Chapter 22: Avatars have come to life

Winter, no, Seo-ah, was busy from early in the morning.

On one side of the bed, VR equipment that had not been put away last night was mixed with clothes that had not been selected in the final screening.

On the back of the sofa, the coat and blouse that were unfortunately eliminated in the final final screening were tangled.

On the table, a pouch and some cosmetics were spread out.

And in the middle of the room…

“Is this too dull…?”

The final, really final, really really final, today’s outfit judging was in full swing.

Normally, she would have just grabbed whatever she could find and left, thinking, ‘I’ll just wear anything,’ but today was different.

“This blouse seems too bright…”

Muttering her lips in front of the mirror, Seo-ah held the top and bottom clothes against her body alternately.

What she had in her hand now was a white blouse and a pastel sky blue skirt.

It looked pretty, so she bought it with great determination, but she hardly had a chance to wear it.

To be honest, she didn’t really like the color.

Originally, she used to wear dark clothes.

The dark, almost drab gray coat was Winter’s favorite.

But for today, she wanted to avoid overly dark tones.

“If it’s Jina, she will probably come wearing achromatic clothes.”

Winter muttered, recalling Jina’s avatar they had encountered in the VR space.

A languid expression, a career woman with a decadent charm.

As a person who insisted that a true VTuber avatar should be almost identical to the real-life appearance, her real-life appearance would be quite similar, even if not exactly the same.

Seo-ah placed Jina’s avatar in her mind and stood herself next to her.

“…!!”

She felt excited and embarrassed for no reason, and she stomped her feet.

Calm down.

The other person is a woman.

Seo-ah took a deep breath inwardly, tried to calm herself down, and coordinated herself according to the imaginary Jina.

…Yes.

I want to go out in a chic and sophisticated outfit.

After a long 고민 since yesterday, Winter made her final choice.

After choosing her clothes, she paid a little more attention to her makeup.

She didn’t go out much in the first place, and even when she did, she just dabbed on some BB cream.

But today was different.

She tried eyeshadow and lip gloss.

Because she was not used to it, there was a small happening where she slipped her hand and dropped the cosmetics on the floor, but even this was exciting.

At that moment, her smartphone rang.

The atmosphere, unlike the cheerful ringtone, sank coldly.

This was not a pleasant ringtone.

There was only one person who would call early in the morning.

Seo-ah let out a small sigh and looked at her smartphone screen.

Seeing the word ‘Mother’ on the display, Seo-ah briefly closed and opened her eyes.

Seo-ah took a deep breath and answered the phone, ‘Hello~’.

Her chest already felt heavy.

[You’re going out again today? You don’t even show your face at home. What have you been doing these days?]

“I have an appointment. It’s important.”

[An important appointment? Are you going to another one of those useless broadcasting meetings? When are you going to get your act together?]

“But I’m taking care of myself without relying on my parents.”

[Is living hand-to-mouth a proper job? Can you even make a living with that?]

The voice of her mother coming from the smartphone was still harsh.

She continued to nag that she had sent her to a good university, but she was not studying and was doing other things.

Seo-ah endured it and forcibly cut her off.

“Let’s talk later. I have to go out now.”

Then she hung up the phone in a hurry.

“Haa…”

Seo-ah put down her smartphone on the table and let out a deep sigh.

She forcibly swallowed the short curse that was about to pop out without her realizing it, and slowly closed and opened her eyes to calm her mind.

Suppressing it, pretending to be okay, was the role-play that Winter was best at.

“…My mood is ruined.”

But today’s appointment was really important.

The person she was going to meet today was a really, really important person.

There was no need to lose energy here, right?

Reassuring herself, Seo-ah finished getting ready to go out.

“Is this okay?”

Seo-ah glanced at herself in the mirror and quickly checked her makeup.

Her clothes and face looked fine.

She just dabbed the slightly smudged mascara with a cotton swab.

This was perfect, Seo-ah nodded.

Seo-ah checked the time on her smartphone.

11:30 AM.

About 30 minutes left until the appointment.

Seo-ah grabbed her pouch, wallet, and smartphone and left the house.

It took about 15 minutes to get to the meeting place… If she hurried, she could arrive at least 5 minutes early.

The younger members who had met Jina before said that she was the type to arrive exactly on time.

This was a golden opportunity to wait for 5 minutes and pretend to have waited for 50 minutes to embarrass Jina.

Thinking of Jina’s embarrassed expression, Seo-ah chuckled mischievously.

“Ah, this isn’t right…”

She entered Hapjeong Station, but the subway train that was supposed to enter the station was slightly delayed.

“Forget about going there first and sitting down… I might even be late?”

Even Fall, who was teased for being Late Fall, was not late for the appointment.

But she, the eldest member of the Seasons, was late?

…That was beyond embarrassing.

But Seo-ah tried not to be flustered as much as possible.

You had to be calm when you were in a hurry.

Stomping her feet wouldn’t make the time go faster.

Fortunately, around 11:45 AM, the subway started moving.

