You're the First Woman
You’re the first woman.
Kim Soyeon’s eyes flew wide open. She kept blinking, staring up at me in disbelief.
“Huh? R-really?”
Her voice was brimming with hope.
“Yeah. Just now, inside the tower.”
“By yourself? How was it? Were you okay? Any side effects?”
She grabbed my arm and started inspecting me from every angle.
It was common sense to have someone watching over you when taking a high-grade elixir, just in case your qi went haywire or your mana went berserk. She looked genuinely worried that I had done something so dangerous alone.
Watching her fidget and fret over me, I let out a small laugh.
“I’m fine. No side effects at all.”
“Really? Oh, thank goodness… thank goodness…”
The way she pressed a hand to her chest and sighed in relief looked exactly like a lover worrying about her partner.
I reached out, about to place my hand on her head, when—
Gurgle.
The most honest sound the human body can make announced my hunger.
I must have burned through too much energy. A wave of starvation hit me.
Rubbing my stomach with an exaggeratedly embarrassed expression, I made her an offer.
“Want to hit the convenience store?”
“Convenience store…?”
“Yeah. My treat. Unless you don’t want to?”
“N-no! I’d love to!”
Kim Soyeon nodded so hard it looked like her head might fall off, as if she had been waiting for me to suggest exactly that.
We started walking side by side down the night street.
It was well past midnight, the hour when everything grew dark and quiet. Under the glow of the streetlights, I stole a glance at her. Her face was flushed bright red.
While I wondered what to do next, the thought if not now, then when? crossed my mind. I summoned the Heroine Gallery into the air and activated Live Chat.
To win over the current Kim Soyeon, I needed advice from the first-playthrough Kim Soyeon.
1st Playthrough Soyeon and the others are watching.
The moment the live chat came online, messages flooded the translucent window like they had been waiting for this exact second.
The chat was coming in so fast my eyes hurt.
“Ugh, it’s so chaotic…” I muttered without thinking.
Kim Soyeon, who had been walking beside me, flinched and looked up with a startled expression.
“Am I… walking that weirdly?”
Walking weirdly? What kind of walk was that supposed to be?
I forced a smile and waved my hand.
“No, just talking to myself. Don’t worry about it.”
I turned my attention back to the chat window. The flood had suddenly stopped. Then messages I assumed were from the first-playthrough Soyeon continued.
She was right. After all, I had turned on live chat specifically to get advice from the first-playthrough Soyeon on how to win over the current one. It only made sense for Kim Soyeon to teach me how to conquer Kim Soyeon.
Traffic control went smoothly once first-playthrough Soyeon took charge. She claimed full authority over the advice, and the rest of the heroines switched to audience mode.
After reading her message, I sneaked another glance at the real Soyeon walking beside me. Her steps were unmistakably tense and awkward, her posture anything but natural.
Loosen the atmosphere naturally? What exactly was I supposed to do?
She was right. For some reason, Kim Soyeon was walking so close to the curb that she was practically teetering on the edge, keeping a careful distance as if afraid our shoulders might touch.
“…You’re going to fall.”
I tossed the words out casually, just as instructed, and gave the sleeve of her coat a light tug. The moment I pulled her toward me with the slightest bit of strength, she let out a small, startled sound and came closer. Our shoulders brushed.
“Ah, u-um, sorry…!”
She panicked and tried to pull away again. This was my chance. Instead of letting go of her sleeve, I pulled her closer and spoke.
“Come here. It’s dangerous.”
The first-playthrough Soyeon’s coaching was scarily accurate. When I glanced at the real Soyeon, she was still fidgeting nonstop. She didn’t even seem to know where to look.
Pretending to be considerate, I placed my hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her even closer to the inside of the sidewalk. I felt her shoulder twitch in surprise. She seemed unable to breathe properly, constantly swallowing dryly.
Before long we arrived at the convenience store. Luckily, the outdoor tables were empty.
“Wait here. I’ll grab the food.”
I sat her down at a table and stepped inside. Two cup ramens, two sausages, and drinks. While I was choosing the beverages—
Electrolyte drinks, got it. Non-sweet, got it.
I chuckled and paid for two electrolyte drinks, the cup ramens, and the sausages. After pouring hot water into the cups, I headed back out to the outdoor table where Kim Soyeon was waiting.
Since no one else was around, she had taken off her mask.
“Here.”
I set the cup ramen and drink in front of her. Then, following the gallery’s instructions, I peeled the wrapper off the wooden chopsticks and gently placed them on top of her ramen.
“Huh? Ah, th-thank you…”
Kim Soyeon looked back and forth between the chopsticks and my face, her cheeks turning a soft pink.
The dog, huh. That made sense. The first reason she had offered to come to my house was because of Neukgu, after all.
While fiddling with my cup ramen, I spoke in a casual tone.
“By the way…”
“Y-yes?”
“You really seem to like Neukgu. Do you like dogs?”
She had been blowing on her noodles, but my question made her look up in surprise. She paused for a moment, as if analyzing the meaning behind my words. There hadn’t been any difficult vocabulary in it.
Soon her eyes curved beautifully, and she gave me the brightest smile I had seen from her all day.
“Yeah… I’ve wanted to raise one since I was little. But, you know how it is. I suddenly have to leave the house so often. I didn’t want to take on a responsibility I couldn’t handle…”
“True. Being the youngest S-class hunter in the country must keep you busy everywhere you go.”
“So I just watched videos or looked at them from afar. But… the first time I saw Neukgu, he was so cute that…”
She must have been picturing Neukgu, because she waved her hands in the air in a round motion and giggled. It was the same expression she had worn in front of the pet shop that day—the face of someone completely overwhelmed by cuteness.
I didn’t miss the urgent message from the gallery’s Soyeon. I took a sip of ramen broth to create a natural pause, then met her eyes.
“If you want to see him, you can come over anytime.”
“…Huh?”
“Especially at this hour—I’m usually out. If you come and play with him, Neukgu would love it too.”
“Wh-what?”
Kim Soyeon stuttered, then froze completely. Her pupils darted around wildly, completely losing focus.
The chat window in the air was already flooded with cheers. Kim Soyeon stared at me blankly, still holding her chopsticks. Then her face turned bright red and she quickly lowered her head.
“R-really…?”
“Yeah.”
“C-can I… come every day?”
Her voice was so tiny it was almost inaudible.
“Sure. You’ve been coming whenever you wanted anyway.”
I threw in a teasing joke to loosen her up a little. She immediately snapped back.
“Th-that’s a misunderstanding!”
But she couldn’t hide the smile spreading across her lips as she kept sipping her ramen broth.
“But… what if another woman comes to your house…?”
“What?”
“…You know. Like that Lee Chaeyeon person.”
“What are you even talking about? You’re the first woman to ever come to my house in the first place.”
“…What?”
“Besides, you even slept over.”
“……Ah.”
At that moment, Kim Soyeon froze solid.
In the chat window, first-playthrough Soyeon was throwing a fit. And right in front of me, the real Kim Soyeon remained completely frozen, as if time itself had stopped.