Finding Lost Narrative
The living room was peaceful. She sat smiling, absorbed in a book. "Huh? A text came in?"
She picked up her phone and scrolled through SNS, ordering delivery, then lay on the bed watching a movie. Her face looked incredibly relaxed. Her appearance was incredibly relaxed. "Huh?"
But peace was fleeting. Suddenly the lights in the room began to flicker. "W-What...?"
In the room that kept turning on and off, the atmosphere turned eerie in an instant. The goosebumps-inducing BGM scratched at the eardrums.
"Hyit...!"
An object fell inside the room. The sound of someone walking. Someone had intruded into the house.
Where...? Where exactly...?
While scanning the surroundings with caution, nothing was visible within a foot ahead. It was simply dark and eerie. Amidst the red warning lights flashing, fhu... fhu fhu fhu...!
"Hiieeee...!!"
A dark shadow. A mass of black fog. A monster. A monster, not human. An opponent that might take your life in an instant.
"A... Aaaaaah...!"
The room burned. The surrounding noise grew even louder and more chaotic. Under the warning light, the monster that was growing larger lunged toward her.
One step. Another step.
"──Kyaaaahhhh!!! Asaaaaak!!!"
Just as the hand reached her,
Whooshing...
"......Eh...?"
Suddenly the room brightened. A soft, warm wind filled the entire room. The red warning light that had been flickering went out, and the peaceful, warm landscape returned.
"I've come to save you."
"A...!"
Green hair. A fresh breeze that steals the viewer's heart. The man smiled as he helped the fallen woman up and whispered toward the screen.
"I'll always protect you."
[Protect Your Computer]
[North VPN]
***
"Huuuhuuu...aaah..."
My whole body ached. Every muscle felt sore. The aftershocks of mana overload were still familiar, even after many times.
"You worked hard, Sunwoo-oppa."
"It seems you did a lot of work..."
Hyewon, who had been watching from the side, handed me a cold water cloth. I unfolded it and wiped my face, and nothing in the world was better than this. After a few deep breaths, Harin, who had been on the opposite side, also approached and grumbled at Hyewon.
"You only took care of the instructor?"
"Huh?"
"I worked hard too..."
"...Hmm."
How am I supposed to say this? Hyewon’s expression showed she was troubled.
"Just leave it. The Lightning girls are supposed to be like that."
"But..."
"You can't scold her for acting out because she's just starting to come back to life."
"...I'll believe you, oppa."
"Huh? Eee?"
Harin, looking flustered. I thought it was perfectly reasonable. This too was just her personality coming out. But no matter what, one had to understand something.
"Goldie. Do you want to treat the boss who hired you that way?"
"I'm not Goldie, though. And... that's..."
Her expression suddenly blanked out. I continued toward Harin.
"After running around the academy track, why did you complain to the professor about not getting water?"
"That's different from this."
"It's different. The professor gets paid for taking care of you, but the boss gives you money."
"...Ah."
Only then did her expression show understanding.
"Hyewon is looking out for you all, but that doesn't mean you can be too rough, right?"
"...I'm sorry."
"It's fine, Harin. If you don't know, you can do that."
Hyewon let it slide. She had poked me first, so she couldn't say anything. The shocked look in her eyes gradually softened.
'Social life really is hard.'
Still, learning by getting beaten up is the way.
Therefore, Hyewon. I think you have a problem too.
"Huh? My problem?"
"As idols, they don't even get a manager?"
"We have a producer."
"If you're serious, you'll pay triple the penalty and run away?"
"...I didn't expect something like this to happen today."
If it had been like normal, I would have handled what Hyewon was doing. But on a day with so many variables, doing it myself was basically declaring that I was taking the manager role.
"So I brought Harin too?"
"E...?"
With a pout, Hyewon took a water cloth from her pocket and handed it to Harin. She passed it directly to Harin’s hand.
"Harin also worked hard."
"...Thank you."
Harin stood there blankly, receiving the water cloth and alternating between staring at the cloth and Hyewon. Her face gradually flushed. She looked embarrassed. Covering her face with the water cloth, Harin trembled.
"Did you think I had no sense of decency or morals?"
"I just got angry for a second when I was treated like a manager."
"That's..."
"If you're calling yourself a manager, it's weird that you're getting angry about being treated like one."
".....Haah..."
Hyewon sighing. In the end, this incident could be explained as follows.
"Harin shouldn't think receiving things is too natural, and Hyewon should be firm as the boss. That's all!"
"......Neeep."
At the same time they both looked downcast. Anyone would think they were sisters. They exchanged awkward handshakes and hugs, and the two of them silently stared at me.
"What are you looking at?"
"I'd like to say something, but..."
"I suddenly remembered our kindergarten teacher..."
"......"
What do you two think of me?
I was dumbfounded, so I looked at them, but soon the director approached us from the opposite side.
"The filming seems sufficient. Thank you."
"It's a relief it turned out well."
"Would you like to check it?"
