Chapter 12: Yoon Su-Hee and Min Jung-kyun

“I’m going crazy, sir”

Tuk.

Tuk.

Hayoon, leaning against the bus stop sign, kicked the ground in frustration.

“Why, in front of me…”

She had taken a taxi on the way here, but being a smart consumer, Hayoon planned to take the cheaper bus home.

So she waited at the bus stop, keeping her distance from people who all seemed to be in groups, and was getting ready to go home when…

“Ugh…”

She hadn’t considered the possibility that the bus might be full.

If she had, she would have quickly moved to where the bus stops…

By the time she realized this, the bus had already left.

Now, she was looking at waiting outside for a full 40 minutes in the middle of a December night…

The heat packs were also slowly losing their warmth, and the stress was inevitably building up.

If this was the situation…

“Has it increased again?”

What else could she do but seek some financial therapy?

Alone at the desolate bus stop across from KINTEX, Hayoon smiled contentedly as she saw the number of followers had increased by nearly 100 in just a few hours.

If her Pixiv followers had increased by 100, how many more sponsors would she gain?

“It’s a relief to know it wasn’t for nothing…”

On this Ilsan night where even the heat packs were losing their warmth…

Hayoon felt her heart warm as she imagined her bank account balance heating up, unlike the cooling heat pack, and then she entered the search term ‘course’ in the Girl’s War gallery.

In these event review posts, cosplayers are often referred to not only as ‘cosplayers’ but also as ‘people who cosplay’. By checking both search results, she could naturally check if she was mentioned.

-AGC Review, Merchandise Showcase.

“This is just a merchandise showcase…”

In truth, very few people willingly post their own faces on the internet.

Of course.

Once a photo is uploaded on the internet, it’s impossible to erase it even if you want to.

There weren’t many cases where people uploaded photos taken with cosplayers either.

-AGC is so much fun!

“Hmm… there’s no picture of me.”

Even if there were cases where people uploaded photos taken with cosplayers, if they hadn’t taken a photo with Hayoon, she wouldn’t be mentioned.

Because of this, even Hayoon, who was well-versed in online community dynamics, couldn’t quickly find posts from people who had taken photos with her…

“Hmm…?”

-The best photo I got today.

For some reason, this post…

She had a feeling.

A hunch that she might be mentioned in this post was tingling and ringing an alarm bell.

-I met the HK416 cosplayer, and her looks are insane. She did all the poses I asked for, so the line was really long, but I managed to get one shot as I was leaving just before the last train.

“Hehe…”

And Hayoon’s prediction was exactly right.

-Wow,Mr….how is it possible to look so young and yet so attractive?

-Ah, is it the angle of the photo? Her eyes look crazy.

└If she cosplayed as a more cynical character than HK416 and looked down on us, I think I’d lose it.

You’re a man of culture.

-But why is the quality of the gun like that? It doesn’t look like a simple prop?

└I asked about this, and they said they commissioned a BB gun to be painted and customized the parts?

Wow, that’s impressive…

Pretty people are usually well-prepared. Yes.

Seems like it.

“This is it… Keke…”

Adoration.

Adoration is overflowing.

Yes, if she wasn’t adored to this extent, there would be no point in cosplaying.

“Ah, why am I so happy?”

Hayoon’s lips curled up to her ears at this sensation she had never felt before, and after browsing the community for a while, she got on the bus as soon as it arrived.

And then…

“Oooh…”

Feeling the true warmth inside the heated bus, she let out a groan and fell fast asleep.

About 1 hour and 10 minutes by bus.

Another 15 minutes by city bus.

The home she returned to after a long 1 hour and 30-minute journey.

No, the home she was returning to…

“It’s… suffocating…”

As if she were a novice hero arriving at the Demon King’s castle, just arriving at the apartment’s main entrance made her hands and feet tingle.

And the reason Hayoon was reacting so sensitively is simple.

[9 Missed Calls]

-From: Mom.

[6 Messages]

-From: Mom.

After getting off the city bus and checking how many Pixiv followers and sponsors she had gained on the way home… she found that while she was sleeping on the bus and half-asleep on the city bus, Yoon Soohee’s missed calls had piled up like daggers.

The first event since becoming a woman seemed to be going well until the end of the schedule…

“Why, did I forget to turn off silent mode…”

She had put her phone on silent mode to watch the talk show on stage, which backfired, and she couldn’t check and respond to Yoon Suhee’s calls.

But, what can she do…

The place in front of her is where Hayoon lives, and she needs to save money for a few more years to become independent.

Gulp.

Hayoon swallowed hard and passed through the main entrance, taking the elevator.

