Tie-Up
"Then can't you just take a screenshot of the character card? That way, you can look at it on your phone or computer whenever you want, right? Without spending any money."
"What?!"
"Take it back... those words just now...!"
"Take it back? Was that some kind of taboo I shouldn't have mentioned?"
"No, well, it's not exactly like that..."
Lee Seo, who had triumphantly thrown out a meme only for it to fall completely flat, wore an embarrassed expression. Suyun glanced at her before turning her gaze forward. Even without saying a word, Hyeona's face practically screamed, 'But those two are completely different!'
"Isn't it?"
"They are... completely different..."
"What's the difference?"
"Well, basically, those cards have animations, and their stats and performance differ depending on the card..."
"Can't you just watch the animations on YouTube? And as for the stats, surely you can substitute them with something else."
"But substituting them is completely different from actually collecting them... right? Or is it?"
Lee Seo looked doubtful, while Hyeona looked utterly devastated. Watching the two of them, Suyun lightly twirled her hair. Of course, it wasn't that she couldn't understand it at all. Everyone has a desire to collect things. But in the end, weren't they just digital scraps? Was there really a need to attach hundreds or thousands of dollars of value to them? Whether you looked at it in a game or in your phone's gallery, it seemed exactly the same...
"If you look at it that way, we wouldn't be able to make any money either. Why buy physical albums? You can just listen to them on YouTube or streaming services. There's no reason to buy expensive albums just to listen to the songs."
The living room fell into a heavy silence. The one who broke the quiet was Seoha.
"But albums are relatively cheap."
"In terms of cost-effectiveness, the ratio of thirty dollars to three thousand dollars is pretty much the same as zero dollars to thirty-three dollars. Actually, isn't the latter worse? You don't have to spend a single cent, but you choose to pay thirty-three dollars, buy a CD player, and go through all that trouble just to listen to it."
"I suppose mathematically, but..."
"And honestly, you're the same. You could just use a Quad Cortex, but you grit your teeth and lug around a massive pedalboard, setting up analog gear and hunting down vintage pedals... A brand-new Quad Cortex is only about two thousand dollars, but didn't you just buy a '94 Klon Centaur for seven thousand dollars the other day?"
"How is that even remotely the same? They are completely different."
"To outsiders, they look exactly the same."
Suyun couldn't understand Seoha's argument. Seoha was a musician herself, so she should know better. The difference between analog and digital effects was as vast as the distance between Korea and America. To say they were exactly the same was...
"In the end, analog circuits are... replicated digitally, so scientifically, there's absolutely no difference..."
"That's not it. If you just listen, the sound is completely different."
"Just as you feel that way, otaku feel the exact same way... Watching a video of an animation and actually owning the card are two entirely different things..."
At Hyeona's words, Suyun paused to think. Even with that comparison, she still couldn't bring herself to believe that analog and digital effects were the same. Digital and analog were fundamentally different. How could the sound of an analog pedal—shaped by countless chaotic physical variables that humans couldn't even fully perceive—be identical to the clean, programmed output of a digital modeler? Anyone who thought they were the same was out of their mind. But just as trying to explain that truth to non-musicians only led to pointless arguments, perhaps this issue was similar. To Suyun, who lacked any collecting impulse, looking at a picture or watching a video was the same as owning it, but to others, it could mean the world.
"...I get what you're saying, but still, spending thousands of dollars just to pull a single digital drawing seems a bit much, doesn't it?"
"Reissue... instruments and vintage instruments... have a price difference of tens of thousands of dollars, don't they...?"
At Hyeona's counterargument, Suyun finally conceded. It was only hard to accept because the object of desire was a digital drawing and video; in the end, it was the same concept of someone assigning immense value to something.
"I think I get the general idea. So it depends on where you place the value. Since they value owning and collecting, regardless of the medium, they're willing to spend whatever it takes to possess it."
"Y-yes, exactly. It's absolutely... not something you can just dismiss like that."
Watching Hyeona argue with such passion, as if it were her own personal struggle, Suyun reflected. In the beginning, she had tried to accept and understand things she didn't know or couldn't comprehend. But as time passed and she grew accustomed to the world, she seemed to have forgotten that initial mindset.
