episode_0009

“Why? Is the atmosphere strange?”

No, it’s just a regular bustling area, not much different from elsewhere.

Well, compared to the nearby Gwanghwamun that I usually visit, the atmosphere here was completely different. They’ve developed the area around the disused railway into a somewhat sentimental park, and there seemed to be relatively younger people strolling around the streets.

However, my restlessness wasn’t because of that.

I’ve never had a job like a journalist, so I don’t really know, but would a journalist be flustered if the expected location changed?

The journalist who filmed Ha Yoon and me entering the convenience store at that time wasn’t visible to my eyes.

That means, at the very least, it wasn’t filmed ‘nearby.’

I don’t have a camera with me, but one thing is for sure. The better the camera’s performance, the larger it is, and the lens is also large to shoot from a distance.

… Well, even if it was really shot ‘from a distance,’ it wouldn’t be easy to see in my eyes.

“But… what should we do now?”

Anyway, it’s good that we got off the subway and came out to a crowded place. It’s good.

What should we do here?

One of the things I haven’t done since being reborn in this world is “fandom.” In my past life, I was an otaku, but not in this life.

In fact, this was somewhat forced. Anyway, you need money to collect something. It was also a bit annoying to have lots of stuff in the orphanage. When we become adults, we have to go outside, and if there’s a lot of stuff, it becomes a hassle.

So, there’s no reason for us to go to “the place where otakus often go” in Hongdae. I have no intention of taking these kids there. If it were Ha Yoon, she might enjoy it, but Ji Hye would probably tease her about it.

“Um… that…”

Ji Hye rolled her eyes back and forth in response to my words, then said in a slightly uncertain voice, “Should we buy clothes?”

“Clothes!”

But the one who responded to that statement was Ha Yoon.

Turning her head at the sound, she looked up at me with sparkling eyes.

Hmm…

Ha Yoon likes cute clothes. It was also in the webtoon character introduction, and I knew it as her childhood friend.

She usually feels quite shy and tends to dress modestly, but her magical girl outfit had a pretty cute design. Her transformation outfit changed quite frequently as a magical girl, rather than having a completely different form each time.

The problem is, that’s why I’m a little scared. Ha Yoon, looking at me with sparkling eyes, seems like she might choose an extremely pink outfit.

No, it’s not that I dislike it—

“… You don’t like it?”

As I remained silent for a moment, Ha Yoon’s enthusiasm waned slightly.

“… ”

“Alright, let’s go then,” she said.

Ha Yoon’s face brightened up again, and so did Ji Hye’s.

*

Ha Yoon… well. She didn’t pick a ‘worrying’ shade of pink for me. But it was as I had ‘feared,’ indeed a shade of pink. It wasn’t a boldly pink outfit with frills or lace all over. Nevertheless, it ultimately ended up being a shade of pink. Thankfully, the design wasn’t too flashy; it was a long-sleeved shirt. To top it off, Ha Yoon even changed into a white skirt. It’s a wrinkled, long skirt, so it wouldn’t be terribly cold…

“….”

Still, wearing a pink outfit felt a bit… heavy-hearted—yet seeing Ha Yoon in front of me, holding my hands and sparkling, I couldn’t bring myself to refuse.

Ji Hye was standing a few steps behind Ha Yoon, openly sneering at me. I clenched my fists, suppressing my anger.

When we return, I’ll have to give her a piece of my mind, at least a good smack.

Thankfully, things like coats weren’t left there, so I just changed the innerwear and came out of the store right away.

Black coat, pink t-shirt, and a white skirt.

For someone like me who usually sticks to dark colors, it was quite dazzling.

“It’s pretty!”

Despite herself, Ha Yoon, who was modestly dressed, said that and clung to my arm.

Did some of her embarrassment fade after changing clothes?

Click.

“Oh, sorry.”