Resenting the elevator that seemed to be going up too fast today, she entered the passcode and went inside…

“Why are you so late?”

“Eek…”

“What do you mean ‘eek’? I’m asking why you’re so late?”

Yoon Suhee, who had been waiting right in front of the door, pushed her face in front of Hayoon’s and asked why she was late. Since Yoon Suhee is about 170cm tall, Hayoon, who is now a little over 160cm, couldn’t help but feel intimidated…

“Sigh… Fine. Come in. Let’s talk after you put your things down.”

“Yes…”

Thinking that Hayoon was frightened by her reaction, Yoon Suhee shook her head and let her in.

“Are you just getting back now?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Did you get a lover or something? You say you sleep late these days, too…”

“Honey…!”

“Hmm… okay, good luck.”

Min Jungyun, who was watching TV in the living room, tried to make a light joke, but seeing Yoon Suhee’s stern expression, he retreated to the storage room/study.

And Hayoon…

‘This is, strange…’

She hid the shopping bag full of otaku goods and cosplay items under the desk and started to think quickly.

‘Why…?’

Min Jungyun’s reaction is not much different from when she was a man.

But Yoon Suhee’s reaction was more intense than she had imagined.

She thought she might say something like she should at least come home when the sun is up now that she’s a woman, but she didn’t expect her to be so angry…

“Min Hayoon!”

“I, I’m coming.”

Because she didn’t expect it.

Gulp.

Hayoon swallowed hard as she went to the living room and stood in front of Yoon Suhee, who was sitting on the sofa.

“Tell me what you did wrong.”

“Um… I came home too late?”

“That’s not the problem.”

“I didn’t answer your calls…?”

Whether she’s a woman or a mentally mature 22-year-old adult, parents are always parents.

Hayoon, feeling intimidated, watched Yoon Suhee’s expression…

“Yes! Calls! Huh? Is it that hard to answer your phone? Do you know how many times I called? Twenty times, I called twenty times, huh?”

“….”

“What!”

“You didn’t… even ten”

“Hey!”

“…”

She bowed her head, sweating profusely.

This is…

If she tried to talk back even once, she would be in serious trouble.

“Why didn’t you answer your phone? Where were you? Huh?”

“I… fell asleep on the bus for a bit…”

“What? Are you crazy? How can a girl who’s barely old enough to have her period fall asleep on the bus? Huh?”

“I, I went to Ilsan…”

“Ilsan? Why Ilsan?”

“There’s a festival I’m usually interested in, so I went to participate in that event…”

“What festival?”

“It’s called, AGC…”

“Spell it out. Is it an abbreviation?”

“It’s Animation, Game, Convention…”

In the end, Hayoon gave Yoon Suhee all the information she wanted.

Of course, thankfully, she didn’t have to say that she was cosplaying…

“Okay. Okay, fine. You can enjoy your hobbies. But.”

“But…?”

“It doesn’t make sense for a girl who’s just in her third year of middle school to go to Ilsan alone and come back at this hour. From now on, go with your dad.”

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? Just do as you’re told.”

She couldn’t avoid the ‘death sentence’ of having to go to events with Min Jungyun.

And Hayoon…

is a booth operator who has to go to Ilsan again in two weeks to participate in SeFes.

“Uh…”

“Uh?”

“Yes! I, I understand.”

“Go on in, you must be tired. Wash up and go to bed.”

“Okay.”

It was time for a plan.

“What should I do…”

Another weekend came a week later.

Hayoon, who was drawing illustrations for sponsors in her room, didn’t look very bright.

“Sigh…”

There are many boxes piled up in the corner of the room…

To go to Ilsan with these, she would have to rent a big taxi, and when she comes back to Seoul, if she has dinner, it will be around the same time as when she went to AGC, and then Yoon Suhee will ask if she went to Ilsan again…

“There’s no good way…”

Hayoon frowned and started the final coloring of the illustration.

She was drawing HK-M4 lying in an M-shape with her pure white panties showing, when…

“Ah.”

As if she had remembered something.

Hayoon clapped her hands, got up, and headed to the storage room/study where Min Jungyun was organizing the bookshelves.

“Hayoon?”

Click.

Hayoon naturally closed the door behind her and locked it…

Then, she declared.

“I’m making money from drawing.”

Since Yoon Suhee told her to go with Min Jungyun if she went to events in places like Ilsan, she was going to actively use this situation.

“Really? Money? How much? How?”

Materialism…

More accurately, Min Jungyun’s tendency to prioritize material things meant that he couldn’t help but be interested in the news that his sixteen-year-old daughter was making money.

She might as well use this as an excuse to make Min Jungyun her ally.