The Value of Effort!
I took the call and hesitated for a moment.
Ever since I'd first met Lee Boram, she had never once contacted me privately. We hadn't even traded messages. That was why the call caught me so off guard. Something urgent must have come up, I figured, and I headed for the meeting place as fast as I could manage.
This damn body...
I wanted to break into a run, but I'd poured every last drop of energy into today's recording, and my legs simply refused. Even walking at this crawl left me gasping like I was about to choke. If I tried to sprint, I was certain I'd drop right there on the sidewalk.
Still, I couldn't help wondering. Whatever she wanted to say, she could have just told me over the phone. Why insist on meeting in person? Was she about to quit the part-time job? Or had she gotten something on me? If you don't want this going to the press, you'd better pay up... I shook my head. No. That's going too far.
This was Lee Boram we were talking about. A girl whose confidence had completely collapsed, whose eyes and shoulders sagged a little more with every passing day until just looking at her made you feel stifled. Even if she had dirt on me, she would never have the nerve to take it to the media.
I trudged along, groaning the whole way, and eventually reached the meeting place. A café near the restaurant where we both worked part-time — the same one I'd come to once before, to talk with Kang Ho-yeon. I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Ding-a-ling.
A bell chimed as a barista greeted me. I scanned the room, and a familiar figure sitting tucked away in the corner caught my eye. Lee Boram.
I ordered a drink and sat down right across from her.
"Unnie. What did you need me for?"
"Uh... u-uh! Y-you came. You already sat... down. What do you want to drink? I'll buy."
Boram couldn't sit still. She twisted her fingers over and over like someone on the verge of a panic attack, darting her eyes anywhere but mine.
Did she actually get something on me?
I'd been joking. I never imagined it might be true. What kind of dirt could she possibly have? That I eat an unholy amount of food? Or that I used to be a guy? Whatever the answer, neither one really counted as leverage without proof.
Wait. The food thing already has proof, doesn't it?
A few weeks back, I'd gotten hungry during a shift and asked the boss if I could eat something. He said leftover food was fair game. I ate all of it. About fifteen servings.
"Boram unnie?"
Ten minutes passed. I'd finished my drink, and Boram still sat there with her mouth clamped shut, fidgeting with her fingers.
"If you're not going to say anything, can I go? I just came from a recording session and I'm exhausted."
"Uh... huh? Y-you can't be tired... I-I'm sorry..."
Her shoulders slumped even lower, just like the day we'd first met. All this time I'd been cheering her on, praising her constantly, and her posture had started to improve a little. From my perspective, anyway. To everyone else, Lee Boram was still the same frustrating girl who couldn't do her job properly and moved like she was stuck in molasses.
The only reason she was even working with me was because of me.
The boss told me he'd hired her because I was a girl, and he figured it'd be better to have two girls working together.
If not for that, the guy who'd interviewed right before her would have gotten the job. I'd heard five more people had shown up for interviews that day. Was it possible none of them were women? Probably not. But there was only one real reason Lee Boram had been hired.
"I-I'm sorry. I'll just say it."
She was a yes-man... no, a yes-girl. A yes-man. A yes-girl. Someone who, whatever they might think behind your back, never talks back to your face — just says yes to whatever they're told. If Lee Boram had a Status Window like mine, her trait would be something like Person Who Always Says Yes.
"The thing is... I thought about something you said before, Jiwoo."
"Something I said?"
"Yeah... hang on."
Boram pulled a tablet from the bag sitting next to her. I'd noticed that oversized bag from the start and leaned in a little, curious.
"A-are you curious about the bag?"
"Ah, no. Sorry. I shouldn't have peeked."
"It's fine! If it's you, Jiwoo, you can look as much as you want!"
She hoisted the bag onto the table and unzipped it wide. Inside was a treasure trove of gear that would make any guy's eyes spin. The star of the show was a brand-new laptop — and not just any laptop. It was the highest-spec machine currently on the market.
Whoa... fire up a game on that thing and you'd actually enjoy playing.
I'd been too busy lately to game much, but there was a time I'd squeeze in a session whenever I had a spare minute.
"D-do you want this?!"
"...Huh? Ah, no. Something this expensive? I couldn't. And you shouldn't just give your stuff away to people."
"I-I'm sorry."
I felt a little ashamed myself. I'd been staring at it with way too much naked greed.
"To me... Jiwoo isn't just some stranger..."
"What did you just say?"
"Ah, nothing! More importantly, look at this!"
