What Makes A Coin Beautiful

Chapter Four: Your Name

As if awakened from a nightmare, C/N immediately lost all appetite as soon as they were outside the restaurant. The leftovers on their hand? Just sticky and uncomfortable. They reached for their hand sanitizer inside their bag.

"Where are we headed to now?" They asked, walking behind One Direction. The fathers all turned around.

"We want to treat you to something nice, while we're in the mall!" They smiled. "What would you like? New gloves? New shoes? Books?"

C/N shook their head. "I don't care about any of this! We need to hurry and talk to this rival band and find out more about your curse!"

They blinked. "That's... Noble of you, C/N, but wouldn't you rather..."

"I want to help! I need to help you!" They sobbed. "That's all I want!". Wrong band, C/N...

"Whoa there, no need to get all worked up over this!" They rushed to hug C/N. "It's okay. If that's what you want, then we'll start searching right away."

C/N looked up at them and smiled. "I'm glad."

They finally let go and began walking again. "So... That rival band of ours..." They looked embarrassed. "This might sound silly... Do you remember NCT 227?"

C/N shivered. "How could I forget..."

"Great, well... They're... Our rivals..." They scratched their napes. "When we said they fell off, we meant their numbers paled in comparison to the previous ones, but they've got... Quite the dedicated fanbase. "

They stopped in front of a store.

The sign read "NCT 227 FAN STORE".

C/N grimaced. "So... Is this your lead?"

"We think... We might find out where their studio is if we ask a customer..." They shuddered. "Um, brace yourself?"

They reluctantly walked inside. Of course, their latest single was being blasted through sticker-covered speakers. Again with the mating calls!?!?!?!?!

"Good NCT-Morning, you..." The cashier tried to count them and failed. "You people."

"Yes, morning to you too..." One Direction waved, looking for a suitable candidate. C/N took the opportunity to snoop around and see what kind of merch this evil band sold.

Rows and rows of t-shirts... One for each member, one with all of them posing, their album covers... They didn't understand the appeal. Next, their albums. Those ones looked appealing from a collector's point of view, that much was true. Keychains, plushies... The store really had it all!

In their haze, they bumped into a woman with long, reddish hair. Who smelled like meat.

"Ouch, watch where you're going!!" She said, turning around. Apparently, she was made of meat. And naked??

She was holding a poster in her hand. She noticed C/N was staring.

"What, never seen a meat-walker before?" She sounded annoyed.

C/N snapped out of their trance. "Sorry, I wasn't looking..." Then, due to how annoying they were, they added, "Why are you naked???"

She scoffed. "How often do you go outside?! Please move."

They did as they were told. Despite being often described as an angsty teenager, C/N was no younger than 20. However, due to their parents' neglect, they didn't know anything about the other kinds of humanoid species that populated the earth. All they knew about was shoe polishing...