Chapter 12: The Day of the Meeting: Stepping Into the World.

Living in the world, there are often things you only realize after the moment has passed.

Missed opportunities. Things you shouldn’t have neglected.

Or wrong choices.

What I realized now was the last of those: a wrong choice.

One minute after sending the message, I was feeling considerable shame.

Considering the time it takes to pick up a phone and check, my sending the message and photo, and EunSiyu checking it, were almost simultaneous.

I’ve noticed since last time, EunSiyu checks messages incredibly fast.

That tendency, very positive for a YouTuber, was causing me a minor problem.

EunSiyu is someone who reads messages incredibly quickly.

Therefore, the replies are also incredibly fast.

Normally, that is.

‘Hmm…’

But now, some time had passed after she read my message, and there was still no reply.

That departure from the usual made me realize what I’d done.

Imagine there’s someone you’re meeting for the first time tomorrow, whose face you don’t even know.

Imagine that person, the day before your meeting, sends you a photo along with the shocking confession that they’ve never met anyone before, and asks if it’s okay…

‘Ah.’

It would be embarrassing, I imagined.

Very embarrassing.

Fortunately, EunSiyu seemed to be trying not to show the embarrassment she must have felt.

About three minutes later, a reply came, containing praise that I looked pretty and that the outfit suited me.

She added that she hadn’t realized I was a woman, that I looked about her age, and that she was looking forward to the dinner tomorrow.

‘…Huu.’

Of course, text can’t convey all the thoughts of the writer. Tone and nonverbal expression aren’t included in written sentences.

But even so, there are things you can sense to some degree, even if you aren’t someone like me, who communicates more often through text than spoken word.

You can get a feel for whether a message is formal or genuinely sent with a smile.

The words EunSiyu sent me now were the latter.

It wasn’t a flamboyantly decorated message, but I could feel the sincerity in the simple praise and expressions of anticipation.

In other words, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to consider that New Ha Eunsol had received permission to go outside in this state.

I forcibly suppressed the shame that was rising from within with the phrase, ‘The result is good, right?’, and cleared my throat.

Come to think of it, I should loosen up my throat a bit since I have to talk directly tomorrow.

On that note, I made an effort to get used to my own voice by speaking out loud with my throat, which I had barely used for the past six weeks.

After making sounds for a few minutes, when I remembered, I’d reread EunSiyu’s message, fill myself with confidence, and encourage myself.

That’s how I finished my preparations.

While watching EunSiyu’s broadcast that evening, I organized what I’d say tomorrow.

If EunSiyu still put forward those same conditions I’d previously mentioned, I kept in mind what I was thinking and the counteroffer I’d make.

I usually use my own unique sleep method for sleeping and waking.

It’s a simple method where I set up multiple alarms and wake up when I can, to reduce any useless sleep time.

‘Eight hours should be enough.’

But just for today, instead of spacing out multiple alarms like usual, I set only one alarm on my phone.

When EunSiyu’s broadcast ended, I set the alarm to go off eight hours later, which is said to be the optimal amount of sleep for a person.

I set the repeat cycle to one minute if the alarm wasn’t turned off, and threw myself onto the bed.

‘…Let’s sleep.’

This way, instead of being a freelancer who cuts sleep short because they feel it’s a waste of time, I should be closer to having a vibrant appearance.

And so, the morning.

Perhaps because I was nervous, I woke up at the first alarm.

I reached out to the loudly ringing phone beside my head, silenced it, and pulled back the covers.

I quickly got out of bed to avoid falling asleep again.

I was about to turn on the computer out of habit, but I realized that today was a day where I had to do something outside of my usual routine, and stopped my hand from going to the power button.

‘…Today’s the day.’

That small realization made me feel immediately that today was the day of the decisive battle.

Saying ‘day of the decisive battle’ sounds a little strange since it’s like I’m going to negotiate something.

Worried and daunted, but endlessly anticipating… I moved my body to the bathroom while wondering what word to use for this kind of feeling.

It wasn’t a very important thought, so I washed it away along with the water while washing myself.

I washed myself, dried my hair, and did the aftercare. I put on the things I had to wear.

After that, I walked towards the clothes I had neatly spread out on the floor yesterday.

‘O…’

My bizarre behavior from yesterday, which I thought I’d shaken off, suddenly resurfaced, and I had to clench my hands for a moment.

But I suppressed it by recalling the thoughts I’d had yesterday.

If someone were in the same situation as me, a majority of people would carry this out when told about this method.

It was a very rational way to solve the problem, even if it was a little strange in form.

The two thoughts I recalled were enough to give me the strength to pick up the clothes.

Since it wasn’t difficult to put on either, it took less than a minute from deciding to putting on all the clothes.

‘…Looks okay, right?’

After putting on the clothes, I roughly checked my appearance using my phone’s selfie camera mode.

It wasn’t much different from the appearance in yesterday’s photo. It must mean it’s okay.

It was time to go outside.

Card. ID. Phone.

After checking one last time that I had all my belongings, I opened the door and went outside.

‘…O’

The midday sunlight I was experiencing after a long time was quite hot even though it was spring.

Despite the clothes covering me, I could feel the heat on my skin, in contrast to when I was inside.

My impressions of the current situation – that I was coming out at midday after a long time – ended there.

The rivers and mountains don’t change that much in five years, so the neighborhood I’d been living in continued to look the same as I remembered.

I began walking towards the bus stop where the bus to my meeting spot with EunSiyu would come.

This area had a culture where you had to do the incredible act of raising your hand to stop the bus, even if you were standing at the bus stop.

That was quite a burden for me to do now, but fortunately, I could blend in with a few other people who seemed to be taking the same bus.

Fortunately, there were quite a few empty seats on the bus I boarded.

I went to a seat in the back and sat down, and checked once again on my phone which stop I had to get off at.

….

That was it.

The strange gazes from others looking at the changed me, which was the reason I hadn’t been going outside, hadn’t been felt even fifteen minutes after coming outside.

People usually don’t pay extremely detailed attention to others.

I was slowly realizing, through my time outside, that the element I’d been trying the hardest to ignore about the changes that had happened to me wasn’t something that was outwardly visible.

It’s not like I have ‘Parallel World Ha Eunsol’ written on my forehead… to other people, I’m just 20-year-old Ha Eunsol right now.

So, I won’t be receiving any strange gazes even in front of EunSiyu.

‘Huu…’

Be comfortable, be natural.

I can just act how I always did.

After telling myself that again, I pressed the bell at the stop closest to my meeting place and got off.

When I walked a bit and arrived in front of the restaurant, there was still quite a bit of time left until our appointment.

It seemed I’d arrived about 30 minutes early.

Even someone in a very passionate relationship wouldn’t have come this early.

I chuckled at the thought that briefly crossed my mind, and while calming my slightly trembling heart, I looked for a place to stand still.

It was about twenty minutes later that I saw Yu Sieun, the person, not the persona, in reality.

She turned towards me, changed her expression to a bright smile, and walked towards me.

I greeted her first, and heard a bright, cheerful reply.

“Ah, hello!”

“Hello! Nice to meet you! You’re Ha Eunsol-nim, right?”