The Second Mission

"Phew...! It wasn't a dream, right? It really happened...?"

Seo Jian splashed cold water on her face over and over in front of the sink. She hadn't worn any makeup to the reading room in the first place, and she had no idea how to apply it anyway, so no matter how vigorously she scrubbed, her bare face didn't change. The bright red flush on her cheeks stayed exactly as it was.

Kim Hanbin. Back in high school he'd been the quiet, otaku-type classmate who never really stood out. It wasn't like they'd been on bad terms. They'd been assigned to the same cleaning zone, so they'd chat while sweeping, and occasionally borrow a mechanical pencil or eraser from each other when one of them was in a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pinch. That was the extent of their relationship.

"I guess I should apologize..."

Now that her head had cooled, she could think rationally. It didn't seem like Kim Hanbin had locked the door on purpose. If he had, he wouldn't have undone it in such a ridiculous way.

Jian roughly shook the water from her bangs and crept back toward the rest area. Inside, Kim Hanbin stood with his arms crossed, looking extremely serious. Worried she might get trapped again, she only poked her head past the doorway and asked.

"...Is it okay if I come in?"

Despite the torrent of curses he'd received earlier, Kim Hanbin answered with a perfectly normal expression.

"As long as we don't close the door, it should be fine. Anyway, come in and look at this. The table and the whiteboard."

Jian hesitated a moment before slowly stepping into the rest area. She made sure to check the door stopper again before approaching him—an extra precaution. In the awkward silence, her eyes drifted to the whiteboard.

"Clear reward? What the hell is this?"

"It's your share."

For a second she wondered if Kim Hanbin had pulled another prank while she was in the bathroom. Almost in a trance, she walked up to the whiteboard and rubbed the name 'Seo Jian' with her finger. All she got was a squeaking sound; the letters refused to erase.

"It really doesn't come off."

"Wasn't me."

"...I didn't even say anything yet."

After that they barely spoke. They split the money exactly as written on the board. Kim Hanbin claimed the cash had just appeared out of nowhere, but that wasn't exactly easy to believe. Jian had refused at first, but when ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he tried to leave with only the five thousand won, she 'had no choice' but to pocket the rest.

Carrying that uncomfortable feeling, she tossed out one last comment before they left.

"Is it okay to just leave the whiteboard like this?"

"Let's flip it over for now. It doesn't erase anyway. Hardly anyone comes here, so whatever."

"Ugh... If someone else sees it, I'd die of embarrassment."

That was the last thing they said to each other yesterday.

Even though the March mock exam was the very next day, Seo Jian couldn't concentrate at all. She half-heartedly solved one practice test and headed home.

Her mother, her younger sister, and Seo Jian. The three women lived crammed together in a small but lived-in rental apartment. The building had terrible soundproofing between floors, and a particularly noise-sensitive couple lived downstairs, so Jian opened the front door and tiptoed inside.

"I'm home..."

"Mom, sister's back."

Her younger sister, who had been in the kitchen, turned and called out. Their mother, busy preparing dinner in the tiny kitchen, greeted her warmly.

"You're home early today. Good work, sweetheart. Go wash up—Mom will cut some fruit for you."

"...The test is tomorrow, so I came back early to sleep."

Seo Jian had a younger sister named Seo Jihyun. She was a cute third-year middle school student this year. Jihyun still treated Jian with the same casual ease as before, like an older brother or sister, but Jian herself felt uncomfortable around her. She was ashamed of how she looked now.

While stabbing apple slices with a fork, Seo Jihyun said to their mother, "Oh, right. Mom, I need to go to the dermatologist tomorrow."

"To get more ointment? How much was it again? How much did it cost last time, including the medicine?"

"Um... hold on... it should be in my phone..."

Seo Jihyun scrolled through her phone. "Let's see... it was 23,500 won."

"Hmm... Jian, could you lend your sister ten thousand won for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me? I only have fifteen thousand won in cash in my wallet right now. I'll withdraw some tomorrow and pay you back."

"It's fine. I'll just give her the ten thousand."

"She says she'll give it, Mom."

Jian answered indifferently, popped the last piece of apple into her mouth, and retreated to her room. The tiny space was packed tight with just a bed and a desk; even opening the closet was awkward.

She dropped heavily into the desk chair, chewing the apple and letting out a small sigh.

Some people might ask why she didn't just use a card, but her family's finances weren't that simple. Her mother's credit card bill had probably been overdue again. A few days earlier she'd secretly checked the collection notice from the card company that had been stuck in the mailbox.

Jian sighed heavily as she fiddled with the tablet on her desk. The internet bookstore app's cart already held the books she needed to buy for March.

Math concept book: 14,500 won

Korean past exam collection: 13,000 won

English syntax reader: 17,000 won

Science mock exam: 15,000 won

"...59,500 won?"

Plus the ten thousand won she'd promised to lend Jihyun for the hospital visit. By pure coincidence, the total exactly matched the 69,500 won currently in Seo Jian's pocket.

"A coincidence?"

What were the odds? After experiencing something so impossible to understand, she couldn't help wondering if it wasn't a coincidence at all.

