Chapter 24: This is totally like a couple

When was the last time she went outside?

Ever since she got a spark of inspiration from meeting the Seasons members, Jina had been sitting in front of her computer, working through the night.

On the monitor, 3D tools, VRM files, and various test screenshots and graphs were displayed simultaneously.

Post-it notes were stuck all over the desk and shelves.

Unintelligible writing and bizarre drawings were increasing.

“The expression around the eyes is especially important… Increase the number of polygons here, and apply color to each face…”

Jina’s muttering mixed with the computer’s desperate cry of ‘just kill me’ – or rather, the fan noise – that echoed throughout the studio apartment.

She wanted to maintain this state of being properly driven for as long as possible.

She forced herself to stay awake, fearing that if she fell asleep, all the inspiration that had flashed through her mind would disappear.

She typed on the keyboard.

When she felt like she was losing her grip on reason, she drank strong coffee, and when her eyelids felt too heavy, she quickly lay down and took a short nap.

“Ugh~ I’ve roughly finished one.”

Only after completing one of the four requested avatars did Jina finally come out of her own world and return to reality.

Her vision, which had been focused only on the monitor in front of her like a racehorse, widened.

“…Wow, the room is a mess.”

The room was literally a mess.

Post-it notes with scribbles were stuck all over the wall.

VR equipment and electronic devices were scattered on the desk with tangled wires.

Paper cups, glass bottles, and delivery food packaging were scattered on the floor.

And to top it off, dust was piled up, and coffee stains were stuck to the floor.

It was a perfect collaboration of disaster.

“I… should clean up…”

Honestly, it was a hassle.

A huge hassle.

Just as she was thinking about putting off cleaning until after she woke up from a nap and was trying to make room to spread out her blanket, her smartphone vibrated with a woo-woong sound.

The name displayed on the screen with a simple message was Hyoin, her junior from her old lab.

Now that she looked, there were a few missed calls.

Two from Hyoin, four from Youngjun, and one from Winter.

There were a few more messages in her inbox.

As expected, the majority of them were from Hyoin.

Of course, it was less than five.

[Hyoin: Jina! Professor went on a business trip abroad, want to grab a drink tonight? (A graduate student chick emoji pouring alcohol)]

[Hyoin: Wow, this girl really doesn’t check her messages. She must be absorbed in something again. Are you still doing research even after leaving the lab? (A graduate student chick emoji typing on a keyboard day and night)]

[Hyoin: I didn’t want to bother you because you seemed focused… but I’m starting to get worried. If you see this, just send me a quick message to let me know you’re alive.]

[Hyoin: …Are you dead? Are you alive?]

Reading the messages, Jina felt sorry for Hyoin.

She had caused unnecessary worry.

Just as she was about to send a message to apologize and let her know she was alive, her smartphone rang.

Since it was Hyoin, Jina quickly answered the call.

[Ah! You finally picked up. Hello, Jina? Are you alive and well?]

“Well… I’m still alive for now.”

[Are you really alive? Your voice sounds really serious.]

“…I was just about to send you a message to let you know I’m alive when you called.”

[Of course, I called right after I saw that you read my message. But still, how can you not be contacted for over a week? What on earth have you been doing?]

Hyoin said that if she hadn’t heard from her today, she would have gone to her studio apartment or called 119.

Her voice was sharp, but it was filled with concern.

Jina felt bad for causing unnecessary worry to an already anxious graduate student, so she apologized first.

“I’m… sorry. There’s something I’m working on, and I got so absorbed in it that…”

[I thought that might be the case. When you were in the lab, you wouldn’t eat and would just stare at the monitor when you got focused on something.]

“Did I do that?”

[Especially when you were working on your thesis, you would stay up all night working. Everyone would whisper behind your back that you were in monster mode again.]

“Haha…”

Hyoin’s voice softened a little, as if she was lost in old memories.

Jina thought this was a good time to end the call and go to sleep, but Hyoin’s nagging pierced her ears again.

[So, have you been eating well? How’s the state of your room? I bet it’s not clean at all.]

“I’ve been eating some. I’m human, how can I live without eating? And the room…”

Jina trailed off and swallowed hard without realizing it.

…Did someone drop a bomb in her studio apartment?

No matter how shameless a person was, they could never say that they were keeping the room reasonably clean after seeing this state.

[So you managed to meet the minimum human requirement for meals, but the room is not fit for human habitation.]

With just a moment of silence, Hyoin immediately grasped the state of Jina’s room.

[It’s late today… and tomorrow is Sunday, so I’ll come over to your studio apartment tomorrow afternoon. Just do a rough clean for now and go to sleep, and we’ll clean together when you wake up.]

