A Reward 2% Short
As they mediated the bickering pair in the Class 1 classroom, with neither Suyeon nor Seoha present, Hasol walked them through exactly what kind of battle had been waged — and the countermeasures she taught them were astonishingly detailed.
The advice, thick with hard-won experience, was trustworthy on its face. Suyeon showed the screen to Seoha as well. Those crimson eyes skimmed rapidly down the message, and Seoha immediately hooked her arm through Nayun's and put the plan into action.
“Huh? Seoha, aren't you mixing up your partners?”
“Nope, this one's right.”
“Wha—?”
While Nayun and Yeoncheong stood there flustered, Suyeon briskly returned the cup she'd been sipping from. She'd been going slurp, slurp at her straw forever, but it turned out the white cup had hit the bottom ages ago.
When Suyeon realized that Nayun simply hadn't wanted to get up and had been running on pure fumes the whole time, she let out a strangled laugh.
“You kids... drinking it all and then pretending you're still drinking?”
Nayun flinched, and Yeoncheong, caught in her own trap, raised her voice for no reason at all.
“P-pretending? I just, I just finished it, that's all!”
“Sure, sure~ You finished it, so up you get.”
“Huh? Wait...”
The moment Suyeon hoisted Yeoncheong up to pull the two apart, Nayun glued her backside to her chair and made no effort to hide her reluctance.
“Why all of a sudden? We can just go back to the same route as this morning. Me and Yeoncheong...”
Did she know that once they were split like this, they'd never get to stroll along side by side the way they had before? The two of them, who had been cuddling up at every available gap, clung to each other for dear life, refusing to be separated.
But Hasol had given her advice. And watching the two of them carry on like that had been quietly fanning the flames of jealousy. There was no reason on earth to accept a return to the morning arrangement.
“It's obvious you two would just go right back to dawdling anyway. It's not like we come here often, so when we do, we should actually look around properly.”
Cutting the discussion short, Suyeon swept Yeoncheong out of the café in one swift motion. Seoha, too, escorted (kidnapped?) Nayun off in pursuit of the other two.
They'd wondered what would happen if the pair kept resisting.
But sure enough, advice distilled from experience hit different.
The very instant Yeoncheong was separated from Nayun, she became genuinely docile. And her rebellious ally, for her part, couldn't so much as put up a fight against Seoha — she'd been knocked flat by an avalanche of explanations.
Thanks to that, the four girls' museum tour went off without a hitch.
Standing around blankly next to Suyeon and Seoha, who were savoring each piece at their leisure, apparently felt awkward, because the two of them occasionally read the display placards and even paused here and there in front of exhibits that caught their eye — showing at least a modicum of focus.
Perhaps because of the difference in viewing pace, Yeoncheong and Suyeon soon pulled far ahead, while Seoha and Nayun ambled along behind them.
“Yeoncheong, look at that.”
“...You're too close.”
“We're dating now, aren't we? What, you shy?”
“There are people around...!”
Having completely forgotten the original promise to spend the day just sightseeing, Suyeon seized her chance and plastered herself against Yeoncheong, who looked like she was dying of embarrassment.
It wasn't exactly the picture of sweet, blissful romance anyone might have imagined — but Nayun thought it had its own charm. Glance at an exhibit, glance at those two, and repeat. It was basically the snacking equivalent of sweet-and-spicy, sweet-and-spicy.
Then a question suddenly occurred to her, and her lips wavered.
“Hey, Seoha... don't you ever get jealous?”
“Where's that coming from?”
What kind of question was that, out of nowhere, in the middle of a perfectly nice tour?
But when she turned her head and caught sight of the two friends ahead, Seoha seemed to understand exactly what she meant, and nodded slowly.
“Ah~ well, obviously I get jealous. Some.”
“Of Suyeon?”
“...A little? But I suppose I have to give her credit for that. She confessed she couldn't choose between us — hurt her knees doing it, too.”
