Those who have much, who have grown up showered with endless love, tend to share a certain characteristic.
They still hold on to ideals or dreams that would have long since shattered within anyone else.
Of course, not everyone is like that… but a woman like Kim Eun-bi certainly is.
When a girl who has everything is loved rather than envied, the people around her, not just the girl herself, strive to protect those dreams and ideals for as long as possible.
I’m not entirely sure why they do it.
Maybe… it’s the same feeling parents have when they dress up as Santa Claus, hoping their children will believe in him for just a little while longer.
That’s not to say women like Kim Eun-bi lack a sense of reality.
On the contrary, they know what’s what.
After all, she’s well over twenty, and in this day and age, you can find any information you want just by searching the internet. It would be absurd to think she doesn’t know.
And yet, the ideal she still cherishes is, strictly speaking… closer to stubbornness.
A feeling of, I can let go of other things, but can’t I at least hold on to this one thing in my heart?
…Come to think of it, don’t most people have something like that?
Anyway.
What Kim Eun-bi wants is a fateful encounter.
She desires a miraculous meeting that can only be described by the word ‘destiny.’
I have no idea how she figured that out, but Jo Yunkyung said she had even come up with a way to ‘stage’ that fateful encounter.
Apparently, she’d finished gathering information long ago, and the delay was because she was busy thinking up the plan.
“…Ahem.”
The method she’d wracked her brain to come up with was none other than a rehash.
She proudly presented the very same plan she’d already tried and failed to use on me as the result of her deep contemplation.
My first instinct was to reject it flat out and think of something else… but I ended up getting talked into it.
As I listened to the detailed operations within the larger framework, it started to sound plausible.
As I said before, the beginning is similar to last time.
I rescue Kim Eun-bi from a crisis.
According to Jo Yunkyung, there’s nothing better for making a powerful first impression.
I called it a cheap trick, but as she said, when it comes to making a strong first impression, there really aren’t many better methods.
That is, assuming you don’t get caught.
This time, though, it probably won’t be easy for her to notice.
Jo Yunkyung and I did a pretty good job of setting the stage behind the scenes so that neither of them would catch on.
After checking on the fallen man, I walk over to her. She’s still frozen, a look of shock on her face.
Then, with a tone and atmosphere that aren’t over the top, I speak.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
The line was borrowed from a master of famously stiff acting who took the world by storm decades ago.
Just the line, of course.
My question snaps Kim Eun-bi back to her senses. She looks up at me with wide, round eyes.
“Ah, yes, yes…! I-I’m okay.”
Now, the path splits in two.
The deciding factor is the vibe she gives off.
If she senses something contrived about the situation and gives me a suspicious look, we go with Plan A. If she doesn’t feel anything of the sort and things flow smoothly, we go with Plan B.
I see no seeds of suspicion in her eyes as she looks up at me.
In that case… it’s Plan B.
“It’s dangerous here, so let’s get away first.”
To create a sense of urgency that wasn’t there to begin with, I speak with a hardened expression and a low tone. Then, I grab her hand and gently pull her in the direction I want to go.
Normally, doing this to a woman with her guard up would be an act that could get me slapped without a second thought, but right now, it’s possible.
“Huh? O-oh…”
Though slightly surprised, Kim Eun-bi follows me without protest.
Then, she points at the large man lying on the ground and asks me with an innocent expression.
“A-are we just going to leave that person there…?”
“My colleague will be here soon to handle it.”
“Oh…”
I even invent a colleague who doesn’t exist.
Well, strictly speaking, I do have a colleague.
The large, soot-covered man lying over there is my colleague, in a sense.
After we’ve moved a short distance from the original spot, I slow my pace slightly and look back at her.
“Judging by your clothes, you were out for a run… Is your home nearby?”
“Yes… It’s just a little way in that direction.”
“That’s good.”
“Huh? What’s good… Hey!”
I lead her in the direction of Pyeongchang-dong’s neatly lined luxury homes.
Even as I’m supposed to be focused on her, I get lost in a pointless thought.
At the very edge of Pyeongchang-dong, there’s a mansion twice the size of the other houses.
That’s the house where I used to live, the one that now belongs to Fake Si-woo.
The moment I found out about Han Ju-hee’s pregnancy, I sold our apartment and bought that place.
There was no special reason.
I just wanted our soon-to-be-born child to have a large yard to run around in freely.
I also wanted to pass down everything I had achieved to my child in the training ground I’d set up in the back.
A bitter laugh escapes me.
