Chapter 15

Paint Addiction

Little kid.

The moment I heard that word, I stopped for a moment and looked myself over.

Hmm. My height is, rounding up a little, 150 centimeters. I am slightly shorter than others my age. I admit that. My mother, who used to be a model, was apparently pretty tall for a woman, so why am I like this?

I probably just have not finished growing yet, right?

Anyway, just because I am a little short, that makes me a little kid? No way.

Not only in terms of height, but even looking at me overall, I was not a little kid.

Just look at this. Slender arms and legs trained through exercise.

Sure, I started with a pink one-kilogram dumbbell, but these days I have a fairly healthy glow to me.

Though the beginning may be humble, the end shall be grand.

So no matter how I look at it, there is no reason I should be called a little kid.

Conclusion. The eyes of this insolent woman who just looked at me and called me a little kid must be knotholes!

I spoke again to the rainbow-haired woman who was standing there blankly. Clearly and distinctly. So she could never make the excuse that she had not heard me.

“Did you hear me? I said I’m not a little kid.”

“Hohoho.”

The woman with the full-spectrum hair covered her mouth as she laughed, then spoke toward the phone in her hand.

“Everyone, hold on a moment. I just met an amusing young friend.”

Young frieeend?

Every word she said was so irritating.

Why, I ought to—.

Hm?

“...Whoa. Are you streaming? An internet stream?”

“Yeah. You know internet streams?”

That was close. Of course, I had only been trying to bring down the hammer of justice on a museum-filming criminal(?), but it would be troublesome if that got caught on camera.

“Of course I know. These days, if you don’t know internet streams, you’re a spy.”

“Hehe. You talk like such an adult. Saying things like ‘if you don’t know it, you’re a spy,’ that’s usually something old men say.”

“I told you. I’m not a little kid. I’m an adult.”

“How old are you?”

“Fourteen. In Korean age.”

“Pfft. It’s been ages since Korean age was abolished. Anyway, you’re in seventh grade. You are a little kid.”

“Why is fourteen a little kid?”

“Unnie is twenty-nine, more than twice your age. So you’re a little kid.”

Twenty-nine.

Oho.

The moment I heard that, my mouth moved before I could stop it.

“Tch. So you’re an old maid.”

“What? You little brat.”

The woman’s eyes widened.

“Would you look at this kid? I let it slide, and now you’re getting cheeky.”

“You were the one who called me a little kid first.”

“It’s true that a seventh grader is still a kid... and you look much younger than other kids your age too. Here, look at these chubby cheeks.”

“Tch.”

I do own a mirror, so I had no choice but to admit that much.

“And an old maid? Who calls someone they just met an old maid?”

“If you’re twenty-nine, you are an old maid, aren’t you? Or not?”

“Hey. Who calls twenty-nine an old maid these days? I’m in my prime, you know? No, wait, and how do you know I’m unmarried? What if I was married?”

“Then you’d be an ahjumma.”

“Pffft! You seriously... But you, don’t you go to school? It’s a weekday.”

“I’m homeschooled.”

“Ah, homeschooling. Right, that exists.”

The woman turned her face toward the phone again and muttered something quietly. Something about talking to the little kid for a bit.

“Unnie, so are you married or not?”

“I’m not.”

“Oho.”

“Why?”

“Nothing. Hehehe.”

I glanced over at the bodyguard guy and winked.

Brat, there is an unmarried woman right here. Thirty-two and twenty-nine, the ages line up perfectly. Hurry and make a move!

But all my effort to play Cupid went to waste. That idiot Do Jinhyuk only blinked as though he had no idea what I meant.

Tch. Boring bastard.

“Ah, right. You asked earlier if filming here wasn’t allowed, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Are you ready to go to prison now?”

“Pffft, prison, she says.”

“Don’t laugh. Old maid unnie. You’re being arrested in the act.”

“Hmm... too bad, but that won’t happen.”

“What, do you have some powerful connection backing you?”

“Unnie got permission. I’m an official promotional ambassador contracted with Shinil Art Museum. I was invited here to introduce this exhibition.”

Aha.

Come to think of it, that explained why the staff had just been standing around watching.

