Chapter 8: Meeting the Members

As soon as I entered, the group chat was on fire.

A flood of enthusiastic greetings poured in.

[Yoon Gyeoul]-Hello
[Sua]-hye hye
[Sua]-(An emoji of a white bear waving its hand)
[Yang Garam]-Hiyoung
[Noa]-Nice to meet you

No, is everyone monitoring their phones 24/7?

It hasn’t even been 10 seconds since I was invited to the group chat, and the replies are incredibly fast.

I suppressed my bewilderment and left a reply.

[Me]-Hello
[Sua]-(An emoji of a white bear giving a thumbs up)

After a brief greeting, I clicked on each member’s profile one by one.

[Yoon Gyeoul]

‘A completely basic profile…’

[Sua]

‘No, this is, a Kiwi-sirou?’
(TL Note: This is a famous, very large shaved ice dessert from a popular cafe.)

When I clicked on Sua’s profile, a photo of a giant Kiwi-sirou and her making a V-sign with her left hand was set as her profile picture.

It must have been hard to get, since Sungsimdang only sells 100 of them a day… I felt a sense of envy.

‘Aish, next, next.’

Before my envy grew any bigger, I clicked on the next person’s profile.

[Yang Garam]

This time, it was a member with a selfie as her profile picture.

And that profile picture was…

“Wow… amazing.”

There was an awesome tomboy!

A well-groomed shortcut hairstyle, a neutral beauty that was somewhere between handsome and pretty.

Healthy-looking white skin and… an incredible chest!

Even if there might be some photo editing, just looking at the picture, her appearance was very much my type.

Though it doesn’t mean much anymore…

I glanced down at my lower body once, then moved on to the next person.

[Noa]

Her name was quite unique, and her profile picture was.

(A GIF of a jumping red panda character)

A cute character was there.

Just from the profile picture, I could roughly guess what kind of person she was.

Vring

The messages kept coming.

I stopped snooping on the profiles and focused on the messages.

[Na Yeon-a]-Everyone’s looking at the group chat right now, right?
[Noa]-Yes
[Yang Garam]-Yep
[Sua]-(An emoji of a white bear nodding its head)
[Yoon Gyeoul]-Yes
[Me]-I’m looking.

The replies came in real-time.

After confirming that we were all watching, the CEO paused for a moment and then sent a message.

[Na Yeon-a]-How about we all meet up once before our debut?
[Na Yeon-a]-Can you all come to a place called ‘Coffee Box’ in Dongjak-gu around 1 o’clock tomorrow?
[Yoon Gyeoul]-I can make it.
[Sua]-Of course I can!
[Yang Garam]-I’m good with that too.
[Noa]-I think I can make it.

Suddenly, a summons like this?

After briefly searching for the location of the cafe, I answered.

[Me]-I think I can make it.

I’m anxious because of my extreme introversion.

But it was something I had to do someday, so I just accepted it.

I should think about what to wear.

---

A sunny noon.

I walked towards the cafe, wearing a nicely fitted hoodie and overalls.

Swish, swish

‘My hair looks pretty good today.’

I thought, touching my smoothly styled hair.

It was the result of painstakingly arranging my hair.

It’s the first time I’m meeting the members… I can’t just go looking sloppy, right?

This is definitely not me dressing up like this to look good for a certain member.

Of course not!

After walking for 10 minutes with such random thoughts.

I soon arrived in front of ‘Coffee Box’.

The cafe was a moderately sized, humbly well-decorated place.

But the problem was…

[Closed]

There was a sign saying they were not open for business.

That’s strange, the lights are clearly on?

Still, just in case, I gently pushed the door.

Tinkle

The door yielded without resistance.

I looked around here and there in confusion.

Then, a long table soon came into view.

The CEO and the manager were sitting there.

“Yua, you’re already here?”

The CEO waved her hand happily upon seeing me.

It’s the first time I’ve seen her since the interview, and she’s so friendly.

Receiving the CEO’s welcome, I moved towards the table.

“Um… CEO-nim? The sign says you’re not open for business…?”

“Ah, that’s because I rented the place for the day.”

“?”

Huh? Rented?

What does that mean?

“This cafe is run by my younger brother. He said he was going for reserve forces training today, so I borrowed it for the day.”

“Aha.”

Having fully understood, I began to look for a seat.

Hmm…? I feel a gaze from somewhere?

I turned my head towards where I felt the gaze.

In the direction I turned my head.

The CEO was looking at me with incredibly shining eyes.

It was a gaze that seemed to say, ‘Sit next to me!’.

What should I do…

After enduring for a few more seconds, I finally gave up.

That gaze… I can’t withstand it!

It was a gaze that looked like she would cry if I sat somewhere else.

“As expected, our Yua wanted to sit next to the CEO, right?”

