All the Mountains Turn Green, Green - 3
In the end, we took the subway back.
Which meant...
the three of us.
“...”
“...”
“...”
The lazy train car held only us.
Beside me, DoDa was happily scrolling through computer parts on her phone, grinning from ear to ear, while across from us Berryri... no, Aeri, sat there with a prim little pout.
I hadn’t noticed it at the pork soup place because of the pink apron, but Aeri was wearing an elegant gothic-lolita dress. She looked every inch the Berryri princess.
“...”
SeoWoo’s like this, and DoDa’s like that, and now Berryri’s subtly asserting her VTuber persona too. Is that something all the ABCD members share?
Still.
She still hadn’t said a word.
“...”
“...”
“...”
It had been fifteen minutes since we’d run into Berryri.
She hadn’t acknowledged me even once. But when her part-time shift at the pork soup restaurant ended, she had quietly started following us in the same direction.
- Unnie, what are you doing? The company is the other way, and it’s faster too.
- Eek?! Why would you say that out loud?
- It’s fine. This guy’s a Big Plan executive, so he knows everything anyway.
- H-hiiik...?!
Berryri looked at me with frightened eyes. She lowered her head and whispered to DoDa, but for some reason I could hear every word anyway.
- I-I’m just going with you. Aki said she’s coming this way too.
- Ah, okay. Unnie’s response time is crazy fast.
And with that, we got on the subway.
Then an awkward silence settled over us.
“...”
“...”
“...”
As a little more time passed, DoDa leaned toward me and whispered.
“Boss, please understand.”
“Pardon?”
“Aeri unnie isn’t in a bad mood right now. She’s just like that. She gets shy.”
“I see.”
“And when she gets flustered, she starts fidgeting right away. Please understand.”
“Understood. I’ll stay still like this.”
“Oh, wow. What a considerate man. No wonder you’re popular.”
“...”
As she said that, DoDa gave my side a light poke.
Then Berryri glanced over here.
“...!”
Ah.
Our eyes met.
“Hik...!”
“...”
She was visibly flustered.
Berryri’s gaze flicked this way and that.
Even her pink lips trembled.
At last, she pulled out her pink phone and started tapping at it while sneaking glances at me. The phone, covered in little hearts, went tok-tok-tok under her fingers.
Even her startled face was so very Berryri...
“...”
Have I been quietly infected by Berryri brainwashing too? I keep calling her Berryri without even thinking about it.
Anyway.
It was...
something.
Unintended or not.
This third red pill was a little fascinating.
Aeri-san is completely different from her broadcast image. On stream she seems so confident, so self-loving. But in person she looks so timid... Was that persona something she deliberately built?
She wore a princess dress too, which was similar enough.
Still, that was impressive in its own way. It meant she was playing an entirely different character when she went live.
Aki was bright and lively even off stream.
DoDa was goofy and cheerful even off stream.
Compared to those two, who didn’t differ much from what they showed on broadcast, there must be a lot more Aeri had to keep track of.
Even when her mood didn’t come along for the ride,
there were probably times she had to force it up anyway.
...
That somehow makes sense.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, DoDa nudged my side again.
“But Aeri unnie’s asking where we’re going right now. Aki apparently didn’t explain that part.”
“We have some errands to run, so we’re heading straight to the convenience store first. We’ll rest there for a bit, then look into interior design and computer installation contractors.”
“Oh, goddamn. Boss really is lightning in the East and lightning in the West.”
“...”
After delivering that meaningless line, DoDa looked at Aeri and said, “Anyway, Aeri unnie. You said you wanted to check out the convenience store, right? Perfect timing.”
“?!”
Aeri jolted upright. Her face looked like she might cry, and her cheeks were flushed bright red.
“Y-you! I was asking you by phone, and you go and say that...!”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. You can trust the boss. He’s technically connected to this too.”
“B-but still...!”
Aeri looked ready to protest more, then caught sight of me and sat back down again. She began typing rapidly with just her fingertips.
The phone in DoDa’s lap started buzzing over and over.
Buzz
Buzz
Buzz
Buzz
Buzz
DoDa muttered beside me, “Boss, don’t get the wrong idea. That’s just the vibration setting on her phone.”
“...”
That joke had an oddly high degree of aggression.
I said nothing and let it pass.
Before long, the subway arrived.
We got off at the station for the convenience store. DoDa came along, one hand on her phone and the other gripping the hem of my clothes.
“Boss, please understand. It’s because Aeri unnie keeps asking. If I leave her on read, she stays mad for half a month.”
“...”
Half a month.
That was an alarmingly long time.
“Understood. Just hold on and follow me.”
“Kkyung kkyung.”
“...”
As I led DoDa along, I glanced back at Aeri trailing behind us. Even while looking at her phone, she kept sneaking nervous little glances our way, unsure what to do with herself.
“...”
That posture feels weirdly familiar. Does she usually walk while looking at her phone too?
That strange little procession ended after about ten minutes on foot. Aki’s convenience store was reached a few minutes after that.
*
Convenience store break room.
