Chapter 128
Yu-hyun did not answer right away.
He looked at Baek Seoryeon with an emotionless gaze, as if his expression had been erased.
She had expected some kind of reaction if it was a joke, but he came back so seriously that she felt more embarrassed than anything.
She was about to back out and say it was a joke.
Squeeze.
Yu-hyun did not let go of her ankle that he had grabbed.
“Yu, Yu-hyun?”
“What if I like it?”
“Wh, what?”
“What if I like this kind of thing, what would you do then?”
Huh? Huh?
Baek Seoryeon felt her head go blank.
She had said it as a joke, but she didn’t expect Kang Yu-hyun to take it seriously.
Did he have a preference for stockings? But did a teller have such a preference? Or was it not just a fetish, but because it was her?
“Ah, ah that, that is…”
She couldn’t speak properly because her head was spinning.
Baek Seoryeon suddenly felt that Yu-hyun’s touch on her ankle was very strong and warm.
Her heart pounded like crazy, and her face turned red. Her eyes lost focus and shook violently.
‘Wh, what is this? This feeling?’
At that moment, Baek Seoryeon lifted her head and met Yu-hyun’s eyes.
She had the illusion that his face was getting closer.
No, it was not an illusion.
He was actually getting closer to her.
“Wha-what? What is this?”
Baek Seoryeon couldn’t think straight as she saw his face approaching hers.
She gasped and quickly closed her eyes.
As she tensed up her shoulders and braced herself for what was about to happen(?).
Smack!
A sharp pain on her forehead snapped Baek Seoryeon back to reality.
“Ow!”
She clutched her forehead and glared at Yu-hyun with teary eyes.
Her silent protest was met with his chuckle as he got up from his seat.
“I was just playing along with your prank, Miss Seoryeon. Why? Is there a problem?”
“You, you jerk. You’re so mean. You’re really mean.”
She gritted her teeth and hit his arm with her small hand.
“Mean, mean, you’re really mean.”
“Hey, you pranked me first, remember? Or did you have some expectations of me?”
“Ex-expectations? Ha! Expectations of what? You’re really delusional, aren’t you?”
She looked visibly flustered by his words and he smiled softly.
“Okay, okay. I admit it was a bit cruel of me.”
“A bit? It was more than a bit.”
“Fine, fine. Come on, get up.”
He casually helped her put on her heels again.
She flinched a little as he touched her, but not as much as before.
Her face was still red from embarrassment and she felt like she had lost somehow.
She glanced at him and asked.
“Yu-hyun, you’re an athlete, right? You are an athlete, aren’t you?”
“What kind of player are you?”
“You’re a natural at handling women, with your attitude and tone of voice.”
“I’m a teller, so I don’t know much about that.”
Baek Seoryeon hit Yu-hyun’s arm again as he retorted playfully. Of course, no matter how hard she hit him, it didn’t hurt Yu-hyun, who already had a strong physique.
But he liked to please her, so he pretended to be in pain.
“Ow, ow. It hurts. Stop hitting me.”
“I know you’re not hurt, okay? Do you have any idea how many text points you’ve earned by traveling around the world of thought?”
“Oh. You caught me.”
“Caught you? Caught you what? Wow. Really. Unbelievable.”
“Honestly, you started it, Seoryeon. I’m only guilty of responding. It’s self-defense.”
“Sigh. Fine. What can I say? It’s all the fault of the ruined stockings.”
“Wow. Look at you, not taking any responsibility. The stockings are innocent.”
“Are you defending the stockings right now? You really like stockings, huh? Do you want me to give you one?”
“No thanks.”
Baek Seoryeon ticked off while holding onto Yu-hyun’s arm.
“But… that thing you said about buying me something, that wasn’t a lie, right?”
“…”
“What? Why aren’t you answering?”𝚗𝘰ѵ𝒆𝒍𝚋Ꭵ𝔫.𝓷𝑒𝒕
“Huh? No, of course not. That wasn’t a joke.”
Yu-hyun was caught off guard by her sudden question and spaced out for a moment. He nodded his head and said yes, and Baek Seoryeon smiled contentedly.
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They finished shopping and it was already past 3 p.m.
They left the outlet and got back in the car.
“Is that it? Are you going back to the office?”
“Hmm. But I rented you for the whole day today. It feels too soon to go back.”
Yu-hyun looked dumbfounded as he sat in the passenger seat.
“Can you please stop talking like I’m a slave who was sold to a slave owner?”
“You are a slave. A working slave.”
“When you say it like that, it sounds true.”
Baek Seoryeon must have decided on their next destination, because she turned the wheel right away.
“Did something come to mind?”
“Yes. I decided.”
“Where are we going?”
“Se. Cret.”
She winked playfully and Yu-hyun shook his head helplessly. She had changed her hairpin and looked different from before, but she still acted childish.
Yu-hyun looked out the window of the passenger seat. The scenery of Seoul was unfiltered through the glass that had not been sun-coated yet.
He felt a strange emotion that he had never felt before when he looked at it leisurely.
‘I really came back.’
He knew he had come back to the past several times already, but it felt different to see the scenery in such a peaceful place.
He used to think of the towering buildings as tombstones made of concrete and iron.
To the past Yu-hyun, Seoul was a metallic and emotionless forest of steel. But now he saw that inside those huge structures was life.
A symbol that showed the prosperity of human civilization by its mere existence.
Who would have imagined that he would see it again with his own eyes?
