The Field Trip Experience Part 2
I figured all that frantic running around would let me score plenty of time, but…
Somehow, even after we handed in the hanboks, there was still barely any time left. It was razor-thin.
“Whew… I’m so hot from running…”
“Me too…”
“You guys moved super fast, but why does time feel like it’s slipping away so fast?”
“Yeah…”
Even though it was still September, the heat from all that running had made us sweat up pretty bad.
While we were slowly cooling down, a girl from the same class walked up to me.
“Hey…”
“Hm?”
“Siwu, use this.”
“Ah… thanks.”
She handed me a tissue and kept going past me without a second thought.
I just shrugged it off.
ㅡClick.
“…?”“
Sia had suddenly appeared right in front of me, staring straight at me with those big, sparkling eyes.
“Um… why are you looking at me like that?”“
“Is that girl from our class your friend now?”“
Sia suddenly asked about the girl who had just given me the tissue.
“We’re not that close… I only talk to her when we’re grouped for group projects.”
I answered honestly because we really weren’t that close.
“I see… So that’s how it is.”“
Sia still looked a little suspicious, but at least she wasn’t suspicious anymore.
“I feel kinda bad…”
“Hehe, don’t worry. I was just trying to hand you my handkerchief and you stole it first, so I was being a little mischievous.”“
“Ah…”
Sia pulled out the handkerchief she was holding and showed it to me.
I thought about it for a second, then stuffed the tissue into my pocket and took her handkerchief.
“Thanks. I’ll use it well.”“
“Hehe, that’s the spirit.”“
I wiped my sweat with Sia’s handkerchief and let out a long sigh.
“Everyone, come over here!”
Our teacher gathered us up.
“I just got the final report, and every single one of you in our class has finished! Hooray!”
“Ooooh!!”“
“Quiet now. So free time is from 11:30 to 2:00! Eat lunch, take more photos, or do whatever you want, but be back here by 2:00 sharp!”
“Yes!!”“
“Also, the sooner you all come, the sooner you get to leave. Got it?”“
“Yessss!!”“
Free time was officially ours now.
But it wasn’t the kind of free time you could just relax in.
Because we had to move in pairs.
What I never expected happened right then.
“Okay, we’re going separate ways. You two have fun by yourselves.”“
“I’m so jealous.”“
“We’re going this way.”“
The three of us from the same pair started heading off in different directions.
Since no one had said anything like this during our meeting or this morning, I was surprised.
“Eh? You guys are going separate?”“
“Well, there’s a couple, so of course we have to go our own ways. We can’t join you.”“
“What… I’d love to see a couple being all lovey-dovey, but…”
“We’re not jealous. It’s just that we’d be too busy to join you anyway. We’re leaving now.”“
The three of them chatted about where they wanted to go and disappeared like the wind.
“Eh…”
I was still staring blankly, thinking maybe it was normal for couples to do that.
ㅡSoftly
Sia’s arm slipped around mine and pulled me close.
When I looked down, Sia was smiling at me with sparkling eyes.
“Well, then let’s go on our own little date, just the two of us.”“
“Sure… okay.”“
To be honest, I was shocked that only the two of us had been left behind, but I was actually glad we got to be alone.
Of course, it was because they were Sia’s friends, but the real reason I was relieved was that I wasn’t used to this kind of situation and I’d probably be nervous.
Spending time with Sia, who made me feel comfortable, was a thousand times better.
“Want to eat something?”“
“Hmm… nothing sounds good right now…”
“Then how about we walk and see if anything catches your eye?”“
“Sure, sounds fun.”“
We started walking down the street.
Actually, I had already picked out some restaurants Sia would probably like, but I thought wandering around and randomly entering a place that caught my eye was way more fun.
As we walked, office workers started appearing on the streets.
It was almost noon, so people were heading out for lunch.
It didn’t matter if we were just sightseeing, but the problem was that once people started coming out, the restaurants would run out of seats fast.
“Sia, let’s walk faster.”“
“Hm?”“
“People are starting to head to the restaurants for lunch.”“
“Okay! Let’s do what Siwoo says.”“
Sia was quick to follow my lead, and we quickly picked up our pace toward one of the places I had spotted.
