“Wow, it’s a comic book!”
Claire sparkled as she entered the bookstore.
Well, of course, it was a specialty comic book store! Sure, it was smaller than the one in our old region, but it was still impressive enough to be called a “specialty store.”
Claire and Alice could read Hangul now. Actually, they were still perfecting it. Even though their learning speed was faster than average, a language that has been written for so long has new stuff popping up no matter how much you study.
But still, they had no problem reading the characters.
Being able to read meant they could use a bit of a short-cut.
If there was a word they didn’t understand just by looking at it, reading it aloud translated it to their ears as well.
… It was a strange feeling in many ways. Even though they were using a different language, it translated in their ears, and if they focused hard enough, they realized it was indeed a different language.
On the flip side, when I used the language from Azernar, it rang in my ears as Korean.
Of course, sometimes reading it out loud would sound different, but as long as it was within a reasonable range of error, it was okay.
And because of that quirk, Claire loved comic books. They were easy to read!
She had almost read everything in my room. Thinking back, it had been a while since I bought comic books. About a year had passed in this world, but in my personal time, several years had gone by.
“If it’s the next volume of the comic book at home, I’ll read it.”
“Really?”
“Yes! Pick whatever you want!”
Claire’s eyes sparkled as she immediately rushed between the shelves.
“Isn’t that a bit too much? Won’t she get spoiled?”
“Claire knows how to distinguish that.”
Alice seemed worried, so I replied like that.
At first glance, she might seem like a childish kid acting impulsively, but she was actually very sensible.
She kept her promises and didn’t take any unnecessary personal risks.
Claire embodied the idea of being a “good child.”
“… Is that so?”
Alice still tilted her head, but well…
… Whatever Alice says goes, but Claire listens to me, so that’s what matters!
Thinking about it again, that description might be slightly shaky, but I decided to trust her for now.
Even if there was a book or two that I didn’t know mixed in, it wouldn’t be a huge financial problem.
“And what we should really worry about right now is…”
As I trailed off and looked around, Alice nodded slightly.
“People are glancing at us. Just like in the morning.”
“That’s right.”
After all, the places we had roamed until now weren’t spots where people shared specific hobbies; they were just ordinary parks or tourist attractions.
Based on our looks, people would just think we were “foreigners” or “dyed foreign-looking people.” It wouldn’t be easy to assume we were cosplaying comic characters unless we ran into fans of the game that we happened to appear from.
But here… this was a place that sold subculture comics and light novels. The chances of being recognized were definitely higher than in regular places.
“Hey…”
And as if my thought was right, someone came up to us.
A pretty decently dressed guy, except for his glasses. He looked like he just graduated from high school.
Besides being a bit skinny, he didn’t stand out too much.
“Are you cosplaying—”
“Nope,” I immediately cut him off.
Seeing that he held a smartphone in both hands, he looked like the kind of guy who asks cosplayers if he could take a picture.
“Excuse me? Oh, yes, I’m sorry!”
At my firm response, the guy hurriedly replied and turned around.
Glancing at where he was headed, I saw a few friends waiting for him. Once he joined them, I could hear a giggling sound. It seemed like someone was teasing him.
“That was kinda sad,” Alice remarked with a slight smirk.
Sure, I felt a bit harsh for shutting him down so coldly, but—
“If I don’t reject properly, more people will come up to us. Out of everyone here, he’s probably the only one who would recognize us.”
“That’s true, but…”
Alice didn’t seem to be blaming me. Since she was someone who played the game and streamed it, she probably knew there would be people who recognized us.
“Sis.”
While waiting with Alice, Claire came over to talk.
“I found it. I tried looking for books related to us, but they seem to be missing…”
“Well, it’s popular, but not so much that we can brag about it,” I said.
It was just popular enough for the main series to get imported. I had read and translated comic books and setting guides that I bought directly from Japan, but it seemed they hadn’t become famous enough for such goods to be translated and imported yet.
“By the way, why are you carrying two bundles of books?”
Claire didn’t pick many books. Just seven in total.
Five of them were in her right hand, and the other two were in her left. Since she was holding them together, it looked like she was carrying them with both hands, but if she wanted to carry them all at once, she wouldn’t need to split them.
“This one is the next volume of the books sis has.”
Pointing with her chin, Claire explained.
“And this one is the one I picked out because I was curious. I’m going to buy it.”
