Chapter 33: This Is My Day Job
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 33: This Is My Day Job
Ugh. What's wrong with this thing?
[Ah, shit...]
Damn this buggy game!
I had just been trying to give Oppa, who wasn't familiar with VR, a general idea of what it was like. But now, faced with an unexpected error, I broke out in a cold sweat.
[Uh... need some help?]
Oppa, oblivious to my inner turmoil, started to walk toward me.
[No! I told you not to look over here!]
My real, unfiltered voice burst out in my panic.
But what could I do? I was that flustered.
Even if this wasn't my real body, showing my avatar's underwear was incredibly humiliating.
[Ah. Sorry.]
[Oppa. Could you just... not look this way at all until I say it's okay?]
[Yeah. Got it.]
Ugh... seriously...
Honestly, I wasn't expecting him to like this kind of thing, but I had at least hoped to get a reaction like, "This is cool. It's fun."
I’d hoped that if he ever found out this is what I do for a living, he wouldn't look at me with such a cold gaze...
But what the hell is this...
The result was so bad, I felt it would have been better not to show him at all.
No matter how I moved my body, the skirt just wouldn't come down.
The modeling was unnecessarily detailed, right down to the pattern on the underwear.
In my haste, I considered switching avatars and bringing out Luka, but that didn't feel right.
It'd be too easy to get caught.
Her album hadn't been officially released yet, so there were no ads, but once she officially debuted, she would become much more famous.
Since we were doing a VR group project, it would only be a matter of time before I was found out.
For now, it was best to hide it as much as I could.
I wanted to tell him myself when I was sure he truly trusted me, rather than recklessly revealing my identity and causing an accident.
[Oppa.]
[Yeah?]
[There's some kind of error and it's not working right. I'll show you the rest later when we're with the other group members.]
[Ah. But it looks fine the way it is...]
[...I'm not fine with it.]
Even if it was just an avatar, I had no desire to run around with my panties showing in front of the guy I liked.
I know it's just a bunch of data, but why is it so embarrassing?
[I'm going to log out now! See you tomorrow!]
[Okay. See you at school.]
I hurriedly pressed the exit button, then ripped off the headset and threw it onto my bed.
"Argh! What the hell!"
So annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying.
I wonder how ridiculous I looked from his perspective.
The thought of myself standing there, showing off my underwear with a big friendly smile on my face, made me kick my blankets in frustration.
"Kim Doah. You idiot..."
I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to look Oppa in the face tomorrow.
"Hmm~ Hmmm~ Hmmm-mm-mm~"
I couldn't help but hum.
Turning off the shower, I dried my hair with a towel and looked in the mirror.
You idiot. Why are you grinning like that?
The reflection staring back at me might as well have had "I'm in a great mood today" written across its forehead, no joke.
But what could I do?
I really was in a great mood.
It was only for a brief moment, but I had experienced the VR date with Luka that I had longed for.
Doah doing a kawaii move just for me...
Ha. Fuck. I should have turned on my camera.
I hated myself for not recording it.
After getting dressed and heading outside, I could feel that winter was truly just around the corner.
The wind was less cool and more cold, and I pulled my coat tighter.
I should hurry to school and wait for Doah.
Eager to see her, I quickened my pace toward the lecture hall.
"Taemin oppa!"
Ah. The line was perfect.
I had been wishing for Doah to call my name so brightly, but the voice, unfortunately, belonged to Minji, another member of our group.
"Hey."
"Oppa. You're here super early."
"...You got here even earlier."
"I had a class right before this."
"A 9 a.m. class?"
"Yeah. One of my electives."
Wow... that's rough...
I was the type of person who shuddered at the mere thought of a 9 a.m. class.
Even back in my teens, I had always cursed first period.
"Where are Junseok and Doah?"
"I don't think they're here yet."
To be honest, I wasn't thrilled about being alone with a girl like this, but as the group project progressed, I'd gotten used to talking with Minji.
She was a bit too much of a social butterfly for my taste, but I didn't think she was a bad person.
"So, is it going well with Doah?"
Her face was full of mischief.
Why are people so eager to tease others?