Seo-ah let out a sigh of relief, but she was so anxious that she kept opening and closing the map app repeatedly.

[This stop is Sinchon, Sinchon Station…]

As soon as the subway doors opened, Winter started walking quickly.

Why did she wear shoes with heels that didn’t even suit her?

If she had worn sneakers like usual, she would have run and arrived already.

The meeting place was a small franchise cafe in an alley.

Looking inside from the outside, she saw a woman sitting inside the quiet cafe with a cup of coffee.

Seo-ah recognized at a glance that the woman sitting by the window and looking outside was Jina.

“It’s not similar… It’s exactly the same.”

Neat clothes, and a not-so-neat chest.

A languid expression that looked like she had lived through everything, and faint dark circles under her eyes.

The avatar she had seen in VR Chat had popped out into reality and was sitting there.

If her clothes were also formal, she might have mistaken this place for a virtual space.

“What do I do, I’m so nervous…”

Seo-ah stopped at the entrance of the cafe and took a deep breath for a moment.

She managed to calm her pounding heart with the suggestion, ‘I am Winter.’

She looked at the clock while catching her breath.

12 PM, noon.

…Ah, it just turned 1 minute past.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a big deal, but she felt strangely sorry.

It was 1 minute, but late was late.

‘Winter, get a hold of yourself.’

Seo-ah tapped her cheeks.

She put on a calm and haughty expression on her face.

Then, she slung her handbag over her shoulder and walked elegantly to open the cafe door.

Tap, tap.

She deliberately made loud footsteps and walked towards Jina.

There was nothing like shoes to reveal her presence.

Yes.

This was why she somehow managed to wear shoes.

Jina, who was sitting in her seat, turned her head and looked at Seo-ah.

Their eyes met, and Seo-ah took a short deep breath.

Seeing her up close like this, she realized that the person in front of her was not an avatar, but a person.

No matter how skilled Jina was at creating realistic avatars.

She couldn’t capture this liveliness, this breath, in an avatar.

‘It was a good idea to meet in real life…!’

Seo-ah suppressed her urge to wave her arms around and deliberately spoke in a sullen voice.

“Hello. You must be Jina, right? I’m Winter.”

“Nice to meet you, Winter.”

Jina bowed her head slightly in greeting.

Seo-ah glanced at the cup on the table.

She noticed that it was already half empty.

She hoped… she hadn’t been waiting for too long, had she?

“I’m a little late, right? I’m sorry.”

“Late? You’re right on time.”

Seo-ah felt strangely relieved.

Yes.

This languid and calm voice.

The resonance that made her ears feel comfortable when she heard it.

This was what she fell for…

Seo-ah suppressed her urge to open her mouth without realizing it, and sat down across from Jina.

“You look exactly like you did in VR Chat. I thought you took a picture and made it into a 3D model.”

“Haha…”

Jina laughed awkwardly.

Seo-ah said it casually as a joke, but it was quite an accurate observation.

In fact, Jina had taken pictures of her body and used them to train the AI.

Not just her body, but her almost naked body.

…This was a secret she would have to take to her grave.

“As Manager Youngjun said, don’t you really want to try broadcasting? I think the response will be really good.”

“As I said last time, I don’t have any talent for broadcasting…”

Jina trailed off with a grim voice.

Winter laughed it off lightly, as if she didn’t care.

On the other hand, she was secretly disappointed.

She wanted to do a collaboration with Jina using their avatars.

With this skeptical response… it wouldn’t be easy.

‘Well, if we get a little closer. Someday.’

Winter put down her handbag and went to the counter to order coffee.

Iced Americano, with an extra shot.

Hearing Winter’s order, Jina asked in a surprised voice.

“You like bitter things?”

“If I don’t add an extra shot, it doesn’t feel like I’m drinking coffee.”

Actually, she was craving something sweet, but she ordered it anyway, thinking about her image.

She was overdoing it in front of Jina.

Role-playing was… important…!!

“Don’t drink too much. It’s not good for your health.”

Saying that, Jina muttered in a bitter voice.

‘Well… I guess I can’t really say that.’

Jina chuckled and sipped her straw.

Just then, Seo-ah’s order came out.

Before taking it to her seat, Seo-ah casually brought the cup to her mouth.

Then, she put it back down and squeezed the syrup.

One, two, three, four, five times.

As if that wasn’t enough, she grabbed two, no, three sugar sticks and returned to her seat.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to just order a latte or a caramel macchiato?”

“…You’re right.”

Seo-ah’s head hung low, and an invisible puff of smoke rose above her forehead.

Her role-play was completely ruined.

…But she couldn’t drink that terrible liquid, which seemed to have been dredged up from the depths of hell, with a sane mind.

This was a matter of survival.

Of course, if it was someone else in front of her, she might have forced herself to drink the poison.

But because it was Jina.

Because she was going to be her Mama.

And… because she felt strangely comfortable with her.

She felt like she could show her true self.

And a little.

Just a little.

She wanted to act like a child, something she hadn’t even done with her parents.