Chapter 12: Achoo!

༺ Achoo! ༻[oppa, you suffered a lot because of me ㅠ﹏ㅠ i promise to do my best and help out starting next week…]

[i can’t properly explain it, but there’s a really important matter.]

[this is nothing big, but please have it while you work…]

“Hehe… hehehe…”

I must be out of my mind.

My mouth was gushing with laughter.

When I looked at our dms, I could feel my facial muscles twitch lightly.

A gift.

I got a gift.

While I might have donated around 500,000 won to Luka, I never imagined that I’d ever get something from her.

Wait, it wasn’t the time for this.

I had to give her a reply quickly…

It shouldn’t be cold, but it shouldn’t make her feel burdensome either.

At the very least, I didn’t want to send her a short answer like before.

I mean, I got a gift and all… sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ Nʘvᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

[Yeah. I’ll enjoy the food. Thank you.^^]

Hmm…

Did I sound too much like an ahjussi?

Honestly, I agreed with the view that after you serve your time in the military, you could be rightfully called an ahjussi.

After repeatedly pressing backspace, I moved my thumb again.

[No, no, it’s all good. It isn’t as hard as I thought, and besides, it wasn’t like I had anything important to take care of…]

This one sounded like I was rambling on…

After much deliberation, I finally decided to send one brief sentence.

[Did you take care of your urgent matter?]

This much should be okay.

I showed my concern to her and I didn’t come across as impolite.

[yes! thanks to you.]

Then you must pass, Luka-tan!

You must pass and return in glory!

Well, I didn’t send those parts of course.

Instead, I sent a thumbs up emoji and closed the chat.

“Phew…”

I began to think about Luka’s stream that I watched a while ago.

My oshi, joked around and laughed with her chat.

But I had a private chat with her just now…

A private chat with the real person…

“Heheeh.”

Ah… It felt good to be alone at home…

I didn’t want anyone to see my dumb look.

Even though I still had some time before the presentation deadline, I was all fired up.

Doah and I had a little secret that she didn’t know about.

That secret became the motivation for me to get through this long night.

* * *

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

Without even opening my eyes, I fumbled to turn off the alarm and grabbed my phone.

“Nothing…”

Again, there was nothing.

Just like yesterday and the day before yesterday.

The warmth provided by Luka’s channel had disappeared.

Just like me, plenty of Pink Army were looking for her traces.

[luka… please announce it.]

[Luka-tan, I’m so cold…]

[But aren’t those YM bastards the real problem here? I mean, how can they not show us the acceptance date?]

[IM SORRY… i wont say fuckdol anymore… please come back…]

An announcement was made that the final audition for the virtual idol group, Closer, would be held behind closed doors.

Even though they had to handle it confidentially due to verifying current personal life issues and whether they would be able to keep up with the required activities or not, I still felt it was ridiculous that they didn’t confirm the reveal date whether one passed or not.

I hoped that Luka would at least post a brief update of what she was up to. However, despite the fact that a week had gone by—from Thursday to Wednesday—only a chilly breeze could be felt from the notice window.

“…Kim Doah.”

I inhaled deeply while saying her real name out loud, before checking the conversation we had yesterday in the group chat.

[the professor gave us his confirmation yesterday. doah, make sure to read everything and participate today.]

[oh, yes. i’ll come after reading everything]

[so did you take care of your personal matters?]

[yes, thank you so much everyone T.T]

[you owe me coffee today, kim doah.]

[okii. sorryyy :<]

Despite them having suffered through that ordeal, Minji and Junseok expressed their understanding.

Well, if this were to happen again, I bet Junseok wouldn’t hold back on saying something else.

It was natural that people who had good grades would prepare their projects diligently every single time.

She could stick to her schedule if we filmed right away.

Wait, could it be… Luka was taking a break for the sake of this project…?

I thought that it would be great if I matched my schedule with Luka’s streaming day.

No, wait. If you were this active, why didn’t you put up an announcement?!

At least post something, Luka-tan!

The Pink Army is suffering right now!

It felt strange.

For some reason, I was so against her focusing on real life, even though it directly impacted me.

I just wanted her to start streaming.

