Beauty x100 - 2
Thursday evening.
Pak Hongsin, an ordinary office worker in his twenties living in Seoul, left work with a grimace on his face. He had no idea the walk from the subway to his one-room apartment would feel this long, this rough, this endless.
Clop, clop.
Each time he climbed the stairs to his villa building, his legs nearly gave out beneath him.
He loosened his tie and muttered,
"Ugh, I'm freaking exhausted...."
Man....
I want to quit my job.
I want to quit this goddamn piece-of-shit small company.
"If I win the lottery, I’m just gonna quit my job...."
No, wait.
I'd just buy the company.
"I'd buy the company and totally push around Manager Kim...."
When his thoughts and muttering finally lined up, he stopped short in front of his door.
!
A package had been delivered.
On the wrapping paper, package information had been printed in a simple font.
-Product Name: Event Item (D)
-Recipient: Pak Hongsin
-Sender: Aurora Mall
Minimal information.
It was the kind of look you wouldn’t be embarrassed to leave in the front hall.
He admired it.
"No way. For a small company, this is some real sense...."
He could feel the consideration in that dry little line of text.
He was moved by how carefully they had hidden the fact that there were otaku goods inside. On top of that, the box even subtly told him which type of All-Star Box had arrived.
And I entered my shipping info last weekend. They sent it this fast...?
Those bastards....
He found himself wondering just how much money they were burning through.
"Bigman...."
Pak Hongsin carried the box into his room. He grabbed a pair of scissors at once and cut it open. The first thing he saw was a clean, simple font.
D
"Oh...!"
The contents of the All-Star Box were substantial.
There was a blue T-shirt printed with an illustration of DoDa winking, along with a cheering towel, a key ring, and a photo card. It was an illustration with a pure, almost fragile feeling he would never show on stream.
Clink.
Pak Hongsin turned the key ring over in his hand and smiled.
"Heh. They really know what the DoDari want."
He put on the shirt right away.
Then he quickly pulled out the cheering light stick too. When he flipped the switch, it lit up blue. He waved it back and forth, leaving trails of blue light in the air.
"Ooh...!"
Once he had the cheering towel around his neck too, he felt as if he had been reborn as a devoted otaku.
He played ABCD’s tracks and pretended to do otagei.
"Yes...! This! This is it...!"
The true pleasure of being a hardcore fan.
Memories of his days in the otaku club came rushing back. Back then, even a single VTuber good had cost several tens of thousands of won, so he’d taken on part-time jobs just to keep up.
Mainstream IP merch is usually limited-run, and even that costs a few tens of thousands for one item. And this whole set is under fifty thousand won? Is this place really a small company?
He had gotten it for free, too.
It was enough to make him laugh out loud.
"Man, this is life. While other people go to clubs, I get to enjoy being a fan...!"
Pak Hongsin grinned to himself in anticipation.
He had even won DoDa’s PC cafe participation event in one shot. Ever since he was young, he’d had absurd luck with game gachas and raffles; whatever he tried, he tended to win on the first pull.
And his number was the rare nickname, 69.
I should wear this to the PC cafe and prove I got in.
To be honest, that was already more than enough to keep his expectations modest.
They’ll probably just put up some banners, maybe a big monitor with the stream on it, and call it an event. How flashy can something thrown together this fast really be?
No matter how much of a Bigman he was,
he couldn’t prepare by running time itself.
Even so, Pak Hongsin was satisfied enough.
And that feeling was shattered to pieces the next day.
Pak Hongsin was stunned.
"What the fuck is this...?"
Friday evening, the moment he arrived at the PC cafe listed in the SNS announcement, he felt a chill run through him. The entrance was greeted by dazzling lights and staff members bowing in welcome.
Under four-colored lighting,
the staff in ABCD T-shirts shouted:
-Event winners, please show your winning DM and come in!
-General visitors, please enter slowly for safety reasons!
The front of the PC cafe was extravagant.
The walls were covered in monochrome wrapping paper representing each member. And in the line of people waiting, Stage Error, ABCD’s debut song, was playing.
A few minutes later,
the staff began letting visitors inside.
-Up to waiting number 25, please enter in a single line at a slow pace!
-If you’ve received a queue ticket, please wait comfortably in the second-floor cafe!
-Thank you for visiting—!
Beyond the safety fence, the ABCD fandom had gotten drunk on the convincing atmosphere and were proudly showing off their member T-shirts or taking proof shots.
"Holy crap, why did they go this big?"
"Bigman...."
"Whoa... so Boomrang really do exist."
"There are this many people who like them besides me?"
"Is Bigman some kind of chaebol or what?"
"This is insane."
There was none of that gloomy, shabby small-company atmosphere. It felt more like he’d wandered into a major game company’s fan hall. It was so convincing that it made him feel oddly unembarrassed.
Man, this reeks of the cool-kid crowd.
Pak Hongsin approached the staff hesitantly. Then he showed them the DM that had arrived on his phone.
"Um, I’m one of the winners."
"!"
The female staff member smiled brightly and said,
"Here’s your number ticket. Please go to seat 69 and wait there!"
"Ah, okay...."
Pak Hongsin took the ticket in a daze and went inside the PC cafe. And there, confronted with yet another strange new world, he could only stare in shock.
"What the hell...?! "
Near the entrance, All-Star Boxes for each member were stacked neatly. In one section, a pegboard display had been set up as a temporary booth, where the members’ official goods were on display.
