As a grown man, he certainly felt embarrassed about being given nicknames like “Squishy Rice Cake” and “Strawberry Fairy.” Still, anything seemed better than the image he’d acquired as a “plushie-obsessed maniac.”
The fans had even turned the whole thing into animated GIFs and were enthusiastically using them. For messages like “I’m going to study!!”, they used a GIF of Cheonghyeon glaring intensely at the claw machine, completely focused on winning a plushie. For messages like “I’m going to bed~” they used the photo of Cheonghyeon sleeping while hugging his plushie.
It had become such a widespread meme that even fans of other idols were using it naturally, leaving Cheonghyeon with mixed feelings.
“Come on, hyung! What’s there to be so embarrassed about? Nobody cares about stuff like this these days. Even older people go on television and show off their figure collections and things like that. Why are you making such a big deal out of a little plushie?”
Yoonwoo smiled sweetly and snuggled up to Cheonghyeon, trying his best to cheer him up.
After all, the idea of taking a picture of Cheonghyeon sleeping with the plushie in his arms and uploading it had come straight from Yoonwoo’s own head. It was only natural that seeing Cheonghyeon looking so dejected would make him feel guilty.
Listening to Yoonwoo, Cheonghyeon began to feel embarrassed that he might have made the atmosphere too gloomy.
“Forget it. I was just a little embarrassed, that’s all.”
Seeing Cheonghyeon’s awkward expression, Yoonwoo seemed to feel considerably less guilty. He let out an exaggerated “Phew~!” and made a great show of his relief.
Then he suddenly turned his head and looked sharply at Cheonghyeon.
“At this rate, hyung, what if you end up getting an advertising offer?”
“Huh?”
Cheonghyeon tilted his head at Yoonwoo’s unexpected remark. Yoonwoo pretended to grab him by the collar, looking playfully exasperated.
“You fake otaku! You didn’t even know where that plushie came from? It’s H Bank’s mascot!”
“Huh? Oh, really?”
“Yeah! Their first-generation mascot characters were insanely popular. They even made emoticon stickers and everything. So I guess they got ambitious and released a second generation of characters, but they tried way too hard and it flopped.”
“Flopped? But they’re so cute!”
When Cheonghyeon became unnecessarily indignant and narrowed his eyes fiercely, Yoonwoo let out a long sigh.
“Haah. Hyung, you’ve completely become one with that plushie now….”
Shaking his head, Yoonwoo took out his phone, searched for H Bank, and showed Cheonghyeon the results.
“Here, look at this. The first-generation characters have this kind of goofy, adorable look, but they tried way too hard with the second generation.”
When they opened H Bank’s website, two little bears that looked somewhat dim-witted for corporate mascots were waddling around the screen.
Speech bubbles appeared above them, asking, “How may we help you?”
Seeing them, Cheonghyeon immediately understood why the first-generation characters had become so popular.
Banks usually gave off a serious, orderly impression. But here were two goofy-looking bears wandering around, offering to help visitors. Their ridiculous appearance made it difficult to look away.
The longer he watched them, the cuter they seemed.
By contrast, perhaps because the second-generation characters really had been a failure, they could only be found as small images in the bank’s events tab.
At first glance, the second-generation characters were pretty and adorable, almost to the point where it was obvious how much effort had gone into designing them.
However, the executives’ desperate desire for success seemed to come through so strongly that consumers had found it off-putting.
“Look at this. The second-generation characters are a pair, so there’s another fox here too.”
“Ha.”
The moment Cheonghyeon saw the other character, an incredulous laugh escaped him.
Beside the yellow fox he’d wanted so desperately was a small white fox holding a strawberry.
This was… seriously… wasn’t that practically him?!
The superstition growing in Cheonghyeon’s mind, which was already bordering on delusion, began flourishing once again.
Yoonwoo failed to notice Cheonghyeon’s eyes darting about as his thoughts raced. Instead, he pointed at the screen and continued his explanation.
“You can tell just by looking at them how hard they tried, right? They even have backstories. Let’s see… Ah, here they are.”
At Yoonwoo’s words, Cheonghyeon focused on the screen to read the second-generation characters’ profiles.
Beneath the pretty illustrations were surprisingly detailed descriptions.
Noa: Born with the legendary “Emperor’s Fur,” which appears only once every thousand years and shines golden beneath sunlight but turns grayish brown under the setting sun. However, to Noa, the position of emperor is nothing more than a cumbersome and uncomfortable burden.
Noa left the fox clan and began wandering in search of personal happiness. The flower held in one paw is called a rudbeckia.
Will Noa be able to find happiness, just as the flower’s meaning, “Eternal Happiness,” suggests?
After reading the profile, Cheonghyeon couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief.
So the flower wasn’t a sunflower after all…
Cheonghyeon felt better now that he had something to tell Seoan, and he quickly skimmed through the other character’s profile.
Heea: A security guard discovered Heea sleeping on the steps in front of H Bank and brought the little fox inside.
Despite having been found sleeping on the street, Heea has rather picky tastes and preferences. If someone waves a sweet piece of fruit enticingly in front of Heea’s eyes, the little fox will often follow along while pretending to do so reluctantly.
The tip of Heea’s fluffy white tail is stained black, as though it has been dipped in ink.
Having spent the past 147 years believing no one could be prettier, Heea now feels threatened after meeting Noa, who resembles sunshine.
After reading the entire description, Cheonghyeon let out a disbelieving laugh.
Even someone like him, who knew nothing about these things, could tell that they’d gone overboard trying to make the characters special.
When Yoonwoo provided some additional explanation, it became even funnier.
