Chapter 36: Community is unpredictable, Part 2

Woo Seo-jin checked the name engraved on the business card.

Ju Yena, Cocktail Holic.

It was a simple business card with only the logo and name of the bar called Cocktail Holic, but since he knew the name of the shop, he could search for it and visit anytime.

However…

“Is it okay to go?”

Woo Seo-jin is a person who has a basic assumption that things in the world are not easy.

Especially when a woman is involved.

Woo Seo-jin thinks his appearance is just average.

He thought there must be a reason why Ju Yena, who seemed unusual at first glance, was favorable to him.

“What if my organs are harvested for no reason…”

Of course, the probability of that happening is extremely rare…

Even if it’s not human trafficking, the probability of multi-level marketing or a cult cannot be ruled out.

He still has student loans left, and if he gets caught up in something bad, his future will be a hardship.

“Let’s go home. Home.”

Woo Seo-jin made a resolution not to get involved in vain things and returned home.

He felt uncomfortable because some soju got on his hand while drinking earlier, and it was not easy to go for a second round after already drinking a bottle.

Woo Seo-jin just thought of it as a slightly unusual encounter and erased it from his memory.

#

Let’s erase it from memory.

Although he thought so, Woo Seo-jin’s life was still tough.

While living tired in the tomb of exams and assignments, he works part-time to pay off his student loans.

Since life is tough, Woo Seo-jin couldn’t help but think of alcohol.

Still, when he drank, he felt like the things piled up inside were relieved.

Was that why?

“Cocktail Holic…”

Woo Seo-jin stared at the business card he received from Ju Yena, who passed by while drinking a can of beer last time.

Then, since he was going to drink alone anyway, he thought about going here and searched for it…

“It’s closer than I thought?”

He headed to Cocktail Holic as if possessed.

Ju Yena said that if he was going to drink, he should drink delicious alcohol.

He was curious about how different delicious alcohol would be, and he also thought that living alone drinking soju was a bit pathetic.

If possible, he wanted to get drunk while drinking cocktails and look good.

“Welcome!”

And Cocktail Holic, which he finally arrived at.

It was a little.

No, it was a very dizzying concept bar.

A large number of bartenders wearing modernized and highly active maid and butler uniforms were positioned inside the bar.

“Welcome, Master!”

Among them was a male bartender wearing a butler uniform…

Unlike the greetings of the maid bartenders, which were only embarrassing, this one seemed to evoke a bit of disgust.

“I’m sorry, this is my first time here, so could you speak a little more comfortably?”

“Ah, of course. Is this your first time at our Cocktail Holic?”

“Yes, well… I met this person by chance, and she told me to come here if I wanted to drink delicious alcohol…”

“Ah, it’s Ms. Yena’s business card. Wait a moment. She should be at work… Ms. Yena!”

The man in the butler uniform, perhaps not wanting to deal with a man himself, immediately called Ju Yena.

And Ju Yena, who was on the other side…

“Oh!”

“Yes?”

“The bottle-guzzler from that time!”

“Ah, yes, I’m the bottle-guzzler.”

She recognized Woo Seo-jin at once.

“Ah, Manager. I’ll handle this person. Please go over there.”

“Okay, do well.”

“Yes.”

An awkward silence followed.

Woo Seo-jin stared blankly at Ju Yena in her maid outfit.

“This? It’s this week’s concept.”

“Concept?”

“Yeah, our bar is a cosplay bar. Men are usually fixed in butler uniforms, and women’s concepts change periodically.”

Ju Yena casually informed him that Cocktail Holic is a concept bar.

And then.

“Well, I don’t mind, but if we’re going to keep talking, don’t we need something to quench our thirst?”

“Ah…”

She naturally offered a drink and started preparing to increase sales.

Ju Yena is the type to drink deliciously if she’s going to drink, so she became interested in cocktail making, and if possible, she wants others to know the sensation of drinking delicious alcohol.

She wanted to introduce Woo Seo-jin, who looked like he only knew soju and beer, to the real world of alcohol.

“I don’t know much about alcohol…”

“Ah, then I know just the thing.”

Woo Seo-jin naturally handed over the initiative in choosing alcohol to Ju Yena.

#

“The quality is good…?”

Woo Seo-jin, briefly stepping away from the protagonist of Cosplay Holic, quickly reviewed the content so far.

