First Meeting (2)
“······”
“······”
Park Jimin simply could not find any words.
It wasn’t only because Yu Dahye was sitting on the bed in his room.
From outside came the sound of a knife chopping, the sound of something being rinsed under water.
His mother had told Dahye they should eat first and talk afterward, and Dahye—who had looked tense—had agreed at once.
In Korea it was customary to refuse once out of politeness, but she clearly had a purpose here.
Huh?
Curious what she was thinking, Jimin stole a glance at her face and found her smiling.
“What are you looking at?”
“Ah, nothing.”
“Your mom said we should eat first and then talk, so let’s just wait.”
“Okay.”
Even alone together they had plenty to say, but Dahye insisted they wait.
The problem was······
I’m so nervous.
Having Dahye in the same room was enough to drive him crazy with tension.
“Whoa, your room’s really clean?”
“Is it?”
She had latched onto a point he never expected.
“You hear all these internet stories about how guys’ rooms are usually filthy and reek.”
“Maybe because Mom cleans it a lot.”
“Hmm, that so?”
Dahye looked around the room here and there, smiling.
In such a small space, what was there even to look at?
Knock knock.
“Jimin, come on out.”
“Yeah.”
His mother knocked, and not only her son but the unfamiliar young woman stepped out of the room as well.
Huh?
The main dish was kimchi jjigae with pork.
But when he looked beside it, there were side dishes that never usually appeared.
Rolled omelet?
His mother sometimes made it when she went out, but it had never been set on the table together with the kimchi jjigae before.
From childhood, Jimin had always been the type to stick to one dish rather than sample a little of everything.
“Thank you for the meal.”
Dahye, the guest, spoke first.
“I didn’t prepare much—is it all right?”
“It looks amazing.”
“······”
Dahye was grinning.
Jimin found it strange that the two of them were already chatting without even introducing themselves, but he was just glad his noona didn’t seem bad.
“Eat.”
“Okay.”
His mother first ladled stew for Dahye, then for her son.
After serving the guest and her child, the meat left in the pot looked suddenly sparse.
“Oh, this is really good.”
“Haha······ I’m glad you like it.”
She must have been starving; Dahye’s spoon moved faster than Jimin’s.
“······”
Kim Eunhye, Jimin’s mother, carefully studied the unfamiliar girl.
She had never once heard of her son hanging out with girls his own age.
And now he had suddenly brought one right to the front door.
“Dahye-ssi, how old are you?”
“I’m twenty-one this year.”
“Ah.”
She had asked the age carefully, and the girl answered politely and properly.
Strange.
Her Jimin hanging out with a noona three years older.
And with a girl this pretty—it simply didn’t make sense. Even if he was her son, wrong was wrong.
“······”
The girl ate without speaking. At least she ate heartily, which was good. College student, maybe?
Naturally her eyes kept drifting over. Other places too, of course.
Whoever raised her did a fine job.
Her gaze drifted naturally to the young woman’s cleavage. But that felt wrong, so she quickly looked away.
Pretty was pretty, yet even in modest clothes her figure was truly something. Was there Western blood in the family?
“I do internet broadcasting. They call me a streamer.”
“Ah······”
When she had eaten about half the meal, Dahye introduced herself.
“Then you’re the one Jimin mentioned last time.”
“Huh? You already told her?”
“A little.”
He had mentioned it to his mother before. Not completely, of course.
“Jimin said he was doing something like······ what was it, a substitute driver or something.”
“What?”
“Uh, Mom.”
Just an offhand excuse he had made up. But his mother remembered it quite well.
“A substitute driver?”
“Yes, isn’t that right? He said he was boosting your rank with you. Jimin told me.”
“Ahem ahem.”
“······”
Only the corners of Dahye’s mouth lifted in a subtle smile.
The seat that had already felt like a bed of nails now seemed to stab Jimin even more sharply.
It had been an easy way to explain things, but he learned later how poorly chosen the expression really was.
