Everything Looks Pink
“Huh?”
When her senses snapped back into place, she was in the office.
She barely remembered climbing the stairs, barely remembered sitting down at her desk at all.
Yui stared at the monitor with her mouth hanging open.
The cursor on the email she had been translating blinked in the exact same spot, but her fingers had locked stiff over the keyboard and refused to move.
What was that just now.
The second she closed her eyes, the scene from the basement studio rose up intact.
That person laid out on the sofa. The lashes resting under tousled bangs. The steady rise and fall of his chest. The breath slipping out between slightly parted lips…
“Kyaaaaah—!”
Her face flooded with heat. She fanned herself with both hands and collapsed face-down across the desk.
Am I seriously this easy?!
Then again, the face in question had been unfairly good-looking.
Who was he?
Judging by the looks, a celebrity for sure. Working in the studio, so probably a singer. A singer-songwriter, maybe?!
Yui remembered that Muse Family was a sub-label under IG Entertainment.
An IG Entertainment singer? Did he come here to work on tracks?
The gulf between celebrity and streamer was so wide she heaved a long sigh.
Work would not stick in her hands. The monitor had become nothing but meaningless patterns of light.
You never know, right? Who proposes dating on the spot? We could at least talk once.
The urge to go back downstairs and check just one more time kept lifting its head.
Sneaking another look at a sleeping person is a little… stalkerish.
Honestly, the moment she had been drooling right in front of him she was already done for—but she hadn’t known then. Knowing and still doing it was a different problem entirely.
What if she went down and ran into him? What if she met him awake?
“……No way.”
She tossed the words out, then shot up from her seat and headed for the bathroom.
Standing in front of the mirror, she checked herself from every angle.
“……Ah.”
Despair.
She was not the type who dressed up on a normal day. As a VTuber she could stream barefaced without issue, and when she went out she was usually too tired to bother—just throw something on and go. Today she had come for work, so the damage was even worse.
Bare face. Hair roughly tied up. Baggy hoodie.
Maybe it was better we didn’t run into each other.
Just in case, Yui rummaged through Han So-yeong’s desk and scored a pouch.
“Thanks, So-yeong-nim!”
A quick thank-you. A few taps of cushion, a tidy brow line, a light pass of tint. She undid her hair and tied it back cleanly again.
Ah, this part’s still lacking. That part too.
The battle with her mirror self dragged on, and time slipped away without mercy.
“Hmm. This should do?”
At last she flashed a satisfied smile and stepped outside.
Alright. So now.
“Just one look. Just once.”
If he was up? Then… a number? Introduce herself first?
What if he was still asleep?
Just go down and see.
Gathering her courage, Yui set her feet toward the basement.
This time she knocked first.
Knock knock knock—!
Is he sleeping?
No response. With trembling fingers she punched in the password.
Beep—
She cracked the door open and slipped inside on quiet feet.
The moment she entered, her eyes flew straight to the sofa.
“Huh!……He’s gone.”
The sofa was empty. The monitor on the desk was dark too.
If only I’d come down a little sooner.
Yui’s shoulders slumped.
As she turned to leave, the wall clock caught her eye. Quitting time had crept up on her without warning.
Had he gone home?
Would he come again tomorrow?
What if today had been the last day? What if he had packed everything up and left for good?
“I don’t want that.”
Yui spun on her heel.
She bolted up to the first floor and burst straight out through the building’s front doors.
Without a coat, the cold air sliced through her whole body—but she had no time to care.
She looked left, right, left again.
Clinging to a thread of hope as she scanned the surroundings—
“Oh…!”
A figure stood near the roadside, beanie pulled low and mask on.
His face was thoroughly wrapped, so she couldn’t make out the features from earlier with precision.
Yui’s pupils blew wide.
That silhouette—she had already burned it into her eyes once. It was not an aura you could hide just by covering up.
If he left, it was over. The anxiety that today might be the last day rippled through her.
Her legs moved on their own. Baggy hoodie flapping.
“E-excuse me…!”
Her voice would not come out. Was it the wind? Being out of breath? Or just nerves?
