Se-a's Gift
"Sorry. I just wasted your time..."
Noona apologized the moment we stepped out of Hakuwaku, having polished off every last drop of the ramen that had gone soggy in five minutes flat.
"Don't be. I had fun too."
I soothed my downcast noona as we headed for the parking lot and climbed into the car.
"Are we heading straight to buy the computer?"
"If you're okay with that."
"Sure. Then we're off?"
She checked that I'd buckled my seatbelt and pulled out immediately. Maybe because I'd fastened it myself this time, I caught a flicker of disappointment on her face.
She'd get all flustered if I actually teased her, though.
Suddenly I found myself wondering how she'd react if I crossed a line. If I just grabbed her chest out of nowhere. Or squeezed her ass.
"Hahh..."
I let out a long sigh amid those thoughts, because I'd realized something: those kinds of perverted ideas didn't disgust me nearly as much as they used to. I'd definitely changed since coming to this world. What had been a suspicion was now a certainty. I must have damaged my brain when that cat clocked me in the back of the head back on old Earth.
"What's wrong? I knew it—I took too much of your time..."
"I told you, that's not it."
I'd thought we were done with this, but she was beating herself up again. I stroked her hair and soothed her. She looked embarrassed, but she was grinning like an idiot—my touch must have felt good. It was the kind of bright, sunny smile that made anyone who saw it feel better.
LV Pentarium.
A department store chain run by the megacorporation LV, ranked among the country's top three. For the record, one of those top three was the chain operated by Saint Bear—the company that had come up on stream. Second-largest conglomerate in the country, and yeah, they really were that huge.
And the granddaughter of that company's chairman was... why...?
This world had its own deep shadows, too.
LV Pentarium was built in a pentagonal shape, just like the name suggested. Every location nationwide was the same.
"Whoa..."
We parked in the underground garage and rode up to the first floor, and a gasp slipped out of me on its own. A park had been laid out right in the center of the ground floor, and the second floor's center had been left open to the same width, vaulting the ceiling high overhead.
Building a department store this enormous right in the heart of Seoul...
I couldn't help but be impressed. A faint perfume drifted through the first floor, where cosmetics brands and luxury labels had their shops.
Looking at all this, I had no idea what I'd even been doing with my life in the original world.
Twenty-three years, and I'd never once set foot in a department store. Even if I had nothing to buy, I could've at least gone to look around. I decided to save the sightseeing for later and looked for an escalator.
"Over here."
I followed noona as she navigated the place like she owned it, and we found the escalators right away. B1 was food. B2 was electronics—exactly what we'd come for.
"There's so much."
"They basically have everything that hasn't been discontinued."
We'd come to the computer parts section. You might wonder what a department store was doing selling PC components, but some LV Pentarium locations did—and on a pretty large scale. The one in the shopping district near our place happened to be one of them, so here we were.
"Shall we start with the graphics card?"
Se-a noona tugged me along by our joined hands toward the section labeled graphics cards. I'd originally planned to pick everything myself. I didn't know much about computers, but I figured I could just buy something that fit the budget. Then, in the car on the way from the ramen shop, noona had offered to help. I had no reason to turn her down, so I took her up on it.
"If you're using it for streaming, you'll need pretty high specs. You've got to broadcast and game at the same time."
I'd already told noona I was streaming. I'd mentioned it today, so she'd probably tune in when I went live tonight.
The look on her face when I'd told her had been genuinely hilarious.
She picked this and that, and before I knew it the cart was piled high with parts. I hadn't realized a PC needed this many components. Last of all, we bought the motherboard everything would be assembled onto. Depending on the parts, she'd explained, the board might not be able to handle them—or might not let them perform at full capacity—so we'd saved it for last. If noona said so, that was how it was.
While I was unloading the cart onto the counter, noona pulled out her card.
"Why are you paying? I'll get it."
I hurriedly scooped up an armful of boxes, dumped them on the counter, and went over to her.
"It's fine. Just say thank you and take it."
"But still..."
She ruffled my hair, then pinched and kneaded my cheeks as she spoke. I hadn't expected her to initiate the skinship. A good sign.
"Where's my thank you? Noona wants to hear it."
"...Thank you."
I caved. How was I supposed to keep arguing when she looked at me with those expectant eyes?
"Tsk."
The woman ringing us up clicked her tongue at Se-a noona. Noona must have heard it, because she glanced at the clerk and huffed through her nose like she was showing off. She seemed younger than me at times like this.
"Your total is 2,867,400 won. Payment complete."
"Thank you~"
Noona answered the clerk—who was speaking through gritted teeth—in the sunniest voice imaginable. The more I got to know her, the more she felt at odds with how she looked. And that was what made her charming.
More to the point—how did a computer cost nearly three million won? My bank account wouldn't have come close. Even with a thirty percent discount, I couldn't have swung it.
"I'll pay you back as soon as I get my payout."
"I said it's fine. Keep pushing and you'll be insulting the person who bought it for you."
Compared to what a top-grade Escort Officer earned, 2.86 million won probably wasn't a crushing amount. But what mattered was the thought behind it. An Escort Officer's job, put bluntly, was to protect the man she was assigned to. That was it. She didn't need to win his affection or do him any favors beyond her duties. Of course, nine out of ten women in this world would jump at the chance anyway.
I'd gotten off track. What I wanted to say was this: the fact that someone had thought of me and given me a gift—that feeling—meant more than I could say.
"...Thank you. Really."
"It was nothing."
We wheeled the cart all the way to the car in the underground garage, loaded the trunk, and headed home.
On the way back, I felt bad just sending her off like this—and I wasn't ready for the day to end. I was wondering if there was something we could do when I spotted a park.
"Noona. Want to stop by the park for a bit?"
