Time was 5:10 AM.
With the beeping notification of my smartphone, I woke up groggily in the hotel.
Before my palm could fumble to find the smartphone, it first touched something pressing against my chest and neck.
Siyeon’s arm, who wasn’t exactly the best sleeper.
As I opened my sleepy eyes slightly, I realized I had become a pillow for Siyeon.
After carefully lifting my limp limbs and moving them aside, I got up from the bed with a light sound of fabric brushing against skin.
“Ugh…”
I stretched to relieve my stiff body with a groan.
Then, I unplugged the charger I had neatly used last night from the wall outlet.
I put everything I had brought back into my bag without missing a single item.
Despite the hotel checkout being at 11 o’clock,
If I wanted to eat breakfast and line up from 6 or 7 o’clock, I had to prepare quickly from now.
I rinsed my mouth with the disposable toothbrush I used last night while washing my hair under the shower.
The loud sound of water droplets splashing irregularly on the bathroom floor.
As I squeezed the wet hair with a slightly damp towel and came out with the hairdryer in hand, Siyeon was weakly sitting on the bed, unable to even open her sleepy eyes.
“Wash up and get dressed.”
“Mm…”
She answered with her eyes closed but didn’t move at all.
In that state, there was no way she would get up by herself.
Holding the hairdryer with one hand, I poked her side with my fingers.
“Get up, Siyeon, aren’t you getting up?”
“Ugh, huff, eh!”
With each broken sentence, I poked her once.
Siyeon, wriggling like a worm from the tickling, displayed a rich expression that could neither be called happy nor angry.
Only then did her eyelids lift with a big movement.
With sleepy eyes, Siyeon stretched her arms toward the sky and groaned, immediately fiddling with her smartphone.
To wake up from sleep, focusing on something is the best.
That’s why some phone alarm features even have simple math problems.
Of course, I wasn’t the type to struggle that much with waking up, so after turning off the alarm, I would wake up a bit by briefly chatting in a messenger app or surfing the web.
“It’s already 25 minutes—”
“Yeah…”
Mentioning the time as if we might be late while glancing to the side.
Finally, Siyeon pushed off the blanket like brushing it aside and answered before heading toward the bathroom.
After returning the room key card, the time we left the hotel was 5:42.
If there was a restaurant open to have breakfast at 5 AM, it was at best a convenience store.
Even though I thought about what we should eat for breakfast, it was my fault for not realizing there was no restaurant consistently open around us.
“If only I had known, I would have bought a burger for breakfast.”
Swallowing that short regret, I moved on since there was no way to turn back time.
The once 24-hour Kimbap Heaven now seemed like a thing of the past, with all the kimbap shops firmly closed.
Finding a restaurant that stays open 24 hours was quite the challenge these days.
Eventually, deciding to do a convenience store food vlog, we moved our bodies to a familiar convenience store with a bright blue sign nearby.
Compared to the fully stocked cup ramen section, the triangular kimbap and lunchbox corner looked like it was missing items, haphazardly filled.
Among them, I picked the lunchbox that hadn’t sold at the end, priced at 7,800 won.
Still, for a Korean, rice is paramount.
Holding a hefty lunchbox in my left hand, and a chocolate milk to drink after eating in my right.
After picking out everything I needed, I moved to the cup ramen section where I sensed some activity.
“Did you pick everything?”
“Um, not yet.”
Siyeon was squatting down so her butt didn’t touch the floor.
After holding a Jeonju bibim gimbap in one hand and contemplating for a while, she finally settled on the cup ramen—tempura udon.
Maybe because it was a cold winter day, she seemed to be craving warm soup.
I thought I should have eaten that combination instead of the lunchbox, already swallowing my second regret of the day as I headed to the checkout.
Beep, beep, beep… the sound of scanning barcodes was monotonous and regular.
“12,500 won, please.”
The expression of the cashier beyond the checkout, looking as if everything in the world was pointless, stuck in my mind that dawn.
With a sound that buzzed around, my lunchbox spun inside the microwave.
And the salty aroma wafted from the powdered soup of the tempura udon melting in hot water, gently enveloping the convenience store.
After the long beeping of the microwave rang out about two times, I took out my share of the lunchbox.
The lunchbox looked slouchy compared to how it was before it went in the microwave.
Before the heat could escape my fingertips as I grabbed the edges of the lunchbox, I hurriedly transferred it to the table near the microwave.
“Ouch….”
Even so, I couldn’t completely avoid the heat, so as soon as I placed the lunchbox on the table, I hastily pulled my hand back and rubbed my fingers.
The heat from my fingertips quickly faded once separated from the lunchbox, and then I split the wooden chopsticks I received at the checkout.
In my haste, the part of the chopsticks I split wasn’t evenly divided in half; one side dominated the split.
It almost looked like something that shouldn’t be featured in a collection of uncomfortable pictures.
After cleaning up the food remnants, I sipped the chocolate milk walking outside.
Hunching my body against the cold, I checked my phone to see it was 6:03.
It was the time when the blue dawn light began to swirl around in the once dark sky.
Click, click, the sound of the hot pack’s contents shaking.
