episode_0019

Yu-ri Lee and I were looking at each other, sweating beads.

“Huh… Sigh…”

“Whew… what do you think?”

“Let’s do it one more time, okay?”

“Again? You said it was your first time and you’re already hooked? Was it that good?”

“Yes. Quickly, quickly…”

Yu-ri Lee begged with her eyes, and I complied with her request.

I took a 500 won coin out of my pocket and inserted it into the machine in front of me.

As soon as the 500 won coins we exchanged for our money were put in, cheerful music started playing from the device, and I stepped on the right footrest and started selecting a song.

“Which one would you like?”

“Exciting!”

Yuri Lee was sweating profusely, but she answered immediately with a very excited expression.

For Lee Yu-ri, who had never had any other hobbies other than occasionally watching webtoons or dramas, things like DDR, an arcade that had been out of fashion for a long time, were a great stimulus.

As arrows divided into up, down, left, and right continued to fall on the game screen, Lee Yuri and I began dancing on the DDR device.

“Huh?! This, profit… Now, wait a minute, why is this so fast… Argh! He died again!”

However, Lee Yu-ri, who was physically ill, could not withstand the barrage of arrows that came down countless times and died quickly, and since I did not play DDR often, I also could not endure it for long and died.

“Mr. Ha, this is difficult.”

“Let’s play one more round, okay?”

Yu-ri Lee raised one index finger and begged, but this time she refused her request outright.

“Hey, it’s already the 5th edition. It’s hard for me too. Don’t just do this, let’s do something else. You have a lot of time today anyway, right?”

“Hing…”

At the arcade, we spent time playing coin karaoke and DDR, and Yuri Lee quickly became hooked.

Perhaps because she had just opened her eyes to a new stimulus, Lee Yu-ri did not act cold as usual, but instead pursed her mouth and made a whining sound like a child.

I put my finger on Yuri’s lips, which were poking out while laughing.

Originally, if I did something like this, Yuri would have looked at me with a disgusted expression, but now I had a strong feeling that it would be okay to do this.

“Look at the lips sticking out. Are you a kid? There are many things to do elsewhere, so this is the end of the arcade.”

Yuri Lee’s lips were moist and slightly sticky because of the lip balm.

Yuri Lee saw my finger touching her lips and slightly raised her eyebrows, grabbing my finger and pulling it away.

“So, where are you going next?”

She looked like she was asking ‘What are you doing?’, but she wasn’t angry at the fact that I had put my finger to my lips.

This means that the boundaries in Yu-ri Lee’s mind have already become much lighter.

I smiled to myself and answered Yuri’s question.

“Have you ever been to an escape room cafe?”

“I just know the name, but what does it do? Denji knows…”

“I lost half my life. Of all the places we’ll go today, this is probably the most intense, right?”

“…?”

I searched through my memories and searched for an escape room cafe that would give Yuri Lee the most powerful first experience.

It didn’t take long to make a decision, and I immediately took Yuri Lee to an escape room cafe near Jinsu Station with a sign saying ‘Amazing’.

“Welcome! Amazing! Are there two of you? What would you like as the theme?”

“Do you want to choose a theme?”

I gave up the choice of theme to Lee Yu-ri.

“Theme? What theme?”

“Should I say the atmosphere of the room we are entering…? You will find out once you make your choice.”

“Umm…”

Lee Yu-ri was troubled as she looked at the catalog given by the clerk.

This cafe was unusual in that it only showed the name of the theme in the catalog, but did not tell us at all what type it was.

And what Yuri Lee chose…

“Ah! I found it!”

Yuri Lee pointed to a part of the catalog.

『Dogs, Cats and Mystery Pension』

“Isn’t the name cute? I want to do this!”

Perhaps Yuri Lee just saw the name and imagined something like a cat cafe.

We pooled our money, paid the bill, and headed to the room with the guidance of the clerk.

A small enclosed space of no more than a few pyeong.

The surroundings were dark, and only white light illuminated this dark room.

A few seconds after hearing the clerk lock the door, a dark and deep male voice was heard filling the room.

– On a snowy Christmas Eve five years ago, a man who brought several of his pet dogs and cats stayed in this very room.

Yu-ri Lee was startled by that voice, but soon looked around the dark room with expectant eyes.

However, the next moment, a male voice was heard, completely changing the atmosphere.

– At midnight on Christmas, the man killed all of his beloved dogs and cats with his own hands.

“What… say…?”

Yu-ri Lee was so embarrassed by the gruesome content that she froze in place.

At the same time, the white light illuminating the room changed to an ominous red color.

“Surprise! What is this?!”

