Chapter 69 – Heist Setup (3)

Heist Ready (3)

The 6th floor is illuminated by bright lights instead of flashlights and dim candles.

Thud- thud-

Even at night when the sun disappeared, the lights that still distinguish the surroundings naturally made my steps light.

Looking at the darkened hallway every night, I feel relieved that the congestion that has accumulated has completely disappeared.

It was a part where you could clearly feel how much power was taking up in the item of ‘quality of life’.

I checked the weapon storage room once again after pouring out all the royal authority I had so far.

Dozens of bottles of soju, which were yellowing inside the tightly closed door, were still vivid in my memory.

Apart from feeling relieved, I looked down again at the items in my hand, feeling a sense of emptiness.

The food that might have been the most loot in the student hall.

… I’m not sure if you can call this food…

Even though there was no bottled water in the club room, the boxes containing this food were overflowing.

Soju and beer that were still piled up even after the male survivors of the student union poured it out.

I was taking one of the beer cans into the bedroom.

Awesome profit!

The familiar noise of opening the first reading room approached before my eyes.

Beyond the wide open iron door, the dark bedroom greeted me again.

A spacious bedroom where the bright light from the hallway cannot penetrate.

I closed the door, staring at the mood lamp on top of the drawer that was subtly lighting up the bedroom.

Thud-!

A real bed stolen from the girls’ common room, identical to the lighting fixtures that were captured from the girls’ common room.

I made eye contact with Cha Seol-hee, who was sitting on a real bed with a soft mattress, not a cot.

“…”

Cha Seol-hee looked up at me as the iron door slammed shut.

Perhaps because of the soft mood lighting, her face was not revealed very brightly.

The gaze that had been staring blankly at me shifts to the can of beer I lifted slightly.

“… Beer?”

She looked at her can of beer with her slightly widened eyes, sat down next to her and lightly tore open her carton.

Cheeky-!

I put the remaining can of beer on the drawer while looking at Cha Seol-hee receiving the can beer.

A can of beer in my hand.

I liked the cool feel of it as it came out of the refrigerator.

The round water droplets dripping on the surface of the beer can, which can be clearly seen even in the mood light.

“I might not see you for quite a while.”
“…”
“So a little farewell party of sorts?”

Chee-ik-!

The familiar sound that came out coolly as soon as I opened the opener of the beer was now very awkward.

Bubble bubbling— the cheerful sound of carbonic acid bubbling in a can of beer.

“…”

Just quietly watching me open a can of beer, she put her hand on the can of beer in my eyes.

Chee-ik-!

The sound of carbonation coming out of her canned beer.

After opening the can of beer, I looked at Seolhee Cha, who was holding the can of beer with both hands, and quietly opened my mouth.

“What’s wrong with your face again?”
“… What’s wrong with my face?”
“No—I’m a little embarrassed because it wasn’t the expression I expected.”

A slightly tilted head and narrow eyes.

I went a little closer to her face and continued talking.

“Why is your expression so ambiguous when you say you’re finally bringing the Cha Ha-yan you’ve been longing for?”
“… It’s not ambiguous at all. Are you still very happy?”
“…”

An answer that can be answered with the eyes without having to say it verbally.

As she watched my narrowing eyes, she hurriedly continued her words as if protesting.

“Really-. It’s the day when my efforts are finally rewarded, so there’s no reason not to be happy.”

Just-

She shrugged her shoulders slightly and briefly lifted her can of beer in her hand.

“I don’t like alcohol that much…”
“Then shall we change to soju?”
“You mean you just hate alcohol?”
“Oh, so what about wheat?”
“No―whether it’s wheat, soju, or wine, it’s just the alcohol itself—”

Continuing her speech, she suddenly stopped her words and narrowed her eyes.

My smiling face reflected in her pupils.

“Then you don’t like alcohol itself, but do you like drinking parties?”
“… Stop it, my fists are shaking.”
“I’m asking this because I’m genuinely curious—there are a lot of women who hate alcohol but like drinking parties.”
“… At that time, it would be much more beneficial to go straight to the drama at home.”

Oh…

Her mouth naturally rounded at her answer.

I muttered in pure admiration for her unexpected reply.

“Is this why the High Queens were at the top?”
“…”
“Come to think of it, I don’t remember hearing about the dating rumors about High Queens. I’m sure the paparazzi and reporters would have clung to it.”
“Accommodation, work, van, accommodation, work, van, but do you have any pictures for reporters to take?”
“Then you only watched movies and dramas at the dorm? All members?”
“No. It was only me and Baekhan, and the other unnies—”
“Wow—that’s great.”

I quickly cut off the unnecessary words and changed the subject again to the direction I wanted.

“Is this the level of being born to be a complete idol? Isn’t it fate or vocation or something like that?”
“Something else, fate and vocation…”

As if frightened by my words, she slightly frowned, but a faint smile leaked out.

“There were a lot of tiring things because of that. If another group only spreads dating rumors, their fans will bring our group and curse at us for not being professional like the High Queens–and then, the fans who are offended by that curse will come back with white hair and male idols forcibly woven together and curse…”
“It’s kind of complicated here and there, too. But are those cold white frills real?”
“… Really? It’s just that White is not good at refusing, so small misunderstandings have accumulated. Besides, who dares to keep my eyes open?”

