My Platinum-Blond Childhood Friend Is So Pretty

25 – 09. Just a few hours apart

After Eli left about an hour ago.

I grabbed my tablet and headed straight to Minjae’s house.

Minjae’s house was quite a distance from ours, on the opposite side of the school, and it took about 40 minutes with a bus transfer to get there.

And when I arrived and pressed the bell, Minjae, who seemed to be waiting near the entrance, immediately opened the door.

– Click!

“Minjae, hi.”

“You came? Since my parents aren’t here, come in comfortably. Only Nuna is in the room.”

“Really? I was thinking of greeting them. Too bad.”

“Do you really need to greet… You’re so strange.”

“What’s strange?”

“Usually, people like it when parents aren’t around.”

“Come on, they’re the parents of a close friend. It’s only right to say hello.”

“….”

“Why?”

“No… I mean, no.”

I followed Minjae, who seemed to be acting strangely, inside.

Minjae’s house was an ordinary apartment, nothing particularly special. It felt just like home, cozy and comforting.

“Knock, knock.”

“Sister! The friend I told you about is here!”

“Come in!”

*Thud*

As I entered the room, I tried my best not to glance around.

Since it was my friend’s sister’s room and a girl’s room, I wanted to be considerate.

But once I stepped inside, without realizing it, I couldn’t help but glance around. I couldn’t avoid it.

The bed, desk, and computer were nothing special.

However, the surrounding area caught my attention. Chara bromides hanging on the wall and scattered figures. Familiar comic books and more.

For some reason, it felt familiar, as if it could be Minjae’s room. It was a perfect otaku’s room.

I’m not really a collector of these kinds of goods, but still, if I see them, my natural interest is piqued.

And in one corner of the room, a short-haired woman who seemed to be Minjae’s sister was vigorously typing on her computer.

“Sister. Doyoon is here.”

“Sorry, sorry! Just a moment! Let me finish up here!”

“Ah, why did you even call me then? Just turn it off!”

“Shut up! You have to write the material down when it comes to mind!”

It was a bit amusing to see a side of Minjae that I didn’t know, speaking to her family with such determination.

Even though we’ve become close friends and can comfortably chat, the true nature of how she treats her family is now evident.

After about five more minutes, Minjae’s sister smiled apologetically and got up from her seat.

“Sorry~ I suddenly thought of something interesting…”

Apologizing once again, her words gradually faded as she turned her body to face this way.

As I waited, sitting for a moment, I also stood up and finally, we could properly face each other.

Minjae’s sister.

Wearing round glasses and being quite short in height, she may seem impolite for someone in her twenties, but her face, resembling Minjae’s, was quite cute.

That was his sister.

I greeted my friend’s sister, as always, with a bright smile and a bow.

“Hello, sister. I am Doyoon, Minjae’s friend.”

However, my sister didn’t immediately respond to my greeting. No, she couldn’t.

“Uh… Uh? Th-that… Um…”

“Why is sis acting like that? Is something wrong?”

As if buffering through Minjae’s words or struggling with a malfunction, she stammered. Soon, with a reddened face, she spoke to me.

“Um…”

“Yes?”

“Can you… give me your, um, number…?”

“Oh, sis!!!”

***

“Later, I’ll have to give you money, and there might be more freelance work in the future… So, taking your number is not without its merits, but it might get a bit noisy…”

“All I see is greed and dark intentions.”

Sis grumbled, and Minjae blamed his own sister for such an attitude.

To cut to the chase, I gave her my number. It wasn’t a strange thing to exchange numbers with my friend’s sister, especially if it could lead to more discussions about freelance work.

Besides, it didn’t seem like she was genuinely trying to build a relationship with me.

“I’m Seong Min-ah. Call me Min-a. But seriously, you’re good-looking. I’ve heard a lot about you from her, but seeing you in person, it’s no joke.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“You speak nicely too! Are you really my brother’s friend?”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

Considering she was Minjae’s sister and contrary to the otaku atmosphere, she had a very cheerful personality.

She stumbled over her words a bit at first, maybe due to initial awkwardness, but afterwards, she didn’t show any signs of that. Thanks to that, we were able to continue the conversation comfortably.

Starting with compliments about me, we soon moved on to talking about Ellie.

“Can you show me a picture of your girlfriend? I’m really curious about the ones you took together.”

