“Manager oppa, did you forget to bring the Starlight Lotion?”
“Ah! Sorry! I completely forgot to buy it yesterday.”
“Tsk… Please make sure to prepare it next time.”
“Sorry!”
Kim Jia was about to scold her manager oppa, but she let it slide because she knew how long they had worked together and how much effort he put into buying the Starlight Lotion.
The biggest reason was that she had a backup Starlight Lotion in her handbag. She always carried one around just in case something like this happened.
“Hmph~ Hmph~”
Originally, doing her makeup took a lot of time, but after the Starlight Lotion appeared, that time was drastically reduced.
Just applying it made her skin as soft as a baby’s, so she only needed to do light eye makeup and lipstick, focusing on the visible parts of her appearance.
“Where did something like this come from?”
Kim Jia couldn’t help but marvel at the wonder of the Starlight Lotion. Of course, after the Gate appeared and monster byproducts started coming out, many mysterious items with special effects emerged, but byproducts that were this good for the body were rare.
The downside was the high price, but for celebrities who lived and died by their skin, the price was nothing. Models, for example, had to apply it all over their bodies, so it was common for them to use several bottles at once. Of course, the amount of lotion in each bottle was also quite small.
“Unnie, how did you buy the Starlight Lotion? I tried buying it online, but it takes weeks.”
“There’s a special place to buy it. I’m close with the owner of a cosmetics store, so I managed to get it.”
Other celebrities also used it, but the issue wasn’t the price—it was the limited quantity, which made it hard to get. Some didn’t use it because it took too long to buy. And for a few, applying Starlight Lotion every day was more expensive than going to a skin clinic, so they kept going to the clinic instead.
Of course, the effects of the Starlight Lotion were undeniable, so it sold like hotcakes for special occasions like award ceremonies or film festivals.
The downside? If you stopped using it, your skin would revert to its original state. Because of this, dermatologists breathed a sigh of relief. At least they wouldn’t be out of a job.
For ordinary people without much money, it was better to solve minor skin issues at the hospital. For conditions the hospital couldn’t fix, they would reluctantly use the Starlight Lotion only on special days.
There were still some shortcomings with the Starlight Lotion’s efficacy, but its effects were so outstanding that it was selling like crazy in the market.
After applying the now-routine Starlight Lotion, Kim Jia sipped on a cup of Starlight Green Tea before heading into her next broadcast.
This routine helped her come up with ad-libs and good ideas during broadcasts, so she preferred it. Of course, carrying around personal green tea bags might seem odd, but after Starlight Green Tea appeared and its price went up, it wasn’t commonly available in public places.
It was common for the tea bags to sell out in a day, and some greedy people would take way more than they needed. So, if you wanted to drink Starlight Green Tea outside, you had to carry your own tea bags. Thankfully, the packaging was well-made, so it wasn’t too inconvenient.
—————————————
I got a new phone. Bora handed it to me, telling me to take good care of it from now on.
Haru came in halfway and tried to teach me how to use the phone, but I already knew everything. So Haru’s teaching was useless.
Haru was impressed by how quickly I understood everything after just one explanation and patted my head. It had been decades since I started using phones, so it would’ve been weird to forget how they worked by now.
While fiddling with the phone, I turned on my computer to check out how a game I used to play had changed.
‘Icarus’—a massive MMORPG online game that every gamer knew about.
However, due to the nature of online games requiring time and money, my character wasn’t very high-level since I was broke. Still, it was fun, so I tried to log in.
But when I entered my ID and password, a message popped up saying the account didn’t exist.
Huh? What should I do?
But soon, a solution came to mind. I just needed to register a new account. After entering a familiar ID and password and completing the phone verification, I logged into the game without hesitation.
After creating a cute-looking character and setting up their appearance, I faced the next step and got stuck. I had to choose a name, but this step was harder than any other.
After much deliberation, I typed out the name on the keyboard. The character’s name was Hanaboraharu.
Since I had been thinking about this game for a while, I…
I was able to dive into the game without hesitation. But it didn’t last long.
That’s just how games are. After a few months, I really missed it, but once I logged in and played for a few hours, the excitement quickly faded.
It was an inevitable phenomenon. In my case, I had already leveled up, so I was just grinding the same monsters in the same level-up zones.
Since I was doing the same thing over again, I couldn’t even pretend it was fun. But the charm of this game was the raids and PvP that you could do from a certain level, so I endured the boredom and kept playing.
Still, it was sluggish. I had no choice but to use a forbidden trick. With a determined heart, I pulled out the check card from the desk drawer.
Bora had some kind of royalty connected to this check card account through a contract, but I didn’t know the details. I was just told by Bora to use this card whenever I needed money.
And since it wasn’t a credit card, there would be a limit anyway. Even with credit cards, there were limits, but since there were still uncertainties, they gave me a check card.
I entered the game’s cash shop. I put all the necessary items into the basket, entered the card number on the payment screen, and completed the transaction.
A text came saying a few million won had been deducted, but I didn’t care. It was a card given to me to use, so I figured I could use it as I pleased.
“Yahoo!”
The game speed was on a whole different level now. It was like I had a booster; my character’s growth speed was dazzling. If I had known this, I would have spent money on the game sooner.
Maybe it was because I splurged, but I reached the max level in no time and stretched out in my chair.
These days, games are set up so you can easily reach the max level. The real problem was what came after.
After taking a break from hunting, I wandered around the village and spotted a character wearing an avatar so flashy it couldn’t even compare to mine.
I was momentarily stunned by its splendor and couldn’t help but stare. Then I started typing.
[You]
[?]
[How do you get that avatar?]
[It’s a hidden avatar…]
According to the user, it was an avatar you could get by synthesizing expensive avatars from the cash shop at an extremely low probability. Normally, I wouldn’t even dream of it, but now I had a magic card.
After checking how to synthesize, I went straight to the cash shop. I took out the card again and charged some cash.
A million won should be enough, right? But I underestimated the game and ended up defeated.
“Not even one…?”
I spent a million won and didn’t even get a single piece of the hidden avatar. There were nine parts needed for the hidden avatar, and I didn’t get a single one despite spending a million won.
I felt like crying. Determined, I opened the cash shop again and charged five million won. My phone kept buzzing with payment notifications.
This time, I was lucky and got four parts. As I kept spinning, it got dark outside.
I don’t know how many tens of millions I spent, but I managed to get all but one part of the hidden avatar. Exhausted, I turned off the computer, turned off the lights, and lay down on the bed.
As I lay down, Haru came in to say goodnight.
“Goodnight, Hana!”
She usually came in once in a while, but after 10 PM when I was asleep, she didn’t come in, probably afraid of waking me up with the sound of the door.
“Hmm…”
Even lying in bed, I couldn’t sleep. The game I had just played kept flashing before my eyes. Is this what game addiction feels like?
I forced my eyes shut and tried to sleep, but it didn’t work. Eventually, I got up and turned on the computer again. I had to finish this today.