At the sound of the camera snapping, I quickly turned my head, and Ji Hye, looking a bit flustered, said, “Wasn’t supposed to take a picture?”

“Oh… no. I was just startled by the sudden sound.”

I replied to Ji Hye’s words. Seems like I’m being overly sensitive. I shook my head slightly to clear my mind.

Whatever they said at work, for now, I’m not here for that.

“Well, I’ll send you the photos then,” Ji Hye said with a wicked grin.

Ha Yoon looked delighted, but it seemed like she might be planning to keep that image of me in a ‘pink outfit’ as a permanent memory to bring out and show off from time to time.

I glanced down at Ha Yoon, who was standing close beside me.

Ha Yoon, slightly shorter than me, looked up at me.

Our eyes met, and she smiled.

…

I wasn’t particularly angry, but even if there had been anger in my mind, could it have lasted after seeing that expression?

*

Considering it was our first time, we were having quite a good time.

Well, it’s natural to have fun when you have two friends together.

Ha Yoon still seemed a bit awkward, but she had definitely improved since the beginning.

Today wasn’t terribly cold, but it was still winter weather, so we decided to find a warm place to thaw out for a bit.

“I need to use the restroom.”

After ordering drinks and successfully securing a spot, Ji-hye stood up from her seat as she said, “I’ll be right back.” “You two are having a great date,” she teased Hae-yoon with a hint of mischief. With Hae-yoon’s face slightly blushing and her glancing at me, waving her hand, Ji-hye quickly went to the restroom.

“… … .”

“… … .”

We were silent for a moment.

Hmm.

Hae-yoon is usually quite talkative when she’s with me. I wondered if she felt awkward because she suddenly brought a friend along.

Click.

Suddenly, a camera sound came from beside us. Turning my head in confusion, I saw Hae-yoon smiling at her smartphone camera pointed towards me. “You two look really good together.”

Look at this. The tone of her voice is different when she’s with her friend compared to when she’s with me. What do you call this? Friend mode?

“Really?” I raised an eyebrow. “Yeah. You always wear black clothes every day.”

“I look good in them. I have black hair, you know.” Perhaps because Hae-yoon was alone with me, I grumbled, feeling somewhat relieved.

“How can you go around with the same atmosphere every day? You could change your image once in a while.”

“… … .”

I gazed out the window, resting my chin on my hand.

“Why? Why? Are you sulking?”

“It’s not that.”

“Is it because I’m wearing cute clothes?”

“It’s not that either.”

As I spoke in a sullen voice, Hae-yoon chuckled softly.

Jeez.

“Oh, looks like our drinks are here.” When the phone vibrated, Hae-yoon immediately picked it up. “I’ll get it.” Before I could stand up, Hae-yoon got up first, so I decided to just wait. However, I did glance quietly at the back of her head, just in case some weirdo might approach her in the meantime.

… It happens occasionally.

Seeing that she safely reached the place with the drinks, I took out my phone to check. As a habit, I opened an online site.

[Blawesome, Are they really in love??]

There was such an article. It wasn’t the main article, but since the protagonist of the webtoon I was reading became Blawesome, I habitually checked the entertainment section of the online newspaper.

There were also a few pieces of information that were helpful to me. And this article was one of the online newspapers I routinely looked through.

This article was more of a photo with a short caption than an actual article.

The content of the photo was Hae-yoon choosing a pink outfit for someone.

I quickly looked around.

… Fortunately, no one was looking in this direction. Everyone was happily chatting with their own groups. Many were couples, and naturally, those couples didn’t pay attention to their surroundings.

Wasn’t it taken with a telephoto lens?

