89. When a Person Suddenly Changes...
89. When a Person Suddenly Changes...
***
Looking at the image Seoyun showed her, Chaerin couldn't help but admire it.
"Wow, this is your sister?"
"Yeah. My sister."
"She's so pretty. Doesn't she work in modeling or something like that?"
The image Seoyun showed was a photo of a woman with pure white hair standing with Seoyun against a backdrop of cherry blossoms. Just looking at it, they were a truly beautiful pair of sisters.
However, unlike Seoyun's bright and cute impression in the image, her sister's impression felt very cold. Even so, you could tell from the photo how much Seoyun liked her sister, so the overall feel of the image was warm.
"...Huh?"
As Chaerin stared at the image for a moment, she felt something like déjà vu without realizing it.
She had a strong feeling that she had seen her somewhere before.
So she looked at the image closely once more.
'...Where have I seen Seoyun's sister before?'
Pure white hair.
Sculpted mixed-race features.
Then, thinking she might have seen her on NewTube, Chaerin blankly picked up her phone and opened NewTube.
She had made a separate list there where she saved videos of her favorite Another World pro gamers and rankers, but she froze for a moment.
Before she even started digging through NewTube videos, it came to her.
Who she resembled.
"...Can someone look this similar?"
She muttered blankly, feeling uncertain.
"Chaerin, what are you suddenly talking about?"
"No, it's nothing... Your sister's really pretty."
Seoyun occasionally talked about her sister, but she had never shared the details, so Chaerin had figured there was something going on. Now that she confirmed it like this, it was definitely out of the ordinary.
"I think I get why you've been hiding your sister, Seoyun."
When Chaerin said that, Seoyun took back her phone and smiled softly.
It was a compliment about her sister, but oddly, Seoyun felt happier than if she herself had been complimented.
"The reason I hid her was that my sister's been really popular since she was little... There were a lot of things that are awkward to talk about. And my sister doesn't really like being known by other people either, so that's why."
"Really...? She's so pretty, that's kind of a shame. She could be a celebrity."
"Right? You think so too? I also think it's a shame that my sister's so shy around strangers."
If I had looks like that, every day would be so much fun, but hearing that she disliked being known was kind of unexpected.
—Ding!
At the bell signaling that their ordered food was ready, Chaerin got up from her seat.
Scrape.
"I'll go get it."
"Okay."
After confirming that Seoyun nodded, Chaerin got up from her seat and headed to the pickup counter.
As she did, she connected to tweetie on her phone and went into her follow list.
There were several streamers there, including Plea at the very top of her follows.
And for the streamers she was even more fond of, she had set separate notifications. Among those with notifications was a streamer currently named Rin.
As a hardcore Another World user, Chaerin knew about Rin.
From being a daily hot topic in the community, to NewTube videos, to recently winning duels against Plea and Gosu. As a fellow Dancer Class player, Chaerin admired Rin.
An extreme top-tier user. In a reality where Dancer Class players were practically extinct in Challenger Tier, Rin had beaten Plea and Gosu, who were called pro-level rankers.
Chaerin had watched Rin's videos at least dozens of times.
She was that interested in her as both a user and a streamer, so she even knew that today was the day Rin's suspension was lifted and she would start streaming again.
"...If her real appearance is like that, then everything makes sense."
Even as she lifted the tray of food from the pickup counter, Chaerin couldn't help muttering to herself.
The current situation felt that unreal.
She still couldn't be certain that Seoyun's sister was 'Rin,' but thinking about Rin's distinctive appearance, her thoughts were leaning toward it being true.
The famous customization of Rin's character that no one could replicate.
She had seen a community post asking whether she had input her actual appearance into the customization. Though she remembered that the post had been bombarded with downvotes and all kinds of criticism in the comments saying where in the world would a person with that appearance exist.
But the appearance of Seoyun's sister she had just seen really was almost identical to Rin.
No, wait. The sister Seoyun had just been texting with... was really Rin?
'The actual streamer Rin?'
When that thought hit her, her heart started pounding for no reason.
—Rin.
She was a user currently evaluated as practically the pinnacle of the Dancer Class.
In the first place, the Dancer Class was a bottom-tier class that was shunned almost everywhere, whether in the arena or hunting, because its base health and defense were poor.
But a single user named Rin was completely changing the image of the Dancer Class.
Recently, she had even solo-hunted the 'Dwarf's Cave,' which was notorious for being impossible to solo.
She had essentially proven with her own body that she could handle everything, whether PVP or PVE.
There had been rumors going around before that Plea had deliberately lost, that it made no sense for her to lose, but as a fan of Plea, Chaerin knew how absurd that was.
Because Plea hated losing more than anyone.
Plea was a user who, when it came to Another World, showed such ferocity that it sent chills down your spine the moment you saw her—the kind of crazy bitch who didn't get called a crazy bitch for nothing.
Chaerin's thoughts multiplied as she muttered to herself for no reason.
