Heartache
The bonus mission popped up out of nowhere, completely ridiculous. I glanced at Seo Jian to check her expression, and of course our eyes met at the worst possible moment. She scrunched up her face and thrust her hand out toward me.
“Give me my phone.”
“Here. You really didn’t look at any of the pictures that got taken?”
“Obviously you shouldn’t have looked either.”
I handed Seo Jian her phone. Thankfully, the photos that had been displayed on the whiteboard seemed to vanish the instant the mission was cleared. If they hadn’t, I probably would’ve kept my eyes shut the entire conversation.
“Ugh. What the hell kind of mission is that? Just screw it all. I’m gonna hit the bathroom real quick.”
With that, Seo Jian yanked open the rest area door and stormed out. Beyond the open doorway, I could see the usual sight of the grandmother listening to her TTS novel. …I guess I’d have to wait until she left her seat before using the rest area again.
“So it’s really over now.”
Left alone in the empty rest area, I leaned back in my chair and muttered quietly to myself. I must have been pretty tense this whole time too.
===
Thud, thud, thud. I burst into the bathroom like I was fleeing for my life, slammed the stall door shut, and locked it. Then I collapsed onto the toilet seat.
“…Haa.”
Seo Jian pulled her phone out of her pocket. She immediately opened the gallery and started frantically swiping through the photos that had just been taken.
“Fuck.”
Regret always hits later. The hand holding the phone was trembling. Only now was she fully realizing what kind of pictures she’d taken in front of Kim Hanbin.
What the hell is this? It’s perverted. A photo with nothing but pants on, completely topless. I’d covered my nipples with my arms so they weren’t visible, but that somehow made it look even more obscene. The way my breasts were squished and bulging out above and below my arms was especially bad. At this point, taking a picture without panties would’ve been less embarrassing. At least down there I could’ve just covered everything with my hands.
I hung my head and let out a long sigh.
He probably didn’t look. He wouldn’t have looked. I have to believe that. Believe it, Kim Hanbin. Fuck. This is so unfair. I’m the only one doing this shit while he gets off easy.
Of course, that didn’t mean I had even the slightest intention of saying something like “I took my clothes off, so you should too.” That kind of development only happened in adult webtoons.
“Ughhhhh!”
After roughly yanking at my hair for a moment and venting the emotions I’d been holding back, the heat slowly started to fade. That was when the content of the bonus mission finally sank in.
Create a shared SNS account for the two of you and upload the photos that were just taken. Faces may be covered.
> Bonus missions have no penalties.
> The mission remains active even after leaving the room and will stay valid until the next mission begins.
> Bonus Mission Clear Reward: Seo Jian — 150,000 won
It sounded like it was telling me to make an account specifically for posting lewd stuff. And the reward for it was a measly 150,000 won.
“What can you even do with just 150,000 won…”
Seo Jian selected all the photos she’d just taken, then moved her finger toward the delete button.
===
“Did you know Mom almost died today?”
That evening, Mom suddenly dropped that line at the dinner table. Seo Jian turned her head slightly.
“It was so weird. Even though it was a weekday, we had customers non-stop. The second we cleared one table, two more groups came in. After finishing those, three more showed up right away. We even had to stop taking delivery orders.”
“Hehe. Then Mom must’ve made a ton of money today, right?” Seo Jihyun chimed in from the side.
“You silly girl. You think everything from running a business is pure profit? After paying rent, ingredients, gas, and all those taxes, there’s not much left over.”
“Aww, that sucks.”
“Still, since Mom’s in a good mood, maybe I can give my daughter ten thousand won?”
Mom pulled a ten-thousand-won bill from her apron pocket and waved it in front of her younger daughter.
“It’s been a while since Mom felt this good.”
“Whoa, jackpot!”
“Should I give some to Jian too?”
Seo Jian was sitting on the living room sofa with her knees drawn up, quietly listening to her mom and sister’s conversation from a distance. If anyone asked why she was alone in the living room, it was because those two were eating raw cucumbers with ssamjang as a snack. Even though she’d tried it several times as a kid because they said it was good, it never suited her taste. Just being near it was enough for that distinctive fishy cucumber smell to grate on her nerves.
“It’s fine. Just use it for yourself, Mom.”
Seo Jian shrugged indifferently. She kept her eyes fixed on the TV and asked,
“But Mom, did sales really go that well today?”
“Oh? Is our Jian finally taking an interest in Mom’s store? When I asked you to work part-time there in January, you said no.”
“That’s different from this… People I know sometimes go to your store, Mom…”
“R-right. Hmm.”
The conversation suddenly went quiet. The only sound was people shouting and running on the TV variety show. Then Jihyun, who had been crunching away on her cucumber, jumped in with a mischievous grin.