The protagonist, who is wandering around not knowing what to do after graduating from college, just like himself in reality, meets Ju Yena, a bartender at Cocktail Holic, while drinking a bottle and chewing on loneliness.

After that, he starts drinking cocktails made by her and becomes a regular at the store, meeting the second heroine, Sura, after having drinks with Ju Yena and sometimes other bartenders…

“The UI is clean, the story is not bad, the voice acting is clean because they used professional voice actors, and especially the illustrations…”

It’s perfect.

Woo Seo-jin has seen Min Hayoon’s drawings on the broadcast many times, but even to his eyes, this felt like it was on another level.

“How can she draw like this?”

Min Hayoon must be a high school freshman this year, how is this possible…

Woo Seo-jin shook his head as if he had no way of knowing, and sat blankly for a while, looking at the demo screen that had stopped progressing.

Then.

“So…”

As if he had realized something.

He looked at the maid outfit worn by Ju Yena on the screen.

“Haru will wear that, right? In the cosplay book.”

Min Hayoon is serious about the success of Cosplay Holic.

She didn’t even mention the word ‘face reveal’ for a few months, but suddenly she started hinting at it and appealing that she’s pretty.

If you’re curious about my face, support this game, then you’ll know my face.

I’m confident, so you just need to spend money. Isn’t that the unspoken implication?

Then, what should he do as Min Hayoon’s fan?

After thinking for a while, Woo Seo-jin soon came to a conclusion.

Viral marketing.

“If it purely succeeds as a game, she won’t try to do a face reveal again, right? The cosplay book is like a special move she pulled out to make it a hit, isn’t it?”

Min Hayoon’s game.

To make Cosplay Holic go viral in visual novel-related communities.

If the work becomes a hit through viral marketing, Min Hayoon has no reason to reveal her face.

If the game becomes popular, she’ll be sitting on a pile of money, so there’s no reason to risk having her personal information exposed by revealing her face.

And if she doesn’t reveal her face, it’s difficult for Min Hayoon’s channel, which only conducts drawing broadcasts, to grow beyond a certain level.

“Just about double the current size? I hope it grows to maintain around 200 average viewers and doesn’t grow any bigger. Please…”

He wants to know her only for himself.

He doesn’t want to hand her over to anyone.

He wants to keep communicating with Min Hayoon as a chat manager.

To do that, he needs to prevent the face reveal, and if the game is a hit, she’ll make enough money, so she won’t do a face reveal.

Through such a strange thought process, Woo Seo-jin decided to make Min Hayoon’s game go viral and started to take action.

But…

As always, things don’t go as planned.

It’s the end of March 2020.

Perhaps, it’s a time when the most people in history are glued to social media and online communities.

When there are so many people, plans targeting communities are bound to fail.

#

the fourth month of 2020 began.

However, Min Hayoon has not yet checked how much money has been raised for Cosplay Holic on the funding site.

She was afraid of jinxing it, and it was also a matter of human dignity for her.

Honestly, she was nervous.

“I think we can reduce the light source a bit more. Ju Yena’s room is basically a bright background, so even if it’s a bit dry, we can create the atmosphere with the color and SCG.”

-Indeed, this way, the ECG that comes out later will stand out more.

So, she just focused on the illustration work in her room while talking to Choi Arin on the phone.

Now the pandemic is at its peak, and even having a conversation while drinking coffee at a cafe is noticeable.

In that case, it’s better to work comfortably at home while sharing the screen through a call program.

And today, the work continued in a peaceful atmosphere.

-Huh?

Until Choi Arin, who saw something, was at a loss for words.

“Unnie?”

-Uh, uh?

“Did you see a ghost? Why are you suddenly like this?”

-Th, that… This… O, on, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand… hundred thousand… million…

“No, what…”

Min Hayoon was wondering why Choi Arin was acting like that, but just for a moment.

“Huh?”

Min Hayoon also felt something tingling in her head.

At this point, there was only one thing that could make Choi Ah-rin react so intensely.

So, Min Hayoon hurriedly went to the funding page of Cosplay Holic to check the funding achievement rate and the amount of support accumulated so far.

-T, twenty million won!

Choi Arin’s astonished voice came through the speaker.

And so, silence fell between the two women for a while.

‘What’s going on…?’

And Min Hayoon.

During that time of silence, she quickly started ego-surfing to grasp the situation.

This is an amount that can’t be reached unless something went wrong somewhere.

It was urgent to check the details first.