Became the Mother of Virtual YouTubers - Chapter 25

Quite some time had passed since Jina woke up.

As she gradually regained her senses, a sense of shame began to creep in.

So… she saw that whole horrific scene when she entered the studio apartment?!

“Was… was the state of the room really that bad?”

“Well, it would be a lie to say it wasn’t dirty, right?”

Oof-

Hyoin’s honest words pierced Jina’s heart.

“But I’m glad that you seem to feel comfortable enough with me to show me your messy room.”

“…Well, we’ve already seen each other’s good and bad sides.”

“Ahaha~ That’s true. Oh! And I think the room wasn’t as bad as I had imagined.”

“What kind of state did you imagine my room to be in?”

“I imagined something like a landfill.”

Still, Hyoin said that they managed to clean up everything in half a day, tying up the trash bags.

“As you said, it seems like you did most of the cleaning alone… Is there anything I can help with?”

Jina slowly got up and asked, folding the blanket first.

She wanted to move a little faster.

But her body, still not fully awake, was heavy like a wet sponge.

“Then can you tidy up the desk area? I just organized the wires roughly, but I didn’t know what to throw away and what to keep, so I couldn’t really do much.”

“Okay, I’ll tidy up here.”

“I left the Post-it notes on the wall. It seemed really important because it had test parameters and model evaluation scores written on it.”

“But it’s not good to keep them on the wall, so I should organize the data and take them off soon.”

For about the next 30 minutes, the two continued cleaning.

While Hyoin wiped the floor and sorted the recyclables, Jina diligently cleaned around the desk and behind the monitor.

She tied up the cables, sorted the junk in the boxes into things to throw away and things to keep.

She also separated the Post-it notes from the wall into notes to be organized and scribbles to be discarded.

Her hands, which were decisive when organizing the junk, were slow and cautious when removing the Post-it notes.

She slowly peeled off the paper, scanned the contents with her eyes, stored them in her head, and then fell into a brief thought.

She recalled the work she had been doing until she fell asleep, one by one.

If it were someone else, they would have been angry, asking what she was doing instead of cleaning.

But Hyoin, who knew why Jina was doing this, just watched quietly.

“If you’re going to be like this, why did you even leave the lab…”

Various emotions were mixed in her unintentional mutter.

A bit of jealousy, a bit of envy.

A lot of regret.

And… a lot more loneliness.

“Is it almost done now?”

A cool breeze blew in through the window that had been opened for cleaning.

Jina took a breath in the breeze.

Trash bags were lined up in a row on the floor.

The area around the computer and the desk were also neatly organized and seemed to sparkle.

Now it looked like a room where a person could live.

“Let’s take this opportunity to organize some of the bulky boxes. Throw away the ones you don’t use, and take out the ones that are okay.”

“Well, they’re probably all things I don’t use since they’re just stuffed in boxes and I haven’t even looked at them. Let’s just throw them all away.”

“…Are you going to throw this away too?”

“Hmm? What is it?”

What Hyoin pointed to was none other than the box containing the things Jina used in the lab.

It was the same box that Hyoin had brought to Jina’s studio apartment.

“…You can throw it all away.”

“Really? I don’t know about the other things, but this USB seems really important.”

“There’s probably nothing important. I always saved important data separately in my personal cloud anyway.”

At best, it was probably assignment materials or lecture materials.

If not, it was probably research that she had been forced to do by the professor.

“Can I check it?”

“Sure.”

“Can I use your computer for a bit?”

“Go ahead.”

While Hyoin inserted the USB into the computer, Jina stepped aside.

‘…Ah, wait.’

While Hyoin was looking through the files stored in the USB with a serious expression, Jina also became serious for no reason.

Now that she looked, the ‘problematic external hard drive’ was connected to the computer.

‘I hope she doesn’t find those folders…’

She didn’t care about anything else.

But the three sets of cuckoo photos and the great tit photos must never be discovered.

It was a matter of a different dimension than showing her the messy room.

It was… a matter of human dignity…!

Fortunately, the secret folders were hidden and encrypted.

…And the fact that Hyoin’s expression, as she looked through the files on the USB, was too serious to make any clumsy jokes, also helped.

Standing behind Hyoin and glancing at the contents of the files, Jina let out a small sigh.

She had hoped it would be assignment materials or lecture materials.

But of all things, it contained the most troublesome data.

After checking the PPT files, experimental data, code, and 3D models, Hyoin said in a forced bright voice.

