Seeping Into Seolhwa (5)
"—Prepare a new novel with me as the protagonist."
"……What?"
Seolhwa blinked blankly, as if she hadn't quite processed what I'd said. I met her eyes and repeated myself.
"I said prepare a new novel with me as the protagonist."
"A new novel… with Oppa as the main character…?"
"Yeah. You can do that, right?"
"I mean, I can… but is that an order? From you to me?"
"Mm. That's right."
"Th-that, and nothing else? Nothing else you want?"
The author I loved more than anyone was going to write a novel starring me. What more could I possibly need?
I shook my head left and right to say there was nothing else. Seolhwa clamped her mouth shut with a look of pure disbelief.
"……Oppa."
"Hm?"
"What's your MBTI?"
"Me? Probably INTP."
Why was she suddenly asking that? I answered anyway, puzzled. Seolhwa's lips parted slightly in a soft "Ah……" as if something had just clicked, and then her head drooped.
"Seolhwa?"
"……No wonder."
"Huh? What do you—"
I was about to ask what she meant by "no wonder" when—
"……Hup!"
Seolhwa clenched her fist and lightly thumped me in the lower belly.
There wasn't much force behind it, so it didn't hurt, but I had never once imagined she would actually put her hands on me. Startled, I took a step back.
Wh-what the hell was that?
Weak or not, it was unmistakably a gut punch. A solid belly-bap.
Still reeling from the shock and absurdity of getting body-checked by Seolhwa, I could only stare at her with my mouth hanging open. She shot me a flat look and snorted.
"I'm an ESFJ."
"……Huh?"
"My MBTI. ESFJ."
Okay, so she was an ESFJ. And that meant what, exactly, for me?
I just blinked, completely lost as to the point of the statement. Seolhwa's face turned unmistakably sulky, and she clicked her tongue.
"This is why T's are…"
"……Hey."
Why were we roasting T's all of a sudden? What crime had I—or every T on earth—committed?
I was about to say something on behalf of all T-types everywhere when Seolhwa spun on her heel first.
"Seolhwa, where are you going?"
"……I don't know!"
4:40 p.m., the field in front of the pension.
According to the MT schedule, athletic events ran until five. "Athletic events" was a generous term, though—fewer than a hundred participants total—so the lineup stuck to things that worked with small numbers or leaned on individual physical ability.
Tug-of-war, mixed three-legged race, obstacle course, balloon-bursting ball toss, group jump rope, dodge ball, ssireum, sprints, mixed relay.
Of all those, I had only entered the ssireum, and that had ended less than five minutes ago. Which was why I was currently parked in a corner of the field. Not cutting class—I had competed in one event, so this was legal downtime.
Not that I was exaggerating: I had just gone five straight matches of ssireum.
Lucky bracket had carried me through four wins in a row, and somehow I had ended up in the final for a brutal back-and-forth. The rebound left every joint aching. Shoulders, soles of my feet… even my groin felt a little tender. I let out a long breath.
"……Ugh."
Maybe I should start lifting again. I vowed to hit the gym starting next week and lifted my head. Right on cue, someone was walking toward me.
About my height, but leaner. A familiar face from school—my college classmate, Kim Hyenseok.
"Relay over?"
"Yeah, just finished. Got overtaken at the last second, so second place."
"Second's still solid."
I held out my hand for a high-five; he slapped it lightly and dropped down next to me. Hyenseok glanced at me wiping sweat, then jerked his chin toward the rest area on the far side of the field.
"You two fight?"
Where he pointed, Seolhwa and her classmates were sitting in a little cluster.
I looked over after him, then turned my eyes away and answered flatly.
"No. We didn't fight."
"You totally did. So why'd you fight?"
"We didn't fight, I said."
We weren't even the kind of people who fought in the first place. What fight?
I answered more sharply than I meant to. Hyenseok just grinned and clapped me on the back.
"Sure, sure. But try not to fight till the MT's over, yeah? I need your girlfriend to set me up with a girl, so if you absolutely have to scrap, do it after. I won't stop you then."
"……"
Talk about pouring oil on a fire.
For a second I considered just telling Seolhwa not to introduce anyone, but that would look like admitting something, so I kept my mouth shut.
"Any events left?"
"……No, the mixed relay was the last one."
"Then it's almost over."
"—We'll now begin the closing ceremony! Computer Science and Dance majors, please gather in front of the auditorium!"
The moment Hyenseok finished speaking, the emcee on the mic declared the athletic meet finished. We both stood and brushed off our seats.
"Hey, Hoyeong. I don't know what you fought about, but you should go apologize first if you can."
"Apologize for what? I didn't do anything wrong."
"Who says you only apologize when you're wrong? Just pretend to apologize and take the L. Yeah? Normally you just fold. Fold every time—"
He tapped my shoulder.
"—and only when the mood's right and it's just the two of you, you win for real. That's all you need."
"……Hmm."
Profound advice.
It didn't sound entirely wrong once I thought about it, so I gave a slow nod and walked over to the front of the auditorium. Not far away, I spotted Seolhwa standing with her classmates.
—Seolhwa, your boyfriend…
—That's him over there, right?
"—And now, a closing address from the department head!"
