Is This a Mandatory Course?
With the meeting arranged thanks to Su-ho’s sudden push, I was shaking like crazy right now.
It was my first time seeing her without our moms around. Even our text chats felt awkward, so the idea of an actual in-person meeting on top of that had me completely frozen.
What the hell was I supposed to do today?
After the movie it would be lunchtime, so we could eat then. After that…
I had no clue.
“Jung-woo.”
A voice called from behind me. I took a deep breath and turned around, locking eyes with Chae-yeon as she waved and walked over.
She looked different from the last time I’d seen her. There was a strange newness to her, like I was seeing her for the first time.
“Sorry, traffic was terrible and I ran late.”
“It’s fine. I just got here too.”
The truth was I had arrived thirty minutes early because I was so nervous, but that little secret would stay with me.
“The movie was at ten, right? We should head in now.”
“What did you book? You said there was one you wanted to see.”
“You’ll find out once we’re inside.”
She was obviously trying to keep it hidden. I really hoped it wasn’t that one. If it was, I might actually start crying and run home.
Carrying that small seed of dread, I followed her into the theater.
“This is the movie we’re watching.”
The poster on her phone showed a black background and a person with a deathly pale face, eyes bulging as they stared straight forward.
“Chae-yeon… is this a horror movie?”
“Yeah. I don’t really watch them either, but everyone says this one’s super popular right now.”
“If you don’t handle horror well, let’s switch to something else. It’d be a waste of money if we can’t enjoy it.”
“It’s starting soon. We can’t cancel the tickets now.”
Ah, I was screwed.
That was how I ended up sitting in the theater against my will. It was still the ad reel, yet an eerie feeling was already crawling over my skin.
“You don’t watch horror movies well?”
Excuse me, Chae-yeon. Shouldn’t that question come before you buy the tickets? And even if you ask now, what exactly is it supposed to change?!
Part of me wanted to brag that I was totally fine with them, but everything would be exposed in five minutes anyway, so I simply nodded with the truth.
“Still, they say this one isn’t that scary compared to other horror films.”
“Then why is it so popular?”
“The story’s supposed to be really well-crafted. You should be able to enjoy it.”
Even those words brought zero comfort.
I was the guy who had covered his eyes the entire time watching The Wailing. And that movie wasn’t even classified as horror. The one we were about to see was.
Yeah. Game over. GG.
The ads finally ended. The theater lights dimmed and the intro began. The chilling background score and atmosphere already made me want to go straight home. In that moment, I missed my mom more than anyone.
I’d make it out alive… right?
“Ah, that was fun. Jung-woo, you were okay, right?”
“After looking at my face, you can still ask that?”
“You turned into a zombie in just a couple of hours.”
Still, since I was in front of a girl, I had tried my hardest to endure and hide the fear. It wasn’t easy.
Every time something popped out—
“Uwaaak!! What the…”
—I’d scream like that.
Or when the creepy music swelled and the tension built, I’d cover my eyes and mutter,
“Why is this happening again? Can someone please save me?”
In short, I had taken my image, smashed it to pieces, and fed it to the dogs.
Chae-yeon got startled a few times too, but compared to me jumping at every single thing, hers barely registered.
Just what were people thinking when they decided horror movies were an essential couple activity?
“I’m not hanging out with you anymore.”
“Sorry… Pfft!!”
“Look at you, laughing at someone else’s fear. I’m going home.”
“I’ll buy lunch.”
“Then I guess I have to keep hanging out. Let’s go eat pasta.”
“Sure. You like pasta?”
“It’s my favorite noodle dish.”
We reached the restaurant, ordered our food, and I stepped outside for a quick call. I needed to talk to the mastermind behind this whole arrangement—Kim Su-ho.
“Aigoo, To-sin! How’s the date going?”
“I’m in deep trouble right now.”
“Why? Did you guys actually watch a horror movie together?”
“Yeah. We watched a horror movie.”
“Then I bet our To-sin was all ‘Kyaa, so scary!!’ and jumped straight into her arms, huh?”
“I did get pretty scared, but it wasn’t that bad.”
“C’mon, triggering a girl’s protective instincts is your whole charm, To-sin.”
“I shouldn’t have called you.”
“Sorry~ Why’d you call then?”
“I think we got a little closer than before. Just a bit.”
“That’s good to hear. Now go enjoy the rest of your date. I’m heading over to help at my parents’ shop. Bye.”
I wanted to talk a little longer, but he hung up without mercy. It felt like he was telling me to figure out the rest on my own.