The clothing store was quite crowded. Trying to take a picture from a distance would naturally obstruct the view. However, using a smartphone… “Why?” Suddenly, Hayoon’s face appeared in my line of sight, causing me to stumble backward and almost fall off the chair. “Why are you so startled?” Hayoon laughed and steadied me. The drinks we ordered were already on the table. “Even if it’s something strange with your phone—oh.” “Oh.” I hadn’t even thought about hiding my phone. At first glance, there might be a somewhat vacant look, but Hayoon is clever. She holds a position akin to a commander among the magical girls active in Korea. Her physical abilities are absolutely top-notch, including her eyesight. …Since I had already been caught looking at my phone, there was no way to hide it. “This is… me.” “…Yeah.” As Hayoon looked at my phone, I tried to maximize my brain processing speed. “And this is today’s photo.” Hayoon’s expression tightened slightly. It wasn’t so much anger as a bit of seriousness. In fact, Hayoon wasn’t good at making serious expressions. Her facial muscles just didn’t seem to move in that ‘menacing’ direction. So, interpreting this expression, Hayoon was currently ‘extremely’ serious. “Oh, the coffee’s here.” Just then, Jihye came back from the restroom and cheerfully spoke. Naturally, her voice quickly trailed off. “…Why? What happened while I was gone?” Although Hayoon’s facial muscles seemed somewhat restricted, mine were not. And I wasn’t particularly good at hiding my expressions. Borrowing Jihye’s expression, especially negative expressions seemed to be well conveyed. “Ah, that’s…” I started to say something, then bit my lip. Should I tell Jihye too? Since she also saw the article last time, it might not matter—but “Stalking.” “Stalking—” Hayoon suddenly spoke firmly, and I found myself stopping mid-sentence. Stalking… Stalking… Oh, right. No matter how you look at it, following someone around and secretly taking pictures is stalking. …Some might call it paparazzi, but anyway. “Stalking?” Jihye tilted her head, and Hayoon pushed my phone toward her. “Huh? This… ” Jihye’s eyes alternated between my shirt and the phone. My shirt is pink, and the one on the phone is also pink. Of course, the ‘me’ part is out of focus, so it’s unclear whether it’s a man or a woman.

After dressing me, Hwayoon didn’t take a picture of me, but rather when she held the clothes up in front of me. Since my body wasn’t visible from the start, it probably looked like “playfully urging her boyfriend to wear a pink outfit.”

Even if I pushed the location back a bit, I couldn’t make excuses like “Isn’t this from last time?” because I don’t usually wear pink clothes. Sweat trickled down my back. It might not just be because the indoor heater was set too high.

“Are we being followed right now?” I stammered.

Hwayoon seemed to have completely forgotten the awkwardness she had when she first met Jihye, nodding seriously.

“Yeah.”

No, wait. What’s with this? A reporter… “What should we do? Should we report this to the police?”

When she had read about it earlier, Jihye had found it quite interesting, but now that someone was following them, she seemed a little scared.

But… even though it’s an official newspaper—

“…Sorry for getting you involved in this kind of thing.”

“Oh, what? No, it’s okay. It’s not like you wanted this to happen…”

Jihye waved her hands in confusion.

Could a journalist be considered stalking? It seemed a bit ambiguous. After all, if an ordinary person took a picture of someone with a big camera, it could cause trouble.

“First, we need to find the person who took this photo,” Hwayoon said.

She seemed to think that there wouldn’t be a big legal problem. There might be some moral responsibility for taking pictures of a minor.

“And if there are photos of you, I’ll ask for them to be deleted.”

Hwayoon’s serious gaze alternated between Jihye and me.

My back was incredibly damp. The short-sleeved shirt I was wearing inside was sticky with sweat.

“For now… let’s pretend we don’t know anything,” Hwayoon said.

Her extremely serious expression made it impossible for me to refute.

Moreover, I can’t even mention that I’m involved in this situation. Not only Hwayoon, but also Jihye would look at me like trash.

…Should I have just told them from the beginning?

Wouldn’t that have been better?

If I had said so, I would have had to mention that I am a combatant of Noir Corporation, opposing Hwayoon and her group.

