Chapter 43 - Oppa, Where Are You Going?

Sia’s lair. There, she was working herself to the bone on a secret project she had told no one about. Usually, “working yourself to the bone” was just an expression. But at that very moment, she was actually carving her own bone to make another accessory for Minjun.

She had already made herself a matching sword like the one she had given him. Now it was time for accessories. As a hatchling, she had played at making jewelry with gems from her lair, but this was her first time using her own bone instead of gemstones. It was no easy challenge, even for her. And because the gift was for someone precious, she wanted it to be more perfect than anything else. She spent days pondering designs for rings, earrings, and necklaces, along with how to craft them. As far as she could see, she still had a long way to go.

“Let’s take a little break.” With a huge yawn, she buried her face in Minjun’s old clothes on the desk. Hardly any of his scent remained, but it still seemed to ease her fatigue somewhat.

‘Maybe I should ask him for more clothes if he has any to spare.’ But what excuse could she give? With thoughts like that running through her head, she settled in front of her laptop.

The first thing she looked at after turning it on was the collection of Minjun’s childhood photos she had secretly copied during her last visit to his parents’ house. No matter how often she looked, he was adorable, and she never got tired of it. ‘How could my Oppa have been this cute and handsome even as a child?’ She had looked at the photos yesterday and the day before, but she still couldn’t get enough. It was like eating rice every day and never tiring of it.

After admiring his photos for quite some time and changing her laptop wallpaper to one she especially liked, she clicked on another folder. These weren’t photos from Minjun’s family albums, but ones she had gathered from the internet herself. How could there be photos of someone who wasn’t famous online? Minjun had worked extensively as a child model. He had modeled for various advertisements and occasionally acted as a child, so it wasn’t strange for some material to remain online. Granted, he hadn’t appeared in many productions, and his parents hadn’t told her which ones, making them hard to find. But her blind love for Minjun made anything possible.

She replayed clips from dramas in which he had bit parts, rewatched his commercials, and admired posters for products he had modeled. It was one of life’s pleasures for her. Only after searching the internet some more, finding and saving a few new childhood photos she had missed, did she prepare to resume work.

Just then, Minjun called. The moment her phone rang, she tossed aside the tools in her hands and answered.

“Oppa! How have you been? I miss you so much. It’s been over a week since we saw each other.”

["I miss you too. But we’ll see each other the day after tomorrow, right?"]

“Yeah! Have you thought about what we’ll do?”

["I was looking yesterday, actually, and found a café with a nice atmosphere and great bread. It looked like the kind of place you’d like. What do you think?"]

“I’d love that!”

They spent another ten minutes talking sweetly, as couples did. Then Minjun said, “Sia, I think I have to hang up now.”

["Why? Are you going to a gate? Or training?"]

She assumed it had to be one of those two things. It wasn’t.

["You know that... get-together I mentioned? The one arranged with my mother and Yuna..."]

“Oh.”

The smile that had filled her face a moment ago froze. Minjun had told her before that plans had been made to meet Go Yuna, but Sia hadn’t asked when or where. Knowing would only put her in a worse mood.

["... Nothing’s going to happen, so try not to worry. I’ll call you again as soon as it’s over."]

“Okay.”

She hung up at once. That one piece of news had ruined what had been a lovely day.

She wanted to rush over near the restaurant and use magic to spy on Minjun and Yuna together. Ironically, part of her didn’t want to do that either. If she had to watch that woman cozy up to Minjun in real time, she would only fly into a rage.

“... Right. It’s too late to change anything anyway.”

She would ask Minjun how it had gone later. For now, she would make jewelry again to calm her nerves. Steeling herself, she sat down and resumed work.

But no matter how hard she tried to focus on shaping the jewelry, the image of Minjun and that woman together kept appearing before her eyes.

“One of these days, I’m going to get my hands on that scheming bitch and—”

For some time after that, Sia’s lair rang with a stream of spectacularly filthy curses unlike anything Minjun had heard in his life.

* * *

‘...Is Sia really upset?’ The difference in her tone before and after I mentioned my plans with Yuna was night and day. Then again, I wasn’t happy about being here either. It had to be even worse for Sia. Get a grip, Yoon Minjun. I didn’t know what might happen today, so I had to stay sharp. If I gave Yuna even the slightest hint of encouragement, both of us would be buying a one-way ticket to the afterlife.

While I was giving myself that pep talk, Mother returned from the restroom, and we headed to the pasta restaurant in Gangnam where we’d agreed to meet.

“Imagine that, son! I thought she was living happily in America. How could you two run into each other in the middle of Seoul after twenty years?”

“I know.”

That coincidence has been giving your son and future daughter-in-law quite the headache lately. Oblivious to that, Mother happily reminisced about my childhood and told stories about Yuna.

I couldn’t remember more than half of them, but listening, I had to admit that Yuna and I really had been almost like siblings when we were little. It was all ancient history now, though. Anyway, when we reached the restaurant, Yuna and her mother were already there and greeted us warmly.

“Oh my, it’s been so long!”

“It has! Has it been about ten years since we last saw each other?”

The mothers greeted each other first.

“Oh my, you’ve grown up looking just like you did as a child! Such a lovely young lady.”

