The Fifth Mission

Kim Hanbin and Seo Jian thought of each other as friends. Nothing more than friends. There was no chance things would ever cross that line—Seo Jian had declared it over and over with absolute certainty. No matter what mission they faced, a mission was just a mission. There was no way either of them would develop real feelings. Her face flushing red was purely physiological. Her heart racing was just a natural reaction to tension. And if you asked why she was tense, it was because of the overwhelming compulsion to clear the mission. It was a somewhat ridiculous justification, but people always find a way to rationalize things.

And right now, those two people were sitting primly in the rest area, watching porn.

To explain how the situation had come to this, we needed to rewind about thirty minutes.

Anyway, we had written up the contract(?). Honestly, I wasn’t sure what the point of it was, but if writing it put her mind at ease, I was willing to do it as many times as she wanted. Maybe I still had some lingering attachment to that whiteboard myself. After all, I had to think about my father’s health.

“Are we done now?” I asked, folding the contract and slipping it into my pocket.

Seo Jian gave me a look that said what the hell are you talking about and pointed at the whiteboard.

“What do you mean? We made the contract, so we’re doing the first mission right away.”

“Right away?”

“Don’t tell me you need more mental preparation? We both already did that with the contract. A mission is just a mission. You didn’t forget what I said, did you?”

Nothing more than friends. She had repeated it like brainwashing, saying that no matter what we did, we would remain just friends. I felt like I’d heard that line at least ten times already. It seemed like she had decided to stick to this principle no matter what. Even so, her ears were bright red as she said it, so she clearly knew how embarrassing it was.

There was no need to mess with someone showing this much determination. I shrugged.

“Ha. Fine. Whatever. It’s not like there’s any reason I can’t do it. We’re only doing this for the rewards anyway.”

“That’s right! Glad you understand!”

Seo Jian shot up from her seat like she’d been waiting for those words. Without hesitation, she strode over to the rest area door and grabbed the handle. Up until now I had been the one closing the door, but it looked like she had worked up her own resolve this time. Seeing how obsessed she was with the mission rewards, she probably had her own circumstances driving her.

“Closing it?”

“…Do whatever you want.”

Click!

The rest area door shut. And just as expected, new text appeared on the whiteboard.

“…A video?”

Once again, it was a completely unexpected mission that completely missed our predictions. To be honest, I had been secretly worried that this time it would be something more direct. But all we had to do was sit together in chairs and watch a video? Still, that final condition about not looking away bothered me.

“What do you think?” I asked.

Seo Jian pouted. “Has any mission so far been easy? There’s definitely some ulterior motive. It feels like whatever’s behind this wants to watch us squirm.”

“Fair enough.”

I had to agree. Trying to ease the tension a little, I added, “By the way… we ended up skipping the bonus mission, huh?”

“H-how the hell were we supposed to do that?!”

“Didn’t you just say ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with your own mouth that a mission is just a mission?”

“…Starting from this mission! And why the hell would I upload exposed photos to the internet?! That and this are completely different! Got it?!”

“Heh heh…”

I never thought she would actually do it in the first place. But the way she was getting so worked up made me wonder if part of her had been tempted. After all, strong denial is basically strong affirmation, right?

Seo Jian huffed back to her seat, fuming. At the same time, both of our gazes turned toward the whiteboard. Before starting the mission, we needed to organize the details.

The mission itself was simple. All we had to do was sit quietly and watch a video. We had no idea what kind of video it would be, but it would probably appear on the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠board like the photos last time. If either of us stood up midway… there was a chance it would reset like before.

The time limit lasted until the video ended. But that video could be ten minutes, thirty minutes, or even several hours long, so it wasn’t exactly an easy mission. If it reset midway, the total time could double. We might even end up suffering like last time because of the bathroom.

There was no need to think about the bonus mission right now. Even if we failed it like last time, it wouldn’t matter, and if it turned out to be easy, we could deal with it then.

The important part was the clear reward.

“Is improving memory even realistically possible?”

“It managed to fix your father’s health, so there’s no reason it couldn’t. Still, this reward doesn’t really mean much to me. It’ll probably help you more.”

Seo Jian rested her chin on her hand and answered indifferently.

“You’re complete garbage at memorization subjects. You bombed the social studies section in March after doing so well on the mock exam, remember?”

“Hey. That’s because I was focusing on Korean and math at the time… I hadn’t even finished going over the concepts for social studies yet.”

“Sure, sure. Until the June mock exam, I’ll generously overlook that pathetic excuse as your friend. Happy now?”