Even so, he hadn’t felt the need to correct it right away and hadn’t spoken up.
“Yeah, well, haha, it’s pretty similar. Jimin helped my stream a lot.”
“Is that so?”
Of course Dahye didn’t make an issue of it now.
“Oh my! Then that money too.”
His mother covered her mouth. Her widened eyes were clearly visible above her palm.
“Oh, Jimin’s such a good son.”
“······”
Dahye understood what she meant.
But an eighteen-year-old boy who suddenly had money could easily have spent it all on himself without telling his parents······
“Oh no, if I’d known earlier I would have prepared something.”
“No, no! And Jimin more than deserved it. I’m signed with a company myself, you know.”
“A company?”
“Yes. Because Jimin played games with me on stream, my revenue shot up through me. In this world, when you get that kind of help, giving something back is just the principle.”
“Ah······”
“······”
His mother didn’t fully understand, but she was relieved that her son had been a help rather than a nuisance.
That’s a lie.
Jimin caught on.
Company or not, Dahye didn’t seem like the type to worry about appearances.
If there had really been restrictions like that, she wouldn’t have ended streams whenever she felt like it.
But he still didn’t understand why she had suddenly brought up a company.
“So about that.”
After eating a piece of rolled omelet, Dahye continued.
“From here on, you tell her, Jimin.”
“Huh?”
Dahye nodded.
This time Jimin’s reaction was quite quick.
“Mom, I want to do internet broadcasting too.”
“What?”
Eunhye, Jimin’s mother, had already been surprised many times today.
“······”
His mother’s startled expression.
Jimin had to push through the mounting pressure. Reckless as this might be, it was his own path.
“There’s a game called Summoners of Legends. It’s huge.”
“I’ve heard of it.”
“I’m ranked in the top one percent.”
“······Really?”
“Yeah. People say if it were studying, it’d be like being a med student.”
Beside him, Dahye, who had been listening, smiled faintly.
Not bad.
She had thought it better for Jimin to explain properly himself, and he was doing quite well.
Wasn’t that a perfect analogy? Especially for a woman with an eighteen-year-old child.
“How did you get that good······”
“Honestly I don’t know either. I don’t know why I’m good at it. Friends just asked me to play with them, and once I took it seriously I got way better than kids who’d been playing for years.”
“······”
Insane.
Hearing the truth, Dahye was almost as shocked as his mother.
Jimin wasn’t the type to lie in front of his mom, and now she was learning the full story of that mysterious skill. Of course it still made no sense either way.
“And people say watching me play is really fun, so I want to give it a shot.”
“······I see.”
His mother’s reply was simpler than expected. Of course an easy “all right” was never going to come out.
Dahye, who had been keeping a smile to leave a good impression, suddenly tensed as well and her face grew quite serious.
“It’ll cost a lot of money.”
“Ah! Don’t worry about that.”
Dahye cut in again.
“Actually, Jimin’s been appearing on my stream, but because of the game’s system he can’t play with me anymore. So he’s going independent. And the company is looking at him really favorably.”
“So then?”
“The company will cover all the streaming equipment. It’s a kind of investment. If things go well he can sign with us, and if not, well, that’s how it goes.”
“Investment······ even so.”
It was hard to hide her worried expression.
Was it even possible for someone to be that generous to someone else?
She herself had never really worked a proper company job after college, so her knowledge was limited, but words like “investment” and “contract” weren’t ones that invited easy decisions.
She glanced at her son.
Oh my.
It was the first time in her life she had seen such a resolute look on his face.
His gaze dipped slightly, he pressed his lips together, then opened them.
“Jimin, you’re saying this knowing everything? It doesn’t sound like an ordinary matter.”
“······”
“Jimin?”
“I know.”
Her son remained firm.
“I’ll work hard at it.”
“Haa······”
Normally she would have thought he was talking without understanding, but right now that thought didn’t come.
The silence stretched longer than before.