"I told you, it's not like that."
"Oppa. Weren't you smiling just now because you were thinking about seeing Doah today?"
It seemed Minji had seen me grinning to myself when I was sitting alone.
"...No."
"Oppa. If you can't control your expression like that while hanging around Doah, rumors are going to spread all over the department."
I was about to deny it again, but the word "rumors" made me flinch.
"Are there any rumors going around?"
I couldn't help but react sensitively.
The rumors that surrounded me had always tormented me and the people around me.
My most meaningless actions were always put on trial.
To people I didn't even know, I was just a juicy piece of gossip, and sometimes I'd get hate for doing absolutely nothing.
Back in my first year, I got in trouble for simply giving a female classmate a buy-one-get-one-free item.
How the hell did that turn into a rumor that Han Taemin had his eye on Baek Jihyun?
It was a crazy world.
Did I really have to be careful about who I gave a free drink to?
It got to the point where I seriously considered taking a leave of absence when she took that as a green light and confessed to me.
Because a rumor went around that I was a piece of trash who led girls on but wouldn't accept their confessions.
"No? I haven't heard anything."
I let out a sigh of relief at Minji's answer and ran a hand through my hair.
Right. Let's keep it that way. Please.
This quiet life was something I had managed to maintain only after returning from the military.
I didn't want to be the subject of gossip, but I knew I'd be really upset if Doah got caught up in strange rumors because of me.
"...Hello."
Doah entered through the front door and walked toward us.
"Doah, hi~"
"Hi!"
"Hey, Doah."
When I greeted her with a small smile, Doah gave a slight nod and sat down next to Minji.
"Doah. Did you try the VR headset?"
"Ah. Yeah."
"How was it? Was it cool?"
I pretended to look elsewhere, secretly listening in on Minji and Doah's conversation.
"Um... it wasn't that different from the reference videos we watched, but actually wearing it and doing it yourself feels really realistic."
"So did you walk around the maps and stuff?"
"Just a few."
"Awesome. Did you talk to anyone? Other people?"
"Some people tried to talk to me, but I just ignored them."
"Why?"
Knowing the full story, I gave a bitter smile.
Every game has its share of toxic players.
And VRWorld was no exception.
Anyone with even a basic understanding of the game knew that there were guys who would try to hit on any female user they saw wandering around alone.
"They were just being annoying."
"Wow. Doah, you're so aloof."
An aloof Doah.
For some reason, the phrase had a nice ring to it.
"Oh. What the, you guys are all here. What's up?"
Even though there were still three minutes until class started, Junseok looked surprised to see all of us already there.
He took out his laptop and prepared the materials we needed to get confirmed by the professor today.
"Doah."
Doah turned at Junseok's call.
"Yes?"
"The files you sent, they're this one and this one, right?"
"Yep, that's right."
"What's that?"
I didn't remember seeing any video files.
"What, you guys haven't seen this?"
When Minji also shook her head, Junseok immediately clicked on the file.
"Doah sent a short little teaser video she filmed."
It was a clip of about fifteen seconds.
In the video was the avatar of Doah I had met yesterday.
It must have been a beach map, because a blue ocean stretched out behind her.
The waves lapped gently.
Doah's avatar struck a victory pose with a smile, then dashed straight toward the sea.
"I don't know if it's easier than I thought or if Doah's just really good at it, but isn't this amazing?"
I could only manage a wry smile at Junseok's impressed expression.
Dude... she's a pro. A professional.
That's how she makes a living.
"I know, right? With this, shouldn't we be able to whip up the ad in no time?" Minji, who was also looking at the laptop, said in a voice full of hope, but Doah shook her head.
"This was easy to film because it was just setting up a camera in a pre-existing map. If we want to do it properly, we have to choose or create a new avatar and find the right world, so it'll take a long time."
"I see."
"It also gets complicated if you want to move the camera angle while filming or use other techniques. You'll have to learn all of that, too."
Her advice was genuinely helpful for producing the ad, but...
"But Doah."
Junseok pushed his glasses up with his fingertip.
"Yes?"
"How do you know so much about it?"
The color drained from Doah's face.