Chapter 65

While it may be a student’s instinct to dislike going to school, there are occasionally days when being at school seems better.

Specifically, the height of summer and the depth of winter.

At home, we can’t afford to keep the air conditioning on much due to electricity costs, but at school, it’s a different story. With a mindset of “it’s our parents’ tax money, so what can we do?” they blast the air conditioning at 18 degrees Celsius with the windows open in summer.

In winter, there’s no shortage of students who open windows claiming it’s too hot, while there are also those who respond by turning the heaters up to 30 degrees Celsius, creating a chaotic environment.

Hayoon experiences the same.

Though she doesn’t act mindlessly in such extremes, the truth is, there’s no place as comfortable as school when it comes to freely adjusting air conditioners and heaters.

“Haa, it’s so refreshing…”

Just by keeping the windows firmly shut and setting the temperature to around 25 degrees Celsius, it feels like heaven. Plus, with only a few people in the game development area, there’s no issue of the temperature rising due to the heat emitted by dozens of people.

It didn’t take long for Hayoon to reach her ideal temperature.

“This is heaven…”

Positioned directly under the air conditioner, Hayoon fluttered her blouse to dry off the sweat that had accumulated from her bus ride to school.

Women are prone to gathering sweat around their upper bodies, and Hayoon, still in her growing phase, was no exception. After drying off for a few minutes, she snapped back to reality and grabbed her bag.

“If I leave my bag and come back later…”

This had become Hayoon’s routine recently. Upon waking up in the morning, she would shower quickly to maintain freshness before heading to school, where she would immediately retreat to the game development area to dry off under the air conditioner. Afterward, she would head to her classroom, place her bag, and return.

It was the optimal path she had fine-tuned in her pursuit of staying in cooler spaces as much as possible.

“Khehe…”

Though it was a little saddening to step back into the humid corridors, enjoying the brief freshness after being outside was one of summer’s small joys.

Just as Hayoon, with a mischievous smirk, was about to leave the game development room…

-drrrlik!

The sound of a sliding door opening revealed a familiar face—Arin.

“Um, hi…”

“Huh…”

One was distracted by the extreme summer heat and the other by the refreshing air conditioner, but somehow both had failed to notice each other until the thin sliding door between them disappeared suddenly, causing them both to jump apart in surprise.

“No, you startled me…”

“But I was about to say that!”

Then, despite having no real grudge against each other, both engaged in a slight, meaningless quarrel.

“I’ll just visit the classroom quickly; it’d be considered tardiness if I didn’t since I left my bag.”

“Alright, take your time. Did you have breakfast? Want some snacks?”

“Sure, that sounds good. I’ll be back soon.”

They exchanged their usual everyday conversation. Following this exchange, Hayoon returned to her classroom as per her initial plan…

“Something feels strange…”

Left behind in the game development room, Arin was left with a sense of unexplained curiosity.

What should one call it? It was a kind of primal awareness of an impending crisis.

Yeah, that crisis—a crisis that one inevitably senses from the position of a senior.

“Are our eye levels starting to match up…?”

Hayoon had been growing taller, and now was almost at eye level with Arin. Moreover, Hayoon, being a year younger than Arin, was still in her growth phase…

“Am I going to be surpassed…?”

It felt as though the dignity of being a big sister was fading away.

“Ah….”

Though she had anticipated this moment for some time, being caught up so quickly after knowing each other for such a short period was embarrassing. At the very least, she didn’t want her growth to be overtaken this year. Resolving not to be outgrown before the year ended, Arin continued picking out snacks to share with Hayoon.

Today, just another routine school life unfolded.

For the fundamental subjects like math, biology, and English, she dropped them without a second thought. After all, passing just meant she’d still need to take the high school equivalency test, and Hayoon wasn’t about to suddenly become proficient enough to solve algebraic equations or English compositions just by hearing a few lessons.

For specialized classes, thanks to our dedicated teacher, Mr. Park Geon-su, it was possible to make do without too much fuss. If group assignments came up, even Hayoon took on a bit of responsibility and approached the work seriously, but today was not such a day.

Thus, with ease.

During class hours, Hayoon took a corner seat and confidently turned on her tablet, working on an illustration for Hong Seohyun’s upcoming music video, “A Small Beginning.”

