2. Want to Go See a Movie?
Love at first sight.
Until about three weeks ago, Han Jiye had thought that phrase was pure superstition.
Books. Dramas. Movies. Even her father's words.
Just a faint miracle, a feeble little dream that everyone carried around in their hearts. That was all she'd ever believed it to be.
But everything changed after she met Kim Hyunwoo.
It was real, that phrase said. A miracle so vast it could remake the entire world a person called themselves.
Today, once again, Jiye smiled at the goofy photo of Hyunwoo glowing on her home screen — and once again, she thought the same thing.
Except.
Ding!
Perhaps because her feelings for him had swelled far beyond anything she could rein in — every now and then, an urge would burst out of her that she simply couldn't suppress.
“……Tch.”
Lips jutting out in a pout. Shoulders slumped in a slump.
Was pressing her fingers down really so difficult? Tapping out a reply on her phone felt utterly joyless.
It was not okay.
She wanted to eat with him. To stay by his side, always. To go back to that warm little apartment of his.
She wanted to feel that small handful of warmth against her shoulder while they ate together.
She had wanted to savor those tiny, ordinary happinesses — but.
Riiing!
And the unavoidable reality stepped right up in front of Han Jiye's eyes.
“Haah….”
A family gathering of the Han household.
From the words alone, it sounded like a happy occasion.
In truth, it was the exact opposite.
Man or woman, no one could so much as set foot inside unless they carried the blood of the Han family in their veins.
And because of that, Jiye's birth mother could never attend — so the whole crushing burden came down to rest squarely on Han Jiye's shoulders.
Not long ago, she would have been wracked by a throbbing migraine and swallowing pills by now. But today was different.
“Look how cute you are.”
Just one single goofy photo of Kim Hyunwoo.
That was all she needed.
Riiing!
Just like that, one more thing had been added to the pile.
“Heh heh heh. Girlfriend. I love it.”
To think she could draw strength from reading texts on a phone. If you'd told the Han Jiye of three weeks ago, she never would have believed it.
“Miss, we've arrived.”
“Yes, Director Lee.”
The car door opened with a hush.
Beyond it loomed the Han family estate.
Jiye drank in Hyunwoo's photo and his messages one last time, letting them fill her with strength.
Then she slowly stepped forward — toward that place she could never, ever bring herself to call family.
“Hey, come on. That's your first girlfriend ever, you really think I'd go blabbing about her?”
That was Lee Daewoo, tapping me on the shoulder right after I'd texted Jiye.
“It's not like there's anything weird about it even if I did.”
Fair point — which is why I'd upgraded her from "female friend" to "girlfriend." As long as we steered clear of anything that could pin her down as that Jiye, there'd be no real problem.
Honestly, between the truth — a couple who wasn't even dating living half-together — and a clean lie that we were dating, the lie was the far better deal.
“Alright, enough. Let's head in.”
Time flies when you're talking to an idiot. Before I knew it, we were standing at the café where we'd agreed to meet.
Whoosh.
The automatic door slid open to reveal a quiet, nearly empty café.
A quick scan of the room turned up exactly one party. That had to be the people waiting for us.
As if to prove my hunch, Daewoo immediately bolted over to greet them.
“Woo! Looking at our team all together like this, the synergy is just rock~ solid!”
The reason Daewoo and I had come here today was simple: to talk things over in advance with the team we'd be working with once the Academy term began.
“Oh, right. Daewoo.”
“Yes sir! Long time no see, Duseong-hyung!”
Pioneer Academy was one of Korea's most prestigious Hunter institutions — the kind of place where plenty of people groveled through years of failed entrance exams just to get in. I'd always figured that if it came to that, I'd rather be taking my lumps out in the field.
Then again — I'd only ever seen Duseong in photos, and… why does the man look older in person?
Don't tell me he Photoshopped his own profile picture. Nah… couldn't be.
“Hello. I'm Kim Hyunwoo.”
“So you're Hyunwoo. Daewoo's told me plenty about you.”
