Han River Date (2)
"We've talked enough—shall we head outside soon?"
They had spent the better part of a few hours chatting away in the cafe. Because Shin Yuna's job put her in contact with all kinds of people, she had no shortage of stories despite her young age. Then again, the clergy was a profession that brought you face to face with the very bottom rungs of society, wasn't it?
Anyone could walk into a Cheonshin Church. Which meant that drifters and strange characters might very well wander in off the street, too—and they were the main source of Shin Yuna's stress. It wasn't the work that wore her down, she said, but the people.
That was the sorry lot of anyone whose job forced them to meet people no matter what. Of course, the same went for Kim Hyunsoo. He hadn't run into a nightmare client yet, but he'd heard rumors that some existed among the women who booked rental boyfriends. In the worst cases, they'd reportedly stalk a man all the way to his front door and break in. Just imagining it sent a shiver down his entire body.
And it wasn't as if she'd be some dainty beauty thinking of it—no, he had to picture a woman with a hulking frame that dwarfed everyone around her forcing her way into his home... He genuinely worried he'd need to keep a baseball bat by the door, the kind only pro players used. There was no telling whether he could subdue her by force. The women of this world were every bit as strong as men. Some of them, he'd heard, were even stronger.
Height and build were identical to the original world, so he could never quite figure out how the women here matched or exceeded male strength. These weren't Hunters—ordinary civilians carried this kind of power too. It was moments like these that reminded him he'd landed in a very peculiar world.
"Sure. But where are we going, Noona?"
Shin Yuna was the one who had planned the date course. Kim Hyunsoo hadn't come with an itinerary—he'd shown up without giving it any thought at all. It was only natural, after all, for the woman who booked the rental boyfriend to build the date herself. In this world, the idea that women were supposed to lead men was simply common sense.
"Let's ride bikes! I've wanted to ride a tandem bicycle with you since way back, Hyunsoo."
From Kim Hyunsoo's perspective, it wasn't a bad choice. They'd gotten past the most brutal stretch of sun, and the weather was gradually softening. Besides, it was late August now, not the height of summer, so by this hour the air had turned pleasantly cool.
"Sounds good to me. Let's go rent one, Noona."
That said, hearing her claim she'd wanted to ride a bike with him "since way back" was a little odd. They'd known each other for less than a month. Kim Hyunsoo decided to let the slip slide with good grace.
"Yup!"
The two of them rose from their seats and walked toward the bike rental spot. Thankfully, the Han River was dotted with places to rent bicycles—you could barely stroll a few minutes before hitting another rental shop. Plenty of couples seemed to enjoy cycling along the river, the water stretching out behind them.
Before long they arrived at one of the rental stands. Shin Yuna hooked her arm through Kim Hyunsoo's and strutted confidently up to the shopkeeper, a middle-aged woman who looked the pair of them over and asked:
"One-seater, or will you be riding a two-seater?"
"Two-seater!" Shin Yuna declared, as if it went without saying.
"Six thousand won an hour. You're not planning on going over an hour, are you?"
Shin Yuna glanced at Kim Hyunsoo and asked the question with her expression alone: were they thinking of riding longer than an hour? He shook his head. One hour on the bike was about right. Anything more would be overkill—with plenty of other things left to do, pedaling around all day held little appeal.
"An hour, please."
Naturally, Shin Yuna paid. Kim Hyunsoo picked out a reasonably decent tandem—the one that looked like it had been chosen the least by previous riders, judging by how little grime and dust clung to it. Shin Yuna came bounding over with a beaming grin.
"Hyunsoo~ are you riding in front or in back? Either's fine with me!"
Seeing her this excited, Kim Hyunsoo figured he should hand over the handlebars. He'd kick back and simply pedal from the rear.
"You take the front, Noona. I'll just pedal from behind."
"Really? I don't mind if you take the front, though..."
"Nope, Noona."
And so their seating arrangement was settled: Shin Yuna in front, Kim Hyunsoo in back. Maybe it was because it was a tandem, but the thing had a satisfying heft to it. For one, it was absurdly long—you'd have to weld two regular bikes together to get this kind of length.
"Let's go!"
