Chapter 72: Passport Photo

MSI.

Short for Mid-Season Invitational, a tournament where the spring champions of each league compete.

Unlike Worlds, which has up to four seeds, MSI only takes the champion team, the 1st seed.

‘Its prestige…’

Worlds, which can be seen as the culmination of a year’s work, and MSI, the clash of champions.

Many consider Worlds more prestigious, but winning among 1st seeds is almost equivalent to winning Worlds.

Of course, that’s not the point.

“Seo-ha, you seriously don’t have a passport…?”

The coach, the manager, the team members.

All eyes were on me, followed by a brief silence.

Then, the coach, regaining his composure, chuckled and said,

“Well, it’s a bit awkward for me to say this, but Seo-ha, your family is relatively well-off, right?”

“That’s true, but…”

“Then, haven’t you gone on any trips abroad with your parents?”

Because my mother was so busy, our family never traveled overseas.

My father is relatively free, but he says he can’t go if my mother doesn’t.

And since I wasn’t particularly fond of traveling, I never complained.

“I should have checked…”

Perhaps due to the alcohol, the manager, her face flushed, hugged me and started stroking my hair.

“It’s not Seo Manager’s fault. Honestly, who would have predicted we’d be going to an international competition so soon?”

“Still…”

“Ugh, this is why I don’t drink with Seo Manager.”

The coach pulled the very drunk manager away from me and said,

“It should be ready in about two weeks. Go and apply tomorrow. You can do it during your break, right?”

“I will.”

It’s not peak season for passport applications like during school vacations, so two weeks should be enough.

“Where’s MSI being held this time, anyway?”

“Japan!”

Park Jin-hwan casually threw out the question, and Lee Yoo-chan answered excitedly.

I wondered why he was so enthusiastic, then I remembered.

“It’s a little disappointing that it’s not in Tokyo, but Osaka still has plenty to see.”

Lee Yoo-chan is a good communicator, the team’s mood maker, and as a support, he has a high proportion of female fans.

So, I sometimes forget…

“Honestly, for an international tournament like this, Tokyo or even Nagoya Dome would be great.”

…that he’s a huge otaku.

“Did you know Nagoya actually has a lot to see? And there’s Toyohashi, which was featured in a new anime this season.”

“…”

Park Jin-hwan gave him an exasperated look and went back to eating his meat.

---

“Your passport?”

“Yeah.”

The day after the finals, Choi Eun-seo, whom I met at a cafe after a long time, made a disgusted face upon hearing my story.

“You don’t have a passport…?”

“I’ve never had a reason to go abroad.”

“So you haven’t even taken a picture?”

“No, I’m going to take one today and apply right away.”

“Hmm…”

Choi Eun-seo thought for a moment, then said,

“Let’s go take the picture!”

“Now?”

“You always do these things when you think of them.”

“Is that so?”

“I know a place that takes great ID photos. Let’s go!”

We arrived at a nearby photo studio – it felt more like a concept studio than a typical photo studio.

“You’re here for a passport photo?”

Usually, you’d do your own hair and makeup and the studio would just take the picture.

But here, they led me to a seat and started styling my hair.

“You shouldn’t wear heavy makeup for passport photos. But you’re already so beautiful, you don’t need it.”

The employee diligently explained while neatly brushing my bangs, which usually covered my forehead, to the side.

Apparently, regulations have become more lenient, and you can leave a few strands down, but I asked them to sweep it all back.

“…Wow.”

Choi Eun-seo, who was watching from the side, couldn’t close her mouth after the styling was finished.

“Your head is really small. Or is it your forehead that’s small?”

“Is it that noticeable?”

“Usually, when you expose your ears, your face looks a bit bigger, but yours looks the same.”

Is that so? I see my face every day, so I don’t really notice the difference. If she says so, it must be true.

“Alright, we’ll take the picture now.”

I sat in front of the camera and followed the employee’s instructions.

“Do you do any modeling work?”

“Me?”

“Usually, even people who have experience being photographed don’t pose perfectly on the first try when they sit in front of the camera.”

‘I guess I’ve had a lot of opportunities to be photographed in this life.’

For some reason, I’ve been called to more places than when I was a pro in my past life.

Fan meetings, commercial shoots, and so on.

I knew it all helped with team operations, so I tried to attend as much as possible, as long as it didn’t interfere with my condition.

Maybe that’s why I naturally got used to being photographed.

