50.
Hyeon-woo yawned again and turned on the TV in a daze. Spotty greeted him on the screen.
‘How many times has it been rebroadcast?’
Do they usually do reruns like this? I don’t know. Hyeon-woo scratched his head and flipped through the channels to watch monsters and people he didn’t live with. He heard the doorbell amidst his lazy morning.
Sometimes Seon-woo would ring the bell to have his Hyung welcome him, so Hyeon-woo lifted his heavy body. Looking at the screen, it was indeed Seon-woo waiting outside.
Seon-woo smiled after the door opened and stepped inside.
“Hyung.”
“Come on in.”
After greeting Seon-woo, he realized that there was someone else behind him. It was Chan-young, the Deputy Guild Leader.
“Hello?”
Chan-young bowed politely and came inside.
“I came here to tell you something.”
“You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”
Before Hyeon-woo had the chance to hear the message, Seon-woo cut in as if he already knew what he was going to say. Chan-young wrinkled his brows with distaste with what he was to say. Chan-young looked a little timid in front of Seon-woo.
“What is it?”
In response to Hyeon-woo, Chan-young turned on the tablet he was holding and handed it to him. There was a social media profile page floating on it.
“Byeolstar?”
“Spotty and Kero are popular right now. We think you should have a separate Byeolstar account. Of course, if it bothers you, you don’t have to do it!”
As Chan-young said so, he glanced at Seon-woo’s eyes. Actually, I wanted to capitalize on Hyeon-woo’s recent fame. Since Spotty and Kero got on the air, there had been a lot of phone calls, fan letters, and gifts pouring in. If I were in his position, I think it would seriously raise the Seon-Hyeon Guild’s image if taken seriously.
“You don’t have to do it.”
Seon-woo firmly said.
‘I’ve seen some Awakened do it, but I’ve never given it thought.’
Still, if Chan-young thought so, it would be beneficial. Aside from being weaker than Seonwoo, Chan-young was quite a capable person.
“You would just need to post a picture once in a while. We’ll take care of comments and other management!”
Chan-young worked hard to appeal to the good points of being on Byeolstar: Corporate image would improve, citizens would think more highly of it, and this would be helpful to the guild.
“I wouldn’t recommend it if Spotty and Kero weren’t gaining traction, but they are surprisingly popular. They’re kinda the mascots and you could be more of a cheerleader! You’ll never have to fight anyways.”
Since there is no way not to fight at all, he would need to occasionally follow Seon-woo into a dungeon-type portal. Rather than teasing or fighting with his brother, Hyeon-woo would play a different role. This seemed to be the intention.
“You don’t have to.”
Seon-woo spoke again. Do-jin came close looking interested in the conversation, but did not give his opinion.
“I’ll do it.”
Would it be difficult to just take a few pictures and post them? Hyeon-woo nodded his head and said.
“Are you sure?”
Chan-young’s expression brightened.
“Yes.”
“Because you don’t have to do it.”
“It’s alright. What’s so difficult about it?”
“Then we’ll create an account for you.”
“I know how to create an account.”
“Of course, then you can do it yourself.”
Chan-young replied with a brightness in his voice, as if he felt more at ease.
“Please allow us to screen content before you upload it as a precaution.”
“Yes, I will.”
And that was Hyeon-woo’s beginnings as a Byeolstar.
“Let’s see.”
Hyeon-woo leaned back on the sofa with the tablet. Signing up wasn’t too difficult.
Ji Hyeon-woo
(Photo of black Spotty).jpg
(It’s blurry, but recognizable picture of a furry individual).jpg
Take good care of me
After writing a brief introduction, he took a picture of Spotty and Kero. He took a picture of them lying on the rug without any particular angle to decorate and uploaded the first picture. He just uploaded this because he didn’t need to get approval.
“Should I have used more props?”
I think the picture I posted is too simplistic. Hyeon-woo pondered for a moment, then brought a small doll and placed it next to Kero.
“Wang?”
It seemed better than nothing. He also tried putting a cushion next to Spotty. It looked awkward. This time, he picked up Spotty and placed them on the cushion. This one looks pretty plausible.
“Great, let’s upload it.”
Hyeon-woo smiled and posted a picture.
Office worker A-ssi was browsing the internet news on the way home from work. He was browsing to see if there’s anything new, and he suddenly gets a message from a friend.
Hey hey, have you seen it?
What?
Spotty and Kero are on Byeolstar!
Really?