“No, there is no need to…”

The ominous feeling that was slowly rising from the studio apartment made her words of refusal disappear.

Jina couldn’t clean this up by herself.

“…I’m sorry. I’ll be in your debt.”

If Jina were a man.

Or even if her mind were clear right now.

She would never, ever invite Hyoin into this room of chaos, destruction, and oblivion.

But this was a matter of survival.

Before pride, shouldn’t she think about survival first?

[Wow… For you to ask for help so readily, it must be really serious. I’ll come prepared. See you tomorrow then.]

The moment the call ended, the last thread of Jina’s sanity that she was barely holding onto also snapped.

A wave of sleepiness washed over her, and Jina let out a long yawn.

She briefly considered collapsing on the floor and passing out, but she summoned the last of her strength and somehow managed to spread out her bedding.

Could she be sure she would wake up before Hyoin arrived?

Absolutely not.

Then the first thing Hyoin would see when she barged into the room would be Jina lying like a corpse in the middle of the messy room…

It was easy to imagine what would happen next, even with her sleep-addled brain.

She would scream, shake Jina while crying, call 119, and she would be taken to the emergency room…

But this person was registered as a male?

Did she have a s*x change operation?

Aside from the embarrassment, it was obvious that a lot of troublesome things would happen.

“Ah… Come to think of it, does Hyoin know the passcode to my studio apartment…?”

Half-collapsed on her bedding, Jina barely managed to turn on her smartphone and send a few numbers to Hyoin.

Because she was so tired, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The screen of her smartphone, which had turned off as soon as Jina started snoring, lit up again.

[Youngjun: I checked the email. I was worried because I hadn’t heard from you.]

[Youngjun: But more importantly, Jina. I checked Winter’s avatar…]

[Youngjun: This insane quality! What is this!! It’s practically Han Ari mk2, just with fewer features!!]

[Youngjun: Can you talk on the phone right now? Please?!]

[Youngjun: Ah! I apologize if you were working on the other members’ avatars. I’m really sorry for disturbing you.]

[Youngjun: But… I have to say this. Jina, you are truly a Kami! A god!!]

Wheeeing-

The sound of a vacuum cleaner pierced Jina’s ears, waking her up.

Her mind was still foggy, like it was filled with mist, and her eyes were dry.

Her lips were also dry and cracked, and they stung.

She thought about going back to sleep, but it was difficult because she was already awake.

She was sleepy and tired, but for some reason, she couldn’t sleep.

That was Jina’s current state.

More than that, the sound of the vacuum cleaner was bothering her.

It wasn’t that it was loud… but had it been a long time since she heard it?

It felt unfamiliar.

That was because Jina had never had a vacuum cleaner in her studio apartment.

Wondering what on earth was going on, Jina forced her eyes open.

“Kkyaa…”

A groan escaped her lips as she lifted her eyelids, which even a powerlifter who could lift 500 would struggle with.

The first thing she saw through the hazy mist was that the room was cleaner than she expected.

The delivery food containers and paper cups were all in the trash bag.

The stained floor was also cleanly wiped.

The cluttered equipment on the desk was all put back in its place.

However, the Post-it notes stuck on the walls and shelves were still there.

The attention to detail was extraordinary.

“Oh? You’re awake, Unnie?”

Jina’s head turned in the direction of the voice.

As she slowly blinked, Hyoin’s figure, holding a cordless vacuum cleaner, came into focus.

“You look tired, you should have slept more. Did the sound of the vacuum cleaner wake you up?”

Jina slowly shook her head.

Then she stretched, yawning widely.

“If you were here, you should have woken me up… Why are you cleaning alone when it’s not your room?”

Jina mumbled in a voice that was still half-asleep.

“You were sleeping so soundly. I couldn’t bear to wake you up.”

When she first opened the door, she thought something was wrong with Jina and was about to call an ambulance, Hyoin chuckled.

“But you were sleeping with a blanket on, so I thought, ‘Ah, she must be really tired from staying up all night,’ and left it at that.”

“How did you get in? It should have been locked.”

“I entered the passcode you gave me.”

At Hyoin’s words, Jina nodded with a satisfied expression.

Praising herself for managing to spread out the blanket and send the last message before collapsing.

“By the way, the fact that you told me the passcode… does that mean it’s okay for me to come in anytime?”

“…Huh?”

“This feels like a couple.”

…Myself, praise retracted.

“You are a woman and I am also a woman…”

“But, originally you were a man.”

“Ahaha~ I’m just kidding, just kidding.”

“Ri, right?”

“Wait. If we’re at the point where we do housework for each other… we’re not a couple, we’re practically a married couple?”

Cough!

At Jina’s coughing, Hyoin burst into laughter.

Behind the laughter.

There was a slight, very slight, hint of regret.