Among Us, Serendipity

A flash of emerald zoomed past Min-hyuk's line of sight as he fiddled with his Nikkou camera. He absentmindedly flipped through the photos in his shutter, examining the shots he had taken of cosplayers. Seeing the life and expression in their imitative poses made him smile. They provided a fleeting respite from the sense of existential dread that came from being recently laid off.

Min-hyuk had graduated from university early due to not wanting to incur too much debt, and took a job offer at a small startup immediately after leaving school. Sure, it wasn't as flashy as the corporate and finance jobs a lot of his B-school classmates took after graduating, but floundering about at a software startup sure beat the many other students who couldn't find full-time work after graduating with business degrees. Despite constantly feeling in over his head and having no idea what he was doing, Min-hyuk felt like he belonged in the company. But just when he was starting to settle into his self-chosen vocation as a software developer, the market went under, and the startup of nine employees had to downsize to five. And Min-hyuk, being the most recently hired employee, was the first to go.

Would it have been any better to get two weeks notice? he thought to himself as he rode the bus home from the office. He'd seen the warning signs coming, but that didn't make the impending pink slip seem any less dreadful. The CEO said ProyAnus had no idea they were going to lose a funding source until the day before. Suddenly finding himself with ample free time, Min-hyuk decided to distract himself from brooding over his employment status predicament by buying a ticket to the Shirabad City Comic Con the next day. Since he didn't have an otaku bae to geek over Swirl Art Online and 0verflotch with, he called up his secondary school-cum-university buddy Ki-Woo.

Min-hyuk spotted a gaunt young man in the crowds, dressed in a midnight blue coat and slacks, wearing what appeared to be a thong on top of his coarse, slicked back hair. He did a double take. 아뿔싸, Ki-woo actually did it! He actually dressed up as Kenji Burai-shi hahaha! Suppressing a giggle, Min-hyuk waved over to the sullen young man, who immediately began walking towards him.

"Bro, you know I only did this for your broke single ass," Ki-woo blurbed with crossed arms. "Let's take a selfie before I get your mom's undies off my head."

Min-hyuk chortled at how ridiculous his friend looked in his ghetto immitation of a Honoguni secondary school uniform. "Bitch please, you know my mom isn't into Earthies," he light-heartedly shot back. "But thanks for coming here with me man, it really means a lot to me." He put his hand on Ki-woo's shoulder, then started thumbing through his photos of Swirl Art Online cosplayers. "What do you think of Master Photographer Min-hyuk's latest pieces? Think I could make it as a freelancer?" He nudged Ki-woo in the elbow and pushed the camera screen towards his face.

"Maybe if you win the $20,000 raffle in Funimation and Toshiba stock at this Comic Con, and make a killing in the market." Ki-woo pointed at the raffle kiosk on the convention event map in the brochure he was holding. "Come on dude, let's go buy some tix! This could be your lucky break!"

"All right, maybe I'll get lucky tonight and win big," Min-hyuk quipped. They walked towards the kiosk together and bought two raffle tickets. As they made their way back towards the central plaza, Min-hyuk saw the flash of emerald again.

"Hey Ki-woo, I think I just saw a really cool 0verflotch cosplay over there. Let's go check it out!"

"Sorry dude, I need to head back to campus. I got a presentation to give today for my Bio-meme-ology class." Ki-woo anxiously checked the time on his smartphone. "Ay caramba, Fubar is pretty pricey this time of day on Fridays."

"What? You didn't take the metro to the convention center?" Min-hyuk wasn't happy to be left alone like that.

"Bro, I'm not wearing that thong on my head on public transit. I would take the metro back, but it'd take an hour to get there anyway." Ki-woo held out his right hand with the raffle ticket clenched in his fist. "Can you hold onto my raffle ticket for me? I don't know if I'll be able to come back before they do the drawing."

"Alright, sure. I can hold onto that for you. And I'll call you if your number wins." Min-hyuk gave his friend a fist bump, and put Ki-woo's ticket in his chest pocket. Time to check out that babe channeling Asunah- unless that was Setsuna in her mage-healer outfit? he eagerly thought to himself.

Without warning, Min-hyuk's heel came into contact with a banana peel, and he slid for at least 10 feet across the floor at the plaza. He instinctively hugged his Nikkou camera pack to keep it safe as he collided with another convention goer.

"Hey- are you okay?" Yureum looked down at the young man splayed at her feet. He was wearing a form-fitting sweater and jeans that showed off his wiry, toned physique, and had coarse short hair. He seemed slightly dazed, and didn't seem to notice the slip of paper that had fallen out of his pocket.

Min-hyuk looked up at the cosplayer. She had long blonde hair and was wearing a skirt and long-sleeved top clad in various earthy hues of green. Her eyes seemed warm and filled with concern.

"Yeah... I think I'm okay." Min-hyuk gingerly brushed his arms and legs to check for bruises. Thankfully, he landed on his behind and his camera was spared from the impact of the fall. "Hi, my name's Min-hyuk". He reached out his hand towards the young woman in front of him, before popping in a witty remark. "And I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but that's probably the best Asunah cosplay I've ever seen, whether online or in real life!"