The more my body shrank, the more busily my wrist moved shaking the hot pack.
If I shook the pack up and down, it would look weird, so I held it to the side with my palm facing up.
On the day of the appointment, walking toward the same destination.
Considering Siyeon was relatively more familiar with the area than I was, I didn’t need to ask her where to go.
The long lines outside the building on this cold winter day guided us like arrows to where we needed to go.
“No way, was it this much?”
I heard the official entry started at 10:30, but the line of people stretched out at least 30 meters outside the building.
As if prepared for a battle against time, everyone was bundled tightly.
Among the waiting crowd, I could catch glimpses of hair colors exuding an unmistakable cosplay vibe.
Green, purple, pastel pink.
Colors of hair that seemed quite impossible for someone to have normally.
‘So I have to wait another four and a half hours like this….’
My hands continued to shake the hot pack faster.
The battery I had fully charged in the hotel dwindled to 15%, raising a warning alarm, when I pulled out my power bank.
It was still 9 AM.
Around me, people were sneezing or spreading small mats on the ground and sitting on them, fiddling with their game consoles.
The hand warmers and hot packs I had prepared were gradually running out.
Some people even resorted to tricks, claiming to hold their friends’ places in line only to switch with someone ahead.
Must be someone waiting in line on behalf?
Jealous… no, how shameless of them.
Honestly, I was envious inside and barely withstood until 10:30.
Still, it seemed like a privilege for those who had been waiting in line earlier… the queue that had once formed began to dissipate noticeably with prompt guidance.
Finally entering the building, although it was still cold, the situation was better than the biting wind outside that slapped against my cheeks.
Once inside the building, there was no time to check out the surroundings as we quickly moved inward.
Like a horde of locusts devouring grains.
Inside the building, an overwhelming noise filled with chatter blended with the hustle and bustle of people moving rapidly.
People seemed to know what they were going to buy as if it was already predetermined, heading quickly toward their destinations.
Some got swept up in the crowd, distracted by taking in their surroundings.
While others hurriedly took pictures as if they were determined to capture a memory.
And then there were those who busily bought various items as if they were splurging their pay.
Including those dressed in cosplay, casually wandering around.
All those people mixed together created a chaotic scenery.
“Mari, let’s go over there!”
“Oh, okay…”
Unlike the actively enthusiastic Siyeon, I was clueless about what to do in this place.
Unless I had something to see or do, I felt like my mind went blank.
As Siyeon held my hand and we wove through the crowd, we arrived at a booth filled with male characters.
Upon closer inspection, it was from that sports anime.
“One of each kind of acrylic, please!”
“Thank you!”
Thick acrylic plates engraved with characters.
SD characters, meaning… those that had large heads with a 2:1 body ratio, posing in various stances.
“Is this what you came to buy?”
“Ehee, aren’t they cute?”
Siyeon proudly displayed her successfully obtained trophies.
Since it was something she had bought out of love, I had no intention of criticizing her…
But if someone asked me whether something was worth waking up at dawn after traveling to a nearby accommodation the previous day, braving the cold from 6 to 10:30 for,
I’d say… well….
‘Well, value is relative…’
Having come this far, I started to wander around, hoping to see as many things as possible and maybe snap a few pictures.
Suddenly, my eyes fell on booths related to magical girls.
Naturally, they piqued my interest.
From the acrylic plates Siyeon had bought to stickers, cushions, badges, and even mousepads, there were even comics depicting us as characters.
While the quality varied at each booth, the thought came to mind.
‘Better than official stuff.’
It was more reasonable and relatable in both price and quality than the official merchandise released by the country directly.
Nearby, adults cosplaying as magical girls wandered around.
Though they were on the smaller side, they possessed physiques impossible to duplicate unless you brought along a child to cosplay.
Even so, there was cosplay.
The outfit was that of a magical girl, yet there were even people wearing masks over their faces.
‘That’s me, right?’
…It was my cosplay.
Well, it was nice not having to put on makeup on my face.
As long as I wore the costume of a magical girl and held a gun, it was indeed a cosplay.
Then, Siyeon suddenly stopped at a booth and pointed at badges while saying,
“Give me this one and that one, please.”
“Yes, thank you!”
Siyeon quickly bought two badges that depicted us as characters.
Seemingly gesturing for me to turn around, she swung her hand to the side, and… she attached one of those badges to her bag.
Then she unfastened one of her bag straps and adjusted the clip, preparing to hang it on her bag as if it were meant for her.
The badge in her hand was that of Sun’s character, so mine would naturally be that of Moon’s.
Aren’t you wearing it backward?
As we left the booth, Siyeon wore a proud expression as she readjusted her bag.
She seemed oddly elated, and I couldn’t help but ask her.
“Why do I get this one and you get that one?”
“Aren’t we each other’s fans!”
The answer that came back was surprisingly simple.
We are each other’s fans, well… I guess that wouldn’t be wrong.
Is it like couple tees or couple looks?
“Oh, I see…”
I wasn’t quite sure what that sensation was, but I spoke in a somewhat indifferent tone, with a sense of having understood regardless.
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