“Then go ahead and try.”
“Mom······”
“But I’ll figure out the money myself. Of course if later while streaming you need a company, I’ll definitely contact them.”
“Ah, no.”
“He’s still my son.”
Dahye, who had been smiling lightly just a moment ago, now looked quite flustered.
What do I do?
If Jimin’s mother insisted on paying, there really wasn’t much more she could say. It wasn’t as if they were signing a contract······
“Mom, I want to start with support from Dahye noona’s company.”
“What?”
“If it weren’t for noona I wouldn’t even have known about internet streaming. Honestly even when I played with friends it was fun, but I never thought about getting better or climbing ranks. Because of noona I started wanting that.”
“······”
His mother listened in silence, and Dahye found today’s unusually calm Jimin fascinating.
“I’m going to keep challenging streaming together with noona from now on. So please let me start that way.”
Finished speaking, Jimin couldn’t help pressing his lips tight from the tension.
A short silence fell.
“All right, I understand.”
“Ha······”
“Please take good care of my son.”
“Ah······ yes······ uh······ I will.”
Having a woman twice her age speak so politely left Dahye not knowing where to put herself.
“Well, it hasn’t gone cold yet.”
The conversation was over, but the stew hadn’t cooled. Permission had come quickly.
“Um, Mother, excuse me.”
“Yes?”
Dahye shyly showed her empty bowl.
“I’m the type who eats a lot of rice with stew.”
“······You eat well.”
Even while scooping more rice, Jimin’s mother had to check whether there were more side dishes in the fridge.
“Thank you.”
Slice.
The meal ended, and Dahye immediately popped into her mouth the apple that the woman who had asked her to look after her son had peeled for her.
“When I first saw you I thought you were a celebrity.”
“Oh my, thank you. But please speak comfortably. I should have said so earlier.”
“Ah, should I?”
“Yes. That way I’ll feel more comfortable around Jimin too.”
Clearly lighter conversation had begun than before.
How they had met, why someone with such a pretty face did game streaming.
Some of it was what Jimin himself wanted to ask. Dahye tried to answer with some tact, but she didn’t quite manage to make anyone burst out laughing.
And of course she didn’t mention the episode where she had ended a stream in a rage because of Jimin.
“Walk her out.”
“Okay.”
“Go carefully. Thank you so much for today.”
“I didn’t do anything. I was treated so well.”
A polite, young, pretty girl.
Regardless of her relationship with her son, she was more than enough to make a middle-aged woman smile.
“Haa······”
“Ahh······”
Their reactions were identical.
“I thought I was going to die of nerves.”
“Me too. I was that nervous, yet somehow you still ate two bowls. Amazing.”
“······”
He himself had been so tense he ate less than usual, yet Dahye had still eaten well—Jimin found it remarkable.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what all of a sudden?”
“Ah, well······ because of me you lied.”
“Lied?”
“It was money noona lent me, but you said it was company money.”
“Yeah······ it was a lie, but even if it were true, if you do well and the company ends up recruiting you, wouldn’t they be grateful to me?”
“What if I go somewhere else?”
“Do whatever you want. If you go, you go.”
“What?”
“How many companies are there? And my company’s name is lame anyway. What the hell is Scene Stealer? Ugh.”
“······”
“But if you succeed and don’t pay the money back I’ll come collect, so remember that.”
“Ah! Of course I’ll pay it back somehow.”
“Thanks.”
Dahye smiled in satisfaction.
Why is she being like this.
Jimin wondered why she treated him so well. Lending money on such good terms, even coming in person to persuade his mother.
“But that was kinda moving?”
“What?”
“‘If it weren’t for noona I wouldn’t have known about streaming. Because of noona I wanted to get good and climb ranks······’”
Dahye mimicked his way of speaking.
“That’s······”
“You’re really sincere about me, huh?”
“What?”
With only a slight change of words the line could become bold. Jimin’s voice rose despite the night hour.
