.  We then replied one after another with a grin.

  “Come here, darling. You look lovely too.”


  “Of course, she is. Come join us.”


  After Ban Yeo Ryung talked with a nasty smirk, I also uttered those words while leaning on the armrest of the couch. Eun Jiho’s face burned up.

  “Hey!”


  When Eun Jiho yelled at us, Woo Jooin, who was sitting beside him, murmured while falling back on the chair.

  “Why did you attack them when you’re gonna lose anyway?”


  Eun Hyung, who was looking in the fridge, then took out a bottle of water and asked us, ‘Anyone who wants to drink?’


  Yoo Chun Young was the one who answered back, ‘Me,’ so Eun Hyung handed the bottle over to Yoo Chun Young and took a seat near us.

  Thankfully, the couch was large enough for the six of us to sit down together; however, we all had no problem with squeezing ourselves onto the four-seat-sofa at my house.

  Ban Yeo Ryung then said, she was too sleepy to further chat, so she lay down with her head on my lap before long. Showing a look of embarrassment on his face, Eun Hyung brought a blanket and covered Ban Yeo Ryung’s legs with it.

  She mumbled her thanks to him then fell asleep. I gently swept her hair for a while but soon felt drowsy too.

  When I turned my head to the Four Heavenly Kings, they were sharing a conversation while watching the TV. Yoo Chun Young was, again, flat out on the couch.

  ‘I heard he was still busy these days, so he might feel exhausted now,’ I thought while staring at him, then suddenly, Yi Ruda entered my head. Perhaps Yoo Chun Young and Yi Ruda were tied up like a set in my mind.

  It was almost midnight. I wondered for a second whether I should call and check Yi Ruda or not. As I faltered in my seat, Eun Jiho asked me, “Are you gonna get up?”


  “Um, yeah. Ban Yeo Ryung, wake up. Ban Yeo Ryung…”


  I roused her with a gentle shake. Rubbing her heavy eyes, Ban Yeo Ryung arose from slumber and asked like a murmur, ‘What’s up?’


  I pointed at the door, saying, “Let me go outside to have a call. I’ll be right back.”


  “Okay, go ahead.”


  As if she started to feel awake after the response, Ban Yeo Ryung opened her eyes wide and walked toward Eun Jiho swingingly. She then tapped Eun Jiho on his shoulder and asked, ‘Hey, can we order room service?’ Listening to their chitchat, I stepped out of the room.

  * * *

  Standing in front of room 109, I thought for a moment then decided to go to the bathroom while having a phone call. Now I came to think of it, I had a few cups of beverages at the party hall earlier.

  Looking at the endless hallway, I wondered, ‘Am I be able to find the way? Yes, I will,’ but a moment after, I realized that it was a crushed hope. Pacing around the cross-section of the corridor that stretched out in all directions, I let out an aimless smile, ‘Ha… haha.’


  “I’m lost… babam babam bam~ Where should I go… babam babam bam~”


  Mumbling a song melancholically for no reason, I glanced around. Indeed, every way looked absolutely the same.

  Geez… that was when I groaned with my head in my hands. Suddenly, a shadow of a person leaning against the wall in a distance came into view. I quickly ran into that direction and shouted, “Oh, excuse me!”


  He then turned his head. My eyes opened wide in surprise. The man looked unbelievably handsome to just come across in the hallway. ‘Is he a celebrity?’ I thought while blinking swiftly. His face seemed to remind me of someone in an insurance ad.

  He had a white, radiant face with well-defined features. His decently groomed black hair and soft navy suit also played some key roles in the aura he was giving off. The reliable and trustworthy radiance he had was extraordinary for a stranger to make such an impression.

  When I was at a loss of words while flickering my eyes, he gently smiled and tossed a question, “How can I help you?”


  I hesitated for a second then asked, “Um, do you know where the bathroom is?”


  With a grin, he pointed across the corridor.

  “Turn right twice in the hallway over there, then turn left and you’ll see it right next to the emergency staircase. If I was available I would have walked you to that place, but sorry I’m waiting for someone.”


