Holding Hands at Everland
✓ Pull out her chair (1/1)
✓ Feed her (1/1)
○ Hold her hand naturally (0/1)
○ Flirting (3/5)
★HIDDEN Kiss her (0/1)
Pulling out her chair and feeding her had come naturally enough back at the café. It had just... happened that way. Though I still couldn't figure out why the flirting counter was sitting at three.
"Think Everland'll be packed today? I really, really want to ride the T-Express."
Eunchae's eyes sparkled as she made her case for the ride she had her heart set on.
"It's a weekday, so it shouldn't be too bad."
Weekends and holidays were when the place exploded with people. Weekdays were a coin toss, but it was peak spring, no long weekend in sight, and students were buried in exam season, so there wouldn't be many field trips either.
"If it's not crowded, can I ride the T-Express twice?!"
She really loved her amusement park rides. I was the type who'd hop on just about anything myself, so I didn't particularly mind.
"Hmm, I'll only ride it once. If you want to go again, the three of you can go without me."
Jiyun nuna, on the other hand, was clearly not that type. There were people who could handle the thrill rides just fine but simply didn't enjoy them. She was probably one of those.
"What kind of rides do you like, Jiyun nuna?"
"I don't really have anything I won't ride, but these days I actually prefer watching more than riding? Maybe I'm just getting old."
"Oh, come on. Getting old? You're not that old."
"Thirty-one is still a lot older than you kids, isn't it?"
She wasn't wrong, but still. Wasn't thirty basically when life started these days?
"They say life begins at thirty."
"She's right, unnie. Even if I were thirty, I'd be way more jealous of someone like you who's already got her life figured out."
Eunchae broke off squares of the chocolate she'd brought from home and popped one into each of our mouths as she talked.
I hadn't realized she was worrying about her future. Was she not planning to go all-in on illustration?
"Eunchae, are you stressing about your career? I thought you were going into illustration. Is there something else you want to do?"
Dayeon nuna must have been thinking the same thing, because her eyes went round as she asked.
"Well, I do want to go into illustration. But right now, honestly, besides editing Dayeon unnie's YouTube stuff, I'm not even working on any personal pieces."
Of course all those YouTube thumbnails would become part of her portfolio, but it seemed she wanted to create something that was purely her own.
"I'd love to hold an exhibition someday, but that's still just a dream, you know~ It's not like my hands are as fast as Dohyun's."
Well, I had stat bonuses propping me up, so of course I was fast. Which meant when I unlocked a new talent for Eunchae later, speed should be the first thing I opened up for her.
Dayeon nuna was the same way, and so was Eunchae. People who knew exactly what they wanted made it easy to think about what I could do for them down the line. I liked that.
"If you look at my law career, sure, I've established myself. But YouTube's a different story."
"Come on, that's just a hobby~"
She seemed envious of the simple fact that Jiyun had her main career locked down.
"If we're going by that logic, Eunchae, your actual job is being a thumbnail artist, so haven't you already made it?"
She'd been working with Dayeon nuna since before she even graduated high school, which meant Eunchae already had five years of experience as a thumbnail artist. When I put it that way, everyone seemed to agree.
"That's true. By that measure, Eunchae's way more impressive than I am. I barely got my career together at thirty-one, and you've already made it at twenty-three."
"Eunchae really is amazing. She used to handle all the editing by herself, too."
"Aaah, please don't bring up that embarrassing past..!"
But as a dedicated fan who'd always liked those early videos, I was actually fond of Eunchae's distinctive editing style. She'd been far better at it than I ever was back when I was making fan videos.
"Alright, enough real talk. From here on out, it's time for dreams and fantasy."
Jiyun nuna smiled as she brought the car to a stop. We'd finally arrived at Everland.
"Kyaaah! Everland! How long has it been!"
Eunchae threw open the car door, hopped out, and instantly transformed back into a beaming little chick, all sparkles and smiles. The girl who'd been worrying about her future just moments ago had vanished without a trace.
Yeah. That was Eunchae.
"Eunchae, don't run! Hold unnie's hand! You'll fall!"
"...Do I look like Annie to you?!"
Dayeon nuna went over, took Eunchae's hand, and told her in all seriousness to hold on and walk together. Eunchae immediately started protesting.
...What was with these two. Why were they so cute.
Watching them, they looked like a pair of close sisters. It was adorable.
"Aigoo, you two are seriously precious."