This curiosity to know the result of the audition was killing me.

What happened?

Did she pass, or did she not?

What did the company say to her?

All kinds of questions popped up in my mind, but it wasn’t like I could just ask her.

Guess I’ll ask her when she started her stream again.

After getting up, I quickly washed my face and took a shower.

Clothes…

Normally, I would just throw on some clothes and head to school, but I would be meeting Luka in real life…

So I looked in the closet.

Hmm. Nothing looked good.

In fact, most of my money went to games and supporting streamers.

Because I thought there was no reason to buy expensive clothes when I was stuck at home all the time. 

And I had never tried to look good in front of anyone.

The most decent clothes I had in my closet was the semi-formal suit I wore for presentations.

After thinking about it for a second, I decided to wear a denim jacket over my black shirt.

As for pants, they were just the common black slacks that you’d see everywhere.

Standing in front of the mirror, I tidied up my hair.

I probably looked okay…?

You know what? Whatever.

It wasn’t like I was going to make a move on her anyway. There was no reason for me to be troubled over this.

The autumn breeze lifted my mood as I left the front door.

It was a good day to open the window and get some fresh air in. How nice would it be to watch the stream like that for about six hours?

Arriving at the classroom door, I swallowed hard.

Every class with Doah was like a fan meeting to me.

“Taemin oppa!”

It seemed Junseok and Doah hadn’t arrived yet, but Minji had. She noticed me and waved her hand.

“Oh, hi.”

“You worked hard last week!”

“Nah, it’s nothing.”

“I was so surprised that you worked so hard. Anyway, you were very passionate, you know?”

That was because… Luka had to debut…

I was passionate about Luka’s success, not my own grades. So, I only nodded awkwardly.

Talking with her felt a bit bothersome.

“Oh? Doah, hiii!”

When I turned my gaze to the direction Minji was looking at, I saw Doah wearing a beige trench coat.

“Oh. Hi. Hello.”

Doah bowed politely toward me.

I bowed my head slightly, accepting her greetings.

Minji on my left and Doah on my right.

Normally, I’d be intimidated by those 3D girls, to the point that I wanted nothing but to go and sit alone in the corner.

It felt like Luka gave me strength in so many different ways.

“Oh, what’s this? Everyone is here?”

Junseok, who arrived last, put his bag on the desk.

“Yeah, you brought your laptop, right?”

“Of course. I’ve always brought it with me.”

Junseok was in charge of the laptop from the very first day of class.

It wasn’t like we dumped the responsibility on him, but because of him bringing it on his own, it made me feel reluctant to bring one as well.

“We’ll start the class.”

The professor arrived shortly after, giving us time to go over the project like we did last week. 

“This…”

The professor, who reviewed our advertising plan again, stroked his chin. 

“As I pointed out in my last feedback, this is not a field that can be easily explored. Metaverse, VR. I know this is a new emerging field these days, but creating an advertisement strategy that can accurately capture that won’t be easy. Does anyone here have actual experience with VR, or plays with VR as a hobby? Is there a student here that does?”

My gaze was naturally directed to Doah.

Meanwhile, Doah looked somewhere else as if pretending to know nothing. 

“There could be some results from this. If done right, it might result in an innovative idea, but if done incorrectly, there’s a strong likelihood that nothing will come of it at all.”

To sum up the circular reasoning… If it’s a hit, it’s a hit. If it’s not… it’s a miss.

“I think we can do something very innovative! We’ll try our best!”

Junseok’s ambition for grades flashed up in his eyes.

“If you say so, I won’t stop you from doing it. Instead, you should learn more about VR and conduct a thorough market analysis of your target audience. And I think it will be meaningful to go to a VR experience center and try it yourself. In any case, I hope you can prepare materials with a deeper analysis next week. If you experience anything, you can also bring that out for discussion.”

“Yes!”

When the professor moved to look at the other group, Junseok opened his mouth.

“Guys.”

“What?”

“Everyone, make some time.”

His gaze didn’t conceal his enthusiasm.

“We should go experience VR.”

“Achoo!”

Just like in her stream, Doah let out a cute little sneeze.

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