Butterfly Effect
If he'd gone alone, he would have agonized over every choice. But with Ji-ah beside him, Seong-min found the decisions surprisingly easy.
The clerk would explain each option, Ji-ah would narrow them down to the ones that looked right, and then she'd hand the final pick over to him. Everything that made the cut was good enough that choosing among them barely felt like work.
They bought Chanel perfume and a cosmetics set that way, then stopped at a jewelry shop and ordered a pair of couple rings. They weren't cheap, but measured against the money Seong-min was pulling in every month, the price barely registered.
"So that's everything?"
"No."
Seong-min looked at her, puzzled. Yoo Ji-ah smiled.
"I need to buy something too. A gift for Unnie."
"Got something in mind?"
"Yeah. Looking at her closet, she doesn't seem to have that many clothes. I thought something fresh from the spring collection would be nice."
"Women's wear, then."
They took the elevator up to the fifth floor. Several women's fashion brands had storefronts there.
March had already slipped into early April. The weather was warming, flowers were starting to bloom, and the racks reflected it — hemlines climbing, necklines dropping, more skin on display with every new arrival.
"This one's been flying off the racks with women in their twenties," the clerk said brightly. "The hem falls on an unbalanced diagonal, and those sheer buttons along the front give it just enough of a point that the flare really comes alive."
The beige unbalanced diagonal long skirt was genuinely pretty — bright without being bland, eye-catching without being loud. The whole look just worked.
"It's really nice," Ji-ah said. "I think a white shirring wrap blouse would go well with it."
"You have a good eye, miss. That's exactly how I usually recommend styling it."
"Could we look at blouses as well?"
"Of course!"
The clerk brought several options. Ji-ah tried them against the skirt, settled on a combination, and paid by card. The total came to four hundred seventy thousand won — two hundred seventy for the skirt, two hundred for the top.
"Thank you."
They stepped out with the shopping bag, and Seong-min smiled.
"You okay?"
"Okay with what?"
"The price."
Ji-ah nodded.
"It's Areum Unnie's birthday present. It should be something good. I want to give her clothes she'll look beautiful in and actually wear. Money doesn't matter..."
Ji-ah was working part-time at a convenience store now. Seong-min had helped her, but she couldn't just sit around forever, so she'd gone out and found a job. With looks like hers, the store manager had hired her on the spot — and once she started, male customers jumped by thirty percent. The manager thought the world of her.
"I hope Unnie likes it..."
"She's going to love it."
Ji-ah looked at him. Seong-min grinned, and she smiled back.
They didn't head straight home. They stopped at the food court on the first floor for dinner first.
"Want to take a walk? Help the food settle."
"A walk...?"
"It'd be a shame to just go back like this, wouldn't it?"
"...Okay."
They grabbed two iced Americanos from a café and headed for Hangang Park.
March was gone, April was settling in, and the air already carried that soft spring scent. Unlike the bitter winter months, people were out even at this hour — walking, strolling, just being outside.
"The night view's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yeah... it is."
They walked slowly, sipping their iced Americanos.
"Looking at all this... it still doesn't feel real."
"I get that. When Awakeners first appeared, the chaos was incredible."
"Not that."
"Then what?"
"That I'm living an ordinary life right now. Drinking coffee. That doesn't feel real."
"......"
"I thought I'd never have days like this again. And yet here I am, drinking coffee and walking through Hangang Park. I still can't believe it..."
"These are the things you were always supposed to have."
"You think so...?"
"You're just reclaiming the everyday life that was always meant to be yours."
The life she was supposed to have. If her father hadn't been betrayed — if he'd still been running the company — she would have finished studying abroad on schedule and come home to a normal job. But that was only a what-if. Nothing more.
"I... really owe you so much, Seong-min. More than I know how to repay."
"You don't have to think of it that way. The reason I can live the way I do now is because of you, Ji-ah — no. Because Class President helped me. If you hadn't stepped in back then... I probably would have grown up into someone not all that different from who I was."
That blank, dark version of himself. The personality that came with it. Nothing about that would have changed. The reason he could live brightly now was because of the help and influence of the girl who'd been his class president — Yoo Ji-ah.
"You've really changed a lot, Seong-min."
"Have I?"
"Yeah. Hard to believe that gloomy, quiet kid turned into this. And... your face, too."
It wasn't just his personality. His looks had come into their own — handsome enough that anyone would call him a catch. She hadn't even recognized him at first.
"Seong-min."
"Yeah?"
