Chapter 51 : The Housekeeper’s Day Out

I called Ji-hye, who was resting in her room, to the dining table in the living room.

I explained the current situation in detail, and Ji-hye’s eyes sparkled as she grabbed my hand.

“That’s a relief…”

“What is?”

“I thought you weren’t interested in fashion because you always wore a navy cardigan and a white sleeveless top.”

‘…I wasn’t originally interested.’

Ji-hye, who firmly said that such things didn’t matter, took out her smartphone.

After searching diligently for something, Ji-hye handed me her smartphone.

Thinking that this was the first time I’d seen her so proactive, I checked the smartphone Ji-hye handed me.

Various types of clothes were lined up on the smartphone, all boasting high prices. How could a single piece of clothing cost hundreds of thousands of won, with the average being tens of thousands of won?

I had never felt that spending money was wasteful, but for the first time, it felt like a waste. Thinking that I could treat Curry Mental several times with the money for these clothes, they seemed ridiculously expensive.

But contrary to those thoughts, my eyes were busy scanning the list.

Going to an important fan meeting in cheap clothes could lead to being ignored. Even if it felt wasteful, I thought of it as an investment for the fan meeting day and continued my serious contemplation.

What clothes should I buy?

“These are the trendy clothes these days.”

“Really? Then can you recommend one from these? I don’t have much sense in this area.”

“Hmm…”

Having no interest in fashion at all, I left the shopping to Ji-hye.

Ji-hye struggled with her smartphone for a while, then sighed and spoke softly.

“It’s often different to see it in person compared to web surfing.”

“Different to what extent?”

“Yes. Sometimes it feels like a completely different piece of clothing.”

Ji-hye answered my question while looking at me subtly.

It seemed like she wanted something from me, and judging by the flow of the conversation, Ji-hye’s desired answer was clear.

“We’ll have to visit a department store.”

“Of course! Visiting a department store in person…”

Glaring-

“…would be great. But actually, your opinion is the most important, so if you don’t want to, we can order from an online shopping site.”

“Sigh… Alright. Let’s go shopping, then.”

In the end, I gave the answer Ji-hye wanted.

Seeing her dejectedly lower her head when I glared at her made me feel weak.

When I declared we would go shopping, Ji-hye smiled brightly like a dog going for a walk for the first time in a long while.

“Shall we go today? Or tomorrow? I’m available anytime!”

“Let’s go today. Who knows when I might change my mind.”

“Then I’ll get ready right away!”

Thud-thud-thud-

Ji-hye got up and hurried to her room.

I hadn’t intended this initially, but somehow I ended up going shopping at a department store.

I quietly sighed at that fact and headed upstairs to prepare for an outing after a long time.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When Nayeon revealed that she was a sniper in the streamer Curry’s game, to be honest, I couldn’t understand it.

After some research, I found out that ‘snipers’ were bad people who harassed streamers in the game.

But I didn’t point out this part or say it was wrong. After all, I was in a subordinate position.

If I caused trouble, I could be abandoned, and I absolutely didn’t want that. So, I always responded with the same friendly smile.

After that, I lived a life balancing household chores, managing, video editing, and practicing LoL.

Some might think it was a killer schedule, but it wasn’t at all. Most importantly, LoL was something I did for fun in my free time.

The broadcasting manager job, which Nayeon said would be tough, wasn’t particularly hard either. Sometimes, I had to put up with weird chat messages from viewers, but other than that, the broadcasting manager job wasn’t difficult.

So my ordinary days continued.

Nayeon , who hadn’t streamed for a while, came down to the first floor to find me.

Usually, I would go upstairs to prepare meals, but it had been a while since she came to find me like this.

Wondering if she had something important to say, Nayeon led me to the dining table in the living room.

After sitting down, Nayeon hesitated for a moment, then began to speak.

For a while, Nayeon told me her story, which was simpler than I thought.

She was the chairman of Curry’s stream and had been invited to the year-end fan meeting.

So she needed to buy clothes to wear to the fan meeting, and she asked for fashion recommendations since she didn’t know much about it.

Nayeon’s story could be summarized like this, and I couldn’t help but feel puzzled after hearing it.

Nayeon being the chairman of Curry’s stream?

Wasn’t she active as a sniper in Curry’s stream?

What kind of relationship do Nayeon and Curry have?

Or rather, what does Nayeon think of Curry?

After thinking hard to resolve my doubts, I came to one conclusion.

There was a decisive commonality between Nayeon’s activities as a sniper and becoming the chairman through a large donation.

The commonality was Curry’s ‘attention.’

If she donated, Curry would pay attention to her.

If she sniped, Curry would pay attention to her.

So why did Nayeon want Curry’s attention?

There was only one reason a woman would want a man’s attention.

‘Oh my, oh my, oh my…’

Nayeon must have a crush on Curry!

Otherwise, her excessive desire for Curry’s attention couldn’t be explained.

I quietly closed my eyes and imagined Curry.

A streamer with a mischievous image, but a handsome appearance, tall, and with a good voice.

