The Heavenly Demon Joins the Company Dinner (4)
The next morning.
“Hello! Ara!”
As promised, Enry showed up at my house. The moment I saw her face, the urge to kick her out surged through me, but the affection we’d built up over time kept me from actually doing it.
This was Enry’s first time visiting my place. She looked around like she was touring an animal enclosure, then let out a soft laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“It just doesn’t feel like a person lives here.”
Enry declared that my house was bleak. There was no furniture, no decorations, nothing—just dolls crammed into every corner of the room. She said walking into the empty house late at night would feel like the dolls might start moving, calling it a terrifying room.
I couldn’t deny it. After all, I had never brought anything into this house except dolls.
“Do you just sit around doing nothing at home?”
“I game and stream.”
“Besides that?”
Besides that? Well… aside from eating and watching my own streams, I didn’t really have anything else, did I?
When she heard my answer, Enry said she figured as much and held out the paper bag she was carrying.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a secret. Open it later! For now, hurry up and show me your closet!”
Tsk. I’d been trying to stall by bringing up every other topic possible, but she wouldn’t even allow that. Her determination to turn me into a dress-up doll was palpable.
With the heart of a prisoner being dragged to the execution ground, I led Enry to the closet.
When she opened the doors and saw the wide variety of clothes inside, Enry let out a gasp of amazement.
“What the—! Ara, you have so many clothes!”
“I guess I do.”
“Then why don’t you wear them? What a waste!”
“Because I didn’t buy most of them.”
Out of everything in there, only a few pieces were actually bought by me. Most had been shoved in by that Baekho guy, who only cared that the fabric was soft and fluffy. I had no intention of wearing them, but I also couldn’t bring myself to throw them away, so they’d stayed. That decision had clearly come back to bite me.
“If they’re gifts, you should wear them even more!”
“You think so?”
“Don’t tell me you shoved the ones I gave you in a box too… Ara!”
Enry had caught me. The clothes she’d given me were still sitting in their paper box, tucked away in the corner of the closet. I quickly averted my eyes. I’d completely forgotten to take them out. I should have at least pulled them out and hung them up before she arrived. Leaving them stuffed away because I thought I’d never wear them had caused this mess.
Enry stomped over with exaggerated footsteps loud enough to make me worry about complaints from downstairs, then shouted right in my face.
“This is too much! How could you shove my heartfelt gift in a corner like that!”
“I’m sorry.”
“If an apology fixed everything, why would we need laws!”
Was this situation really serious enough to bring up the legal system? The moment I saw the fury and hurt swirling in Enry’s eyes, that thought crossed my mind—but I kept it strictly to myself. Saying it out loud would make things truly irreversible.
“I’m truly sorry.”
“You’re really the worst!”
“I have no excuse.”
It was strange. With anyone else, I could shamelessly practice double standards without hesitation. Yet for some reason, standing in front of Enry made that impossible. Maybe it was because I owed her too many favors.
When I kept my head bowed, Enry finally stopped yelling. She let out a long sigh, paused for a while as if gathering her thoughts, then continued.
“Honestly, I wasn’t planning to torment you this much today. I knew you hated being treated like a dress-up doll.”
The phrase “honestly” was not a good sign right now. When someone said “honestly” in that restrained, angry tone, it always carried a twist.
“But I can’t let this go. Let’s go out.”
“…Pardon?”
“If you’re only going to wear something once anyway, I might as well try every single outfit on you and pick the one I like best.”
What kind of twisted logic was that? Normally, when someone saw their gift shoved into a corner, wouldn’t they just feel like there was no point in giving presents? But I had no right to complain. This entire situation was my own fault.
If spending one day as a living doll could soothe Enry’s hurt feelings, then it was actually a pretty good deal. And so, my execution ground changed from my house to somewhere outside.
Nabi-rin arrived at the private room we’d booked for the after-party and immediately frowned when she saw Bae Min-hwang already there, glued to his smartphone.
“Uncle. Are you playing that degenerate game again?”
“Degenerate? You play it too.”
“Yeah, but I don’t play it as hardcore as you do.”
“Playing the game is playing the game. And I’m not an uncle.”
“You’re almost forty. What do you mean you’re not an uncle? If you’d gotten married early, you’d already have a kid by now.”
“Ugh, shut up. I already get nagged by my mom on the phone every day, so give it a rest.”
“Whoa. You still get nagged by your mom at that age?”
“You think you’ll be any different?”
Right after Nabi-rin and Bae Min-hwang started bickering over seats, the door opened and Na-hee came in. Breathing hard like she’d run the whole way, she scanned the two people inside and shouted in a panic.
“I’m not late, right?!”
“You’re not.”
“Late? There’s still twenty minutes until the meeting time.”
“What?!”
Realizing she’d misread the time, Na-hee grumbled that she’d run for nothing and flopped down in a seat toward the back.
A few minutes later, Bunny and Dalbit arrived at the meeting place. Now only two people remained: Enry and Hwaryeong.
