A New Kind of Day
I sipped the iced coffee, savoring the cold, slightly bitter taste that traveled up the straw and the rich aroma of coffee that bloomed in my nose a moment after I held it in my mouth.
"Thank you, Mr. Seok-jun. I was really in a bind."
Mina looked at Seok-jun, who sat across from her, as she spoke. Sunlight streamed in from the terrace, illuminating his spiky silver hair that stuck out like a hedgehog's quills and his sharp, murky teal eyes that could appear fierce at first glance. Seok-jun had briefly opened the front of his trench coat before sitting down, drinking an iced coffee filled with ice just like hers. Even though the weather hadn't fully warmed up yet, sometimes a cold drink was exactly what you craved on a chilly day.
"When someone receives a message like that, I think anyone would assume it was an emergency."
"Aww, I'm sorry."
She recalled the text she'd sent and smiled awkwardly. No matter how urgent it was, she had to admit it had been a bit of an overreaction.
"Anyway, I'm glad nothing serious happened."
"For something serious to happen to me, I'd need another A-grade hunter attacking me or a large-scale dungeon break to occur, wouldn't I?"
Or perhaps only something on the level of a King would qualify as a real crisis. A-grade hunters were that valuable as personnel. Though it seemed like the Hanshin Guild could afford to lose one or two without much concern.
Mina hesitated for a moment, wondering whether she should tell Seok-jun that she'd quit Hanshin, before opening her mouth.
"What happened with the King's core?"
But the topic she brought up was something slightly different. It was something she was genuinely curious about, but that wasn't the only reason.
It might make me look like I came without any real plan.
It was true that she had the confidence to do well no matter which guild she joined. After all, she'd already received scouting offers from other guilds once or twice before, the kind that felt like they were just testing the waters. Still, the place her heart was drawn to right now was Seok-jun's office.
"The verification results confirmed that it is indeed the King's core. At the very least, it will be difficult to get it back until the trial is over."
"A trial, you say..."
"It could take anywhere from three months at the shortest to four or five years at the longest."
"Wow, that feels like forever."
It seemed better to just treat it as gone and forget about it.
"What will happen to that village and the resort?"
Still, what continued to weigh on her mind was the issue of the village and the resort. She had come to believe that the reason that region stayed cold throughout all four seasons was because the King had been hiding there, alive.
"It's still too early for clear indicators, but from what I've heard, the temperature is already starting to rise."
"I guess tourism there will be difficult from now on."
The resort's infrastructure wouldn't disappear overnight, so it could still be used during winter, but the problem was that the area wasn't originally one with particularly low temperatures. She found herself wondering if they might have cut off the local people's source of income.
"There's no need to feel sympathy for them."
As if sensing her dilemma, Seok-jun's voice reached her. When she looked up, he was leisurely drinking his coffee.
"The residents and the local government were the ones who pushed forward despite knowing there were dangerous elements, all for the sake of profit."
If they had profited by sacrificing countless people over the years while fully aware of the potential problems, then this was simply them paying the price.
"That's true, but..."
When Mina bit down on her straw with a troubled expression, he continued.
"The number of missing persons estimated to have been offered as sacrifices to the King each year is around three hundred."
"My sympathy just vanished completely."
The news that they had essentially offered around three hundred people as sacrifices to the King every year was shocking. No matter how important money was, was it really worth going that far? If the King had been properly revived by mistake, the number of potential victims could have been laughably higher.
"Sigh, if the nearest ski resort disappears too, it'll be hard to go skiing anymore."
"Is skiing one of your hobbies?"
"Not exactly, but it's a place my coworkers used to visit a lot back in the day. I had thought about going sometime."
Even if the ski resort remained, now that she knew the truth, she had no desire to ski there. Her first and last visit had involved getting stranded rather than actually skiing anyway.
"Don't you have any hobbies like that, Mr. Seok-jun?"
What came to mind next was the question of his hobbies.
"Hobbies, huh. A few things come to mind."
"What are they? What are they!"
Seeing Seok-jun stroking his chin in thought, Mina unconsciously leaned forward to look at him.
"For one, I enjoy searching for and listening to old songs."
For a moment, she pictured Seok-jun riding a motorcycle with "My Way" blasting while herding a frenzy of bison.
