By Chance
The next day arrived.
But today, there was no sitting together with her.
That was only natural. The day before had been a special case, after all. The café had been completely full, and she had simply offered me the seat beside her out of consideration. There was no reason for us to huddle close when plenty of open tables were available.
Besides, I always got to the café earlier than Seorin. Unless she was late like last time, joining her at her seat was impossible. I would already be settled in my own spot long before she arrived.
"…"
It was the obvious way of things. And yet I kept stealing glances at Seorin's table, feeling strangely unsatisfied. Sitting so far apart after yesterday left me with a hollow sort of emptiness. Maybe this was the "comradeship" she had talked about. Being close to her really did seem to give me more energy.
Or maybe that was just an excuse, and I simply wanted to be near her the way I had been yesterday.
…Oh. Our eyes met.
Whenever our gazes happened to lock while I was sneaking looks, she would smile at me as if she were genuinely glad to see me. Whether she knew about my less-than-pure thoughts or not, that pure, sunny smile of hers made me feel so awkward that I would duck my head and pretend I was just saying hello.
"…Looks like interviews are starting to come up. Guess I need to prepare for those too. Ugh. My head hurts."
I had been blasting out applications like crazy, so of course a few had made it past the document screening and into the interview stage. None of them were particularly impressive companies, but given the way the world was these days, I would be grateful just to land anywhere. Even for the smaller places, I tried to prepare thoroughly.
I did not get my hopes up, though. Especially early on in the job hunt, getting to the interview and still failing was more common than not. I was nothing special, so I never assumed I would just breeze through.
While I fretted over those worries and tinkered with my portfolio, lunchtime snuck up on me.
"Time to go eat."
Breakfast and dinner I usually ate at home. Job seekers were not exactly rolling in cash. I was scraping by on a little allowance from my parents and whatever savings I had left from my college part-time jobs. Still, heading all the way home for lunch was a hassle, so I preferred to keep the flow going and just grab a meal at a nearby restaurant.
After sitting in the same posture all morning, I stood up and stretched my stiff body. And that was when it happened.
"Ijun."
A familiar woman's voice suddenly came from right beside me. The approach was so abrupt that I nearly toppled over backward in surprise.
"Whoa! You scared me. S-Seorin?"
She was standing strangely close. A little closer and her lips would have brushed my ear. Seeing my reaction, Seorin let out a soft chuckle, clearly amused.
"What the—when did you get here? You're like a ninja. No presence at all."
"It's a family martial art. Walking on air."
"Family martial art? Do your parents run a dojo or something?"
"Yep. When I was little, every time I made a footstep they would smack the sole of my foot with a switch. That was the training."
She said it so seriously that I could not tell whether she was joking. She had a real talent for nonsense. It made me think she would have been great at streaming, too.
"More importantly—you're heading out for lunch right now, aren't you?"
"Ah, yeah. That's right."
Was this mind-reading too—? No, anyone could tell it was lunchtime.
"Um… so, you know…"
"Yeah? What is it?"
She seemed to have trouble getting the words out. After a brief hesitation, Seorin carefully opened her mouth.
"I was just about to go eat too. The timing's kind of a coincidence, huh?"
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. A coincidence. Mm-hm. Pure coincidence."
She was really hammering the word "coincidence." The faint flush on her cheeks told me this was her own awkward way of hiding her embarrassment.
"It's not like I was watching and waiting for you to go eat or anything. Don't get the wrong idea. So—"
What is this ridiculously cute creature?
Her way of talking made me want to pull her into a hug and ruffle her hair. A laugh slipped out of me. I was not so dense that I could miss what she was getting at after all this.
"Then how about we go eat together? By coincidence?"
"…Okay."
I cut her off gently and made the invitation myself. Seorin cleared her throat with a little "ahem" and carefully nodded.
What the hell. Seorin is ridiculously cute. Almost Rabiel-level.
"Is Korean food okay?"
"I love Korean food the most. I love it more than anything in the world. I love kimchi."
She said it in the exact tone of a foreigner being interviewed by a local market reporter on some countryside travel show. The area around here was a main road, but it was not exactly packed with great places to eat. Being an entertainment district, it was full of bars and not so full of proper restaurants.
…Should I take her somewhere with pasta or something?
