Chapter 50
* * *
I hurriedly moved as I placed the merchandise into bags one item at a time.
It had been two hours since we opened the booth. I hadn't had a moment to rest in all that time.
I had to keep moving.
Take the order, put the items in the bag, check the payment, and hand it over.
Repeat.
“Thank you~”
As I handed over the items and sent the customer on their way.
The next customer strode up right away.
‘This is freaking brutal.’
I wondered if this was how things normally were.
I wondered if the other booths were like this too, but that wasn't quite the case.
It was just that this place was especially crowded.
Lee Seungah was more famous here than I'd expected.
“···Phew.”
Beads of sweat formed on my forehead.
I'd long since draped the suit I had been wearing over a chair. I roughly wiped away the sweat running down me with my sleeve.
‘···So I was wondering where Lee Seungah got all her money.’
She ordered delivery food without a second thought and bought clothes whenever she wanted.
I guess she made all that money here.
The growing pile of cash made it easy to believe.
I resolved to ask for a performance bonus later.
“I’m back.”
At that voice, I turned my head and saw Lee Seungah trudging into the booth.
She was sipping a sweet chocolate latte.
She had gone out to eat when lunchtime came around and had now returned.
“I’ll watch the booth now. Go eat.”
“Phew—”
At those words, I immediately rose from my chair.
“···I can finally rest a little.”
When I rolled my neck from side to side, it made a series of cracking sounds.
Lee Seungah hung the blue umbrella she had been carrying over the desk, then switched places with me.
“Ah.”
She stopped me as I was leaving, saying she'd forgotten something.
“The restaurants are crowded. If you go out just a little, there’s a convenience store across the street, you know? It probably won’t be as crowded.”
I got a useful tip.
“Okay.”
I left the booth with a light heart.
I should take my time coming back.
* * *
“······.”
Jinuri hugged her guitar bag and blinked.
At the camera lens pointed this way.
To bring out the character's personality, she added the timid little smile she could manage.
Click—click—
The shutter went off several times.
“Thank you~”
The cameraman gave a little bow.
“···.”
Jinuri smiled brightly without a word and bowed back.
That brought the final round to an end.
“Phew···.”
Jinuri let out a tired breath.
The event being fun was one thing, but there was nothing she could do about how physically exhausting it was.
She had been walking around and taking pictures nonstop since morning, and her energy was completely spent.
She set down her guitar bag for a moment and checked the time on her phone.
‘Wow··· it’s already lunchtime. No wonder I was feeling hungry.’
The time was nearing noon.
Time sure passed quickly.
‘I should eat first.’
She had already bought the merchandise she wanted in the morning.
She could continue shopping for what remained after eating.
“Wow···.”
The restaurant was packed with people.
Maybe because it was lunchtime, everyone had flocked here.
Thinking about how much time she would lose the moment she went in there.
‘This won’t do···.’
Jinuri turned around. She quickly gave up on eating at the restaurant.
The restaurants and convenience stores inside the event venue were obvious choices to begin with.
It was obvious they would be crowded with people.
She had a second plan anyway.
Jinuri headed for the convenience store across the street.
This place wasn't empty either, but it was still less crowded than the others.
Jingle~
“Welcome~”
As she entered, the convenience store clerk's greeting reached her ears.
“Hmm···.”
She walked farther inside with familiar steps.
Jinuri folded her arms. Standing in front of the shelves, she fell into thought.
A convenience-store lunch box would be fine, and settling for cup noodles wouldn't be bad for one meal.
Or maybe she should just have something like gimbap.
Jinuri picked out several items.
The moment she slowly turned to pay.
“···!?”
Jinuri froze in place. She had spotted someone.
A man standing three or four steps away.
That familiar face···
It was definitely Lee Seungho.
Thud, thud, thud, thud—
Jinuri moved on instinct.
She searched for somewhere to hide and naturally walked away from the scene.
She ended up behind the shelves, in front of a refrigerator.
···Hiccup.
She was so startled that a hiccup escaped before she knew it.
“Mmph···.”
Jinuri clapped both hands over her mouth, but.
Hic. Hic. The hiccups wouldn't stop.
Fortunately, they were far enough apart that he probably hadn't heard.
“······.”
Her eyes rolled toward where he was.
‘···Why is he here?’
Now that she looked, Lee Seungho was dressed somewhat unusually.
A perfectly fitted suit and a spotless white shirt underneath. His hair was neatly parted, and a blue pass hung around his neck.
‘···Isn't that Archive’s Teacher cosplay?’
Jinuri narrowed her eyes. She secretly watched him from beyond the shelves.
Looking closely, that was exactly what it was. No matter how she looked at it.
That suspicion gradually became certainty.
That was cosplay.
‘Just as I thought··· my guess was right···.’
