The End of First Love
I thought it was a ridiculously coincidental twist—the end of a first love inside an eroge. Not only did we end up at the theater on the same day, but we were even watching the exact same movie in the same screening room.
I stood there with my mouth hanging open, unable to explain the situation with something as simple as “coincidence.”
“Of all people, you…”
Lee Harin bristled at my reaction.
“Of all people, you?! Hey, I’m the one who should be disappointed here!”
She jabbed her finger back and forth between us.
“Between some kid who’s built like a beanpole and someone as pretty and… slender as me—”
Her voice grew smaller the longer she went on, as if her conscience wouldn’t let her emphasize the part about her figure.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at how timid she suddenly sounded.
“You are slender… though I’m not sure that’s much of a selling point.”
“…Hey.”
For a second, it looked like flames were sparking in Harin’s eyes—like a dragon whose reverse scale had been touched. She looked ready to breathe fire as she opened her mouth to yell, but I quickly clamped my hand over it.
“Hey, hey! My bad, okay?”
Harin made muffled protests against my palm, ordering me to let go. She even tried to bite me with those sharp little fangs, but I endured the pain because the last thing I needed was more attention from the people around us.
“Please… don’t start yelling and embarrassing us, alright?”
I tried my best to calm her down, the way you’d soothe an unruly cousin who’d shown up for the holidays. After thrashing around like an angry dragon for a while, Harin finally regained her composure.
“Don’t ever tease me about my figure again. This is your last warning.”
I nodded frantically. If someone like Harin—who usually cared a lot about how others saw her—had lost control this badly, she must have been furious. I filed the useful weakness away in my head for later and gave her a small bow with my shoulders slumped.
“Anyway, nice running into you. Let’s never do it again.”
Harin turned her head away with a sharp huff, agreeing.
“That’s my line.”
We parted ways, heading in opposite directions. When I returned to my seat, I apologized to Ayoung.
“Ayoung, sorry. I took a while, didn’t I?”
“Ah… yeah.”
Her gaze wasn’t on me, though. It seemed to be fixed somewhere behind me.
…Probably just my imagination.
Still feeling uneasy, I looked at Ayoung and offered a careful explanation.
“I ran into Harin at the counter… It really was just a coincidence.”
“Yeah… I see. You should say hi if you see her again.”
Ayoung smiled.
***
Something felt off.
I’d heard of women’s intuition before, but never men’s. Even so, the current situation was more than enough to make me uneasy.
I called her name cautiously.
“…Ayoung.”
Normally she would have looked up right away and given me that bright, bashful smile. Instead, she just stared blankly ahead without answering.
Clear abnormal behavior. If this were one of those subway games where you had to spot anomalies, I would’ve turned around and headed straight back to the exit without hesitation.
Ayoung looked dangerously fragile.
I reached out and gently took her arm this time.
“…Ayoung?”
She flinched, startled, and finally looked up at me.
“Ah, sorry.”
I hadn’t done it to get an apology, so I shook my head and checked on her.
“Are you feeling sick?”
She’d looked a little pale ever since we met. Could she have caught a chill from the rain?
I placed my hand on her forehead. It wasn’t exactly feverish—just lukewarm.
“I’m fine, Hajun… I don’t feel sick at all.”
She smiled at my concern, but something about it was different. Usually her eyes and mouth curved together when she smiled. Right now, it looked forced—her lips were slightly upturned, but her eyes stayed completely still.
“…We’ll miss the movie. Let’s go in.”
Since it felt wrong to keep insisting she was sick when she said she wasn’t, I followed her into the dark theater.
“Ayoung, be careful—”
Before I could finish, she tripped on the low step and fell with a thud.
“…You okay?”
It happened so suddenly, and she’d fallen forward, so I couldn’t catch her from behind. I hurried over and helped her up, checking her over.
“Did you hurt yourself?!”
Ayoung still wore that faint smile.
“…I’m fine. I should’ve been more careful.”
“……”
“…Let’s go.”
Even someone as dense as me could tell by now that Ayoung’s mood had hit rock bottom. Instead of trying to talk to her, I simply took her hand and led her toward our seats, pretending not to notice.
“I’ll sit on the outside… in case I need to go to the bathroom.”
I nodded at her suggestion. From past experience, I’d learned that when your girlfriend was in a bad mood for no clear reason, it was better to let her do what she wanted than to try to be considerate and end up making things worse.
Following that advice, I stayed quiet, placed the popcorn on my lap, and set our drinks in the cup holders. We’d arrived early, so the screen was still showing trailers instead of the main feature.
The atmosphere felt awkward. People looking for their seats kept passing through the aisle, and I kept worrying one of them might bump into Ayoung. Thankfully, nothing happened.
After a while, everyone settled into their assigned seats. Just as the movie was about to start—
“…Is this the right row?” “Yeah, it is.”
That familiar voice slithered closer again.
“…You sit on the outside. You’re definitely the type to drink too much cola and need the bathroom.” “Okay, okay~ Thanks.”
I tried to keep my head down and ignore them, but—
“Excuse me, just passing through~” “Sorry about that.”
Of course their voices stopped right in front of us. I glanced up in surprise at the two people trying to enter the row.
“…Huh?”
At the same moment, Harin and Ayoung’s eyes met.
“…Ayoung!”
Harin called her name brightly.
“……”
Ayoung answered a beat late.
“…Yeah, Harin.”
“I ran into Hajun earlier. You two came to watch the movie together, right?!”
“…Yeah.”
Did Harin have no sense of atmosphere at all? She kept chatting excitedly even though Ayoung’s voice was clearly uncomfortable.
“Ah, move over a bit.”
Someone shoved her from the side and dragged her away.
“K-Kang Sara! Why are you pushing me?”
“…Just go.”
Apparently everyone except Harin had picked up on the tension. I felt grateful to the mysterious girl.
“Enjoy the movie~”
She gave us a quick nod as she passed.
Thank you so much!
“Huh? You told me to sit on the outside.” “Just get in. Stop being annoying.”
Originally, Harin should’ve ended up next to me, but thanks to her friend’s quick thinking, the person sitting beside me was her instead. I breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at Ayoung.
Surely not… right?
I pushed the strange suspicion aside and focused on the screen as the familiar opening music began to play.
[Our love… was like soap bubbles.]
A sorrowful woman watched bubbles drifting through a frozen winter landscape.
[Even knowing they would eventually burst, we kept hoping they wouldn’t—clinging to each day like that kind of love.]
The impossibly handsome man wore a pained expression as he tried to hold onto her.
[…Ye-rin.]
She slipped through his fingers like a bubble floating aimlessly into the sky. The woman, who looked ready to burst at any moment, turned back to him and spoke.
[…Let’s end this.]
It wasn’t a cry of despair. It was the confession of a heart that had grown cold—not from boredom, but from a love so deep she had no choice but to let go.
[The truth is, Sang-gyu, there’s someone else you truly like besides me.]
The man’s face crumbled.
[‘Since when did she know?’]
With that narration, another beautiful woman appeared in his mind.
[‘That I had feelings for someone who wasn’t her.’]
His trembling hand finally fell to his side.
[……]
The woman smiled as she cried. The man cried as he smiled.
[…Goodbye.] […Goodbye.]
The end of a first love.
[My first love.] [My first love.]
Watching the movie, I felt like crying too. Eternal love, my ass.
Just as I was grumbling internally, I heard a clattering sound from the seat beside me.
“Ah…”
When I turned, Ayoung was trembling, her face deathly pale, cola spilled across her lap.