“Ugh, it’s cold.”
The man muttered as he got off the bus.
The biting cold crept under his skin, forcing out a remark to himself. He tightened his coat, but there was no ignoring the chill itself.
“I should’ve just worn a puffer jacket….”
He lamented his past self as he moved his feet.
This man rarely ventured outside, hardly ever engaging in outdoor activities at all.
So, he had no clue about the recent weather outside and only heard vague news that it was warmer than before, resulting in him wearing a relatively thin coat.
The reason he finally stepped out after such a long time was simple. He was there to buy goods from his favorite streamer.
Yes, the actual merchandise of streamer Kaya. The sale began today.
At 10 AM today, they said her goods would be sold at a store located in a bustling area of Seoul.
Even though he rarely went out and lived far from Seoul, he made the effort to get there.
‘Did I come out for nothing?’
Despite such thoughts creeping in from the bone-chilling cold, he kept moving his feet. After all, he had already come this far, so turning back now was out of the question.
Moreover, as a true fan who genuinely supported Kaya, it would bruise his pride not to snag a piece of merchandise.
With the nickname ‘Kaya’s Doormat,’ he had been a long-time subscriber for over a year now.
‘I need to grab at least one of everything—mousepad, t-shirt, hoodie, tumbler…’
He thought he should get his money’s worth for the trouble. Originally, he planned to buy just a few things he liked, but now that he had traveled such a long way, he couldn’t go back empty-handed.
How much further did he walk? He soon arrived near his destination. According to the map app on his phone, the store would be just one block ahead.
‘8:50….’
Since the store opened at 10 AM, he’d arrived roughly an hour early.
Unexpectedly early. His goal was to arrive around 9:30 and stroll in leisurely, but this was too much time to kill.
‘What should I do for an hour?’
He pondered this as he walked forward, oddly ignoring the line of people gathered ahead.
Then, he heard a shrill voice from behind him.
A bird-like voice echoed out.
“Excuse me! Excuse me! Back here-.”
The man heard the voice but continued to walk forward, unaware that it was calling for him.
However, he couldn’t ignore the hand that grabbed his shoulder.
Turning around, he was met with a face full of irritation. It was then that the man realized the voice had indeed been directed at him.
When was the last time he had a conversation with someone? At least he couldn’t recall for the past few months.
So, facing this stranger, he found the interaction quite embarrassing and nerve-wracking. The man awkwardly contorted his face and slowly asked the glaring woman,
“Uh, yes. Did you call for me?”
“Yes, you! Why are you cutting in line?”
“Cutting in line?”
The question left him baffled. What on earth did that mean?
‘Now that I think about it, there were people standing in a straight line when I walked over.’
Digging through his memories, the man finally understood what the woman meant and awkwardly chuckled.
“No, I’m not trying to cut in line; I’m just heading to the store up ahead. So, that is…”
But the man’s explanation was promptly cut off by the woman’s question.
“Aren’t you here to buy some goods?”
“Pardon?”
“Goods, goods. The streamer Kayak is selling merch at Ilon Mall today. Aren’t you here to buy it?”
If not for that, there’d be no reason to be here at this hour—she muttered softly, and the man blankly echoed,
“Yeah, I did come for the goods…”
“See? Then go stand in line at the back over there.”
Instead of asking a petty question like, ‘Are you here for the same reason?’ the man slowly moved his feet. Towards the back.
‘All these people…’
Came here for the same purpose as me?
The sea of people had orderly formed a queue among themselves.
‘I thought I was early.’
He never even considered the possibility of a waiting line existing.
The man slowly proceeded to the end of the line.
Current time: 9 AM. Having arrived an hour before the opening, yet his waiting number was 59.
That meant there were a whopping 58 teams that had arrived even earlier.
There are seriously 58 more teams!
*
[What's with this goods waiting line?]
I mean;; I arrived at 9:30 and there are 80 teams ahead of me.
Aren’t you guys not buying any goods? Why’s there even a waiting line?
– LOL, what’s your waiting number?
84;;
LMAO, I’m 59.
– You should have taken the first train in the morning like me. Lazy folks don’t deserve to buy goods.
