Chapter 21 – Karma (2)

`We have prepared the drinks and desserts you ordered before your visit.’

We were informed over the phone installed in the room that the food we ordered had arrived.

Hyeon Hayeon quickly brought the food and began to spread it on the table in the center of the room.

The room we got was quite spacious and comfortable enough to lie down and relax.

Because the glass was tinted, there was no need to worry about being seen from outside, and there was no CCTV, so it was possible to rest comfortably.

Before I started following Shining Boys, this was a place I often went to with Lee Ji-yeon.

The method is to pay in advance at the counter on the first floor and then reserve a room. I was a little surprised to see that the employee who knew my face was still working, as if he was the store manager.

I glanced at Hyeon Ha-yeon, who was standing next to me and innocently choosing a menu, and wanted to tell the employee who nodded quietly that it wasn’t like that, but I couldn’t.

We ordered two iced Americanos and several of their signature desserts.

Among them, the most popular menu item was a pink heart-shaped strawberry-flavored pancake.

“You look very pretty~”

Recently, taking pictures with a cell phone camera became her new hobby, and she was busy taking pictures.

“If you spray this on and take a picture, it will come out prettier”

“···”

I poured syrup on the heart-shaped pancake and turned it slightly to make it look prettier.

There was a reason why it became popular on social media because it became shiny after spraying pink-colored syrup, probably because it was mixed with pigments.

“···You know very well…”

“···”

I was startled and tried to explain it because she had said it without me knowing.

“Oh, wow, it’s pretty~ I’ll enjoy it. “Oppa!”

“···Yes, I ate a lot”

Hyeon Hayeon put down her cell phone that was trying to take a picture of her and cut her pancake in half.

*

The room was equipped with board games, TV, and other things to enjoy.

While watching TV and talking about the latest popular shows and singers, the idea of ​​playing a board game came up.
While searching the room to see what kind of games there were, I found something that looked like strawberry-flavored vitamins among the board games.

“Uh… That…”

“···Who, I guess someone left it behind”

Since I am an adult and Hyeon Ha-yeon is also an adult, I naturally knew what it was used for.

If it were her usual behavior, she could have passed by without any problems, but seeing her with her head down with her newly red face made my face feel hot too.

Well, it’s not like I’ve never had something like that with Lee Ji-yeon…

For no reason, her face became hotter.

“Well, shall we try this?”

“Yes, yes! Good!”

After putting the condoms away, I picked up the most common Jenga and placed it on the table, and Hyeon Hayeon nodded, saying she liked it without even looking at it.
Fortunately, she was able to avoid the situation thanks to Hyeon Hayeon, who adjusted to me when I unnaturally changed the topic.
Until you take out Jenga

“···Hey oppa, this is…”

“···”

Each time we took turns and took out Jenga one by one, our expressions became more and more determined.

In the first one or two turns, there were only penalties written, such as drinking one drink, but as each turn passed, it was full of phrases that became more embarrassing.

After getting over the awkward situation caused by the condom incident, this time it was Jenga for adults.

Does it make sense for a place where you can enjoy wholesome refreshments to be filled with such obscene items?

It was not an ordinary item that stimulated the imagination with clearly written penalties, even if the text was written appropriately.

I thought that my relationship with Hyeon Ha-yeon might become awkward if it went on any longer.

I have to leave the café quickly.

“···Let’s do something other than this… No, shall we go somewhere else?”

“···”

Her face turned red, and she thought for a while before saying yes.
In the end, she left the room without completing the full time.

The staff smiled happily when they saw us coming out in a hurry with red faces.

I wanted to say no, but I came out quietly.

As I felt the cool breeze, I felt like peace came to my heart.

My eyes met with Hyeon Ha-yeon, who was looking at the bare ground and looking back and forth.

Seeing her startled and rolling her eyes, she thought it couldn’t go on like this.

The final goal today is to lower Hyeon Ha-yeon’s guard and find out why she was trying to rest.

It is clear that it is not a problem of being under magic or of physical condition.

He didn’t look depressed or have any problems, but it’s too early to ask in this situation.

The original plan was to leave the café and watch a movie I had reserved at a nearby movie theater.

Since she was a little short on time, I suggested that we go to the building where the movie theater is, and she said that was good too.

“This is pretty~”

Time passed quickly as I looked at this and that.

