aki’s further explanation, I thought that it might seem like that was my intention.

I scratched my cheek shyly.

“What… . Well, I’m not saying I will definitely do that.”

“If the opportunity arises, will you do it then?”

“Not that, I just… .”

“Just want to kiss Atashi?”

“… … Are you doing this on purpose?”

“Hmph, I got caught.”

Aki sticks out his tongue.

It was obvious to anyone that the intention was to make fun of me, so I could have said something.

‘… … Well, I saw something good.’

I thought it might be worth taking a look at at least once, and it looked a little cute, so I just smiled and moved on.

“Wooju~chan, what are you going to do now?”

Aki naturally changes the topic of conversation.

Before I answered anything, I took out my phone and glanced at the time.

[PM 5:56]

The current time is 34 minutes before the scheduled time.

Since we had a plan to meet at a cafe near the school at 6:30, considering the travel time, I had to say goodbye to Aki soon.

To do that, the most natural way to break up is to ask everyone to go their separate ways now that the shopping is over.

“It’s still a little early, but shall we have dinner? Or shopping for something else? Oh, it would be okay if we just went to a cafe, ordered coffee, and talked. Right?”

The problem was that Aki didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving.

With a bright smile on his face, he talks about making plans for what to do next, and of course, the plan assumes that I will be with him.

I also like playing with Aki and it’s fun, so normally we would have actively exchanged opinions about various things… … . That doesn’t work just for this moment, does it? Because I have a request from Seungwoo Kim.

“Wooju~chan.”

“Huh?”

“The color of my face is not good, where does it hurt?”

Aki looks at me with worried eyes.

“Ah, um… .”

I stretched out my words and thought about my answer.

‘If you say you’re sick and need to rest at home… .’

Aki’s personality is such that he likes to take care of things, so it’s clear that he will follow me to my house to take care of me. In fact, it was like that in the not-so-distant past.

Oh, of course, it’s a problem that can be solved if you refuse. The important thing is that I never refused when Aki offered to take care of me.

Up until now, I’ve used nursing as an excuse to satisfy my selfish desires by looking at Aki’s face, but now if I tell her that I don’t need it, Aki might get upset and say I’ll never nurse her again.

So, the excuse of being sick is rejected.

I need to find another good excuse to tell Aki… … .

There is no way I can come up with a good excuse in such a short period of time.

“Well, what is it… .”

So I hesitated, and Aki, who was looking at me intently, tilted his head.

“Why? You can’t tell Atashi?”

“… … No, that.”

It’s a ghost.

Having hit the nail on the head, I stuttered.

Aki seemed to gain some confidence after seeing my reaction, and leaned his upper body closer.

“Wooju~chan, maybe… . It’s not that I don’t like playing with Atashi… ?”

“Huh?”

Suddenly what does this mean?

I couldn’t understand right away and just blinked my eyelids.

“Wooju~chan, you usually make eye contact and smile a lot… . I haven’t made eye contact once since I left the store.”

what.

Did I do that?

After listening to it, it seems like that.

“No, it’s not like that… .”

“Hot, perhaps… . Atashi is not good at kissing… ?!”

“… … No.”

What is he talking about?

As for not being able to kiss, there wouldn’t be much difference between me and you… … .

As I was about to say that, I glanced at Aki’s face.

Unlike his playful words, his expression is quite serious.

“Wooju~chan, I hate Atashi because he can’t kiss… ?”

“What are you talking about, why do I hate Aki? Even if there are two sides of the sky, that won’t happen.”

I was afraid that there would be some strange misunderstanding, so I put emphasis on each word.

Aki’s expression seemed to have gotten better than before, as if his doubts had been alleviated a little.

“Then, why don’t you make eye contact with Atashi?”

“Okay, okay?”

“… … Ugh, no. It’s strange, Wooju~chan.”

It seemed like there was still some lingering doubt.

This is just my opinion, but I’ll probably continue to have doubts until you explain the exact reason.

So, ‘Uju~chan hates me because I’m bad at kissing…’ Even the word ‘.’ is suspicious.

“Why, what’s strange?”

“Your eyes aren’t your usual Wooju~chan. Uju~chan, I’m hiding something from Atashi… !”

‘… … and.’

It’s a real ghost.

Aki, who seemed to have learned some kind of mind-reading technique without me knowing, realized that I was hiding something just by looking at my eyes, and looked at me with slightly wet eyes.

“I won’t tell you, Uju~chan… ?”

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… … Okay.”

Slurp.

Aki stood up.

I stared at him blankly, and only after seeing Aki’s hand reach for the shopping bag did I belatedly ask.

“Aki, where are you going?”

“… … Home.”

“Uh, I’m going home… ?”

It’s what I was hoping for, but it’s gone so suddenly.

I don’t know why, but since I was going, I felt like I needed to see him off, so I got up.

“Ugh, okay. Goes in well… . See you at school tomorrow.”

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… … Why?”

Is there some problem?

Aki just looked at me without saying anything, so I hesitated and said something.