I did take the first train, but it took over 3 hours because I came from the countryside.
Who even wants to live out in the sticks?
Damn;;
Please, stop the regional discrimination….
Just open somewhere around Chungcheongdo, and I’d have no complaints.
– It’s legendary that they’re forming a line and deciding waiting numbers by themselves, not even controlled by the employees.
As expected, citizen consciousness is at work;;
We become one through Kayak.
– Please, I hope this jerk right in front of me runs out of stock and can’t buy anything, please.
There are still people coming in behind me, what’s going on?
Did they really produce that little stock?
From what I’m hearing about Kayak, it doesn’t seem like they produced much at all, LOL.
For real, LOL, talking about bad inventory really says it all.
[But isn’t the broadcast host fandom just a handful?]
Why are there so many people, and why do they all look normal?
Aren’t they all supposed to be like me, wearing glasses, having turtle necks on, constantly wearing the same clothes, and not being able to make eye contact?
I’m struggling waiting here because everyone is too cheerful.
– Well… it’s because a lot of the popular ones probably went ahead.
– The vibe isn’t easy, though.
– If you look closely, you can see a few of your kind, LOL.
– You should jump in and chat.
Chat…? What’s that?
Small talk is for insiders only.
If I knew how to do that, would I be writing this here?
??? : Do you… like Kayak? Yes, me too. I came to buy goods… Huh? No, it’s not that… I said it loudly… Yes….
Unnecessarily realistic;;
I’ve been hit by a social bomb, damn it.
– They’re on public broadcasting, featured in Midkiss Live, and every time they post something pretty, it’s about the broadcast host.
– They probably got a lot of regulars coming in from girl group collabs.
– It’s a bit infuriating that there are so many insiders, LOL. How “serious” can these folks be about Kayak to even want to buy goods? They definitely don’t look like they even subscribed to the broadcast.
For real, LOL, they’ll probably just buy it and shove it all away at home.
Um… Anyone can buy goods without any conditions.
Getting all picky about being serious or qualified is just so lame;;
“Questioning your qualifications is pretty cringy, you know?”
“Nah, I bet Kayak would rather be sponsored by the popular crowd than these gloomy folks.”
“[Wait, did the gallery master just say Kayak came by?]”
“I can hear people buzzing about Kayak showing up. Is that for real?”
“-Try pulling some fresh attention-grabbing!
-Kayak wouldn’t go there!
-Not like she can’t, but why would she?
-Surprise fan meeting, oh wow!
-Wait, no way, LOL!
-I’m number 12 in line, and if Kayak really came, she just walked in saying hi. She’s insanely pretty!”
“Stop with the nonsense, stop with the nonsense, stop with the nonsense!”
“Seriously, if there was a fan meeting, I would’ve gone too! Wasn’t it just a merchandise sale?”
“Does the gallery smell funny? Did they come without showering again?”
“I was planning to go tomorrow; I hope she shows up again.”
“Even now, get to the merch shop; it’ll be worth it!”
*
“Can you believe this? People are showing up!”
Since morning, I’d heard the news that people were flocking to my merch shop, and I couldn’t handle the shock.
“Wait, why?”
Apparently, they had been waiting for hours before the store even opened. It felt like I had reporters sending real-time updates through the gallery.
As I continued tuning into the updates, a thought crossed my mind: should I go check it out myself?
This situation was completely unexpected. I thought it would be lucky if even a fly showed up, much less a crowd.
The store was located not far from my house—maybe a distance that you could even walk to.
So, visiting was not out of the question.
While I didn’t doubt the gallery’s testimonies, I wanted to see with my own eyes if that many people really showed up, and I thought I’d also help the employees who were unprepared for such a rush.
Thus, I headed to the merch shop.
Of course, at that moment, I never imagined things would turn out this way.
“Kayak! Kayak! Kayak! Kayak! Kayak!”
“Please sign! Kyaaa!”
“I’m so glad I came, so glad!”
Isn’t this practically a fan meeting?
Maybe coming to the merch shop was a bad call… I thought, watching the cheering crowd.
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