– The dogs and cats cried out for help, but the owner killed them all one by one.

– Wow!

At the same time, a very ominous and creepy cat cry echoed in the room.

“Mom!!!”

Yuri Lee became panicked and clung to me and screamed.

– But when the police arrived, all that was left in the room was a horrible blood stain and they couldn’t find the dog, the cat, or even the man. You must find out where they went to escape this room.

– Wow!

– Oooooh

“Heeek!!!”

The theme chosen by Lee Yu-ri, 『Dogs, Cats, and Mystery Pension』, despite its cute-looking name, was a fairly high-quality horror thriller theme.

#####

“Thank you for using it!”

An hour later, we left the escape room cafe while being greeted by a clerk.

Somehow, I succeeded in solving all the puzzles in exactly one hour…

“Uuuu…

“Hey, stop crying. It’s all over.”

When the horror atmosphere of the escape room cafe reached its peak, Lee Yu-ri, who was half out of her mind, became a gumball completely stuck to my arm by the end.

When everything was over and the door was opened, he ran out, whining like a child, and has been like this ever since.

“Woah, I was so scared I thought I was going to die! What is that! They say dogs and cats! I thought it was a dog cafe or something!”

“But you chose the theme yourself, right?”

“Ugh… I need to tell you, you bastard! I really thought I was having a heart attack!”

“No, I didn’t know either. Is there anyone who memorizes the theme of an escape room cafe?”

“Hipp… you bad guy… you tricked me…”

Only after receiving the afternoon sunlight did Yu-ri Lee finally calm down, and all the while, she didn’t stop whining about how she had lied to me and that I was a bad person.

The fact that he went into the alley where a gangster hangout was while trying to bully me the other day, and the fact that he chose the theme for today’s escape room cafe, doesn’t this mean he has the temperament of an asshole?

I took Yuri Lee to a nearby convenience store and comforted her by buying her some chocolate.

Yuri continued to complain to me, but she just ate the chocolate I gave her.

Yuri Lee was so surprised that she even began to hiccup, and while she sat on a bench in the downtown square for a while, she just chewed chocolate in silence.

“Mumble…hiccup.”

“Are you calm now?”

“No.”

Seeing Yu-ri Lee still with a pouty expression, I raised my hand and wiped the tear stains from her eyes with my collar.

“Kya?!”

Yuri Lee was shocked and shocked, but she didn’t push my hand away, and thanks to that, I was able to feel the texture of her cheeks and erase the traces of her tears.

“My makeup will be ruined. I came out looking pretty to show off after a long time, but it was a waste.”

“Who are you saying you put on makeup to show off?! Hiccup!”

“Isn’t it? He said it was his first time coming out like this, so I thought he was doing it to show me off.”

“Ah… no! I’m really alone in this strange delusion… Hiccup.”

“Is that so? I guess I was the only one who misunderstood because I wasn’t smart enough. Then, if things have calmed down a bit, shall we go somewhere calmer this time?”

“It’s not like an escape room cafe, is it? If you cheat again, I’ll be really angry.”

“No. Um… How about watching a movie?”

Yuri Lee tilted her head at my suggestion.

“Movie? I don’t really want to see anything that’s showing right now.”

” Well… I’m sorry, but going to the movie theater is usually difficult because I don’t have a lot of money. After paying the entrance fee to the escape room cafe earlier, I now have money…”

“But how can we watch a movie?”

“DVD room or something?”

Then Yuri narrowed her eyes and looked me up and down with an expression full of disbelief.

“Even though I’ve never been there, you think I don’t know what the DVD room does?”

“What are you thinking? Really, you just have to watch one movie. I won’t do anything strange.”

“…… Is it true?”

Instead of answering, I put my little finger, and although Yuri looked disapproving, she ended up putting her little finger on my finger.

“If you do something strange, I will really scream.”

“I feel again that I cannot be trusted by you at all.”

“So, it would have been better if you always behaved properly. Haha… it’s a bit uncomfortable… but it’s probably cheaper than the movie theater. Instead, I will choose the movie.”

“Okay, this time, don’t pick a strange movie and cry and make a fuss alone?”

“No!”

Yuri Lee walked ahead, crossing her arms and showing off her anger.

I quickly walked next to Yu-ri Lee and poked her protruding cheek.

“But did you really hate escape room cafes that much? So much so that I don’t want to go there again?”

Yuri swatted away my hand that was poking her cheek and quietly took a bite of the last piece of chocolate.

And after swallowing it, Yuri turned her head to the side and answered quietly, avoiding my gaze.

“…… Next time, go somewhere that isn’t scary.”