Forgetting entirely that they were in a quiet exhibition room, Nayun couldn't hold it in and burst into muffled laughter.
It was true. You could search the whole world over and never find two people who injured their knees while confessing their love.
Having calmed the laughter leaking through her fingers, Nayun's lips wavered again.
“Then swap with Suyeon. You'd rather walk around with Yeoncheong anyway.”
Seoha glanced between the pair up ahead and Nayun, then gave a light shake of her head.
She wasn't yet jealous enough to go half-mad over it. And according to Hasol's advice, this whole arrangement was more likely a scheme to run away.
“Nayun, you're only saying that because walking around with me wears you out.”
“Uh...?”
Bullseye. Nayun flinched and looked away.
The distance to Yeoncheong, who had long since run ahead, was roughly five meters. And that gap was widening in real time even now.
Considering that this separation stemmed purely from differences in viewing speed, you could infer just how meticulously Seoha was taking in each exhibit.
So Nayun had wanted, if at all possible, to walk with the slightly faster Suyeon. She had no intention of dawdling through the museum anymore — her ears were close to bleeding as it was.
And Seoha saw straight through her friend's heart.
“No, it's not that I don't like you or anything... I just mean... doesn't it make you jealous, seeing just the two of them like that? I want to see you and Yeoncheong being all lovey-dovey too... that's what I meant...”
With her heart laid bare, Nayun trailed off, darting cautious glances around.
It was a transparent excuse, but Seoha didn't press. Instead, she locked her arm through Nayun's all the more firmly.
“It's fine. Looking around with you is fun too. Besides, this is all going on your school record, isn't it? You'd better be studying hard.”
“Ah... well, fair point...”
Nayun visibly deflated into a sulk.
She'd managed to smooth the moment over, but any escape route from the explanation hell — an ordeal that would put a famous baseball player who started his career in LA to shame — had vanished without a trace.
“Still, if you keep touring diligently, you might just be rewarded with a very good view?”
“Huh?”
“You said you wanted to see it. Me and Yeoncheong, being lovey-dovey.”
Of course, Seoha hadn't forgotten Hasol's advice — dangling a small reward as bait.
With every planned stop complete, the four gathered back together and moved along, swapping impressions as they walked.
“I really liked the moon jar exhibit. The white porcelain one. Korean pieces definitely have that distinct clean elegance.”
“Right? The celadon too... everything has this subtle charm to it.”
Nodding along to Yeoncheong's words, Suyeon's lips wavered.
“I loved the Room of Quiet Contemplation, too. Just looking at them somehow made my heart settle.”
“Ah~ I remember that place. This vast space with just the two bodhisattvas in it — it sort of overwhelms you.”
“I nearly forgot to breathe, honestly.”
Hasol's advice to separate the two friends had worked spectacularly well.
Having toured with full concentration since lunch, Yeoncheong chattered away nonstop with Suyeon as they emerged from the museum.
But when the other two said nothing, she turned her head — and...
“What about you guys, anything stand out— Argh! You scared me! What's wrong with her?!”
Like a flower wilting on the vine, there hung Nayun, utterly deflated, her whole weight surrendered to Seoha.
Just what on earth had to happen for a person to end up like that?
Seoha glanced sideways at the friend she was practically carrying, then waved a hand as if it were nothing.
“I made her take notes so she wouldn't forget everything she saw today. That's why she's being dramatic.”
“Dramatic...? Can't you see the blood coming out of my ears?”
Nayun kept pointing vaguely at her own ears with bleary eyes, but there was no blood to be seen — not even anything red.
No wonder Seoha's voice had been going on and on behind them the whole time... So words alone really could break a person.
Yeoncheong reconfirmed, with fresh horror, the terrifying power of too much talking.
Meanwhile, to honor her promise to the friend who hadn't run away in the end, Seoha decided it was time to show her the little reward.