I did not really know Seorin's tastes, and she was a woman, after all. I started overthinking which of the nearby places would be nice, then stopped myself. This was not a date. Two broke job seekers wandering off to a pasta place in the middle of studying would just feel weird. So I decided to take her to a favorite spot I already knew.
"Eunju's Korean Food? This place?"
"The name's pretty homey, right? But trust me, it's an absolute gem."
I led her inside past the warm, nostalgic sign. We heard a casual "Welcome" from the ajumma in the kitchen and took our seats. The interior had that old-school charm, and once we were settled I asked Seorin, who was looking around with open curiosity,
"First time somewhere like this?"
"No. It's just been a while. There was a snack place near my university that looked exactly like this."
"Ah. But wait till you see the menu. You'll be even more surprised."
"Why? Let me see… Huh? Doenjang jjigae for five thousand won?"
"That's not even the half of it. Pork rice bowl for five thousand five hundred. Kimchi jjigae also five thousand. And the lunch special Korean stew set is only seven thousand."
That was exactly why I had brought her here. I did not come all that often myself, but it was the kind of place job seekers desperately needed. I wanted to introduce her to it. And just as I expected, her eyes went round as she stared at the menu in excitement.
"These prices are insane. Is this from ten years ago?"
"Right? Super cheap, huh? You usually buy lunch out, don't you?"
"Yeah. Going all the way home is a pain."
"That's why I wanted to show you. There aren't many good options around the café. Whenever you're craving Korean food, this place is perfect."
"And look at how many dishes there are. Amazing."
"Nothing on the menu even goes over ten thousand won."
Putting together the fact that she lived alone in Seoul and was also job hunting, I had a feeling this place might be even more useful for her than for me. And that prediction seemed to have hit the mark.
"I'm going to come here a lot from now on. Thanks for sharing a good spot."
"Don't mention it. Us poor job seekers have to look out for each other. And it's not just cheap—it's actually delicious. Great for eating alone, too."
"Really? But for a place like that, there don't seem to be many people."
"Ah~ that. There's actually a reason."
She glanced around at the empty seats as she spoke. It was peak lunch hour for a food business, yet the place was not very full. Part of it was just a slow day, but still.
"Everything about this place is great except for one downside. That's why there aren't many customers."
"A downside?"
"Yeah. The bathroom's… kind of rough. Women who come here tend to find it uncomfortable."
At that, Seorin stared straight at me. Afraid she might have gotten the wrong idea, I hurriedly explained.
"But you can just go back to the café to use the bathroom. It's close, so that's why I introduced it to you."
The people I had brought here before could not easily use a bathroom nearby, so even though the food was good and cheap, they did not come often. As a guy I did not mind that much, but still.
Even after my rushed explanation, Seorin's strange look did not go away. What? Was that not what bothered her? Or does she also find going back to the café a hassle?
She gazed at me as if she could see right through me, then carefully opened her mouth.
"Have you… come to this place with a woman before? Who?"
She asked it with the air of someone wondering whether she was even allowed to ask. Caught off guard, I blurted,
"Ah, not a girlfriend! Just my little sister and my older sister."
"Your sisters?"
"Yeah. My family home is near here. So I used to come eat with them sometimes."
"Ahh. You must be pretty close with your family."
Close enough, I supposed. We had bickered as kids, but once we all grew up we matured together and were never awkward around each other.
At my frantic clarification, Seorin let out a soft snort of laughter.
"Pfft. Why are you explaining yourself so flustered?"
"Uh… I just thought you might get the wrong idea?"
"Why? What's wrong with coming here with a girlfriend?"
"It's just… the vibe. You'd wonder if I was bringing you to a place I'd already taken some other woman."
Not that I had ever had a girlfriend to bring in the first place. Still, I did not want her of all people to get any unnecessary misunderstandings.
When I said that, Seorin smiled and looked at me.
"And if I did think that, what would be the problem? Is that not allowed?"
"Huh? Well…"
Then, with a mischievous expression, she threw out a question designed to put me on the spot. She was definitely doing it on purpose. She already knew exactly what was going to come out of my mouth.
"…I think I'd hate it. If you brought me somewhere you'd already been with another guy."
At those words, Seorin's eyes curved into a beautiful, smiling arc.