Chapter 34
“Really? That’s incredible. But what I really like is the story behind this character. Especially how she was bullied since she was little, then grew up and overcame it...”
Yu So-ra, completely absorbed, went on and on about the backstory of the character she was cosplaying, Yuri-chan.
By the time I was starting to feel dazed,
ding-a-ling-!
mercifully, her phone alarm went off.
“Ah, my break’s over, so I should get back out there.”
I was saved...
If I had listened for just fifteen more minutes, I might have ended up with blood blisters in my ears.
“If you have time later, let’s talk more.”
“R-right...”
I’d have to say I was busy today.
“I’ll go first.”
Yu So-ra waved and melted back into the crowd.
“Holy crap.”
“That’s Yu So-ra!”
“Wow, this is my first time seeing her in person.”
“I’m following her on social media.”
“How can her features be that delicate and perfectly put together?”
“She’s practically a celebrity, right?”
“She’s way better-looking than most B-list celebrities...”
Click, click, click!
The moment she appeared, everyone’s attention snapped to her at once.
Thanks to that, I finally managed to pry myself away from Yu So-ra.
As I stepped into the festival grounds, I checked the time.
It was only four in the afternoon.
The event was supposed to run until seven tonight, so there was still quite a while to go.
Honestly, at this point it doesn’t seem like there’s much left for us to check.
The promotional effect was already obvious, and the cosplayers we’d invited had all arrived and were doing their part, so there wasn’t much left to worry about.
Maybe I should just enjoy myself for a bit too?
As I wandered slowly from booth to booth, one bastard caught my eye.
“Hey, Assistant Manager Park, you idiot!”
“...Huh?”
He’d been so absorbed in checking out the merch that he got caught by me.
“What are you doing not answering your phone?”
“When did you call?”
Only then did he check his phone.
“You called three times? Did something happen?”
“I was trying to give you a chance to shoot the shit with Yu So-ra.”
“?!”
His eyes went wide.
“R-really? Where is she? Can I go now?”
“Too late. She spent ages talking in the lounge and just went back out to the venue, you idiot.”
“Ah...”
Assistant Manager Park wore the hollow expression of a man who’d lost his country.
“It’s okay... I already bought a ton of Akane-chan figures and merch...”
His voice was full of regret, but looking at how his wallet had been fat in the morning and was now looking thin, he probably didn’t need to be quite so heartbroken.
“Still, you’re really enjoying yourself today, huh?”
Only then did I notice the bag slung over his shoulder.
It had been completely empty this morning, but now it was packed out and heavy as sin.
He’d clearly gone on a very serious shopping spree.
“Hehe...”
He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
“I still haven’t even eaten lunch. I’m telling you, I’m wandering from booth to booth in a daze.”
“You’re beyond a hardcore otaku at this point.”
With that level of sincerity, I had a feeling he might actually succeed if he ever took on a side hustle in this line of work.
“By the way, where’s Manager Han?”
“He went to rest for a bit. Seems like this place is unfamiliar enough that it wore him out. He said he’d close his eyes for about thirty minutes and then come back.”
“Well, yeah. If you’re not used to this kind of thing, it can be rough.”
“So. You’re still going to keep looking around, right?”
“It’s getting close to the end. I should keep moving and do my best until the last minute.”
“Right...”
“Nothing else I need to do, yeah?”
“Yeah. Go on and finish what you were looking at.”
“Okay. See you later.”
Assistant Manager Park waved and disappeared into yet another booth.
“Do you happen to have a standing Akane-chan photo card? One that doesn’t cover the underarms. If not, then a doujinshi would be fine...”
Leaving him behind, I went back to exploring the festival on my own.
As I made my way around, one anime booth on the side drew my attention because of the long line in front of it.
That’s unusual.
Most of the other booths were dominated by male customers, but here there was a whole crowd of women lined up.
Curious, I drifted closer.
“...Choi Kang-san?”
A familiar face was sitting inside the booth.
“Kang-san?”
“Oh, hyung-nim?!”
Choi Kang-san jumped in surprise, then shot to his feet with a delighted grin.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m doing voice work for that anime, Moonlit Night.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. I came for a surprise autograph session. What about you, hyung-nim? Here to look around?”
“No, I’m here because I’m handling the advertising.”
“Oh, wow!”
“If I’d known you were coming, I should’ve used that for the ad.”
“Ahahaha. Then there would’ve been way too many people.”
Come to think of it, if that had happened, it would’ve turned from an anime festival into a Choi Kang-san fan meeting.
