episode_0247

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Strike while the iron is hot.

To follow the advice of the ancients, I first checked the list of currently screening movies.

But among the posters lined up one after another, not a single one caught my eye.

No, even if I widened my standards far beyond just “catching my eye,” the result was the same.

At the very least, if there had been a famously handsome male actor—

Or, well, even if not that, a moderately attractive man—

If there had been even one male actor worth testing my hypothesis on, I wouldn’t have cared about the movie’s quality or genre.

Of all times, why was there nothing that met my standards now?

…Should I have considered the saying, “The day you go out is the day the market is closed”?

“What are you doing?”

“Something.”

“Let me see… A movie?”

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t sneak a peek at my phone without permission.”

“Even if I asked to watch together, you wouldn’t let me, would you?”

“And yet, the only person who would come up behind me and peek at my screen without asking is you, isn’t it?”

“How special. Isn’t this better than something ordinary?”

“I don’t know. I’d prefer 365 days of uneventful routine.”

After finishing up some student council work and fiddling with my phone, the vice president—who should’ve been lounging on the sofa—started talking to me without hesitation.

At the same time, I caught a whiff of an unfamiliar, and extremely unpleasant, cologne from him.

It was a bit too sweet for a man, but still more suited for men than women.

I considered pointing that out, but instead, I turned off my phone screen and started sorting through the remaining documents.

Given that it was a new scent, it was highly likely he’d deliberately sprayed it to get my attention.

If I humored every little provocation like this, I might end up getting arrested for murder before graduating and returning home.

No, I definitely would.

“Sunbae. Are you watching a movie? With who?”

“I’m not.”

“Then why were you searching for movies?”

“By coincidence.”

“Coincidence. Coincidence, huh… Can you even search for movies by coincidence? Is it on the same level as accidentally searching for porn?”

“It happens.”

“Then can I also coincidentally stroke your hair?”

“Go ahead. If you’re confident.”

“I am confid— Ah, ah. Wait. Sunbae. That’s…”

“You said you were confident?”

“I won’t do it! I won’t, so— My wrist… Ugh…”

“…”

As always, I crushed his wrist with a grip strength that made him surrender pathetically in less than three seconds.

Why does he keep provoking me like this?

Does he just want to touch me that badly?

Or is he secretly a masochist despite appearances?

If he wants to be stepped on, he should ask one of those girls glancing over there. Why always me?

The moment I released my grip, Yoo Si-woo immediately sat in the chair next to me, rubbing his wrist.

I stared at his pitiful state with disdain for a moment before—

Instead of staying here like this, why don’t you go prepare for the second-year midterms?

—before I could even say that, his voice, already back to normal, cut in.

“Sunbae. If you’re thinking of watching a movie, want me to recommend something good?”

“Even if you do, I’ll never go watch it with you.”

“Watch it alone then. When did I say I’d follow you? Anyway, there’s this fun one lately—”

“…”

It wasn’t a fun movie I was looking for, but one with an attractive male actor.

I couldn’t bring myself to say that outright, so instead of retorting, I pressed my lips together.

But he seemed to take my silence as tacit agreement and began listing off his own recommendations.

If you like action or noir, then this and that movie are good—

Or there’s this comedy with decent reviews currently in theaters—

None of it was useful to me. I didn’t even want to know.

Except for one thing.

Even coming from Yoo Si-woo, there was one piece of information that caught my attention.

So while pretending to be indifferent, I subtly perked up my ears.

“I haven’t seen it myself, but there’s this romance movie? Not super recent, but it came out about two weeks ago?”

“…”

“The reviews are good. From the girls who watched it, and the critics too.”

“…”

“Most of all, they say the male lead’s acting is really good. The final scene is also— Ah, that’d be a spoiler. Not that I care much. Hmm.”

“…”

A romance movie?

When I checked earlier, I didn’t see anything like that.

Did I miss it while quickly skimming through the posters?

I shot Si-woo a glare that said, Shut up now, then turned my phone back on and slowly scrolled through the movie listings again.

…His smug expression kept making my fists clench,

but I held back.

Slowly.

“…This one?”

“Yeah. That should be it. Seats should be pretty open if you go now. It’s about time for theaters to start emptying out, and most people who wanted to see it already have.”

“…”

The plot didn’t matter.