Lee Seungho.
He was one of her “kind”···!
Cosplaying here was incontrovertible proof.
‘Should I talk to him or not···.’
Jinuri fell into deep thought.
Having someone to talk to about the same subject was certainly a happy thing.
But it was her first time coming out to someone.
So she found herself hesitating.
Besides, considering who the other person was.
······Lee Seungho wasn't exactly fond of her, after all.
‘It looks like he hasn't noticed yet···.’
Jinuri was certain Lee Seungho hadn't noticed her.
He was still holding two cup noodles and debating which one to eat.
He was doing it so casually, too.
Even as he did, Jinuri's worries only deepened······.
“···.”
Swoosh—
A few strands of pink hair slipped over her shoulder.
“···Ah.”
Jinuri once again faced the state she was in.
Her gaze turned straight ahead. Her reflection appeared in the refrigerator's glass door.
Pink hair and sky-blue eyes.
An appearance completely different from usual. Her own cosplaying appearance.
‘···Right, next time···!’
Her face grew a little hot. Jinuri's heart abruptly tilted one way.
Her normal appearance would have been one thing, but meeting an acquaintance like this.
It felt a little wrong.
She needed more time to prepare herself in various ways.
“···.”
The decision had been made; now came the action.
Jinuri watched for an opening, then moved quickly.
“That’ll be 9,500 won.”
The clerk scanned the barcodes leisurely.
‘Hurry up, hurry up.’
Jinuri grew frantic inside and held out her card.
She had to get out of here before she was found out.
“Thank you. Please come again.”
“···Yeees.”
Once the payment was finished, Jinuri hurriedly snatched up her things and fled the convenience store.
Only after walking all the way to a distant spot did she finally stop.
“Phew······.”
Jinuri let out a sigh of relief.
Somehow, she had escaped the crisis.
···Good.
Jinuri praised herself for making such a quick decision.
* * *
···Hiccup!
— “Hiccup!”
Seeing the girl hiccup at the same time as Minimi, I fell silent for a moment.
‘···Jinuri?’
She was cosplaying, but she wasn't unrecognizable.
It wasn't as if there were only one or two people like that around.
‘Why is she here···.’
No, since it was Jinuri.
It seemed perfectly possible. It made sense.
— “She still hasn't noticed!”
Jinuri's Minimi nodded with a face full of certainty.
“···Uhm.”
I felt like I should at least pretend to be deliberating.
So I picked up the two cup noodles in front of me for now.
Besides, I was the same.
I didn't feel like meeting an acquaintance looking like this.
“···.”
After waiting like that for a moment.
Jinuri hurriedly moved, paid for the food she was holding, and.
Quickly disappeared out of the convenience store.
“······.”
···She really was busy in every sense of the word.
*
When I returned to the booth after eating, the line that had been stretched out straight until just now had at least shortened a little.
The customers seemed to have scattered to get lunch as well.
Even so, there was still a line.
“···Oh, you’re back?”
Lee Seungah greeted me with a tired expression.
Maybe I should have taken my time getting back.
“What are the orders?”
I crouched in front of the boxes behind the booth.
“Three sets of tapestries. One Doki key ring and one photo card each.”
I murmured Lee Seungah's words to myself as I put the items into a bag.
I'd gotten used to this too, and was more efficient than when I'd first started.
“Here.”
When I handed them to Lee Seungah, she immediately passed them on to the customer.
“Thank you~”
Seeing her send off the customer with a bright smile and no sign of fatigue, I could once again feel her professionalism.
“Let’s switch.”
“Nngh···!”
Lee Seungah stood up from her seat, stretching her arms and back.
*
The work continued.
When I was doing the repetitive work like a machine.
“Could you give me one of everything you have?”
A big order came in for the first time in a while.
How much did all this cost?
I moved my hands while calculating the price in my head.
I paused—
“···?”
While putting the items into a bag, I raised my head at the incongruity.
Because it was a voice I'd heard often.
···Huh.
I wondered who it was.
It was Jinuri.
She was staring intently at the sample products in the booth, looking excited.
Fortunately, she didn't seem to have seen me.
“······.”
Quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly.
I lowered my head and quickly packed the items, pretending not to know her.
Let's send her off first, then think about it.
“Huh?”
Just then, Lee Seungah's eyes went wide.
She had been gathering people in front of the booth, then came over here.
— “Isn't this Nuri unni?”
Before I had a chance to stop her, Lee Seungah called out to her in a confident tone.
“It is! You are Nuri unni, right?!”
“?!”
Jinuri started and looked at her in surprise.
Her eyes swiveled around. They met mine squarely across the display.
“······!”
Her face turned bright red, like a tomato ripening.
She covered her face with both hands.
“Ah, no, I’m not···?”