"What kind of songs do you usually listen to?"
"Most of them are songs I heard when I was young, so I don't stick to one genre."
"But you must have some that you listen to often, right?"
When Mina pressed him, he seemed to ponder for a moment before pulling an old cassette player from his pocket. Unlike the one on his motorcycle, this was a portable version meant for earphones. He plugged in the earphones, pressed play, and a rhythm that felt both unfamiliar and familiar flowed out.
"This song... isn't it from that old movie?"
It was a film she had watched with her parents when she was so young she could barely remember it, but the lyrics had stuck with her unusually well, so she recognized it faintly.
"Maria?"
When she echoed the lyrics that leaked out and looked at Seok-jun, she saw him nod.
"If it's not pop, most of them are like that."
"I think this is pretty normal, though."
She sometimes searched for videos of those kinds of songs too. She just hadn't expected him to still be carrying around an old cassette tape and player.
As Mina watched the cassette player with its scratches that showed the passage of time, her eyes full of curiosity, he asked her in return.
"Do you have any particular hobbies, Mina?"
"Um..."
Mina found herself unable to answer the question easily.
"Magic power training, maybe?"
"Is training a hobby?"
"Work... maybe a little?"
Even as she answered, she broke out in a cold sweat.
I wasn't exactly in a position to ask someone else that!
After all, Min-ji had officially certified her as a workaholic. She felt resentful of herself for usually brushing off Min-ji's comments as jokes and insisting there was no problem even without other interests.
"D-do you have any other hobbies?"
So the only thing she could do was turn the question back to Seok-jun.
"Other than that, I'd say fishing and hunting."
"Fishing and hunting?"
Mina tilted her head, unable to picture an image of him that matched those activities.
"It's like camping with those as side activities."
"You mean camping?"
"The downside is that I hardly ever have time to do it."
Hearing him speak, she finally started to get a sense of what his hobbies might look like.
I've only heard about camping; I've never actually done it, have I?
She had done campfires during school trips or training camps, but she wasn't sure if that really counted as camping.
After that, there weren't any particularly special events. They simply continued their casual conversation, had dinner together, and then parted ways.
"Get home safely."
"Then I'll see you next time."
By now, the sight of Seok-jun escorting her all the way to her front door felt familiar, and she waved happily. He said his goodbye and left.
"It would be nice if things were always like this."
Her schedule had gotten messed up and caused trouble, but thanks to that, she'd been able to meet him, chat lightly, and enjoy herself. She had been thinking that unexpected events always seemed to bring inconvenience, but something like this wasn't so bad—when her phone rang.
The moment she picked up her smartphone at the sound of the ringtone, she saw it was a call from Min-ji.
"Min-ji? Are you done with work?"
The voice that answered sounded utterly dumbfounded.
"Well, well. Our dear Mina. The moment I'm not around, you two go on a date? Must be nice to have such a carefree life~"
"Y-you saw?! How?"
Mina thought for a second that Min-ji must have come nearby without her knowing and caught her with Seok-jun, but the voice that came back was full of laughter and mischief.
"Seriously, you. If you want to know how I found out, hang up and check BubbleStar. It's absolute chaos over there."
Min-ji's sudden comment was puzzling, but Mina followed her advice, ended the call, and opened the app that had several alarm notifications. Sure enough, when she tapped the notification, Min-ji's DM appeared.
Why?!
Min-ji had shared a post with her. Even if she tried to ignore it, the title and content were impossible to look away from.
Who is the guy who came to pick up Lee Mina?
It wasn't just text—there was even a photo that somehow captured a glimpse of Seok-jun when he had come to pick her up at the reunion. She never would have imagined someone would snap a picture in that brief moment when the car had stopped.
But that wasn't the only problem.
Other shared posts also captured the two of them drinking coffee together.
As the finishing touch, there was even a post with a photo taken outside the restaurant—blurry enough that you could only tell it was Mina and Seok-jun.
"Ugh, seriously!"
Mina grumbled, but she couldn't help smiling. Then a photo she had taken suddenly came to mind. Normally she wouldn't have paid any attention to something like this, but...
"Just one wouldn't hurt, right?"
Since everyone else kept posting about her recent activities, it felt wrong to be the only one not uploading anything. So she decided to post just the photo. It was nothing more than a whim.