The only reason I was making time to watch a movie now was to test whether my hypothesis was correct.

In that sense, this movie somewhat fit my purpose.

The male lead was decent-looking, and the genre being romance gave it bonus points—just barely enough to pass.

He wasn’t sculpted-adonis levels of handsome, but…

Fine. He was good-looking enough.

If I immersed myself in the female lead’s perspective, it’d be sufficient to test whether the effect was real.

“Stop staring at my face and help with work if you’re going to stick around. Here, I’ll hand out the documents for the food truck event this summer—”

“Ah, want me to massage your shoulders? I’m really good at it.”

“…Just go away.”

Lately, student council work hadn’t been too heavy, so if I balanced it with classes, I’d be done by around 5 PM.

Then I could change at home and head straight to the movie…

If I grabbed dinner afterward, it’d be perfect.

I was still thinking that as I glared at the vice president slinking off to the sofa with his game console.

—Buzz

“…?”

At least, until a certain unpredictable Japanese girl interfered.

I was still thinking that.

—This station is Hongik University. Hongik University Station. The doors will open on the…

Amid the rattling noise of the subway, the announcement echoed through the car.

The meaning of that announcement was simple.

It meant I’d been standing silently in front of the crowded seats, staring at the half-mirror-like window, for several stops already.

And.

“Haah… We’re here…”

“…”

The fact that the pitch-black hair still lingering at the edge of my vision hadn’t disappeared—

The fact that this same pitch-black hair had popped up right in front of me after the announcement—

meant this wasn’t a situation where I’d dozed off from exhaustion in the student council room.

“Yozora.”

“Hm?”

“Even so, isn’t it weird for two girls to go watch a romance movie together?”

“I don’t mind!”

“It’s not about you. It’s about how others might see—”

“Whatever. It’s not like we’re a couple. More importantly, isn’t it weirder that you’re watching that kind of movie alone, Seo-yeon?”

“What’s weird about it?”

“This totally looks like you got caught trying to sneak off to watch it with a secret boyfriend.”

As the doors opened, a flood of people poured out.

Squeezing through the crowd, Yozora and I stepped off the subway and climbed the stairs, her chattering all the while.

…Ever since we met in front of my house, her constant giggling, as if determined to ruin my mood, made one thing clear.

I’d buttoned the first button wrong from the start.

“Maybe a guy from the academy?”

“Cut the jokes. If that were the case, you’d have noticed already. …Saying stuff like, Shiro-chan smells like semen or whatever.”

“Eek! There are so many people here, how can you say that? And I don’t say vulgar things like that…”

“…Haah.”

“Heheh. Baek Seo-yeon watching a romance movie alone? Suspicious. A hundred percent because of a guy.”

“I already told you. I had free time and was bored, so I picked a movie at random, and it just happened to be a romance.”

“What a coincidence, huh?”

“…What do you want? It really was a coincidence.”

“Sure, sure. I believe you. As if you’d secretly start dating behind my back? After coming to my place last time and yapping about how I should be careful not to cause trouble with every little thing I do?”

When Yozora had clingily asked if I had plans today,

I shouldn’t have replied with I’m busy just to brush her off.

When she asked, Busy with what? You’re always at home unless you’re exercising,

I shouldn’t have vaguely answered, Something came up. It’s none of your concern, so don’t worry about it.

“Did you maybe get a little interested in dating because of my call yesterday?”

“…”

“Ehh? I’m joking, but if you glare at me like I’m a cockroach, I’ll get hurt…”

“Stop messing around. And I’m not interested in dating, so drop it.”

“Okay, okay. You don’t have to be interested in dating. I didn’t date Seo-jin either~ …We just enjoyed making each other feel good, that’s all.”

“…”

If not for that, Yozora wouldn’t have pried so persistently, thanks to her ingrained rebellious streak.

I wouldn’t have had to confess that I was just going to watch a movie alone to shake off her piranha-like persistence.

And I certainly wouldn’t be heading to the theater in awkward harmony with Yozora, who had outright declared she’d stalk me (You’re really going alone, right?).

…Of course, even so.

“You’re noisy. Be quiet.”

“…Pfft.”

It wasn’t like I’d thought of a clever way to deceive her at the last minute.

