Chapter 11: Invisible Friends

The stage lights came on, and people began gathering toward the stage.

Once the audience was in place, Sanghyeon Ajussi amped up the tension a little more.

“Let’s invite the star of today’s fashion show. Come on, Saran!”

“Yes!”

No-Rani walked over to Sanghyeon Ajussi.

Ajussi met No-Rani’s eyes, then handed over the microphone.

“Alright, shall we greet everyone here?”

“Hello! I’m Soran!”

No-Rani’s greeting echoed, and laughter filled the entire Market.

Just hearing No-Rani’s voice spread a cozy and happy feeling all around—her Ability at work.

“Today, you’ll wear a lot of different outfits and walk here, right? How do you feel? Nervous?”

“Nope. I like it.”

“You do?”

“Yeah! Because so many people made clothes for me. That’s why I’m happy. Thank you.”

She bowed deeply, and the sound of applause spread through the crowd.

The Hyeon Nammae siblings clapped enthusiastically and whistled in Cheering.

“Wow, our No-Rani is so cute.”

“No-Rani’s the best!”

“Soran! Soran!”

“Stop making a scene already.”

People might think they’re your lovers at this rate.

Well, she really is cute.

When No-Rani finished her greeting, Sanghyeon Ajussi took the mic again.

“For today’s fashion show, the winner will be chosen by our own Yellow child right here. The prize is a 1,000,000 won Gift Certificate for Hakro Mart! There’s no second place!”

My goodness.

Winner takes all, huh?

Whose idea was this?

“Don’t you want that million won?”

“We worked hard to set this up.”

“Yeah, obviously it was you two.”

From the planning to the execution, it was all them.

Of course I had to ask the obvious.

“Now then, who will win first place today?!”

By the way, a Hakro Mart million won certificate… in this kind of rural area, that’s a really desirable prize.

If I had any clothes-making Ability, I’d have entered too.

“It’s about to start.”

“Who do you think will win?”

“It’s already decided.”

“Huh.”

Judging hasn’t even begun—how do they know?

“Just trust me.”

“There’s an outfit that fits perfectly. No-Rani won’t be able to choose anything else.”

What kind of clothes did they see to be this confident?

Well, it all depends on No-Rani’s choice, so it’s not like they can bribe her or anything.

I looked at the two of them with suspicious eyes… but who could know what these two are plotting?

Might as well just let things flow as they will.

Ba ba bam. Ba bam!

As grand music resounded, the stage lights came on, and No-Rani started to walk out.

Wearing a floral-patterned dress, No-Rani walked brightly and roamed the stage.

If that’s Model Walking, the real models would collapse from laughter.

Still—

“She’s cute.”

“Told you, right?”

“No-Rani knows how to bring clothes to life.”

“Looks more like she brought her cuteness to life.”

Whatever it is, as long as she brought it to life, that’s enough.

No-Rani greeted the audience and finished her Walking.

Then she quickly changed into the next outfit and walked out again.

Most kids would be bothered or awkward with the process, but there wasn’t a hint of discomfort on her.

Not only that, her Walking this time was completely different from before.

“Did she change her Walking for every outfit?”

“No-Rani started doing it like that herself.”

It’s not the official way, but who cares? It’s not like this is a real Model Walking event anyway.

“Yeah.”

If she did this at a big fashion show, it would be chaos, but here, it’s fine.

The main character wants to spin around—let her do it.

It’s not like the clothes look bad or anyone dislikes it.

In fact, it seems people like seeing such childlike behavior even more.

“It’s amazing.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

“No-Rani’s got talent.”

If you call it talent, then it is.

She put on and took off twenty outfits, and time flew by.

As the stage lights turned off, the fashion show’s end became clear to the audience.

But I couldn’t figure out which outfit Hyeon Nammae thought would be first place.

Was there one that made No-Rani especially happy?

“Do I not know No-Rani well enough?”