Well, it was my situation. Leaving the other person waiting while I stayed on the phone too long would have been rude anyway.
When I walked back into the restaurant and headed toward our table, I caught sight of Chae-yeon from behind. She was watching an overseas baseball game on her phone.
She really has always loved baseball, back then and now.
The sight of her right now was… exactly like watching a typical dad staring at sports while he waited for his meal.
“You’re back? The drinks came out first.”
“Thanks, I’ll enjoy it. I get to eat something delicious thanks to you.”
“If I buy you one meal like this, does that count as payment for dragging you to a horror movie?”
“If you pull that again, I really will cry and run home.”
“Whoa? Then I wanna record it. I could watch it whenever I’m feeling down.”
“I’m telling Mom.”
“I have a mom too, you know.”
“Excuse me. If you say it like that, what does that make me?”
Chae-yeon’s sudden talent for turning people into punching bags made a chuckle slip out of me. Still, talking like this brought back the old days.
When I was little I had been incredibly timid, so I got teased a lot by the other elementary school kids.
Back then Chae-yeon would always side with the boys and join in on teasing me.
“It’s weird that we’re finally meeting up alone without our moms.”
“Right? We always met with them when we were kids.”
“It feels really new. I never imagined you’d be the one asking me to watch a movie.”
I hadn’t expected it either.
Even though I had cursed Su-ho’s sudden meddling at the time, I was pretty satisfied with how things had turned out.
If he hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have had this chance to grow closer.
“Next time you come down to Gwangju, let’s meet up again.”
“Yeah. Hanging out like this is actually really fun.”
Our food arrived and we both took pictures of our dishes. Moments like these made our hands automatically reach for the camera, wanting to capture the memory.
“They serve water in plastic bottles here.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of unique.”
There were drinks too, but I wanted water first, so I grabbed the bottle cap and twisted. No matter how hard I turned, it refused to budge.
Had they put a lock on it or something? Why wouldn’t it open?
“Want me to open it for you?”
“I’ve almost… got it.”
“Your face is turning red. Here, I’ll do it.”
The cap spun open effortlessly the moment it reached Chae-yeon’s hand.
What had all my effort been for?
“Th-that was you hitting the final blow.”
“Oh, really? Let’s go with that then.”
“It’s true!! I had it almost open and you just finished it easily!”
Seeing Chae-yeon laugh while looking at me made my face flush for no reason.
The pride of a man had become a star in the sky and vanished without a trace.
Actually, that kind of thing had stopped existing the moment we walked into the horror movie, hadn’t it?
“We’ve finished eating. What should we do now?”
“Want to walk around a bit? It’s been forever since I’ve been downtown, so I want to look around.”
“Sure, let’s do that.”
Since I came downtown often with my friends, I naturally took on the role of guide while we strolled with Chae-yeon.
At one point she stopped dead in front of something, refusing to move.
“Is there something you want to try?”
“I want to eat tanghulu for dessert.”
“Tanghulu? I’ve never tried it. Let’s get some.”
My first tanghulu ever.
I had seen people on YouTube eating it happily and came in with high expectations, but it didn’t even live up to half of them.
The artificial sweetness piled on top of already sweet fruit was so intense it felt like my tongue might go numb.
Even though it was supposed to be crispy outside and soft inside, the combined taste while chewing was surprisingly disappointing.
Wouldn’t it have been better to just eat plain fruit?
“It’s edible. I probably couldn’t eat a lot, but one or two seems fine.”
Well, if she thought it was okay, that was what mattered.
We kept walking together until the sun began to set. We had met in the morning and spent the whole day properly enjoying ourselves.
“It was really fun. Having a guy friend besides you felt new.”
“It’s similar for me. This is my first time hanging out like this.”
“I won’t be able to come to Gwangju for a while. I have some busy stuff.”
“That’s too bad. Then should I come up to Daejeon?”
“Huh?! No, you don’t have to.”
“I’ll come when I have time. It feels weird if we only meet when you come to Gwangju.”
Thinking of it as a trip to Daejeon where I also got to see Chae-yeon made it no big deal.
I was curious about her school too.
“I’m heading back. Let’s meet again next time.”
“Yeah. See you next time. I’ll text you.”
I had worried whether a sudden arrangement like this would be okay, but it felt like a precious memory that would stay with me.
I had to brag to the others.
I opened the voice-call app, Cons Code, and entered the writers’ group room where everyone was gathered.
“Guys, today was pretty fun. So what happened was…”