'I guess I learned something new today...'
"Then, let's move on to the next segment..."
"But wait."
"Yes?"
Despite everything, Suyun still had one unresolved question. Paying money to pull a character made sense once she understood it was a matter of subjective value. But...
"Isn't that 'gacha' thing basically gambling? From what I've heard, the rates are like 0.01% or 0.015%? Isn't that ridiculously low? The people who still pull must believe they'll get it on the first try, right?"
"Pretty much. That's why some people who can't even afford it keep spending until they go bankrupt..."
"Seeing that makes me want to ask. They must know the probability is incredibly low, so what kind of psychology drives them to challenge such terrible odds? Even with the lottery, people usually only buy five or ten dollars' worth. They don't keep buying until they win."
Suyun looked at Hyeona, hoping for an answer. Since Hyeona was basically running 'Otaku Studies 101' right now, she figured she would have some insight. However, for some reason, Hyeona kept her mouth tightly shut, and the answer came from an entirely different direction.
"Hey, you know..."
"What?"
"She spent thousands of dollars last month on the Train Trail mobile game. That's why Hyeona-unni has to live on cup ramen every single day until our next payout."
At Lee Seo's revelation, Suyun stared at Hyeona's face. Watching Hyeona shift her gaze and desperately avoid eye contact, Suyun realized. Ah, no wonder she was getting so worked up as if it were her own business. It literally was her own business.
A few days later.
"Is today some kind of holiday? Why is traffic so bad?"
"Tokyo traffic is always like this. Just accept it."
Riding in the car driven by Lee Seo, Suyun and the members were heading toward Kanamachi Station. This was because Kanamachi Station served as the setting for the first volume of Train Trail. According to Hyeona, the 'holy land pilgrimage' videos had to be shot in chronological order.
"Are we... having lunch... when we get there...?"
"We literally just ate breakfast."
"Well, there's... a restaurant... that's really important..."
"It feels like I'm sinking into deep water. At this rate, I... No, I can't..."
Do not die. Live. Remember the countless days you have consumed, and the lives that strove to keep you alive. Did you cling to this wretched life for so long just to end it all here?
'The emotions are a bit much.'
While the members chatted amongst themselves, Suyun turned another page of the manga with that thought in mind. At least Volume 1 maintained a consistent atmosphere from start to finish. It felt like a relentless barrage of raw emotion shoved directly into the reader's face, never giving them a moment of peace.
'Maybe they made it this way because a strong first impression is crucial for any series...'
Still, deciding it wasn't quite her cup of tea, Suyun inserted a bookmark. She figured she would read the rest back at the lodging.
"Is this the place?"
"Yes...!"
After parking the car in a nearby paid lot, they walked for a few minutes and arrived at what looked like a completely ordinary cafe. Suyun wondered why they had come here—until she spotted a small setup just outside the entrance.
"Was there an accident here? I don't know who it is, but how tragic."
It was a small memorial altar. Thinking she should pay her respects to whoever it was, Suyun reached out to place an incense stick into the burner, only to freeze. The burner wasn't a real burner, and the incense wasn't real incense. The metallic-looking burner glowed with an electric light, and the incense sticks were just rolled-up paper. And upon closer inspection, the portrait of the deceased wasn't a real person at all, but an illustration of a manga character.
"What in the world is this?"
"Ah, that... is Teru-kun's altar... I heard they're doing a special event for it..."
"Who on earth is Teru-kun?"
"A character from Train Trail..."
Suyun frowned at Hyeona's explanation. So this wasn't a memorial for a real person, but for a fictional character who had died in the manga. Looking closely, there was even a sign posted nearby.
[ Please rest assured that no real person has passed away. ]
"Ugh... please tell me we didn't come all this way just for this."
"Well, partially, yes... but this is also the cafe that appears in Volume 1..."
"This place?"
Suyun narrowed her eyes and peered inside. Now that she thought about it, the interior did look like the one from the manga. The only issue was that in the manga, the windows had been completely shattered and the entire place had been utterly trashed.
"Do they sell that rotten cake here too, then?"
"Why would they sell rotten cake?"
"Actually, yes, they do... It appears in the manga..."