Jiyun nuna said that, then pulled out her phone and started snapping photo after photo of the two of them bickering while holding hands.
"Ah, I'll take one of you too, Dohyun! Stand right there!"
"Uh, right here..?"
Was she going to use the car as a backdrop? So I just had to pretend it was mine, then? I struck a slightly cocky, showing-off kind of pose—
"Pfft..!"
Jiyun nuna burst out laughing, but she dutifully took the picture anyway.
"Hah, you're actually so cute, Dohyun..! I'm making this my profile picture."
"Eugh, absolutely not..! If anyone else sees this I'll die of embarrassment..!"
I'd just been copying those people on Instagram who posed like they were flexing their cars. That was all. If anyone actually saw it, I might genuinely perish from the shame.
"Dayeon! Eunchae! Look at this!"
Whether I died of embarrassment or not clearly didn't matter to Jiyun nuna, because she was already running off to show the people closest to her. I could only stand there in despair.
Ugh... why had I struck a pose like that...
"Ack..! What is this! Choi Dohyun, you're ridiculously cute! Hahaha!"
Eunchae let out the most unhinged laugh, and I genuinely wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.
"Pff— hah... ah, Dohyun is just too cute."
"Want me to share the photo? We should all use it as our profile pictures."
"Ah, please... please don't. I was wrong."
I wouldn't go so far as to ask them to delete it. But I had to stop them from making it their profile pictures, at the very least.
"Heheh, your reactions are so cute I just want to keep teasing you."
Dayeon nuna was grinning the brightest of all. Well... if it made my nuna happy... then fine, I guess...
"We're going to get so many cute pictures today. Come on, let's head in. Looking at the parking lot, it doesn't seem like there'll be too many people."
On weekends and holidays the parking lot was packed to the point you couldn't even find a spot. Today it was practically empty.
"Let's gooo~!"
Eunchae charged ahead, buzzing with excitement, while Dayeon nuna walked beside her, gripping her hand tight every time Eunchae tried to wriggle free.
"Ah, that's not fair, you two holding hands all by yourselves. Jiyun nuna, I feel left out. Since we're already in matching outfits, want to hold hands too?"
I'd meant it as a joke.
"..Oh, s-sure, why not..?"
Nuna's face went bright red. She looked startled for a second, then shyly held out her hand.
Uh...? This wasn't what I...? I'd just been teasing...?
Gulp.
Seeing her like that made even me tense up. But I couldn't just leave her hanging after she'd already offered her hand, so I quickly reached out and took it.
"Hehe.."
Up ahead, it looked like an older sister taking her little sibling out for the day, looking after her. The two of us, though, had somehow turned into a pair of fresh-faced lovers on their first date at an amusement park.
"Your hand's really warm, nuna."
"Ah, i-is it? I run a little hot, so that must be why..! If it's too warm you can let go..!"
I smiled at how ridiculously nervous she looked.
"No, I like it. It's nice. They say people with warm hearts have warm hands, too. I guess that means you."
I'd said it to help her relax, since she seemed so tense.
"..Hik, th-that's, not, necessarily, true..!"
Instead, she only got more flustered.
...Why..? Had I said something wrong..?
"You're warm too, Dohyun... so I guess that means you're a warm person."
She seemed to take a breath, then spoke while looking down at the ground.
...Cute. This nuna was cute.
"You said earlier you'd rather watch than ride, right?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Then how about we let Eunchae and Dayeon nuna hop on a few rides first, and we go check out the safari?"
The second we'd walked in, Eunchae and Dayeon nuna had been sparkling at the idea of hitting the T-Express immediately. Remembering what Jiyun nuna had said about preferring to look around rather than ride, I figured we could split up for a bit. Not for the whole day, of course. Just long enough for her to settle in, and then we could all ride together.
"Ah, should we? Then let's go tell the girls..!"
She looked a little more flushed than before. Yeah — jumping straight onto the T-Express would've been too much for her nerves.
"Dayeon! Eunchae!"
She hesitated for a second, looking almost reluctant, then let go of my hand and ran off toward the other two. I just stood there watching her back.
I might've been a little reluctant myself.
Nah. What was there to be reluctant about. Once we got to the safari, we could keep holding hands the whole ti—
No. No. Don't think weird thoughts.
I'd only held her hand to... you know. Complete the quest. That was all, right?
...Okay, honestly, I'd only just remembered the quest even existed.
Anyway.