Chapter 5 – Episode 5 – The Protagonist In Waiting
The morning of Sunday dawned.
“Ugh, slept well….”
I stretched out luxuriously after waking up, then checked my phone.
[Sunday, AM 08:21]
“Whew.”
Thankfully, I hadn’t overslept. I had set an alarm for 9 just in case, but it seemed I wouldn’t need it.
‘Finally, today is the day.’
Yesterday morning.
After finishing my part-time job and obtaining items through the Heroine App, I experimented with various things.
The experiments mainly focused on the effectiveness of the items.
I went to a cafe and tried eating the candy myself, or drinking water, to see how powerful the effects were and how they were applied.
Based on that, I planned out how to go on the date, and a little after lunchtime, I sent Yujeong noona a message on CocoaTalk with the detailed time and place to meet.
I was a bit nervous that the candy’s effect might wear off and suddenly not work, but thankfully, that didn’t happen.
“The appointment is at 11, so there’s still some time.‘
I lay back down on the bed and imagined today’s schedule.
A date at 11.
Strictly speaking, it was just a simple promise that I would buy her a meal, but it meant something different to me.
If I do well today, I might be able to kiss her.
I turned my head to look at the desk, where several heart-shaped candies, a toothpaste-like tube, a bag of powder, a small water bottle, and a lipstick-shaped laser stick were all laid out.
They were all items I had prepared for today after finishing my experiments yesterday.
“Okay. I can do this.”
I spent some time watching Mytube videos on my phone, then got out of bed a little after 9.
After a thorough shower, I picked out what I thought was the best outfit.
Then, I carefully packed the pre-prepared items into small bags.
‘…Packing these things makes me feel like a criminal.’
I chuckled at the sudden thought that came to me as I was packing.
‘No, hmm… maybe it really is a crime?’
I wasn’t sure.
The items were like magic items from a mysterious app, but maybe their ingredients were like drugs.
Maybe I was trying to seduce an innocent woman with strange substances.
A slight fear suddenly came over me, thinking that maybe this wasn’t something I should be doing, but I quickly shook my head.
“No, if I decided to do it, I have to do it.”
A mysterious app that I had only seen in novels had come to me.
Maybe this could change my life 180 degrees. The most important thing was myself. Let’s put aside any sense of ethics for now.
‘And if there are any side effects… they would definitely be written in the item’s description.’
With that self-justification, I opened the door and stepped outside.
After taking the bus and arriving at the meeting place, I checked the time.
It was 10:46 AM.
I had arrived a bit early, but it was much better than being late.
I waited, pacing around the meeting place for about 10 minutes, when I heard a voice from behind me.
“Hi, Jinhyun. You’re here early?”
I turned around and saw Yujeong noona smiling at me.
‘Wow…….’
I couldn’t close my mouth the moment I saw her.
I saw her face almost every day, but it was only for a brief moment during shift changes, so seeing her in casual clothes like this felt new.
She was wearing a half-sleeved t-shirt that faded from light orange to white, and light gray jeans.
Her overall fashion was reminiscent of a fresh summer, and she had a subtle, sweet orange scent, giving off a refreshing vibe.
It was a pretty simple and casual outfit, but because her face and figure were so good, she looked incredibly beautiful.
I had seen many pretty women, but this was the first time I was seeing such a beautiful woman up close for a date.
Seeing her made me suddenly nervous, and I started to lose a bit of confidence, wondering if I could do this well.
She was undeniably beautiful, but I felt ordinary.
‘No. Don’t be nervous.’
I shook my head inwardly.
That’s right. It’s not about whether I can do well, but that I have to do well.
Yesterday, I had given up and retried the quest repeatedly, using up all my remaining retry chances.
If I didn’t succeed today, and if there was no progress during the remaining 6 days, I would fail the quest and have no more quests to proceed with.
‘And what if… I run out of quests to do.’
What if I couldn’t use this mysterious app anymore?
The thought alone was terrifying.
‘That can’t happen.’
I relaxed and smiled as I replied to her greeting.
The preparations were perfect. All that was left was confidence.
“Yes. I arrived a bit early. I can’t be late again.”
“Pfft. That’s true.”
Noona said with a soft smile.
‘Being late……’
I was late after getting the app and trying things out. Thanks to that, I was able to create a reason to meet like this, so from my perspective, it was a good thing I was late.
“So, I’ll buy you something delicious today.”
I smiled back naturally and started walking towards our first destination.
“Where are we going to eat?”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
I walked down the street with noona.
It was Sunday, so there were a lot of people.
Many couples were walking around with their arms linked, and I felt a sense of pride thinking that I was also walking among them, even though I was nothing yet.
“We’re here. It’s here.”
I stopped in front of a building and pointed to the third floor. The sign read ‘Luma Shabu’.
“Huh. Shabu-shabu?”
“Yes. Do you not like it?”