“So that’s why you came as a surprise visit.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“I’ll be wrapping up soon, so could you wait just a little?”
“Sure.”
***
After finishing the signing, Choi Kang-san came into the staff lounge.
“Hyung-nim, I’m back.”
“Oh, good work. Is it completely over?”
“Yeah. It was a surprise signing event to begin with, so it was only scheduled for two hours. What about you?”
“We’re here until seven, but it’s not like we’re swamped, so we just have to be on-site.”
“Ah, then let’s just sit around and shoot the breeze.”
“Sounds good.”
He came over next to me, grinning.
“It’s nice seeing you somewhere like this.”
“Yeah.”
It didn’t feel burdensome to keep running into him. If anything, it was welcome.
“Oh, right. Hyung-nim. There’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“I’m asking just in case, okay? If it’s rude, you don’t have to answer.”
“...?”
It was the first time I’d ever heard Choi Kang-san sound so serious.
“Hyung-nim, do you maybe have any bad feelings toward Yu-jin?”
“...Huh?”
“Or did Yu-jin make some kind of mistake?”
“Nothing like that at all.”
“Really?”
“Of course. I haven’t even seen her since the company dinner we had together last time.”
He tilted his head, looking surprised.
“But she said she contacted you and you never replied.”
“Me?”
That couldn’t be right.
“She never contacted me. I don’t even have her number.”
“Not on DM?”
“...Huh?”
Since I’d unlocked the account again last time, I hadn’t really been paying attention, so I’d even turned off notifications.
“I’ll check right now.”
- Unread messages: 1.
“...Ah. So she sent it here.”
Apparently she’d contacted me by DM because she didn’t have my number.
Then again, I’d heard that younger people these days sometimes found this easier than KakaoTalk.
And she sent it ten days ago, too.
Without meaning to, I’d been giving her the silent treatment.
“You only just found out she’d messaged you, didn’t you?”
“Uh...”
“That’s what I thought. I figured you weren’t the type to ignore someone even if you were upset.”
“No, there wasn’t anything to be upset about in the first place.”
“So there’s no problem, then?”
“None at all.”
Choi Kang-san looked relieved and shrugged his shoulders, but I could still feel a little bad.
He’d asked because he’d been worried about me ignoring her message.
“Should I apologize separately...?”
“Nah, no need. I think it’d be enough to just eat together and clear up any misunderstanding.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah.”
Choi Kang-san snapped his fingers, as if something had just occurred to him.
“Actually, I was already planning to have dinner with Yu-jin tonight, so why don’t you come too?”
“Just the three of us, right?”
“Huh?”
“If it’s some huge company dinner with dozens of people like last time, that’d be a little much.”
“Hahaha, no, no. Yu-jin owes me a favor, so she’s treating me back. I was going to let her buy something expensive anyway... and I already told her I wanted to buy you a meal too, so I’ll ask if it’s okay for you to join.”
“If it’s expensive, then you can just leave me out—”
“Oh, hello? Yu-jin? It’s me...”
The man had apparently hit maximum action speed, because he called before I even finished speaking.
“Okay. Then I’ll come along later.”
Choi Kang-san ended the call with ruthless efficiency.
“They said they can increase the headcount for the table reservation. Let’s go together.”
“...Sure.”
Before I knew it, I had a dinner appointment.
***
A private restaurant near Gyeongbokgung.
Well, look at that. I actually ended up coming to a place like this in my life.
As far as I knew, it was the kind of place you couldn’t get into even if you had money, because reservations were booked solid a year in advance.
Celebrity power really is something else.
When I was shown into the room, Choi Kang-san and Lim Yu-jin were sitting side by side.
“Hyung-nim, you’re here?”
Choi Kang-san had seen me a few times now, so when he looked at me in private, he felt almost friendly, like a friend.
He still had that celebrity aura, of course, but the distance between us felt like it had disappeared.
“Hello, oppa.”
Lim Yu-jin, on the other hand, was still a little awkward.
As she gave a small bow, I noticed the leather bag I’d made sitting on the table beside her.
“You brought it with you today?”
“Of course. I really carry it every single day.”
“Haha, I’m glad.”
I’d worked hard on it, but I hadn’t expected her to like it that much.
I suppose that was the satisfaction of craftsmanship.
“I heard the news. You had your DM notifications turned off?”
“Ah, yes. Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. I was worried for nothing, hehe.”
Lim Yu-jin laughed, visibly relieved.
