*
Chairman Nam returned two hours later.
“Geuru, let’s stop playing now. Mister’s tired…… Huh?”
Jeon Byeongho, who had been clinging to Geuru and pleading with her almost in tears, sprang to his feet the moment he spotted her.
His neatly tied necktie was nearly undone, his jacket had been flung aside, and one of his dress shoes was nowhere to be seen.
Seeing his slicked-back hair sticking up every which way, Chairman Nam let out a laugh and gave Secretary Kim a look.
At that, he took some documents out of his bag.
“Pfft. Ahem. Now then, this is the real contract. Skim it and sign. You know it’ll be hard to rent a venue on short notice anywhere else, don’t you?”
“How do I know you didn’t slip in some strange clause?”
“As if. For me, getting to watch CEO Jeon’s comedy show was enough.”
Chairman Nam laughed merrily as she grabbed Jeon Byeongho’s tie and yanked it up to his neck.
“What happened today is a warning to stop pulling petty stunts. I’m much better at screwing you over than you are. You understand now, don’t you?”
As Chairman Nam whispered by his ear, Jeon Byeongho trembled with resentment.
“So you’re saying you’ll hand over the venue? Aren’t you underestimating our side too much? You don’t have an S+ either.”
At that, Chairman Nam burst into a snort of laughter.
“CEO Jeon, when you do business, try looking at the market a little more broadly. Do we look like we’re targeting hunters?”
“……!”
Only then seeming to realize something, Jeon Byeongho furrowed his brow.
“It means we were aiming in a different direction from the start.”
Right? Chairman Nam said, stroking Geuru’s head.
Geuru smiled brightly and swished her magic wand.
*
Chairman Nam’s words were proven by the crowds that gathered from the day before the pop-up store opened.
[‘Jjapso’ Proves Its Throne in Korea’s Production Industry! Pop-Up Store a Massive Success!]
Geuru, wearing a suspicious alien hat and even a mask, lowered her phone and checked the front of the department store.
‘A massive success—!’
The line surrounding the department store to get into the pop-up store showed no end.
The article said that even before the department store opened, people had been spreading out mats and lining up, creating a rare spectacle.
While the hunters’ expectations had been focused on the “Inoue Haruna Special Exhibition,” most of the crowds gathered for Jjapso’s pop-up store were ordinary people.
And their numbers were on a completely different scale from hunters.
In the end, Japan’s interference operation had hardly had any effect.
“We really didn’t need to worry.”
Gidan said, sounding somehow dissatisfied as he looked at the long line.
If things had gone wrong, he had been ready to head straight to the special exhibition and cause a scene.
Serhi did not say much either, but the regret was plain on his face.
Unlike them, Geuru was desperately trying to calm her heart, which was pounding with excitement.
Until now, she had only sold items face-to-face by herself like a peddler, or through online proxy sales, so this was the first time she had ever seen crowds gathered to buy items she had made.
‘Amazing!’
A thrilling sensation spread through her, and in her heart, worms were setting off fireworks and holding a party.
Geuru squeezed her eyes shut, holding Gidan’s hand in one hand and Serhi’s in the other, and stepped onto the first floor.
Then, the moment she entered the pop-up store set up on the first floor, she opened her eyes.
“……!”
Her mouth fell open on its own.
The pop-up store, which used the entire first floor of the department store, had been decorated in a charming, cozy style like a street of magical shops from a storybook.
In the center stood a large statue of the Unfinished Bear, and people were lined up beside it to take pictures.
In the sky, PoroX doll items that increased stamina flew around with a wooong sound.
“Wow, they really went all out.”
Gidan’s mouth fell open in surprise as well, and Serhi looked around at this and that, poking the items with his finger.
This pop-up store had all sorts of attractions, from experience zones where people could assemble chick drones to demonstrations of various items, as well as displays of the items Jjapso sold.
Among them, what people were looking forward to most was, of course, the transformable magic wand!
It was a children’s transformation toy being sold for the first time at the pop-up store.
Though it had ended up capturing not only children’s hearts but those of grown-up children as well.
Because it was so popular, purchases of the magic wand had been limited to one per person, but even the generously distributed number tickets had already run out.
“No, I waited for hours and now you’re saying I can’t buy one?”
“We’re very sorry, customer.”
