“It’s been a while…”

“Huh? You’ve been here before?”

I’d come out to Hongdae to meet Son Yu-ri.

Hongdae, where I used to come drinking all the time with coworkers and friends back in my working days.

The Hongdae mood of 2008 was the same as ever.

Hongdae’s club scene hadn’t gone commercial yet.

Seeing streets that still had some innocence left stirred up old feelings.

“I came not long ago.”

“Really? But are you really okay? Didn’t you drink a lot last night?”

As expected, orientation started with drinking and ended with drinking.

When I got back from hanging out with Seo-ryeon and the members, I learned the hard way that even Hanguk University students turn into animals.

The law department’s overnight drinking contest closed in grand style.

Everyone’s stomachs were turned inside out and their faces swollen.

The professors had long since bolted and were nowhere to be seen.

We took the bus back to school.

Most of the law students seemed ready to go their separate ways.

On the way, I teased Senior Kang A-rin on the bus.

After mixing her drinks like that the night before, she looked half dead.

When I went over, she opened her half-closed eyes.

I asked if today was our Day One.

She looked around as if she didn’t remember a thing.

I asked if she didn’t remember telling me last night to dump her friend and go out with her.

Her face turned bright red and she hung her head, looking like she wanted to crawl into a mouse hole.

Cruelly, I asked again whether today was our Day One as a couple.

My senior said no, on the verge of tears.

I had to break her of the habit for good, or someday she’d cause a real disaster.

“I’m not tired at all.”

There was nothing to be tired about.

All night I’d kept the window open, drinking in the clean mountain energy.

It was nothing like Seoul’s air.

The wonders of the Taegeuk Five Elements Dual Intent Mind Art are beyond words.

“That’s true. You look totally fine.”

After parting with my group at school, I’d stopped by home to change and come back out.

I’d parked in a paid lot and joined her.

The art school noona Son Yu-ri had a great sense of fashion.

She showed up in a long light-purple wool coat that suited her long legs and skinny jeans that hugged them.

The unique handbag in her hand and her casually swept-back hair turned every woman passing by into a squid.

Instead, she drew men’s eyes like a magnet.

She was worth asking for a number, but no man approached, put off by the classy air Son Yu-ri gave off.

Shoulder to shoulder with Son Yu-ri, I walked through Hongdae.

It reminded me of a coworker I’d briefly had a thing with in my last life.

She’d liked walking this street too.

Of course, she didn’t stay with me long; I was a non-permanent worker.

One day she told me it was over.

It was about a hundred days after we’d started seeing each other.

And then one day a wedding invitation arrived.

Fine, she married a civil servant she’d met through an arranged introduction—but she even sent me the invitation.

The mind of a woman…

“Pfft.”

A laugh suddenly burst out of me.

“What?”

Son Yu-ri stopped walking at my sudden laugh.

“I’m grateful to you, Yu-ri.”

“Huh? To me?”

Remembering it was enough to heal it.

The memories of her, whose name I could barely remember, burned up like gasoline and vanished.

“You make a man’s shoulders go all proud.”

“How?”

“Look around. Thanks to you, Yu-ri, my stock’s going up, isn’t it?”

“…”

Son Yu-ri looked around at the eyes on us and flushed red.

The art school noona was more innocent than she looked.

Her figure was impure(?) enough to leave men’s souls dazed, and the contrast was a big part of her charm.

“There’s a hidden gem of a place around here—want to eat that instead of spaghetti?”

Coming to Hongdae brought back things I used to eat, and my mouth watered.

Not quite soul food, but food full of memories.

“Sure~ I love hidden gems!”

Son Yu-ri was a woman too.

When the menu changed, her expectations seemed to rise.

“Give me your bag.”

“Th-this?”

“Your hands are cold.”

Son Yu-ri was flustered for a moment.

This really did look like her first time dating in this life.

A woman with some dating under her belt would have had boyfriends carry her bag plenty of times.

When I held out my hand, Son Yu-ri carefully handed over her bag.

I carried Son Yu-ri’s bag in my left hand.

And then, casually, I took her left hand.

According to The Techniques of Love, which Nova hyungnim passed down to me, dating is the art of timing.

I felt a tremble run through Son Yu-ri’s hand.

He’d said a woman letting you hold her hand is a sign she’s opening her heart.

The hand is the second heart, Nova hyungnim said.

The moment you hold her hand, the job is half done—so says The Techniques of Love.

“If it’s uncomfortable, you can let go.”

Unable to say a word, Son Yu-ri only blushed.

But she never pulled her hand away or let go.

On a day this nice, walking awkwardly beside Son Yu-ri would have been strange.

I just wanted to hold her hand.

In the bleakness of winter, I needed some warmth.

“There are a lot of people. You could get lost.”

As evening came, the streets filled with crowds heading home from work.

Even if it’s a ridiculous lie, a man’s manners mean putting a woman’s mind at ease—so it’s written in the manual.

And so I led Son Yu-ri down the street.

I could feel every passing man and woman looking at her and me.

I walked slowly through the streets of Hongdae.

My heart is twenty, but my mind is in its thirties.

That’s not easy to fix.

I wanted to taste more of the youth my age allowed me.

We arrived at the place.

It was a street stall in an alley just off the center of Hongdae.

“You don’t hate tteokbokki, do you?”

“No…”

Somehow her voice didn’t sound confident.

“Pure sundae only, or the classic with lung and liver?”

“…, Sundae?”

Son Yu-ri asked again, surprised.

“The vegetable fritters here are to die for. Dipped in the sweet and spicy tteokbokki sauce…”

Just imagining it made my mouth water.

I only found out later, but it’s such a hit of a snack stall that rumor had it the owner made a killing and bought several buildings in Hongdae.

