Ch.124124. Must Be Nice to Be Called ‘Oppa.’

After finishing our prayers for our individual wishes, we left the main building and moved to a spot where we could see the lush green forest on the outskirts of the shrine. It was a location I had been eyeing since climbing up the stairs, a place where photos would likely turn out beautiful.

“Wow, the atmosphere here is really nice.”

“Right? I spotted this place when we were coming up earlier. The scenery is so beautiful that I thought photos would turn out well.”

When taking photos, the background is just as important as the subject. The photographer’s skill is actually pretty similar across the board, so it’s just a side factor.

I pulled Hwa Nabi by the hand while looking around for a suitable spot. To take good photos, you need to find the right point on location.

Here we have the shrine and green forest as background elements, so I just need to find the optimal shooting location where both the background and the person will look beautiful.

“Oh, that spot looks good.”

After looking around, I found a position where the soft morning sunlight was shining through and the background would look nice.

I positioned Hwa Nabi at that point, then stepped back about ten paces and held up my phone.

“Nabi, ready for the photo?”

“Aren’t you going to be in it too, Siwoo?”

“Let’s take a few individual shots of you first, then we’ll take some together.”

It would be a bit strange if I filled my personal report with only photos of us together.

I opened the camera app, leveled the frame, and slightly bent my knees to make her legs look longer in the shot.

All portrait photos look better when taken from a slightly lower angle pointing upward, as it makes the lower body appear longer. If the subject leans their upper body back slightly, it’s even better… but I suppose these photography theories don’t really matter.

“Strike a pose.”

At my words, Hwa Nabi thought for a moment, then turned her face at a 45-degree angle and slightly raised her heels. This creates an effect that makes her face look smaller and her legs appear much longer.

I felt oddly proud that she was putting the photography knowledge I’d shared to good use. Satisfied, I pressed the shutter button and took several photos.

—Smile!

—Click!

“How are they? Did they turn out well?”

“Want to check?”

Maybe it was because both the model and the background were excellent, but even though I took them, the photos turned out really well. Hwa Nabi seemed to share my impression as she flipped through the images and let out a genuine exclamation.

“Wow… these really turned out great. Siwoo, could you send these photos to me?”

“Sure. I’ll send them to you. Want to take a few more?”

“Yes, I’d like that. The photos here are coming out so pretty that it would be a waste to just leave.”

Hwa Nabi took off her outer jacket and returned to the shooting point. She seemed excited after seeing the good photos and became more enthusiastic. She even struck slightly provocative poses while maintaining eye contact with me.

She twisted her waist slightly backward, raised her arms up, and then placed her hands behind her neck. But as she happened to be wearing a sleeveless top, her smooth underarms were completely exposed.

“……”

-Click!

“How did this one turn out?”

“…I don’t think it came out well. Let’s just delete it.”

“Really? But we should at least check… Ah, Siwoo?”

I quickly backed up the photo I had just taken and deleted the original in front of Hwa Nabi. She looked at me with wide eyes.

“It might have turned out well! You should show me before deleting it.”

“Ah… sorry.”

This photo… I’ll keep it just for myself.

With that resolution, I restarted the camera app.

“Want to take another one?”

“We’ve taken enough individual photos of me, haven’t we? Let’s take some together now.”

“Okay, sure.”

Since we’d already found a good spot, I just moved over and switched to selfie mode. With the clear sky, lush greenery, and the red shrine as our backdrop, we began shooting.

We started with a casual arm around the shoulder, then resting chins on each other’s shoulders or hugging. After that, we pressed our cheeks together for a close-up, and finally took several affectionate photos where we kissed each other’s cheeks.

“Siwoo, let’s set this as our KakaoTalk profile picture.”

“…You want me to use this as my profile picture?”

I wanted to go along with Hwa Nabi’s request, but this wasn’t just an ordinary photo—it was one where she was shyly kissing my cheek.

My brother, parents, and friends would all see it, so using it as a profile picture would be a bit embarrassing… but she wasn’t going to accept any objections.

“I’m going to use this one too, so make sure you match me. Okay?”

The photo she showed me was the opposite of the previous one—me kissing Hwa Nabi’s cheek. Looking more closely, I saw she had already set it as her profile picture.

It seemed she wasn’t just making a casual suggestion, so I reluctantly complied with her request.

“Sigh… okay, fine.”

“What’s with the sigh? Do you dislike doing this with me?”

It’s not that I dislike it… I’m just imagining the teasing KakaoTalk messages I’ll soon receive from my friends, like “Look at this guy, showing off his relationship!” or “So, did you have a hot night yesterday?”

As I was about to make excuses, another group appeared a short distance from where we were standing.

It was a group of just two women, and what was notable was the significant age difference between them. The younger one looked like she was at most in the early years of elementary school, while the older one seemed to be in her early to mid-twenties.

“Unnie, should we take photos too?”

“Yes, shall we?”

-Click, click.

“Did it come out pretty?”

“Hmm… no, it’s too blurry.”

Since it was quiet all around, we could hear their conversation. They were speaking Korean rather than Japanese, so they seemed to be from our country, and from what I could hear, they were having trouble taking good photos.