After a firm, heartfelt handshake, Daewoo and I melted naturally into the empty seats.
The roster was a perfect five.
Oh Duseong, the tanker. One swordsman. One rogue. Lee Daewoo, the ranger. And me, covering the rear.
A composition so clean you could call it the textbook definition of a team.
Getting a setup like this together so early on couldn't have been easy. That was Daewoo's freakish social web at work, no doubt.
With this, our Academy team results would probably roll in just fine.
“So, Duseong-hyung — what's the reason you called us all here so suddenly?”
“Hold on, ah… here she comes. Over here!”
But Duseong suddenly cranked his energy up to maximum and threw his hand high in the air. An uneasy prickle ran down my spine just as a woman's voice sounded behind me.
Note to self: every team needs someone to come along and blow it up.
“Ah… h-hello!”
Her looks… honestly, I couldn't tell you. Probably just because I've been glued to Jiye's side lately — I didn't bother digging into it.
Short. Round. That was the entire assessment.
What popped out behind her, on the other hand, was ridiculously huge.
“I'm Lee Yerin! I'm the healer!”
Ah.
The moment I heard her class, I understood everything.
This was a cut.
As everyone knows, Academy teams run a minimum of two and a maximum of five members.
You can field six or more, but the team's score gets proportionally slashed when the results are distributed.
And what does that mean?
One person here was getting dropped. And wouldn't you know it — there was one conveniently drop-able person sitting right here.
A tier-one tank and a healer. Three dealers with nicely balanced output. And one 1.5-tier buffer, floating in the river like a misplaced egg.
“Sorry, but I want to prioritize stability.”
Reality isn't a video game. A high skill ceiling means nothing if you're dead.
Your life comes first. Unconditionally. Your own safety comes first. Always.
Weigh it all together, and what a team needs is balance and stability.
“Ha, seriously….”
Daewoo, too, seemed struck dumb by a healer just plopping herself down out of nowhere.
Whatever connection he had with her, I couldn't say — but a healer? Honestly, I found it absurd too.
Can't win this one, though.
“No, Duseong-hyung, you should've at least told me beforehand.”
Even so, Daewoo clearly didn't like how this had gone down — his eyebrows had begun to weep.
“Daewoo, opportunities like this don't come around often. Yerin here is a healer.”
“I know that, but it's just rude.”
Personally, I couldn't have cared less. All I'd have to do was scurry right back to Jiye.
'You there… how much would it take for me to buy you…?'
If I'd seen this coming, I should've jacked the price way up the first time we met. Should've shouted, “Thank you for your purchase!”
If I'd just barged over to Jiye that shamelessly, I wouldn't be stuck in this annoying mess now.
'Haah.'
Tap tap.
I let out a sigh where no one could see, then flicked Daewoo's leg with my finger. It meant: your cue — act.
“Honestly, if I keep sitting here I'll just drag the mood down, won't I.”
I wasn't even trying to be intimidating — but Lee Yerin, rising from her seat, hastily averted her eyes from me.
Well, unless she was a complete idiot, she could tell something was off herself.
“Thanks for understanding, Hyunwoo.”
“Not at all. In exchange, take good care of Daewoo for me.”
“Don't you worry.”
To any observer, it was a story of a young man facing reality and bowing out gracefully. The inside of it was something else entirely.
“Then I'm off, Lee Daewoo.”
“Phew… well, if you insist.”
Daewoo had caught my signal perfectly — he'd tear the team apart and walk out on his own.
After all, this guy's high school nickname was the Trojan Horse.
The front of my apartment building. A little playground.
I sat on the swing inside it, pushing off the ground with my feet in slow, lazy arcs.
The night breeze brushed against my swaying body, and the crisp evening air plus the sweet chocolate milk in my hand made the whole mood that much better.
I reread the texts I'd sent earlier, then tucked the phone back into my pocket.
'I'm hungry.'
Things had wrapped up faster than expected, so I hadn't managed to eat.