There were people who had managed to enter the pop-up store after a great deal of effort, only to fail to receive a number ticket and turn back in disappointment.
As Geuru watched them with pity, Gidan and Serhi dragged her farther inside.
What caught Geuru’s eye then was the drone assembly area.
It was an experience zone where people could assemble drones using various parts, and families and couples were gathered in small groups, occupying tables to try putting drones together.
“Geuru wants to do that!”
“Again?”
“You can just make one yourself.”
“But still.”
Geuru stuck out her lower lip.
It could not be seen because of her mask, but Serhi must have noticed she was sulking, because he pressed down on Geuru’s head.
“You’re sulking again. I’ll go to the bathroom first, then we’ll do it.”
“Geuru too!”
“Fine. Gidan, what about you?”
“I’ll wait here for a seat to open up. Go on.”
“Suit yourself.”
Leaving Gidan behind, the two moved to the restroom upstairs.
As if the pop-up store on the first floor had swallowed up all the people, there was not a soul to be seen on the second floor.
‘A massive success!’
Geuru repeated the article’s headline in her mind as she entered the first stall of the restroom.
She was pleasantly doing her business when she heard the sound of someone crying sorrowfully from the stall next to hers.
[“There are too many people…… Hic……”]
Huh?
‘A bathroom ghost?!’
……Probably not, right?
The crying did not stop and kept going. The person was sobbing so loudly that it made Geuru’s heart ache.
Geuru put her clothes back on and pressed her ear to the next stall.
[“Uwaaah. I couldn’t buy it……”]
Was it a foreign language?
‘In that case…….’
Geuru took out her phone and turned on a translation app.
[I couldn’t buy it. There were too many people. I’m such an idiot who can’t do anything……]
The sorrowful voice coming from the next stall had been blaming herself the whole time.
If she couldn’t buy it, it had to be that.
A magic wand.
The purchase line had been so long that after 11 a.m., they had not even been able to hand out waiting tickets.
If she was a foreigner, she must have come from far away.
Feeling sorry for her, Geuru rummaged through her bag.
Geuru had three magic wands with her right now.
One was the one Geuru had always carried with her.
And the other two were magic wands meant as gifts for her friends, Haeri and Huiyeon…….
Geuru could get a few more for her friends, but the foreign older girl sobbing next to her probably would not be able to get one easily.
After hesitating, Geuru nodded.
*
[“Sniff!”]
Inoue Haruna sniffled.
‘This isn’t the time to cry. I have to go now…….’
She did not want to disappoint other people with irresponsible behavior.
Haruna wiped her tears with the back of her hand and was just opening the door.
Creeeak—creak—creeak—
“……?”
Along with the sound of old bicycle wheels turning, an ugly teddy bear doll appeared beyond the half-open door.
‘Jjapso?’
While she was wondering whether it was real or not, the teddy bear doll saw her face and flinched in surprise, letting out an exclamation.
—You are……!
[“Ah……!”]
She had not put her mask back on because she had been wiping her tears. Haruna hurriedly put her mask on again and pulled her hat down low.
—Inoue Haruna?
When her name was called, Haruna went pale and hunched her shoulders.
She knew very well how much trouble it would cause her family and her home country for her to be here.
[“I’m sorry. Please don’t tell anyone else. I won’t show up again. I’m truly, truly sorry.”]
At a loss, she grabbed the brim of her hat and tugged it down, lowering her face.
I really must be an idiot. Please, just let it slide this once. That was what she was desperately hoping when—
—O Inoue Haruna. Is this pink magic wand yours, or is this blue magic wand yours?
[“Eh?”]
At her completely uncomprehending expression, Jjapso took out a phone.
After awkwardly tapping something with its teddy bear hands, a translated voice soon came from the phone.
[“Is the pink magic wand yours? Or is the blue magic wand yours?”]
A magic wand? Haruna lifted her head at the words she could not understand at all.
The teddy bear on the bicycle was holding a magic wand in each hand. One was pink, and one was blue.
“…….”
In the end, Haruna also turned on her translation app, typed rapidly into her phone, and turned on the speaker.
“Neither of them is mine.”
Then the teddy bear hand wrote on the phone again and translated it.
[“You are an honest child. I will give you both.”]
“Eeeh?”
Haruna received the magic wands the teddy bear handed her on both palms.
Seeing that they even had mana stones attached, they were genuine no matter how she looked at them.