That Man Is Too Difficult! (Pizza Girl Han Yeseul)
*Kang Sena Epilogue
The gravure model shoot turned out to be simpler than I'd expected. All I had to do was put on a swimsuit and strike pretty poses. The photographer loved it. Said I had talent.
What was my Teenmo up to right now?
I turned on my phone and opened the GPS app. His location blinked on Google Maps. Not far from here at all. He was at the shopping mall.
Teenmo, wait for me. I'll be right there!
I ran until my lungs burned, terrified he might vanish. By the time I caught up, Teenmo had finished shopping and was heading into the movie theater. Thank god I wasn't too late.
Our first theater date.
"Unnie, could I please have the seat next to the guy who just bought a ticket? He's my boyfriend — I was late for our date."
"Of course. You've selected seat D63. That'll be 10,000 won."
"Here you go."
I scrambled into the seat beside Teenmo, still out of breath. Just the two of us, alone in the dark like this. My heart was racing. Sitting pressed up against him in the shadows, filthy little fantasies kept flickering through my mind.
Haang… I want to eat Teenmo up.
Then his adorable voice reached me.
"If you don't mind, want to share some popcorn? It's too much for one person."
Teenmo…
Are you being considerate of me right now? Does that mean you're happy about our first date too? Right?
I was so happy tears welled up. Like an idiot. My throat closed and the words barely came out.
"Th… th-thank you."
For the entire two-hour runtime, I watched only Teenmo. The movie could go to hell. To me, he was the entire world.
Teenmo is mine. Anyone who lays a hand on him — man or woman — I'll kill them. Teenmo is mine. Teenmo is mine. Teenmo is mine.
(Pizza Delivery Girl Han Yeseul)
"Yeseul, is something going on? Why have you been glued to your phone all day?"
"Haaaah~~ I don't knooow~ Unnie! Are all guys this stuck-up by nature?"
"Huh? Okay, something's definitely up with you. The girl who used to ignore every guy who trailed after her like a lost puppy is suddenly going on about men?"
"Ugh, I don't even know! Haaaah…"
God, why am I like this? I don't even understand myself. I only met that guy for a fleeting moment — me the pizza delivery girl, him the customer. And yet I can't get his face out of my head. It keeps looping until I feel like I'm going insane.
Is this what they mean by love at first sight? Love at first sight… me, Han Yeseul?
Haaah. I must have lost it.
Han Yeseul, get a grip for real! You're the same Han Yeseul who was famous at YJ for being ice-cold. Does this version of you — hung up on one guy, staring at your phone — even make sense?!
That was the truth of it. My height wasn't much, but face-wise I'd been top-tier even at YJ. And there had been plenty of guys who were into the petite type like me. During my trainee days, countless male idols and actors had confessed and asked me out. But the only thing I cared about was making it as an idol.
"I'm sorry, sunbae."
I'd said those words to guys several times a day. Even a top-tier idol sunbae in Korea had confessed to me.
Z-Dragon. The idol every girl worshipped. He said he liked my cold demeanor. My heart hadn't budged an inch. Still, Z-Dragon had been a cool oppa about it. I'd turned down a top idol's pursuit — that had to have bruised his pride. And yet after getting rejected, he'd gone out of his way to help me land open auditions. He still messaged me every so often.
Haaah. Even with a top-tier Korean idol oppa waiting for me, my heart had never once wavered. And now look at me. Ever since I saw that guy, I've been picking my phone up and putting it down on loop.
If I asked the shop for his contact info, I could probably get it…
Haaah. He seemed to like me too. I'd committed such a massive breach of manners and he'd still forgiven me. And then—
"You're way too pretty to be delivering pizza."
That one line had driven itself deep into my chest. He has to have feelings for me. So why hasn't he contacted me?
Haaah. I'm going to lose my mind. I can't focus on a single thing. Should I message him first?
Ugh! I'm crazy. I'm actually crazy!
I'm Han Yeseul — the ice queen even YJ knew about. When the other girls on the Pandora team were seducing male idols, drinking, and sleeping around, I kept my virginity intact.
Haaah. I think my brain is broken. I feel like I'm about to short-circuit.
And the conclusion I reached was this: I don't want to let him slip away like this.
I opened the Delivery Nation app and went into the admin menu. I found the KakaoTalk ID the customer had used for the order.
YSH1004.
Even his KakaoTalk ID is angelic. Well — he does look as cute as an angel. Just thinking about him makes me smile.