“……”
I silently glanced over at Alice. She shrugged her shoulders but seemed to agree with me.
She could’ve mixed them up and brought them all at once; she really is sweet.
“I’ll buy them all!”
“Huh? Is that alright?”
“I’m going to read them anyway.”
“But then, what about the money…?”
“Buying two more books won’t make me go broke.”
I said that and took the books from Claire’s hands.
*
“What did you think about the atmosphere there?”
After putting the books in a bag and stepping out of the building, I took a moment to walk around. Since I had made it to the Hongdae entrance, I thought I might as well do some sightseeing as well since it had been a while.
“It was quite fun! Being able to enjoy what you want is great, right? It’s even surprising that there’s a place where they specifically sell stuff like that. It’s hard to find a ‘hobby goods store’ in Azernar.”
Well, unless it’s a place for a few nobles, there aren’t many.
And usually, those places have a pretty heavy atmosphere.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah.”
Alice tilted her head as if it was strange that I kept asking, so I gave up trying to explain.
After all, the idea of a princess buying a figurine of a girl still seemed a bit odd to me… but I wasn’t sure how to explain that logically.
Besides, since such hobbies didn’t exist in that world yet, maybe I should just let it slide.
It’ll probably take 50 more years for such markets to arise anyway.
Just as I considered abandoning today’s goal in a corner of my mind,
“Oh!”
Claire suddenly shouted and lightly ran ahead.
I wasn’t surprised at all. It was exactly as I expected.
This world was still autumn. The days were relatively warm, and the nights were a bit chilly, so it could be called early autumn weather.
In other words, the sky was clear and bright, perfect for wandering outside. Of course, that didn’t mean there weren’t street performances in summer!
Claire strolled along, while Alice and I kept a slight distance behind her.
“What’s that?”
“That’s where they have street performances,” I replied.
There were indeed crowds gathering around.
Honestly, I wasn’t someone who enjoyed watching such things on the street.
I could see why people liked it, though. You can recreate a festival-like atmosphere without actually going to a festival.
And sometimes, real idols might come out to perform too.
But still, since one has to stand outside for quite a long time, it didn’t align with my tastes.
“I didn’t know there was such a place.”
Claire said, her eyes sparkling.
… It looked like she wanted to sing there or something.
The person performing was strumming a guitar and singing an old but well-known song.
By the time we arrived, the song was almost at its end.
As the man finished singing, applause erupted from the crowd.
“Thank you!”
The man smiled and said that while looking around, and—
By chance, our eyes met.
… Was it because Claire was clapping so enthusiastically?
After all, given our looks, it was hard not to stand out.
But still, I thought there was no way he’d actually approach us.
“There, blue-haired lady!”
“Yes?”
Oh.
He really just did that.
“Are you perhaps a foreigner?”
Claire turned to look at me.
She didn’t seem perplexed at all. Her eyes widened cheerfully in my direction.
I shrugged and nodded lightly.
“Are you okay with this?”
Alice asked worriedly from the side.
“I’m fine,” I lightly nodded in response.
Claire, Alice, and even my voice sounded just like the voice actors from the game.
And among the Azernar Chronicles goods that hadn’t been imported here, there were “character songs.”
Usually, in such games, unless a character was specifically labeled as tone-deaf, they all sing well.
Of course, Claire’s album existed as well.
“I’m Korean!”
Claire’s voice announcing that rang out loud.
She had already taken the mic and was speaking.
Claire’s response drew several surprised reactions from the crowd.
“What about them?”
“Yes!”
Claire nodded her head.
Desperately trying to ignore the stares focused on us.
“Then, since you’re out here, would you like to sing a song?”
“Can I really?”
“Why not?”
With Claire’s bright demeanor, there were chuckles in the crowd as well.
“Can I just sing whatever I know?”
“Of course! I’ll strum along on the guitar.”
With the man’s words, Claire nodded.
Then she looked at us for a moment, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
And—
“Are you sure I can do it?”
“… Well, yeah.”
Of course, Claire wasn’t singing songs from this world.
What she ended up singing was, if you put it that way, jazz.
… I had no idea how jazz existed in this world where America didn’t exist, but anyway, it was a genre of music that existed in Azernar too.
The cheerful and lively rhythm suited Claire perfectly.
As Claire’s voice rang out, people clapped along, and the guitar chords followed suit.
Somewhere along the line, both Alice and I found ourselves clapping to the beat as well.
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