Moving Day
A few days later.
As I packed up my things for the move, an unexpected ambush reared its head.
“...What am I supposed to do with all these clothes.”
The fact that I hadn't worn more than a double-digit number of outfits since my transformation didn't mean I had no clothes at home.
I simply hadn't worn them.
As anyone could probably guess, the overwhelming majority of those unworn clothes were feminine things — skirts, frills, the whole repertoire.
“Hmmm...”
Throwing them away felt wasteful.
But hauling them along just to never wear them was pointless too.
After a little more deliberation, I decided to toss what deserved tossing and give away the ones that even I had to admit were pretty to people around me.
I posted it in the Solana group chat first.
Wear them, she says.
I'm asking because I don't want to wear them.
Oh... she picked the two I'd have the hardest time wearing.
The outfits Yubin had chosen were an off-shoulder blouse and a crop top.
Exactly. That's the question.
No, wait — the version of me before the possession bought these and then never wore them once. What was her excuse?
And with that thought, I remembered I had a strikingly similar habit of my own.
...All those game apps I'd bought and never once played.
The ones I'd grabbed during sales thinking, Ooh, I'll get to this one someday, only to let them rot untouched in my library...
...Is that basically the same thing as this?
Feeling oddly sheepish for no reason, I went back to my phone.
...What is she even talking about now.
Since when did I hand out wish tokens?
...Was that a wish token?
And besides.
Even if I did go, it was obvious that the style Yubin wanted to see on me and the style I actually liked were two very different things.
Ring ring. Ring ring.
...She's calling me now?
“Hello.”
[Yeonwoo! Let's go! If you don't, I'm calling you like this every single day!]
“No — I said I don't want to, and I'm busy anyway.”
[Sob sob... when our maknae flat-out tells me no, it makes unnie sad.]
“I'm hanging up.”
[Ah ah~ wait wait~]
“I'm genuinely busy, though.”
Things were already tight enough that if my hiatus stretched any longer, I couldn't shamelessly show my face the way I did last time.
[What about next month?! Next month you'll have breathing room, right?!]
“...More so than this month, sure.”
[Then! Let's go next month! Come on a date with your unnie~!]
...If I didn't settle this now, she'd keep pestering me forever.
“If I agree to hang out, you won't keep nagging me?”
[Course not! Oh! Oh! Should unnie help with your move too?!]
“Yes.”
[Huh...?]
“You did say you'd help.”
[I-I was just saying~!]
“If you break the first promise, I don't see why I should keep mine.”
[F... fine, I get it...]
“Good. Next Wednesday it is.”
Click.
Alriiight. One more laborer acquired.
After that, I disposed of the rest of the clothes with the other members too.
Time passed, and moving day arrived.
“Whoa, seriously. This place is nice.”
I'd already seen the photos the manager sent me, but in person it was even cleaner and better.
The layout was the same as any ordinary family home.
Two bathrooms, two small rooms, and one big one.
Best of all, it came fully furnished, so there was nothing for me to fuss over.
“I guess the soundproof booth goes in the master bedroom, then.”
Which meant I might finally get to try VR games?
I'd never done it at my old place — the room was too small, and the noise complaints through the floor were a real concern.
Having never touched VR games before, I was already getting excited just thinking about it.
Those VR shooters were supposedly that fun, after all!
“Yeonwoo! Does this go here?!”
“Yep.”
I shelved the daydreaming for later and got back to hauling boxes.
“Should we call the movers...”
“How much stuff do you think we have, that you'd call a moving company?”
“Then I could've just not come...”
“You're the one who said you'd hang out with me.”
“I did, but... this feels like I'm getting the short end of the deal...”
The only person currently helping with my move was Yubin.
Originally I'd asked the manager for help, using the business trip as leverage, but since Yubin volunteered on her own, the manager pitched in with the transporting and headed back to the company.
...Just how busy is the manager, that she's at the office every single day?
She was the team lead of a brand-new department — a thriving one at that — so being busy came with the territory, but wasn't this too much even so?
Anyway, I felt bad tying up someone that swamped, so it was just Yubin and me.
“I'm busy too, you know...”
“Busy with what?”
“My cover song is coming out, hello!”
“Oh, right.”
While I'd been busy with my feature, the members had each poured their own money into making cover songs.
“How much did yours cost?”
“Like a hundred? Yeah! A hundred for sure!”
“Hmm... about right.”
Between the illustration fees, mixing, mastering, and video editing, that was about the average all-in cost.
Illustrations in particular ran past a hundred thousand won apiece, so most people commissioned just a single art piece and used editing tricks to make the video look more varied.
“Yeonwoo, aren't you doing a cover song? Your Zeros are always begging for you to sing!”
“I already have one, though.”
