Chapter 5

Here is a young man who is a fan of a certain female warfare game.

His favorite character is HK-M4,

known by the alias “Hyeongguk,” and is the most popular character in the female warfare IP.

Of course, when he says he holds her dear, he isn’t exaggerating.

He is lying on his side, with a premium HK-M4 dakimakura made from high-quality fabric squeezed between his legs, fiddling with his phone as a young teenage boy would.

“Ahhh, I have nothing to do. What should I do?”

Anyway, he is a man who takes his love for Female Warfare and HK-M4 seriously enough to buy a dakimakura.

He has pre-emptively collected all the updated stories and purchased most of the available skins.

Without much else to do, the man habitually opened the community app, a space where gentlemen share discourse about Female Warfare.

He accessed the Female Warfare gallery.

“Our main unit’s future schedule update is when…?”

Tap, tap, tap.

After hitting the keyboard on the phone screen for a few seconds, the man posted a meaningless comment on the Female Warfare gallery.

It was a typical complaint from veteran users.

He has money but nothing to spend it on; a lot of free time with nothing to do during it.

Needless to say, all the resulting frustration ends up being vented out in this Female Warfare gallery.

“The bastards should update the future guide by now, but it’s not coming.”

Sometimes, when posting meaningless comments doesn’t relieve emotional tension, cursing the moderators of the Female Warfare gallery, known as “arm-band people,” is highly effective.

People tend to feel better when they have someone against whom they can vent their frustrations.

Just as usual, after posting a meaningless comment and cursing the arm-bands, the man pressed the quality post tab.

“What are these sorts of posts?”

He disapproved.

Had it been because he saw a middle-aged man dressed in heavy makeup doing cosplay a few days ago?

This man had been in a particularly bad mood recently, and after furrowing his brow, he stared at the quality posts for a while.

“Ah.”

A new post appeared.

[Hello! We are here to advertise our booth at the December Super Peace (Surf) event!]

It was an advertisement for the booth at the Super Peace event.

“Khh….”

To a man who has already exhausted all in-game options and owns all official goods and figures, all that remains is the doujin exhibition.

He had already spent a substantial amount of money, 200,000 won, on the November Super Peace event as a student and still had plenty of pocket money left.

“Ah, the December Super Peace is coming soon.”

Smirking, the man clicked on the booth advertisement post.

“One day…? Is that how you pronounce it? Why does this person have a Japanese nickname? It’s not like this is a foreign booth, so is it themed that way?”

In subculture circles, it’s not uncommon for some people to use Japanese nicknames.

This wasn’t strange, and as the man skimmed over the usual introductory text quickly, he finally…

Got to see the list of goods that were to be sold at the booth for “One Day”…

“This is it! This is it!”

Clenching his fist, he cheered.

The man’s favorite.

A booth that heavily promoted HK-M4.

Or rather, a booth set to open just for HK-M4.

“Seriously, what a ridiculous lineup…”

A high-cut bunny girl design with HK-M4 lying on a poker green mat, seductively asking for money.

HK-M4 wearing a bright red hanbok skirt with an alluring smile, contrasting with HK-M4 in a blue kimono design for an acrylic stand.

“Wow, seriously… the shine treatment on the skin is insane…”

And the piece de resistance – a swimsuit design with water reflection, breast shadows, framing, eye contact, and even the bikini straps resting on the waist, all perfectly rendered.

☆If you fold it and keep it, one picture is possible.☆

The comment attracted the man, who lacks space for goods due to not being financially independent yet.

It was appealing in terms of saving space, and also useful for concealing the more explicit goods from his parents.

“Even though it was a struggle to get the dakimakura, I need to plan how to hide goods of this level.”

Humming softly, the man acknowledged the seller’s consideration and memorized the “One Day” booth.

“If the quality is this good, you’ll definitely be at the top of the list for overnight wait.”

Though the man has several booths that he relies on each Super Peace event, leaving him with little spare money to readily pay upfront for a new booth, he still thought about saving the promotional post in case.

When he continued to scroll down the page…

“What…?”

Suddenly, the man came across an incomprehensible line of text.

[Currently, due to production cost issues, we have pre-ordered 50 each of the Bunny & Poker HK mat and the Hanbok HK acrylic stand.]

Alright, this much makes sense.

It’s common for booths to pre-order only certain goods due to their financial situation.

But…

[Therefore, kimono HK acrylic stands and swimsuit/beach HK frames will be ordered in very small quantities for on-site sales. However, this does not apply to customers who pay deposits…]

What exactly does this mean?

