Amusement Park 4

Roller coaster, and carousel.

Two iconic rides that come to mind when thinking of amusement parks.

“Ugh…!”

Despite enjoying both of these.

Han Seoyeon’s puffed-up cheeks wouldn’t deflate.

“Is there something bothering you?”

“…Not particularly.”

It wasn’t anger directed at others.

It was anger solely directed at herself.

Weak to alcohol and lacking in courage.

At this rate, she seemed more like a yin than a yang!

“I guess you could say I feel frustrated. I realized I’m more of a coward than I thought. Me.”

She grew up rolling around in the slums.

She thought she had unconsciously overcome most fears long ago.

Han Seoyeon’s body was accustomed to many things.

Especially to the smell of blood and monster corpses.

Conversely, she wasn’t used to these types of rides.

The sensation itself was so unfamiliar that her body couldn’t adapt.

Ironically, Han Seoyeon’s body was unfazed by real terrors like Gates and monsters, not artificially created ones like roller coasters or carousels.

“If I had experienced something like that in a real situation, it would have been a big problem, right?”

“…”

A body that can’t adapt to artificially created tension.

It was an unexpected variable.

It’s good that she realized it now.

Swans work hard underwater to maintain their graceful appearance above.

The overpowered protagonist was the same.

Han Seoyeon had an obligation to get used to this variable as soon as possible.

“…You’re really worrying about unnecessary things.”

“Unnecessary worries? That’s rude.”

“No. I can assure you that those are unnecessary worries.”

Baek Da-eun asserted, uncharacteristically.

“When I was holding your hand, did you feel scared?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Then you can rest easy.”

Placing a hand on her chest.

Without a trace of lie.

“I will always be by your side.”

“…Thank you.”

Even if it might turn out to be a lie, Han Seoyeon was happy.

Even though later on, she would end up spending more time alone with her twin brother.

“We came all the way to an amusement park, so let’s stop being gloomy and enjoy it more.”

“Yeah. Shall we?”

It was certainly as she said.

Although it was a preliminary visit, she came at a friend’s invitation.

Not enjoying it would be disrespectful to the friend who invited her.

Han Seoyeon enjoyed the various rides in the amusement park one by one.

She even challenged the roller coaster again, which had been a bit difficult.

Holding hands with Da-eun.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t as scary as before.

A fun day always ends quickly.

Like a momentary dream.

The sun set.

The benevolent moonlight rose.

“Wow…”

Han Seoyeon let out an exclamation.

The nighttime amusement park had its own atmosphere.

“It’s beautiful.”

The lights of the rides illuminating the dark night twinkled, giving a fairy tale-like sense of childlike wonder.

“I’d like to enjoy it a bit more, but it’s almost curfew time.”

The Academy is an incomprehensible quasi-military facility.

It’s a military institution, but not the military.

That’s why Han Seoyeon was able to break curfew twice.

But honestly, she couldn’t guarantee more than that.

“It seems we can ride one more.”

The last one.

The ride to mark the climax of the amusement park.

“If it’s that, it’s already decided!”

Han Seoyeon exclaimed confidently.

“Let’s go ride the Ferris wheel.”

The Ferris wheel.

There was no other choice but that.

It was a cozy space where only the two of them sat facing each other.

There was nowhere else to look except at the night view and each other’s faces.

The Ferris wheel moves slowly.

Moving away from the ground and towards the sky.

The lights of the rides that had been illuminating the night created a spectacular view from afar.

“Did you like it?”

“Yes. Very much!”

The Ferris wheel.

The quintessential ride when it comes to date clichés.

“Thank you, Da-eun.”

It was a place she had wanted to visit at least once.

“It’s not that great. Compared to what you’ve done for me…”

Baek Da-eun trailed off.

As if unable to hide her joy even as her words faded, the corners of her mouth kept trying to rise.

“It would have been much better if I could have seen this with senior.”

“…Is that so.”

“Yeah. It’s a bit disappointing that we can’t see such a beautiful scene together.”

The corners of her mouth, which had refused to go down, suddenly drooped.

“By the way, you’re quite something, Da-eun?”

“What do you mean?”

“No need to play dumb! I already know everything!”

The reason for deliberately recommending the amusement park to a friend.

Han Seoyeon was confident she had figured out that reason.

“You came for a preliminary visit today to plan a date with Suho, right?”

A preliminary visit for a date course.

There couldn’t be any other reason!

