[No Title Provided]
"Don't do that."
"Mmm, this sashimi is so good...!"
"Order whatever you want from the menu—eat as much as you like."
Yoo Seol-ah popped a piece of mackerel sashimi that Nagi had kindly recommended into her mouth, her eyes widening instantly in delight. I remembered how I'd once nagged Baek Sia for talking like that with her mouth full—"Please swallow first before you speak"—only for her to shoot back with a casual "You do you" without missing a beat. But seeing Yoo Seol-ah mumble like that with her imprecise pronunciation just brought a smile to my face; it was that cute. I even checked if I was still under some kind of enchantment, but there was no sign of it. Nah, I was just down bad.
"This one's good too. Try it."
"Mm."
Lee Seo-yeon and Yuna unnie were piling food onto her plate like they were feeding a pet at the zoo, so apparently I wasn't the only one charmed by the sight. No wonder cats were the first thing that came to mind when I thought of Yoo Seol-ah—watching her small mouth chew away was entertaining enough on its own. Even Nagi was recommending dishes from across the table. Was this what Yoo Seol-ah's harem looked like?
"Sion, feel free to order anything you like."
"Ah, thank you. And Nagi, you can drop the formal speech if you want."
Nagi handed me the menu too. Her tone still had that cool edge, but she just radiated kindness. Unlike me or Yoo Seol-ah, she didn't seem fazed about striking up a conversation even with near-strangers.
"Sure. Just let me know what you two pick."
She smiled faintly, switched to casual speech, and turned back to the group discussing company matters.
As I scanned the menu to ask Yoo Seol-ah's opinion, I caught her wiping her mouth and giving me this oddly intense stare.
"...You've been super casual with her from the start."
"......"
Her tone mixed the tiniest hint of jealousy with a hefty dose of mischief. ...Well, she started it, so she should've expected some payback.
"We're at the same company now—better than being awkward, right?"
"...Hmph, is that so?"
Her eyes narrowed petulantly. I knew she was just playing around to tease me, so without hesitation, I launched into some "clarification" that was mostly performance art.
"If I were actually trying to flirt, it'd be a whole different story."
She clearly hadn't expected that line—her playful expression melted into something adorably dumbstruck. Of course, I'd lived a life totally detached from romance before her. She knew that much, but my sudden confidence had thrown her off.
"...Wh-what would be different...?"
I couldn't demonstrate on anyone else, so she was the perfect guinea pig. I pulled her close enough that no one else could hear, lowered my voice, and went for it.
"For starters, I wouldn't just go casual."
From here on, it was pure imagination since I had zero experience, and even I could tell it sounded awkward—but mutual destruction was the goal anyway.
"I'd be like, 'Your hands are so tiny...' or something."
I lifted her hand lightly, pressed our palms together as if comparing sizes, then slyly intertwined our fingers. Yoo Seol-ah froze solid for a moment before yanking her hand away and whipping her head to the side.
"You... don't actually do that."
Her voice had gone noticeably chilly. Even if she got flustered around me easily, it was probably too obvious that I had no dating experience besides her. Strike out this time.
I'd started teasing Baek Sion first to mess with him a little, but when he demonstrated by naturally pressing our palms together, my heart started pounding so hard I couldn't speak. It wasn't even full-on acting—he sounded genuinely explanatory—and that was more than enough.
Our relationship had kicked off so differently from the usual Korean "talking stage," so this felt like my first blind date ever. As I got lost in his dark eyes and that subtle smile, he curved his fingers, slipping them effortlessly between mine.
"......"
I always thought I blushed easily, but I learned that when emotions hit a certain peak, even that doesn't happen. Ignoring my racing heartbeat, I had no choice but to plead with him.
"You... don't actually do that."
Not to anyone else, especially abroad like this. He'd walk into any bar, drop a line like that, and every woman there would fall. A fluent Japanese-speaking Korean with that face? A simple smile was lethal. I was still throbbing from it, feeling a bit wronged that I'd gotten hit harder, but I had no grounds to call him out.
"Aren't you gonna order? You said you were hungry earlier."
Lee Seo-yeon tilted her head, noticing I couldn't focus on the menu. The warmth lingered in my hand, wiping my mind of what I'd wanted to eat. Mixing resentment and fluster, I whispered to her so Baek Sion wouldn't hear.
"Baek Sion filled me up..."
"...Huh?"
I'd meant the overwhelming fullness, but her reaction was way more shocked than expected. Replaying my words, I realized why her mouth was hanging open. I raised my voice but kept the volume low for the correction.
"N-no, not for ten months...!"
"...You scared me."
With her usual high tolerance for spicy talk, I could guess exactly how she'd twisted it. ...We still had about three years and some months before that kind of fullness.
In the end, after chatting with Yoo Seol-ah, we ordered one mung bean sprout stir-fry and one motsunabe. She went for soda instead of booze, probably because of the crowd.
"So Doyun for president?"
"Doesn't matter to me, but I think unnie would be better."
"Huh, me?"
Our ages were similar, but the group had split into the "adult company talk" side and the "casual chit-chat" kids' table. I'd been bouncing between them, but the business discussion sounded more fun right now. With incorporation on the table, things felt official—but the president pick was proceeding lightly.
"...Can I even do that?"
"Yeah. You seem to know your stuff about company ops."
I didn't know if all big-corp folks were like this, but Yuna unnie was a walking encyclopedia on business. She usually showed her mobile-game addict community-master side, so it was easy to forget—but Doyun hyung clearly hadn't.
And from my angle, having the game's mascot as CEO sounded hilarious.
"I think unnie would be great too."
"Yeah, I know dev stuff, but ops? Total newbie."
"...I'll think about it. What about the company name?"
"...Yeah, that's kinda important too."
If we wanted success, the name couldn't be half-assed—memorable and clean. Tsuki hyung and Yuna unnie pondered, but no one had a killer idea. The struggle of creation, huh? Then, unexpectedly:
"Um... how about Astra?"
Yoo Seol-ah chimed in casually, looking more relaxed now that she was full. Eyes turned to her; she flustered a bit but pressed on.
"...It sounds like Astasia, and it means 'stars'... We're all starting together, so...?"
"It means that?"
"Yeah. Latin, not super common though..."
She explained patiently to Lee Seo-yeon's question. ...Yoo Seol-ah had these moments where she came off super intellectual. A language genius, especially.
"...It was just an idea—feel free to skip it."
"Let's go with that. Astra Games sounds good."
"Yeah, I like it."
"...Really?"
The decision wrapped up lightning-fast, leaving her stunned. The "Games" part made her cautious, but choices had been this straightforward all along—Yuna unnie and Doyun hyung handled the fine-tuning.
For a snap idea, the vibe was spot-on.
"'Stars' fits perfectly—you can be the president, unnie."
"......"
An astrologer CEO? Ideal. Yuna unnie seemed resolved, speaking quietly.
"...Yeah, someone older has advantages anyway."
"True."
We all nodded, but she looked a bit misty-eyed.
"...At least say 27 is still young in times like this...!"
27 was young for a CEO, but her reaction was too fun to reassure her. A company with a president as the sandbag... No power trips here, that's for sure.