“Come on, let’s go.”
“Ah! Yes!”
But the other party didn’t allow that silence to linger.
The two of them kept walking.
“This is a bit much.”
“Ah······”
They first took the subway from Daesang Station, then transferred at a station that had an express train that would get Dahye home quickly.
But the enormous crowd made them hesitate to push forward.
Should we just take a taxi?
Dahye considered it briefly.
“Ah, screw it, let’s just get on. We’ll manage somehow.”
But she hated spending money that way. And having come this far, turning back would feel like a loss.
Weekend evening, the densest line in the capital region.
The two of them boarded the subway.
What do I do?
Of course there were no seats; they had no choice but to press tightly against other people.
Beside him stood a woman who, though dressed neatly, could not hide her outstanding figure.
And the fair, graceful line of her neck that the mask could not cover was drawing every surrounding gaze.
“······”
The wish to make the ride even a little more comfortable. And a faintly excessive male instinct rose up.
“Noona, over here.”
“Hm?”
Suddenly a small empty space appeared in the corner of the car. She could lean her back, and to the left were seats and a handrail.
“Huh?”
“······”
Jimin positioned Dahye against the wall, stood right in front of her, gripped the handrail with his left hand, and placed his right hand on the wall just to the right of her face—then shifted it a little farther right. Turning his body slightly that way, he could shield her from every direction.
“There are too many people.”
There was no need to say he was scared someone might sneak a touch in a packed train.
“What is this.”
Dahye laughed at the absurdity.
Suddenly this skinny tall kid was standing guard with a tense face.
“Hey, stop pushing!”
“For real.”
“Can someone lower the AC temperature a bit?”
With more people than usual, someone far away was grumbling aloud and calling subway staff to demand the air conditioning be turned down. Turned all the way to freezing, please.
In summer, no matter how hard the AC ran, it always felt unpleasant.
“Ugh······”
Jimin was having a hard time.
Every time the train swayed, people bounced off and shoved him hard from behind without meaning to.
Just standing with his back to Dahye would have been fine, but if he created too much space others would complain. Probably the noona inside would get cursed at.
Yet if he allowed too little, his body would press against Dahye’s. He couldn’t even look her in the face properly—how could he do that?
Trying to maintain the perfect distance was no easy task.
Even the embarrassment of sweating in front of noona felt like nothing.
“Oh?”
Among all the standing passengers, Dahye—who was riding most comfortably—pulled a tissue from her bag, raised her hand, and wiped his sweat.
“Sorry, noona doesn’t carry handkerchiefs.”
“Ah, no, thank you.”
“Mm.”
Dahye kept smiling whenever their eyes met, as if she found something amusing. Even just her eyes smiling was pretty.
“Haa······”
“You worked hard, kid.”
Arriving at her destination station, Dahye patted Jimin’s shoulder in encouragement.
“My place isn’t far from the station. You worked hard.”
“But.”
“The way to noona’s house is pretty well lit? Don’t worry.”
“Okay, I understand.”
He seemed to remember hearing somewhere that following a woman all the way to her house wasn’t proper manners.
“You go home comfortably.”
Dahye opened her wallet.
It was a fifty-thousand-won bill.
“Take this and go easy. I should’ve just said we should take a taxi from the start. Made you suffer too much.”
“······”
Jimin didn’t even raise his hand.
“No, I’ll just go as I am.”
“Huh? Just take it.”
“It’s fine. See you next time.”
“Huh? Hey! Call me!”
Jimin bowed politely and turned away.
“······”
He pressed his lips tightly together and for a moment lowered his head slightly.
There’s nothing I can give her.
He kept receiving so much from Dahye, yet there was nothing he could actually do for her.
So all he could do was offer his body. Even if it was stubbornness, he couldn’t help it.
He clenched his fist hard and raised his head.
There were already more than enough reasons he had to, but the reasons Jimin needed to stake everything on internet streaming kept growing.