Those three hours hadn't been a dream. The whiteboard. The mission. The reward. 69,500 won.

"......"

Seo Jian stared at her right hand, opening and closing it. This was the hand that had held Kim Hanbin's for more than ten minutes. It was now so small and delicate that anyone would immediately call it a girl's hand. Holding hands with Kim Hanbin had been a horrible experience she never wanted to repeat. Probably.

Thinking about it now, maybe it was lucky she'd gotten so desperate for the bathroom. Otherwise the warmth of his hand, his pulse, the sweat—every detail would have burned itself into her memory too strongly to forget.

But if holding hands for ten minutes earned this kind of reward... and if the next mission might give her even more...

Since she had to cover the reading room fees, online lectures, and book costs all by herself, the whiteboard kept floating through Seo Jian's mind. She could ask her mother for help, but she didn't want to add to the burden while her mom was already dealing with a daughter retaking the exam.

So Seo Jian...

===

"I'll teach you! Not just some half-assed vocabulary quizzes! I'll go over your homework and anything you don't understand, so... that room! Just go in there with me one more time!"

"......"

What the hell did she think that room even was?

It was a relief the mission had been fairly easy. We had no idea what kind of missions might appear or how far they could go. We knew almost nothing—except that clearing a mission gave some kind of reward.

Why was she so obsessed with that room? It wasn't like she was some pervert who enjoyed absurd situations like that. Was it the money?

When I thought about it, there wasn't a cheaper reading room in this neighborhood. If the facilities had been decent it might make sense, but this place wasn't just bad—it was downright shabby and cheap. Apparently the air conditioning barely worked in the summer either.

The grandmother who ran the place had stepped out for a while. At this hour, the only people there were me and Seo Jian.

"Hey, you don't even know what that thing is and you're already saying you'll do it again. You caused such a scene yesterday."

"...I'm sorry about that, okay? But doesn't it bother you too? You've never heard of anything like it, right? It gives you money just for clearing it. Can you really walk away from something like this? Let's just try it once. You're curious too, aren't you?"

"Ha... And I have no choice but to switch to the academy. I don't think I'll improve much studying alone. You're a retaker like me, so even if I learn from you..."

When I tried to draw the line, Jian took a step closer and looked up at me.

"You can just tell me my score. Wait a second!"

She dashed off to the reading room and came running back with test papers in hand. Then she spread them out openly on the empty counter desk. It was only possible because no one else was around.

"Look at this. I timed myself and solved it yesterday."

Seo Jian's scores were insane. Based on the first-grade cutoff of 97 in Korean language and writing, she got a raw score of 100. In calculus, with a first-grade cutoff of 92, she scored 96. English was absolute grading, so a perfect 100 was still first grade. Physics I and Chemistry II were both perfect 50 out of 50.

The March mock exam might have been easy, but getting only one question wrong in math was no joke.

"Ah... I can help with social studies to some degree too. I might not be able to teach it properly, but I can at least help with anything you don't understand while studying..."

"......"

Just how serious was she? All sorts of emotions hit me at once. We'd been in the same class for a whole year, yet in just these two days I'd learned more about sides of Seo Jian I never knew existed.

Besides, with grades like these... if that incident last year hadn't happened, she would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have taken the CSAT, gotten into university, and would be starting her freshman year right about now.

I let out a small sigh she couldn't hear and said, "Fine. Just this once. I don't know about after that."

"...Okay. Let's just check for now. We can decide after seeing the next reward."

Having her teach me... I wasn't sure about that part, but since she was asking this desperately, agreeing once would at least let me feel like I'd done the right thing. I had no idea what the mission would be, but it probably wouldn't be much different from holding hands. In games, these things usually got harder step by step. So the second mission shouldn't be anything too serious.

If we got another five-thousand-won reward like yesterday, I could just buy some snacks on the way home.

I went back into the rest area with Seo Jian. The whiteboard's position had been adjusted slightly, but nothing felt very different.

Holding the door handle, I told her, "Sit down for now."

"Yeah. Take your time. Close it whenever you're ready."

"Well, I don't know about taking my time. You went to the bathroom, right?"

"I'm fine. Yesterday I got locked in because I didn't know anything. Today we'll get out quickly. And... I already went, so stop bringing it up."

"Heh. Then I'll close the door right now?"

Click.

The door fully engaged with the frame and locked. Come to think of it, when exactly had it locked yesterday?

I turned the handle the opposite way to check. Clunk. Clunk...! It didn't move at all.

"It's locked."

"...I have no idea how it works."

Jian was trying to sound calm, but this time her voice clearly carried tension.

I let go of the handle and slowly scanned the room. A dim, windowless space. An old wooden table, four blue plastic chairs, and a lone whiteboard standing in the corner.

"Should we look at the whiteboard?"

Jian nodded silently.

The wheeled whiteboard in the corner was tilted at a slightly different angle from when we'd left it yesterday. But it was still turned so we couldn't see the front.

I took a deep breath and flipped it over sharply.

"...Hanbin. What's the penalty?"

"I don't know."

Really, we couldn't figure out anything.