Well, I don’t have a girlfriend yet… Well, that would soon change.

“That’s fine, but hasn’t Minjae shown you?”

“He hasn’t? Oh, I saw a graduation photo once, but the photographer was terrible.”

“Other than that…”

“Doyoon-ah… Besides that, there’s no way I have a picture of Alicia, right?”

“Oh, right.”

Come to think of it, that made sense.

Eli isn’t the type to casually allow someone to take pictures of her. Despite being a minor celebrity, her account is private and can only be viewed by family and me, apart from Lee Soyeon.

Anyway, I showed Eli the picture we took together. It was a beautiful shot of Eli standing next to me, smiling gently—a picture that you can’t take your eyes off of.

As expected, Minah couldn’t take her eyes off the picture on my phone and kept exclaiming in admiration.

“What is this, it’s amazing! No, how can she be so beautiful? Is she even human?”

“Well, yes.”

“Insane… wow… you guys are close, huh?”

After showing off the photo with Eli and hearing Minah’s admiration once again when she mentioned going to a modeling part-time job today, I couldn’t help but feel proud. It’s not something new for Eli to be beautiful and receive compliments, but it feels good every time I hear it.

After the small talk ended, with our drinks by our side, we eventually started talking about work—not directly, though. Since there were three otaku gathered, we ended up talking about that first.

“If you’re watching something lately… how about Kuren? Minjae recommended it, and it’s interesting. The background is beautiful, and the healing atmosphere is nice.”

“That sounds good! I liked Dead Warrior the most. It’s cute how he’s handsome but subtly a bit crazy.”

“Wait, aren’t you watching it just for Kuren?”

“Shut up, you lolicon otaku.”

“What did you say, squirt?”

“Hey… seriously, because of Doyoon, I’ll let it slide.”

I heard that she writes romance fantasy novels that are completely geared toward women, but when it comes to otaku-related things, she prefers boys’ manga. Then, my sister subtly mentioned something.

“But hey, have you ever… thought about trying cosplay? There’s something that suits you so well… I can cover all the costs too!”

“Cosplay… It’s not that I have no interest.”

“Really?! If you want to, just tell me! I’ll cover all the expenses and take the pictures!”

“I want to try it with Eli later…”

“Even with your girlfriend?! Hey, I’ll send a taxi to your house! Just bring yourself! I’ll do everything! I’ll just take pictures, so…”

“Please, calm down…”

“Is this something to calm down about?!”

It wasn’t just something I said; I really considered trying it. Of course, it wasn’t about what I would wear but about wanting to see Eli wear something.

Even though Eli looked pretty in the makeshift princess dress when she was young, I wanted to see her in a proper, beautiful dress.

I don’t know if she’ll agree, but if I ask while giving her a kiss and grumbling a bit, she’ll probably eventually agree.

Anyway, after chatting for a while without realizing the time, we finally started talking about work with Minah unnie.

“I don’t need it to be detailed, just capture the main points like a meme that circulates on communities. Just make sure it doesn’t feel too messy.”

“Sister, you’ve set up the composition and settings well, so it won’t be difficult. But can I leave it to me?”

As I looked at the detailed character settings and desired composition for the picture that Minah sister had prepared, I asked.

Minah sister started writing web novels as a hobby since her freshman year of high school, and her romance fantasy story that she wrote in her senior year became a hit, so she has been serializing it up to now.

Thanks to that, she earned a lot of money, so she could easily hire a skilled illustrator if she wanted to, so I was a little puzzled why she entrusted it to me.

In response to my question, Minah sister chuckled.

“There are many people with better skills than you… But those people are so busy, and I feel sorry asking them to draw multiple pictures like this that I want. It’s also difficult to determine the price. It’s easier to ask you since it’s you.”

“Ah~”

“Of course! Above all, I really like your drawings. They are exactly my type.”

“Thank you. Then, I’ll do my best to draw.”

“Yes! I’ll take care of the money, so give it your all!”

And from that moment on, I connected the tablet to the laptop borrowed from my sister and started working.

It didn’t need to be detailed and had a mix of humor, but still, I gave it my best since it was an illustration for a web novel that people paid to read.

As I began to focus on my drawing, my sister started writing again, and Minjae played with his comic book nearby.

“Sister, is this the right way to do it?”

“Hmm~ Can you exaggerate it a bit more? Even if the expression looks weird.”

“Yes. I’ll try once.”

