Research Trip to the Zoo
Senior had decided on their next destination. It wasn’t exactly surprising, but Jinwoo drew pictures. He wasn’t at the level of a professional illustrator working full-time at a company, but he took commissions and freelance jobs while steadily practicing his art in his spare time. Thanks to his part-time work as well, he earned a decent amount of money and managed to save up quite a bit. Lately, the number of requests he received had increased noticeably.
The latest illustration he’d completed was of an animal-eared character from a popular game. Since it was a game Jinwoo quite enjoyed himself, working on it had been genuinely fun. And the reason he was suddenly getting so many offers had everything to do with Eunbyul.
It was the fan art Jinwoo had drawn to celebrate the completion of The Princess’s Temptation. Apparently the piece had become quite well-known without him even realizing it. The illustration industry was a very small world to begin with. For clients who had nothing but uploaded artwork to judge an artist by, it was common for new work to flow in after they saw a particular illustration. Thanks to that, Jinwoo had been enjoying an unexpected boom lately. Because he prioritized quality, he only accepted work by reservation, yet his schedule was already completely booked.
‘I guess this is also thanks to Senior, in a way?’
The Princess’s Temptation wasn’t just high in technical quality; it was a piece where he’d poured an incredible amount of care into every tiny detail. Because he’d drawn it with genuine affection, he’d paid close attention to the background and every single prop. And it seemed other people had picked up on that nuance perfectly. Otaku recognize otaku, as they say. As a result, he was receiving far better reviews than his actual skill level warranted.
As he typed, Jinwoo couldn’t help the corners of his mouth from lifting into a smile. After all, he had already met the author of The Princess’s Temptation—Silverstar, also known as his senior, Kim Eunbyul—several times. While others struggled to attend even one fan signing, he had eaten meals with her and even played games together. And that wasn’t all. He had indirectly helped with research and brainstorming ideas for her novel, and he had even watched her write in real time right in front of him. In a way, Jinwoo was the very definition of a successful fanboy.
He didn’t usually think about it that deeply, but every time he realized how different he was from other readers, his shoulders would puff up with pride without him meaning them to.
‘Still, I shouldn’t get too excited.’
It would be a lie to say he didn’t want to brag about it to others. But he wanted to keep this between the two of them as much as possible. It would be a big problem if details about Eunbyul’s next work leaked without her knowing. Still, feeling happy about it on the inside should be fine. With that thought, Jinwoo finished the chat.
“Huuu~ Another one done for the day.”
Drawing wasn’t easy work, but it was incredibly rewarding. Maybe it felt even more so because it was something he genuinely loved.
‘I’d like to draw the cover for one of Senior’s books someday.’
Jinwoo had never done cover work before. A few authors had personally asked him, but he had turned them all down. A cover was the face of a novel. Depending on the work, it could be important enough to influence its popularity. He didn’t think his skills were good enough for that yet, and it felt like a heavy burden. Still, he had a personal goal: if his skills improved, he wanted to draw the cover for Silverstar himself.
‘Then I need to keep practicing hard.’
Maybe it was because he had met the author he admired in person. Lately, no matter what he did, motivation kept bubbling up inside him.
-Kakao!
While he had been practicing for a while, a KakaoTalk notification suddenly rang out. When he checked, it was from Eunbyul. Without realizing it, a bright smile like morning sunlight spread across Jinwoo’s face.
The two of them had grown close enough to naturally exchange jokes like this. The cat emoji somehow looked especially cute.
‘Senior must really like cats. I should buy this one too.’
They weren’t dating yet, so matching couple emoticons felt a little strange. Still, it was a simple wish to at least use the same ones. By the way, why was her tone suddenly like this? Had she gotten into martial arts novels or something?
‘The zoo?’
It was sudden, so he was a little taken aback, but it made sense. The new work Eunbyul was writing was set in a fantasy academy, and he vaguely remembered her mentioning that beastpeople characters would appear frequently.
‘Is this research for that?’
Jinwoo didn’t dislike animals. In fact, he rather liked them. Especially the beastpeople that appeared in games—he thought they were the best. Perky ears on top of a head and a gently swaying tail were the ultimate moe points, in his opinion. Oh, of course he liked real animals too.
Even though he lived close by, Jinwoo had never actually been there. He had never had a girlfriend before, and it wasn’t exactly a place a guy would go to alone.
