Birthday Party (1)
The next morning after the birthday party, early as it was, I woke up to Bambi's kneading paws right on my face.
"Nyaaah!"
"Mmm..."
They say even when you're asleep, your brain keeps working. I'd learned once that while the body rests, the brain processes and stores new information as memories. But with so much crammed in there, I felt a bit hazy and tired. After splashing water on my face to shake off the fog, I glanced in the mirror—and sure enough, my face looked a little worn out. Maybe that's why today, there was this decadent allure to my features, making my eyes stand out even more. I wasn't exactly the innocent type to begin with, but right now, I had that vibe of the cool neighborhood noona squatting by the side of the road, smoking a cigarette with a sly smirk.
"...Well, it's not like I'm sick or anything. Should be fine."
My head was stuffed with recipes for all sorts of dishes, but that didn't mean I could whip any up right now. No ingredients. All I had at home was instant ramen, some sliced bread, and nothing else worth calling "ingredients."
"Guess I need to hit the market..."
Putting shopping on hold, I settled for spreading jam on some bread and eating that. Feeling a spark of energy return, I turned on my phone.
"Oh, right... where did I tell her to meet again?"
I checked the message from Se-rin, scarfed down the rest of the bread, and started getting dressed.
"Gonna need to buy some winter clothes too..."
Summer was fading, Halloween season creeping in, and the weather had turned a bit chilly. Today's outfit: jeans and a gray sweatshirt. I didn't think I was great at fashion, but with this face and body, even basic stuff looked good on me somehow.
I was about to use Shape Transformation to turn my eyes black again.
"...Mana might be tight, though."
Sure, my mana pool had grown since before, but keeping it up all day? Probably impossible. Maybe skip the skill altogether—
That's when I remembered I'd learned the Restriction skill.
"Oh yeah, that."
I headed back to the kitchen.
.
.
Water, vitamins, coffee. And a bit of mana stirred in as it boiled. Having the ingredients for a mana recovery potion carry over into reality felt a little off. In-game, you'd mix herbs, but here... yeah, it was weird. Still.
Bubble bubble bubble—
"...Whoa, the smell."
The vitamins and coffee mixed into this bizarre aroma. I kept stirring while infusing mana. Soon, a fragrant scent started wafting up, then—pop!—it burst with a puff of blue smoke.
"Whoa..."
I poured the shimmering blue liquid into a PET bottle. One sip, and there wasn't much taste, but the fresh aroma brought a nice surge of vitality.
"Like a nutritional supplement...? Or some kind of tonic...?"
Whatever. I tossed the bottle in my bag, pulled a cap down low over my head, and headed out—remembering to dye my eyes black with Shape Transformation first.
.
.
.
Se-rin and her friends were already at a café near Jamsil Station, celebrating her birthday. Being a weekday morning, the place was nearly empty.
"Unni, happy birthday for real!"
"Hehe... yeah, thanks."
Se-rin's two friends from middle school days: A-young and Chae-yeon.
"A-young, you're debuting soon, right? Congrats on all the hard work."
They called her a friend, but A-young was actually a junior Se-rin met back in middle school. They'd gotten close somehow, and after starting high school together, A-young got scouted as an idol trainee. Even with trainee life keeping her from school much, she and Se-rin stayed in touch. Her cute looks and bubbly personality finally paid off after four years, landing her a debut.
"Hehe... thanks, unni."
"Seriously, that's awesome."
Sitting next to them was Chae-yeon, Se-rin's childhood bestie from kindergarten. She'd graduated from practical music last year and was doing features for other artists or composing her own stuff. Not a huge name, but still.
A-young and Chae-yeon bonded easily over the music industry connection. Se-rin felt a bit self-conscious as the only one on leave playing games, but they didn't mind.
"By the way, someone else coming?"
"Oh, yeah. An unni I know... and a friend I got close with recently."
"Whoa... the unni who never leaves her room has a new friend...?"
Right then, the café door opened, and a woman walked in.
"Ye-rim unni! Over here!"
"Waa~ Happy birthday, Se-rin-ah~"
Ye-rim beamed and rushed over to hug Se-rin.
"These are your friends?"
"Yeah. This is A-young, and this is Chae-yeon."
"Hi. I'm Se-rin's close unni. Call me Ye-rim unni, okay?"
"Y-Yes... Ye-rim unni..."
A-young's friendliness and Ye-rim's warmth clicked right away, and the four of them were chatting comfortably in no time. A bit later, as the café started filling up, Juwon arrived.
"Whoa... is she an idol...? She's so pretty..."
A-young's mutter made Se-rin glance at the door.
"Huh? Juwon-ah! Here, here!"