Widely-!

Cha Seol-hee was excited and pointed at my eyes with both fingers and was talking like a rapid-fire gun.

I looked at her bumping into her can of beer in the middle of her conversation and very casually passing her beer.

Gulp- gulp-

Cha Seol-hee, trembling, comes into view.

“I heard you hate alcohol itself, but you drink much better than you think?”
“… This is a bit of a special case.”

As if Cha Seol-hee protested against my teasing, she took another sip.

“It’s a farewell party. I have no one else to drink with.”
“That’s right.”
“Yes? And even if I said I wouldn’t drink anyway, I had to drink when you told me to.”

Rather, after emptying a can of beer in an instant, she held out her hand to me.

I laughed and held the can of beer left on the drawer in her hand.

Chee-ik-!

Cha Seol-hee opens a can of beer again and drinks it.

I looked at her neck, which was constantly swaying along with the rising can of beer, then stared at the drawer again.

There are still plenty of canned beers left there.

Gently shaking my can of beer, which I had barely drank, I started talking again.

Sometimes she narrows her eyes at my teasing chatter, and other times she smiles with her eyes looking far away as if reminiscing about the past.

Widely-! Widely-!

Like that, in the middle of the story, as if it was natural, the cans of beer collided with each other, and the slightly distorted cans of beer piled up in the drawer.

And the owner of all those canned beers was Cha Seol-hee.

“And at that time, we were rookies who didn’t know anything—”

I still looked at her cheeks as she smiled a little as she told me the story of High Queens days.

Cheeks and earlobes already burning red.

Even while looking at me, the blurry pupils that were slightly misaligned and the gestures that were noticeably larger than before.

I was scared because of alcohol and drunkenness.

It slowly spreads throughout my body without even realizing it, and the feeling is not bad at all, but rather good.

“This is a farewell party where I leave for a while to find Cha Ha-yan, isn’t it just talking about you too much?”

A gulp—a whisper quietly permeated Cha Seol-hee as she gulped down her beer.

“… Ah.”

Taking the beer can from her mouth at my chanting, she gave a small sigh and laughed.

Cha Seol-hee’s usual expression is like a joke that can’t be found at all.

“Hehe- did I just talk about myself too much?”

An uncontrollable laugh bursts out at the slightly rising end note.

I completely let go and nodded her head at her smirking smile.

“Okay. If I go looking for Cha Ha-yan, I might not see him again for a little while.”
“…”

A very sensitive topic that she brings up again.

After I said that I would leave to find Cha Ha-yan, I kept thinking of her complicated face.

The reward of her contract, which she had sincerely desired, and which she had therefore endured all her humiliation and tried to keep.

Even when she said that she would reward her, she couldn’t show that she was completely pleased.

I quietly thought about the meaning of Cha Ha-yan to Cha Seol-hee.

Cha Seol-hee’s basic psychology is ‘lack of affection’.

And her family, ‘Cha Ha-in’, must have been one of the few precious beings with whom she could give and receive her affection.

But now she had me.

Whether it was intentional or unintentional― anyway, a new existence that gave me a very vivid and clear affection.

It would make her feel very complicated that the being would go a little far away to find her tea white.

“To be honest, I still don’t know if this is the right thing to do. Almost from the southern end to the northern end, I saw a rather shocking scene at the front door.”

Her mouth, which had been chattering without realizing the passage of time until now, was silent.

Now I opened my mouth to her who was just looking at me with her blurry eyes and started talking about her.

I shook my head as if it were nonsense and spread her arms a little wide.

“Something much bigger than this, like a Hulk, was guarding the front door. There’s such a baby at the front door, but who knows what’s at the north end? Even if it’s not that, I don’t know anything about anything far from the library.”

… Might be a bit too risky.

Her pupils were clearly shaken by the small flowing ending.

I continued to drive the story to the dangers of fulfillment rather than fulfillment of the contract.

He deliberately made her aware of her debt and continued to touch her hazy mind.

In fact, it was not so easy to go to the Agricultural College to find ‘Cha Hayan’.

The biggest anxiety factor is that we are still not sure if the camp Cha Ha-yan belongs to is safe.

Cha Ha-yan is a person who is not strange at all even if he died a long time ago.

I felt that point even more clearly while handling the student union building this time.

The existence of a pretender and his underlings who run amok in the fairly usable infrastructure created by him.

Even though the College of Agriculture had already fallen into the hands of the remaining members of the university, there was nothing much to say.

Also, if the map of hell similar to that of the student center spreads out, there won’t be much significance in getting Cha Ha-yan back.

Cha Ha-yan must have already died or been terribly ruined.

“… No.”

And whispers approaching me as I was gently emphasizing the dangers of fulfillment.

Seolhee Cha shook her head and denied my words.

“… You will never die.”

A sweet voice that is still pleasant to listen to even though you have surrendered to drunkenness.

“… Why?”

I couldn’t help but ask back to that strange certainty.

At my question, Seolhee Cha shrugged her trembling shoulders with a small smile.

“Just… Feeling?”

Cha Seol-hee continues to laugh as if her answer is absurd.

I felt a strange sense of deja vu from her answer.

This conversation, apparently, was a conversation that seemed to have been exchanged somewhere before.