“Come to think of it, not a single one of those things came true…”
The first dream was impossible because Seo-yeon was born too frail to run around, and the second was impossible because Han Ju-hee was so vehemently against it that I couldn’t even think of teaching her.
“Excuse me? What came true…?”
Ah.
It seems the words I’d muttered to myself had reached her ears.
“Oh, nothing. Just that it would be nice to live in a mansion like this someday.”
“Ah…”
Kim Eun-bi seems to accept my vague excuse.
Once we enter the residential area, I coolly let go of her hand.
Jo Yunkyung had told me not to walk her all the way home, but to stop somewhere appropriate.
When I asked why, she said it creates a thrilling, bittersweet sense of distance.
“You can get home by yourself from here, right?”
“Huh? Ah, yes…”
“You went through something unpleasant, so you should rest up today and try to forget all about it.”
I’m about to turn and leave, but I stop and offer one last piece of advice.
“Oh, and I’d recommend not going back to that place for a few days. If you go back too soon, it might just become a trauma.”
After finishing my words in a calm, unhurried tone, I immediately turn and start to walk away. Just then…
“W-wait a moment.”
Her voice from behind stops me in my tracks.
I turn back slightly. She looks somewhat anxious as she asks her question.
“Um, your name, or your number, or something…”
She then waves her hands frantically, her face turning red as she exclaims.
“Ah, no, I mean! It’s not for any other reason! I-I just want to express my gratitude!”
I’m not that kind of girl!
Her whole body seems to be screaming it, which is nothing short of adorable.
At the same time, I find myself marveling at Jo Yunkyung’s sharp foresight.
I could have guessed to some extent… but how was she so certain she would ask for my name or number like this?
A pleasant smile spreads across my face as the plan unfolds more smoothly than I could have imagined. I reply to her.
“Forget it.”
“Huh…?”
“It’s better for your peace of mind to forget all the bad things that happened, so just forget everything.”
This is the real final line.
The end of the one-day scenario written by Jo Yunkyung.
I could hear her calling out to me a few more times from behind, but I ignore it all and continue walking silently.
Soon, I arrive back at the place where I had just rescued her.
“You’ve returned.”
There, the large man who had been lying on the ground, covered in soot, was standing perfectly fine as if nothing had happened.
I walk right up to him and give him a thumbs-up.
“Wow, your acting was great.”
“Haha! I make a living doing this. Of course I have to be at least that good.”
He’s an actor.
A professional that Jo Yunkyung and I put great effort into hiring.
Of course, he’s not the type to appear on TV; he’s more of a specialist for situations like this.
He’s an Awakened One with a trait called ‘Insulator.’ When electrocuted, he takes no damage, his skin just turns a little black before returning to normal—a trait a bit too ambiguous for an aspiring Hunter.
But for a situation like this, it was a huge help.
I immediately take out my smartphone and pay him the remaining balance.
We had originally agreed on one million won, but I sent him a clean extra 500,000.
For this level of quality, it was definitely worth it. Yup.
“Oh my! Thank you, young boss.”
“Don’t mention it. I’ll call you again if I need an actor in the future.”
“Call me anytime! I’ll repay you with the best performance.”
After sending off the actor, who was thrilled by the unexpected bonus, I immediately call Jo Yunkyung.
Her voice comes through before the phone can even ring three times.
—So, was it a success?
“Yeah. Went through Route B nice and smooth. I’m on my way back.”
—See, I told you it would work, didn’t I? You were the one being weird.
“I’ve built up a lot of resistance to that kind of thing.”
Try living as the nation’s Hunter for just one year.
You end up meeting every type of person imaginable.
That includes those who try to approach you with all sorts of acts.
Getting hurt one by one like that, I developed the ability to distinguish the real from the fake.
“But why did you want to end it like this? At this point, I feel like I could have told her my name and started a connection.”
I ask her the question that’s been on my mind.
Considering the atmosphere just now, it seemed like I could have given her my number right away and used that as a pretext to build a connection. Why was she so against it?
—Eh, that’s too weak.
“…Weak?”
—What Kim Eun-bi wants is a fateful encounter, right?
“Right.”
—You know that saying, right? Brush past once, it’s a coincidence. Brush past twice, it’s a connection. Brush past three times, it’s destiny.
“So… you’re saying we stack these coincidental events over and over until she accepts it as destiny?”
—Yup, that’s right.
Now that I hear it, that makes sense.
“So what’s next?”
—Next is… just a casual meeting? But in a slightly unexpected place.
“…An unexpected place?”
—Where else?
She continues in a soft tone.
—A club.