Spotting Se-rin, Juwon smiled and approached, her long silver hair swaying. A-young and Chae-yeon froze for a second.
"That's... the person unni mentioned??"
"What have you been up to...?"
Juwon took off her cap and fixed her hair, revealing a face with that subtle decadent charm. It had a sexy, charismatic edge.
"Long time no see."
"Heh, yeah..."
Her soft, melodic voice carried an inexplicable comfort.
"Ye-rim unni, it's been a while too."
"Yeah. Didn't sleep well? You look kinda tired today."
"Ahaha, I'm fine."
Watching Ye-rim and Juwon chat so easily, A-young spoke up first.
"Um... you two already knew each other...?"
"Yep. Me and Juwon are total besties~"
Ye-rim linked arms with Juwon and pulled her into the seat beside her.
"Oh, forgot the intros. This is A-young. My high school junior, debuting as an idol soon."
"Oh... an idol, huh. Yeah, you're definitely cute."
"Ah, n-no... Th-thank you..."
"And this is Chae-yeon. My childhood friend. She's working in music now."
"Ah... hi."
"Hi."
"And this is Juwon! She's doing internet broadcasts right now."
We spent the next thirty minutes chatting and warming up to each other.
"Unni, you said you do internet broadcasts?"
"Oh, yeah."
A-young and I had switched to casual speech by then. Her puppy-dog eyes begging for it—I couldn't say no.
"What's your channel name?"
"Uh... Noel."
"Noel? Hmm... sounds familiar..."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. One of my members loves games, and she mentioned it, I think."
I showed A-young my channel.
"Whoa, only two videos and 120k subscribers...?"
"Unni's more impressive than she lets on."
A-young stared at me with wide-eyed wonder. The attention made me a bit uneasy, so I just smiled it off.
The mood relaxed fully as we talked, and around noon, we left the café.
"Amusement park after so long—I'm pumped!"
A-young's enthusiasm made a question mark pop up over my head.
"...Amusement park?"
"Oh, didn't I tell you?"
"Nope..."
"Sorry... must've forgotten."
I didn't hate amusement parks or anything. Money wasn't an issue anymore. But they were always packed, weekdays or weekends—that was the problem.
...Still, it was a birthday party. I'd tough it out.
"Let's get uniforms first!"
"What."
"Amusement parks mean school uniforms. Duh~"
And just like that, I got dragged to a uniform rental shop.
.
.
.
...So this is what a girls' uniform feels like.
Obviously, the last uniforms I'd worn were guys', so this was a fresh experience. Before, it was pants, shirt, vest, tie. Now: skirt, bloomers, shirt, vest, tie. A bit different. I skipped the vest—it'd probably get hot running around.
"...Pretty cute."
Checking myself in the mirror after changing, I looked seriously appealing. The chest emphasis was a tad much, but nothing I could do about that. Whatever.
"Whoa... Juwon-ah, it suits you perfectly. You could pass for a high schooler right now."
"What? Unni, it looks great on you too."
As we finished changing one by one, a fresh, vibrant vibe enveloped us.
They're all so pretty...
Honestly, we all looked the part enough that no one would question us claiming to be high schoolers.
Ye-rim unni's pushing late twenties and still looks that youthful...
"Unnis! Group photo!"
A-young grabbed her phone, and we all posed in front of the mirror for a mirror selfie.
"Hehe... this is gonna blow up..."
I grabbed A-young's shoulder as she went to post it on Insta.
"Mind blurring my face a bit?"
"Ehh? Why? If it were my face, I'd post a million of these."
"I'm a streamer, y'know..."
"Ah, got it! Just your face, then."
Maybe I was being overly cautious, but better safe. Ye-rim's face was already public, but streamers' dox-hunters were a thing. Some Vtubers had their real identities leaked that way. Not that I was one, strictly speaking.
A-young blacked out my face and uploaded. Se-rin didn't bother hiding hers—covering up on her own birthday party would've looked weirder.
A-young had a ton of followers. Probably from her pretty face even as a trainee.
We paid for the rentals and headed to the amusement park. All five of us turning heads objectively wasn't surprising—people stared as we passed.
"...Been forever since I came here. Oh, did you get my ticket too?"
"Yeah, I grabbed yours ahead. No worries!"
"Cool. I'll send you the money later."
"No need! You didn't even know about this..."
"I'll send it."
"Okay..."
Se-rin nodded meekly at my firm tone. Was it my sharper look today? A-young had been a little intimidated at first too. Gotta tone it down.
I ruffled Se-rin's shoulder to lighten the mood, and we lined up at the entrance. Weekday helped—the line wasn't bad.
"Party of how many?"
"Five!"
After about fifteen minutes, we were in.