“Please~”

Before properly tracing the lines, I confirmed with my sister right away, and I spent a couple of hours drawing one picture after another.

At some point.

In my mind.

All I could think of was.

“I hope it finishes quickly and becomes evening.”

Intermittently, as I exchanged messages with Eli.

[Eli: Are you just drawing?]

[Me: (Photo)]

[Me: Working hard on drawing lol]

[Me: Is the part-time job going well?]

[Eli: It’s just whatever.]

[Eli: It’s not a big deal.]

[Eli: What about you?]

[Me: Me too.]

[Me: Minjae’s older sister is a nice person, so I feel comfortable.]

[Me: I saw your picture and I really want to meet you because you’re so pretty.]

[Eli: If I have time later.]

It was a normal conversation, but for some reason, I felt that Eli wanted to see me.

So I quickly wanted it to be evening so that I could meet Eli.

“I miss Eli.”

Actually, I realized that it was just me missing Eli too much.

My heart felt empty.

It had only been a few hours apart. I just couldn’t see Eli for a moment. I just couldn’t hear Eli’s voice.

While drawing lines on the tablet, Eli constantly came to mind. The face that slightly frowned when leaving in the morning in the car stood before my eyes.

But that didn’t mean that I wanted to tease Eli just for fun.

Eli is clearly…

“She must like being a model.”

Yesterday, Eli was worried about the part-time job we were doing today, but I was sure that Eli would like that job.

There was no reason for Eli to dislike it. Wearing beautiful clothes, dressing up, and taking pictures. And on top of that, being able to earn money.

Thanks to that, I suddenly had a thought.

If Eli wants to seriously study modeling, what should I do?

Of course, I would support her.

But being a model, although I don’t know the details, I knew that if she does it properly, it’s not just in Korea but also internationally.

Especially for Eli.

With her beauty, figure, and confidence, she would surely become famous.

You could argue that it’s too early to worry about such things, but I had a feeling that if it’s Eli, she might succeed as a model and travel overseas in the future.

“So, what should I do?”

Actually, it was a problem that didn’t need to be worried about.

If the bold princess opens her own path and walks it, I wanted to follow her.

Always supporting and assisting the princess, like a laid-back wizard who only follows behind her.

However, all of this is just my speculation, and I would need to directly ask Eli to find out what she really thinks.

In addition, I also had some concerns about that.

‘There must always be men who are drawn to Ely.’

It couldn’t be helped. The atmosphere was a bit sharp, and even when we talked, he showed a lot of sharpness. He’s still young, though.

But even so, if I see Ely, I can’t help but be interested.

Even now, in fact.

[ Yerin Aunt: (photo) ]

[ Yerin Aunt: Isn’t Ely beautiful? Even Auntie was surprised~ ]

[ Yerin Aunt: Doyoon should have seen this too~ ]

[ Me: Yeah, hahahaha ]

When I see the expertly adorned Ely, from head to toe, that Auntie secretly took a picture of.

When I see the beautiful princess made of platinum that I can’t help but stare at.

That feeling cannot be helped.

Of course, I don’t think Ely will easily be swayed by another man, but I couldn’t help but feel a dislike as well.

Just as Ely often gets jealous of the other women around me, I, too, always found myself being jealous of the men who tried to get closer to Ely.

-Swish…

While moving my hands diligently like that, in my mind, I recall the beautiful appearance of Ely.

I made up my mind.

“I’ll spend all the money I receive this time to buy a couple’s ring.”

Our own couple’s ring.

A slightly expensive one, secretly, as a surprise for Ely.

While giving it to her, I will confess my feelings and start a relationship with Ely, which I have been putting off for some time.

I did not show it on the surface due to my pride as a man, but I will reveal my possessiveness and exclusivity towards Ely, which fills my heart, through the couple’s ring.

Even on days like today, when we are so far apart, I will leave a mark that Ely is mine.

I belong to Ely.

And Ely belongs to me.

And in order to do that.

“Sister, I finished one more. Can you take a look?”

“Already? Where… You drew it well! This one passes!”

After finishing this task well, should I try to earn some money.

***

In a bustling film set.

Ellie thought.

‘I miss him.’

Nothing particularly special for her.

Just the thought of missing her childhood friend and the guy she liked, Lee Doyoon.

She had this thought yesterday before going to bed, before leaving home today, and even now.