Is the Order Bom-i?

Hankuk University, Department of Social Welfare.

"Oh, it's a maid cafe."

"What the fuck?!"

They were running a maid cafe, putting their major in volunteer service to full use. It was more than enough to stop passersby in their tracks. After all, this was the stuff of every man's fantasy.

"Hmm."

"So this is K-maid, huh."

"My heart almost swelled with grandeur… and then it didn't."

Reality, of course, had its limits. They had to follow the decency guidelines handed down by the student council. These were maids of the homeland, not Japan. The level of exposure people ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been hoping for was nowhere to be found.

"I heard Bom-i's here?"

"That Bom-i?"

"I wanna see her in real life!"

"I'm a real YouTube fan, for real."

Something else was going on. On the third day of the festival, a special event had taken place.

Toddling along—

People could hardly believe their eyes. A creature so cute it might have stepped straight out of an anime was walking around.

"Whoa, it's Bom-i!"

"It's Bom-i!"

"She's so cute!"

"Hehe, Bom-i is a little cute~"

Bom-i. A massive YouTuber who had taken the teens and twenties by storm. And here she was, dressed in a maid outfit, shrugging her shoulders and preening with pride.

"Her head's so fucking tiny."

"No wonder people say they want to nibble her."

"Is she even the same species? She looks like a doll!"

Rather than annoying, it only made her more lovable. That was the secret to YouTuber Bom-i's popularity. She could snag the gaze of complete strangers, and anyone who already knew her absolutely had to meet her once.

"Bom-i! Bom-i! Bom-i! Bom-i! Bom-i!"

That was why the front of the maid cafe was packed like the middle of Gwanghwamun. Inside the shop, it was nearly impossible even to look around.

Even the expensive menu couldn't put distance between her and her fans. They opened their wallets without a second thought just to see her.

"Bom-i!"

"It's Bom-i!"

"Bom-i!"

"It's Bom-i!"

Only customers who actually used the maid cafe could join the impromptu fan signing, so the place was a complete sellout. People wolfed down their food just to get a signature, which meant the turnover rate was sky-high. In a certain sense, it was the ideal revenue structure.

"Bom-i, what's up?"

"Bom-i, what's up!"

"Yay~!"

There were so many hardcore fans that they even knew the catchphrases. Fans satisfied, star herself having fun—a wholesome scene all around.

What the hell is that crazy bitch.

Not everyone saw it the same way.

A celebrity. Knowing one was naturally a good thing.

Connections aren't important for nothing.

The world had changed! That was the kind of thing you could only say if you didn't know any better. Even capitalist society had long since become a class system. Unlike their parents' generation, dragons no longer rose from the streams. Those who had something held on tight, and the tool they used to lock it down was connections.

"Hyung-nim, over there! Right there!"

"Why the fuck are there so many."

"It's fine! Just go in with me."

In other words, the whole "they eat among themselves" thing. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠And if "they" became "me," there was no problem.

She's more famous than I thought?

BomTube. He'd heard of it. The kids these days liked that sort of thing.

"She's that big?"

"Over three million subscribers."

"Hmm… almost celebrity level."

"She even appears on TV."

He had zero interest in whatever brats got up to. Using them, though—that interested him a great deal.

Hook one celebrity properly and they all come streaming in after.

A fund. An investment pool that gathered money from many people and managed it. Normally bank employees did the sales, explaining things one by one to each customer. Efficiency was low. Famous banks and bull markets got all the traffic, so it was hard to raise capital in the right places at the right times.

"Welcome home, Master!"

"They're running a cafe with this kind of concept."

"The girls actually went along with it?"

"The profit split is different."

All those drawbacks. Collaborate with a celebrity and they vanished overnight. A celebrity is investing? Fans, of course, and even ordinary people took interest.

"Dude, this shit is fucking expensive."

"Maid cafes are always kinda…"

"There's a place skimming more than our booth."

"Huh?"

Just give them an incentive and it was simple. You could even slip them under-the-table money outright.

But that feels unnatural, so the efficiency drops by half.

Investment, diamond hands—those came from trust. Connections. People you knew were easy to persuade. And when things went south, easy to dump the blame on and run.

"So where's that YouTuber?"

"Bom-i?"

"Yeah."

"She's right over there! You'll know her the second you look."

One celebrity could steer a whole crowd of investors. There was a reason influencers would become so important in the future financial markets.

Huh?

This could be the starting point. School ties, along with regional and blood ties, were among the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠strongest connections there were. If it was about recruiting investors, it was worth taking seriously. He had meant to build a good relationship.

"Bom-i, what's up?"

"Bom-i, what's up!"

"Yay~!"

