Season 2: Chapter 46. The Swimming Pool Party (1)
Today was the day of the photoshoot. Sang-Hyeon was busy first thing in the morning. He woke up with his hair sticking up, grabbed a simple breakfast, and chewed on a handful of almonds while checking his messages.
[Treevy Staff: Today's shoot will be used for an award ceremony promotional video.]
[Treevy Staff: Photographic works that get a good response at the shoot will be turned into actual photobook merchandise and sold. This will involve a separate contract. We can discuss the details and percentages at that time.]
[Treevy Staff: The director will decide which shooting part will become merchandise. Even if it doesn't, don't be too disappointed, haha.]
They said some parts of today's shoot could be turned into merchandise and sold if it got a good response.
"Oh..."
It wasn’t a big deal, but Sang-Hyeon wanted to win the merchandise contract. It triggered his competitive spirit.
"I'll have to work hard," he muttered as he chewed on almonds.
Crunch.
'But how do I do that?'
His desire to be number one was strong. However, he only had the desire and didn’t know how to achieve it.
'Miho is a professional, so she'll know what to do.'
He decided to work hard, trusting that Miho would teach him well as a professional model.
***
Almond received a message from This World as soon as he entered the capsule.
[This World Invitation Message]
[Link]
Instead of setting a password, they send a separate link for invitations these days. They updated their security measures because extreme fans often sneaked in and spied on them...
[Connect]
When Almond touched the link, the surrounding environment lit up in a shimmering blue light.
[Analyzing Physical Code...]
[Analysis Completed]
[Registered Code]
Several messages appeared. Then, the blue world started glowing white.
Woooooong...!
The light intensified, consuming his entire vision. The blinding light was so bright that darkness would have been preferable. The light gradually gathered into a point, turned into a round sun, and hung in the upper right corner like a picture. It became warm sunlight.
Sssssssss...!
A soothing sound could be heard.
Sssssssss!
Waves. A white wave broke through the unrealistically blue sea and approached the vast beach.
"Wow..."
Almond's mouth opened wide without realizing it. This was the most impressive world he had seen in This World.
He set his foot on the glittering platinum sand.
"... Huh?"
Suddenly, he found himself wearing beach slippers and he wore a colorful Hawaiian shirt. His pants also naturally changed into swimming trunks.
"Wow! You're here!"
A friendly voice came from somewhere, but he couldn't tell where.
"Over here! Here!"
When he looked up, he saw a fairy flapping around. She was snapping photos of Almond with her camera.
"Ah. You've never seen this before, right? This is a really expensive item. It's called a Fairy Cam!"
According to her explanation, it was an item bought with cash that allowed cameramen to move freely in three dimensions. There were so many strange things in virtual words.
"Follow me. The shooting spot for Balloon Stars is somewhere else!"
He followed the voice, which sounded familiar. The place she guided him to was crowded with people. They appeared to be the shooting staff. Many of them had transformed into tiny fairies that resembled guide fairies.
"Oh, Mr. Almond. You're here!"
A few fairies flew toward him. Were they already starting the shoot?
"This is just the making of the shoot. You can just be yourself and we'll just casually shoot!"
The making of the photoshoot behind the scenes, Almond had seen this a few times. They wanted content on how the shooting was done. This type of content wasn’t particularly popular, but it was just fan service.
'It doesn’t bother me since they’re fairies flying around.'
It would have been quite burdensome if people followed him with huge cameras. However, this made it natural for him to move around comfortably as the sparrow-sized fairies fluttered about and filmed him.
"Wow...!"
Someone far away under a beach parasol jumped and screamed.
"Wow! Wow! It's Almonduuuuuuuuu!"
Almond didn't recognize her.
'Is she a member of the shooting team?'
He thought it was just someone from the shooting team with a unique speaking manner, but immediately realized who she was after hearing her next words.
"Unnie! Bring the instant rice! I can eat just looking at that face!"
"... Ah ha. Hello, Lemon."
She was Lemon, BlackTea’s supporter. She always acted weird whenever she picked the Witch Doctor Cuifan. It seemed like she was always a bit odd in reality.
Thwack!
A red-haired figure suddenly popped out from the side and kicked Lemon far away.
“Ah... Hello! I'm sorry. She's a good kid, just a bit weird. Hahaha!”
It was BlackTea. She was a challenger ADC and a popular streamer since a female challenger was rare. Her straightforward personality was a major factor in her popularity. She was also well-known for her relationship with GreenTea.
“BlackTea, how can you move so vigorously in a bikini like that?”
Next to her, GreenTea appeared while sipping a bright blue lemonade.
He greeted Almond, “Hello. It's been a while since we last met at the after-party. Blonde suits you.”
“Blonde?”
“Oh. You didn't know? You're doing some sort of swimming pool party cosplay right now.”
“... Ah ha.”
Almond hadn't realized his hair color also changed because he didn’t have a mirror.
'So it wasn't just the sunlight.'
He finally understood why his hair looked unusually bright when he rolled his eyes up.
“By the way, BlackTea should’ve cosplayed as Toxic Bunny instead of a pool party sniper...”
The sniper's swimsuit seemed more revealing than Toxic Bunny's. It suited her very well and her red bikini stood out even more.
“Oh, stop sounding like an old man again.”
“It's not that...”
“Yaaaah! Help! I can't take it! How can you expect anyone to walk around in a swimsuit and a tube like a crazy person!”
GreenTea finally shut up after getting an earful from BlackTea.
“Our girl might look like this, but she's really not a good kid.”
Lemon reappeared behind Almond, seemingly in response to their earlier statement about her being weird but nice.
