The Perfect Misunderstanding
The dramatic negotiation at that high-end Japanese restaurant—the one that had dried every drop of blood in my veins—had finally ended. Any dreams of a romance-filled campus life were now officially dead to me. From here on out, my top priority in university wasn't managing credits.
It was Hasegawa Rin. The girl who had finished her naturalization process. The one presumed to be the main heroine for protagonist Haruto in the original novel Pretty Girls Fall for Otakus, the same face that had graced its cover.
I had to manage her.
If they didn't select a girl with visuals like that as the heroine, this novel's genre would probably be BL.
Anyway, the heroine candidate currently sitting in front of me was busy munching away at her sushi with impressive focus.
She really did possess the most breathtaking beauty I'd ever seen. Even the way she ate was elegant and refined, like watching a daughter from some noble family in a TV drama or movie.
When I kept staring, Rin narrowed her eyes and flashed a bright, foxy smile.
"Jun? Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face? Or... have you fallen for me?"
For a split second, I nearly lost my soul. Correction—that wasn't a pretty girl. That was a bewitching nine-tailed fox. She had almost snatched my liver right out of my body.
"No. I was just wondering if the food suited your taste. Even if it's a Japanese restaurant, it might taste a little different from back home."
"It's not different at all. It's really delicious. Here, try this, Jun."
Using a fresh pair of chopsticks, Rin picked up a piece of crispy shrimp tempura and set it on my plate. I smiled and ate it without protest.
Of course, inside, my blood was still slowly evaporating.
Because I couldn't even begin to guess the real reason this fox was acting so seductively right now.
What exactly happens in the original story? Why the hell did she fly all the way to Korea?
Was she abandoned? Or had she run away? Without knowing the plot, I couldn't tell what point in the timeline we were at.
Wait, one of the tags stuck on this novel was hupijip.
Could this be the story where Rin abandons Haruto, grows up, regrets everything later, and comes crawling back?
Then, after becoming an adult, she coincidentally runs into Yamamoto Jun again, spends some time with him, gets disappointed, and returns to Haruto?
If my guess was right, this had to be the early stage right after being abandoned or running away.
"It's good."
"Right? I want to come here often."
"I'll bring you here a lot from now on."
I kept eating like nothing was wrong while my brain spun at full speed. It felt like I had a rock in my stomach, but I didn't let a single hint show.
She might be smiling so innocently right now, but a person's heart could change at any moment.
What if some small misunderstanding popped up during college life and she got upset? Or what if I slipped up and said the wrong thing at a drinking party?
And then she went back to Haruto and dropped the bomb?
Yamamoto Jun? He was a big-shot delinquent back in Japan. I'm going back to Haruto. Bye.
The second those words left her mouth—or appeared in a group chat—my perfectly stable Korean life would be over.
So what was the solution?
Simple. Make sure she doesn't return with regrets. Make her return satisfied. Of course, that required thorough preliminary research first.
Looked like I'd have to put some people on investigating what happened after I left Japan.
"By the way, Rin."
"Yeah?"
"Why did you wrap up your life in Japan and come to Korea?"
Time to start digging for information. The more I learned now, the easier it would be to keep her satisfied until the investigation finished.
"Huh? Ahaha. You're curious? But there's no special reason. I just wanted to come."
"There must be some reason. K-POP? K-dramas? Or did you come to meet someone?"
Maybe my question had been too sharp. Rin paused with her chopsticks in mid-air. She stared at me for a moment, then smiled brightly again.
"Would you believe me if I said I came because I wanted to see you, Jun?"
"...Cough!"
I had been drinking cider and nearly choked. Rin jumped in surprise and quickly handed me a tissue.
"Ah! Are you okay? Jun? I'm just kidding, kidding."
She laughed it off as a joke, but it only made my suspicions sink deeper.
She came to Korea to meet me? This was one hundred percent the start of the regret tag. The starting point of those stories where the heroine leaves without understanding the protagonist's true feelings.
I'm so fucked.
Was this why the author bastard had written Yamamoto Jun out so early? So he could bring him back later?
I'd fled all the way to Korea to avoid getting involved, yet here I was getting tangled up anyway. Was this the so-called unchangeable fate that always showed up in these novels?
I let out a long internal sigh.
I really want to beat the shit out of that author. If you're somewhere in this world, you prick, I'm definitely going to kill you. Motherfucker.
After somehow finishing that hard-to-digest meal, we left the restaurant.
It was already afternoon. On the way to the lecture hall, I matched my pace to Rin's and walked slowly.
