First Cosplay (3)
There are times when it happens.
Once in a while, there are days when you wake up from a sweet sleep and sense that today will unfold a little differently from the usual.
“...”
I blinked, staring at the dimly lit ceiling.
This was that day.
A day that promised to be a little different from the usual.
-Tiri ririing... Tiri ririing...
I fumbled around with my hand, picked up the smartphone that had been plugged into the charger, and set it down with a thud.
And I turned off the alarm that was blaring loudly.
The room, which had been filled with the noisy alarm sound just moments ago, suddenly fell silent.
I casually checked the smartphone screen.
[June 12]
[7:58 AM]
At first glance, it didn't seem any different from usual.
But...
“What is this alarm...?”
I was startled as I looked at the stacked app push notifications.
MarshmallowPangPang followed you.
Lemo followed you.
JustMamtjikManNureunAccount followed you.
Bullish Shit left a comment.
Even though I had only posted one article yesterday, an enormous number of people had followed my account.
There was even an alarm that a foreign-looking account had left a comment.
“What's going on...?”
I rubbed my eyes thinking it might be a dream, but the world hadn't changed.
When I pinched my cheek hard,
“Uwa...”
The sharp pain clearly came through.
This was proof that I wasn't still dreaming.
Swallowing hard...
I swallowed the lump in my throat and moved my trembling hand to connect to Parangsae.
Then, the timeline appeared, and the first thing that caught my eye was Aru's post that I had been following.
Originally, Aru always wrote her posts calmly, but yesterday the tone of the posts she uploaded seemed quite high, as if she had been drinking. On top of that, thankfully, it seemed she had even promoted my account.
“Thanks.”
Her help must have been huge in getting people to find my account, which had been buried.
I felt genuine gratitude as I checked the status of my own post.
“What...?”
And I froze in bewilderment.
A mirror selfie with only character tags and game tags attached had exploded in popularity.
Aru, a big company, had helped, but without the algorithm choosing it, such numbers were impossible.
“Whoa...”
I was surprised that even a selfie that hid my face had been selected by the algorithm, but...
My heart was pounding.
The level of interest I had never received before made my heart race.
The dopamine from yesterday's Ebrina cosplay was on another level.
“Insane...”
How could I even explain this pleasure?
By feel, it was ten times more electrifying than posting a conceptual post that got 10,000 views on a large gallery.
The gallery post was anonymous, but this interest was more naked because I had revealed a bit of myself.
“Whew...”
I felt my head heating up and plopped back onto the bed.
Since my routine had always been a light jog around the neighborhood every morning, I had planned to run today too.
But with this electrifying dopamine, running right now seemed difficult.
“Ha...”
I felt warmth on my cheeks as I checked the account status.
[@Lina_cos]
[Following: 2][Followers: 123]
The follower count hadn't exploded, but since I had only posted one article and the account was made last night, it was a meaningful achievement.
“Hehe... hehe...”
I hadn't understood until now that humans are basically gwanjong (obsessive fans).
I had thought excessive interest was just tiring.
But that was my misconception.
Everyone craves attention, and I seemed to have a considerable gwanjong talent.
“...”
I turned off Parangsae and turned on the familiar gallery icon.
It had become my daily routine to check the conceptual posts that had risen overnight and make sure nothing bad had happened.
[Title: Che-ing is declaring professional ㄷㄷ]
[Title: How to date a female cosplayer...]
[Title: As expected, Da-jin-sa-sama! A scathing remark~]
[Title: If you want to eat Juk-dak-soon, recommend it lol]
Today's meaningless posts were also flooding the conceptual gallery as usual.
“Che-ing is going pro.”
These were all useless trash posts except for the info that Che-ing was challenging as a professional cosplayer.
I skimmed through the trash posts roughly.
“Eh...?”
I stopped when I saw a related post that wasn't conceptual.
[Title: Wow, Ebrina cos is so hot lol]
“Huu...”
Contrary to my worries, there were no negative reactions.
Instead, there were overflowing posts that expressed naked desires in the typical anonymous gallery style.
“Sseup...”
Honestly, even I found the chest hard to praise, so if I were me from my male days, I would have immediately joined in the praise.
But now I was in the position of receiving the praise.
So I felt a strange sensation.
It wasn't particularly unpleasant...
It was a feeling that was a little tingly inside.
“Hmm...”
If I had to classify it, it was a good feeling.
I smiled and decided to let it go smoothly.
“Where should I look next...”
I had quickly become addicted to ego searching and even used the image search function on the portal site to dig through the internet.
[No search results.]
Unfortunately, besides the posts on the gallery, there was nothing else to search, so I clicked my tongue in regret.
[New notification.]
Parangsae icon appeared, informing me of unread notifications.
“What...?”
It was difficult to receive notifications all day, so I had set it to not receive simple notifications.
But it came anyway?
I tilted my head and connected to Parangsae.
Then, a sparkling DM window appeared.
If a non-Parangsae friend sent a DM, it would be classified as spam first.
But since it was sparkling, it meant it was a DM from a Parangsae friend.
“Was it Aru?”
Originally, I had learned that kal-dap (quick response) was the most important thing in women's worlds.
I had wanted to lose the connections I had painstakingly made, so I went to reply immediately, but...
“Eh...?”
Contrary to my expectation, the call came not from Aru but from my younger sister Gina.
I was a top-tier gwanjong who had diligently raised sweat before even becoming a cosplayer, even though I had accidentally entered the cosplayer world.
There was no way I hadn't bought the ticket.
With a bold answer, Gina repeated deleting and rewriting the chat as if thinking, then asked.
Gina: Are you coming as a cosplayer for the event?
“Hmm...”
I had entered as a cosplayer, but going to the venue as a cosplayer was a different matter.
Since no one else would see the cosplay at home, I wouldn't be embarrassed, but there would be countless people at the venue.
I: A bit ambiguous
Gina: Decide quickly, to come as a cosplayer you need to buy a cosplayer exclusive ticket
“Ah...”
Thinking about it, cosplayers had separate cosplayer exclusive tickets...
I fell into thought.
The venue sold tickets with a 30% discount until one week before the event.
With the event not far away, I needed to decide quickly to buy the discounted ticket.
“Hmm...”
I frowned and thought deeply.
“Sigh, I'll buy it.”
I closed my eyes tightly, refunded the general ticket, and bought the cosplayer exclusive ticket.
“Ha...”
Originally, I had planned to only post one photo and cosplay just for personal satisfaction.
But I had already realized the dopamine given by people's interest.
I also developed a desire for more people to know the Ebrina I loved, liked, and adored.
Then...