Chapter 17
“Baraa-nim… What on earth is going on?”
*Squeeeeeeeeak-*
Inside the small semi-basement room, a tiny electric kettle made a noise, indicating the water was boiling.
“…Ah…”
I quickly poured the soup powder into the cup noodles, poured in the water, and thought about what I should say to Chocoa.
Did I recommend Chocoa-nim because there were too many viewers? Or did I just want others to know about Chocoa-nim, and it somehow led to this crowd…?
“………..!!”
I had been thinking for too long, and the hot water overflowed from the cup noodles. Fortunately, it didn’t spill onto the floor or burn my feet in a terrible accident.
“No…!”
I hurriedly wiped up the spilled water and rushed to pour the water from the cup noodles into the sink, which was already demonstrating surface tension perfectly.
“Ugh… It’s hot…”
Even though the hot water hadn’t directly touched my hand, the heat was still radiating through it.
“Baraa-nim…? Did you leave…?”
Meanwhile, Chocoa was still looking for me to understand the situation. I quickly ran cold water over my hot hand, wiped it off on my clothes, and grabbed my small phone to type in the chat.
Baraa- Iyyeyo
“Uh… Were you doing something…?”
As I rushed to type, I made a bunch of typos.
Baraa- I was pouring water into cup noodles…
“…Hmm… Let’s talk about this later… So, what are we doing today?”
Thanks to Chocoa’s considerate nature, I had a bit of time and checked the state of my cup noodles.
“…Damn…”
Most of the soup powder was already gone, and although I tried to pour out the water quickly, the water level was still far above the line. The remaining half of the soup was quickly dissolving into the hot water, and I poured it out with a heavy heart.
It feels wasteful to make a new one… even though it’s just a cup of noodles that costs less than a thousand won…
*Slurp* … Ugh…
The ramen tasted awful. Others might have been able to manage it by eating it with kimchi or something, but not me. I hate spicy food even more than seafood…
“Take that money, watch it burn, sink in the river, the lessons I learned…”
A familiar song began to play on the stream, perhaps because Chocoa had decided to sing. It was the only cover video on Chocoa’s YouTube channel.
“Everything that draws me…”
While humming along to the song I had already memorized, I finished eating the bland ramen.
“Hmm… So, 1,300 people came to my third broadcast, and… that’s why you came to me?”
-Hahahaha
– Ahahaha. The more you explain, the more absurd it sounds. Hahahaha
Baraa- Yes
I finished the horribly bland cup noodles and lay down on my bed, watching Chocoa’s stream.
“…Hmm… For now, I’ll just continue with a singing stream today…”
“Heheh…”
I let out a foolish laugh and, while watching the stream, I fell asleep.
The familiar song I had heard countless times woke me from my slumber.
“Ugh…”
I pulled the blanket tighter around me, cocooning my entire body, and slowly sat up.
“Hmm… Today… Laundry… Wait, what?”
I rubbed my eyes and looked at my phone, from which Chocoa’s voice was still coming.
Manager.
“…Mmmm…”
The alarm hadn’t rung yet… but it was already past 9:10 a.m.
“Oh no…! Hello…?!”
– Oh my, did you just wake up?
“I-I’m so sorry!!! I’ll get ready and come right away!!!!!!!!”
– Oh… okay… But don’t rush and trip on your way.
“Yes!!”
My head was spinning. First, I threw off the blanket wrapped around me and quickly glanced around the small room.
A hoodie and… a skirt…?
“What the heck is this… Ah…”
It was something my younger sibling had snuck into my closet when we went shopping last time. I put it back in the closet and quickly found some comfortable pants for running.
“Huff… Huff… Huff…”
My stomach was cramping severely, and my lungs were begging for more oxygen. With this weak body of mine, it was hard to even run properly for five minutes, so I had to alternate between walking and running several times. Finally, I arrived in front of the store, leaned on the door handle, and caught my breath, feeling like my stamina gauge in a game had not only emptied but bugged out and crashed underground.
“Haa… Phew…”
Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I entered the store.
“Oh, you’re here!”
“I’m sorry…!”