By the time the detailed coloring outline was finished, Mr. Park Geon-su was wrapping up class.

“Great job, everyone. And Kwak Seok-min.”

“Me?”

“You, come to the staff room later. Everyone else can head home. Don’t neglect any assignments given by teachers—they’ll help sharpen your skills. Understand?”

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

Mr. Park Geon-su, seemingly dealing with another incident involving Kwak Seok-min, disappeared, and Hayoon proceeded to the game development room as usual. As she opened the door, the refreshing coolness already present indicated that someone had already arrived. Grinning, Hayoon peeked inside.

“You’re here?”

“Yes, I’ve arrived.”

Arin, seated and working, greeted her with a wave. Hayoon had plenty of illustrations to work on today too. She naturally took a seat next to Arin, pulled out her tablet, and prepared to get into her work.

“Hungry? Want some of this?”

“Isn’t it expensive?”

“Whenever I animate, I earn a bit, so I’m doing alright. Here, have it.”

“Ah, ah…?”

Arin peeled the packaging of a boldly marked sausage and placed it directly into Hayoon’s mouth. This was Arin’s chosen role as an older sister.

‘After all, there are only a few things I can do better than Hayoon.’

When it came to illustration and technical skills, there was nothing to compare, but now even their height was approaching parity. Being noticed or perceived as an older sister was diminishing. Mustn’t a sister guide or protect her younger sibling?

Since Arin couldn’t fulfill either role, she decided to focus on offering snacks and staying close, choosing a way to nurture their bond.

‘Hayoon is so driven by work; I sometimes see her skipping lunch to work here in the game development room.’

Even though breakfast was one thing, Hayoon also skipped lunches provided by the school, despite Yongsan IT High School offering fairly tasty meals. Without care from someone like Arin, Hayoon might quickly tire herself out by ignoring proper meals.

‘I have to look after her, what can I say?’

Thus, Arin felt her role as an older sister was to ensure Hayoon, the core of the project, didn’t collapse from overwork. Neither Do Jin-ho, who wasn’t so detail-oriented, nor Hong Seohyun, who had only recently connected with Hayoon, could fulfill such a role.

Arin was strengthening her role as a nurturing figure through duties she alone could accomplish.

‘It’s odd… it’s like being an idol or something…’

As Hayoon ate the sausage Arin offered, she thought about it. With this close attention, it was almost like she was an idol. Although the actual potential idol was Hong Seohyun and not Hayoon…

Hong Seohyun was mostly consumed by editing, often listening to sounds and adding appropriate visual effects, making it difficult for her to spend much time in the game development room. Even though they respected her independent focus, sounds would undoubtedly disturb Hong Seohyun if others were around.

Thus, none of them found any fault with her approach. After all, the group working on game releases aimed for the highest quality, and they could all understand the need for Hong Seohyun’s intense focus.

‘Maybe I should start giving Seohyun food as well, as a joke. Since she’s from the cover songs background and now a VTuber, we could even hold a concert. It could be fun to do an idol situation comedy.’

With this thought, Hayoon briefly considered how amusing it would be for Hong Seohyun to participate in such performances, but then…

“Emergency!”

-drrrlik! Tac!

The sliding door to the game development room violently swung open, revealing Seohyun rushing in.

“What, what is it…?”

“Aa, it surprised me…”

Both Hayoon and Arin, startled mid-sausage exchange, froze briefly.

“Look at this, seriously!”

When Hong Seohyun thrust her phone forward, a revelation awaited.

“Eh…?”

“Eh, what?”

The Utaiter Scarlett channel had surpassed 1000 subscribers…

“Oh my God, 50,000 views. Fifty thousand!”

Their “Love” music video had remarkably reached fifty thousand views.

“Unbelievable…”

It was astonishing. The channel had only been active for fifteen days, during which Seohyun had been releasing music regularly every five days.

Though there was partial belief that the algorithm would eventually favor them, this result was far beyond expectations.

“Did we actually succeed…?”

The bottom line strategy had surpassed expectations, achieving remarkable success.

This was happening; it was working. It was clear.

The algorithm was favoring Hong Seohyun…

It was protecting Scarlett.

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