  “Oh, no. Thank you so much,” I replied, bowing my head.

  Before I would forget about what he just said, I moved my steps quickly toward the bathroom while murmuring, ‘Was it the hallway over there to turn right? Was it left? Hold on, do I make it twice or three times…? Is it the fire extinguisher, not the emergency staircase?’


  A moment after, I was able to run into the man again.

  He was leaning next to the door like the way I first saw him. When our eyes met, he put a smile then asked back in a kind voice.

  “Nice to meet you again? Are you on your way back?”


  He didn’t look that old; however, a grown man, who seemed to be somewhere around his early twenties, was using honorifics to me, who looked just like a teenage student.

  Feeling a little embarrassed, I blushed for a moment then replied with an awkward grin, “Um, no…”


  “…”


  Turning his head, he searched his breast pocket and suddenly took out something, which made me surprised. It was a thin wallet. He then pulled out a stiff paper from it and a fountain pen from his outer pocket to write down something.

  I thought that those who put a fountain pen in their suit inner pockets only existed in movies. Anyway, he wrote something on the paper while placing it against the wall and finally handed it out to me.

  “Here.”


  As I approached him with hesitation, I bowed my head when receiving the paper.

  “Thank you,” I said like a murmur then raised my head. With a rich smile, he replied, “Not at all. I’m sorry for not walking you to the bathroom.”


  “Oh, no! Thank you so much again!”


  Bowing my head once more, I looked at the name card. There he wrote the direction to the bathroom; make a right twice at the corner, then turn left to find the bathroom right beside the emergency staircase.

  ‘Cool! If I’m lost again even with this name card, I’m so retarded,’ muttering those words, I bent my step, then suddenly flipped the card as something came up in my head.

  Two black letters engraved on a stiff paper with shiny silver coating were the first to catch my eyes.

  Yoo Gun

  ‘Yoo Gun? It sounds familiar…’ I tilted my head in wonder then moved my steps. A moment after, I became fully aware of something.

  … I am the stupidest ever!

  As if Yoo Gun, the man leaning against the wall, sensed somebody’s presence, he diverted his gaze onto this direction and showed a puzzled look on his face. When our eyes met, I put a faint smile.

  Heaving a sigh, he spoke with his hand stretched out to me.

  “Let me take you there.”


  “Um, yes…”


  I was sad that I couldn’t refuse him. Holding back my tears, I walked after him.

  Yoo Gun ushered me to the bathroom and kindly opened the door. It was then that he left.

  Inside the bathroom, things were as clean as it belonged to the facility in a five-star hotel. I washed my hands, dried them with a towel, then suddenly took out his name card from my pocket.

  ‘Yoo Gun,’ enunciating the name, I, at last, came up with the story about Yoo Chun Young’s brothers.

  “Yes, Yoo Gun.”


  The name of Yoo Chun Young’s first brother was Yoo Gun, wasn’t it? Why didn’t I remember that when I heard it so many times?

  Only then did I manage to understand Yoo Gun’s outstanding appearance; besides, his black hair that stained into blue hue under the light was surely rare in Korea, even when excluding the fact that he was a character inside a web novel.

  ‘How shameful it is to show such a retarded side of me to Yoo Chun Young’s brother of all occasion! I’ll never take that direction on my way back.’


  Making a promise to myself, I bent my steps toward the room and took out my phone. I called Yi Ruda, but she didn’t answer. Although I tried a few times, she still didn’t pick up the phone. ‘Is she getting chased outside again?’ That was when I murmured those words to myself.

  I heard a phone ringing out of the blue. Furrowing my brows, I closed my flip phone. As soon as I discontinued the call, the phone stopped ringing.

  Eh? I entered the numbers again. It might be a coincidence, but I pressed the call button. The phone then began to ring again. It was coming across the hallway.

  “Uh…”


  I swallowed my breath. Next, I attached closely to the corner like a secret agent to deliberately avoid any potential problems or dangers, thinking, ‘Are you really here, Ruda, even wearing those female outfits?’