"But then. How could Seoyun not know?"
Rin was rapidly making a name for herself as a streamer, and she was famous among Another World users too.
On top of that, she had heard that Rin had even made a NewTube channel recently...
'Why doesn't Seoyun know?'
More than anything else, that thought kept her from being certain it was Rin.
"Chaerin, why are you taking so long to bring the food?"
At Seoyun's voice, she realized she had already arrived at the table.
"Ah, sorry. I had a lot on my mind."
Slide.
She sat down and set the food on the table.
Even as she pulled her own order toward herself, her mood was strange.
Seoyun was famous for not talking about private matters. And just now, Seoyun had said her sister 'dislikes being known.' There was a sense of dissonance, as if things almost fit together but still creaked.
"Chaerin, why do you look so spaced out today...? Are you still bothered by failing the exam?"
At Seoyun's worried question, Chaerin laughed awkwardly.
"No, it's not that, just... Ah, right. Seoyun, what kind of work does your sister do right now?"
"...What my sister does?"
"Yeah. She's so pretty, I feel like she'd become famous quickly no matter what she did."
"From what I heard before, she was a trader? I don't know the details, but I think she did something stock-related. Right now I think she's stopped working entirely and is resting. There was an accident involving our parents recently, so my sister took it even harder than I did... She was hurt a lot."
She smiled a little awkwardly as she spoke, and Chaerin immediately felt that she had been thoughtless.
The accident... was clearly about Seoyun's parents.
'Ah, you idiot. Why did you bring that up?'
In a moment of curiosity, Chaerin felt like she had needlessly picked at Seoyun's wound.
"O-oh, I see. Sorry, Seoyun. I asked too casually, didn't I?"
"No, I'm the one who told you about my sister. And it's something I need to... gradually accept. Honestly, it was really hard for me to shake off too, but actually, my sister had it much harder than me regarding our parents' accident... Ah, right. Chaerin, do you remember last time when I asked you to talk to the professor on my behalf about the lecture?"
She smiled softly, saying it was fine, and seeing Seoyun like that made Chaerin's heart ache.
Unlike her cute impression, Seoyun, who acted meticulously in everything and lived on her own, had shown a mature side since she was young.
Even as she said she was fine on the outside, you could feel that she was hurting on the inside.
So Chaerin thought she needed to be a little careful with her words as she opened her mouth to answer.
"Yeah, I remember. You asked me to tell the professor for you because you had something urgent at the time."
"Back then, I couldn't reach my sister, so I was a little anxious. Unlike her outward image, my sister's really soft-hearted..."
Seeing Seoyun speak with a bitter expression, Chaerin couldn't bring herself to ask more.
'Her sister probably isn't Rin... right.'
It hadn't even been three months since Seoyun's parents had passed away in an unexpected traffic accident.
And even now, the image of Seoyun struggling so much back then sometimes came to mind. If her sister had hurt even more than that, how much had she suffered?
Thinking about Rin's recent activities... even if their appearances were very similar, they probably weren't the same person after all. That was what Chaerin thought.
"Seoyun... can I go visit your sister sometime?"
"...Huh?"
Seoyun looked at Chaerin with an expression that said, what are you suddenly talking about?
"No, you said your sister was having a really hard time. You know I'm planning to go into psychological counseling, right? I want to help your sister, even just a little."
Chaerin's words were sincere. If she had suffered more than Seoyun had, how hard must it have been... Hearing that Seoyun's sister had struggled, Chaerin couldn't help feeling like it wasn't someone else's problem.
But Seoyun shook her head with a slightly subtle expression.
"Chaerin, I appreciate the thought, but my sister's really shy around strangers..."
"...Really? Then I guess it can't be helped. But you went to see your sister last time, right? When you met her then, had she gotten a little better?"
At Chaerin's words, Seoyun suddenly recalled how her sister had been that day.
—The way she hadn't even recognized her own sister when she saw her ringing the bell, looking flustered.
—The way she normally wouldn't eat no matter what you made her, but then scooped more rice from the cooker herself as if her appetite had grown.
—The way her sister, who was usually timid and quiet, spoke naturally as if she had room to spare, acting like a different person.
Thinking about each of these things, Seoyun felt very strange.
"...I got the feeling that my sister had changed. She did things she normally wouldn't do... Even her way of speaking and personality seemed so different that I wondered if she was really the sister I knew."
Hearing Seoyun's words, Chaerin spoke cautiously.
"Your sister changed? Seoyun, isn't that dangerous?"
At the word dangerous, Seoyun looked at Chaerin in surprise.
"Huh? Dangerous how?"
"No, I mean, when a person suddenly changes... You know, um, ah, no, never mind."
Chaerin stopped mid-sentence and hastily swallowed her next words.
She had been about to say, 'When a person suddenly changes, they die,' but that was something she absolutely couldn't say out loud.
But seeing Seoyun's face go pale, Chaerin felt it was already too late.