Date (3)
Is it because of the rising alcohol?
Before I knew it, we were both lost in each other’s voices and gazes.
Suyeon would sigh while immersed in the crisis Seowoo was facing.
Conversely, on the day she was acknowledged, he would let out a groan.
The most vital period of life.
A friend of the opposite sex I met in a place where the world is upside down and lives hang by a thread.
If I say I have no feelings for you, that would definitely be a lie.
Tap.
“Ah!”
“Are you okay?”
Suyeon, who had been reaching for the wine, accidentally knocked over the bottle.
Without thinking, she reflexively reached for the napkin.
Hands crossed in mid-air.
Fingers touched, and a brief warmth was felt in that short moment.
Seowoo, startled, looked at her face.
Perhaps because of the body heating up, Suyeon’s face was flushed red.
Combined with the restaurant’s lighting, it created a somewhat seductive atmosphere.
“What is it~ You didn’t have to pull away like that.”
“Suyeon-ah… you should stop drinking.”
Her eyes were sticky, and she acted coquettish.
Seowoo pretended not to notice.
Although the alcohol wasn’t familiar to him, the intoxication had risen, but not to the extent of Suyeon.
More than anything, she had forgotten the sight of her getting drunk on beer alone.
“No~ I can drink more!”
Tsk, even her tongue was twisted.
It would be better to get up from the seat before it got harder.
“Hyung-nim, are you okay with Hyung-su-ssi…?”
“…Hyung-su-ssi? Bold, you came at just the right time. Here, take this. It’s for the food.”
Seowoo handed over a few gold coins and lifted the still-conscious Suyeon.
She kept murmuring something, but her tongue was twisted, so he couldn’t understand what she meant.
“Then, I’ll be going first.”
“Please take care, Hyung-nim.”
“Yeah, thanks for today.”
Seowoo bowed 90 degrees neatly to Bold, who was standing straight, and came out to the street.
“Hehe… Seowoo’s back is warm.”
“Good, if it’s cold, you’ll catch a cold.”
When there’s a problem at work, it shouldn’t be. Normally, even skinship would be cautious, but because of the intoxication, he didn’t hesitate to carry Suyeon.
“Do you want anything? I’ll buy it for you.”
After all, the money here can’t be used for a lifetime.
Most of the personal assets given as salary are spent before you die.
Originally, there’s no right to buy real estate, so no need for large sums.
“…Buy it.”
“What? What do you want me to buy?”
“Buy a ring.”
A ring?
Do friends buy rings for each other?
Even outside, there was no time to watch dramas or comics.
Seowoo thought it was strange.
“Okay. In exchange, let’s sober up quickly.”
“No~ I want to stay like this~ This place is good.”
“Just leave it here?”
“If you can lower me, lower me!”
“Ouch! I’m sorry! Stop! Stop!”
“Hehe…!”
Suyeon hugged Seowoo’s neck tightly, and only after he tapped her did she release her strength.
For some reason, she laughed out loud, even bursting into laughter.
“Now, really come down. We’re almost at the shop.”
“U… I don’t want to come down…”
“Then I’ll go back.”
“Aah! No! I’ll come down right away!”
“That’s how you have to come down.”
“Hmph, you’re cunning.”
“That’s not something you should say.”
Seowoo entered the jewelry store with “Jewelry Store” written large.
“…Welcome.”
The owner, who had been trying to welcome the guest brightly, stopped upon realizing he was human.
In response, he gave a light bow without answering.
This way, both owner and guest could proceed professionally without hassle.
“I came to look at some rings.”
The owner quietly showed the rings displayed in the glass showcase.
“Pick one.”
“Um~ I like it when you choose for me, Seowoo.”
“I don’t know how to look well.”
“The gift isn’t about being pretty. It’s about the heart.”
After hearing Suyeon’s words, Seowoo nodded somewhat and looked back at the display.
Plain and flashy designs, various rings of different sizes.
‘This one is too flashy… this one is too plain…?’
Actually, they all looked the same, so he couldn’t just pick randomly. He thought a bit more carefully.
“Eh? How much is this?”
“One gold coin.”
The price made his mouth open wide.
He picked a plain platinum ring, but the price wasn’t plain.
The research lab that paid one gold coin per ring had a perfect sense of money collapsing.
Of course, Seowoo now was the same.
“Then, I’ll take this.”
“Understood. Then, I’ll measure your girlfriend’s finger size.”
“…Yes, please.”