The little girl was chatting with her sister when she suddenly turned toward us.

“Oh? Unnie. I think there are other people here too. Should I ask them to take our photo?”

“Sure, that would work. Want to go ask?”

“Um, couldn’t you ask instead, unnie…?”

“Jiyu, what did I tell you?”

“…Do things yourself.”

“Yes, you remember well.”

After their conversation ended, Hwa Nabi and I looked at each other.

“Nabi, it looks like they’re going to ask us to take their photo?”

“Yes, I heard them too.”

“Yeah, what should I say when she comes over?”

“You’re good at taking photos, Siwoo. Just help them. I’ll wait here.”

“Hmm, okay?”

It was natural enough, but her permission came surprisingly easily.

Meanwhile, the little girl who had reached us was clutching a camera and approached nervously with a flushed face.

“Um… e-excuse me.”

She seemed embarrassed about approaching us and stammered slightly as she spoke in Japanese. I was about to answer in Japanese too, but since I’d already heard them speaking Korean, it didn’t seem necessary.

I bent my knees slightly to match her eye level and answered gently.

“Yes, do you need something?”

“Ano… (Um…) Oh? You speak Korean?”

“Yes, both of us are from Korea. Are you from Korea too?”

“Ah, yes. I’m from Korea but I’m not Korean. My dad is Korean and my mother is Japanese, so I lived in Korea with my dad and came here on a trip to my mom and sister’s hometown. I can speak some Japanese, but… um… what was I trying to say…?”

The young girl seemed unable to organize her thoughts and rambled on before turning back toward where her sister was standing with a half-tearful face.

But her sister was just covering her mouth and smiling at her younger sibling, showing no signs of helping.

“Were you trying to ask us to take a photo with your camera?”

Unable to watch any longer, I asked first. The girl nodded her head vigorously up and down.

“Yes, yes. That’s right. The distance is too close so the photos aren’t coming out well. Could you help us?”

“Sure, I’ll help.”

I took the camera the girl handed over and examined its settings.

At a glance, it was in macro mode with automatic wide-angle distortion correction and auto-focus correction… no wonder close-up photos weren’t working well.

The girl’s request was just to take photos for them, so I could just take a few shots and be done with it, but knowing the reason for the problem, I couldn’t just let it go.

“Do you know how to adjust the camera settings?”

“S-somewhat.”

“Really? You seem young but that’s impressive. Are you interested in cameras?”

“Ah… yes. My dad is a photographer.”

“I see. Here, want to take a look?”

I crouched down to meet the girl’s eye level. Then I moved very close to her side so she could see the camera screen clearly.

“Uh, eh?”

Since I’d handled this model a few times before, I could change the settings quite easily. I showed the camera screen to the girl while briefly explaining the photography techniques I knew.

“Don’t use macro mode and auto-focus correction together. It distorts the subject. If you want to take pretty pictures, first shoot without any corrections, just aligning the horizontal and feet. You can use the features afterward. Got it?”

“Y-yes…”

“And when taking selfies up close, always hold the camera up and the model down. Don’t fill the screen completely, just about one-third of it. You know that much, right?”

“Ah, I know… but…”

She knows but finds it difficult to apply? Well, there’s a way for everything. They say seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times, so it’s faster to try it directly.

I switched the camera to selfie mode and placed my hand over the back of the girl’s hand to help her operate it directly.

“…Huh?!”

“Now, hold the camera at about this height. If you inhale and then slowly exhale, there’s a moment when your hand stops shaking. If you take the photo at that moment, it won’t be blurry.”

-Click, click!

The photo on the camera screen captured the girl with flushed cheeks and me smiling comfortably. This should be a good example to follow. I showed the photo to the unusually shy girl.

“Like this, easy, right?”

The girl’s shoulders were still tense. But soon, a smile bloomed across her face as she checked the result, and she quickly looked up.

“Wow, you’re really hand— I mean, it really came out well. Th-thank you! I think I can take photos now!”

“Oh… really? Okay. Take good photos with your sister.”

“Yes. Thank you so, so much, mister I don’t know!”

With just those words, the little girl scurried away with quick steps. Whether it was because she had talked with a stranger, her ears were so red I could see them from here.

“Hmm…”

The original request seemed to be for me to take photos for them, but somehow it turned into a photography lesson. Still, she seemed satisfied, so that was good.

“Well, shall we go now?”

Our business was done and I’d fulfilled the request. It was time to move to our next destination. Just as the girl who had hurried away was showing her camera to her sister and jumping up and down, I turned to the side and spoke.

But for some reason, Hwa Nabi standing beside me had a slightly pouty face.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Nothing, just because.”

I asked because I thought there might be a problem, but she just turned her head away. It seemed like it wasn’t just nothing? I put my hand on Hwa Nabi’s shoulder, gently embracing her as I asked.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick somewhere?”

But Hwa Nabi’s reaction was unexpected. She slipped out of my arms as naturally as flowing water and took a step forward.

Then she glanced back at me and said in a strange voice.

“Must be nice. Being called ‘oppa.'”

“…Huh?”

“…Hmph.”