Jiye was probably in the same boat. If so, stopping by the mart on the way back wouldn't be a bad idea.
'…….'
Lately, the moment food crossed my mind, Jiye came right along with it. We ate dinner together pretty much every night, so that was probably why.
And maybe because of that, a complicated feeling had bloomed alongside this one, settling heavy on my chest.
“Thinking about it, I really do treat you awfully, Jiye.”
“What's awful about it?”
“Keghk!”
The swing lurched under me. As if to announce exactly how badly I'd been startled, the chains rattled noisily.
“Jiye… my heart. My heart hurts.”
Of course — what else would you expect from the top entrant of the year? Hiding her presence was practically an art form.
“It's not because your heart's racing from seeing me?”
“Let's… say it is.”
More importantly — formal wear? She'd said she was meeting her family, sure, but did that call for dressing up this much?
Then again, another family's household affairs weren't mine to poke at, so I swallowed the question.
“So? What's so awful?”
“Nothing. It's just…”
I told Jiye about what had happened today. About how my team had treated me like something less than a person.
But as I said it, a thought crept in: hadn't I been doing something similar all this time, never giving Jiye a straight answer?
“You dummy. I told you from the start to think of me as your insurance policy, didn't I?”
“Teacher, even so, feelings are feelings….”
“Aigoo, you sweet, hopeless blockhead!”
“Mmmrrgh—!”
Jiye's slender hands seized both my cheeks and kneaded them without mercy.
“If I say that's how it is, then that's the end of it. You have nothing to worry about. Don't go saying things that hurt my heart.”
Was that… really how it worked?
“Answer.”
“Yes, ma'am. Understood.”
“Good.”
Looking into Jiye's eyes, she seemed dead serious. Well, if the person herself said so, this wasn't something to drag out — better to shake it off right here and now.
Once today passed, it could quietly fade into nothing. That was all it needed to be.
With the knot in my chest mostly undone, I bowed my head deeply toward Jiye on the spot.
“And what would Her Majesty care to dine upon this evening?”
“Rolled omelet. Spam. Steamed white rice.”
“Ah, the course in which I am most confident. Right this way, if you please.”
“Yes. Hurry up and serve me.”
An empty playground with not a soul in sight. As I rose from the swing, Jiye was watching me.
Or to be precise, she seemed to be watching my hand.
“Staring at me like that is making me shy, you know.”
“Shut up and let's go. I want my rolled omelet.”
“My, my… a lady of the Han family, already thoroughly tamed to the taste of my cooking.”
“You're the tasty one.”
“Um… that came out kind of wrong, didn't it?”
“Not at all.”
However many times I turned it over in my head, it was wrong.
###
We were on our way to the mart when a strange little fidgeting started up beside me.
“What's wrong?”
“The movie I've been wanting to see got a re-release the day before yesterday. I just found out.”
“You want to go see it together?”
“Yeah.”
These days, there was nothing I wouldn't do for her. I nodded with my chest puffed out, magnanimous as a king granting a boon.
“Let's go this weekend, then. You've got that day off, right?”
“Yep yep, I'm off.”
“Great. Movie date it is.”
“Popcorn too! Let's order the big caramel popcorn and share it.”
“Order whatever you want. I'll buy it all.”
The girl had bought me an entire computer. I wasn't about to stingy-out over a bucket of popcorn.
The timing was perfect, too — the Academy term started next Monday. Might as well cut loose one last time before throwing myself in. That was the feeling, and I felt it strongly.
“By the way, what's the movie called?”
“Fifty Shades of the Torreya Tree.”
“……I'm sorry, what?”
Ssss — hold on. Hold on just a moment.
Fifty Shades of the Torreya Tree?
…Look, I can sit through any movie. Even one that bores me into a coma.
And yet this one, I absolutely could not watch.
No — to be precise, it was a movie I could not watch with Jiye.
Because that movie.
“That one's… rated for adults only, isn't it?”
“Yeah, it is?”
It was the notorious, adults-only film whispered about everywhere as unbearably steamy.