In summary, it seems like “One Day” is saying, ‘We won’t sell kimono and swimsuit HK-M4 goods to those who don’t preorder.’

Since anyone who preorders these two items will more or less buy the other items as well.

“Isn’t this strategy a bit excessive? Why does a new booth think it’s so special?”

The man was baffled.

His nickname in the Female Warfare gallery is none other than ‘M4 Agabang Security Guard.’

From the nickname itself, it’s obvious that his favorite character is HK-M4, so wouldn’t people like him buy this kind of quality goods?

Since they’ll end up buying them anyway, why start such an unnecessary battle?

– What’s he trying to achieve? Is he picking a fight?

– What’s up with the goods that are only available with a deposit? How does that even make sense?

-└ But isn’t it still available at the venue? They mentioned they’ll make a small addition on-site.

-└ Well, if it’s fewer than 50 and you don’t stay overnight, you won’t be able to buy it.

-└ Ah.

– Is it suggesting not to buy if you’re not staying overnight?

– Wow, this is making me angry for some reason.

– This quality is top-notch but it’s irritating to have a deposit dispute. Who wouldn’t buy these anyway? Eh?

Most comments were similar to M4 Agabang Security Guard’s opinions.

Since the illustrations are of such high quality and the concepts are good, many were eager to buy on-site…

But when a booth they’ve never encountered before suddenly decides to only sell some products with upfront deposits, it’s clear that there’s a motive.

“Let’s say this is to prevent unsold bulk orders; ‘You’ll buy them if you care.'”

The buying desire, which had grown so much, quickly cooled, and M4 Agabang Security Guard was about to comment when…

– Those getting angry right now, scroll back up and look at the illustrations. The detail is incredible. It seems like they really are short on production costs, no? I believe they do and will proceed with the purchase anyway.

A strange troublemaker appeared, advocating for the quality of the work and trying to sway public opinion despite the trend.

“It’s not about the quality, here…”

It clearly seemed like the writer was coming out as a newcomer to sway opinions.

“Eh…”

Same…

“It’s really incredible…”

M4 Agabang Security Guard, after checking the promotional sample illustrations uploaded by One Day, was astounded by their exquisite quality.

There were no noticeable shortcomings that were common in fan-made works by other artists…

Every aspect was flawlessly executed in One Day’s illustrations.

“Wow…”

He even wondered if spending 200,000 won in the November Super Peace had been worth it.

Eventually, M4 Agabang Security Guard came to a decision.

“It seems like they really are short on funds…”

If an artist of such high quality didn’t have the production budget, it must genuinely be due to personal financial constraints.

Even if it turned out not to be true, believing this way would be more comforting.

“Well, there’s no helping it. Missing out on goods I wanted so badly would ruin my mood anyway…”

Two acrylic stands.

One framed artwork.

One mat.

The full package comes with a 5,000 won discount at 75,000 won, which wasn’t a burdensome price.

Closing his eyes and ignoring it, M4 Agabang Security Guard began filling out the personal information form on the survey page linked at the end of the promotional post.

#

“Ah, it’s sweet.”

Meanwhile, in the corner of a room, Hayoon happily sucked her yogurt through a straw, grinning as she watched the number of additional deposit survey participants grow.

Already at ten people, with most opting for the full package, she surpassed 500,000 won in revenue within an hour.

“Hmm, let me keep the fire going a little longer, stirring up more interest…”

Hayoon, skillfully utilizing a VPN, began creating multiple accounts with ease.

-Those getting angry right now, scroll back up and look at the illustrations. The detail is incredible. It seems like they really are short on production costs, no? Either way, I believe them and will proceed with the purchase.

That pointed and terse comment in the promotional post’s comment section was Hayoon’s work.

Comments began to shift, slowly developing sympathy for the artist and enthusiastic support for purchasing the beautiful illustrations.

When handling public opinion like this, it’s more effective to praise the artist’s work than to directly defend them.

Hayoon diligently praised the illustrations of rookie doujin artist “One Day.”

She wasn’t embarrassed either.

Hayoon had pride in her art.

Can you really get a full package of merchandise with assured quality like this for 75,000 won?

“This is practically free, isn’t it? Honestly, don’t the illustrations surpass official ones? This promotion artist, in many ways…”

Hayoon kept fanning the flames for hours after, and the heated commentary finally died down around midnight after the moderators intervened.

“Hmph, time to stop for now.”

With a groan, Hayoon stretched, bid her parents good night, and returned to her room, closing her eyes to rest.

The following afternoon at 2 PM.

Hayoon, using the fixed nickname with which she posted the ad, posted an “apology note.”

This rekindled the discussion that had cooled overnight.

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