"Treat Areum Unnie well. The reason I've been able to find some peace of mind is... largely because of her. She's a genuinely good person. So... I'm grateful to you for that part, too."
"For introducing me to Areum Noona?"
"Yeah. When I look at her... I find myself pulling myself together. She has such a deep, warm heart..."
"She does. That's why I asked her for a favor, too."
That pure, warm heart of Areum's — he'd believed it could soothe the wounds Ji-ah was carrying.
"If you ever make Areum Unnie cry, I won't forgive you. Just so you know."
"Yikes. Guess I'd better be careful from now on."
"Obviously. Making someone like Areum Unnie cry is something you should never do. Especially if you're her boyfriend..."
"Hahaha... Got it. If I ever do, you give me a proper scolding. I'll take it without complaint."
"I'll make you cry harder than she does, so take that to heart."
"I'll engrave it on my soul, ma'am~!"
"You'd better."
Seong-min and Yoo Ji-ah looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"Hahaha."
"Heh..."
They finished their coffee walking through Hangang Park, then drove back.
"Get some rest."
"You be careful getting home, too."
Seong-min left with Ji-ah waving him off, and slipped out of the alley.
I hope Unnie likes it.
Clutching the shopping bag, Yoo Ji-ah smiled as she stepped through the villa's front entrance.
"Everything's bought... now we just wait for the birthday."
Driving home, Seong-min felt light.
Ji-ah's gotten so much better, too.
From how she'd been today, the wounds in her heart seemed to be healing well. Alone, it wouldn't have been easy — but with Areum Noona's help, it had become possible. Seong-min felt every bit as grateful to Areum as Ji-ah did.
Wonder if the news is out yet.
He flipped the car radio over to a news channel and worked through several stations until something finally caught his interest.
It was coverage of the Gangrim Guild members' raid on Jangseung Guild — and the damage had been staggering. Casualties on both sides combined had climbed past seventy. The whole area had turned into a war zone. Police special forces had moved in en masse to round people up and make arrests. A single special unit hadn't been enough, of course — thirty Awakeners from the National Safety Group had been deployed alongside them.
The National Safety Group's Awakener roster had been expanded; they now numbered over two hundred, with plans to keep recruiting up to a maximum of five hundred.
"Idiots... thinking Jangseung Guild was the one that hit them."
Even hearing it again, it was absurd. But from Gangrim Guild's perspective, what else could they have thought? A sudden attack, Guild Leader Kim Dong-woong taken out, no small amount of damage — sit still after that and you'd be a laughingstock. The guild itself would be finished. And Jangseung Guild stood to gain the most if Gangrim disappeared. Of course suspicion would fall that way.
What he heard next on the radio made it even more ridiculous.
"That Jang Seung-tae guy's a piece of work, too. Of all times to pay a visit and get himself under suspicion?"
According to the reports, Jang Seung-tae had gone to see Jeon Jong-ho in person. That was what set the whole thing off.
"Both sides took heavy losses, so at least nothing annoying should come my way for a while."
Jeon Jong-ho of Gangrim Guild and Jang Seung-tae of Jangseung Guild had both been hauled in and arrested by the police. Just keeping their own houses in order would be headache enough for either of them.
Whatever happens to them has nothing to do with me.
There was no way anyone could trace it back to him, so he could rest easy on that front, too.
But Seong-min didn't know.
He didn't know that this incident had planted the first seeds of distrust among Awakeners.
With the National Safety Group's appearance — and with Jeoldaeja Kang Jung-gil stepping onto the stage — Awakeners had settled into a kind of structure. On one side: the National Safety Group and the forces aligned with Kang Jung-gil, the Absolute, trying to impose order. On the other: the great majority of remaining Awakeners, who didn't act as a single bloc but still formed something like an opposing camp in the broad sense.
The raid between Gangrim Guild and Jangseung Guild had been a hot topic among ordinary people — but among Awakeners, it landed as a genuine shock. Seoul's two largest guilds had gone at each other with raids and counter-raids and taken massive losses. Since the National Safety Group's arrival, no Awakener conflict of this scale had broken out anywhere in the country. Two of Seoul's biggest guilds producing over a hundred casualties between them was the opening shot that cracked the current order.
The moment it became clear that, given the chance, people would bare their teeth and stab you in the back regardless of the National Safety Group, a new atmosphere took hold: if you weren't in the same guild, you couldn't be trusted.
Seong-min had no idea he'd shattered that structure. All he found amusing was that Gangrim Guild had jumped to the wrong conclusion on their own, attacked Jangseung Guild, and gotten themselves torn to pieces.