“Guess not.”

“I don’t think there was an outfit she got especially happy over.”

“Oh, first place outfit is…”

“Here it comes.”

As the previously darkened stage suddenly lit up, small fireworks even went off.

This is some dramatic direction.

Did they actually take bribes or something?

“You two…”

“Kyaa! So cute!”

“No-Rani, you’re the best!”

Their excitement just went up another level.

On the stage, amidst the pouring fireworks, No-Rani strode forward.

This time, her steps were even more confident, and she was wearing No Ran-i’s Dress.

“It looks just like what she always wears… wait, no.”

It’s different.

No Ran-i’s Dress now had butterfly and flower embroidery added to it.

It looked like a painting—such a splendid dress.

A huge Smile bloomed on No-Rani’s face, and Yellow Light Powder floated around above her head.

“Who the heck made that kind of dress…?”

“Heh, hehehe.”

“We did it. We really did.”

“Told you our taste never misses.”

“That’s the ultimate one, just like we said.”

“You two did this, didn’t you?”

My thinking was short-sighted.

Instead of bribery, they just wanted to snatch up the prize for themselves.

“Have you no shame?”

“Why not? As long as you’re a local, you’re eligible.”

“We’re allowed to participate too.”

“We barely made the submission deadline, but it worked out.”

“So you’ve got the qualifications, but not the conscience.”

Unbelievable.

“When did you even prepare this?”

As far as I knew, Hyeon Nammae didn’t even stop harvesting watermelons while preparing for the fashion show.

Plus they decorated the stage, did publicity and everything.

Did they return like me in The Return? Or have clones or something?

“You can sleep when you’re in your coffin.”

“To dress No-Rani in beautiful clothes, we left no stone unturned.”

“Not for her, but to win money, right?”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Really, these two are something else.

I clucked my tongue once and looked at the stage.

No-Rani went to the edge, bowed, and walked back with Power Walking.

Just from her expression, you could tell.

That’s the winner.

“Khup. Ahem. Khem.”

After No-Rani went down, Sanghyeon Ajussi came up to the stage.

His expression was a mix of embarrassment and slight anger.

Hmm.

Judging from his face, Ajussi didn’t know about this either.

Those two are dead when they get home.

“Alright, everyone. Our star has tried on all the clothes. Are you curious which one is first place?”

“Yes!”

“Which outfit did No-Rani like best?!”

“So curious!”

Ow, my ears.

The ones beside me yelled in unison.

Thanks to that, Ajussi shot a fierce glare our way. Are they only alive today? Or just at this moment?

Ajussi took another deep breath and read from the script.

“Alright, the winner will be decided soon. No-Rani will come back on stage, and the owner of the outfit she wears will be the winner!”

As soon as Sanghyeon Ajussi finished, the lights shone down on the stage once again.

After the beam swept down, No-Rani came up on stage.

Of course, the dress she wore was the embroidered No Ran-i’s Dress.

“That’s it!”

“A million won, a million won!”

“You’re going to use that million to buy something weird, aren’t you?”

“What else is life?”

“If you eat yourself to death, even the ghosts will be envious.”

I give up.

Whatever mess they get themselves into, they can deal with it.

I ignored Hyeon Nammae and just watched the stage.

No-Rani’s radiant Smile on stage.

Yeah, that’s good enough.

***

With Hyeon Nammae winning first place, the fashion show ended.

As a side note, both of their thighs got an extra vivid red stripe, of course.

“Sanghyeon Ajussi, you managed not to break their legs, at least.”

Is he merciful, or just skilled at not actually breaking bones?

“Heheh. Heh!”

“Are you that happy?”

“Mm! So happy!”

No-Rani swung her legs, wearing the No Ran-i’s Dress from the fashion show.

All the clothes from the show became No-Rani’s property.

It feels like a windfall, but everyone was happy to give them up.

They said keeping them would just fill up their closets anyway.