Surprised, he opened Byeolstar and saw a plain account. An account with no picture of the main account, only a name and a short introduction, ‘Ji Hyeon-woo and the monsters’.
There were some photos posted there, but as soon as A-ssi saw them, he immediately burst into laughter.
“Pfft!”
Feeling stares around him, he quickly covered his mouth, but he couldn’t help the laughter coming from within.
The first picture was of Spotty. You have to look closely to recognize it, since from a little distance, he looked just like a black stone on a rug. It seems that they wanted to take a picture of a cute figure lying on a rug, but the result was a mess.
Just in case, he looked at the next picture but the level was not significantly different. In the era of advanced mobile phone functions, it was not difficult to take great photos without holding a camera. But what a launch shot like this!
It was unfortunate yet so funny. In particular, it was more so that it seemed that he had put a lot of effort into it. At first, he only took pictures on a rug, then a cushion was created, and then a small doll was added.
‘I want to take a picture of them.’
A-ssi looked at the picture while giggling and sent a text message to his friend.
Ji Hyeon-woo, are these actually his photography skills?
It seems real
He’s bad at taking a picture too
Sobb. My spotty, my kero! Give me your pictures! They weren’t this ugly! They were so much cuter on the show!
Why didn’t someone else take a picture of them?
I know. I should leave a comment.
The friends cried and kept talking.
This is kinda weird. I had only posted a few pictures, but the number of followers was rapidly climbing. Hyeon-woo watched his phone ring like crazy until he finally managed to turn it off with Do-jin’s help. He then read the comments and realized he had a big problem.
‘I’m bad at taking pictures?’
Do-jin’s shoulders trembled slightly as he read the comments from the side. He seemed to be laughing.
“How the hell did you take such a picture?”
“I thought I posted some good shots.”
Hyeon-woo grumbled and showed his gallery to Do-jin. Looking at them, Do-jin was at a loss for words. I knew that Hyeon-woo wasn’t very familiar with modern technology other than game consoles, but I didn’t expect it to be this much.
There were pictures where Spotty looked like a stone, Kero had two chins, and something blurry like a psychic picture.
“You could do with some practice.”
“Are they that bad?”
“Would you like to try taking a picture of me?”
“Okay!”
Determined to take a better picture, Hyeon-woo opened the camera and pointed the lens at Do-jin. The Do-jin on the screen was a proud man. Cool eyes, a tall nose, and charming lips. The original version is so good, so how can I ruin it? Hyeon-woo immediately took the picture.
Click.
At the sound of the shutters, Do-jin came back. Hyeon-woo opened the photo album, and immediately alternated between the picture and Do-jin in shock. He looked good in pictures but Do-jin’s picture was nothing compared to the real thing.
“Strange, what’s wrong with this? I’ll take one more shot!”
Hyeon-woo pointed the phone at Do-jin again.
“Yes.”
Do-jin took a leisurely pose. However, the picture didn’t come out well.
“Wh-why!”
All of the pictures of other Byeolstars were pretty. Why are you like this? It couldn’t be like this. Hyeon-woo pursed his lips and thought hard before coming to a conclusion.
“I need to change my phone.”
“Isn’t it the latest phone?”
“Is this the latest phone?”
I just didn’t know because my Dongsaeng bought it for me.
“Why don’t you buy a camera instead?”
“Alright. That must be it!”
Hyeon-woo decided to buy a new camera. Since the allowance given by Seon-woo was sufficient, he got permission and prepared to go out with Do-jin. He could just ask Seon-woo to buy it, but he thought he’d learn some tricks from an expert.
“Wait.”
Do-jin, who was watching Hyeon-woo come out dressed casually, handed over a hat and sunglasses that he had prepared in advance.
“What is this?”
“Ji Hyeon-woo is popular. I think it would be better to cover up a little more.”
The popular ones are the monsters. Would someone show that much interest in him, an ordinary person? I’m not even a celebrity. Still, since Do-jin had given him them, he put on the hat and sunglasses. They reached the lobby, where Chan-young was waiting with a few people.
“It’s too dangerous to go out alone. We’ll trail you in secret but you won’t even know we’re there.”
If they openly followed him, they would attract attention. This level was quite understandable. Just as he was about to go outside, Seon-woo arrived.
------
Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader: YaagRabRag
YRR: I feel like a celebrity in disguise whenever I go out in hat, sunglasses, and mask.
HM: well… I thought Kero and Spotty’s real faces showed on the camera. lol
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