This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 471

“Surely not…”

I can’t believe I’ve stepped into such a strange place.

Just because it’s called a studio doesn’t mean they only take normal photos every time, right?

To be honest, making money is probably much easier with the bizarre photos than with the normal ones.

The hangers, once filled with various styles of wedding dresses, quickly vanished, replaced by enough strange thoughts making my mind overflow.

From relatively mainstream outfits like police uniforms, office looks, and nurse costumes, to national traditional attire like hanbok and cheongsam, and even bizarre or avant-garde costumes that seem to belong in an anime…

But seriously, why are there black leather suits and whips here that look like they’d be made for a specific audience, something you’d see in a sketchy adult film?

As all these things were making an effort to draw my gaze, there was no way my eyes could remain unturned.

Because of that, the doubt I felt instantly grew larger as well.

“Honestly, if I think about it a little, it’s such an absurd doubt…”

But that’s just it; if that person really made a living off those kinds of photos, there’s no way the association would have assigned them a job.

Right now, I feel like I’ve taken a couple of straight hits to the face and am sitting here trying to recover, but until then, the actions of the association were not much different from someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Especially with how they handled the image of heroes.

It’s like they wouldn’t tolerate even the tiniest speck of dust.

How obsessively managed must they have been that when a few heroes had accidents, those incidents were never blown out of proportion?

Could they have entrusted such an important task, something like a hero’s profile photo shoot, to someone who takes such photos?

The question is, then, what exactly is all this…?

“Ah, this is, um…”

Looking at the woman’s face, confusion was already evident, indicating that this situation was likely unintentional on her part as well.

“Actually, it’s that…”

As expected, the explanation that flowed out of Hyeyoung’s mouth revealed that unlike the wedding dresses we saw earlier, the outfits spread before us now weren’t hers.

Turns out, Hyeyoung has a younger sister, five years her junior, who also possesses similar talent but only enjoys photography as a hobby; these costumes belong to her sister.

“She runs a cosplay circle as a hobby…”

“Oh, I see…”

“I definitely told her several times to clean up beforehand…”

Perhaps she was so happy to find herself in an unexpectedly embarrassing situation because of her beloved sister.

I decided to ignore Hyeyoung’s mumble, which suggested that she wasn’t one to heed gentle warnings.

After all, it’s their family’s issue, not my business.

Especially since an even more important matter was looming before me.

‘Am I seeing things…?’

Earlier, with all the wedding dresses hanging up, Yoonseo’s eyes were sparkly, almost shining, and now they were glued to the rack decorated with various costumes.

Had she perhaps found an outfit that caught her fancy among the displayed items?

‘No way it’s that…’

That was probably the moment I earnestly hoped what attracted Yoonseo’s interest wouldn’t be the obnoxiously black, shiny outfit.

“Um… perhaps…?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Do you lend out the things hanging here?”

As expected, Yoonseo timidly pointed at the extravagantly decorated hangers.

More accurately, she was referring to the clothes there.

And apparently, Hyeyoung never anticipated she’d receive such a request.

“Uh, um…”

Given that the items there weren’t her own but belonged to her sister, she might have hesitated to answer freely.

Looking like she was struggling, Hyeyoung momentarily concentrated her brows into a frown before slowly nodding.

“I’ll have to ask, but… my sister will probably agree.”

Then, despite there being no one but us around, she whispered, as if sharing a great secret,

“Actually, she’s a fan of yours, just like me…”

Thanks to that, Yoonseo, who was nearly immune to this sort of thing, had her mouth curving upwards into a smile.

Could we call her a true professional?

During our previous profile photo shoot meeting, Hyeyoung managed to make her senior smile with just a few words, and now, with just one sentence, she successfully lifted what could have been an awkward atmosphere, mentioning she’d go ask her sister and left the storage area.

This allowed me to unload my thoughts without worrying about Hyeyoung’s expressions.

“Wait, are you really going to wear that?”

“Why? Doesn’t it sound fun?”

“Well, I mean…”

Of course it sounds fun!

It’s not an experience you can find anywhere easily, so it would definitely be entertaining.

The problem is… I can see clearly that afterward, you’re going to regret it terribly.

‘Right now, it looks fine hanging on the rack…’

Putting it on for real would undoubtedly change the situation.

People often buy clothes after getting enticed by fit models wearing them on shopping mall websites, only to regret their choices later.

Well, sure, despite her aversion to exercise, Yoonseo’s body was fit enough to outperform many fit models, but… those outfits seemed tailored for someone else entirely.

She could put them on, but they were bound to be awkward in some way.

And that awkwardness would surely become a dark history.

But why would she have to take pictures of that…?

Honestly, as someone who isn’t fond of having photos taken, I saw no need for that.

“Why not try on the things we saw earlier instead?”

“The ones we saw earlier?”

“No, the ones… you know, the first ones we looked at.”

I simply said that for that reason, but it sounded a bit different to Yoonseo’s ears.

“W-what?!”

With her face turning bright red and jumping up in her spot, it was obviously something like that.

And only after witnessing Yoonseo’s reaction did I realize the implication of my comment…

“Uh, no… Even if it’s a concept, isn’t that a little too much…?”

And… it was too late to correct the misunderstanding.

It was as if the water had spilled, and now that spill was seeping deep into the ground.

So what can I do?

While it might be fine for Yoonseo, I had no skill to return that situation back into the cup, so I could only close my eyes and push through.

Of course, while I agreed with Yoonseo that even for a concept, it was excessive… still, it might be better than putting on those avant-garde or bizarre looking pieces and taking pictures.

Especially anything black and glossy like that.

‘Wait, is it really just a hobby…?’

Some of the garments hanging looked a bit too suspicious for mere hobbies.

My mind was spinning with these doubts for a moment, but in an attempt to soothe the slightly disappointed Yoonseo, I decided to try on some of the more decent-looking outfits hanging around as an appetizer.

Among them were even cheongsam and hanbok.

“But is the cheongsam really… supposed to be this revealing on the sides?”

“Uh, well… I’ve never seen the real thing either.”

“If I wear this…”

If I wear this…?

“I feel like everyone will see my panties…”