Chapter 69

Truthfully, people like Hayoon and Jin Ho, who are all-round otaku, aren’t as easily found as one might think.

To the average person, listening to J-pop, drawing illustrations, or watching anime might label someone as an otaku immediately.

In short, for someone like Arin who considers cosplay a hobby but animating as work, or Hong Seohyun who does more than merely listen to J-pop—going as far as rewriting lyrics—there’s a tendency to naturally see themselves as otaku.

Simultaneously, believing they’ve reached this level, they assume others must also be fervently passionate about one specific field, living their lives under that belief.

Most all-round otaku, like Hayoon and Jin Ho, suppress themselves to avoid crossing certain lines because they don’t want the things they love to be looked down upon. They refrain from oversharing unnecessary TMI in front of people who aren’t interested.

If someone expresses curiosity and asks, they only respond as much as necessary.

Such individuals are often called “socialized otaku,” while the opposite examples are frequently pinned and ridiculed online.

Most all-round otaku have been socialized.

This happened either from being hurt in school or from knowing better and adjusting accordingly. Thus, individuals like Arin and Hong Seohyun, who are closer to the average person, don’t often get the chance to experience much outside their own interests.

The main individuals are too busy living their lives to dive deep into just one hobby, and those around them avoid oversharing TMI about topics the main individuals don’t care about.

But today, Hong Seohyun was about to experience something different from her usual routine.

“At Hongdae Station, this way…”

Because of a studio booked by Hayoon, she decided to visit and observe a cosplay photo shoot. Even without considering that Hayoon herself would cosplay as Scarlet, this was already an intriguing experience.

Expanding hobbies is generally not easy.

Outsiders may see listeners of J-pop, cosplayers, or illustrators as the same kind of otaku, but insiders usually draw clear boundaries and rarely cross them.

Hong Seohyun is a rare case where she successfully turned her hobby into a professional pursuit with Hayoon’s help. More so now that her hobby has become work, it’s even harder for her to explore other hobbies.

However, because Hayoon invited her, she was about to observe another instance of herself cosplay. It was undoubtedly a great opportunity.

Hong Seohyun navigated according to the studio address marked on her map app and soon found the stylish sign for Studio Yun.

Unlike Arin, who might’ve lacked guidance, Hong Seohyun arrived quite quickly. She had always been skilled at finding places, so this was no surprise.

Without much thought, she boarded the elevator to the floor where Studio Yun was located.

“The building is impressive…”

Perhaps because Hong Seohyun lived a solitary life only focusing on her own tasks, she rarely visited such trendy studios in Hongdae. She marveled at the elevator, like something you’d find in a high-end apartment, and stepped out.

Undoubtedly, it was an expensive-looking building.

Arin, Jin Ho, and Hayoon had often joked that their money was rotting away here, but it now seemed their words weren’t baseless.

Walking down a sophisticated hallway, she finally arrived at Studio Yun, a mid-level studio that occupied half a floor in the Hongdae commercial complex.

“Wonder what it’ll be like…”

With indescribable anticipation, Hong Seohyun grabbed the handle of the studio door. A classic bell rang to announce her arrival. And at the studio…

“What? You want to shoot down to the hips? Are you crazy?”

“Ahhhh!”

A mother-daughter argument scene awaited her, something not even Arin had gotten used to easily.

“Huh…”

Her head swirled, understandably so, since Hong Seohyun didn’t even know Hayoon and Yusoohee were mother and daughter. It took a decent amount of time to fully comprehend the situation.

After a few minutes…

“Mom! We have a guest! A guest!”

“Guest?”

Jolted by the sound, Hayoon, who was in a tussle with Yusoohee in her white shirt and dolphin shorts, shouted “Whatever!” Then the fiery gaze of Yusoohee landed naturally on Hong Seohyun at the entrance.

“Uh… Hello.”

“Yes, hello…”

Immediately the mask of a fake smile fell into place. Hong Seohyun, now realizing this was the art of an adult, nodded blankly.

“What brings you here? We’re currently in the middle of a reserved photo shoot.”

“Ah, well… Hayoon said it was okay to visit…”

Once Hong Seohyun explained her reason for being there…

“Is that you?”

“Me?”