“Oh, and please use casual speech with me too, oppa.”
“Ah, should I?”
“Yes. I’m younger than Kang-san oppa, after all.”
“Right. Then that makes sense.”
Choi Kang-san turned toward me and asked,
“By the way, hyung-nim. You’re not acting anymore?”
“...All of a sudden?”
“We were just talking about an old drama between us. Then I remembered that scene you acted in. You could keep acting, couldn’t you?”
His eyes were bright with sincerity.
“You really have talent, you know? If you got a little training, I think you’d rise fast.”
“I don’t know.”
Acting was fun, sure, but taking it seriously felt like too much of a burden.
“I already have my main job, and honestly, I’m also scared of becoming too well-known.”
“Right... with your personality, it’d probably just stress you out more.”
Choi Kang-san nodded as though he understood.
“If you ever get interested later, let me know. I’ll push for you as hard as I can.”
“Yeah, that alone means a lot.”
I didn’t brush him off too firmly.
I wasn’t interested right now, but you never know. Maybe one day I’d want to do it again.
“Hyung-nim, let’s have a drink first. The sake here is seriously good. Flowers bloom in your mouth, I’m telling you.”
“Sure, sounds good. Shall we toast?”
***
I was comfortably full, and the alcohol had started to buzz pleasantly in my head.
“Feels good.”
“It’s delicious.”
“Yu-jin, thanks for the meal.”
After a few days of awkward company dinners, eating and drinking somewhere this comfortable felt like a proper reset.
We’d finished eating and come out in front of the restaurant, but instead of leaving, all three of us were hovering awkwardly in place.
“It’d be a shame to call it a night like this.”
“Don’t you want to go for second round drinks?”
“I’m tempted too, honestly...”
All three of us were on the same page.
“Just one more drink.”
“Exactly. Something like beer with dried snacks.”
“But isn’t there nowhere we can really go?”
Unfortunately, two of them were celebrities.
Pretty well-known actors at that.
“Anywhere we go, someone’s going to recognize us.”
“Yeah...”
The restaurant we’d just been at was private, so people hadn’t crowded around it, but the problem was that we hadn’t booked anywhere for a second round.
If we just wandered into some random bar, by tomorrow morning it would be on the front page of entertainment news... no, within an hour the photos would absolutely be all over the internet.
“Hyung-nim, why don’t we just go to our place instead?”
“No way. Oppa’s place is in Songpa. That’s way too far.”
“Then what about your place? Wasn’t it in Yeouido?”
“You don’t know I live with my mom and dad?”
“Right.”
Both of them turned their eyes on me at once.
“How about your place, oppa?”
“Right. I heard your place is in Jongno, hyung-nim.”
“It is close. But my place is only eight pyeong.”
“...That’d be rough.”
“But I do have a workshop.”
“Oh?”
Choi Kang-san’s eyes widened.
“You made a studio?”
“I got one after listening to you that time.”
“Amazing. Where is it?”
“Changsin-dong. About fifteen minutes by car from here.”
“Perfect! We should go for a housewarming too!”
“I like that too!”
“Just in case someone sees us, let’s take a taxi, get dropped off nearby, and walk the rest.”
“There’s a hill, though, so it’ll be tough.”
“What good are these two sturdy legs of ours if not for this? Let’s go!”
***
“I can’t believe I’m actually buying this...”
I was stunned.
At first, I thought he was joking.
But Choi Kang-san paid without a shred of hesitation and then actually lugged the thing all the way to the workshop, grunting the whole time.
“Hyung-nim, this is my first time visiting your studio. How could I come empty-handed?”
“That still doesn’t explain why anybody buys a draft beer machine at a convenience store...”
It wasn’t even for home use. It was the kind used in businesses.
List price: 3,800,000 won.
That lunatic had coolly paid in full and brought it here.
“He’s insane...”
“Hahaha! Thank you for the compliment.”
“That was an insult.”
“Then it’s praise.”
“...”
I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even speak.
I’d only stopped by the convenience store to buy dried snacks, since there was already plenty of beer in the workshop fridge.
I want draft beer, hyung-nim.
There isn’t any draft beer here. Just drink canned beer.
But I want draft beer.
Then should I order delivery or something?
No. We don’t need to go that far. Let’s just take it to go.
...There’s nowhere nearby that sells draft beer.
There will be now.
He kept muttering about draft beer, draft beer, and the next thing I knew he’d paid for the machine while I’d been looking the other way for a second.
