Episode 18 First Battle (1)
After running away from the famous general, I stopped for a moment and looked back when I thought I had gained some distance.
Behind them, a large crowd of people were walking down the street, but Yeo Ji-hye, with her striking blond hair and gorgeous appearance, was nowhere to be seen.
“If you’ve run away this far, they won’t chase you anymore.”
And considering Yeo Ji-hye’s personality that was mentioned in the novel anyway, the possibility of her chasing him this far seemed very slim.
Having regained my composure, I walked around the downtown area with lighter steps.
‘Since we’re here, why don’t we have lunch before we go?’
I checked the time on my smartwatch, and it was already 2 o’clock.
I avoided the crowded downtown area and walked down a deserted alley.
Originally, the real good restaurants were located in alleys like this.
Entering the alley, I began walking, carefully examining the signs and atmosphere of various restaurants in search of a restaurant run by a reclusive master.
And then.
At the end of the alley I had passed by, I heard someone’s urgent voice.
“Now, just a moment!”
When I turned around at the sound of a voice calling me, a plain-looking woman with black hair tied back and thick black horn-rimmed glasses was running towards me at a fast pace.
‘What the heck, really?’
It seems that the charm that had increased by a whopping 9 this morning and Casa’s perfume had a synergistic effect and stole the heart of a girl passing by.
‘Such a sinful man… Heh.’
As I was lost in my own self-intoxication, blaming my fatal charm with my finger on my forehead, the girl who had come closer to me suddenly grabbed my wrist, breathing heavily, and opened her mouth.
“Ugh…gasp…Okay, I got you. You little shit.”
“huh?”
I took a closer look at her appearance as I heard a familiar voice that I somehow felt I had heard many times. What caught my eye was a white blouse with a black ribbon that looked a bit loose but felt familiar, and a navy tennis skirt.
‘It looks familiar… Ah…!’
In that moment, a scene flashed through my mind.
The clothes worn by Yeo Ji-hye that I had seen in Cheonha Myeongjang and the clothes of the woman in front of me overlapped perfectly for a moment.
Then, as I remembered one setting about Yeo Ji-hye mentioned in the novel and realized the current situation, I quickly turned around, shook off her hand, and tried to run away.
But with my weak strength, I couldn’t shake off her grip that tightly held my wrist.
‘What power⋯⋯.’
As I looked at the woman, presumed to be Yeo Ji-hye, with puzzled eyes, she raised her head, met my eyes with her blazing eyes, and opened her mouth with a murderous smile.
“Where are you running away to?”
***
A pig soup restaurant in an alley.
There were only two guests sitting here: Yeo Ji-hye, who was glaring at me with her arms crossed, and me, who was looking at her with my eyes closed with my head down.
‘Why am I sitting here with Yeo Ji-hye⋯⋯.’
I thought back to the situation in the alley a little while ago.
That’s right.
I was clearly looking around the restaurant to get something to eat.
But Yeo Ji-hye, who insisted on chasing me even in disguise.
Yeo Ji-hye grabbed my wrist and tried to say something to me, and I was so scared of Yeo Ji-hye’s murderous intent that I screamed like crazy, begging for her to save me.
Then, the attention of people passing by in the alley gradually turned towards us, and Yeo Ji-hye grimaced, grabbed my wrist, and dragged me to this pig soup restaurant where there were no customers.
And Yeo Ji-hye came here and up until now, she hasn’t said a word, just folded her arms and glared at me.
Meanwhile, unable to bear the savory smell lingering in the restaurant and the hungry stomach screaming for food, I glanced at Yeo Ji-hye and asked her a question.
“I⋯at least some food⋯⋯.”
At my suggestion, Yeo Ji-hye only glared at me as if she wanted to kill me even more.
‘Are you telling me to do it on my own?’
“Grandma~! Please give me two servings of pork soup!”
“Okay~”
Yeo Ji-hye burst out laughing at my clueless behavior, then sighed softly and spoke to me.
“What is your name?”
“Huh? Why are you curious about my name?”
“I’ll keep asking you this bastard… Anyway, tell me your name.”
Her commanding question made me pause for a moment before I could say my name.
“G⋯This is Joo Jin-yong.”
“How old are you?”
“⋯I’m 19 years old.”
For reference, Yeo Ji-hye is currently 18 years old, one year older than me.
At my confident lie, Yeo Ji-hye looked at my face here and there with suspicious eyes.
“Are you really 19? You look younger than 19.”
“Hahaha, I often hear people say I look young.”
“⋯You’re the same age as me. Since we’re the same age, I’ll talk comfortably.”
Yeo Ji-hye frowned for a moment, perhaps not liking the fact that she was younger than me, and then lied as calmly as I did.
“Yeah… I guess so. But why did you chase me? Even though it’s unfair, this bracelet already….”
-widely-
“Whew⋯.”
While I was talking, Yeo Ji-hye uncrossed her arms, slammed her right hand hard on the table, and sighed loudly.
If I say more, does that mean I’ll hit you like that?
I was slightly startled by Yeo Ji-hye’s sudden actions, so I stopped talking and shut my mouth like a mute who had eaten honey.
“Yeah… Joo Jin-yong, I don’t know what tricks you used to get that bracelet, but admit it….”
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“That’s because I’m attractive on the inside too… haha… sorry. Go ahead and continue talking.”
When I couldn’t hold back my quivering mouth and started to interrupt Yeo Ji-hye while she was talking, she glared at me fiercely and raised her fist, so I quickly apologized and kept my mouth shut again.
Fortunately, Yeo Ji-hye lowered her raised fist and continued talking after my quick apology.