"?"
A slightly excited expression. He seemed desperately eager to show that he felt it had been filmed exceptionally well.
'A middle-aged man dying to show off.'
Who exactly was he trying to appeal to? Still, since he was showing it, I couldn't just ignore it.
We followed the director to check the footage.
[I've Come to Save You.]
"This is the first footage shot."
In the screen, I was just my usual self. Without using Spirit Union, the scene of me and Harin being saved as we were. It felt a bit plain, but still not bad.
'Must be the power of the spirit transformation?'
Everyone said it tasted good because the makeup worked well. After all, spirits are basically honey-skin correction. Since we had chosen Nature as the model, our bodies couldn't help but improve.
"And this... is the footage shot just now."
"Huuuh... uhum?"
The first thing that appeared was Harin. Aaaah! Kyaaah! Uaaaaaah!
She was almost only screaming, looking like she was being eaten alive, but surprisingly it was exactly what was in the script. She grumbled about the lines, but from the beginning, expecting something from us who weren't even professional actors and giving us the script?
"And... here!"
Amid the rising tension, my figure standing in front of Harin carried by the wind was...
[I've Come to Save You.]
"Ku...! This is it! This is it! This is the real Heroism!"
"...?"
What was the difference? Although my appearance had slightly changed due to Spirit Union, no other major changes were visible. Mostly the voice being a little hoarse, like I had been possessed by a second-year middle-school brat?
Still, apart from that, it didn't seem that different...
"You filmed it well."
"Instructor..."
"???"
Their reactions were quite different from before. I couldn't tell at all the difference between the two. Was it a spirit? Or the power of the spirit? Actually, did our middle-school brat have hypnosis powers?
In a confusing state, I rewound it several times, but there was nothing I could understand.
"May I ask if anything has improved?"
In the end, frustrated, I asked the director first. I had to check whether my eyes were bad or if the whole group was under hypnosis.
"...It's not something I'd like to say, but honestly, Awakening Kim Sunwoo feels quite plain overall."
"Ah, yes."
The director had shown the first footage. There were no glaring flaws, but it didn't feel like it was strongly approaching either. He was handsome, but it ended with just 'good-looking.'
"No impact. No intensity, no charisma."
But.
The director showed the last footage and said.
"At that time, the Awakener feels charisma and the appeal of a single person."
It was as if patterns had been drawn on a well-baked white porcelain.
The director nodded and said that even after watching it several times, it had been filmed well.
"....What nonsense is that?"
I didn't know, but...
Just in case, I asked Hyewon.
"Copy. Can I have it sent separately?"
"Of course. I'll send it by email."
"Ah. Me too!"
"...???"
Already the two people in front had gone to talk to the director.
Even while the two of them went back and forth, they didn't answer my question.
"President."
"Harin."
"......(nods)"
Something like friendship bloomed between them.
***
[Peep~ peep! Peep!]
"Yeah yeah, got it."
A middle-school brat perched on my head making peep sounds. Because I received a lot of attention while filming, she was in this state all the time.
"When I saw the water spirit merging with it in front of me—"
"I saw the wind spirit like before—"
"....?"
The two women still seemed to be in an unknown friendship.
They were saying that my heart beat faster when I showed them the Spirit Union figure, but I thought it might be because of the mana waves.
The familiar existence suddenly swelled with mana, then suddenly became stronger. It felt like fear, as if seeing a shadow monster.
'I need to practice suppressing it....'
This was really difficult.
I sighed quietly and looked around.
"Today Hyewon shot it, right?"
"Of course. This is the after-party I came out for."
Where should the after-party be held?
While slowly scanning the surroundings and walking,
[Peep? Peep~ peep peep!]
"Eh, ya! Shinpung!"
Suddenly the middle-school brat flew up.
Without hesitation, I flew in the direction she was flying and followed. Soon, in front of a store, she started pecking at the door with her beak.
[Peep!]
"You like it here?"
[Peep~ peep!]
"You want to go inside?"
Do sparrows know the taste of samgyeopsal these days?
I didn't know, but since it was a restaurant chosen by the spirit, I decided to go inside. It wasn't just for me to eat; the brat wanted to eat too.
"SUNWOO OPPA! Why are you running suddenly!"
"You thought we were leaving the instructor behind, right...!"
"Sorry. The brat wanted to eat here."
"Ne...?"
The middle-school brat was still pecking at the door with her beak.
Seeing that, Hyewon seemed to understand the situation and shook her head while sighing.
"You could have told me in advance, though."
"I was surprised too because the brat suddenly ran out. Sorry."
"Really..."
I roughly patted her and opened the door and went inside.
An old samgyeopsal restaurant filled with cheap, warm vibes. I entered and was about to find a seat when...
[Peep!]
"Ya! You again......"
"...Uhm?"
The place where Shinpung flew to.
"...Sunwoo?"
"Noona Jiyeon?"
There sat Jiyeon-noona eating soju and samgyeopsal alone.