Actually, he wanted to counter ‘No? Just friends.’ but considering the opponent was a vampire, he barely held it in.
Even Suyeon, who had been in the research lab for a while, would think this is normal and look to the side.
She was covering her mouth with both hands, with a touched expression.
“…”
What?
Is it really?
Since he didn’t want to push the atmosphere, he just let it go.
The owner, who had been measuring Suyeon’s left finger, opened his mouth again.
“Size 9. Originally, we would start custom order, but since there’s a cancellation today, there’s stock left. It fits your size perfectly, so shall we give it as is?”
The owner added that the price would be slightly discounted.
Seowoo sent a chin gesture to Suyeon to choose.
“Yes, just give me what’s here.”
“Thank you…”!
Even though the return rate for jewelry was there, the owner didn’t want to leave it as bad stock, so his face lit up.
After all, happiness from money comes before disgust.
When Seowoo paid, the owner handed over a beautifully wrapped ring case.
“Come again~!”
“Yes, take care.”
He couldn’t ignore the vampire greeting cheerfully.
“Here, gift.”
“No, are you just giving this?”
“Then…?”
“Of course, I have to put it on myself!”
“Okay.”
Yeah, let’s do as you want.
When people do it, they have to do it properly.
He opened the packaging and the case.
Silvery shining platinum.
Suyeon extended her left hand proudly but shyly.
Where was the finger size measurement from earlier?
He glanced at the hands of vampires passing by the bustling street.
‘Most of them wear on the left ring finger.’
Seowoo inputted that into his mind and nodded slightly.
He had thought about what to say.
“…Thank you for always helping even in unseen places. I hope you understand that this is my true heart and feelings.”
The ring slid gently towards the ring finger.
Since the size fit perfectly, this was the right answer.
“Eh…?”!
Suyeon, whose face turned red like a beet, was at a loss.
Did she like the gift so much?
Seowoo didn’t know what the ring on the left ring finger meant until a bit later…
Then some time later…
“Hehe…”
The laughter didn’t fade.
Even on the way back to the dorm, he wondered how many times she had turned the ring.
When returning, they decided to have a one-hour interval.
Ultimately, Suyeon arrived home first.
She skillfully put the card key in the door lock and opened the door.
“U~ We had fun.”
She stretched her arms in the entrance.
It had been a while since she decorated it like this, and she liked her face that had become a bit prettier.
Just as she was about to take off her shoes haphazardly and change clothes.
“Wait a minute.”
The room was silent.
Even the sound of clothes rustling didn’t come.
But something was different.
Documents on the desk slightly tilted.
A drawer slightly open.
There was a sign of someone intruding.
“Excuse me…?”
No echo in the room.
There was a sign of someone entering.
But no sign of leaving yet.
One thing was clear.
…There was definitely a guest hiding here.
Suyeon’s head slowly rose.
Even in the darkness, red eyes glowing brightly were staring at her.
“Kyaa!”
Ku-dang-tang!
The intruder who fell from the ceiling like a blanket was a vampire.
“Your clever mouth is tempting my life.”
“Kek…! Ku-eok…”
The vampire covering his lower face with a mask was strangling Suyeon’s neck.
“Hmph, I didn’t know a ‘Nest’ stray had sneaked into our research lab. As expected, the director’s intuition was right. If I hadn’t known, I would have lived a bit longer. Idiot.”
“Sa, sa…ve…”
“I don’t know what you’re saying. Well, okay, I’ll listen to a human’s last words that lasted 5 years.”
It was a moment when he loosened his hand with a smile as if he was being kind.
“Kukuk… Kyahaha!”
A sinister smile flashed on Suyeon’s face.
Her back was chilling for no reason because it was so eerie.
“You must be crazy.”
“Hehe… Crazy? Me? I don’t know what you said earlier.”
Her right eye, which usually covered normally, turned red.
That eye she had been hiding.
“You, I’ll spare you specially because you look useful.”
“H, hybrid! Why!!”
“That’s something you don’t need to know.”
In the changed atmosphere, the technique engraved in her pupils bloomed.
An inescapable brainwashing magic dug into the vampire’s brain and central nervous system.
“Eok…! Keo-eok…”
His mental resistance coming from within appeared as physical resistance.
Then what?
The intruder, who was at most lower vampire level, had no magic resistance.
Soon, the vampire’s eyes, whose mind collapsed in a few seconds, became hazy.
“Then… now it’s my turn to ask?”
He had no intention of being lenient with a thief who coveted someone else’s things.