She was hesitant at first, but she quickly came back to her bright self again.

There was an outlet in the movie theater building, and there were many handmade accessories and trinkets made by individuals, perhaps because it was an event day.

As it was almost time for the movie, as I was looking around for the last time, an ornament caught my eye.

It was a common type of ring that became one when two pairs were combined.

It’s heart-shaped with a prominent black border, but it looks a bit crude, which makes it stand out.

“I’ll make it cheaper for students~”

A woman who noticed my gaze slyly approached us and stopped us in her soft voice.

“I think this will suit my girlfriend very well~ I’ll give it to you for cheap, so take one~”

“Uh, uh…”

Hyeon Hayeon was embarrassed by her girlfriend’s remarks, so she couldn’t say anything and lowered her head to look at her accessories.

“···Shall I buy you one?”

“Yes!? Oh, no. “I don’t wear them often.”

“Take it with you now. “My boyfriend said he would buy it for me~”

I smiled and picked out the ring I was looking at like a ghost and held it to me.

“···Okay, I’ll buy you one”

“Oh, brother! It’s almost time for the movie! Let’s go quickly!”

I couldn’t resist her dragging me away, saying she would come back later, so I ended up heading to the floor where her movie theater was.

The movie she chose was an ordinary romantic comedy movie that is hard to find these days.

[Mr. Cheolsu… Who is that woman?]

[Young, Younghee! That…]

[Cheolsu, how did this happen?]

[Getting stabbed by a knife… By a knife!!!]

It was about the main character, who was cheating with her innocent face, but ended up being harassed by women who were blinded by jealousy.
It was just a B-grade movie.

“Black…”

I could hear someone desperately trying to hold back tears from next to me.

I took a quick look and saw Hyeon Hayeon watching the movie with tears streaming down from her big eyes.
I couldn’t understand what kind of emotion I had to have to shed so many tears after watching this movie.

Even as the protagonist was dying and vomiting blood, he wiped away the tears of the crying heroines, telling them not to cry, and the heroines who were influenced by his kind heart were calling 119.

This is absurd…

I took out her handkerchief that she had quietly kept and gave it to her.
When she received the handkerchief, she looked at me and, probably because she was embarrassed, quickly took it and wiped her eyes.

The movie has reached its end.

In the end, after the death of the main character, there were female protagonists who became pregnant, but it turned out that the main character, who had no money, had donated sperm to a sperm bank.

“Wow… I’m glad…”

When I saw Hyeon Ha-yeon smiling happily as if she liked the story, I became confused whether I was lacking in sensitivity.

Soon the movie ended, and the ending credits started rolling, and the lights turned on.

She waited for everyone to leave and went to the bathroom, but it took her a while to fix her makeup.

“Uh, were you waiting?”

“No, the line was long, so I just left.”

As she walked down the exit aisle, she asked Hyeon Hayeon what she thought of her movie.

“Wow… I think it’s a real masterpiece.”

“···Really?”

“I loved Cheolsu, but I had no choice but to kill him… It was so sad.”

“… But you still have a child, right?”

“That’s right! Cheolsu is dead, but he still can’t even raise a child. “It would have been a disaster if he had just died!”

I cried so desperately that my eyes were still red.

Watching her film from a different perspective, I thought it was a good thing she wasn’t talented in acting.

If that were the case, she might have become a B-level professional actress.

*

“Let’s take a look over there”

“Goods shovel?”

“Yes, I want to see you.”

She took her to her goods shop inside her movie theater.
While looking at the movie pamphlet, there was a product that caught my eye.

Hyeon Ha-yeon was looking at the items as if it was fascinating.

Looking at her, she approached the clerk and asked carefully.

“Hey, do you have this?”

“Oh, would you like me to wrap it for you?”

“No, just give it to me”

I quickly finished the calculation and stopped Hyeon Hayeon, who was watching with excitement.

“Hayeon, take this”

“Yes? What is this?”

“Open it once”

She received a gift.

The gift I bought is from the movie I just saw.

It was a necklace shaped like a lock and key, and although it looked crude, it was made by a well-known brand.

“Oppa… Are you really giving this to me?”

“It’s in place of the ring from earlier.”

She was so moved that she even had tears in her eyes.

“Oppa, take this.”

Hyeon Hayeon gave me a necklace with a lock.

“···Why are you giving me this?”

“This is a couple necklace. “I can’t wear two by myself!”