“Did you suggest my daughter do something like this?”

Yusoohee turned her axe-eye glare back on Hong Seohyun. Her reaction was similar to when Arin first met her.

“G-gr…”

She wanted to cry.

After all, it was Hayoon’s idea to dress as Scarlet and choose a missing boyfriend style shirt for the cosplay photo book—not Hong Seohyun. “I’m innocent!” she desperately wanted to scream but couldn’t speak under the oppressive atmosphere as a long silence ensued.

#

Hong Seohyun’s expression soon morphed into one that suggested she might cry.

“Sorry, sweetie. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Hayoon stepped in to explain the full story upon detecting Hong Seohyun’s distress signal, and Yusoohee apologized with a light slap on her daughter’s back for her behavior.

“As a mom, it’s hard to understand my kid choosing to take such pictures.”

“No, it’s understandable.”

Of course, Hong Seohyun was still uneasy, knowing that even though it wasn’t her idea, she was still indirectly involved. She thought about how to handle the situation briefly.

“Shall we skip the introduction and start the shoot?”

A peculiar redness spread on Hayoon’s back as she approached the bed. In fact, the cause of the reddened back was the bed, which had already earned her a slap earlier.

No matter how much she thought about it, there was no better prop to save the baggy missing boyfriend shirt than the bed.

Moreover, to add occasional glimpses of the hips through the dolphin shorts dropped slightly below the waist…

It wasn’t odd she got her back slapped.

However, because of this struggle, she finally received permission to use the bed as a prop.

“Get up…”

“Understood!”

Hayoon, who’d sacrificed her back, climbed onto the pristine white-sheeted bed. Despite wearing dolphin shorts, exposing the undergarments was forbidden. While the shorts might be a fashionable piece, as per the RP of VTuber Scarlet, exposing the bottom is not allowed.

Hayoon naturally shielded her hips by moving towards the headboard and unbuttoned a few buttons of the shirt, revealing her navel.

“Hey!”

“The navel is supposed to be safe, right? The navel…”

“Hmph… let’s finish this quickly.”

Yusoohee immediately shot a glare, but she only frowned as the navel was barely within the safety zone. Hayoon, controlling her emotions, adopted a slightly fatigued expression…

– Click.

Yusoohee’s camera captured such an expression of Hayoon’s.

In contrast to Yu Soo Hee’s dissatisfaction, the Hayoon caught in the camera lens emanated an aura too magnificent to simply describe as beautiful. The effect of the rare red wig and red contact lenses doubled the charm of the character.

“Anyway, who made this hanger….”

“Perfect, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s perfect. Are you done? Let’s move to the next pose.”

“Got it, got it.”

Of course, the first take was flawless. Despite any dissatisfaction, Hayoon, with years of experience from previous photo shoots, could effortlessly deliver satisfactory emotional acting that met Yu Soo Hee’s approval.

As the VTuber Scarlet character had little established RP except for appearance and concept, compared to Cosplayholics, having few restrictions made the acting much easier.

“Let’s take the next shot from above.”

“Alright, got it.”

With a sly smile, Hayoon stretched out on the bed, directing a coy smile towards the camera. The shirt buttons undone earlier naturally revealed her navel like wings spreading apart, along with the whiter skin underneath the white shirt.

“Wow…”

Glurk.

From a distance, Hong Seohyun swallowed hard as she watched Hayoon.

Generally, having a ‘sexy’ impression is something you’d only feel towards the opposite sex. Men don’t drool over another man’s abs, and women don’t typically drool over another woman.

Even though there may be more cases for women, as it’s still between the same sex, there’s still some barrier, yet this was something else…

“Crazy…”

Her aura was so magnetic that a man would lose his senses and charge toward her. It was seductive enough to captivate even a woman. Hong Seohyun swallowed dryly again at Hayoon’s alluring act.

“Huh?”

Suddenly,

She murmured as if something dawned upon her.

“Is that me?”

She’s about to do her debut build-up in Parang Jae by September and will have her debut broadcast in October. Soon enough, among her viewers, there will be people who think Hong Seohyun looks like Hayoon…

“I need…to work harder.”

Hong Seohyun thought she should probably look into ways to enhance her appearance, while the photo shoot continued on smoothly.

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