Shin Yuna began pedaling with gleeful energy, and Kim Hyunsoo joined in from behind. The bicycle glided smoothly forward. A bike ride as a date, though—there was something novel about it.
It wasn't that Kim Hyunsoo had a wealth of dating experience, but arranging a tandem ride like this was the kind of thing that didn't come easily. The saving grace was that the temperature wasn't high enough to break a sweat. If it had been hotter, Shin Yuna's choice could very well have backfired.
In the original world, if you suggested a summer bike ride to a woman who'd shown up in full makeup, her expression would sour instantly. Sweat would pour down her face, and all the effort she'd put into looking pretty for her boyfriend would melt away. Kim Hyunsoo, however, couldn't have cared less. The only cosmetic he used was lotion.
He'd heard that this world had plenty of makeup made specifically for men, but he wasn't fastidious enough to bother with any of it. Slap on some lotion, spritz a bit of cologne, and call it a day. Whitening his face pale like some idol on TV did not appeal to him in the slightest.
And so they rode along, taking in the scenery as they went. The riverside bike path was excellently maintained, making for a smooth ride. At one point Kim Hyunsoo's legs began to burn, and he quietly stopped pedaling. Shin Yuna never seemed to notice. Cruising along on her carry, he enjoyed the ride without a care in the world.
Her strength far surpassed that of an ordinary person anyway, so she could power a tandem bike entirely on her own without breaking a sweat. Sure enough, she was pedaling away in high spirits even now. She chattered to him nonstop as they rode, and before they knew it, they'd reached the turnaround point.
"Hyunsoo~ want to rest a bit before heading back?"
"Sure, Noona. Let's catch our breath."
They wheeled the bike over to a shaded spot where picnic tables had been set out for anyone wanting to sit and rest. A few were thankfully unoccupied, and the two of them took a seat. Kim Hyunsoo leaned back and sprawled out across the bench. He hadn't exactly been hammering the pedals, but he was tired all the same. Watching him, Shin Yuna asked carefully:
"Hyunsoo... are you tired, by any chance?"
"A little, yeah."
The women who booked Kim Hyunsoo as a rental boyfriend inevitably had no cars. He only took clients among the younger crowd, and young women—still in university or off serving their mandatory service—had a hard time owning one. Just as underclassmen looked up at seniors who drove their own cars to campus, the same hierarchy existed in this world. Shin Yuna wore an apologetic look as she spoke.
"I'm sorry, Hyunsoo! Riding a bike date with my boyfriend was one of my bucket list items."
She'd already paid, after all, so he had no complaints. Kim Hyunsoo gave her a look that said it was no problem at all. She had nothing to feel sorry about.
"Don't worry about it, Noona. The bike ride was a nice change of pace—I had fun."
"Right?"
It wasn't like he was breaking his back doing manual labor—he was just riding a bike and chatting with Shin Yuna. Aside from being a touch tired, there was nothing to it. He was hungry, though. They'd only had drinks at the cafe, no proper meal.
Whether she picked up on his hunger or not, Shin Yuna piped up quickly.
"Hyunsoo, want to order delivery? There's a delivery zone close by, so it's easy to go pick it up."
"Sounds good."
"What are you... in the mood for, Hyunsoo?"
She asked his opinion before settling on a menu. She tended to lean heavily toward whatever he wanted to eat. Fortunately for her, Kim Hyunsoo's palate matched the women of this world exactly.
"How about Chinese food, Noona?"
Exactly what she'd been hoping for.
"Yes! Perfect."
"Then I'll have a large jajangmyeon."
"Really? A large is a lot—are you sure you can finish it all by yourself?"
"Of course."
No matter how much his appetite had shrunk, he could still put away a single large bowl of black bean noodles without breaking a stride. Shin Yuna looked thoroughly pleased with his menu choice, and with a smile still on her face, she called the Chinese restaurant and started placing the order. She went with jjamppong.
Standing at the eternal crossroads of jjamppong versus jajangmyeon, she had chosen... jjamppong. As a die-hard jajangmyeon man, Kim Hyunsoo couldn't say he approved.
The two dishes battled for supremacy in a thousand debates, but to Kim Hyunsoo, jajangmyeon was king. Jjamppong might as well have been second place. Of course, that was purely his own opinion.