“Ah. Now that I think about it, this might be my first time going to a movie theater since coming to Korea.”

“You probably didn’t go because they only sell beer there.”

“You think all I do is drink? What about you? Do you go often?”

“…Not really.”

“Then how are we supposed to buy tickets? Is it the same as Japan? Ah, did you reserve them?”

“I didn’t reserve any. I just checked the showtimes… …Well, it’s probably similar? It’s the country right next door, after all.”

There might be differences in the details, but it shouldn’t be too different.

As I muttered this, buttoning my coat against the chilly evening air, Yozora’s reaction was unexpectedly sensible.

Instead of saying, This is annoying, let’s just go drink!, she let out a thoughtful hum and—astonishingly—pulled out her smartphone from her jacket pocket.

…Honestly, I’d rather she just went home instead of searching how to buy tickets.

But if I said that, she’d probably end up sleeping at my place tonight, so I kept my mouth shut.

“Want me to look it up?”

“No? I can just ask a friend who likes movies.”

“…Ah, sure.”

“You’re the student council president, so you must have plenty of people to ask— Oh, got it. Moshi moshi~”

Plenty was an exaggeration. There weren’t many I could casually call like that.

I’d formed decent friendships for future convenience, but none deep enough to call close.

If I had to name one… Well, there was that annoying guy, but—

Just the thought of the vice president because of Yozora made me grimace.

As I glanced around looking for the theater building, Yozora’s phone conversation faintly reached me through the noise of the crowd.

“Hey, we’re here to watch a movie~”

—…Who… What…

It was a male voice. Even if I couldn’t hear clearly, I could tell from the pitch.

The fact that it wasn’t Seo-jin but another guy was slightly concerning, but I stayed quiet since it was her private life.

Maybe it was just a classmate.

“I’m here with Seo-yeon. Baek Seo-yeon. You’ve seen her a few times.”

But the next words made it clear who was on the other end.

The only guy Yozora could casually drop my name to.

The only guy I’d seen a few times.

…Seo-jin.

It had to be him.

“…”

What bothered me was…

Did you two already make up?

You two?

“And we don’t know how to buy tickets at a Korean theater~”

—……. ….

“Seo-yeon’s a loner, so she’s never been to one before.”

“Hey, you didn’t have to say that…”

—…. ……Yeah…

“Eh? How do we do it?”

—…….

So she decided to swallow her pride and beg, and it worked, huh.

Well, Yozora is pretty and has a nice body, so I guess he couldn’t bring himself to cut her off.

Does that mean Seo-jin was with her last night when she drunkenly called me?

…No, no. Unless she’s completely insane, there’s no way.

She even brought up dildos. No way Seo-jin was listening to that…

“Okay, okay… Huh? What movie are we watching? Uh…”

“…….”

Ah,

what if—

What if he comes to the theater because Yozora’s here?

“You know this movie?… Ah, with Sua-chan?”

“…….”

…What if they naturally end up joining us?

Even if Seo-jin stays on guard, what if I accidentally touch him?

What if I start squirming, trying to deal with my heat alone, then grab his arm and blurt out something weird?

…I did explain that gumiho have mating seasons.

But what if I end up begging him to touch me down there again?

Or to put his fingers inside?

What if I end up muttering those embarrassing words—

again—

“What’s wrong?”

“…….”

While lost in these delusions, staring blankly at the passing crowd—

Tap. Yozora, having ended her call, playfully nudged my shoulder, snapping me out of it.

“…Nothing. Just a lot of people.”

“Panic attack? You have those? Ah, is it rude to ask?”

“…Dunno.”

“Hmm… Well, let’s go in. I learned how to buy tickets.”

“…Hey, Yozora.”

“Yeah?”

…Of course, I’d only escaped one useless train of thought.

“Is Seo-jin coming?”

“No? I asked casually, and he said he’s already seen it. And why would he come here?”

The image I’d been trying so hard not to recall—Seo-jin pressing down on my crotch over my panties in the infirmary—

“……Just checking.”

“Ah, well… He might come to pick me up after the movie? If I spam him with whiny texts, that is.”

“…….”

“Anyway, let’s go in. The movie starts in 30 minutes, right?”

Even though it was just a fleeting, accidental thought—

Along with that tingling, pleasurable sensation—

For a while,

it refused to fade from my mind.