Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: We Met
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Mid-December.
The peak of winter, just before the last holiday of the year.
"...Should I text him?"
No, but asking to meet on Christmas would make my intentions way too obvious.
QWER seems to want to see me purely as a broadcaster.
What if I keep pushing to meet and he loses interest in me?
I clutched my head, groaning in agony as I, Myth, rolled around on the bed.
No matter how much I agonized, no answers came.
Just as despair was setting in, a loud voice rang out from the living room.
"Gashina! Come out and eat some sundae and tteokbokki! I picked it up on the way home."
Hearing Mom's call, I headed to the living room.
There, warm tteokbokki and sundae greeted me.
Slurp.
My mouth watered.
No fish cake skewers or oden broth, huh.
Well, Mom's from Busan but surprisingly hates oden broth.
"Thanks for the food."
"Eat up."
I carefully dipped the sundae in makjang and popped it into my mouth.
The salty, nutty flavor of the makjang, the sweet hint of sugar, and the crunchy texture of the nuts—the perfect sauce for sundae.
Seoul folks dip it in salt? Wonder if that's any good.
"Gashina, why're you eating so daintily?"
"Mom, can't I eat neatly? Do I have to scarf it down like a beggar?"
Even though I'd been practicing standard Seoul speech for streaming, my Busan dialect always slipped out around Mom.
She had one of the thickest Busan accents, so mine came out strong too when I matched her.
Chomp chomp.
Makjang's the best. So tasty. The only problem is the weight gain.
Makjang's great, but its intense flavor makes it hard to eat too much in a row.
Maybe try dipping in the tteokbokki broth this time.
'Come to think of it, QWER said he dips it in salt.'
He never said where he's from, but he just gives off total Seoul vibes.
...Dipping sundae in salt sounds iffy, but now I'm curious how he likes it.
I grabbed the fork with the sundae and headed to the kitchen.
"Why're you taking sundae to the kitchen?"
"Just getting water, getting water. Quit nagging."
I filled a glass with water, then cautiously opened the drawer with sauces and seasonings.
I snuck out the salt shaker and sprinkled a pinch over the sundae.
Watching the white salt fall on the dark blood sausage gave me a slight pang of betrayal as a Busan girl.
"Ah~."
Wait, doesn't this kinda feel like QWER's feeding me?
Ridiculous delusions ran wild.
With trembling hands, I carefully put the salt-dusted sundae in my mouth.
"Ugh."
The first hit on my tongue was the salt's intense saltiness.
Did I overdo it? But I powered through and chewed once more.
The chewy sundae's crisp texture mixed with the salt into some kind of harmony...
"Not great."
Unfortunately, it wasn't much of a delicacy for Busan tastes.
I just couldn't understand leaving makjang and ssamjang for salt.
Probably doesn't know any better.
Next time I see QWER, I gotta show him makjang flavor.
Vowing a meetup that might never happen, I grabbed my water and returned to the living room.
'Calling him QWER every time is getting tedious. Maybe give him a nickname.'
"Hey, Gashina."
Mom snapped me out of my thoughts.
Probably about to tease me with some weird comment again.
I squinted suspiciously at her.
"What."
"You got a crush or something?"
"W-what? Why bring that up outta nowhere?!"
"You could fool God before fooling your own mom."
Mom casually watched TV while grabbing another piece of sundae.
Then she shot me a side-eye and said,
"It's written all over your face like a lovesick kid. Embarrassing just looking at you."
"No! What're you talking about?!"
"Quit denying it. If I say so, it's so. But Myth, remember this one thing."
Mom looked at me and said,
"Lots of folks say young love's foolish, but I don't think so."
The emotions from those innocent childhood romances can't be traded for anything.
Mom's words carried real weight—she'd been with Dad since they were kids and even married him.
"You're a smart kid, so no need to worry. But if you're hesitating, don't overthink it."
Just go for it. If it doesn't work, shake it off.
That's the privilege of youth, the strength of the young.
"...I'll handle it."
"Yeah, you do that."
With that, Mom tuned me out completely and focused on the TV.