“Nayun. That thing you said you wanted to see. Here it is.”
Somehow managing to prop up the sagging girl, she walked straight up to Yeoncheong.
Close enough that their lips nearly brushed.
Was she about to kiss her out of nowhere? Startled by the friend who'd closed in so suddenly, Yeoncheong squeezed her eyes shut — while Nayun, still half-checked-out, went wide-eyed instead.
When time passed and nothing happened, Yeoncheong cracked one eye open to find a pair of scarlet eyes gazing down at her, close enough to devour her clear blue ones whole.
“You were my favorite part of today.”
“Wh... what?”
“You asked what left the biggest impression. It was you, Yeoncheong.”
Obviously that was supposed to be about the museum exhibits — she should have cut in naturally, argued back, corrected her —
But like a thermometer rising fast under a clenched grip, Yeoncheong's face flushed scarlet in an instant.
Whoa... Seoha really doesn't hesitate, does she.
And at that electrifying sight, Nayun's runaway mind hurriedly came home.
As Seoha leaned in slowly, her calm breath mingled with the ragged gasps escaping Yeoncheong's lungs.
Perhaps anticipating what came next, Yeoncheong — her face already dusk-red despite the summer heat — swung her head from side to side, stammering incoherently.
“Th-this isn't like the dark exhibition room... and there are people all around...”
The four of them were standing near the museum entrance, where foot traffic buzzed constantly.
No passersby paid the girls any mind, but Seoha, exercising at least a bare minimum of consideration, wrapped an arm around her friend's waist and steered them toward a corner.
Startled by the sudden contact, Yeoncheong let out a small whimper — soft enough that only Seoha, right beside her, could possibly hear it.
“What, is someone you know here? Or do you hate doing this with me?”
“No! ...It's not that...”
She'd snapped the words out, then startled herself even more.
The sight was simply too adorable, and Seoha let out a soft laugh, tilting her head slightly — and at the exact moment their lips were about to meet,
at the exact moment Suyeon threw her mouth wide open to shout that's enough, and Nayun, hands over her face, peered through the gaps between her fingers,
“And, cut.”
With that single line, Seoha stopped — as if someone had pressed pause on a video.
“Wha—?”
As if a trailer had simply ended. Frozen at the most crucial possible moment, Nayun stared blankly at the two of them, blinking like an idiot.
And Seoha, as if nothing at all had happened, parted her lips in her usual even tone.
“A small reward for Nayun, for paying such close attention to the explanations today.”
Suyeon and Yeoncheong were dumbstruck, but Nayun understood in a flash.
What she'd just witnessed had to be the "very good view" Seoha had promised she might see if she toured the museum diligently.
And yet... and yet it was going to end there?
That was the single best thing she'd seen all day.
One more step — literally one more step — and it would have been a full dopamine detonation.
And they were cutting it off right there, out of sheer spite?
Seoha had probably pumped the brakes because of the crowd, but if that was the case, she shouldn't have shown anything at all. As a member of the audience, Nayun had never been so furious in her life.
“No! You have to show the rest!”
And so, she threw the most absurd tantrum imaginable.
Clutching her head, Nayun hopped up and down, shrieking.
“Take me somewhere private and show me the rest right now!”
“Wha— are you insane?! Show you the rest of what?!”
The girl who'd been a drooping wilting flower seconds ago was now resurrected and demanding a continuation—
Yeoncheong genuinely wondered if her friend had lost her mind inside the museum.
“GAAAAH! You're ending it THERE? You cut it off THERE and you call yourselves human beings?!”
“Um...? Huh? Stay back! Don't come near me, you lunatic! Why are you coming at ME?!”
Yeoncheong fled the relentless charge of Nayun and bolted out of the museum.
“Seoha, what did you just do?”
“Mm... I gave her the reward, just like Hasol said. I guess I overdid it a little.”
Faced with a reaction nothing like what she'd expected, Seoha scratched her head.