“Umm~ It’s just unexpected. I thought we’d go to a pasta place or something.”
She had definitely hit the nail on the head.
I had also considered going to a Western-style restaurant at first. It wouldn’t be right to eat something like hangover soup when I had finally gotten this chance, and pasta was a common choice that anyone would think of.
However, there was a reason why I chose this place.
“Shall we go in then? I made a reservation.”
“Okay. Sounds good. I like shabu-shabu, so that’s great.”
We took the elevator to the third floor. The entire third floor of the large building was a shabu-shabu restaurant.
“How many people?”
“Two. I have a reservation.”
“What’s your name?”
“Chun Jinhyun.”
“Okay, I’ve confirmed it. I’ll guide you to your table.”
A person in a neat uniform guided us to a table by the window.
Luma Shabu was a fairly popular shabu-shabu restaurant. It was mainly popular among young people, and one of the secrets to its popularity was that it was a buffet style.
If you ordered shabu-shabu, you could eat at the salad bar for free.
“Noona. What do you want to eat?”
“Hmm. What do you like?”
“Today, I’m buying you this as an apology, so you can choose whatever you like.”
“Okay. Then… let’s have seafood!”
I pressed the bell and ordered seafood shabu-shabu, and then we each got up and brought back things to eat from the salad bar.
“I’ll enjoy the meal, Jinhyun.”
“Yes.”
After eating the shabu-shabu and feeling somewhat full, we each brought back desserts.
I brought back ice cream, and Yujeong noona brought back fruit, a slice of cake, and coffee.
As we were eating, I glanced around and then got up from my seat.
“What are you going to get?”
“Shaved ice.”
I said with a smile and moved towards the shaved ice area.
‘Hoo…….’
I stood by the shaved ice area and looked at Yujeong noona. She was looking out the window, munching on fruit.
That was good. I was thinking about the right timing, and it seemed like she still had some room in her stomach.
When I made the reservation, I had deliberately reserved a window seat in the corner.
From that seat, the salad bar area, especially the area where the shaved ice and other desserts were, was not easily visible. I knew this place well because I had been to Luma Shabu a few times with friends.
“This is it.”
I took out the bag of powder and the tube from my bag.
This was the reason why I had chosen Luma Shabu.
‘Okay.’
I quickly made a shaved ice for myself, and then started making one for noona.
I scooped the ice, added red beans and condensed milk. I decorated it with some rice cakes and jelly, and finally, I sprinkled the powder from the bag and started squeezing the tube.
‘It’ll work, right.’
The powder was candy powder made by finely crushing the candy I got from the Heroine App, and the tube was syrup I had made myself yesterday.
It was made by melting the candy I got from the Heroine App and mixing it with regular strawberry syrup.
One of the things I had experimented with at the cafe yesterday was that the candy’s effect worked even if you just ate it, but it also worked if you powdered it or melted it and mixed it with something else.
The most important thing was to consume about one candy’s worth.
If you consumed about one candy’s worth, the effect would be applied to the person you were looking at while consuming that amount.
‘I almost confessed to the part-timer.’
I smiled bitterly, remembering what happened yesterday.
I had used 5 of the remaining 12 candies for the experiment, and the place I chose for the experiment was the cafe.
It was a place where I could eat something without moving for a long time.
Sitting in the cafe, I chose the female part-timer with the most ordinary face and figure as my first target, just in case, and experimented while only looking at her. If I hadn’t properly understood the effect of this candy, I would have thought I had fallen in love at first sight, my heart was pounding so hard.
‘I didn’t know the candy’s effects would stack.’
When I ate one, I only felt a slight attraction, but when I ate two, even though it was someone I had never met before and had an ordinary face and figure, I felt incredibly excited.
I thought it would be dangerous to eat any more, so I finished the experiment by looking at other people.
‘It’s done.’
I looked at the finished shaved ice.
The powder sprinkled on the shaved ice was made by crushing one candy, and the syrup sprinkled on the shaved ice was made by melting and mixing two candies.
It was a work that used a total of 3 candies, but I wasn’t aiming for the effect of 3 candies.
‘She’ll probably leave some. I just hope she consumes about two candies’ worth.’
The easiest way would have been to just give her the candy, but if her feelings for me changed every time she ate a candy, it could raise unnecessary suspicion.
Naturally.
The best way to naturally give her the effects of multiple candies was to mix them into food like this.
Therefore, Luma Shabu, with its sweet desserts and buffet style where customers get their own food, was the perfect place for me.
“Here you go. I made one for you too, noona.”
I returned to our table with the shaved ice. I placed a regular red bean shaved ice in front of me, and the shaved ice with candy powder and syrup in front of noona.
“Okay. Thank you.”
Noona smiled and replied, then immediately took a bite of the shaved ice.
I swallowed nervously and watched noona eat the shaved ice.