In that interval—
A taxi glided to a stop in front of the man on the road.
Ssslick.
The man opened the door naturally and slid inside.
“E-excuse me, wait!!”
The voice finally burst free. But it was too late.
The instant the man entered the taxi—Yui’s and the man’s eyes brushed for the briefest moment.
“Ah……”
Yui’s mouth opened and closed, but no words followed.
The taxi pulled away as-is. She could only watch its receding rear with a desolate gaze.
“……Ah.”
She was out of breath. Her cheeks were cold. Her heart was colder still.
Will he come tomorrow too?
Yui thought of what clothes she had at home as she trudged back to the office alone.
I had a taxi booked and was waiting at the designated spot.
“Ugh, cold.”
The chill wormed its way in through my clothes. Honestly, if it were up to me, I would have spent the night at the company.
I sleep pretty well on that sofa. Do I really need to go home?
I seriously considered my first overnight stay of my life, but it was a little scary, and my little sister’s look in the morning was nagging at me.
This morning when I left the house, she had quietly come up to the door and spoken softly.
“……Oppa, why have you been coming home so late these past two days?”
Her tone was uncharacteristically serious, her face full of worry, so I patted her like when we were kids, told her I was going to the company and not to worry, and left.
She usually just snickered every time she saw me.
So she worries about me too, huh. The sun must be rising in the west.
How did she even notice? Or maybe her ears are ridiculously sharp.
I had moved quietly, pretending I’d been home, but I’d gotten caught. I’d thought she treated me normally like before, but she had been worrying in her own way.
Guilt pricked at my chest for my family.
I’m getting better little by little, though.
While I fretted over how to reassure them, a taxi approached in the distance.
“Oh. Finally.”
I turned to open the door—and far off, some young student was racing urgently in my direction, hoodie flapping as she pitter-pattered along.
No way. That kid……
Was she gunning for my taxi?
For a second I considered yielding, but I didn’t want to stand out here any longer. My hands and feet were already starting to freeze, and my legs hurt from waiting so long for a cab to show.
As an adult, didn’t I need to teach a student about the coldness of society?!
I was absolutely not running away because I was cold. Really. Truly.
Heh. This is a reserved taxi, kid. Install the app next time.
Savoring a winner’s leisure, I opened the taxi door and slid into the back seat.
The moment my back hit the comfortable seat, the tension melted away.
“Hello. Destination correct?”
“Yes.”
I answered shortly and leaned back.
I turned my gaze out the window—and a young girl stood there with a look of complete desolation.
……Kinda feel bad for the kid.
Was I too harsh? She had run hard on those short legs only to miss it right under her nose. And her expression was so forlorn it made me feel guilty.
But this was my reservation.
Maybe she was a student who lived around here? I had to come to the company tomorrow and would be coming often—I might run into her again.
Should I yield next time…? Yield?
Mm, I couldn’t say for sure. But if it wasn’t one I’d called, I’d let her go first.
Be an adult. Be an adult.
While I made that resolution, the taxi slid out onto the road.
That evening, Yu Nari had a rare nighttime call with Do-yoon.
“You’ve been working so hard on tracks lately! It’s not easy to take care of fans as sincerely as you do, Do-yoon.”
“Looking at the money hitting my account, how could I pretend not to know.”
“Huh? What are you talking about. Most people are like that. You’re just a good person, Do-yoon.”
Yu Nari lay on her bed with her headset pressed firmly on.
Do-yoon’s calm voice flowed gently into her ears. She even squeezed her eyes shut as if determined not to miss a single grain of the voice beyond the headset.
It had been expensive, but worth every won.
It sounds so clear!
Lately their call times had gotten noticeably shorter.
Post-release promotions for Eumnya, collab prep with Iris, pre-discussions for the MAMA stage, mocap schedule, broadcast content planning.
Lunari’s schedule had sprouted like bamboo after rain. And Do-yoon was buried nose-deep in track work on his end.
Matching timing was like plucking stars from the sky.
I’d love to hear his voice before I sleep……
She shoved that chimney-tall desire down hard. She hated interrupting Do-yoon while he was working. And she hated even more the idea of forcing more calls only to have her true feelings found out.