A, B, C, D.
Yellow, pink, scarlet, blue.
Maybe it was the simple, polished theme. Even though the whole place was overflowing with pretty-girl illustrations, it didn’t feel cheap or cluttered.
On the contrary, it was fun to look around. So many people were taking photos in front of the booths that it practically became part of the attraction.
This feels like a tech company expo or something....
Pak Hongsin turned his head in admiration.
!
Then he let out a deflated groan.
"Haa...."
Beside the PC seats, the numbers from 1 to 100 had been marked. And for every block of twenty seats, a stand monitor had been installed.
Inside one of the screens, DoDa was bouncing around while explaining something.
-DoDari! Thanks for coming! First, before you sit down, check your number and...
Some people were marveling in front of the stand monitors.
They looked more polished than he had expected.
Shockingly, there were three women among them.
All of them were wearing blue T-shirts.
They were all DoDari.
"Wow, DoDa-do-da."
"This really is DoDa."
"This is recorded, right?"
"Yeah, probably...."
"So cute."
"Seriously, adorable."
"Her voice is so different from on stream."
"Is she being fake on stream?"
Pak Hongsin joined the group as if spellbound. Somehow it felt like he belonged there too.
For some reason, I feel like I should be here. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t feel embarrassing anymore.
Unlike his usual self, so timid that he hated crowds, he even found himself speaking first in a small, shy voice.
"Um...."
"Ah, yes?"
"Are you all winners of the event too?"
"Yes! That's right."
The man wearing glasses among them said,
"This is really overwhelming.... I’ve been cheering for them since their Live Future days. Honestly, I’m kind of getting emotional."
"Wow, really?"
At that, the DoDari each started talking about how they had become fans.
"I got in through the showcase!"
"The showcase performance was cute, wasn’t it?"
"I came in through the quiz show, and now I’m devouring everything from the Live Future archive after only two weeks."
"Oh, the quiz show! Actually, I got these goods from the quiz show."
"Didn’t they arrive super fast?"
"I came in through Bigman...."
"Ah! Bigman is legit."
"Bigman...."
"I only saw the billion-won incident in the news, but I never expected this would happen."
"Ahh...."
Among them,
Pak Hongsin murmured without thinking,
"That’s really amazing."
At that moment,
all the stand monitors inside the venue switched off.
Click.
DoDa’s voice, which had been filling the room, cut out, and an awkward silence settled over the place. The DoDari all whipped their heads around to stare at the black stand monitors.
"Huh?"
"?"
"What?"
And then the monitors all turned back on at once.
There, DoDa sat like an emperor, chin raised in arrogant dignity.
[You DoDari gathered there, aren’t you supposed to sit down and wait now?]
"Pfft...."
"She really is shamelessly attention-seeking."
"That’s the cute part, though."
[DoDa knows she’s cute, so sit down already.]
At the immediate reply, the woman who had called her cute tilted her head.
"...?"
People around them began to murmur.
"What was that? Did she just answer?"
"Huh?"
"No way...."
DoDa on the screen shook her head with a giggle.
[There are relay cameras everywhere. So if any of you try to cheat during the competition, I’ll be watching all of it.]
"?!"
The crowd looked around.
Relay cameras had been installed all over the huge PC cafe.
"Whoa, holy shit...."
"What kind of ridiculous spending spree is this...?"
[Later, I’ll have the other members come out at the marked spots and hang out too, so if you’re interested, just line up there.]
"!"
Just as she’d said,
one section of the PC cafe had a giant display installed. People passing by it were checking the timetable for when the members would appear.
[And today, the people who survive the three games the longest will get hotel vouchers, gaming PCs, and smartphones. We’ve also prepared participation prizes, so don’t forget to pick them up.]
"So we only have to play games today?"
DoDa smiled sweetly and said,
[Yep, no. There are also events we prepared, so look forward to them. For anyone who wants to rest, the second-floor Leaf Cafe is handing out free drinks, so just show your number ticket and relax while you drink.]
"!"
The DoDari cheered. Honestly, more than the prizes, they were happy that an event this thoughtful had been prepared.
This space itself felt too good.
"My heart’s been pounding since earlier...."
"Wow, this is amazing!"
"This is actually fun!"
Woof woof—
It felt like his brain might just melt from dopamine.
With that excitement,
they all took their seats.
Pak Hongsin also sat down, heart fluttering. Then one of the staff came over and handed him a drink and a small snack.
"These are free for participants. If you want more drinks, just tell us. Please ask comfortably!"
"Ah, um... thank you."
What was this.
It was too comfortable.
What is this place...?
Inside the PC cafe, everything felt like an amusement park.
DoDa popped up from one stand monitor to another, and people took photos at the booth where the goods were displayed. In the interaction area set up off to one side, the other members were scheduled to appear.
His skin tingled with delight.
It felt as if this place itself loved him back.
They never do anything like this even for anniversary events elsewhere.... Usually you have to spend a ton of money before they even think about opening something like this.
Here,
none of that mattered.
Buy one T-shirt
or not buy a single track
all that mattered was coming here and having fun.
"..."
Putting on his gaming headset, Pak Hongsin made up his mind.
...I’m going to stay a DoDari forever.
Bigman—
*
The ABCD community was buzzing. The real-time reports from people who had arrived at the PC cafe were generating pure dopamine.
And then.
The event began.