Ch.338IF Side Story: From the Beginning (106)

My past self had no particular interest in flowers.

Actually, even after being reborn in this world, it was the same. I wasn’t really interested in flowers or plants in general. From my perspective, plants, unlike animals, mostly didn’t move, and even when they did, they weren’t particularly fast. While I might initially find it fascinating that plants could move, eventually I’d get bored watching their sluggish movements.

Well, it’s not like I ever kept animals either. Living in an orphanage made it difficult to raise anything. Even if I could, the young children might show too much curiosity and stress the animals out.

But it seems human interests don’t stay fixed in one place forever. After helping Yeon-woo tend to the rooftop flowers several times, I came to love those colorful petals.

I didn’t particularly memorize their names. I didn’t really want to, and Yeon-woo never forced me to. I would just watch those small leaves collectively swaying in the wind, and then Yeon-woo would suddenly appear beside me to appreciate them together.

“Pretty?” she would ask.

Suddenly sensing the flower scent and turning to the side, I would find Yeon-woo’s eyes looking at me from very close. Those deep brown eyes never felt dark. Eyes that sparkled with the clear sunlight that colorful flowers or vivid green leaves would love.

The flower scent wasn’t from any special perfume. It wasn’t a strong fragrance, but rather a very faint one that had permeated her body from sitting among various flowers for a long time.

Out here in the flower garden, it was almost imperceptible among the other flower scents, but somehow, Yeon-woo had that fragrance. Though very faint, it was a scent that made me unconsciously take a small breath through my nose once I noticed her presence.

No, maybe it wasn’t an actual scent. As I said, the flower scent in our garden would be much stronger than the subtle fragrance emanating from Yeon-woo’s body.

It’s probably just my perception. That Yeon-woo smells like flowers.

It was an abduction.

Yes, that’s the only way to describe what happened.

“I got my driver’s license!”

Today, after finishing my morning university classes and returning to headquarters, Yeon-woo jumped out near the entrance as if she’d been waiting and waved her hands excitedly.

“Oh, really? Congratulations.”

Since Yeon-woo had been excited about driving tests recently, I responded without much surprise.

“Then, shall we go for a drive to celebrate?”

Yeon-woo immediately suggested.

For just a moment, I hesitated. She was literally a complete novice, not someone who’d had her license for half a year. She probably received her license just this morning.

But Yeon-woo’s expression was bright enough to make flowers bloom without the sun. Or wait, maybe that could be dangerous. I’ve heard too much heat isn’t good for flowers either.

“Well, sure.”

Believing Yeon-woo wouldn’t intentionally put me in danger, I shrugged.

“Really? Let’s go, let’s go!”

Yeon-woo immediately grabbed my arm, linked it with hers, and half-dragged me out of headquarters.

I didn’t even have time to put down the bag I was carrying.

Well, I guess that doesn’t matter much. The kids often whisk me away like this.

Though their intentions are transparent, it’s cute in its own way, so I let it slide.

…

If my past self saw this, they’d be too dumbfounded to laugh, but whatever.

Being led away like that, I found myself in front of a car that looked about 5 years old and not particularly clean. Ah, right, having just gotten her license, her only options would be a used car or a rental. Besides, getting a new car as your first would be excessively bold.

Strangely accepting of this, I climbed into the passenger seat and tossed my bag onto the back seat.

Yeon-woo hummed a tune the entire time she drove. Her pitch was quite accurate. When I’d seen her sing at karaoke, she was definitely one of the better singers.

Her slightly flushed cheeks probably showed how happy she was. She looked like an elementary school student going on a field trip.

As I stared openly at her profile, Yeon-woo’s humming gradually quieted. And proportionally, her face slowly reddened.

“Why, why, why are you looking at me?”

Yeon-woo asked with a bright red face.

“Nothing special. Just because you’re pretty.”

“Urk.”

Though Yeon-woo often teased me first, when I attacked so directly like this, even she crumbled.

“Also, I’ve been looking outside for a while, and somehow the surrounding buildings seem to be getting lower and fewer.”

Actually, they did get higher once. That made sense, as our headquarters is located on a relatively high mountainside in Seoul. Naturally, it’s an area where buildings over 6 floors are rare.

Since she said we were going for a drive, I figured we might go as far as Jongno, which is within a 30-minute drive. The Han River would also make sense. There’s a road along the river, and it wasn’t rush hour yet.

But for some reason, Yeon-woo wasn’t driving along the Han River, but crossing the bridge toward Gangnam, no, actually passing by it and heading straight out of Seoul.

No, rather than “heading,” we were already outside.

“Ah, that? I said we’d go for a drive, but I never said how far, right?”

When I chuckled, Yeon-woo blushed even more as if embarrassed.

I sneakily reached my hand toward Yeon-woo’s side.

“Aack!”

Yeon-woo cried out.

“Driving! I’m driving! I’m a beginner driver!”

In the end, I burst out laughing at her reaction.

Since she had planned to abduct me but I wasn’t surprised and instead teased her, Yeon-woo seemed a bit sulky and kept her mouth shut for a while.

That silence didn’t last even 10 minutes. Soon she became talkative again, and we chatted about trivial things while confined in that space together.

Realizing we couldn’t touch each other in this state, we both somehow calmed down, and Yeon-woo’s flushed face returned to normal.

After driving for about 30 more minutes, we arrived at a place that made me wonder where on earth Yeon-woo had found information about it.

There was no shade around, but the atmosphere wasn’t bad. Rather, it was nice.

Flowers were everywhere.

Some were so famous that I recognized them—

“Here, many flowers aren’t from Earth.”

“Flowers from other planets don’t look that different.”

“They’ve planted harmoniously similar flowers. And they’ve carefully selected flowers that couldn’t naturally survive in this soil.”

Ah, I see. Otherwise, invasive species might dry up and take over all the native plants.

“They say these flowers can’t grow without mana.”

The flower we were looking at resembled a hydrangea. The difference was that unlike hydrangeas, which grow with abundant leaves, these had almost no leaves and bloomed on short stems.

Since they grow with mana, perhaps they don’t need photosynthesis? Indeed, that would explain why they can’t grow naturally on Earth.

These flowers reached about knee-height. Such flower beds stretched for roughly 200 meters.

People gathered in small groups on the narrow paths between them. Everyone was looking at each other, laughing, and chatting.

“…Oh.”

Standing up again and walking hand in hand with Dalia, I spotted a particular flower.

Again, it was a yellow flower rising abruptly without surrounding leaves. That flower with many petals… resembled Dalia.

It goes well with the hydrangea-like flowers. Though the seasons seem a bit mismatched.

Once again, I smelled flowers from beside me.

As I turned my head,

*smooch*

Our lips met.

Since we were both crouching, perhaps other people couldn’t see us. Or maybe, since most people here were couples, this level of affection wouldn’t stand out.

We might attract attention since we’re both women, but does that matter?

After savoring that softness a bit longer and pulling back slightly, I saw Yeon-woo’s cheeks had flushed red again.

“Nothing’s going your way today, is it?”

I said with a smile.

She probably meant to tease me with a kiss on the cheek, but I turned my head at just the right moment.

“Ah, uh…”

How cute.

I reached out and held Yeon-woo’s hand.

Despite her red face, Yeon-woo nestled close to me.

She gently rested her shoulder against mine. This time, I definitely smelled flowers.

…This is nice.

Though Yeon-woo loved flowers, and what spread before our eyes were flowers,

In my opinion, the prettiest and most fragrant flower was elsewhere.

Right beside me.