“Wow… Did you organize all this yourself, Unnie?”

She was smiling, but it wasn’t a real smile.

Even the clueless Jina knew that Hyoin was angry.

“Well, yeah.”

“How can you say this is something to throw away? With a little more experimentation and polishing the equations, you could submit this as a journal article.”

“I didn’t submit it because I was too lazy to organize it. And I had some trouble with the professor.”

Jina said in a nonchalant voice, as if it were nothing.

Hyoin couldn’t understand her.

“Do you know? A few days ago, the professor gathered everyone in the lab and said there was research that absolutely had to be published as a paper, and it was exactly this topic. A study on the design of qualitative evaluation indicators for 3D models.”

“Yeah, this was a topic the professor threw at me to work on.”

“Then why…!”

“He didn’t seem to like the experiment very much. Qualitative evaluation ultimately involves a person’s subjective opinion, right?”

The professor’s subjective opinion and her subjective opinion were different.

The professor’s standards of beauty and her standards of beauty were different.

That was all, Jina chuckled as if she had transcended.

“If you really want it, do you want to take it? I’m not going to use it.”

“Why would I? You did all this research, Unnie!”

In the end, Hyoin’s sharp voice burst out.

“It’s your achievement… It’s… It’s weird if I take it and do research on it. No… It doesn’t make sense!!”

A heavy silence fell.

Jina scratched her chin and stared at Hyoin.

If she touched her, she seemed like she would explode at any moment.

Jina stared at the file on the monitor for a moment, then sighed and said.

“If you hadn’t looked, these files would have gone to the trash anyway. No, they wouldn’t have even come out of the box in the first place.”

“But still…”

“You don’t have to use this as is. You can get some ideas from it and do research in a different direction, or you can think of it as you organizing and analyzing the data from my experiments, like when we were in the lab.”

Anyway, do whatever you want.

Jina said, patting Hyoin’s shoulder.

Hyoin stared up at Jina from her seat.

Seeing the determination in her tired, languid face, Hyoin closed her eyes tightly and opened them again.

“Haa. Okay. But I’m going to ask you a lot of questions. Just like when we were in the lab.”

“I’ll always be there to help you if you need it.”

“…I’m really going to bother you a lot. Really.”

At Hyoin’s threat(?), Jina just laughed lightly.

Even though she said that, it was obvious that she would struggle alone until Jina asked her if she was stuck.

Thinking she should check on her from time to time, Jina left a brief note on a Post-it note.

“Oh, and when I submit the paper, I’ll put your name as the first author.”

“What do you mean, your name… Put your name on it, get the paper accepted, and graduate quickly.”

“If you don’t want to, I’ll remove the professor’s name from the corresponding author and put your name there instead.”

“…Hey, give me a break on that one.”

After taking out the trash bags, finishing organizing the junk and data, the two took a break.

The room was noticeably cleaner.

Now she could finally see the floor properly.

Only the equipment necessary for work remained on the desk.

The few pieces of furniture glistened with moisture that had not yet dried.

“Now it finally looks like a place where a person can live.”

“Hey, it was pretty clean when you first came here.”

“It wasn’t as bad as today, but it was still pretty messy back then. The tripod was just lying there, and there were disposable containers and empty bottles lying around.”

“The tripod is one thing, but aren’t you half responsible for the other two?”

“Am I? I blacked out that day, so I don’t remember well.”

“You blacked out after just that? That doesn’t make sense.”

The two laughed, facing each other.

Honestly, it was a ridiculous joke.

They already knew each other’s alcohol tolerance.

“Then I’ll get going.”

“You’re leaving already? Why don’t you stay for dinner?”

“I was originally going to have dinner and drinks, but… it’s still early, and you seem pretty busy.”

“Still, one day is fine…”

“More importantly, a very baaaad! Unnie gave me a huge assignment. I want to go home and look at it properly.”

Hyoin said, lightly shaking the USB.

See.

She was a graduate student obsessed with research.

There was no such thing as not being confident.

After sending Hyoin off, Jina sat in the chair in front of her computer and looked around.

‘This is why people should live organized.’

She felt grateful to Hyoin again.

For helping her clean the room.

For breathing life into the research data that would have been buried.

‘Come to think of it, Hyoin’s body type is quite similar to the avatar Spring used…’

Not only her body type but also her smart personality and atmosphere were similar.

Naturally, the next avatar to work on was decided.

Jina, her switch turned on again, immersed herself in her work once more.