“Personally, I think the low point was probably when you treated me like a child. The definite high point was─”

“Was that it.”

Baek Da-eun said in a low voice.

“I thought you were being unusually proactive today. It was my grand misunderstanding.”

Lowly.

Gloomily.

And somehow, as if lonely.

“Da-eun…?”

“It’s not like I didn’t think this might happen.”

Baek Da-eun stands up from her seat.

She stands up and approaches Han Seoyeon.

“Wait a moment!”

Their faces are close.

Close enough that their breaths could almost touch.

“T-too close…!”

The emerald eyes sparkled distinctively even in the dark night.

“W-why so suddenly!”

“No, Han Seoyeon. I.”

“W-what?”

“Today’s outing with you. It wasn’t some preliminary visit for a date or anything like that.”

For a moment, Han Seoyeon was at a loss for words.

Then what was it, she wanted to say.

If not a preliminary visit, then why.

“How do you think of me, Han Seoyeon?”

“How, you say…”

At first, a pitiful heroine from a depressing story.

And then.

“You’re a friend. A best friend.”

We’ve visited each other’s homes.

Encouraged each other in tough times.

A precious, one-of-a-kind friend that couldn’t be exchanged for anything in this world.

“Is that all?”

“…Yeah.”

“Really, is that all?”

“O-of course, that’s…”

The words didn’t continue.

Bang!

The sound of hitting the wall echoes.

“Ah…”

“─Even like this.”

It was what people commonly call.

A kabedon.

“Do you still feel that I’m just a simple friend?”

Not friendship.

It was an action between those with romantic feelings.

“Han Seoyeon.”

“…”

For a moment, Han Seoyeon forgot how to think.

“How about it?”

Baek Da-eun should like Han Suho.

Then, why is she saying things like this.

“Can you confidently say that you don’t feel any attraction to me, not as a friend, but as a woman?”

“That’s…”

Not as a friend, but as a woman.

“That.”

Baek Da-eun is pretty.

Her glossy pink hair, her green eyes.

Above all, her kind personality.

I can say for certain.

Anyone who ends up with a girl like this must be someone who saved a country in their past life or something.

So maybe, it might be okay to allow it for her brother.

She had thought that far.

“I, I!”

Screech.

Just as the words were about to be uttered, the Ferris wheel stops.

The time to say goodbye to the amusement park had come.

“─It’s a joke.”

“What…?”

After getting off the Ferris wheel, Baek Da-eun smiled awkwardly.

“I mean, it was a joke. Just now.”

“…What, you scared me!”

“It’s Han Seoyeon’s fault for reacting so seriously between friends, you know?”

“That’s! …Maybe you’re right.”

Something felt off.

Han Seoyeon felt drained from worrying unnecessarily.

Come to think of it, it did seem strange.

There hadn’t been any particular connection until now, so how could Baek Da-eun possibly fall in love with her?

But if, really.

If Baek Da-eun were to fall for her.

She would.

“It’s only ‘for now’, though.”

She felt relieved.

At the same time, a parade unfolds in the night amusement park.

“…Sorry, I couldn’t hear well! What did you say?”

So Han Seoyeon didn’t hear those words.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Nonchalantly changing the subject, Baek Da-eun walked on.

“…I really can’t match up to Michaela after all.”

The one who had been by her side all along was Baek Da-eun.

Yet the girl’s head was full of thoughts about Michaela.

She was a formidable opponent.

There seemed to be almost no chance of winning.

“But.”

There was a hesitation.

She couldn’t flatly reject.

This much was enough for now.

The possibility was clearly open.

After finishing a happy day, Baek Da-eun lay down on her bed.

Before going to sleep, she looked through the photos taken today.

“…I really like you, Han Seoyeon.”

With the girl.

Photos taken just the two of them.

There were only the two of them there.

Without any foreigners.

“I’m back!”

“Just barely making curfew. Was it that enjoyable?”

“Yes! To the point where I want to go again with senior someday!”

It was late at night.

Enough to worry about one delicate girl.

“…Did something happen today?”

“Not particularly. Why?”

Michaela didn’t say.

“No. It’s nothing.”

She had merely sensed a scent.

“Nothing. At all.”

The coordination she had recommended.

Those clothes were permeated with the scent of another woman.

A scent she had felt before.

A scent whose owner she seemed to know.

Asifabitchinh’eathadmarkedherterritory.

Michaela─.