“……”

Making excuses for bad scores wasn’t a good look. It seemed like this reward would genuinely help me more, just like Seo Jian said. I still had no idea how improving memory would actually work, though.

That aside, the part that worried me most was obviously the penalty.

“So what the hell is that penalty?”

“……”

Specific body size change. Anyone who wasn’t an idiot could guess what it meant.

“…Will it get bigger?”

“You idiot. Is that seriously what you’re worried about right now?”

“Hey, it’s a fair question. Honestly, getting bigger would be a good thing.”

“……”

I never specified what would get bigger, but the conversation ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠still flowed. And the way Seo Jian scratched her chin while looking somewhat convinced by my words was interesting. She thought for a moment before speaking.

“But it doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll get bigger. What if it gets smaller?”

“W-well…”

“Besides, it’s a penalty. You think it would make it bigger? It’ll obviously make it smaller. Don’t tell me… yours is already small? Pfft! Ahahaha!”

Seo Jian finally clutched her stomach and burst out laughing. I couldn’t exactly show her the truth. Honestly, I’d always been confident that I wasn’t small by any standard.

“Hey, don’t you think you’re laughing a bit too hard? I’m not that small.”

“That’s what ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all guys say. On the internet they all claim fifteen centimeters, eighteen, twenty. It’s hilarious.”

“Still, I’m around seventeen centimeters, okay?!”

“……”

Silence fell. Since Seo Jian didn’t respond, I suddenly felt embarrassed and cold sweat ran down my back. I cleared my throat and changed the subject.

“A-anyway! It’s not just about me. You could get hit with it too, so we should think about this seriously. For example, um…”

“…For example, what?”

“N-nothing. Never mind.”

For a second I had imagined what would happen if the penalty applied to Seo Jian. Her chest getting bigger, or smaller, her hips getting bigger or smaller… Any way it went, it sounded terrible. It was probably better not to bring it up.

“You perverted bastard. I can totally tell what you were just thinking. Say it out loud. I dare you.”

“…I really wasn’t. Seriously.”

“You didn’t even say what it was, but you look totally guilty. That’s what this is.”

While I was at a loss for words, Seo Jian stood up and moved a chair in front of the whiteboard. I followed, placing my chair right beside hers.

Anyway! Summarizing the mission, it seemed like we just had to sit here quietly without thinking too much. Seo Jian, already seated, looked up at me. She jerked her chin, telling me to sit already.

“Keep your legs together when you sit.”

“I know without you telling me.”

And so we sat side by side, close enough that our shoulders, knees, and elbows were almost—but not quite—touching. As if it had been waiting for us, the lights in the rest area went out, the whiteboard turned pitch black, and the video began to play. It was like turning off the lights to watch something on OTT.

“Uh, hey…”

Seo Jian seemed a little flustered.

“Is this a movie?”

“…No idea.”

The blurry image came into focus. The whiteboard showed a first-person perspective. It was a dark, desolate alley lit only by sparse streetlights, with no sign of other people.

“It feels too realistic to be a movie.”

“Yeah… There’s no BGM or anything.”

Just like Seo Jian said. It didn’t feel like it had been intentionally filmed with direction. It felt more like someone had recorded it themselves with a smartphone. It could pass for a found-footage style fake documentary, I supposed.

For now, the person on screen was a woman. She kept stopping while walking down the night street, checking behind her. She would walk again, then stop abruptly. She repeated this several times.

That’s when I got the feeling. Thriller? Or horror? If it was something like that, this mission seemed pretty easy. I could watch ten consecutive jump scares without blinking. After ten in a row it stopped being scary and just got annoying, but the point still stood.

They really had no sense of hospitality. They could have at least prepared popcorn. I crossed my arms and focused on the screen.

The woman’s breathing grew heavier as her footsteps quickened. The paranoia she felt started to feel real enough that I could almost hear her footsteps too. Tap tap tap tap!

The moment she whipped around the corner of the alley—everything went silent. The stalker’s footsteps had cut off like a lie. With a trembling gaze full of fear, she whipped her head around to check behind her. No one was there. She let out a sigh of relief and turned her head forward again when—

“Kyaaaaaah!”

“Whoa! That scared me!”

I clutched my right ear and looked to the side. I had to tilt my head up at a forty-five degree angle. The moment the jump scare happened, Seo Jian had screamed and shot up from her seat. The scream hadn’t come from the woman in the video. It had come from Seo Jian.

“Hey, I thought my eardrum was going to burst…”

“Haa… haa… Fuck. I can’t watch scary stuff!!!”

It seemed that Seo Jian was going to be the key to this mission as well.