As soon as I stepped inside, I waved and greeted from the counter. Having been scolded by a senior for being late before, or reprimanded even worse by the manager, I walked straight to the counter and bowed deeply like a ripe ear of rice.
“Ah, no..! There’s no need to do that! If you weren’t here, we wouldn’t even have this many customers… Should I help with the orders?”
The manager glanced at the line forming in the store, wearing an expression that was hard to read. I quickly changed into my uniform and came back out to help.
“Oh… huh…?”
“Is something wrong?”
“Manager… These pants are… a little long…”
The pants felt different from the ones I had worn before.
“Well, you’re actually supposed to wear a skirt, but I borrowed these from someone on another shift… She’s a bit short too… There’s only one small pair of pants left, should I order more?”
“…Oh…”
“Take your time to think about it.”
With that, the manager left me in charge of the counter and went out to serve the customers.
“Hello, senior!”
“Oh… sorry… I’m late…”
“It’s okay, but how did you end up being late?”
“Ah… I woke up in the morning, but… it was past 9 o’clock… haha…”
Clearly, it was the alarm’s conspiracy, that assassin. Internally, I cursed the alarm, unsure whether it hadn’t gone off or I had turned it off and gone back to sleep. I tied up my hair and started working.
“Welcome! I’ll take your order!”
About an hour later, after the rush of customers had slowed down, a group of three or four people stood by the door, whispering among themselves while looking at me instead of approaching the counter.
– Isn’t that the person?
– Wow… This is for real…
– How can this be possible?
– Should we… try talking to her?
I could hear bits of their conversation, but the music playing in the store drowned out most of it. Since I didn’t need to focus on the customers’ chatter, I just kept smiling politely as they slowly approached.
“Uh… Are you Baraa-nim…?”
“…….Yes…?”
It was my first time meeting a fan.
“Wow… You’re so pretty! And your voice is amazing!!!”
“Uh… Hmm…? Thank you…?”
The awkward atmosphere softened a bit after the unexpected compliments.
“I’m really a fan! Can I take a picture with you?!”
“Sure… as long as it doesn’t disturb other customers…”
After taking pictures and shaking hands with the people who claimed to be my fans after just three broadcasts, I quickly got back to work.
“Three hot lattes, one iced Americano!”
Since the manager had finished serving, I grabbed the already-prepared drinks and headed out to serve them.
“Here are the smoothies you ordered…”
Carrying the heavy smoothies in one hand, I almost stumbled but managed to catch my balance just in time with my quick reflexes. I reminded myself to ask the manager to order shorter pants later, and I continued serving diligently.
“Su-yeon! Can you serve this?”
“Yes!”
The manager, busy with the never-ending line of customers, handed me more drinks to serve as I carried them out.
“…Oh…”
The drinks were ordered by the customers who had earlier said they were my fans. Feeling a bit excited, I quickly walked over to their table.
“…Oh my gosh!!!”
*Crash!!*
A loud noise echoed through the already noisy café. The store fell silent.
“Are you okay??!”
“Senior?!”
The manager rushed over from the counter to help me up after I fell.
“…I’m sorry…”
“It’s fine… I’ll grab a broom… Just stay put.”
The manager told the waiting customers to hang on for a moment, then went to the back to get a broom. Though it was officially called the break room, it doubled as storage and a changing room, making its name rather ambiguous.
“Are you okay…?”
Still flustered, Si-ha, who had been watching me with wide eyes from the counter, approached me.
“Uh… I just slipped a little…”
“…”
Since there were still customers waiting, I sent Si-ha back to the counter and cleaned up the broken glass and spilled coffee with the broom and cloth the manager brought out.
“Don’t worry… You don’t have to pay for this.”
“I’m really sorry… Manager.”
“Hmm? What for?”
“Um… Do you still have that skirt…?”
“Oh… uh, yeah… There’s one left, but… you want to wear it?”
“…I think it’d be better than tripping again, right?”
The reason I had fallen was clearly because of these long pants. Even after folding them twice, they had somehow come loose as I moved, causing me to step on the hem and trip.
After finishing the cleanup, I told the manager and Si-ha to wait for
A moment, then went to the break room/changing room.
