Event (6): A Summer Morning
A summer morning. Brilliant sunlight was blocked by the curtains, delivering only its warmth. Kang Sujeong soaked in that morning energy and clenched both fists tight.
“Alright… I can do this!”
At nine in the morning, Kang Sujeong stood in front of the mirror deciding what to wear today and broke into a bright smile. She planned to confess to Cheon Jinhyun. Nine days had passed since they exchanged numbers. Short as that time was, her feelings for him had only swelled instead of fading.
The outfit’s fine… but how exactly do I confess?
That was Kang Sujeong’s dilemma. Should she just come out and say they should date? Did she need to prepare a gift? And in what kind of situation? Having no experience with this, she had no clue. She should have paid more attention to her friends’ dating stories back in high school. Kang Sujeong pouted.
Back then she simply hadn’t been interested, so she had let her friends’ chatter go in one ear and out the other.
“Maybe I should ask Yehwa?”
The thought suddenly struck her. Yehwa was one of the few closest, most trustworthy friends she had—one of those high-school friendships that were supposed to last a lifetime.
No, no. I should figure this out myself.
But Kang Sujeong quickly shook her head. Two weeks ago when Yehwa had come over, she remembered bad-mouthing Jinhyun—calling him weird, a pervert, all sorts of things. And it wasn’t just that once. Ever since he moved in, every time Yehwa visited she had steadily piled on the same complaints.
Suddenly changing her tune after only two weeks and asking for advice on confessing to him would look suspicious to anyone. Ugh. Why had she said all that? Right now she wanted to travel back in time and smack her past self.
Besides, I’m not even sure Yehwa could help.
Kang Sujeong pictured her friend’s face. A beauty even more striking than her own, which everyone already called pretty. Yet honestly, she doubted Yehwa would offer useful romantic advice. After all, Yehwa had never once spoken about her own love life.
Was she simply not interested? Or perhaps it was because Sujeong herself had always acted uninterested in dating, so Yehwa never brought it up. Still, someone as gorgeous and well-shaped as Yehwa must have had boyfriends.
“Whatever. I’ll just say it straight out.”
Getting rejected after confessing terrified her, but the fear that staying silent might let this relationship slowly fade away scared her even more. And honestly, Cheon Jinhyun didn’t seem uninterested in her. If he were, he wouldn’t meet up with her every single day. From the very first time they met he had scanned her body with those intense eyes. She had hated it back then, but now it felt like a clear positive signal. Plus, he had been the one to coax her number out of her first.
Just remembering his smiling face as he said it made heat rush to her cheeks. With her affection now past eighty, she was completely smitten.
What should I do? Maybe I should just invite him over?
Confessing at home would be far less nerve-wracking than doing it on the street. But then what excuse could she use for the invitation? Now that she thought about it, she had never visited his place or invited him to hers. And they were neighbors.
“Ah!”
The sudden idea made her smack her palm with a fist. That was it! She glanced toward the kitchen. The narrow space was integrated with the living room, but she had decent cooking tools.
I’m pretty confident with this.
She had been quietly worried about the shopping list Cheon Jinhyun always picked up whenever they went to the store together. Once her thoughts were settled, Kang Sujeong quickly pulled out her phone and sent him a message.
Not long after she sent it, his reply arrived right away. Kang Sujeong smiled at the message. She was already looking forward to seeing him.
******
The lock clicked and the front door opened, releasing a pleasant, fragrant scent of a woman. Along with that scent came Kang Sujeong, smiling brightly with her eyes.
“Hiii~.”
“Huh? Were you waiting?”
“No, I just came down.”
She shook her head at my question. Her face looked the same as always, but her outfit clearly showed she had put extra thought into it.
“That outfit looks great on you. Pretty.”
“Really? Hehe, thanks.”
Both of Sujeong’s cheeks flushed a soft pink.
A confession, huh…
I watched her bashful smile, remembering the keyword I had seen earlier that day. Her soft, deep-brown hair that fell to her chest swayed attractively. She always paid attention to her appearance when meeting me, but today she looked even more captivating.
Did the keyword mean she would confess to me, or that I should confess to her?
I’ll find out when the time comes.
I would wait and see. If she didn’t confess by the end, I could always confess to her myself. Strangely, the first person that came to mind when I thought about confessions was Yujeong noona.