Sitting next to a pretty woman isn’t necessarily a bad thing… but it’s different if she’s the CEO!

Complaining inwardly, I eventually decided to accept everything.

“But why did you come so early? You’re an hour early?”

“It’s a habit from when I was working, so I came early. I usually come early if I have an appointment.”

“I see.”

The CEO nodded with a completely different expression than before.

It’s an expression that makes it impossible to know what she’s thinking.

“Oh, should I make you a drink? We were going to have a cup anyway.”

“CEO-nim, you can make coffee too?”

“Not me, our Jiwon has a barista license.”

“I’ve wanted to get one since I was young, so I got it right after the college entrance exams.”

The manager said proudly, making a V-sign with her right hand.

Her actions, which had a gap with her intelligent appearance, made her look somewhat cute.

Anyway, what should I drink?

Coffee is a bit much… things like juice seem too childish…

Should I just get coffee and use it as a decoration?

“I’ll have an Ameri…”

The moment I was about to place my order.

The memory from the local cafe suddenly came to mind.

Right, I’d be an idiot to try it again after that experience.

“You can just give me any pre-made drink, I don’t mind.”

“What? No, I’m going to make it for you.”

The manager made a slightly strange sound and approached the coffee machine.

She was so fast that she reminded me of a sprinting cheetah.

Whirrrrr

Also, her hand movements were swift.

In just a few minutes, she had made two cups of coffee and one cup of juice.

Even the appearance of the drinks was unusual.

The coffee was one thing, but the juice…

It had decorations that would put a parfait to shame!

“Slurp.”

And it’s incredibly delicious!

I looked at the manager with eyes of envy.

“You’re the besht…!”

Oh no, my pronunciation filter again.

The pronunciation filter had now become an indicator of taste.

“Pfft!”

Huh? What’s wrong?

The CEO and the manager suddenly burst out laughing.

In my bewilderment, I opened my mouth.

“…Did I do something wrong?”

“Not that, your expression and way of speaking are just too cute.”

Ah, is that why.

You stupid Jung Yua, you promised to always be on guard outside!

You may look a little cute, but you also look pathetic!

Greatly embarrassed by the CEO’s words, I bowed my head deeply.

It was to hide my face, which had turned into a beet.

“What are you embarrassed about, you can just think of it as nothing.”

The CEO laughed and patted my shoulder.

For some reason, that made me even more embarrassed.

I really have to be careful from now on.

---

After that, we spent our time chatting.

Though it was just small talk that praised me, like ‘Did you really enter university when you were 14?’ and ‘I’m jealous of your smarts.’

She must have felt sorry after seeing my bright red face earlier.

Hmm hmm, still, it feels good to be praised.

Tinkle

While we were chatting like that, the bell at the entrance rang.

Someone had come in.

“Hello!”

A cheerful greeting.

From where the sound came, a woman was approaching.

A moderately balanced body, stylish fashion, and a face that could be called ordinarily cute.

Those were her features as I saw them.

“Oh, our Sua is here!”

Ah, so that’s Sua.

Her impression was very consistent with her behavior in the group chat.

But why is she looking at me?

“CEO-nim, but who is this cute little kid?”

I had a feeling this would happen.

Not a single word different from my prediction.

“This is Jung Yua, a fellow Wonderland member like you.”

“?”

Her expression of incomprehension.

Before the misunderstanding could deepen, I spoke up.

“Hello, I’m Jung Yua. I’m 22 years old.”

“Uh… huh…?”

She still didn’t seem to understand.

Then, the CEO took Sua to a corner.

She probably went to explain my situation.

“Hello, my name is Han Sua, I’m 21 years old. Should I call you… unni…?”

She said that a few seconds after being dragged away by the CEO.

She must have heard about my situation.

“Just be comfortable.”

As my answer followed, a smile began to spread across her face.

“Unni, you can speak comfortably too!”

“Oh?… Uh-huh.”

Is this the world of the popular kids?

Just a moment ago, only silence lingered.

To become so lively in an instant.

It didn’t seem to be within my range of understanding.

Still, if one side approaches comfortably, we can get close quickly.

As I always think, good things are good things.

“Um… Yua…”

At that moment, the CEO quietly approached me.

“Um… would it be okay if I talked to the members about your body later?… Logically, it’s hard to make them understand otherwise…”

Aha, so that’s what she came to ask.

At her incredibly cautious demeanor.

I felt a great sense of guilt for lying before and quickly answered.

“It’s okay. I don’t really mind anymore. It’s just a feeling of aging at half the speed of others, you could say?”

“Really?”

Her expression brightened.

Just that alone reduces my guilt.

I gave a faint smile.

“…”

No, I don’t think it’s time to smile.

Because to my left, a heinous woman is aiming for me!

“Unni… can I just squish your cheek once, really?”

My chastity is in danger