A Date?
A... date?
"......"
Good grief.
I never thought I'd actually hear dialogue straight out of a romantic comedy with my own ears. No, I knew this world was originally a rom-com novel... but hearing those words spoken for real left me at a genuine loss for words.
Meanwhile, Han Sohyeon kept pressing me for an answer over the phone, the game already forgotten entirely.
The way she said it, you'd think Kim Hyewon was my girlfriend or something already, and the feeling it gave me was strange. Maybe that was why.
"...Do I really have to answer?"
"I liked both of them."
Choosing Kim Hyewon felt odd, but refusing to choose at all felt like a betrayal — so I chose neither.
A murmur of sheer disbelief drifted through the phone from Han Sohyeon.
"Dreams are supposed to be big."
"Which is exactly what makes it manly."
I honestly had no idea what I was saying anymore. I was just talking purely on the single-minded determination to get through this situation somehow.
And maybe that effort paid off.
"No, it's not like that."
"I'm not pursuing anyone. They all just come to me on their own."
"It's not confidence. It's just a fact."
"That's not quite what I said."
It was not the same thing.
"The first one is like bees swarming to a flower by instinct. The second is them coming over because I took an interest in them first."
"Well. Whether I'm a flower or not, we'll have to wait and see."
Obviously I wasn't. I was only playing along with Han Sohyeon's teasing — there was no way I was some kind of flower.
The reason I'd gotten close to Hyewon, Sohyeon, and Areum was simply a product of coincidence, not because I was some irresistible bloom. And at the end of the day, they were all just my friends.
"Sure. Report the results back to me."
Thankfully, Han Sohyeon hadn't given it much thought and let it slide.
We carried on with small talk like that as the game went on —
Chicken Dinner — Squad Survived
We took first place in the very first match. And not because Han Sohyeon had fainted and died like last time — both of us survived to the end, fair and square.
"That's just how I am."
The sound of Han Sohyeon bouncing around her room carried all the way through the phone to me. Did she live in some standalone house or something? She was really going wild.
"Second slot?"
"Oh."
So that's what she meant. I almost misunderstood for a second there — considering I didn't even have a first right now, let alone a second.
"Okay."
We played three more matches after that — I won two and got knocked out early in one. Which made for a not-bad record. No, scratch that. An absolutely stellar win rate.
Out of the five matches I'd played with Han Sohyeon in total, I'd won four. Even going by the simplest math, that was eighty percent, wasn't it? For the record, the matches we'd played at the PC bang with Kim Hyewon and Han Areum didn't count — they were fun company, sure, but skill-wise the two of them weren't exactly good.
"It really was."
Today was Friday. Tomorrow would be Saturday. In other words, just as she said — the weekend was here.
"Hmm. Nothing in particular planned. I'll probably just hole up in my room."
"Mm. Not all day, but now and then, sure?"
"Really? Then what will you be doing?"
She went quiet for a while.
"Why is that phrased like a question?"
Enough said. I didn't even need to ask — she'd clearly just made it up on the spot.
Click.
The long call with her came to an end. I checked the clock and found it was already time for bed.
Already?
Time really did fly. It felt like hardly any time had passed, and yet here it was, bedtime already. That was how well Han Sohyeon and I clicked — the games, our sense of humor, all of it.
Admittedly, on the humor front... since roughly half of Han Sohyeon's jokes bordered on outright dirty jokes, they tended to leave me a little drained, but I'd handled it well enough, so no harm done. Probably.
Then it happened.
Buzz.
My smartphone went off. For a moment I wondered if it was Han Sohyeon again, but when I checked, it wasn't. It was —
Kim Hyewon. I fired back a reply right away.
The hair salon?
Hm.
I mulled it over for a moment. Tagging along while a girl got her hair done — what was I even supposed to do there?
But still.
I decided to just go. It wasn't like I had anything else to do over the weekend anyway.
Before stepping out of the apartment, Kim Hyewon stood in front of the mirror and gave her appearance one last check. Black socks, black shorts, a black tank top layered under a leather jacket. And her makeup — instead of the light touch she usually went with, a noticeably heavier hand today.