Come to think of it, what’s Yujeong noona doing these days?
It had only been two weeks, so she was probably still working part-time at the convenience store. Our last text exchange had been the day after she quit. I asked why she left, she said she was looking for a different path, we exchanged simple goodbyes, and then stopped messaging each other.
She had been the first target I set after obtaining the Heroine App. We had only kissed, but because it was my first kiss the memory still burned vividly. And at the time…
I had rejected Yujeong noona’s confession.
It had been a temporary confession created by the candy and the water of desire. Back then I didn’t know whether the heroine setting was possible, so I turned her down thinking it would be hard to maintain her affection afterward. Sujeong’s case was different, though. I could steadily raise her affection through coins, and she was already my connected heroine through the thread of fate. There was no reason to reject her confession.
That doesn’t mean I plan to date her in some normal, ordinary way, though…
The moment I learned the true worth of the Heroine App, I decided to live my life according to my honest desires. And one of those desires was a harem. I felt a little sorry for her, but I had no intention of being satisfied with just one woman.
Still, I’ll never abandon her.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, Kang Sujeong waved her hand in front of my eyes.
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
“Nothing. Just… a lot of things.”
I smiled faintly, stepped out the front door, and offered her my hand on the stairs. She looked at it for a moment, then beamed and took it. The soft touch felt wonderful.
******
“You’re buying a lot today.”
I asked Kang Sujeong, who was busily filling the shopping basket after we reached V Mart. She gave a little start and answered.
“Y-yeah. We were running out of ingredients…”
“Hmm. I see.”
I answered with an inward laugh. The Heroine App event keyword had been “invitation.” This was probably why. Who she planned to invite was obvious.
She loaded up on all sorts of ingredients—vegetables, fruit, meat, and more. It looked like roughly twice the usual amount… or maybe three times, since she normally bought very little meat.
“Phew. All done~!”
“Didn’t forget anything?”
“Hmm… nope! I think that’s everything.”
She glanced at the overflowing basket and nodded, then subtly took my hand. As our fingers laced together her cheeks flushed red again. Despite how shy she was, the way she acted already felt like we were fully dating. Ever since her affection passed sixty and we exchanged numbers, her behavior had become bold. It was proof she had opened her heart.
“Looks heavy. Want me to carry some?”
“It’s fine. This much is nothing.”
I chuckled and turned the corner with her. It wasn’t bravado—she really was fine. The basket wasn’t feather-light, but it didn’t feel burdensome at all. After steadily training in the Heavenly Mile Flame Energy Technique, my overall physical strength had increased. I still couldn’t exert superhuman power, but it was a start.
“Hey there, you two lovebirds~! Come over and try some of this.”
While we were rounding the frozen section, a warm-looking middle-aged woman at the frozen food sampling counter called us over. Sujeong’s cheeks flushed again at the word “lovebirds.”
“L-lovebirds?”
“Yes~. You two look perfect together. Your boyfriend even carries your bags for you. You chose well.”
“Haha. Thank you.”
I didn’t bother correcting her. I simply held Sujeong’s hand a little tighter, and I felt her body give a small tremble.
“These are nicely grilled, so try one. They’re savory. You don’t have to buy any.”
“Yes, thank you.”
I didn’t refuse. I picked up a fried dumpling with a toothpick. The taste was nothing special—just ordinary frozen dumplings.
“Young lady, you should try one too.”
“Ah, I’m okay.”
A few days ago she had told me she was on a diet. I wasn’t going to press her about why someone dieting would buy so many ingredients.
“How is it?”
“It’s good. Thank you for letting me try it.”
“You can have another.”
“I’m fine.”
Because I said it tasted good, Sujeong looked like she wanted to buy some, but I took her hand and quickly moved on.
“This time let’s try some ham~.”
Since we always shopped together, after she finished picking everything she wanted I had time to get my own items. I tossed a few drinks into the basket, then reached the processed foods aisle and deliberately made a loud fuss while pretending to choose spam.
The keyword had included spam. This would probably give her the excuse to invite me over. I didn’t need an excuse, but she would feel too embarrassed without one.
Look at those eyes.
She was following my hand with burning intensity. I enjoyed her gaze by moving my hand around like I was training a puppy, then finally picked up the can of spam with the oiliest-looking label.
“W-wait…”
At the same time, Sujeong grabbed my hand.