86. Do You Want to Eat First? Or Take a Bath?
86. Do You Want to Eat First? Or Take a Bath?
86.
To Ban Ha-na, the internet was a place of mystery.
Ask a question you don't know, and it gives you the answer.
It eats all the foods you've never tried in your place.
It introduces you to places you've never been.
Ban Ha-na had spent years in the Black Dawn hideout under something close to confinement.
To her, the internet was a library of knowledge—a flood of curiosity she'd never been able to satisfy before.
Now she was soaking it all in like water cascading down a waterfall.
"Notes... notes..."
It was vacation.
There was nothing to do, and Han Si-jun was out training.
Ban Ha-na was watching videos as usual when she suddenly shouted, as if something had just clicked.
"Oh, right!"
She'd remembered something she'd forgotten.
She immediately tapped her phone and started searching.
"Suddenly... appeared... ring... meaning... what could it be...?"
The search would tell her everything this time too!
Ban Ha-na's fingers flew across the screen.
Tap, tap, tap.
The moment her fingers moved, her eyes lit up.
Once she finished typing and hit search, countless results flooded the screen.
"XTube really is god...! Hehe!"
Ban Ha-na blinked her pink eyes and read the titles.
- Your male friend suddenly has a ring? Here's what you should suspect.
- Different fingers, different ring meanings! Know this and you're basically a millionaire...!?
...
Videos with provocative titles.
The one that grabbed her attention sat right at the top of her algorithm.
- Your male friend suddenly has a ring? Here's what you should suspect.
The title practically demanded suspicion.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ban Ha-na clicked the video.
Tap.
Her slightly protruding fingernail touched the screen.
The video began, and Ban Ha-na gave it her full attention.
"Hmm-hmm. I'm not suspecting Si-jun. I'm just worried about him."
It was worry, not suspicion.
She rationalized it to herself.
After the ads ended, a masked woman appeared on screen and started explaining.
She wore a mask, but somehow you could picture the face beneath it.
"Did she wear a small mask...?"
Unfortunately, the mask was normal-sized.
A woman with a bit of flesh spilling out from behind it.
The channel name was "Dating Expert."
She fixed the camera with greedy eyes through the mask and spoke.
- Hello to all of you who want to become dating experts~ Today, I'm going to talk about "the man who wears a ring"~
"Dat... Dating Expert...?"
Th-That's a Dating Expert...?
XTube was supposed to speak only the truth, though...?
A shred of doubt sprouted in Ban Ha-na's mind.
- Your male friend suddenly has a ring! Wait, is it a couple ring...? I'm sure some of you have had that worry and couldn't sleep from the anxiety! Am I right?
"Right! Right!"
Nod, nod.
Where did the doubt go? Ban Ha-na immediately agreed with the woman's opinion.
Anxiety.
Most of the fairy tales Ban Ha-na had seen ended with a ring slipped onto a finger.
When Si-jun put on a ring, maybe that signaled the fairy tale's end was approaching.
Ban Ha-na loved a particular page in her favorite story and hated turning it because she'd miss it too much.
She didn't want the story to end so quickly.
"And I hate it even more if it isn't me..."
The protagonist was always Ban Ha-na.
Deep in her heart, she harbored the desire to become a princess from a fairy tale.
Ban Ha-na decided to hear more of what the plump Dating Expert had to say.
- So, your male friend wore the ring on his index finger? If that's the case, you can relax!
"Index finger...? Which one's the index finger...?"
- In case anyone doesn't know what the index finger is, I'll show you. This is the index finger.
The Dating Expert was kind enough to explain.
She might actually be nicer than she looks.
"Where was Si-jun's ring again..."
Hmm...
Ban Ha-na fell into deep thought.
A moment later, she managed to recall where Han Si-jun's ring was.
"Middle finger! No... what do you call this one...?"
- Surely no one here doesn't know this...? The one next to the middle finger is called the ring finger.
"Aha...!"
So that's it!
Ban Ha-na felt as if she'd just gotten smarter.
The woman in the video continued her explanation.
- So, a male person friend—abbreviated to male friend—suddenly has a ring! On his left ring finger, no less! In that case, you can suspect he's gotten a girlfriend!
"A ring and a girlfriend...?"
Ban Ha-na didn't see what a ring had to do with a girlfriend, but Han Si-jun was wearing a ring on his ring finger, just like the video said.
A creeping anxiety began to rise in her chest.
"Did Si-jun get a girlfriend...?"
Who was Si-jun's girlfriend?
A relationship isn't something you do alone, so Si-jun obviously had a partner now.
Ban Ha-na racked her brain.
"Is it the teacher? Or Norangi...? Kkamangi...? Who..."
She couldn't be sure.
If Ban Ha-na had seen Yu Ha-yeon's finger, she might know, but unfortunately, Ban Ha-na had no interest in Yu Ha-yeon and had never looked at her closely.