I added the ID. No profile picture. Guess it's true what they say — real popular people don't bother with KakaoTalk profile pics.
What do I even send…? God, I didn't shake this hard at my YJ interviews. My heart is hammering nonstop.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
"Yeseul, what are you doing? We need to clock out."
"Unnie, just a second."
Ah, screw it.
I-I sent it. I actually did it!
Haaah…… haang……
Please, god!
Is he busy? He hasn't read it yet. Yeah — sending it like that out of nowhere is probably weird. What reason would a mere pizza delivery girl have to message him separately?
I poured my soul into crafting the next message. As polite as humanly possible.
Augh…… is that enough?
If a male pizza delivery guy sent me a message like that? Haaah…… I'd probably never reply. Don't get your hopes up. Don't get your hopes—
Oh!
He read it! The little "1" next to the message disappeared. I waited for a reply. What would he say back?
Not to brag, but no guy had ever read-and-ignored a KakaoTalk from me before.
Three minutes…
Five minutes…
Ten minutes…
"Yeseul! Are you not clocking out? What the hell is going on with you today? Thirty minutes before closing you were throwing a fit about wanting to go home. You're acting completely different from usual."
"Unnie, you go ahead. I'm waiting on something right now."
"Ugh, fine. Wonder what she ate wrong today. Doing unpaid overtime of all things. Lock up properly when you leave. I'm heading out first."
"Got it, Unnie~"
The door clattered shut. Unnie was gone. I waited for a reply.
Thirty minutes…
Forty minutes…
For some strange reason, tears were welling up. This had never happened before. Me, Han Yeseul, crying over a guy. Over a mere… guy…
Haaah…
Fat, ugly tears rolled down my cheeks. I packed my things and left the shop. The whole ride home on my scooter, the tears wouldn't stop.
Rejected before I even confessed. So this is how all those guys who confessed to me must have felt. Yeah — I'm paying for the crime of coldly dumping every guy who ever liked me.
I lay down on my bed and turned off the lights. Sleep wouldn't come. His smiling face and the words he'd said just kept replaying.
"You're way too pretty to be delivering pizza……"
You bastard. If you just hadn't said that. If you just hadn't smiled at me like some adorable puppy. I wouldn't be hurting like this.
I woke up. My eyes were swollen shut. It felt like I'd cried out a lifetime's worth of tears in a single night. For the first time, I'd opened my heart to a guy. And I'd been rejected before I could even confess.
Haaah…… Everything's hard the first time. Love is no different. First love. Right now I'm in the middle of a one-sided first love.
I'd thought sleeping on it would help. Of course, he's still all I can think about. I have no energy. I have a shift…
My phone rang.
Z-Dragon oppa. At this hour? He's been busy with the tour lately. Someone as booked as Z-Dragon doesn't just call for no reason. I should pick up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, is that Yeseul?"
"Yes, Oppa."
"Is something wrong? Your voice sounds off."
I forced some energy into my tone.
"No, Oppa. Nothing's wrong. What did you call about?"
"Yeseul, Oppa's a little hurt here. You pick up and jump straight to business? Other girls try not to hang up when I call."
"You're a busy person, Oppa. I shouldn't waste your time."
"Deflecting, huh. Tch. Look — YJ's holding auditions for a new girl group. Black Blue. The company's planning to push them hard. I want to specially recommend you. What do you think? Interested?"
"Oppa, I appreciate it, but you know as well as I do. With my height, passing is going to be nearly impossible."
"Why? What's wrong with our Yeseul's height? I think petite is cute. We're about the same, even. Anyway, enough talking — be at YJ by 2 p.m. today. I've already spoken to the investors. They're on board with pushing you. Just come prepared. I'm hanging up. Be there by two, no excuses!"
"O-Oppa!"
Click.
Haaah. Z-Dragon oppa is always like this. Says what he needs to say and hangs up. Tch. Still — this is a precious opportunity he made for me. I can't throw it away.
I showered and pressed a cold spoon against the puffy bags under my eyes until the swelling went down a little. Then I opened KakaoTalk. I needed to message Unnie and ask her to cover my afternoon shift for the audition.
The moment KakaoTalk loaded, his chat window was right there. One last try… If he doesn't reply this time, it means we weren't meant to be.
No reply, of course. Snap out of it, Han Yeseul. Becoming a girl group idol is a thousand-mile road. Forget him. Yeah. Just forget. You can do this, Han Yeseul.
And then—
Like a miracle, a KakaoTalk notification arrived.
Kakao! Kakao!