"The park? Sure."
I turned the car around, parked in a nearby lot, and we walked into the park. They said if a man didn't park in a designated section, there was no telling what might happen to his car. No matter how harsh the legal penalties were, some people would do it anyway.
The park was empty. The trees that would have been lush with green in summer were nothing but bare branches now, so that was hardly surprising. Who'd come for a stroll in a park this bleak? Which meant I got to walk with noona, just the two of us. I wasn't complaining.
"Winter parks have their own kind of charm. I like it."
"Do they? I don't really get it."
She tilted her head as she said it, her silver half-tied bob swaying. She seemed a lot more used to calling herself noona now. Looking at her, I said,
"Of course you don't—you've only been looking at me. Try taking in the scenery? This is a park walk, you know."
"I-I was not!"
Only then did she turn her head to look around. But it felt less like she was taking in the view and more like she was trying to change the subject. It was so cute I just walked in silence for a while.
Deeper in, a small lake came into view. I never would have guessed a park built along a Seoul street would have a lake. The surface was frozen, so it wasn't exactly beautiful—but the patches of piled snow stirred up that particular winter feeling.
"I like winter air better than summer."
I drew in a deep breath through my nose and let it out through my mouth as I said it. The inside of my nose and my lungs prickled.
"There's that, yeah. The way each season has its own smell."
Se-a noona nodded as she spoke. I'd heard more people than you'd think were into seasonal smells. Did noona like them too?
"Do you have a favorite season, noona?"
"Early spring, or the tail end of autumn. It's cool enough, pretty enough. And autumn has that fallen-leaf smell, too."
"Fallen leaves have their own kind of atmosphere."
I glanced at her and smiled. I felt her grip tighten slightly on our joined hands.
We'd been walking along the lake's edge, and we naturally climbed onto the bridge that cut across its center. Crossing over the frozen water, the cold seemed to bite even harder.
"Are you very cold?"
"A little, yeah."
Noona watched me rub the forearm of the hand I was holding, then closed the gap by a step. We hadn't been far apart to begin with, but now our shoulders were close enough to bump.
"Noona?"
"Y-you said you were cold. It's warmer if we stick close..."
Her voice got smaller and smaller toward the end. She still got embarrassed holding hands or trading jokes, but at times like this she was the one making a move.
"Then we should get even closer!"
I laughed and hugged her arm, pressing my upper body against it the way a cicada clings to a tree. I ducked my head and pressed my face against her too, and a faintly sweet scent tickled my nose. Not perfume—the cozy softness of fabric softener, and this... her natural scent? It was an incredibly pleasant smell, with nothing artificial about it. It had to be noona's own.
"..."
"Sticking this close really is warmer. How about you, noona?"
I asked Se-a noona, who'd gone completely still with her lips pressed tight the moment we'd pressed together.
"Y-yeah. It's warm."
"Why'd you go so stiff? Were you that cold?"
I let go of her arm for a moment and stepped around to face her properly.
"You should've said something."
Then I took one more step and pulled her into a hug.
"Hweh...!"
She made a sound that would look completely unhinged written down, and she had no idea what to do with herself. I took her arms—which were hovering, lost, unable to commit either way—and wrapped them around me. The arms that had hesitated at first soon tightened with real intent.
"Noona."
"...Yeah?"
A voice so quiet it barely registered. I'd said it with my face buried between her breasts, so she probably hadn't heard it clearly. But she hadn't completely missed it either—she'd be left wondering. That was enough. A love confession on day two would have been way too soon.
She might actually accept it, though.
Still, better not to take a pointless gamble. We had plenty of time. I could confess when Se-a noona wouldn't hesitate even a little—and it wouldn't be too late.
A winter wind brushed past my ear. But all I could hear was the pounding of noona's heart.
We stayed like that for a while, holding each other. Then, without either of us deciding to, we naturally pulled apart. The warm air that had pooled between us washed over my face. I made sure to breathe in every bit of noona's scent that lingered in it.
"Want to keep walking?"
Noona asked after taking a moment to steady her breathing and collect herself.
"Hmm... no. Let's go."
She nodded and started to walk, and I called her back.
"Noona!"
"Yeah?"
"Want to... take a picture?"
Without meaning to, we'd ended up standing in the middle of the bridge. The frozen lake and the piled snow. Even the bare branches had patches of snow settled on them, stirring up a feeling every bit as rich as summer greenery. A photo here would come out beautiful.
"A picture? Want me to take one of you?"
"That's not what I meant. I want to take one together."
"...Together?"
She pointed back and forth between herself and me as she asked again. She looked thoroughly stunned. We'd already done more intimate things than taking a photo, so why was this the part that threw her? Even friends who didn't hold hands still took pictures together, right?
...Honestly, I wouldn't know. I didn't have friends. Kids these days moved fast, I'd heard. Did friends even hold hands?
"Hurry up! I think this would make a good background."
I grabbed Se-a noona's arm and pulled her over to stand in front of the bridge railing. I raised my arm high so the frozen lake and the snow-dusted trees would show behind us—but I was too short, and they wouldn't quite fit in the frame.
Noona stood there confused for a second, not sure what was going on. Then she snorted a little laugh at the sight of me stretching my arm as far as it would go, took the phone, and started adjusting the angle.
"Is this okay?"
"Yeah! Let's take it like this."
Once I saw that the background was in frame and we were still the focus, I got into position. Just standing there stiffly wouldn't be any fun—and it wouldn't mean anything—so I linked my arm through noona's.
"Y-you're going to take it in this pose?"
Se-a noona was flustered.
"Yep. Hurry up and tap it!"
"Okay. I-I'm taking it?"
The shutter clicked, and this moment was saved. The first photo in my phone's gallery—and a memory I'd treasure.