"I don't want Si-jun to date someone... I don't want to be left alone..."
She imagined being alone.
Old memories surfaced.
No one ever approached her first. Only indifferent reactions.
Ban Ha-na hugged the rabbit doll she used to soothe her loneliness.
When she felt lonely, hugging the rabbit calmed her heart.
She held it like that for a while.
Then she sprang up and yelled at the video.
"B-But still, not Si-jun...! He'd never date some other girl and leave me...!"
Denial.
Si-jun just wore a ring, that's all! For style!
But the video said otherwise.
- He wore a ring just for fashion...? It's best not to think that, honestly. Unless he's rich and showing off, no one puts one on their left ring finger~
"Si-jun isn't even rich...? Q-Quiet, video...! Don't say it...!"
Ban Ha-na immediately turned down the volume.
A few button presses later, the Dating Expert's voice was as faint as a mosquito.
With the woman's voice out of earshot, Ban Ha-na felt her heart settle.
But then she started thinking about Si-jun again, and her heart grew restless once more.
"If anyone's dating Si-jun... it has to be Kkamangi, right...?"
That bad woman who smashed her phone and forced Si-jun into a kiss right in front of her.
Si-jun had clearly been fooled by a wicked woman like that.
There had been some misunderstandings, but Ban Ha-na's conclusion was pretty close to the truth.
And from there, Ban Ha-na started misunderstanding all over again.
"If those two start dating, I'll be thrown away, won't I...?"
I'll become the Little Mermaid who dissolves into sea foam.
That was how romance worked in the fairy tales Ban Ha-na had seen.
With the knowledge she had, she understood that Han Si-jun would only choose one person.
The fact that Han Si-jun was not a handsome prince but a scoundrel of a prince...
Ban Ha-na did not know.
"I don't want to go back there... I want to keep living with Si-jun..."
Wasn't there some way?
With a gloomy look, Ban Ha-na traced circles on the floor and thought hard.
The room had gone quiet.
A voice came from the phone.
Ban Ha-na turned her eyes toward that tiny voice.
- You can't just sit there twiddling your thumbs, now can you? How to win back the male friend who's been stolen from you. That's the first thing you all need to consider.
"...!"
Win back what's been stolen.
She hadn't even considered that, and her mind snapped awake.
"T-Tell me...! How do I get him back, piggy sister...!"
Ban Ha-na had forgotten the nickname Dating Expert.
For Ban Ha-na, who was waiting only for an answer, the woman in the video opened her mouth.
- The way to win him back, you see...
Ban Ha-na focused on the voice—so deeply that she didn't even notice the sun going down.
And so the time passed.
***
"You're actually getting decent to watch now."
The power of supplements, no doubt about it.
The longer I trained, the more my strength climbed, and I had to admit I was impressed.
If I'd bought those supplements at Jenny's shop right now, I'd probably be looking at a price multiplied by a few dozen times.
I reminded myself that stopping by the Back Alley had been an excellent decision.
I was heading back to the dorm after wrapping up training when Yu Ha-yeon, who'd been training alongside me, spoke up.
"What, you're leaving already?"
"Yeah, I don't have the stamina you do. I can't keep going that long."
"Too bad. I thought we'd head back together..."
Yu Ha-yeon wore a look of disappointment.
My stamina was 2. There was no helping that.
I gave Yu Ha-yeon a parting wave and left the training grounds.
Yu Ha-yeon's training time was about twice as long as mine.
"What should I eat for dinner tonight."
The salary from Na Yu-na's company had made life reasonably comfortable, but I still had to eat food that was good for my body.
I started mapping out a dinner plan with the right nutritional balance.
While I was mulling that over, I punched in the door code and stepped into the dorm.
'What is that smell...?'
The aroma of food hit me the moment I entered.
I had no idea about the taste, but the smell wasn't bad at all.
'Who cooked...?'
There was only one person who could get into my place: Ban Ha-na.
Had she actually made food?
"Si-jun!"
Right as the thought crossed my mind, Ban Ha-na's voice rang out.
Wearing an apron, she was looking at me from the kitchen.
"Ha-na, did you cook this?"
"Yeah! I'm doing it, Si-jun!"
Hehe.
Ban Ha-na tilted her head forward as if to say, I did well, right?
I stroked her head.
She pulled back, looking satisfied.
Then, as if she'd prepared something in advance, she addressed me.
"Si-jun! I have something to say!"
"...What is it?"
"Hehe..."
Ban Ha-na grinned and edged closer and closer to me.
Then she beamed and shouted a line she'd clearly rehearsed.
"Si-jun. Do you want to eat first? Or take a bath?"
"..."
Wait. Was she really about to say that?
What the hell was she learning on XTube?
If this went the way I thought it was going, her phone was getting confiscated for a week.
Ban Ha-na confidently shouted,
"Or... me first...?"
"Ha-na..."
Phone confiscated for one week.
Ban Ha-na's indignant wail echoed through my room.