As the youngest, Na-hee took the lead and called Enry to check on their status. After a string of “Yes. Yes. I understand. Take your time,” she hung up.
“What did she say?”
“They’ll be here in about twenty minutes, so we should go ahead and order food.”
“They’re late?”
“Maybe the star of the show wants to make a flashy entrance.”
“Since they’re friends, they’re even late together?”
Everyone gathered here was a streamer with a decent number of viewers, so they all chimed in one after another. They said things like how Hwaryeong was so strict when managing people but lazy in real life, how she was lenient with herself but harsh on others, and whether Enry was dragging her here against her will. A barrage of complaints filled with two weeks’ worth of pent-up resentment continued until Bunny suddenly spoke up.
“I wonder what Hwaryeong-nim looks like in real life?”
“We’re going to see her soon anyway. You’re still curious?”
“Well yeah, but imagining it is fun too.”
“Then why don’t you go first, Bunny-nim? What do you think the real Hwaryeong-nim is like?”
“Uh… well…”
Bunny said she thought Hwaryeong was probably someone who had trained in martial arts.
“People who aren’t used to VR but show talent right away are usually strong in real life.”
“Aww, that’s too obvious.”
“Then what about you, Nabi-rin-nim? Got any guesses?”
“…Um. I think her way of speaking might be surprisingly normal?”
“That’s even more obvious! Who in the real world talks like that!”
Starting with those two, everyone in the room began sharing their speculations one by one.
She doesn’t get scared by horror games at all, so she must have a bold personality. She loves food, so maybe she’s a bit chubby. She knows a lot about wuxia but is clumsy with VR, so she might be older. Maybe she’s actually a guy? She’s really good at playing up a concept, so she must be shameless. Since she’s close with Enry, maybe she’s a foreigner too.
All sorts of theories leaked out until the door of the restaurant opened and Enry walked in first.
“Sorry we’re late! The bus was stuck in traffic!”
“It wasn’t congested though?”
“The roads were completely clear today. Where did you come from?”
“Can’t you just let it slide?!”
“Of course not.”
Everyone was teasing Enry in playful tones when a woman stepped through the open door.
Eyes that gazed at the world with indifference. An expressionless gaze. Lips pressed firmly together. Skin as white as finely fired porcelain. Short black hair tied up in the back with a hairpin. A black coat cut with sharp, formal lines like a suit, worn over a pure white knit. Black slacks that hugged her legs perfectly.
The overall styling gave off such a strong impression that it could have come across as pretentious, but on her it didn’t feel excessive at all. A beautiful woman with a cold, rigid, and noble aura who looked like she would never smile.
Nabi-rin stared blankly at the woman’s face and thought it looked strangely familiar. I’ve seen her somewhere. I definitely have. Ah! It hit her.
“Hwaryeong-nim?”
The avatar Hwaryeong usually used—the one modeled after the Heavenly Demon from Apis. The woman who had just walked through the door looked exactly like that VR avatar, as if it had stepped straight out of the game into reality.
“Hello, everyone. I’m Hwaryeong.”
The polite but slightly awkward Korean coming from the avatar’s lips left everyone speechless for a moment before they snapped back to reality.
“Uh… you’re really Hwaryeong-nim?”
When Bae Min-hwang blinked and asked such a stupid question, a small smile appeared on Hwaryeong’s previously expressionless lips.
“That’s correct. But aren’t you being too polite? I thought you were going to assert dominance the moment we met in real life.”
“No, that! It was a joke! How could I ever do that to Hwaryeong-nim—my Heavenly Father!”
“Heavenly Father? What’s that?”
“Well, you know… you worked us so hard in the game…”
Nabi-rin frowned at how transparent Bae Min-hwang was being, but she understood how he felt. If she’d been a guy, she probably would have had similar thoughts.
In this era of VR where anyone could use a cool or beautiful avatar, it was rare to find someone more beautiful than their avatar. Even TV celebrities were said to be less attractive than VR avatars. Finding someone like that in real life wasn’t easy at all.
In Nabi-rin’s opinion, Hwaryeong was one of the few exceptions. Someone whose beauty couldn’t be fully captured even by a VR avatar. Someone whose true value could only be felt by meeting her in person. Even though they were both women, she was so awe-inspiring that jealousy didn’t even cross Nabi-rin’s mind.
She’d always been confident in her looks, but the moment she faced Hwaryeong, Nabi-rin felt like she’d turned into a tiny squid.
Enry-nim is amazing too. How can she stand next to someone like that and still hold her own?
Well, someone that beautiful could probably use their real appearance as an avatar without issue.
Seeing Bae Min-hwang stumbling over his words, Nabi-rin guessed that if things continued like this they’d never get to the main point. She cut him off with a sigh.
“Uncle. Stop showing off your single status and tone it down. And you two, stop standing there and sit down. We’re here for a company dinner.”
“Right, right! Please take a seat! I’m paying today, so eat as much as you want!”