He must have been embarrassed even after saying this, his cheeks turning red, and he thrust the lock at me.

“Okay, take it.”

“···Okay, thank you, I’ll keep it well.”

“··I’ll treasure them both for the rest of my life!”

She smiled brightly, looking at her necklace.
I was glad that he seemed to be in a good mood.

I walked out of the movie theater, taking her in a good mood and telling her silly stories.

Originally, Hyeon Hayeon preferred to eat dinner with her family.
So she wanted to watch a movie at her house, but she unexpectedly expressed her intention.

“Oppa, can you buy me just one drink?”

What man could keep his wallet shut after seeing her ask to buy her a drink despite her shyness?
She once again took her heart and pretended that nothing had happened.

“Alcohol? Okay, I’ll buy it for you.”

“Really? Thank you. “Oppa!”

Looking at her cute smile, I thought it would be a good idea to buy her an expensive drink.
Since she’s 20 years old, wouldn’t she have experience drinking alcohol?

“Have you tried drinking alcohol?”

“Um… Once with mom?”

She said that after she turned 20, all she drank was one sip of the beer her mother used to drink.
She had no idea which bar it would be okay to take her to, since she had virtually never drank before.

Thanks to Jiyeon Lee’s rigorous training, I was a much better drinker than others.

Baek Ga-eun, who drinks better than me, is clearly a monster.

“Um… Then do you want to go to my house and have a drink?”

“···Really? Are you okay?”

“You don’t know how much you drink. When you debut, there will be drinking parties, so you have to know how much to drink.”

“Ah…”

As I was heading to her house with her looking a little disappointed, a thought occurred to me.
A manager who takes the celebrity in charge to his house where he lives alone to drink…

Uh? Isn’t this dangerous?

“Oppa, what’s wrong?”

The woman, holding beer and soju in both hands, tilted her head and asked.
How can I quit when I’m so excited?

“···Nothing, are you going to drink that?”

···I haven’t debuted yet, so it’ll be okay.

*

“Ta-da!”

“···”

Hyeon Ha-yeon, who made the sound of glass crashing pleasantly and gulped down the drink with great excitement, was truly a heroine herself.

“Wow, it’s refreshing~ Don’t you drink it?”

“Uh? Uh… You should drink it”

Looking at the bottles piled up next to the table, she realized she had made a big mistake.

“Wow, I already drank it all… But I have one more bottle!”

“···”

She wasn’t drinking well.
Her droopy eyes, slightly twitching tongue, and flushed cheeks were indicators of how drunk she was.
“Oh, I need to drink more, why am I so sleepy?”

“···Get some rest”

“Is that so? Shall we rest? Then… I’ll rest for a bit…”

In the end, she lay down.

She was sure to fall asleep before long, so she quietly recalled the conversation from earlier.

From about the time I finished about half a bottle of soju, I noticed that Hyeon Hayeon wasn’t drinking well.
She was drunk and said why she wanted to rest today.

`I have never missed school before. ‘

She was sincere.

Of course, perfect attendance was a given, but she was so conscientious that no matter how sick she was, she would come home from school in pain.

She said that after Baek Ga-eun came in, she seemed to have developed a competitive spirit and ran even harder, and she said that someone encouraged her to say that she wanted to take a day off.
There were many candidates who could think of who had cheated on her, but she focused on her story.

`I was planning to rest without any plans, but I was so grateful that my brother took care of me like this. ‘

‘···Receiving gifts’

As I watched her smile brightly as I touched the keys around her neck, I thought I did a great job giving her a gift.

I began to hear her even breathing from where she was lying down.
Hyeon Hayeon must have fallen asleep.

“Shall we clean it up?”

She had to be returned to her house when she woke up, so she got up carefully and started cleaning up the alcohol and snacks that were lying around.

`Beep beep beep`

Was it half-cleared? I heard the sound of a door lock opening from somewhere.

I was startled for a moment, but I saw a scene of the door lock being opened on TV.

Now that I think about it, there is no way that anyone knows that I recently changed my home password.

Even if there was, who would come to my house at this time?

`Beep···Beep··Beep···’

The sound of the door lock was heard once again.

When I watched at the TV, a car commercial was playing.

Huh?

`Beep… Beep~`

“Kim Cho-in, why aren’t you answering the phone…”

“···”

Why is he here?