“Goodness, look how tall you’ve grown. Minjun, do you remember me?”

Then my mother greeted Yuna, and Yuna’s mother greeted me, both delighted to see us.

“Now that I see you, I remember. Have you been well?”

I was glad to see Yuna’s mother, too. She had helped raise me like a mother when I was young; of course I felt grateful and happy to see her. The problem was Yuna, beaming as she acted all sweet with my mother. Every little thing she did felt like a ticking time bomb that might upset Sia, and I couldn’t help feeling tense. One wrong move, and my peaceful life as I knew it would be over.

After a brief round of greetings, we went inside, ordered, and began talking in earnest. Naturally, given the reason for our get-together, we started by catching up. As I knew from our previous meeting, Yuna had retired from hunting at a young age and was doing well as a restaurateur. From what I heard, her parents were also running a successful business in America.

“So, Yuna, what restaurants are you running now?” my mother asked, apparently impressed that Yuna managed several at such a young age.

“A Korean restaurant, a Japanese restaurant, and a Chinese restaurant. The Korean and Japanese places are still small and only opened recently. It feels strange to say it myself, but the Chinese restaurant is fairly well known. It’s called Fantasy Pavilion, not far from here...”

“Oh my, that place is yours?”

Mother looked astonished that Yuna ran a restaurant she had seen featured on television several times.

Fantasy Pavilion. Was it that famous? Granted, Yuna was a headache for me, but objectively speaking, I had to admit she was capable and successful.

“Yes! Come by with Minjun sometime, and I’ll treat you both to a feast!”

“But don’t you have to wait ages even with a reservation?”

“I can set aside a table at the owner’s discretion, so don’t worry, Mother!”

Mother? Hearing Yuna call my mother that instead of Sia felt oddly wrong. Out of context, she sounded like my mother’s daughter-in-law. ‘If Sia saw this...’ It bothered me, but I had to let it pass. Overreacting would only look stranger.

Our pasta arrived shortly afterward, and the conversation continued as we ate. This place was supposed to be excellent, but I was too nervous to tell how the food tasted.

“This brings back memories. Remember how, nine times out of ten, we’d go to a Chinese restaurant after a shoot?” Yuna’s mother asked.

My mother readily agreed, clearly remembering those days. “That’s right! Do you two remember?”

“A little?” I said. My memories were faint, but Yuna’s apparently weren’t.

“Yes! It felt strange if we didn’t have jajangmyeon. Even when you suggested something else, Minjun and I always begged for it.”

I couldn’t remember it clearly because I’d been so young, but I did remember loving jajangmyeon to the point of obsession. I didn’t like it quite that much anymore.

“I was looking through our albums recently and found a photo of you two eating it.” Yuna’s mother showed us the photo. In it, two little kids had jajang sauce smeared all around their mouths and were grinning brightly at the camera. My mother studied the old photo, caught up in memories, then spoke.

“That reminds me. I can’t remember when it was, but once, at a Chinese restaurant, Yuna saw how much Minjun loved his jajangmyeon and said that when she grew up, she’d open a big jajangmyeon restaurant and let him eat as much as he wanted.”

... Had she? I had no memory of it, but Yuna’s mother was agreeing, so it must have happened. Wait a second. Had Yuna opened a Chinese restaurant because...? The thought made me squeeze my eyes shut without realizing it. No, it had to be a coincidence. If it wasn’t, that would be genuinely frightening.

“Yuna, do you remember saying that?”

“No. This is the first I’ve heard of it, too. Wow, I really said that?” Yuna looked amazed as she answered my mother.

“You never know how life will turn out, do you, Minjun?” she said, looking at me.

“... Was it really a coincidence?”

“Hm?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just surprised too.”

I’d meant to keep the thought to myself, but I’d accidentally muttered it aloud. I wondered if she’d heard.

“Then, Yuna, just to check—was owning a Chinese restaurant really your dream since childhood?”

“Oh, come on. I told you, I barely remember back then myself.” She laughed and shook her head. “My father runs a business, and I like food. Hunting paid well, but it didn’t suit me, and I’d been injured, so I retired. One thing led to another, and here I am.”

I wanted to believe her, but the suspicion that it might not be true kept creeping in.

“Why? Would you like it if that were the reason?”

“N-no!”

Her sudden question caught me so off guard that I stammered. If I didn’t have a girlfriend, this would be exactly the sort of situation people could get the wrong idea about. Thank goodness Sia hadn’t seen it. Both mothers burst out laughing at my reaction.

“Why are you so flustered? It was all so long ago.”

“Exactly. Children say things like that. Besides, Minjun, you have a girlfriend now, don’t you?”

I couldn’t tell them that was precisely why I was flustered. Embarrassed, I lowered my head, while Yuna chuckled at my reaction.

“What about you, Yuna? Do you have a boyfriend?” my mother asked.

“No.” Yuna shook her head slightly, looking embarrassed this time. “The last time I dated anyone was in high school.”

“Really? That’s surprising. I’m sure plenty of young men would be interested in you.”

“There have been some... but I’ve been so busy with work that, unfortunately, this doesn’t seem like the right time for a relationship.”

I wasn’t so sure, considering how she’d acted toward me last time. Why did I keep feeling as though Yuna was lying? Just then, Sia called.