“⋯Anyway, I’ll admit that you’re the owner of that bracelet. But I also feel wronged. I spent a lot of money to make this content and rented an entire world-class store for a day, and then some charming person blew up the content without me even being able to challenge it?”
‘You told me to put the bracelet on first.’
Of course, this time I didn’t say it out loud, I just thought it to myself.
“What I mean is, you are also responsible for the damage I saw. I’m not asking you to pay me for it. So after you eat today, help me create new content to replace this ruined content. Then I’ll let this go.”
‘New content⋯Ah⋯!’
I was somewhat convinced by Yeo Ji-hye’s suggestion, and while I was thinking about the new content she mentioned, a groundbreaking idea suddenly came to me, and I immediately leaned toward her and started talking in an excited voice.
“What if I uploaded a video with the title, ‘The legendary general, Jeong So-cheon, created a weapon, but it was stolen right in front of my eyes by a mysterious and attractive man.’ You were really angry earlier, so I wonder if that will get some views….”
“Do you think this kid will work!”
Yeo Ji-hye got upset at my brilliant idea and seriously punched me.
-Tiring-
[Aegis’s special ability
-bang!-
That doesn’t work.
I thought it was a good idea.
***
“You’re both pretty and handsome, why are you fighting? I put a lot of meat in it, so don’t fight and enjoy your meal. If you run out of food, talk to me~”
“”thank you for this food.””
Fortunately, Yeo Ji-hye’s additional attack was thwarted by the appearance of the restaurant owner.
“Should we eat first?”
As the situation calmed down for a moment, I suggested a ceasefire to Yeo Ji-hye and then picked up my spoon and ate rice into the delicious, milky broth of pork soup.
Yeo Ji-hye also seemed to tacitly agree with my suggestion, as she quietly picked up her spoon without saying much.
And then, as she brought her face close to the bowl of noodles to eat them, Yeo Ji-hye’s black horn-rimmed glasses began to fog up and turn cloudy.
Yeo Ji-hye took off her glasses because she found them uncomfortable and started eating her noodles in earnest.
Well, it’s refreshing to eat.
I was absentmindedly staring at Yeo Ji-hye’s cheerful appearance, and then my eyes met with hers as she was eating noodles.
“⋯What are you looking at?”
“Oh, no. Now that I think about it, your hair color, appearance, and body shape have all changed a lot since before.”
I felt embarrassed that I was caught staring at her, so I quickly changed the subject to Yeo Ji-hye’s changed appearance.
“⋯You’re asking me that now. I’m afraid you might misunderstand, but I’m telling you in advance that my appearance earlier was real, and I’m just using magic to disguise myself. Unlike you, I’m so charming ‘on the outside’ that if I go out in my original form, it’s chaos and I get tired.”
And then, Yeo Ji-hye tucked her flowing side hair behind her ear and muttered, “This is why beauties get tired,” as she finished eating her noodles.
Actually, it was a setting I knew.
In the novel, Yeo Ji-hye is portrayed as being particularly reluctant to receive attention from people, even though she has a job that relies on people’s attention.
So, when he usually goes out, he wears a ring with a magic effect that changes his appearance, rents out the entire filming location like today, and never does live broadcasts, only uploading recorded videos to his channel, etc. He is extremely reluctant to reveal his personal information.
‘I don’t know why I hate it so much, but…’
Although the story was developed from Yeo Ji-hye’s perspective in the novel, there was no information about her past, so I didn’t know the exact reason why Yeo Ji-hye hated being in the spotlight.
He claims that it’s because he’s tired of being in the spotlight, but I feel like there must be a more accurate reason.
I don’t know.
I should eat something.
I no longer paid attention to Yeo Ji-hye and focused on eating the fantastic pig soup with a milky broth that had a rich pork flavor without any gamey smell.
‘The old lady at this restaurant was a reclusive master in the wild. Mumble, mumble.’
***
“It tasted great.”
“I know.”
As I was leaving the restaurant, the aftertaste of the pork bone soup lingered, and my comment was shared by Yeo Ji-hye.
“Okay, now let’s go create some new content.”
“Oh, then thank you for your hard work. I’m going to go now.”
Is it because I ate? I’m starting to feel sleepy.
I should go home and take a nap.
“Where are you running away to?”
Yeo Ji-hye grabbed the back of my neck as I was walking.
Damn, it felt natural.
‘My elaborate escape plan that I made while eating⋯Now that it’s come to this, I’m going to go with Plan B.’
I hurriedly took my cell phone out of my pocket, held it up, and opened my mouth as Yeo Ji-hye glared at me with her fierce eyes.
“Actually, I called my mom earlier⋯⋯.”
-Beep beep beep beep-
“Huh? You really came.”
“Wait a minute, I’m here too.”
‘no way.’
When I looked around at Yeo Ji-hye’s words, everyone around me was looking at their phones because of the ringing alarm.
There was only one situation like that in the novel.
-Why~-
[Gate has occurred! Gate has occurred! A gate has occurred near Sindorim Station. Citizens nearby are requested to quickly hide inside a building or evacuate.]
The guidance words, blasted by loudspeaker magic, began to echo through the streets.
And Sindorim Station, where the gate occurred, was right next to where we were standing.
I said playfully to Yeo Ji-hye, who was staring at her phone with a serious expression on her face.
“There’s new content.”
Then, at my joke, Yeo Ji-hye’s mood changed to seriousness and she answered with a serious expression.
“What? Don’t joke around. You’re a player too, so you should know. What about filming? Let’s go help quickly.”
Yeo Ji-hye went back into the restaurant and strongly urged the owner to lock the door and hide. Then she grabbed my shirt sleeve and led me toward Sindorim Station.
This is f*cked up.
I can’t fight.