Exchanging these words, Suyun and the girls stepped into the cafe. Despite its small size, the place was packed to the brim with people. While Hyeona went to place their order, Suyun scanned the interior. People were chatting in front of life-sized character standees, while others took photos of cakes that looked visually unappetizing, posing them alongside various merchandise.
"I think we'll have to get it to go... They said it's going to take a while..."
"Sure, we can just drink it outside. Let's check out what's further in first."
Replying to Hyeona, Suyun glanced toward the back of the cafe. There were even more people and even more standees. She couldn't tell if this was a cafe or an animation studio. Lee Seo had already run over to the standees and was noisily taking selfies, while Seoha stood by with a completely indifferent expression.
"Should we wait outside? We can let Hyeona grab the drinks."
"Sounds like a plan."
Seoha suggested this just as they finished looking around. Suyun lightly twirled her hair and agreed, since it looked like the other two still had plenty of things to do inside. But when she went back in to tell them they were heading out, she found Hyeona and Lee Seo caught in a conversation with some strangers.
"What are you guys doing?"
"Ah, they struck up a conversation with us. They're from China, and they asked if we're fans of Train Trail."
"Chinese fans?"
At Lee Seo's reply, Suyun looked at the tourists speaking to Hyeona in Japanese. They definitely had distinct Chinese features (not in a discriminatory way). Judging by the shirts they wore, which were similar to Hyeona's, those seemed to be official manga t-shirts as well...
"Are they fans of the manga too?"
"Yeah. They said they came to Japan specifically for a holy land pilgrimage. They've spent the last six days and five nights doing nothing but touring Tokyo's pilgrimage sites, and they're flying back tonight."
"They spent six days and five nights just visiting places from that manga?"
Suyun lightly twirled her hair, marveling at their incredible passion. Chinese citizens needed a visa just to enter Japan. To go through the hassle of getting a visa, fly over, and spend six days and five nights doing absolutely nothing else but visiting locations from a manga called Train Trail...
'How can they love something that much?'
In terms of sheer intensity, it might seem similar to Suyun's devotion to the guitar, but she felt it belonged to a completely different category. While Suyun genuinely loved the guitar, her love was also fueled by her natural talent, the fact that it was her profession, and her burning ambition to become the best in the world. In other words, her 'love' yielded tangible benefits.
But loving a manga brought no practical benefits whatsoever. They weren't drawing the manga; they just loved it. How could they make a living off that? If anything, it was a financial drain. So how could they love it so intensely?
"Lee Seo."
"Yeah?"
"Ask them something for me."
"What?"
"Why exactly do they love this manga so much?"
"Why are you asking that all of a sudden?"
"I'm being serious, so just ask."
Though she grumbled, Lee Seo translated Suyun's question to the Chinese tourists. The response that came back was in slightly clumsy but deeply sincere Japanese. They explained that they were profoundly moved by a certain character's journey, and felt that if they didn't do this now, they might never get another chance. It cost a lot of money, but they didn't regret it for a single second. Because to them, it was the greatest manga of their lives.
"The greatest manga of their lives?"
"Yeah."
Hearing that answer, Suyun lightly twirled her hair. The greatest manga of their lives. To call a manga like this the 'greatest of one's life' when there were so many other masterpieces out there, and so much of life left to live... It felt far too early to make such a grand declaration. Wasn't it like a six-year-old eating junk food and declaring, "Apollo is the most delicious food in the whole wide world!"?
"I think... the best part of Train Trail is its honesty. It doesn't hide emotions. The story is honest. The characters clash with each other with absolute sincerity."
As Suyun was lost in thought, the tourist's broken Japanese sparked a sudden realization within her. Honesty. She had felt it when reading Volume 1 as well. The manga felt as though its raw emotions were practically spilling off the pages. Was that what they perceived as honesty? Was that why this person, inspired by the lessons of the manga, had spent a fortune to fly all the way to Japan just to be honest with their own feelings?
"I know exactly what you mean! All the characters are like that! They might fight, but they never lie. They clash with their true feelings! No fake harmony, only genuine emotions..."
Listening to Hyeona chime in, something clicked in Suyun's mind. Genuine emotions. Honesty. Unfiltered expression...
'I think I'm starting to get an idea of what kind of song I need to write.'