The 147 years referred to how long the bank had been operating since its establishment, while the description of Heea’s tail tip looking as though it had been dipped in ink was inspired by H Bank’s ink-splatter-like logo.
Furthermore, the phrase “Eternal Happiness” in Noa’s profile was H Bank’s slogan.
Cheonghyeon had simply thought it was a cute plushie that resembled Seoan. But as it turned out, the character was packed full of the ambitions of executives who had experienced success once and wanted to repeat it.
Noa and Heea were supposedly a pair, but even after reading their profiles, Cheonghyeon couldn’t find much consistency or any particular connection between them.
Rather than developing chemistry between the two characters, the designers had obviously focused on cramming as many of the bank’s characteristics into them as possible.
“I think I understand why they flopped.”
At Cheonghyeon’s feeble remark, Yoonwoo burst into laughter.
“Even the way they named these characters is hilarious. Do you know what Noa means? Yellow baby fox. Isn’t that ridiculous?”
“Then what about Heea?”
“White baby fox, I guess? Since Huina sounds weird, they went with Heea.”
Seriously, after putting so much effort into creating the characters and their profiles, why had they been so careless about naming them?
Cheonghyeon looked utterly dumbfounded. Apparently finding his expression amusing, Yoonwoo chuckled as he answered.
“It’s not official or anything. It’s just what people say. But it sounds right, doesn’t it?”
Cheonghyeon nodded too.
Still, after hearing the explanation, he was relieved that the fox character turned out to be a bank mascot.
The reason he’d been so restless all this time was that the flower Noa held looked like a sunflower, and Noa’s fur color was remarkably similar to Seoan’s hair.
He’d been worried someone might discover that looking at the plushie made him think of Seoan.
But now that he knew the character’s profile was plastered with all sorts of worldly, commercial details, he doubted anyone would easily connect the plushie to Seoan.
Even so, seeing the white fox and yellow fox sitting affectionately together made him inexplicably happy.
The profile said the white fox liked fruit, and the fact that it happened to be holding a strawberry made Cheonghyeon feel as though it represented him.
He also liked seeing it paired with the yellow fox.
It seemed he would have to buy the white fox plushie in various sizes too.
His worries about being too nervous to sleep and accidentally waking up late turned out to be short-lived.
When Cheonghyeon opened his eyes, it was already the morning of the day he was supposed to meet Seoan.
I heard other people get so nervous they can’t even sleep….
When he’d searched the internet for accounts of people’s first dates, nearly all of them had been stories about people getting so excited that they couldn’t sleep properly, only to make one mistake after another on the actual day.
But even those stories ended with people saying they were happy simply because they’d been with someone they liked.
Reading them had made Cheonghyeon feel a little shy as he wondered whether the same thing would happen to him.
Yet when the morning of the date finally arrived, he’d slept so well that his face was slightly swollen, which was embarrassing in its own way.
Looking at his puffy face, he could hardly tell whether the fullness beneath his eyes was his usual cute under-eye puffiness or actual bags.
Cheonghyeon sighed softly and went into the bathroom.
He figured he should take a cold shower to bring down the swelling, even if only a little.
Perhaps splashing his face with cold water had paid off, because his face soon returned to normal.
After putting on a pair of cotton pants and a short-sleeved T-shirt, Cheonghyeon was about to leave his room when he suddenly stopped.
Doesn’t this… make me look too young?
He already looked younger than other people his age.
Adding a colorful short-sleeved T-shirt to the mix made him look like a high school student heading out on a field trip.
His straight, jet-black hair seemed to make that impression even stronger.
Cheonghyeon recalled a blog post he’d read yesterday titled “The Foolproof Guide to Dressing for a Date”.
If you dress up too much for a first date, you might actually end up looking ridiculous!
Of course, if you’re already crazy about each other, your efforts might seem adorable, but….
What if you’re 1) connected through business, or 2) close friends??
If you want your relationship to develop into something more, you need to show a different side of yourself!
For example, you need an outfit that creates a little romantic tension.
The key is to wear something completely different from your usual style without looking as though you’ve tried too hard. That’s the secret to achieving true “effortlessly stylish fashion with a hint of romantic tension”!
If you found this helpful, please don’t forget to hit the Like button before you go~^^
Come to think of it, whenever Cheonghyeon visited Seoan’s house, he always wore ordinary clothes.
Usually, it was comfortable sweatpants or a T-shirt with jeans.
Looking at himself now, aside from the fact that he was wearing cotton pants, his outfit wasn’t particularly different from what he usually wore.
Cheonghyeon turned away from the front door and went back to stand in front of his wardrobe.
Text message · 11:13 AM
— I think it’ll take about 30 minutes to get thereㅎㅎ
He still had about ten minutes before Seoan arrived.
Cheonghyeon quickly looked through his wardrobe.
However, the effortlessly stylish look that the blogger had described was much harder to achieve than he’d expected.
Perhaps because he was a celebrity, many of the clothes he’d received as gifts, as well as the going-out clothes he already owned, had details that were a little too flashy for an ordinary man’s wardrobe.
No matter what he picked, he looked as though he’d deliberately dressed up.
That only made Cheonghyeon feel even more pressed for time.
Text message · 11:40 AM
— I’m here. Take your time coming down.
When he received the message announcing Seoan’s arrival, accompanied by a cute, smiling emoticon, Cheonghyeon could no longer afford to waste time standing in front of his wardrobe.
In the end, he pulled out a plain white shirt that seemed the safest choice, put it on, and hurried toward the front door.
Despite having slept soundly the night before, his first date was off to a strangely hectic and flustered start.
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