Suddenly no longer hungry, I set down my fork and retreated to my room.
December 17th.
About a week left, huh.
If I stay put, the relationship won't sour.
But if I stay put, it won't progress either.
"Haa."
A excited breath fogged the phone screen.
After agonizing for minutes, hours of torment.
Fingers tap the screen repeatedly, typing and deleting messages over and over.
Time passes, but nothing changes from hours ago.
What do I do.
How do I...
Then, a text came from QWER first.
"Eek?!"
I jolted upright on the bed, desperately grabbing the nearly slipping phone.
Thud crash.
I fell off in a weird position, but I'm fine.
Head hurts, back's tweaked, but the phone's safe, thank goodness.
I hurriedly checked the message.
Chance.
The perfect chance.
Thump.
Thump thump.
Ah.
My heart's gonna burst.
"Hoo."
Cautiously, I typed the line I'd written and erased a dozen times, squeezed my eyes shut, and hovered over send—but hesitated.
This time, I wanted to convey my feelings differently.
I tapped the voice call button in the corner.
Then held the phone to my ear.
Ding dong~ ring ding~ dee ra ding~
The cheerful ringtone played, and my heartbeat swelled like it would explode.
The ringing dragged on, then cut off.
Rejected?
As I pulled the phone away in regret, a voice came through.
"...What is it all of a sudden."
Gasp.
My breath caught.
My heart raced unprecedentedly, fingers and toes curling involuntarily.
It was like stifling a scream about to burst out.
"...Hanging up if you don't say something."
So this is your voice.
I'd always been the one sharing mine, so just hearing yours made my heart feel like bursting.
I'd always shared mine, but switching from stream to phone call alone made my heart feel like bursting.
"Wait, hold on a sec."
Did I sound too shaky?
Did my feelings leak through?
Heart pounding drowned out my own voice.
Still, I mustered my best to say what I wanted.
A brief silence followed.
Amid my flustered mind and pounding heart, I wondered if I'd gotten it across.
Then, just moments later.
His voice returned.
"Yeah. See you then."
And the call ended.
No words in the Excode chat either.
"Did it get through properly?"
I hoped he hadn't noticed, yet part of me wished he had.
Ridiculous, but happy.
I buried my face in the bed.
"Hehehe."
I didn't want even the stars or moon to see this face.
Probably another sleepless night.
Not a bad feeling, though.
Just grateful to savor this undiluted emotion a bit longer.
December 24th.
The day all lovers get most excited.
I avoided crowded main streets, slipping into a quiet alley.
A local spot filled more with houses and apartments than flashy shop windows.
Hardly any people, just a few stray cats shivering in the cold.
There, one girl waited, exhaling frosty breath, cheeks flushed from the chill.
'That's her... right?'
No, that's straight-up Myth's avatar.
Wondered how a high schooler pulled off that getup—must've just mirrored herself.
No need to second-guess.
I cautiously stood before her.
She looked up from her phone, eyes widening in surprise.
'Good thing it's winter.'
Chilled-reddened cheeks must've hidden my feelings well.
Under the streetlamp, we stared at each other for a while.
"Pfft! What, why so stiff?!"
"Says you—you were frozen too."
Then, without anyone leading, we both burst out laughing.
Her eyes sparkled as she approached.
"Oho, oho. Didn't expect a real high schooler. Or... are you? You look like an auntie."
"Here's my student ID. Knew you'd ask."
"Me too. We're getting discounts anyway. Wanna swap IDs?"
Somehow, we exchanged student IDs and headed to the bustling streets together.
"Wait, last name Jeon, first name Seol? Jeon Seol?"
"...Yeah, kinda unique."
"Hahaha! First time seeing someone with my name!"
"What?"
I looked at Myth's student ID.
Forced my eyes off her slightly smiling photo to the name field.
Myth.
Just those two characters.
"What. Myth's your real name too?"
"Huh, didn't know?"
"Nobody assumes Myth's a real name."
"Says the guy named Legend."
"Fair point."
Unimaginable, but here we were.
December 24th.
In a back alley of snowless Busan.
We met.