Aki smiled with a dazed, pleased look on her face and pointed toward the bathroom. There, before our eyes, a proper shower booth had already been installed. DoDa and Aeri were standing there staring at it.
Aki said, “Ta-da! Now you can even wash up if you stay overnight here!”
“Ohhh, sweet deal. Can I use it sometimes too?”
“Yep!”
“Thanks. I was just thinking about it, and now you’ve really gone and done it. Boss said this was okay?”
“Yep, oppa said this is my space...’
“...”
When Seonwoo Taek was mentioned, Aki scratched at her cheek and fussed with her baseball cap.
DoDa faltered at the sight, then grinned and answered, “Right.”
And Aeri trembled all over.
As though she had just seen something terrifying.
Awa-wawa...
“Your space? N-night? Sh-sh-sh-s... shower? O-oppa?”
Then DoDa seized on the words beside her.
“Sh-sh-sh-shit! Shoo shoo!”
“DoDa! I’m not joking around...!”
“Kkyung kkyung, emergency evacuation protocol activated.”
The moment Aeri genuinely looked ready to get angry, DoDa flung open the break room door and bolted outside. She headed toward the outdoor table on the first floor, where Seonwoo Taek was sitting.
Aeri stared after her in blank disbelief for a moment. But soon she collected herself again and cautiously approached Aki.
She took Aki’s hand and said, “Aki... I don’t think this is right.”
“Huh? What is?”
Aki tilted her head.
She honestly seemed not to understand what Aeri was talking about at all.
Aeri said in a slightly trembling voice, “Even if it’s just a part-time break room, it’s a place where a young man is staying alone. Installing a sho... shower booth here...”
“Ah!”
Aki’s eyes widened. Then she said, in a voice that sounded as if she’d been hit right in the soft spot, “I-I see.”
“Right?”
“That is kind of a problem...”
“Yes, if you understand even now, then—”
“The water bill, right. I’ll feel bad for oppa.”
“...”
Aeri’s head drooped helplessly.
No good... This soft, bun-like girl doesn’t have a shred of caution around men...
Aki smiled brightly as she watched her. Then she patted Aeri’s head reassuringly.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry, unnie.”
“B-but...”
“I know everything.”
“...”
“But trust oppa.”
“Based on what?”
“Everything.”
“...”
Still smiling faintly, Aki took Aeri’s hand and led her to the window. Below, DoDa and Seonwoo Taek were talking.
“...”
Aeri focused on the faintly audible conversation.
DoDa was hopping around as she spoke.
- Wooo! Buy the graphics cards in full with zero money worries! Should I grab a few more for crypto mining while I’m at it?
- You may do whatever you like. Personally, though, rather than splitting another one billion won to invest... I think this budget would be better spent entirely on something that makes DoDa happier.
- Ah, right. Crypto is boring anyway. It only ever crashes.
- Some coins do rise. I’m putting money into one right now.
- What is it?
Then DoDa let out a cheer as she looked at the phone he showed her. She looked as though she couldn’t suppress the dopamine surging through her body.
- Wild! There’s a beast here! I want to try it too!
- Then you can just come in here and start. But there is one thing you should be careful about...
“...”
“...”
Aki said quietly, “See?”
“...”
“And oppa has never come in without my permission. He always asks me first before he comes in.”
“...”
“It’s his own building, isn’t it funny?”
At that.
Aeri had no choice but to accept it.
“...”
That expressionless man was, after all, a senior figure from the so-called Big Plan, a suddenly appearing heavyweight in the industry. And he was the owner of this odd convenience store.
Besides...
he cared about DoDa and Aki.
It was a strange identity,
a strange encounter,
but Aeri already knew a bond like that.
“He’s like the restaurant owner.”
“Hm?”
The restaurant owner at the pork soup place.
That kind old lady had caught Aeri just as she was being fired from the academy and shuffling down in misery. Then, revealing that she owned the building, she told her to work there.
- Y-yes... At lunch only?
- During busy times, just help watch the kitchen. And when there aren’t any customers, you can go into that room over there and rest. It’s a quiet place anyway, so there aren’t many customers to begin with.
- I-I’d be getting off way too easy if that were the case...
The owner had laughed and said, “So what if I own the building? I don’t have any children, so when I see young people working hard, I just want to help.”
Even while working in a comfortable place like that ever since the small-channel days.
Compared to the other members, she felt a little guilty, like she was skating by and making money on the side. Everyone was struggling, after all.
“...”
But the owner’s smile overlapped with that expressionless face.
Aeri let out a breath of relief. It was a sigh layered with the guilt of the past year.
“I see.”
Aki too
DoDa too
have simply found someone they trust nearby.
That was the conclusion she reached.
And when Seonwoo Taek made the odd suggestion that they all go to a temple together in the evening, she felt the last trace of unease drain away as well.
He really is someone you can trust...
But when they arrived at the temple, the head monk barked at him.
“Y-you bastard?! Now you’re up to three wives?!”
“That’s not it.”
Aeri flinched.
“...”
I may need to keep watching him a little longer.
---