131. Why Can't You Recognize Me?
131. Why Can't You Recognize Me?
***
Cheongdam-dong 'S' Wine Bar.
5 p.m., the usual pre-opening prep time before the evening shift.
The two women who worked at the wine bar were getting ready as they always did.
"Mina, doesn't it feel a little... slow lately?"
Eunseo, tall with neatly styled brown hair, muttered the words absently as she straightened her uniform.
Lately, it seemed like customers had been thinning out.
At the counter, the woman checking today's orders turned her head.
"Really...? I feel like it's about the same as always."
Mina, with a cute face framed by jet-black hair, tilted her head as if wondering whether anything was different, then gave a small shrug of uncertainty.
Eunseo glanced over at her, propped the mop she'd been holding against a pillar, and let out a small sigh.
"You know what it is. Today the owner was going on and on to me about how sales have dropped lately..."
"Oh. It's bad enough that the owner's saying that?"
Mina asked blankly, as if she'd had no idea, and Eunseo nodded.
"The weather's been hot, right? Maybe because it's midsummer, but overall orders have dropped a lot. The owner said the early-morning orders especially fell off."
"Early morning, though...? The evening orders themselves seem about the same as usual."
At Mina's uncertain look, Eunseo gave a small nod.
"I don't know? I don't really know the details of how the shop's doing either. It's just that when the owner says stuff like that, it gets in my head..."
"Come on, isn't that just the kind of thing the owner says every day?"
At Mina's what-could-possibly-go-wrong tone, Eunseo gave a small nod, as if to say, maybe so.
—Ding!
Just then, an order alert popped up at the counter. Mina turned and let out a little laugh.
—Order total: 1,650,000 won.
"We've got customers casually placing pickup orders in the million-won range, so there's really nothing to worry about, is there?"
"Huh? The order that just came in is a big one?"
"Yes. Five bottles of the same wine... oh, checking the customer name, it's Yoon Sua."
Looking at the name on the pickup order, it was a customer who'd been ordering from the shop often recently.
A customer who'd bought all sorts of different wines over the past few days. She looked like she was clearly in her early twenties, and whether she was well-off or not, she casually snapped up expensive wines. She was a customer who accounted for a fairly high share of recent sales.
"Ah, okay then. I'll get it ready."
Eunseo said it with a bright smile, and Mina added carefully,
"Um. Eunseo? Last time she stopped by, I think Sua was a little... overwhelmed by how friendly you were."
Mina phrased it indirectly because she didn't want to say it too bluntly to Eunseo.
Eunseo gave a slightly awkward smile, as if she'd caught Mina's meaning.
"Mina, you thought I was... too much back then too, didn't you?"
"Yes. A little. I could see the customer was feeling pressured."
"I mean, honestly, how often do you get to see a million-subscriber NewTuber in person? She's a NewTuber who I know barely goes outside. I was just so happy to run into her by chance..."
Eunseo, who usually spoke so calmly, was now babbling like an eager fan who'd run into a star she'd dreamed of meeting. Mina smiled and asked,
"Eunseo, you really are a fan of hers, huh. But if she's a million-subscriber NewTuber, isn't she famous? Why didn't I know about her... Is it because I don't play that game, Another World or whatever?"
"Yeah, Mina, you don't really play games. She's only famous to people who play Another World."
Eunseo looked at Mina with a slightly wistful expression.
She wanted to explain how amazing Plea was, to say she was ranked 8th in Challenger, but she held the words in.
Even if she talked about Challenger tiers or whatever to someone who knew nothing about games, they wouldn't understand anyway.
'Still, today I'm getting an autograph.'
As she prepared the ordered wines one by one, Eunseo also took out an item she'd prepared in advance.
Last time she hadn't been ready for anything and hadn't even gotten an autograph, but this time she'd come prepared.
***
Step.
Step.
Sua, wearing a mask, stepped out of her building and walked along the street, looking around with curious eyes.
'There really are a lot of people.'
The time was 5:30 p.m.
Maybe because it was early evening in midsummer, the streets looked especially crowded.
It had been so long since she'd gone outside and seen this many people that it felt strangely novel. She wondered if this was what it meant to be out in the world, and for once she felt reality.
Most of her time outside Another World and streaming was spent sleeping at home or looking up Another World-related information, so she didn't really know how the world was moving these days.
So even going outside to meet someone was a recent development.
And it was only ever one person. Serin.
She was the only person Sua had gotten close to recently, and the only person she met in real life.
At that thought, Sua chewed her lip slightly beneath the mask.
"......"
The more she thought about it, the stranger she felt.
She wondered how her life had ended up like this, meeting no one, and all sorts of odd sentiments washed over her.
For almost her whole life, she'd worn a mask and played the person someone else wanted her to be, living a life far removed from who she really was.
After she'd found Another World, she'd ended that masked life. Now she lived alone in a secluded place, hiding even where she lived from her family.
So for the past few years, she'd thought living alone was comfortable and wonderful.
But now that she was actually facing the outside world again after so long, she felt strange.