‘Peace…is this?’
If someone asked him if this was peaceful, he would surely say no. Surely, there were still conflicts and fights somewhere in this world.
People were greedy and hypocritical, and acted only for their own desires and interests.
The world that came back from the apocalypse was not an ideal place that he had longed for then.
‘Back then, I really thought this time was peaceful and nice. In fact, I only saw what I wanted to see.’
But the world he saw sitting in the passenger seat while driving was different.
The cityscape bathed in warm sunlight was definitely the ideal world that Yu-hyun had dreamed of.
“We’re here.”
How long did they drive?
The place where Baek Seoryeon led Yu-hyun was Incheon’s seafront.
Yu-hyun got out of the passenger seat.
Baek Seoryeon had already gotten out first and ran to the pier where the sea was visible.
Yu-hyun had no choice but to follow her. The sun was starting to set.
“Come here and look at that.”
“Why did you suddenly want to see the sea?”
“Why? Don’t you like it?”
“I’m just curious.”
“I wanted to see something like this once in a while, where everything is wide open.”
As Baek Seoryeon said, Incheon’s seafront was definitely different from the crowded cityscape. It wasn’t an empty sea of nothingness. There were islands and fishing boats floating on the water.
But when you felt the cool sea breeze with a salty taste, those things became nothing.
“…”
“…”
The two of them gazed endlessly at the sea.
The waves, pushed by the wind, came like time and crashed against the breakwater.
The sound of the white foam rising and falling was like a cheer, and then it faded away like a cheer.
The dazzling light shattered like a white mirror on the sea and sank beyond the horizon.
Before they knew it, the sun had tilted and the sky had turned red. It was sunset.
A blue light rushed from the opposite sky, and the setting sun spewed out a crimson light at the end, coloring the clouds.
How long had they been standing like this?
An hour? Two hours?
Watching nature made such time pass in an instant.
As the sunset began to fade, Yu-hyun tapped Baek Seo-ryeon’s shoulder.
“It’s over. Let’s move.”
“Huh? Oh, yes. Let’s go. Look at me. Time has flown by so fast.”
“I didn’t notice the time either.”
“Hehe. When I first felt the sea breeze, I thought it was refreshing, but now it feels strangely sticky. Is it because of the salt? I have to wash up as soon as I get back.”
But they were reluctant to leave just like that, so they had dinner at a restaurant with a view of the sea.
Baek Seo-ryeon wanted to drink alcohol, but he had to drive, so he ended up just whetting his appetite and looking forward to the next opportunity.
“Tsk. What a shame. I should have had soju when I came to a place like this.”
“Are you a heavy drinker?”
“No. Actually, I can’t drink well. But there’s something like that, right? A day when you feel like drinking alcohol. I think that’s today for me. How about you, Yu-hyun?”
“I’m a teller, you know. I’ve never had soju before. Except for a little wine when Joo Kyung-seo came to visit.”
“Oh, right. Look at me.”
Baek Seo-ryeon laughed as if he found it funny that he talked about soju to Yu-hyun, who was a teller.
“You don’t look like a teller at all when I see you, so I keep forgetting. How do other people feel about you?”
“Hmm. Well, sometimes I wonder if I’m not a native myself.”
Yu-hyun meant it as a self-deprecating joke, but Baek Seo-ryeon, who didn’t know the truth, chuckled.
“By the way, what is your goal as a teller?”
“My goal?”
“Yes. Your goal, or your dream. Or maybe your belief. Something like that.”
Yu-hyun was quite surprised by Baek Seo-ryeon’s question. He didn’t expect him to ask something like that.
“My goal, huh? Well, there are many things, I guess?”
“Hey. You can’t answer like that. Who can’t answer like that?”
“To prevent the world from ending, or to get promoted, or to raise a great collector.”
“There must be something you want to do the most among them. The most fundamental thing.”
“The most fundamental thing.”
Yu-hyun recalled that moment. The emotion he felt before he died as a human.
To rise endlessly, to succeed, to conquer.
“Just, well…”
To surpass his limits.
“I want to live a successful life.”
“Hey. You’re already successful now?”
“No. Not yet.”
From a certain point of view, Yu-hyun might seem like a success.
He was promoted to deputy in the shortest time, and his office was always crowded with spirits.
He had collected a swordmaster and a returnee as his contractors, and he had a special ability.
But it was not enough.
It was far too insufficient to quench his endless thirst.
“More. More. I need to succeed more.”
“Until when?”
“I haven’t set a clear goal yet.”
Yu-hyun looked up at the sky outside the restaurant.
The night sky was filled with colorful stars.
“At least, until I reach beyond those stars.”
“Beyond the stars? Are you dreaming of space exploration or something?”
From the perspective of Baek Seoryeon, who still knew nothing, Yu-hyun’s words sounded vague and unrealistic.
Yu-hyun chuckled and shook his head.
It couldn’t be helped if she didn’t understand.
This was just a self-made vow, nothing more.
“You’ll find out soon enough, Seoryeon.”
“Tsk. How mean. Why can’t you tell me now?”
“It’s too early for that. Come on, let’s finish our meal.”
They finished their dinner with the night sea as their side dish.
***
After taking two days off in a row, Yu-hyun went to work the next day with a good mood, thinking that this was really the end.
And as soon as he saw Kwon Jia, who was standing in front of him with a sulky face, Yu-hyun had no choice but to scrap all the plans he had made for today.