“Unnie has 1.5 million subscribers, you know. I’m pretty well-known among art NewTubers.”

1.5 million.

Oh, that is quite a lot. Our Lilith still has a long way to go... no, why am I even comparing them? I do not even do NewTube in the first place.

“What’s your name?”

“Have you heard of Paint Addiction?”

“No. I know another kind of addiction.”

Health-Supplement Addict Shin Jisoo, I mean you.

“By the way, you.”

The woman suddenly turned her phone camera slightly away from me as she asked.

“Is it okay if your face appears? On stream.”

“No.”

“Okay. I won’t film you.”

The fact that she turned the camera away without another word showed she had not been doing this for just a day or two.

“But what about that one? My face was already completely filmed.”

I pointed toward the tripod.

“Ah, that? That’s for filming a NewTube video. I can edit it later, so don’t worry.”

“As expected of old maid unnie. Your thoughts are as deep as your age.”

“Hey! W-Wait, I’ll come back after teaching this brat a lesson.”

While we bickered for quite a while—.

Someone who looked like a museum employee hurried over from the other side.

“Miss. There you are. You have a tour scheduled, so why haven’t you gone inside?”

“Ah, right.”

There was supposed to be some docent thing booked for today. The thing where someone explains what the paintings and sculptures are. I had completely forgotten.

To be honest, I did not particularly want to go, so I was thinking of how to make an excuse—.

“...Miss?”

The eyes of the childish old maid who went by the nickname Paint Addiction narrowed.

“Miss, please come along. You’re already late.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Wait a moment.”

When the employee tried to take me away, the rainbow-haired old maid cut in.

“Excuse me. Was this girl scheduled to receive a docent tour?”

“...Yes, she was.”

“Could I do it for her instead?”

“Pardon?”

“You know me. I do have some expertise in this field. Since meeting like this is fate too, I’d like to personally show her around.”

The employee looked troubled. Of course, since this had not been planned.

“That would be... somewhat difficult.”

“Come on, it’ll only take a little while. I was already streaming an introduction to the exhibition anyway, so the timing works perfectly.”

In the end, the employee let out a small sigh.

“However, Miss’s face cannot appear on the broadcast. As long as you keep that condition...”

“Ah, don’t worry about that. I’ve kept her off camera from the start.”

The employee glanced at me. Her eyes asked what I wanted to do.

I shrugged.

“I’m fine with it. I think this old maid unnie will be more fun than some stiff docent.”

“Understood. Then I’ll leave it to you.”

“Great. Then unnie will give you a special, very special tour.”

The woman grinned and adjusted her grip on the phone.

“In exchange, stop calling me an old maid. Say it one more time and I’ll actually get angry.”

“I’ll try not to. Ooold maaaiiid!”

“...You little.”

“Don’t pull my cheeks.”

But what is that stupid bodyguard doing? He should immediately punish this insolent rainbow-haired old maid or drag her away!

— — —

Hwang Ara.

Age, twenty-nine. Marital status, unmarried. Occupation, content creator.

With 1.5 million subscribers, she was one of the most famous influencers in Korea’s art scene.

Originally, she had graduated from art school and dreamed of becoming a painter. But the more she held a brush, the more she realized that she did not possess any genius-level talent. The world was full of people who could draw moderately well, just like her.

So she changed direction.

Instead of painting pictures, she decided to talk about them.

She had started NewTube on a small scale. Her main content consisted of museum reviews, explanations of famous works, and exhibition introductions.

Unexpectedly, it became a huge hit. If she had to praise herself a little, perhaps it was thanks to her natural beauty, along with the charisma and speaking ability that drew people in.

Now she was a general content creator who did everything from art to daily life, travel, and mukbang, but her roots were still in art.

That was why she had chosen this nickname.

Paint Addiction.

That was Hwang Ara’s other name—.

No, by now, it was the name she was called more often.

“Everyone, do you know what this painting is? As for the technique used here—.”

Today, she was in the middle of a live broadcast introducing a new exhibition after being invited by Shinil Art Museum.

She had expected things to proceed as usual, explaining the works, chatting with viewers, and letting the broadcast flow along smoothly.

Then some little kid butted in.