Just imagining Do-yoon’s face looking burdened made her heart ache. That could never, ever happen.
Let’s stay busy together and grow steadily side by side.
If they became irreplaceable partners to each other, the distance would naturally close.
It was never easy to suppress the impulses that kept surging up from inside her chest. But for the introverted Do-yoon, and for their future together—she clenched her teeth and endured.
Wasn’t this what adult romance looked like?
Nari gave her own shoulder a mental pat.
Anyway, if you asked who was closest to Do-yoon and talked with him the most—it was ultimately her.
Wasn’t she the one that wary Do-yoon had even given his home address to?
Even if contact frequency dropped, the superiority and security that single fact gave her didn’t shake easily.
For now, using work talk as an excuse to share little bits of daily life was enough.
It was fine to take it slow. Time was on her side.
“I decided to do MAMA. I think So-yeong-nim wanted to uphold our pride. She seemed keen on us participating. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance too, so I accepted right away! Gonna get busy again—are you okay, Do-yoon? You’re writing tracks right now.”
“Hm? The track’s almost done. Stage prep is just about minding the planning, so I’m not struggling. Aren’t you the one who’ll have it hard, Nuna? You’ll have to wear those tight outfits and dance again.”
“Ugh, the sweat from that is the worst. And I get scolded every day for not being able to dance.”
“How bad is it?”
“Want me to show you? Me dancing.”
“Huh??”
“Just kidding~ Hehe.”
From beyond the receiver came a hint of Do-yoon getting a little flustered.
Ah, I almost couldn’t hold back again.
Nari buried her face in her pillow.
Just before that one line had almost slipped out of her mouth, her finger had been creeping toward the video call button.
Dangerous. Really, truly dangerous.
Nari was confident about her red pill. She had heard compliments on her looks until she was sick of them since school days, and even she thought the face in the mirror was pretty decent.
So the desire to show Do-yoon her real self anytime always squirmed in one corner, but—
He’d be one hundred percent burdened.
Thinking about Do-yoon’s personality, the answer was clear. Hints of mild aversion to VTuber red pills themselves had seeped into their usual conversations. The type who didn’t go out of his way to learn real-life faces.
The moment she suddenly shoved her face at him on video call—Do-yoon would be flustered. And in the worst case, that fluster might turn into distance. Or maybe he’d even get intimidated by Nari’s looks.
That was even more of a no-go.
When the day came that they had no choice but to meet face-to-face—that was when she’d go ta-da and show him. The more dramatic the effect, the better.
She had no experience seducing guys. But Nari’s imagination was rich.
She would close her eyes and paint Do-yoon’s image.
A small, earnest-looking fresh-faced boy. With social anxiety, so his eyes would be careful. Few words, rare smiles.
In front of a kid like that—if she revealed her face—
Do-yoon’s eyes would widen a little. His lips would part slightly. The tips of his ears would flush pink. His gaze would wander the empty air not knowing where to land—then he’d mumble softly.
Why are you so pretty…… right?
Just imagining it made her cheekbones twitch.
What’s got you so shy?
If she teased him playfully—Do-yoon would get even redder……
“Heheheh.”
“Hm? What.”
“Ah, n-nothing nothing. Fighting on the track work! Don’t skip meals.”
“Oh. Yeah. Thanks.”
Having dodged the crisis, Nari hurriedly wrapped up the topic.
When the call ended and she took off the headset—her ears tingled a little.
Nari hugged her pillow and rolled around on the mattress.
“Huuuuuh.”
She couldn’t manage the corners of her mouth. The whole world was pink-tinted.
As a streamer and as a singer, she had gotten on track. And her relationship with Do-yoon—the benefactor who had changed her life, the only person in her heart—was slowly, smoothly deepening too.
Career, relationships, state of mind. Not a single corner was lacking.
Even with the cold winter night air passing outside the window—the room was warm past the point of her body heat, almost hot.
She sincerely believed it. That her life was cruising along. That there was no wavering in her relationship with Do-yoon.
Yu Nari didn’t know yet.
Still, nothing at all.