“Huh...? Do you?”
“Yep. It's on YouTube as a reaction video.”
“...That counts as a cover song?”
“If it says 'cover' in the title, it's a cover song.”
Riding the trend, as expected, delivered reliable view counts.
Sorted by popularity, all of them sat comfortably inside the top ten of the trending chart.
“Hey! On our date, should we hit up a karaoke room?!”
“...It's still over a month away. Aren't you getting ahead of yourself?”
“But! I can't help being excited!”
And so, with all this idle chatter, the first round of unpacking wrapped up.
“Should we just order some jjajangmyeon?”
“Can't you make it for me?”
“No chunjang paste in the house, so no.”
Also, I couldn't be bothered.
We'd just spent the last however-many hours hauling things around; moving more was the last thing I wanted.
“But you said you'd cook for me next time...”
“I'll cook the time after next.”
“Fiiine...”
Having thus persuaded Yubin, I opened the delivery app on my phone and started browsing the neighborhood's options.
Hm? Why does this place's name look so familiar?
The reviews were... empty, but the rating was a perfect five stars.
I couldn't place why it felt familiar, but familiar was familiar, so I settled on the place and asked Yubin for her order.
“Jjajang or jjambbong?”
“Jjajang!”
Jjajangmyeon really is the move on moving day.
“Which kind?”
“Hmm...! Just regular jjajang!”
With her answer in hand, I ordered jjajangmyeon, ganjjajang, and a small sweet-and-sour pork to share.
We killed the wait time scrolling our phones and chatting until the arrival text came, and I brought in the food left at the door.
“Let's eat.”
“Yeah! Thanks for the food!”
Unpacking the bags one by one at the table, I came across a single styrofoam container that shouldn't have been there.
What's this? The sweet-and-sour pork?
No — that was sitting separately, wasn't it?
Curious, I peeled off the rubber band holding the lid shut, and inside was a heap of pan-fried dumplings.
...They give this away as a freebie?
Now I understood the five-star rating, I thought, moving on to inspect the ganjjajang.
First off, it came with a fried egg, so that's a pass.
And the jjajang sauce was visibly loaded with onion, with no watery separation — definitely not one of those fake ganjjajang imposters...
Inspection complete, I poured the sauce over the noodles, mixed everything thoroughly, and took a bite.
Mmm!
“This is good.”
“Right?! It's seriously good!”
Knowing there was a legitimately delicious Chinese place near my new home put me in a great mood.
“Wait. Did you just say it's good?!”
“What? Yes.”
“No, Yeonwoo. Have you ever once called anything good before today?!”
“Hmm... have I not?”
“No! You only ever say things are 'fine'! You have literally never said 'good'! I'd stake my life on it!”
It wasn't that I had particularly picky tastes; my bar for what counted as good was just set a bit high, apparently.
“Well, when something's good, you call it good. What else would I say?”
But seriously, this was good.
Good enough that any future jjajangmyeon craving would be answered by this place and this place only.
Ah, I wonder if their jjambbong is good too?
If the jjajangmyeon is this level, the rest of the menu has to hold up, right?
I'd have to check out the dining room sometime.
If it's this good delivered, imagine eating it fresh at the restaurant.
Anyway.
“Are you streaming when you get home tonight?”
“You know it.”
“What are you planning to do?”
“Talk about hanging out with you today, then try out Shadow Soul 3!”
“Oh...”
That's going to go badly for her.
“I wasn't even interested, but when you said you were the first in the world to clear it, I got curious!”
“Oh...”
If I found time, I'd drop by and hand out some pointers.
After that, once a reasonable hour rolled around, I handed Yubin the clothes she'd picked out and saw her off.
Then I went back to putting the rest of my things in order.
...Way too much time had passed.
By the time I was roughly finished, it was far later than I'd expected.
“Haah...”
So I never got around to the pointers after all...
And it sounded like it would've been fun...
Wistful, I picked up my phone and opened the streaming app.
Huh? She's still live?
I dove into the stream immediately.
[GAHHHH!!!!]
loooooool
Hanbyeol lmaooo please calm down lmaooo
KYAAA!!! She came in absolutely RAGING today!!!
...Sounds like she was pretty tilted.
For the sake of my eardrums, I turned the volume down and typed in chat.
Roze: That's not how you're supposed to do it
Oh, Roze has arrived
RoHi!
lmaooo what kind of 'advice' is that lmaooo
[Hey! You! Keep it down!]
Roze: It's advice from the world-first clearer. Maybe take it? lol
LMAOOOOO
Aargh lmaooo so infuriating lmaoooo
LOLOLOLOLOL
[Ugh! You! YOU! I hate you!]
And so, after venting a healthy amount of stress, I went to bed feeling thoroughly refreshed.