Season 2: Chapter 94. Fan Meeting (2)
Sang-Hyeon felt a bit flustered, honestly.
'How did I guess right?'
The first fan had an expectant look in her eyes as if she desperately wanted Almond to recognize her.
However, Sang-Hyeon wasn't omniscient. It was impossible to guess her identity if he only ever received text donations without seeing her face or hearing her voice.
Still, didn’t they say humans had good intuition?
"RubySword?"
At his words, she looked up and softly murmured, "How did you know...?"
Indeed, the first fan turned out to be RubySword.
— Why isn't it a muscular man?
— Seriously? RubySword is a gorgeous lady and not a muscle man?
— Where's The Rock who was supposed to blow Almond's heart away?
— So young? Impressive.
— A rich lady, huh?
RubySword's total donation amount was quite high. It wasn’t the highest, but she definitely ranked at the top in terms of consistency. Perhaps that was how she secured the number one fan badge.
'I got confused because of her young age.'
Sang-Hyeon never thought someone who donated that much would be so young.
'I hope it's not a case like Ji-Ah’s.'
He felt worried that RubySword’s situation could be like Ji-Ah's, but she seemed to be from a well-off family from her appearance. He hoped that was the case.
"Ah... That's a shame," RubySword muttered with a bittersweet smile.
What did she find disappointing?
"If you'd worn this, it would have been nicer."
She seemed disappointed that Sang-Hyeon no longer had to wear the item she brought because he guessed correctly.
The viewers went wild in the chat due to RubySword's disappointed expression. They insisted that Sang-Hyeon face the penalty even though he guessed correctly.
'This isn't really a punishment.'
Nevertheless, Sang-Hyeon reached out.
"Give it to me."
RubySword looked surprised.
"Really?"
"Yes, of course."
"Th-Thank you."
RubySword handed over the gift to Sang-Hyeon, who thought back to the numerous fan meetings that Ji-Ah showed him. Even there, idols also faced moments like this.
'It's not easy when it comes to such things.'
He knew it wasn't an easy job being an idol. They had to handle these situations effortlessly in front of thousands of people!
'Wait, thousands of people?'
Idols didn't do this in front of thousands when he actually thought about it. They only did it in front of their fans.
On the other hand, Sang-Hyeon was live-streaming and even passersby on the office street stopped to watch what was happening on the big screens.
'Oh no.'
Although he boldly agreed to wear it, his hand hesitated to reach out for it. He couldn't help but dart his eyes around.
The viewers found his hesitation amusing.
— It’s hilarious to see his eyes darting around!
— Just wear it already!
— Come on, put it on!
As Sang-Hyeon kept delaying, the chat grew even more annoyingly insistent.
'Maybe I should turn the camera away first.'
Sang-Hyeon considered this idea when a loud noise suddenly rang out.
Bam! Bam!
[BunnyAlmond has donated a whopping 100,000 won!]
[Sang──bunny (Sang-Hyeon)!]
"Wow!"
RubySword happily clicked the button on her camera.
Click!
A slightly stiff Sang-Hyeon and a girl smiling as if she received the entire world could be seen in the picture.
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
RubySword kept thanking him and started unpacking the gifts she brought.
The next fan to come in didn’t say much. They simply received an autograph and took a photo. The one after that barely managed to take a photo, left a gift, and ran away. The bravado in the chat was nowhere to be found. Almond’s fans all awkwardly hesitated and left their gifts before running off.
'This is more typical.'
Sang-Hyeon realized that most fans acted like this. Just as he got a feel for the usual pattern, a memorable one appeared around the fifteenth fan.
"Hmm."
A young man, a college student probably in his early twenties, presented Almond with a piggy bank as a gift.
"For you, Almond."
"Ah..."
The viewers felt a mix of emotions after seeing the well-used piggy bank.
— That's so touching.
— He's giving away his savings? That’s so heartfelt.
— That's heartbreaking...
The sight of the old piggy bank, obviously well-loved and used, was enough to make Sang-Hyeon's heart flutter because of the heavy sentiment behind it.
"This... It's difficult for me to accept something like this. You seem to have saved up for a long time, and it's cash too... I appreciate the thought, but—"
Sang-Hyeon attempted to politely decline when the man suddenly chuckled and said, "It's not mine, actually."
Several question marks popped up in the chat as viewers also felt confused.
Meanwhile, the man holding the piggy bank wore a sly grin on his face.
Someone recognized him in the chat.
— I know who this guy is lol it's EggPlant
Sang-Hyeon also realized who he was upon hearing what he said next.
"This belongs to my younger brother."
— This guy, lol!
— What's happening, lol?
The sentimental atmosphere instantly crumbled.
"You're EggPlant, right?"
— That Eggplant guy, lol.
— What? lol.
Sang-Hyeon's slip of the tongue paid off because the young man indeed turned out to be Eggplant.
"Yes, you recognized me right away! Haha!"
— Of course, there's no one else with such a unique persona.
Sang-Hyeon couldn't help but wryly laugh at this peculiar person. Meanwhile, Eggplant placed the piggy bank back into his bag and took out another gift.
"Here, take the real gift!"
However, his new gift looked just as bizarre.
— What did he steal this time? Is it from his newborn nephew?
— He was a meal inspector. Now he's a gift thief in another world?
— What's this now? lol
— A DIY baby kit!? lol
Another challenge appeared for Sang-Hyeon after wearing the bunny ears.
"This... please wear it!"
***
In a plaza, two men and a woman gathered.
The tallest of the men complained, "Do we really need to go this far?"
He was SharpSphere, the commander of a national team known for its prowess.
"Cookie insisted that I meet Almond in person today..."
The one making excuses was Kimchi Warrior, the key person in recruiting Almond.
"But didn't he already agree? Isn't that the end of it?" the woman interjected.
She was the youngest looking of the three and went by the username, Water Dumpling.
"What if he drops out halfway like Cookie said? Then how will we fill that gap? Just go!"
Cookie was a leader among commanders and ranked number one in Korea. He was the only one among them to have experienced the glory of advancing to the main round of the national competition.
"Well... if Cookie said so, I guess we have no choice."
SharpSphere didn’t usually back down, but Cookie boasted an impressive track record and easily swayed him with just words.
[Did you properly explain the schedule to him? I found out that he has health problems. If he drops out halfway, we’ll suffer big time. You better explain properly and make a decision now.]
They had just over a month left for the national competition and needed that entire month to boost Almond's rank. If he ended up dropping out due to health issues, they wouldn’t be able to recover from that.
"So here we are."
For that reason, Kimchi Warrior now walked through a street lined with office buildings and headed toward Almond's fan meeting venue. He knew he couldn't enter, but planned to wait stubbornly outside.
"There? It looks like that's the place."
Water Dumpling pointed to somewhere crowded with people. It was obviously the fan meeting venue.
'He’s that popular...?'
Kimchi Warrior gulped and walked toward the venue. He squeezed through the noisy crowd as Almond's stream played live on a big screen. Comments filled the chat.
"Wow, lol."
Kimchi Warrior and his group couldn't take their eyes off the screen displaying Almond's current situation.
"What... What is this?"
They looked utterly bewildered. Of course, Almond was wearing quite an extraordinary attire.