Then he saw a rather peculiar creature. No—it was a bizarre feeling he had never experienced in his life.

What the hell is that crazy bitch.

Her looks were excellent. No wonder Heon-u had gone crazy calling her cute and shoved his own girlfriend aside. Height in the low 160s. Tiny head, body without a single flaw—that much was true.

"This is Bom-i!"

"It's Bom-i."

"What?"

"It's Bom-i."

There seemed to be something inversely proportional. To put it as politely as possible. Heon-u made the introductions. The cafe had just closed for the day and things had quieted down—because of her personal circumstances. She was a good kid, so she had to go home early, she said.

This fucking bitch picked the worst possible concept…

Of course he knew. Just as celebrities looked different on broadcast than in real life, plenty of YouTubers were the same. Some of them deliberately built a concept. Playing a dimwit character for approachability, for instance.

"Heon-u."

"Yes!"

"Is this kid retarded?"

"Huh?"

"What?!"

"Fuck, she's talking in third person like some anime character."

That had to be the case. Otherwise there was no way she'd pull this kind of bullshit.

Did she get in through some special admissions track?

He almost said it out loud. He'd planned to play along as much as possible, but the fucking bitch was acting like shit. He knew full well her normal speech wasn't like this. Celebrities smoked and fucked behind the scenes too.

"No. Bom-i is smart."

"You?"

"Friends and Bom-i's oppa all said Bom-i is smart."

"Someone like you?"

"There's no way they'd lie, it is!"

She made the most wronged face in the world, clenching her little fists and waving them as she protested. The surrounding pedestrians had already backed off. Their fan spirit was clean enough that they respected her private life.

My habit of speaking only the truth sometimes causes misunderstandings.

There was no reason for her to be doing a bit. Maybe she really was just a deficient kid in everyday life too.

"Hyung-nim, your words are a bit…"

"I went a little hard, but it's weird. The way she talks."

"Huuung."

"She calls her own name cutely even normally."

"A person's name is Bom-i?"

"Huuung!"

Heon-u mediated. Her speech was just like that, he said. And the name wasn't a stage name—it was her real one.

At this rate even Um Junsik will turn out to be a real person's name.

The world was stranger than you knew. As ridiculous as it was, it had been his own misunderstanding.

The kid in front of him. Her eyes were round as saucers, practically popping out, applying silent pressure.

"Bom-i."

"It's Bom-i!"

"You're a dummy, aren't you."

"No!"

"Empty-headed, right."

"That can't be, it is!"

This was the important part. The goal. There was a wall he had to climb if he wanted a good relationship with her.

Trust doesn't just appear from the start.

And money wasn't something you handed over lightly. She had to become the kind of life partner who made you think: with this person, I can rest easy. With this person, I can go higher.

"Aww, hyung-nim! She's cute, though."

"A twenty-year-old adult being cute is something to brag about?"

"Huung."

"What is she, a little kid."

"Huuung!"

To get there, first you had to knock them down. Those round pupils started trembling with shock.

If I smacked the back of her head they'd probably pop right out.

He couldn't bring himself to hit her. He could only blame his own soft, fragile sensibilities. Bom-i herself seemed shaken. She'd been going "huung huung" this whole time.

"Bom-i has felt that way too."

The medicine was starting to work. It was the same gaslighting he often used when courting investment from chaebol second-gens.

They want to meet someone who can change them.

They'd never suffered a day in their lives. Everyone around them only flattered. YouTubers wouldn't be much different. She'd succeeded on a pretty face alone. Living like this couldn't go on. She wanted to carve ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out her own life.

"University has a lot of smart people, it is."

"This is a prestigious school, for what it's worth."

"Bom-i is less smart, it is."

"…"

Or maybe not. It wasn't as if she had no worries of her own.

Was this even a question of smart or not?

From her perspective, that was how she saw it. It wasn't a rare worry, really. A school full of kids who ranked first and second. Being among smart kids was enough to make anyone shrink. Before she was a YouTuber, she was one student. Feeling competitive was only natural.

"Really."

"Really?"

"Living isn't living at all, it is…"

"That hard?"

"Don't even ask, really~."

She let out a long sigh. She wasn't "like" a dummy—she was the real thing, no question.

A natural-monument-class idiot.

Her own worldview was rock-solid. It made sense how she'd succeeded as a YouTuber. And it made sense how to handle her. A short conversation had taught him something.

"You want to get smarter?"

"It goes without saying, it is."

"I'll make you smart."

"Is Oppa smart, it is?"

Recognition hunger. She seemed obsessively fixated on the fact that she was smart. That was the point to attack. Messing with one dumb kid was easier than flipping a hand.

Nothing looks smarter than making money through investing.

He would turn Bom-i into a wise investor.