“Mom. By the way, it seems like Sis has been getting back in touch with her high school friends.”
“Really?”
“Hey! Seo Jihyun, stop saying useless stuff!”
Seo Jian shot up from her seat immediately. In her mind she wanted to stomp loudly across the floor to show how angry she was, but she had to be careful about noise between floors. In the end she ended up tiptoeing back to her room. The sound of the two of them giggling at her was just extra salt in the wound.
“Huu.”
Click. She closed the bedroom door behind her and locked it. Jian flopped face-down onto her bed and mumbled,
“So the reward was real after all.”
Which meant Hanbin’s reward must have been the same. The thought suddenly occurred to her, so she called Hanbin right away. After a few rings, the call connected.
“Hello?”
“What are you doing right now?”
“Nothing much. I just came out to the park for a run. Trying to work up a sweat.”
“…What? You do stuff like that?”
Now that she thought about it, Hanbin’s voice did sound mixed with heavy breathing. Jian made a surprised face and rolled over to stare at the ceiling.
“I don’t know what you think of me, but I do exercise at least this much. Sitting down all day still requires stamina, you know.”
“You’re working harder for the retake than I thought?”
“I told you. I have to get into a good university this year no matter what.”
“Then why is someone like you not going back to the cram school and instead asking me to teach you?”
“But you really are a good teacher. It makes more sense than watching online lectures. Did I bother your studying or something?”
“…No. Well, it’s not that bad.”
And then came the sound of Hanbin’s footsteps and breathing over the phone. Jian listened quietly for a moment before casually tossing out a new topic.
“By the way. Did you check on your dad’s health thing?”
“Huh? Out of nowhere?”
“It was part of the reward, so I’m asking.”
“Uh… I just got home, so I haven’t heard anything yet… Why?”
“Mom said her store’s sales shot up like crazy today. Your dad’s checkup results probably came back really good too.”
“…Really? That’s a relief.”
She hadn’t been expecting any particular reaction, but the lukewarm response annoyed her anyway. She frowned.
“What’s with that half-assed reaction? I went through all that humiliation to barely get this reward and that’s all you’ve got?”
There was a brief silence. Then—
“Wooooow—! Seo Jian is the best—! Should I buy you lunch tomorrow?”
“…Forget it, forget it. I was an idiot for expecting a reaction from you.”
“Phew. Guess I don’t have to buy lunch then.”
“I feel like eating a burger tomorrow for the first time in a while, Hanbin.”
“……”
Even though she thought the conversation was childish, Jian couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
“You’re coming to the reading room early tomorrow, right?”
“Of course.”
“Good. See you tomorrow then.”
She pressed the end call button and tossed the phone aside. Staring blankly at the ceiling, she thought to herself that Kim Hanbin was actually a pretty decent guy.
Back in high school their circles had been so different that during group projects they’d only exchanged a few words or borrowed supplies—that was the extent of their relationship. If they had already been close friends in high school, they probably couldn’t be like this now. How could you look each other in the eye after being so embarrassed? Precisely because they hadn’t been close, they were only able to get close now.
While thinking that, she suddenly remembered something.
“Ah, right! There was one more thing I wanted to ask!”
She bolted upright from where she’d been lying down. She grabbed the phone she’d tossed aside.
…She opened the gallery app. Even though she’d deleted the photos earlier, the originals were still sitting in the trash folder. A few taps could restore them.
Of course Seo Jian had absolutely, positively, one hundred percent no intention of uploading these photos online. She just wanted to ask Hanbin about it, just in case.
— What do you think about the bonus mission?
She figured Kim Hanbin would obviously say she was crazy. But what if…
— Well, if you need the 150,000 won, it might be worth doing? Your face isn’t even showing anyway.
If he gave an answer like that, then maybe she could at least consider it. It might give her a flimsy excuse to justify it.
To Seo Jian, 150,000 won was a lot of money. She could earn it by getting a part-time job right away, but she had to consider the fact that she was currently a repeat examinee. Conveniently, time stopped while they were inside that room… so it was basically earning money without spending any time.
…No one would know it’s me anyway.
She enlarged one of the photos on the screen and covered just her face with her finger. The baggy clothes were a miss, but otherwise she just looked like a girl with a great body. She was the one who had the photos. If she secretly made an account and uploaded them without Hanbin knowing, wouldn’t it really stay completely anonymous?
While thinking that—
She suddenly came to her senses.
“Fuck. Am I out of my mind? I’m not some pervert.”
Seo Jian tossed her phone aside again and buried her face in her pillow. She stayed like that for a full ten minutes until her face cooled down.