But…
“Hmm…”
“Hmm…”
There weren’t many good options.
Of course there were restaurants, since there was a big office building nearby, but most of them were the kind we couldn’t easily join.
Sundubu jjigae places, hangover soup spots, full-course meals…
They weren’t impossible to eat at, but they were the kind of ordinary places we could have gone to back home anyway. It didn’t feel like a real tourist experience.
Sia looked a little uneasy too.
Now that more people were coming out, we had to pick somewhere, but the restaurants I had already checked were closed today.
I had no choice but to keep walking with no direction in mind.
But I couldn’t just stand there blankly anymore, so I started looking around quickly.
“Siwu, let’s try this place over here.”“
“Where?”“
“Over there. It looks like it’ll be good.”“
Sia pointed across the street to a shabu-shabu restaurant.
It wasn’t a chain, and there were people inside, so I figured it was worth a try.
“Sure, let’s go.”“
We walked straight in, got a seat, and ordered shabu-shabu. We waited for the food to arrive.
Waiting was boring, so I showed Sia the photos I had posted in our class group chat from Gyeongbokgung Palace earlier, and we scrolled through them together.
Turns out she had actually posted not just the good ones, but all the ones where the pictures came out bad too.
It made the viewing way more fun.
“Oh! Look at Siwoo’s eyes closed in this one.”“
“Where? Oh, that was when something suddenly got in my eye and I flinched without realizing.”“
“Ah… so that’s when it happened.”“
“Wow, that composition looks pretty.”“
“Right? I said this one was better.”“
“Too bad… but this one came out nicely, right?”“
“Well… yeah.”“
We compared photos taken from different angles.
While we were slowly looking at them, my eyes kept drifting back to Sia’s photos.
Of course it was because they were her photos, but the part that caught my eye was that a lot of the ones Sia had marked NG had her staring straight at me.
It was about 80 to 90 percent of the time she looked at me before the shot went bad.
If it was just a coincidence, I wouldn’t have thought much of it, but it felt like Sia had done it on purpose.
I was torn about whether I should ask, but my curiosity won out.
“Sia, when I look at these photos, you’re staring at me in all of them… why?”“
“Which part?”“
Sia took my phone and looked at the photos.
“Of course I was looking at your handsome face. There were a lot of those… How did you figure out that I was staring at you?”“
“Eh?”“
“I mean… how did you even find the photos where my gaze is turned toward you? There are so many.”“
“Ah… that’s… um…”
I was trying to come up with an excuse when the staff member arrived at the perfect timing.
When I checked the other tables, it looked like they had only a small amount, so we added one more portion.
The amount of meat and vegetables looked plenty.
The broth was already bubbling, so we naturally focused on eating the shabu-shabu.
The way we ate shabu-shabu was surprisingly simple.
We just passed the skewers back and forth in turns.
Because of how shabu-shabu is cooked, you need someone to hold it, so it can be hard to eat on your own, but we had talked about it beforehand, so we took turns slowly adding meat and vegetables.
It wasn’t like we planned it together, but we just ended up passing them to each other naturally.
The meat and vegetables disappeared in no time, and we were all stuffed.
The broth had just started boiling, so it was still super hot.
Both Sia and I blew on our food like hamsters, cheeks puffed up.
We both aren’t good with hot things, so we eat slowly when it’s really hot.
While we were eating slowly…
“Huu… huu~”“
Watching Sia blow on her food made me think of a cute hamster with puffed cheeks.
There was this weird, mysterious charm that made me want to poke her cheeks.
Of course I wouldn’t actually do it, but maybe someday I’ll try.
After we finished eating everything, our bellies were full.
Sia looked happy too, which was a relief.
When we checked the time outside the restaurant, there were still about twenty minutes left until 2:00.
I had thought about going to a cafe, but with the time we had left, that wasn’t possible.
“Sia, let’s walk slowly to help with digestion.”“
“Sure!”
We started walking back to the meeting place at a leisurely pace.
While we were walking super slowly to digest, Sia suddenly spoke to me with a playful voice right next to me.
“Siwu.”“
“Hm?”“
“Later, you have to tell me why you were staring so closely at my face!”
She said that and skipped ahead.
Every time I saw that, I understood exactly why she was a succubus.