A man with a talent for speaking and a charm that made people laugh.

Hmm, no wonder Nayeon fell for him.

I nodded in agreement.

And most importantly, there was decisive evidence that Nayeon had a crush on Curry.

The video of Nayeon (Barcode) collaborating with Curry was evidence of her crush.

Usually, Nayeon was blunt and didn’t show much emotion, but she often showed her emotions during the collaboration.

Most of the time, she laughed at Curry’s reactions, but sometimes she would get serious when Curry made a critical mistake.

I’ve been living with Nayeon for almost two months, and this was the first time I’d seen her with so many emotional changes.

Nayeon, who craved Curry’s attention while Curry remained oblivious.

Just hearing about their tender relationship made me change my mind about recommending online shopping.

“It’s often different to see it in person compared to web surfing.”

“Different to what extent?”

“Yes. Sometimes it feels like a completely different piece of clothing.”

To help her long-standing crush come to fruition, I decided to suggest going to a department store, even if it meant getting scolded.

“…We’ll have to visit a department store.”

“Of course! Visiting a department store in person…”

As soon as I took the bait Nayeon threw, I felt her gaze piercing me.

Maybe I was too obvious with my intentions, and Nayeon remained silent, contemplating.

I couldn’t let Nayeon and Curry’s monumental first meeting be ruined.

“…would be great. But actually, your opinion is the most important, so if you don’t want to, we can order from an online shopping site.”

Despite my resolve, Nayeon’s gaze was terrifying.

“Sigh… Alright. Let’s go shopping, then.”

Fortunately, Nayeon accepted my suggestion.

It was the first time I went out since moving into the country house.

Most people walking around were not wearing masks.

The pandemic situation had been resolved, so there was no longer any reason to wear masks.

Of course, I was still wearing one.

Side glances-

Even while wearing a mask, I felt the attention on me.

Unlike Ji-hye, who was cheerfully walking beside me, I wasn’t feeling great.

My appearance and hair color were too noticeable.

When I first became a woman, my hair was a mix of black and red.

At some point, the red took over, and now it looked as if I had dyed it, with all the black parts turned red.

Enduring the uncomfortable stares, I stepped out onto the street and caught a passing taxi.

Arriving at the nearest department store, Ji-hye grabbed my hand and led the way.

Even though I was the one buying clothes, Ji-hye seemed more excited.

“Hurry up!”

“Can’t we go a bit slower…”

“We might not have enough time!”

I raised an eyebrow at the idea of not having enough time.

How could we not have enough time just to buy clothes for a fan meeting?

Unable to understand Ji-hye’s urgency, I followed her around the department store.

Ji-hye moved swiftly, diving into every clothing store and corner she saw.

She brought various clothes and layered them on me in front of the mirror. Or she brought clothes that might suit me and had me try them on.

At first, it wasn’t tiring, and seeing and trying on different clothes was a new and enjoyable experience for a while.

However, after repeating this process dozens of times, I could no longer smile, and my body started to feel tired.

“There’s also a clothing section on the 4th floor! Let’s go quickly!”

I wondered if Ji-hye ever got tired. We had already been shopping for over three hours.

During this exhausting shopping trip, I realized one thing: department stores have an overwhelming number of clothing sections and stores.

“How about this one?”

“Um… It’s not bad.”

I felt like a dress-up doll.

Regardless of my opinion, Ji-hye discussed with the sales clerk which clothes would suit me.

“Nayeon, would you try this on and show me?”

“Okay…”

I took the clothes Ji-hye handed me and headed to the fitting room.

First, I took off my clothes and put on the black leggings.

Then, I wore the white t-shirt and topped it with a grey long knit cardigan.

Standing in front of the full-length mirror on the wall of the fitting room, I checked my appearance. It wasn’t bad.

Since my fashion sense was nearly zero, most of the clothes I had worn so far looked good to me.

This time, the clothes were similar to what I usually wore, so I felt less resistant.

After finishing changing, I came out of the fitting room. Ji-hye approached me as if she had been waiting, staring intently at me.

“Out of all the clothes you tried on today, this one suits you the best… What do you think, Nayeon?”

“Me? Of course, I like it… I’m just tired of shopping.”

“Ahaha… Then let’s decide on this outfit for the fan meeting?”

Ji-hye declared the end of the shopping with an awkward smile.

Finally, I was freed from this tedious shopping.

That fact made me feel better, and my steps became lighter.

After about 4 hours of shopping, I was ready to leave the department store.

“Nayeon, where are you going?”

“Shopping is over… so I’m going home.”

“Oh no, it’s not over yet.”

What?

“Wouldn’t it look off if the top donor showed up at the fan meeting without even one accessory?”

“Picking out accessories won’t take much time. Let’s quickly choose some and go home!”

“Okay… let’s do that.”

Since I had no grounds to argue, I decided to follow Ji-hye’s suggestion.

Indeed, it might look odd if the top donor at the official fan meeting didn’t wear a single accessory.

I thought it would be quick. However, it took 2 hours to finish shopping for accessories.