“Thank you for your time.”

While waiting for the pictures, Choi Eun-seo, who was watching me, suddenly stood up.

“Let’s take a picture together while we’re here.”

“Together?”

“Yeah, this place specializes in concept photos.”

I had nothing else to do while waiting, and there was no reason to refuse.

“Alright, let’s do this concept.”

“What is it?”

Choi Eun-seo rummaged through her bag after telling me to wait.

“…Our team uniform?”

She pulled out two of our team uniforms.

“Gotta be prepared like this if I’m taking a picture with the LCK Finals MVP mid laner.”

I wondered why she carried those around in her bag, but I took one and put it on over my t-shirt.

Choi Eun-seo similarly took off her outer layer and put on a uniform.

“We’d like to do a concept shoot. Is that possible?”

“Will you be doing it now?”

“We’ll keep it simple, so we don’t need any makeup.”

With incredible efficiency, she dragged me to the camera.

“Do you have any poses in mind?”

At the employee’s question, Choi Eun-seo struck a pose as if it were obvious.

“Gotta do this if we’re wearing ARK uniforms.”

It was my POG pose, the finger heart, which had become my signature pose. I’m usually too embarrassed to do it myself. But since she was doing it right next to me, I couldn’t not do it.

“Wow, I can’t believe I’m witnessing Para’s finger heart in person.”

Ignoring Choi Eun-seo’s strange comment, I stood next to her.

The camera shutter clicked and the flash went off.

---

LOL Gallery

Title: Real-time Para SNS Upload

(Para’s passport photo)

Para’s SNS has been updated after 100 years.

Judging by the photo, it looks like she went to get her passport made for MSI?

Even in a passport photo with minimal makeup and no retouching, her beauty shines through.

[Wait, she’s making her passport now with only two weeks left?]

[It’s not peak season, so it’ll be ready quickly.]

[Wow, she looks gorgeous even with her forehead showing.]

[She looks a bit sharper with her bangs up lol]

[She really does have cat-like features. Her eyes are a bit sharp.]

LOL Gallery

Title: Para SNS Part 2

(Concept photo taken with Choi Eun-seo)

Two posts in one day, wow. Must be a special occasion.

The person she’s with seems to be the chaebol heiress who was at the finals.

Wow, are their visuals for real? My heart swells at the sight of such beauty…

[Sigh… Beautiful, talented, rich, and now even her friend is a chaebol heiress?]

[If you’re jealous, get yourself a TS reincarnation lol]

[I’d do it if I could TS into a beautiful girl like Para lol]

[They should just put that picture on the ARK website; it would sell a ton of uniforms lol]

[Seriously, even in uniform, it’s a pictorial.]

[Beautiful person + Beautiful person = Heaven.]

---

“Are we flying business class?”

“Whoa.”

Time flew by, and soon it was departure day.

The manager handed out tickets to the arriving team members.

“Our sponsors pulled some strings so we could travel comfortably.”

The coach said, looking proud.

‘It was always economy in my past life.’

Until our team reached three international finals in my past life, we mostly flew economy.

‘But if it’s the sponsors…’

Just like the huge logo plastered on the center of our team uniforms, our main sponsor is Hansan Foods.

Judging by this, if Hansan Foods provided the upgrade…

‘Did Choi Eun-seo do this?’

It seemed highly likely.

I should thank her when I see her next.

“It was incredibly comfortable.”

“Are we taking this on the way back too?”

“Usually, plane tickets are booked round-trip, so probably.”

After about two hours, we arrived in Japan, and the reality of being at an international competition finally hit me.

Different languages surrounded us.

It seemed like my teammates felt the same way.

‘My first international competition with this team.’

I wasn’t going to be intimidated just because it was my first international competition.

Even as a challenger, my goal is to win. I wasn’t planning on yielding to anyone.

“Let’s get our luggage first.”

Thanks to business class, we could retrieve our luggage faster than the other passengers.

We each grabbed our suitcases and headed towards the exit.

‘There were sometimes fans in my past life.’

By the time I’d racked up about eight runner-up finishes, my popularity and the team had grown considerably.

We consistently competed in international events, resulting in a substantial international fanbase.

There were a few times fans waited at the arrival gate when we had overseas schedules.

Thinking about that, I passed through the automatic doors of the arrival gate, and…

“Para!”
“Para!”
“Seo-ha-chan!”

A huge crowd was waiting for us.