“…”

In the end, while Hwayoon looked around with a serious gaze, I couldn’t even drink half of the Americano I ordered.

*

Was it because we were sitting in the cafe facing each other? Perhaps the angle wasn’t right for the journalist to add anything further. I’d rather not.

Maybe I’ll post one a day. If the journalist doesn’t post a new article today, it’ll be as if nothing happened, and I can just go home and relax.

“We’re close by,” my phone had already received the message. Since the article was published in an online news portal, it was natural for Hayoon to be able to monitor it. Was it because the article was getting a lot of views, or did the journalist simply rush to get it out? Did she think there was no reason to hide? I’d rather she didn’t reveal everything until the end today.

[A serious expression on her face.]

The picture showed Hayoon looking at me with a rather serious expression. At first glance, it almost seemed like the look of someone angry after a fight with a lover.

And then, at this point, I realized. Hayoon… was showing the widest range of expressions when facing me. In front of other friends, she didn’t display such a variety of expressions. Before this situation arose, the slightly awkward Hayoon I felt around Jihye was exactly as she appeared in front of the other kids. She only smiled widely when we were alone, and she relaxed and enjoyed herself only when she looked at me. Because we were childhood friends. She knew there was no need for us to be reserved around each other.

…Did James really assign me this mission…?

My heart suddenly ached.

“…It seems like a disguise.”

Hayoon spoke.

She didn’t bother to look back. Did she think that if we paid too much attention to our surroundings, the other person would run away?

“This company, it’s a bit unfamiliar, but it’s a subsidiary of Noir Corporation.”

Is that so? Well, externally, they did engage in the entertainment business.

“…Wait a moment.”

Hayoon completely switched into professional mode and tapped her phone.

As I blinked, Hayoon looked at me and gave a slight smile.

That smile seemed a bit… sad.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll make sure Eunji’s picture doesn’t appear in the newspaper or anything.”

Hayoon said, addressing me by name.

No, that’s not the issue…

I clasped and unclasped my hands. Perhaps due to my mood, my palms felt sweaty.

Hayoon rummaged through her bag and pulled out a wristwatch.

“Oh, that.”

Jihye started to react but quickly stopped herself.

“Can I transform here?”

“It’s okay.”

Hayoon said.

“We won’t transform right here. We should go somewhere less conspicuous.”

Hayoon murmured softly.

Perhaps no one who came to this street to watch entertainment news had noticed that she was Blowsome yet. “Even if a monster appears, I can handle it,” Hayoon said, clenching her fist, and put the circuit back in place.

Um… how should I respond, especially since the newspaper is legal, hitting the journalist isn’t really a good idea, is it? I felt more excited with me being there, but I didn’t know what to say.

Mistakes in words could lead to irreversible errors… Even though I already have enemies, I don’t want to be disliked by my childhood friend. I quickly looked around again. I still couldn’t tell who was holding the camera nearby.

“Um, hey, Hayoon.”

“Don’t worry too much—”

“Oh, no, that’s not it.”

Normally, Hayoon would be the one flustered like this and I’d be the one responding calmly. But now, it was completely the opposite. It seemed like Hayoon was reacting this way because I appeared a bit in that photo.

“I… need to use the restroom for a moment.”

“Ah.”

At my words, Hayoon let out a bitter smile.

“Yeah.”

And as if to reassure me, she said, “Let’s go into a nearby building for now.” At Hayoon’s suggestion, Waji-hye nodded and immediately went into a nearby building.

*

As soon as I entered the restroom, I closed the toilet lid and sat on it. Then, I struck the pose of a “contemplative person,” just like Dang does.

…

But I don’t know what to think. My mind is too chaotic to come up with an answer. Damn it. I didn’t even get this flustered when facing off against Blossom head-on. …Well, I’m not sure if you can call that a face-off. In the end, I released the contemplative pose and clenched my fists. It wasn’t like I was faking having ideas, so in the end, I just wasted time.