I was pretty sure I'd heard something. It was just too quiet to catch. I chalked it up to my imagination and looked at the tablet screen she held out. A female character was drawn on it.
"Wow... you drew this, unnie? This is incredible. You could go into art with skills like this."
"Th-thanks, even if you're just saying that..."
I wasn't joking. I meant every word.
"But why are you showing me this? Just to show off?"
"Euaah...? M-me, showing off...? I-it's just... you told me about VTubers before."
"VTubers... oh, right. We talked about that the day we first met."
I played along. Honestly, I'd forgotten. Her words brought it back.
"But what about VTubers?"
"Th-this drawing... Jiwoo. I tried drawing a VTuber avatar for you... o-of course, if you don't like it, I can just delete it..."
I took the tablet she held out and went through the drawings one by one. Every single one was insanely high quality. Getting a VTuber model at this level would cost you at least a few thousand dollars.
"Wow... this is amazing. Wait... you didn't make every single one of these yourself, did you?!"
I was stunned. If it had just been illustrations, I could have left it at wow, she's good. But I swiped to the next screen, and it didn't stop there. She'd put in every motion, one by one. Eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth — that was just the baseline. Ears, tongue, even the way the pupils tracked.
"How... how did you even do this?"
"Heh, heheh... I was studying it for the first time, so it was hard. But I was making it for you, Jiwoo, and it just... turned out this way. I... I really want you to take it... but if you don't like it, I'll just trash it..."
"N-no!"
I stopped her finger just as it was about to hit the trash icon. How could anyone throw away art this good? I sure as hell couldn't.
"If you're going to throw it away, I'll take it! And I'll pay you for it."
Boram waved her hands wildly, refusing the offer.
"M-money?! I can't take that. After everything you've already given me, Jiwoo... I absolutely can't."
My eyes went wide.
"No. I will not stand here and let your hard work be treated like it's worthless! Take at least some money for it!"
I was ready to hand over every last bit of pay I'd earned from the part-time job if that's what it took to buy this avatar. Getting something this good for free would feel great, sure. I'm not one to turn down a freebie. But I had a reason for insisting on paying.
Refusing payment is the same as refusing to acknowledge your own worth. I will never allow that.
I sat up straight.
"Boram unnie. If you don't take a proper payment for this, I'm never seeing you again."
"Uh... huh? Th-that's..."
"So take the money. A real amount."
"O-okay... I'll take the money, so please... don't say that..."
Tears spilled from her eyes.
Wait. She's actually crying because I said I wouldn't see her?
I'd noticed for a while now that Boram had been sticking close to me. I figured she was just trying to be friends... From my point of view, girls hung off each other every day. I'd assumed this was the same kind of thing. Apparently not. So why was she clinging to me, then? I had no idea.
"Okay, okay. I won't say it again, so please stop crying."
I went to the counter and got a few napkins from the barista.
"Here. Wipe your tears."
"Okay.... sniff!"
Boram took the napkins and brought them not to her eyes, but to her nose.
"Then let's write up a contract."
"A-a contract?"
Whenever two people exchange something of value, it's best to put it in writing. If anything comes up later, a contract can settle most of it. After hearing my explanation, Boram downloaded a contract template on her tablet and typed out a few clauses.
"Do we really have to do all this? I just wanted you to take it..."
"Unnie."
"O-okay..."
Boram's tail drooped. I read through every clause carefully, checking for typos or anything weird.
"Looks good. I'll sign."
"Uh... yeah... I just sign here too, right?"
I gave a small nod. Just like that, I'd gotten my hands on a VTuber model I never saw coming. And for far less than I'd expected to pay.
"I... I've never been here before... is this okay?"
"Yes! It's fine. I've never been here either!"
Once the contract was done, I wasn't ready to say goodbye, so I made Boram an offer. A coin karaoke booth. I'd wanted to try one for a while but never had the chance. It was also getting late, and my parents might worry — a payment notification from the karaoke place would let them know I was out having fun.
"Want to go first, unnie?"
"Ah, no... I can't sing... I-I'll go get us some drinks!"
"Then I'll do a song first."
I'd been singing all day. I had no stamina left for another performance. But we'd come here to have fun, not to belt it out like a recording session or an audition.
Just keep it light.
About three minutes later, the song ended. Boram still hadn't come back.
"Where did she even go?"
I thought maybe she'd gone far to buy drinks, but there were vending machines right at the karaoke entrance. Three of them, even. The moment I stepped out of the booth to look for her—
"Hey... I'm a little short on cash... mind lending me some money?"