“… … .”

Aki looked at me quietly and stared at me with a strangely frustrated expression on his face.

“… … .”

“… … .”

Really obvious.

“… … .”

“… … .”

Very, very, very very.

Pan~~~ Hee.

I was looking at it.

“Well, I’m not going… ?”

“… … .”

When I asked again, anxious as time was running out, I sighed and shook my head.

“… … … … Fool.”

* * *

“Now, this is a contract. I talked to the lawyer in charge of our company to make it as easy to read as possible, so you can look at it, sign it yourself, put your parents’ signature or stamp next to it, and return it to me. Is it easy?”

Ham Ji-eun held out a piece of paper.

After doing some research, it turned out to be a type of employment contract, and Ham Ji-eun said that modeling for cosmetics advertisements is also a type of part-time job, and that minors must obtain parental consent to legally work part-time.

However, since my parents live in the United States, I cannot obtain their consent directly.

When I get home, I’ll have to look for my parents’ seal, and if anything, I’ll have to forge their signature and write it down.

‘… … ‘Something makes me feel uncomfortable when they say it’s a forgery.’

But, well, I’m not trying to act strange, so it’s probably okay.

“Okay. Can I give it to you in person at school tomorrow?”

“Yes, give it to me and I will pass it on to our manager.”

“Okay, but when will the commercial be filmed and broadcast? I heard that the schedule is tight.”

“Well, I like to do it as quickly as possible. Universe, when are you okay?”

“It’s okay tomorrow or the day after after school. Also, all day on the weekend is okay.”

“Really? Then, should we go to the studio together tomorrow and do it?”

They said they would pull out the bull’s horn as quickly as possible. Since this is also work, it would be better to get rid of it as quickly as possible, right? I nodded.

“Then. What should I prepare before I go?”

“There is nothing to prepare, but there is something to be careful about. First of all, do not wear white or bright clothes. Since I have to apply a lot of cosmetics, it might stain a little bit.”

“Yes, and?”

“And again, if your skin stings or something strange happens when you apply cosmetics, tell me right away. Because you might have an allergy.”

“What happens if you develop an allergy?”

“Let alone it being a broadcasting accident, you could die. So, if you think something is strange, stop broadcasting quickly and go to the emergency room.”

“… … Was makeup that dangerous?”

You could die while applying cosmetics.

I came here thinking it was a job where I could make money without any risk, but when I suddenly heard people talking about going to the emergency room and dying, I became scared.

“Don’t worry, the probability is very low. for example… . Ah, when I go to a restaurant and eat, there is a high probability that a cockroach will come out in the soup… ?”

It’s a rare occurrence, but it can happen if you’re unlucky.

“Anyway, do you have any other questions?”

“Well, I think it’s roughly resolved. So is it over now?”

“Yes, the contract story is over… . If you have any questions in the future, please call or text me at any time to ask. Do you know my number?”

“I know. If I have any questions, I’ll ask.”

The atmosphere is slowly breaking. I stood up and glanced at the time.

I came to see Ham Ji-eun at 6:30 p.m., and the current time was a little before 7:00. It seemed like it would be longer than I thought, but the story ended incredibly quickly.

‘If this were to happen, maybe I should have just asked Aki to wait a moment… ?’

If we had been playing together, I think it would have been just a nuisance. I’m not sure what was correct. I never had this experience in the first place.

“But you know. Is your girlfriend not interested in modeling or anything like that?”

“Well, I’m not sure… . Why is that suddenly happening?”

“You know that kissing you and your girlfriend got 2 million views, right?”

“… … Has it already risen that much?”

It was embarrassing to see me kissing with my own eyes, so I was avoiding it on purpose, but it’s been a few days since it was posted and it’s 2 million.

Even taking into account the number of duplicate views, that is truly a huge amount of growth. I don’t know who posted it, but it must have made some money.

“When our manager showed it to me, he said, “Don’t these guys have really good drawings?” So, when I told them that they went to the same school as me, they really liked me and asked me to ask them if I would like to model for a cosmetics advertisement or something like that.”

“Ah, I see… .”

They are both cosmetics advertising models.

I didn’t know if I was alone, but I thought it would be okay if Aki did it together, so it was a very tempting offer.

“Okay. I’ll ask you later. But I don’t know if it will work or not. Actually, being a model for an advertisement this time means appearing secretly… .”

“Oh, really? Then you will definitely get caught, right?”

“Why do I always get caught?”

“For the broadcast this time, we will use clips and captures and spread them virally. If you’re a girl who’s interested in cosmetics, you’ll definitely see it at least once, right?”

“… … Oh, no way. How wide is the Internet?”

* * *

A few days later.

A message from someone arrived on Aki’s cell phone.

[Aki, look at this]

The sender is Lee Ha-ram.

A YouTube video link is attached along with a short statement.

[what’s this?]

[Is this a cosmetics advertising video that was posted on Ham Ji-eun’s YouTube channel a while ago?]

[But the cosmetics model for this is your boyfriend???? lol]

“… … ?!”