Yureum lifted her left hand to her mouth as she giggled. Wow, he's kind of cute, she thought to herself. "Thanks, you're really sweet!" She was actually cosplaying as Agnes from The Advancing Giants, but everyone kept mistaking her as the damsel in distress from Swirl Art Online. Maybe she shouldn't have skimped from ordering the Scouting Legion cape and outfit... "Can I help you up?"

"Sure," Min-hyuk replied. "Hey, do you mind if I get a picture of your cosplay?" he asked, after standing up and taking his camera out of its bag.

She obliged, and struck a few poses for the camera. "Do you have a website or a AceLook account for your photos? You look like you could be a professional photographer," Yureum quipped.

"Nah, I just do this for a hobby. But my doggo Mikasa thinks I could be the next Bryce Gellert!" Min-hyuk jokingly referred to his family's Shih-tzu.

Just as Min-hyuk was about to ask for the cosplayer's number, there was a loud intercom. "Attention- the motivational speech and raffle drawing by three-time Futon Award winning voice actor, Willy-Thor Taibar is about to begin!"

Min-hyuk suddenly looked around, and the crowds of convention goers loitering about the plaza disappeared. Uh-oh, I better get going before all the good seats are gone, he thought. He turned back to Yureum, and excused himself. "Hey, I gotta' get going to the raffle drawing, but it was really nice to get a photo of your cosplay today. Let's meet here after it's over if you want me to send you these photos?"

Yureum was taken aback at the turn of events. But I haven't even gotten your name yet... Confused, she looked back at the slip of paper on the ground. MLR647.... must be a really special raffle. She picked it up and headed towards the presentation room, where Mr. Taibar's motivational speech was going on.

Min-hyuk only knew Mr. Taibar as the live-action actor for the muscle-bound He-Man character from that Saturday morning cartoon show he used to watch, so he didn't expect much from his speech. So he was mildly surprised to find out that Mr. Taibar had a pronounced Maxtopian accent in real-life, and was also fluent enough in Honoguni-go to voice several tōga characters in the original language versions. Who knew a white guy could learn to speak Honoguni-go well enough to fool the locals... mad respect to this guy.

Throughout the speech, Mr. Taibar pulled out the little black notebook that he used to chronicle his struggles with his body image and self-worth. He verbally described how Maxtopians made fun of him for showing a keen interest in Honoguni culture at a young age, how the people of Honoguni assumed he was a lecherous sexpat when he first moved there to advance his career in the tōga industry, and the constant sensation of being an imposter as he later became a multi-millionaire. Despite being completely unrelated to Min-hyuk's struggles, it was oddly comforting to listen to this charismatic otaku celebrity describe his personal demons in such a heartfelt and humble manner. It helped him forget about his own insecurities about not making it into a big firm, and focus on just being in the present.

At the end of the speech, the lights in the presentation room turned back on, and Mr. Taibar started announcing the raffle winners. Yureum was sitting in the middle section, trying not to draw attention to herself or the raffle ticket she picked up on the ground. She felt bad for stealing Min-hyuk's ticket, but he forgot about it and didn't give her a chance to remind him. He seemed like a nice guy, so she promised herself she'd tried to find him if she won anything. When the speaker made his way to the grand prize, she started counting the letters out loud... "M... L... R... 6... 4...7!" She couldn't believe it! As she looked ahead to the podium, she turned and saw a familiar looking face to her left. It was Min-hyuk, who evidently hadn't realized that the ticket he kept in his pocket went missing until now. Their eyes locked for a split-second before she made her way out of the audience and to the front stage.

"Our grand prize $20,000 winner everybody.... Yureum Long!" Mr. Taibar exclaimed as he welcomed Yureum to the stage and squinted at her name badge. "Not a bad DIY Advancing Giants cosplay you've got there, Sheila!" Mr. Taibar winked as he handed the stock voucher to the young woman wearing green and gold. Yureum could make out the silhouette of an amateur photographer beaming at her in the crowd, snapping photos of her with Mr. Taibar.

Back at the plaza, after everyone left the presentation room, Yureum ran into Min-hyuk again. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry about the ticket. I honestly thought you'd forgotten about it."

"Nah, it's all good," Min-hyuk replied in good humor. "My friend bought it for me, he's super chill. I'm just glad you remembered to meet me here after Maxtopian chad's boring-ass speech." Min-hyuk tried to hide his fanboying approval of the speech through sarcasm, but it clearly didn't convince her.

"Okay Mister," she giggled. "Can you send me those photos sometime, or do I have to download them from your personal AceBook page?" She handed out her phone to Min-hyuk, inviting him to give her his contact info.

Whoa, no girl's ever asked ME for my number before... Min-hyuk was shocked this woman was so forward with him. Could she be into me? He snapped out of his confusion and pinched himself on the leg before opening his mouth. "What's your name again, gorgeous?"

Smiling, the cosplayer in green and gold responded, "Yureum."