“Ma’am, one serving of mixed sundae, two of vegetable fritters and two of tteokbokki, please.”

“You got it. You’re a handsome young man, so the fried squid’s on the house~.”

The owner, fifty-something when I’d known her, was several years younger now.

“You must like food like this?”

Son Yu-ri looked at me as if I’d surprised her.

“Why?”

“You know this is our second sundae?”

“I grew up tougher than I look. My family was poor when I was little. Owning a tteokbokki place was my dream.”

“Poor? Your family?”

Having seen the Cheongdam-dong house, she couldn’t imagine it at all.

“Didn’t I tell you I’m self-made?”

“Do you think those words go with your age, Tae-san?”

“My mom is the daughter of a conglomerate family.”

“Ahh~.”

Why won’t she believe me, but she buys my mom being a conglomerate’s daughter just like that?

I guess I’d believe it that way too.

The house and cars weren’t things an ordinary family would own.

“You’re a player, aren’t you, Tae-san?”

An attack out of nowhere.

Son Yu-ri’s eyes were serious.

“Me?”

“A-rin said so. That some law sophomore—a sly fox or something—openly likes you. And that the hottest girl among the business freshmen is pretty into you too?”

I sensed some jealousy too.

“I think other people’s interest is their own business. And Senior A-rin said what she really thought when she was drunk, too.”

“Wh-what?”

Son Yu-ri, flustered.

“That I should dump you, Yu-ri, and go out with her. All my classmates next to us heard it.”

I didn’t mean to, but I’d really started a fight.

A little revenge on Senior A-rin, who’d pretended to be drunk and remembered everything.

Heh! Take that, Senior A-rin.

“Ah… A-rin did?”

“When I asked her in the car on the way back if today was our Day One, she didn’t answer.”

“!!!”

Son Yu-ri’s eyes went wide.

She didn’t seem to know what to make of her friend’s betrayal.

But were her eyes always that big?

“A fragrant flower just wants to be left alone, but all kinds of bees fly to it—is that the flower’s fault? You know that well yourself, don’t you, Yu-ri? I heard a lot of the male seniors in law have confessed to you—isn’t that right?”

“W… well, that’s true.”

Even as she answered, she was fiddling with her phone.

She looked ready to have it out with Senior A-rin.

Hold off for now, please.

“What’s with the mood? A lovers’ quarrel already? People have to have good hearts to be blessed. Eat up, pretty young lady.”

“Okay…”

Steaming sundae, tteokbokki and fritters were laid out in a spread.

“Just as it would be rude to ask you if you’re a player, Yu-ri, it isn’t a nice thing to say to a man, either. Even as we get closer, let’s keep our basic manners.”

Son Yu-ri nodded at my words.

We’d held hands, but we weren’t officially a couple.

The closer two people are, the more they need a proper distance.

“Try it.”

Having handled Son Yu-ri neatly, I dipped a vegetable fritter in tteokbokki sauce and handed it to her.

“Hmph~ really… you do seem like a player. Why are your manners so good?”

“This is basic manners toward a beautiful woman.”

When the attack’s over, you have to switch to defense fast.

I didn’t dislike the art school noona.

Unlike Senior A-rin, she had a quiet nature.

She seemed to be a rich man’s daughter, but she had an easygoing side that could throw on a field jacket.

Crunch.

Son Yu-ri bit into it with her red lips.

I don’t know why beautiful women look so good even when they eat.

“Oh!”

Son Yu-ri let out an exclamation of surprise.

And then she really dug into the tteokbokki and fritters.

“Is it good?”

“Yes~ it’s a totally special taste.”

“It’s not Chinese chili powder but Korean gochujang with Cheongyang chili powder, so the finish has a kick.”

Someone once said a woman turns into an angel when she eats something delicious.

Son Yu-ri’s expression melted.

“Try the sundae too. It’s special too. The owner makes it herself at home.”

The casing was stuffed to bursting with vegetables, blood, ground meat and glass noodles.

They were about twice as big as other sundae.

“…I’ve never seen this.”

“Seen what?”

“This kind of sundae.”

“Special, right?”

“Yes. It really seems like an unusual sundae.”

“Dip it in the tteokbokki sauce. It’s amazing.”

Son Yu-ri was clearly curious about the handmade sundae.

She picked up a piece of sundae with her chopsticks.

She dipped it in the special tteokbokki sauce and put it in her mouth.

“!!!”

Son Yu-ri jumped in surprise.

“It’s delicious! It’s really delicious!”

It wasn’t exactly a eureka-level discovery, but Son Yu-ri shouted.

“Our sundae’s amazing, isn’t it? Pretty young lady knows how to eat.”

The owner looked at Son Yu-ri, pleased.

“How do you know about us, young man? I don’t think I’ve seen you before?”

The owner’s eye was no joke.

“I’m an invisible regular.”

“Really? I always keep handsome men in my eye, that’s strange. Hohoho~.”

It’d be stranger if she knew a regular from the future.

The owner’s friendly chatter was this place’s extra seasoning.

The place only used fresh produce.

You can make a bad dish with good ingredients, but you can never make a good dish with bad ingredients, Jang-geum noona said.

Add the owner’s own touch, and it was icing on the cake.

And in face-reading terms, the owner’s energies of double fire and wood were in harmony.

It’s the best face for a business that sells food cooked over fire.

And so my snack-food date with Son Yu-ri went on deliciously.

At last it tasted like student life.

Going to a club with Son Yu-ri next wouldn’t be bad either.

Ring-ring-ring, ring-ring-ring.

Then, suddenly, the phone rang.

The name Manager Hwang came up on the screen.

“Hello.”

“T-Tae-san, b… big trouble!!”

(End of Chapter 100)