Step.
Step.
She kept walking, wondering why she was suddenly feeling this way now.
For no particular reason, Serin came to mind.
The first person to break her mask, the first person she'd shown her true self to.
Thinking about it, maybe it was because she'd never had anyone she truly connected with.
Or maybe... she was only now, belatedly, feeling something like loneliness.
That made sense. Even on streaming hiatus days, she'd never thought about going outside.
Normally she would have just played Another World or caught up on sleep, but now she'd contacted someone to suggest dinner together and had gone outside.
That was clearly the opposite of her usual life, where meeting people was exhausting or suffocating.
Then, out of nowhere, the saying came to mind: people can't live alone.
'...I always thought that was a lie.'
She'd been comfortable alone.
She'd thought streaming could ease the loneliness to some degree.
And she'd thought she was happy being alone because there was nothing holding her back.
Right, that was how it had been...
But now, for some reason, those words seemed to hit a little closer to home.
......
—Ding.
The shop bell rang, and before she knew it, Sua had stepped into S Wine Bar.
"...Hello?"
"Ah, yes! Welcome!"
"Welcome!"
When she offered a small greeting, the two women smiled brightly and spoke to her. Serin had told her about this wine bar, so she visited it, but Sua felt a little uneasy about the place.
More than anything, the fact that someone recognized her.
My makeup and even my visible outfit should have made me completely unrecognizable, but one of the employees here had recognized me.
"I placed a pickup order."
When I carefully spoke up, the tall woman approached holding an elegantly wrapped wine bundle. I worried that this woman—the one who'd recognized me—might start chattering again.
"Yes! Here you are."
Unlike last time, she handed it over without any extra words. It felt different from before. Last time she'd gone on like an eager fan, and I'd found it bothersome.
As I took the wine bundle, I held out my card at the same time. The employee took it and completed the payment.
Beep!
Click.
As I received my card back along with the payment receipt, the woman hurriedly picked up something nearby, as if she had something to say.
"Um, if it's not too much trouble... could I ask for an autograph?"
I was momentarily startled by the item the woman held out.
'My... merch?'
The shirt she held out was none other than last year's merchandise of mine.
A shirt modeled directly on my in-game character from Another World—the image of a blonde female knight.
Seeing it held out to me in real life... even while looking at it, it felt a little surreal.
Wondering if she really was a fan of mine, I found myself speaking.
"Sure. Um, what's your name?"
The shirt and pen I'd been handed.
I'd produced small batches of merch every year, so signing wasn't all that unfamiliar.
Well, doing it face-to-face with someone was a little unfamiliar.
"Ah, it's Park Eunseo! Park, Eun, Seo!"
Afraid I might not have heard, the tall woman enunciated each syllable clearly. I gave a small nod, signed the shirt as requested, and smiled slightly.
"This... I know this is a limited-edition shirt. You really must be a fan."
The merch came in different types, but this was one of the especially pricey limited-edition shirts.
"Yes! I'm really a fan of Plea. Honestly, I never thought I'd see you in person, so I was really shocked last time. I wasn't properly prepared back then... oh, was I too chatty last time? Did I make you uncomfortable? Really... thank you so, so much for signing this in person!"
"Ah, no. I'm more grateful."
As I handed back the shirt and pen, the woman named Eunseo carefully took them.
"And you're even prettier in person!!"
I gave a small nod, then carefully spoke up.
"Um, you haven't... told anyone around you that you saw me, have you...?"
Something I'd been a little worried about.
"Ah, yes! You don't like showing yourself in public, Plea. I haven't told anyone."
I gave a small nod of thanks, then asked out of curiosity.
"But how on earth did you recognize me? I thought I'd made myself unrecognizable."
On stream I usually wore bright clothes, but now, by contrast, I was wearing a black blouse, and even my hair was different—long black hair instead of my usual style. My makeup had even sharpened my impression a little, so it still amazed me that she'd recognized me back then.
"Um... honestly, you do look really different from how you appear on stream now, but rather than any one thing standing out... how should I put it? Your eyes are so clear? I just looked at your eyes and knew."
Sua nodded at Eunseo's words, gave a small farewell, and left the shop.
"...Hah."
As soon as she was outside, Sua let out a faint sigh.
She wondered if she should start wearing colored contacts from now on.
***
Ding-dong!
Clack.
Serin had gotten a message saying Sua was almost there, so the moment the bell rang, she opened the front door.
There stood Sua, looking like a completely different person, just as always.
"I think this every so often, but even knowing it's you, Sua, I can't recognize you."
The first time they'd met, she'd looked like a pure, delicate college girl, or a woman with a refined image.
Now, by contrast, she had the image of a chic city woman. Serin smiled and spoke at the sight of the cool-looking woman in a black blouse and stylish clothes.
But for some reason, Sua frowned, as if displeased.
"No... why can't you recognize me, Serin?"
"Huh?"
"Other people can fail to recognize me, but I wanted you to recognize me."
...But you're the one who made yourself unrecognizable.