"Rin, give me your bag. I'll carry it."
"Huh? No, it's fine. It's not even heavy...?"
"Give it here. It's normal for the guy to carry heavy things for the girl."
My firm attitude made Rin look surprised. Then her face flushed as she handed the bag over.
"I heard Korean guys have good manners, but... you're really polite, Jun. Thank you."
It wasn't manners. What should I call it? Regret-point prevention?
As we headed back to the lecture hall, I could feel the people around us whispering while they stared at me and Rin.
Even by my own standards, I was handsome. And with Rin's unprecedented beauty, of course people would talk when the two of us walked together.
From the outside, we probably looked like the perfect couple.
Even after reaching the lecture hall, I secured the seat right next to her. Twenty-four-hour surveillance probably wouldn't be enough.
I had no idea when or where she might start accumulating regret points, so I planned to manage her directly in front of me as much as possible.
First, I had to survive today safely.
"Jun. You're sitting next to me?"
"Of course. You haven't made any friends yet. I'll take care of you for a while."
My gentle words made Rin's eyes tremble slightly.
Once the lecture began, I pretended to take notes while observing her every single movement. Normal conversation seemed fine, but she clearly struggled with listening to the professor and taking notes.
...Would this count as a regret point too? Feeling lonely studying in a foreign country and getting upset about it? Not knowing the story is seriously driving me crazy.
I quietly slid my major notebook toward her. Next to the difficult economics terms, I'd written simple Japanese translations.
Rin's eyes widened when she saw it. She looked back and forth between the notebook and my face, then leaned in so close that her lips nearly brushed my ear and whispered.
"Jun... Did you really write all these Japanese translations just for me?"
"Yeah. Ask if there's anything you don't understand."
Upon hearing Lee Jun's indifferent answer, Rin bit her lower lip gently.
Back in Japan, Yamamoto Jun had always been a scary boy who walked around with a constant scowl. He hung out with a bad crowd and the rumors about him were terrible. So she could only watch him from afar. Then came that huge school violence incident. He was expelled and disappeared from her life completely. But after several years, the Jun she met again had become... an incredibly kind, thoughtful, and dependable man. Someone she wanted to lean on.
Rin's heart began to race with an emotion she couldn't quite name.
Jun... You've become so wonderful after coming to Korea. Though even back in Japan, he secretly helped me a few times. He's even more amazing now than he was then.
He had always been handsome, but that mature, gentle aura made him absolutely lethal. He was just like the male leads in the Korean dramas she watched on TV. The kind, well-mannered type who cherished the woman by his side.
That was how Rin began to develop feelings for Lee Jun.
On the other hand, Lee Jun was cheering inside.
Nice! From her expression, I've successfully blocked the regret point. If it's this easy, maybe it'll be simpler than I thought? The investigation won't take long once I put people on it. As soon as it's done, I'll send her back to Japan safely.
Thus began the perfect case of same bed, different dreams. Jun believed he was monitoring Rin and defending against regret points, while Rin was becoming completely captivated by his kindness. A flawless misunderstanding.
The lectures had ended and we were getting ready to leave the classroom when it happened.
"Jun."
"Yeah?"
With her face flushed bright red, Rin carefully grabbed the sleeve of my shirt and whispered.
"Lectures are over for today... Want to meet up separately?"
Meet separately? What? Is it starting already?
"Sure. Where do you want to meet?"
I nodded while tightening every internal string of tension I had.
A sudden date invitation. Of course. For a heroine in a hupijip novel, these abrupt developments were mandatory. The introduction part of the classic structure. A section that needed to be passed quickly.
If I refused here, there was no telling what kind of regret points she might rack up somewhere I couldn't see.
"Then... do you want to come to my place?"
...Her place?
My thoughts instantly became a tangled mess. Still, I kept a perfect poker face and answered.
"Sure. Let's go. I've been curious where you live anyway. If it's a bad place, I'll rent you an apartment unit."
"Ahaha. It's fine. I didn't approach you because I wanted something like that, you know?"
Rin laughed brightly and gave my shoulder a light smack.
And then.
When I saw Rin's house, my jaw dropped.
"Um. Rin? You live here?"
"...Yeah. Is it weird?"
"...I'm renting you an apartment immediately. No arguments—we're moving you out right now."
The place Rin had brought me to was a semi-basement in a thirty-year-old villa that reeked of mold.
And not just any semi-basement—one without proper window bars, the extremely dangerous kind.
No way. Why the hell is this girl living in a place like this?