...Good.
Perfect.
Granted, it was far too much effort for a simple trip to the hair salon — but what could she do? She wasn't going alone. A man was coming with her.
Every detail of her look today had been put together with one person in mind: Baek Seojun. Assembled for the sole purpose of looking like an attractive woman in his eyes.
In other words, whatever Baek Seojun might make of it, today was, by definition, a date. When a man and a woman dress up, head out, and spend time together, that's a date — what else would you call it?
Granted, the fact that the venue was a hair salon was a problem, if it was one at all.
It'll be fine — I'm only getting a light trim anyway.
It wouldn't take very long. In fact, the plan was to use whatever time was left over after the salon as an excuse to take Baek Seojun somewhere else — a café, a park, somewhere they could spend the rest of the day together.
...Yeah. The plan is perfect.
By Kim Hyewon's own assessment, her plan was flawless. With that thought steeling her resolve, she stepped out of the apartment.
"Oh, Hyewon."
Since he lived right next door, Baek Seojun emerged from his apartment at exactly the same moment. The two of them came face to face.
Kim Hyewon instinctively swept her eyes over him from the tips of his shoes to the top of his head.
And then —
...Pass.
What a relief. Baek Seojun was dressed rather nicely. If he'd come out in his around-the-neighborhood loungewear, she would have been the only one dressed up, and it would have been more than a little awkward.
Of course, with his physique and face, she figured he could pull off even a slovenly outfit and still look good. But for her — someone whose whole purpose today was a date — it would have been a real letdown.
"Nice outfit."
"Hm? Oh, my clothes?"
"Yeah."
"Well, you know... I figured I couldn't show up looking sloppy when I'm going out with a girl."
"Good call."
And yet, look at that — he'd dressed up nicely without even being told. The corners of Kim Hyewon's mouth crept subtly upward.
"You're dressed pretty nicely yourself, Hyewon."
"Yeah."
Because I want to look good for you.
She swallowed the words. A moment later, Kim Hyewon took hold of Baek Seojun's sleeve and gave it a tug.
"Let's go."
The hair salon Kim Hyewon had mentioned turned out to be closer than I'd expected — about fifteen minutes by bus from my place. When we stepped inside, a young hairdresser greeted us warmly.
"Welcome — oh my! Hyewon, it's you!"
Kim Hyewon gave a small nod. She and the stylist seemed to know each other well.
"Unnie. As I texted you yesterday, can you do the cut?"
"Of course, of course. Though I have to ask — the handsome young man who came with you... is he your boyfriend, by any chance?"
The stylist — the woman Hyewon called "unnie" — gave Kim Hyewon a couple of playful pokes in the side and looked between us with a sly grin. And I mean literally sly, not as an exaggeration.
"You never seemed to spare men a single glance, and now here you are bringing home a looker like this? So THAT'S why you ignored every guy in existence — you already had one like this hidden away!"
"He's not my boyfriend."
"Oh my, he isn't?"
"No."
I offered an awkward laugh. For some reason, whenever I was with Hyewon, people kept mistaking us for a couple. The kindergarten teacher before, and now the hairdresser too.
"By the way, unnie."
"Hm?"
"Could you cut Seojun's hair too, while you're at it?"
"So this young man's name is Seojun?"
"Yes. So — can you?"
"I can, sure."
"Then please do his as well."
...Me too?
"Oh, no, I'm fine—"
"Baek Seojun."
"Yeah?"
"She's doing it for free. She's good, so trust her."
...Hm.
"Hehe. So it's Seojun, was it? Why not give it a shot? Your hair's looking a little long — a light trim would suit you perfectly, I think."
Unable to resist their earnest(?) pleas, I finally nodded. It wasn't as if I wasn't due for a haircut anyway.
"...Then I'll be in your care."
"Of course! Just take off your jacket and have a seat right here!"
"...Got it."
And just like that, I'd somehow ended up getting my hair cut.
A short while later —
"...Oh my."
Kim Hyewon stared at me, mouth hanging open. Beside her, the hairdresser murmured softly to herself.
"...That haircut is genuinely dangerous."