The emcee's mic drowned out the exact words, but it looked like Seolhwa was getting advice from her friends that was pretty similar to mine. Proof: she kept nodding hard and sneaking glances in my direction.
"Hey, Hoyeong."
"Yeah?"
"I kinda like the one standing right next to your girlfriend. Can you pass that along later?"
"—Proud students, you all worked hard. Today's athletic meet ends here. After roughly two hours of free time, from seven o'clock this evening…"
—Early on, just… make sure she can't think about anyone else…
—Apologize… likes it… you first, got it?
—Ah, o-okay…
"You'll pass it on, right? Huh? Huh?"
"Ah, fine. I'll tell her, so let go…!"
I couldn't even hear what they were saying over there, damn it.
"—We'll now have recreation time. Everyone rest up, and we'll see you at the dining hall for dinner."
"—Yes! Thank you for your hard work!"
"Ah, seriously…"
I finally shook him off with a wave of both hands just as the department head finished his remarks and applause erupted.
Having overheard nothing useful, I shot Hyenseok a resentful look, but he was already looking somewhere else and tapping my shoulder again.
"Yo, your girlfriend's coming."
"……What?"
I didn't even have time to say she wasn't my girlfriend.
Reflexively I turned toward where he pointed, and my eyes met Seolhwa's right in the middle as she walked this way.
"Seolhwa, say it! Say it!"
"Hurry up and talk—!"
"……Uh, ahem."
"……"
Definitely E-types. Extroverts. The girls behind her were all calling her name and throwing weirdly intense encouragement. Standing right in front of her, I got a little embarrassed myself and awkwardly scratched my cheek, looking away.
"Hey. Have a good talk, yeah?"
Hyenseok tapped my shoulder and stepped away, squinting one eye. His mouth moved like he was muttering something; I couldn't read it perfectly, but it was roughly "Don't forget what I told you—make it count, okay?"
……Win for real when it's just the two of you, was it?
Not that I'd ever done that, so I had no idea what "winning" even looked like in practice. It probably didn't mean winning with words.
"……Um, Oppa."
While I was still hesitating, Seolhwa opened the conversation. I was secretly glad and nodded right away.
"Yeah?"
"W-we have two hours of free time starting now, right…?"
"Yeah, we do."
"There's a lot of time left, so… would you come with me for a bit? S-somewhere. I… have something to say, too."
She fidgeted, gripping and releasing the hem of her tennis skirt.
The way her fingers wriggled was pretty cute.
"……Ah, sure?"
Which was why agreeing came so easily.
For a second Seolhwa's face lit up with pure joy, then she quickly put on a prim expression and cleared her throat.
"R-right. Then, since we don't have anything else to do, should we head out right away?"
"Yeah, let's. But where are we going?"
Was there even anywhere worth visiting around here? Being right by the pension, nothing special had jumped out at me.
"There's a place I spotted on the way here. ……Let's go."
Without naming the destination, Seolhwa lightly caught my sleeve. She looked up at me with eyes that clearly said "lead the way," so I didn't refuse—I just started walking with her in tow at my side.
It was already April, and the time was around five in the afternoon, the sun sinking low. Another hour or two and darkness would settle. So free time, being generous, about an hour and a half. Wander the streets a little, stop by whatever place she wanted to see, and we'd be right on schedule.
"Straight ahead, Oppa."
"Just keep going forward?"
"Yes. A little farther and it'll be there."
Following her directions, we walked about ten minutes and spilled out onto a proper street. The area itself wasn't huge—not quite downtown, more like a modest commercial strip.
First time here, so it felt unfamiliar, but the vibe wasn't that different from Seoul. Mid-rise buildings alternating with multi-unit housing, sports facilities and entertainment spots and restaurants scattered without much rhyme or reason. Off in the distance sat the familiar PC bang you could find anywhere in Korea.
People live pretty much the same everywhere, I thought, taking in the surroundings at a leisurely pace. Then—tap, tap. Seolhwa, walking right beside me, lightly tapped my shoulder.
"Oppa, over there."
"Hm? Where?"
"Thaaat building across the street."
She pointed with her index finger. I followed the line of it. A five-story building stood there, a little unusual in that the only sign hanging large on the front simply read N.18, with no further explanation.
"Ah, that one? The place that says N.18?"
"Yes. That's it. We just need to cross the street."
N.18. Looking at the sign alone, I had zero idea what kind of place it was. Maybe a dessert shop? Like Baskin-Robbins 31—numbers stuck after a name sometimes meant that.
Either way, I'd only know once we saw it, so I led Seolhwa across the road. The building entrance was on the opposite side from the sign, around the back of the street, so we headed that way. Another twenty paces or so and a sleek glass door appeared, the kind you'd expect at a high-end restaurant.
"Huh?"
Except right in the middle of the glass door was a strange poster.
It was clearly an entrance notice—red background, white lettering.
19+ Convenience Store N.18
Minors Not Allowed · ID Required
Korea's Largest Specialty Adult Goods Store
……Ah.
Not a restaurant. An adult goods shop. The kind that specialized in those things.
Realizing it a beat too late, I turned to Seolhwa.
"Hey, Seolhwa. I think we came to the wrong place? This isn't a restaurant, it's…"
"W-we didn't come to the wrong place."
She looked up at me.
Her cheeks were red.
"……We came to the right place."
"……"