“I didn’t even know convenience stores sold things like this.”
“I only found out today too.”
Choi Kang-san set the machine down with a proud flourish.
“Ah, but I forgot to buy the draft beer keg.”
“...”
“I’ll buy one separately next time you want to officially break in the studio.”
He opened the fridge with complete shamelessness and took out canned beer instead.
“If I were his real older brother, I think I might’ve exploded and died.”
“Ugh, going around with Kang-san oppa is such a headache.”
Lim Yu-jin shook her head in exasperation and followed him into the workshop.
“Seo-jun oppa. Where should I put this?”
“You’re crazy too.”
This woman was no less insane.
“Who buys 600,000 won worth of ice cream?”
She’d cleared out all the Haagen-Dazs, Natu... well, all the premium imported ice cream from the convenience store freezer.
“It’s a housewarming gift. Take it out whenever you have guests later.”
“...”
“I’ll just put it in the freezer for now. You can organize it later, oppa.”
I was losing my mind.
If we had two housewarmings, I was going to end up furnishing the entire household.
“Let’s just drink the beer...”
After a lot of back and forth, we finally settled onto the sofa and started sipping canned beer.
Honestly, the situation was ridiculous.
But when I thought of it as one more memory, it didn’t feel bad at all.
“Oppa, can I have one more beer?”
“Of course. Drink as much as you want. You can even sneak some home when you leave.”
“Ahahaha, I’ll sneak one out later.”
Lim Yu-jin seemed to be taking a can from the fridge, but on her way back she casually leaned toward the desk beside her.
“You made my bag here, right?”
“No, that one was made somewhere else. But everything I make from now on will be made here.”
“Ah.”
Of course, I didn’t actually have any plans for the time being.
“Seo-jun oppa.”
Lim Yu-jin sat down across from me and asked,
“I’m asking just in case.”
She spoke carefully.
“Could you make me another bag exactly like this one?”
“Why? Is there a problem with it?”
“No. The opposite, really. It’s so good that it’s a problem.”
“...?”
Lim Yu-jin came closer and said seriously,
“Do you know Song Ji-na? She’s the most popular one in Pine Star.”
“A girl group member? I think I’ve heard the group name before.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s right. She’s the center. Tall, slender, taller than me.”
“I think I know who you mean.”
“Anyway, we’re really close. But she actually looked at my bag and got super jealous.”
“...Really?”
“Yes. So she asked me to beg you if you could possibly make one for her too.”
As if to make sure I didn’t misunderstand, she added,
“Of course, she’s not asking for it free. She knows how difficult and expensive handmade work is, so she said she’d pay whatever price you name.”
I was genuinely surprised.
So that’s how commissions come in.
Craft work usually spreads by word of mouth, little by little.
I hadn’t expected someone to come along this quickly wanting to commission a piece.
My first proper commission...
This felt different from when Yu So-ra had made her offer.
She’d fallen for the clothes I made for the figure I’d produced and asked me because of that.
This is different. She’s asking again because she liked the bag I made.
Wanting the exact same design was proof that she truly liked my bag.
That was flattering. Something to be grateful for.
But my answer was,
“I don’t think I can do that.”
A refusal.
“I made that one as a way of thanking you, so if I made identical ones afterward, it’d lose its meaning.”
“Whoa, amazing...”
Lim Yu-jin clasped her hands together as if moved.
“I’m getting emotional right now. Oppa, you could totally be a writer.”
“Of course, this is the polished version.”
I added with a smile,
“I’m planning to take a break for a while.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. Handmade work takes a lot more out of you than you’d think.”
I pointed to the corner of the workshop.
“See those leather scraps over there?”
“Oh, yeah. There are so many.”
“Those are the things I discarded while making yours and Kang-san’s.”
“Wow, really?”
“Yeah. The material cost is one thing, but throwing away what I’d made after finishing it was more stressful than I expected.”
“Ah, I can see that.”
At work, even if a project failed, your paycheck still came through.
But with this handmade stuff, if it failed because of your own sense of craftsmanship, it was a complete loss, plain and simple.
The finished product might shine, but the stress during the process was no joke, so I’d decided to set it aside for now.
“I understand what you mean. I’ll explain it to my friend.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
You’re supposed to row when the tide comes in, sure.
But this was something I was doing for myself, and I didn’t want to keep paying for it with extreme stress.
Sometimes even the boatman had to set down the oars and let himself drift with the waves.
“Should we toast?”
“Sounds good!”
---