“Unnie, what are you doing? Aren’t you not supposed to film in an art museum? This is illegal.”

Wondering what kind of cheeky nonsense that was, Ara turned around and saw a cute little kid staring blankly at her. So she had answered lightly.

But this was no ordinary little kid.

“Tch. So you’re an old maid.”

Calling someone she had just met an old maid straight to her face. Were middle schoolers all like this these days?

Ara herself was still YOUNG and MZ, but this was the kind of kid who suddenly made her want to possess the soul of a fifty-year-old man and say, ‘Back in my day.’

If the child was not lying, she was fourteen. Ara had first assumed she was around eleven and called her a little kid, but if she was in seventh grade, then little kid might be a little much—.

—but since the brat had started persistently calling Hwang Ara an old maid, it had turned into a battle of pride.

And after talking a little longer, Hwang Ara realized that this child was quite entertaining and possessed a knack well-suited for broadcasting.

Most kids would shrink back or become shy in front of an adult, but this little brat did not so much as blink and answered every remark clearly. Far from being at a loss for words, she almost seemed to be playing with Hwang Ara instead.

Her way of speaking was strange too. She clearly had a child’s voice, but her vocabulary and timing felt exactly like an adult who had been through every kind of hardship.

And naturally, the broadcast chat—.

-hahahaha what is this kid

-Old maid hahahaha that cut deep

-Such a shame we can’t see her face

-She’s hilarious from the voice alone, whose kid is this?

-Not PaintAddict noona’s kid, right? My... horns hurt too much

-Dumbass, she said she’s 14, that would mean PaintAddict noona gave birth at 15

-‘Teen Mom & Dad’

-You crazy bastard lol

It was a slight problem that the chat was talking about everything except art, which was supposed to be the main content—.

But Hwang Ara inwardly cheered at the refresh speed, which was much faster than usual.

This kid was something special.

She already had five years of experience as a streamer. In all that time, it was rare for a guest to get this strong a viewer reaction from the very beginning. And this was not even someone she had spent money or effort recruiting, just a random little kid who had wandered in by chance.

On top of that, judging by how the museum employee addressed her as ‘Miss,’ she did not seem to be an ordinary child.

She was probably connected somehow to the upper ranks of Shinil Group, though Ara could not tell exactly how high her position was. Still, judging by how flustered the employee became around her, it was clearly no ordinary connection.

That was why Ara volunteered to give her the tour. Half professional instinct, and half... because she simply wanted to play with this cheeky little brat a bit longer.

“Now then, shall we start with the first piece?”

Hwang Ara brought the little kid in front of the first painting.

“This is the representative work of this exhibition. What do you think? What kind of feeling do you get when you look at it?”

As she usually did, Hwang Ara casually asked the question. Normally, ordinary people without artistic education could not properly answer something like this.

But the little kid stared at the painting for a long while, then spoke.

“Hmm... it’s a really noisy painting.”

“Noisy?”

“Yes. It feels like the colors are fighting. Like red and blue are trying not to lose to each other? Looking at it makes my head feel kind of chaotic.”

Hwang Ara flinched.

It was an expression that pierced straight through the core of the work. Someone trained in art would describe it with the term complementary color contrast, but this little kid had explained it as the colors fighting.

Of course, she probably had no idea what she had just described.

Which made it even more surprising.

Well, look at you.

Hwang Ara looked at the little kid anew.

First of all, she was absurdly cute. Fourteen was young enough already, but she had an innocent appearance that made her look even younger.

On top of that, her personality was cheeky, and her mouth was strangely rough, yet somehow she had a quality that made it hard to dislike her.

She was excellent as a broadcast guest, and interesting as a person too—.

Hwang Ara simply found it fascinating that she had stumbled across such an unpolished gem by chance.

“You.”

Hwang Ara grinned at the little kid.

“What’s your name?”

“My name is off-limits. Hmm...”

The little kid tilted her head and hesitated for a long while before finally blurting out a strange name.

“Just call me Lili.”

“What, are you a foreigner?”

“No. I just made it up.”

“Pfft. What kind of answer is that? Anyway, fine. All right, Lili. Shall we go see the next painting?”

The broadcast was only just beginning.