“What?!”
BlackTea sharply turned and her red hair stood on end like in a comic.
Lemon quickly hid behind Almond again. She wasn't in a bikini, but wore a neat one-piece swimsuit.
“Eh. Almond, heads up!”
“!”
Almond felt a chill down his spine.
'Oh.'
It was StrawberryShooter.
'Didn’t she say Toxic Bunny was swimsuits and tubes for kids...’
Although it seemed better than a bikini, he felt something more dreadful was coming. Almond bowed his head as much as he could to avoid eye contact.
Whoosh!
StrawberryShooter suddenly blocked his way.
“Almond, bro. What’s going on?”
Almond slowly lifted his head and froze again.
“!”
StrawberryShooter wasn’t cosplaying as Toxic Bunny but as Biker Gang.
“Wow. It suits you.”
He held a massive water shotgun, sported a beard, and showed off his tan muscular upper body. He was the epitome of a macho.
“Haha. Really? I was actually going to do my main character, the Succubus, but the filming crew stopped me. They’re all caught up in stereotypes.”
“Since when was Succubus your main character?”
StrawberryShooter leaned in closer with a questioning look.
“Are you... curious about that?”
“No, no.”
Gulp.
Almond swallowed nervously.
Then Takoyaki and Bubblegum also arrived. They predictably cosplayed as the Hammer Warrior and Iron Ball.
And the protagonist always appeared last.
"Wow!"
"Wow, that's crazy."
"Gosh. Unnie."
A presence arrived that made everyone, regardless of gender, exclaim in admiration. Even from a distance, her beautiful lines were evident and her sophisticated stride was enough to steal everyone's gaze in an instant. In addition, her aqua-colored hair undulated like the sea and she wore a bikini with a refreshing smile.
"Wow! Everyone's here!?"
Miho waved and ran toward them.
"Ahem."
"Oh, oh ahem..."
Bubblegum, Takoyaki, and even Almond turned their heads with a fake cough.
"What's up? Why are you all pretending not to know me? Was I that late?"
"No, no. You're right on time."
BlackTea put GreenTea in a headlock, but Miho didn’t seem aware of why.
"Balloon Stars members, please come this way!"
The fairies in charge of the Balloon Stars' shoot began gathering and guiding them.
The location was a secret swimming pool created beside the sea. Bright gray rocks jutted out here and there, forming a natural swimming pool. Between the rocks, seaweeds and shrubs on land grew together.
In the distance, they could see other teams shooting. It felt like a real summer vacation.
Splash.
"Hello, everyone."
The director entered the swimming pool and they greeted him with a bow. He looked suspicious with a bushy beard and sunglasses, yet his overall appearance somehow looked pleasant.
"Everyone looks amazing today, especially StrawberryShooter! You really changed your outfit well."
Miho giggled beside him, but none of the men laughed.
"Uh. First, the concept of the shoot is..." The director paused momentarily. Then he declared as if making an announcement, "It's up to all of you!"
"!?"
All the Balloon Stars members were taken aback.
"Us?"
"Gosh."
"This is a competition from the start, huh."
The director nodded and succinctly replied, "Alright. Give it a try. You have twenty minutes."
Splash. Splash.
The members entered the water first.
"What should we do to make it funny?" Bubblegum, true to his role as a leader, asked first.
Takoyaki pondered deeply before speaking, "Um. We should probably play in the water first."
"Just splashing water?"
"With Miho here, just splashing water might be enough to come out well, but..."
Various suggestions popped up after that. StrawberryShooter suggested doing a fashion show while swimming. However, Takoyaki immediately opposed it. He worried that StrawberryShooter would wear some dreadful outfit.
"Something like a fashion show would be unnatural for everyone but Miho. We're amateurs after all. Photos should always look natural."
Then, unexpectedly, a plausible idea came from an unlikely source.
"It kind of looks like a volleyball court here..." Almond pointed out the waterfront where they stood.
The piles of rocks divided the square waterfront in half, coincidentally resembling a volleyball court.
"Oh? Yeah? A game would be fun and natural."
"Wow! Right! I love volleyball!"
Miho and Bubblegum joined in.
Takoyaki also nodded, "That would look natural."
Playing a game would be more natural than a fashion show.
"But we don't have a ball..."
The problem was that they didn’t have a volleyball.
They needed to ask the director for props...
However, all eyes turned toward Bubblegum and they seemed to be thinking the same thing.
'Isn't there a ball right here?'
Bubblegum panicked, "No, I mean... I am a ball, but... being tossed around like that..."
Bubblegum seemed reluctant at the thought of being hit back and forth.
"Then, will you do it, big bro?"
StrawberryShooter's words prompted a reaction.
"Darn it! You crazy guys!"
Bang!
Bubblegum instantly turned into beach volleyball and rolled over the water's surface.
Whoosh!
The ball created a spray like a jet ski and suddenly leaped into the air.
"Let's go!"
Takoyaki cheered excitedly, jumped, and mercilessly smacked Bubblegum's cheek.
Bang!
"Gurgh!"
"Yayyy!"
Miho returned the ball from the opposite side.
Thump!
Bubblegum successfully crossed over the stone net and flew toward Almond.
"Gurgh!"
Bubblegum headed toward Almond while screaming.
"!"
Almond's eyes turned very serious.
'Let's do our best to create merchandise.'
For some reason, the thought of needing to work hard on the shoot transformed into a resolve to win this beach volleyball game.
"Take it easy!" Bubblegum cried out in desperation, but it was unclear if they heard him.
The fairies continuously pressed the shutter.
Click!
Click! Click!