After chatting casually for a while longer, they said their goodbyes and ended the conversation. Of course, Jinwoo’s heart was already fluttering with anticipation for the trip to the zoo. More precisely, because he would be meeting Eunbyul there.
“The zoo, huh.”
The last time he met Eunbyul it had been at school, then a PC bang, and now the zoo. Unlike the very first time when he had thought of it as nothing more than an event, this time it genuinely felt like a real date.
“Ahem! Ahem!”
Lost in thought, Jinwoo cleared his throat even though no one was around. They hadn’t even confessed to each other yet, and he was already calling it a date. He realized he had gotten a little cocky lately.
‘This is strictly research. Research.’
Muttering an excuse that wasn’t clear who it was for, Jinwoo nodded to himself. Even so, he couldn’t stop the smile that kept leaking out.
......And that entire scene was being watched by his parents’ shared genetic offspring (female, younger) with an expression of utter disbelief.
“Crazy.”
After all that, that was what she said. Jinwoo let out a deep sigh as he looked at his sister, who had casually thrown out an insult.
“Why did you suddenly come in?”
“Wow, I almost threw up. What was that face just now? Like a pure country boy who just fell in love.”
“Shut up.”
His face flushed at his sister’s direct choice of words. It wasn’t entirely wrong, so he felt a little stung.
“So why did you come?”
“To read manga, obviously?”
His younger sister, Kim Jina, naturally headed toward the bookshelf in Jinwoo’s room. It was packed full of light novels and all kinds of manga. Although Jinwoo was more into web novels these days, as a proper otaku he had invested no small amount of money and time into that section too. Maybe because they were siblings, Jina also really liked manga. Quite a bit of the money invested in that bookshelf had probably come from her. Of course it couldn’t compare to what Jinwoo had spent, but as her senior otaku, he chose to understand.
In fact, it was Jinwoo who had dragged Jina into the otaku world in the first place.
“What are you looking for?”
The problem was that this otaku junior didn’t respect her older brother at all.
“Sigh, you used to have a bit of a cute side back in the day.”
“What are you talking about? I’m still cute.”
“No way.”
While they bickered, Jinwoo quietly watched as Jina pulled out volume two of Bin-gwa. At least her taste as an otaku was solid. What a stupid little sister. Still, he was proud of her.
“......What the, that’s gross.”
If she knew even a tenth of what he was feeling, it would be nice. This older brother felt sad.
“Anyway, I’m going. I’ll make dinner at seven, so don’t be late.”
Their household was a dual-income family with both parents always busy. That meant the siblings often took turns preparing dinner. Today was Jina’s turn. As she was about to leave, Jinwoo suddenly stopped her.
“Hey, can I ask you one thing?”
“Yeah?”
Jina whipped her head around at his serious tone. She stared at her brother’s face for a moment, then broke into a grin.
“Payment first.”
“Hey! Is this how you treat your own brother?”
“Oppa, let’s keep business and personal matters separate.”
All sorts of thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, but he couldn’t say them out loud. Just look at that face that practically screamed ‘I know everything~’. Whatever it was, she clearly knew something. And it was almost certainly related to Eunbyul. As frustrating as it was, he had no choice but to yield a little here. Besides, the only person he could ask about this was his little sister.
“I’ll buy you cake later. Is that enough?”
“What would you like to know, dear customer?”
Look at that instant attitude change. Jinwoo held back the sigh threatening to escape and spoke again.
“What kind of gifts do girls like to receive?”
“Gifts?”
Jinwoo nodded firmly. Lately he had received all sorts of gifts from Eunbyul. The bookmark from when they first met, the figure she gave him before, and even perfume. Eunbyul had told him not to worry about returning the favor, but he still felt bad about only receiving. So he wanted to give her at least one gift when they met this time.
The problem was—
‘What the hell do I know about gifts for girls?’
He had never really given a proper gift to a girl before. At most, he had only taken care of birthday presents for family. But gifts for his mom and little sister couldn’t possibly be the same as a gift for another woman. No matter how much he thought about it, nothing specific came to mind for what to give Eunbyul. That was why he had asked his sister, who was at least the same gender.
Maybe it was the power of cake? Surprisingly, Jina stared at him for a moment before she began seriously thinking it over.
‘This is an unexpectedly cooperative reaction.’
Just as Jinwoo was feeling slightly astonished by her response beyond his expectations, Jina finally opened her mouth after careful consideration.
“Hmm, how about something like this?”