National Pride Tube
In the center of a pitch-dark room, a faint light leaked out. Yunseul lay on the bed, scrolling through the main news pages of various media outlets on her phone. Her fingers moved across the screen without any strength. She stared at the rapidly passing images with utterly blank eyes.
France and the UK had intervened in an African civil war, with tens of thousands already dead. A Korean politician was implicated in a 5-trillion-won stock manipulation scandal. Regional U.S. banks were collapsing in a chain reaction, shaking the global economy. Every single one was a major headline, without exception.
She didn't even need to look abroad. Korea had plenty of incidents on its own. Buried on the very last page when sorted by popularity was a story about an intruder breaking into an apartment in Dogok-dong. No one died, no fire broke out, no casualties, and the perp was caught quickly. Good news doesn't make headlines. Bad news does.
Ten comments cursing the mentally ill perp, two wishing the victim well. That was reality.
Unable to put a name to the bile rising in her throat, Yunseul pulled the blanket over her head again.
"Already bedtime? It's only 9."
Nami entered the room and flicked on the light switch. Yunseul peeked her head out from under the blanket in the suddenly bright space, rubbing her eyes.
"Naaameeeeyyy!"
Yunseul bolted upright and threw herself at Nami, who was still in her outing clothes. Nothing beat this for lifting a crappy mood.
"You're the only one for me, Nami. Whiiiine. What'd you get from the convenience store? Something tasty?"
"Beef jerky, dried squid, grape juice... Sis, can you back off a little?"
Nami pushed away Yunseul's face, which was shoving right into hers.
"Whoa, all the snacks have 'po' in the name? On purpose?"
"Nah... Turns out they won't sell non-alcoholic beer to minors either."
Nami recounted how the clerk had blocked her beer purchase.
"Who knew it'd violate the Children's Dietary Safety Management Act."
"Come on, Nami's still too young. Save the booze for when you're all grown up like sis!"
"Sis is a minor too. Here."
While Nami changed, Yunseul tore open the packaging and neatly arranged everything on the floor.
Nami paused mid-change and beckoned Yunseul.
"Turn around, sis."
"Aww, embarrassed? We're both girls."
"For someone saying that, you're staring way too hard. It's rude to the owner of this room... well, not the homeowner, but still."
"Fine! Sis'll turn around."
The two girls in pajamas sat facing each other with snacks in the middle. Yunseul peeled off a piece of dried squid and handed it to Nami.
"No, not with hands. Use your mouth."
"So demanding."
One bite of squid, one of jerky. Yunseul burst out laughing at Nami chomping away.
"Your front teeth are missing? Too cute!"
Two lower incisors still growing in, plus one right above—Nami's mouth looked a bit empty.
Nami scowled and stuffed squid into Yunseul's mouth.
"Nom. It's all 'cause you're so cute, hehe. Not weird at all!"
Yunseul was just amazed by Nami. She knew her whole backstory, including the insane feats she'd pulled off. Record-breaking performances at the LoL tourney, core player in World of Arceria. Story mode? Topped the world, outshining pros. Those sword techniques and high-level magic still danced in her mind. And lately, solving multiple math proofs, shaking up Korea.
Nami, savoring her snacks quietly, spoke up once her mouth was clear.
"Tease a kid and you're done for. And people don't laugh like that."
"Huh?"
"Your mouth's just grinning right now."
Nami scrunched her face to demonstrate.
"No, I really thought it was funny."
Yunseul smiled with her eyes belatedly.
"See, even now. Real smiles have the mouth and eyes moving at different times. Yours moved together."
"..."
Speechless at Nami's sharp observation, Yunseul watched her suddenly jump up and head to the kitchen.
What she hauled in was unexpectedly: a large glass jar, sugar, a container of unidentified granules, and paper cups.
"Whatcha doing?"
"Wait a sec."
Nami shrugged off Yunseul's question. She poured grape juice into the jar. Then tilted the sugar bag, dumping in generously. Yunseul almost warned her it was too much.
'Does Nami like it super sweet?'
She dissolved the granules in a paper cup of hot water.
"What's that?"
"Dried yeast."
"Yeast?"
The random word left Yunseul blank. A smirk crept onto Nami's lips. She poured the now-brown hot water into the jar and sealed the lid tight.
"It'll taste cheap if we rush it."
Casting: Ethanol Fermentation
"But it'll set the mood."
The juice inside absorbed mana briefly and sloshed, then stilled.
"Hey, Nami... Won't that much sugar make it too sweet?"
"Nah. More sugar just means higher proof. Actually better."
"Eh?"
Opening the lid released a sharp grape aroma. Nami poured some into a clean paper cup for Yunseul.
Still skeptical, Yunseul took a sip.
"...!"
"How is it?"
"Cough! You maniac... This is straight-up wine!"
The fizzy burn down her throat was unmistakable booze, even without prior experience.
"I was fine with non-alcoholic beer. Society's the problem."
"No, stop!"
Yunseul barely stopped Nami from chugging straight from the jar. Or rather, she couldn't.
"One sip makes you an accomplice too, sis. Try stopping me and Professor Cheon hears about it."
Nami's eyes gleamed mischievously. Yunseul's face fell. Nami had done the whole process, but age was the real boss. Maybe this was Kariri's karma catching up, Yunseul thought.
* * *
"That's it, keep going. Sluuuurp. See? You're drinking fine."
"Glug. Kinda okay actually? Doesn't feel like it's hitting hard."
Unable to refuse Nami's insistence, Yunseul kept swigging. The ambiguous taste—somewhere between juice and wine—eased her mental block.
"Booze doesn't hit instantly. Oh, and Yunseul sis, wine tip for later: Even in a paper cup, sip from one side only. Otherwise, fishy smells from seafood stick to the glass. Messes up the aroma. Sip one side, sniff the other for the full experience."
Nami held up her cup dramatically, eyes glazing slightly in the lamplight.
"Nami...?"
"Honestly, Korea's too uptight about alcohol. Back home, kids ordered at bars by seven. I get the regulations, but it bums me out."
"Nami, enough! You gotta stop now!"
Forget Professor Cheon—Yunseul had to protect Nami's health.
Nami's gaze shifted to Yunseul's phone.
"Sis, check this fun stuff."
With her tiny fingers, Nami opened the VTube app. She mistyped several times, deleting and retrying, but finally played her video.
Nami giggled through the videos. "Fun, right? I never said any of that."
The videos had zero content matching the clickbait titles. Yet comments praised Nami and Korea's greatness.
"Not wrong though. You are amazing..." Yunseul murmured.
"Why are these so popular?"
"Hard lives... People want comfort and validation."
"Yeah. QBS reported first but only 1M views. This one's at 1.5M already, a day late."
Nami stretched and flopped onto the blanket.
"People see what they wanna see. Don't you think, sis?"
"Maybe...?"
"Yeah. Wasting energy on nonsense. No one cares about what matters. Sis, lie here?"
Nami sometimes exuded this mystical aura, and Yunseul always followed.
As Yunseul lay beside her, Nami closed her eyes and spoke.
"You asked earlier. How I gamed before seven."
"Yeah."
Shifting, their hands brushed. A child's warmth was a tad higher—Nami's hand felt so cozy.
Nami laced fingers with her and continued calmly.
"I was trapped in a capsule from birth. One capsule per newborn, next to an older girl like you, maybe a bit."
"Wh-what...?"
"Literal."
Nami turned to face her, breaths mingling close.
"Like you, sis, I wished people would notice me. That I existed. That I was alive."
In a world where dying was easier than living, Nami survived. And as she told her tale to Yunseul, the night stretched long.