Just No-Rani coming over to thank them was enough for satisfaction.

They really are kind people.

“Here, Watermelon Juice.”

“Wow! Thank you!”

No-Rani sipped the Watermelon Juice, scattering Yellow Light Powder as she did.

Just seeing it spread a gentle, happy feeling all around.

“That’s good.”

“Yeah, thank goodness.”

“Ajussi, Ajussi! When’s the next fashion show?”

“…Maybe next year or even later.”

We can’t hold events like this too often.

For the sake of my stamina, and the Hyeon Nammae siblings’ poor legs.

Still, I feel like a similar opportunity will come again.

Sanghyeon Ajussi is always looking for chances to promote Hyeon-ung, after all.

That’s just my guess, anyway.

No-Rani looked a little disappointed, but not sad.

Probably because she enjoyed this event plenty.

“Let’s clean up and go home. Just wait a bit.”

“Okay!”

Let’s wash up the equipment we brought to the Market and get ready to open Chachip tomorrow.

Yes, finally, tomorrow.

I’ll officially open Chachip.

I already got my face out there today, so maybe a good number of people will come?

Half expectation, half excitement.

Ding.

As I was savoring the odd feeling, someone entered Chachip.

But really, there aren’t many people who’d come here now.

Either Hyeon Nammae or Sanghyeon Ajussi.

That’s what I thought as I turned my head…

“No-Ran!”

“Ah, Naru! Hi!”

“Hi! Hi! Hmph, you’re in trouble! Come here!”

“Okay.”

As soon as the door opened, the child rushed in to No-Rani.

She grabbed both of No-Rani’s cheeks and stretched them out.

Like rice cake—so squishy.

I’ll have to try that myself later.

But—

“You two know each other?”

“Mm? Huh?”

She looked about three years older than No-Rani, maybe around eight.

The curious little kid blinked at me in surprise.

“How, hmm!”

“Naru, it hurts. It hurts!”

“Oh, sorry.”

Once No-Rani said it hurt, the girl named Naru let go right away.

She doesn’t seem like a bad kid.

The way she looked for No-Rani as soon as she came in was full of worry, and she let go as soon as she realized she was hurting her.

No-Rani rubbed her reddened cheek and spoke.

“Ajussi, this is Naru. My friend!”

“Her name’s Naru?”

“Yeah, she’s Naru.”

“Naru. That’s a unique name.”

No-Rani is already an unusual name, but Naru is even more unique.

I feel like I’ve seen that name somewhere before…

Naru clung to No-Rani’s arm and asked,

“Ajussi… who are you?”

“Ah, sorry I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Changseong Lee. The son of the person who used to run this place—Grandfather.”

I almost said grandson, but with our already confusing family tree, I decided to just say son.

Naru rolled the word ‘son’ around her mouth, then nodded.

“That’s why… you can see us.”

See them?

“We’re usually invisible. But we can let people see us if we want.”

Ah, right. Now I remember where I saw the name.

Grandfather’s Recipe Book. That’s where.

That means this kid is special, just like No-Rani.

“I see.”

“You’re not surprised?”

“Grandfather was a pretty amazing person.”

“…He really was something.”

“Want to sit down? I’ll get you a drink. Let’s see…”

In the Recipe Book, it said Naru liked a certain tea…

“No, that’s okay.”

Naru firmly refused my offer.

Then she tugged at No-Rani’s arm and looked at me.

“Ajussi, I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor?”

“Yes.”

What a bold little kid.

I released her hand and looked Naru in the eyes.

Rather than shrinking back, she looked at me even more confidently.

If No-Rani’s eyes are warm, this child’s are strong.

“What is it you want to ask?”

“It’s nothing hard, nothing troublesome.”

When people say that, it’s usually both.

“Can you tell me what it is first?”

“It’s very, very simple.”

Naru pulled No-Rani’s arm as she spoke to me.

“Give No-Rani back.”