Chapter 27
***
Early evening.
We had finished our aquarium itinerary and returned to the hotel.
It was time for dinner at the hotel buffet.
“Ugh—!”
As we got off the bus, I stretched, raising both arms high.
“That was fun—”
Jinuri stretched her back and twisted her body from side to side.
Her face was glowing with excitement.
She naturally turned toward me and asked,
“The aquarium. It was better than you expected, right?”
Definitely.
I agreed.
“Especially the whale sharks.”
“Yeah, exactly···! They were seriously huge···!”
Jinuri couldn't seem to get the sight she'd seen out of her head.
She gestured as if drawing a whale shark, clearly excited.
“···.”
···In contrast.
I subtly turned my gaze behind me.
“···.”
“···.”
Two people were getting off the bus in an oddly silent atmosphere.
Lee Sol and Shin A-young.
They had been proceeding in parallel without meeting each other's eyes the entire time.
— “I made a mistake, but··· what exactly was my mistake···?”
Shin A-young's mini-me rolled her eyes around and around.
As for Lee Sol···
— “Whatever— — — —”
The noise was still going, so I couldn't tell what she was saying.
It was difficult to figure out what was going on like this.
For the time being, I had no choice but to watch until the right moment came.
Even after we entered the dining hall, the situation continued.
“···.”
“Ah, this looks good.”
At a time like this, I could only envy Jinuri for peacefully choosing her dinner.
— “Yum. Delicious.”
Jinuri's mini-me happily gobbled down sushi.
Salmon, shrimp, tuna··· Her plate was piled high with all kinds of food.
Considering how much she usually ate at school, Jinuri seemed like the type to get her money's worth at a buffet.
“Ah. Right.”
As if she'd just remembered something,
Jinuri stopped eating and pulled out a small notebook.
A notebook? That was a pretty retro aesthetic.
She twirled her pen and asked,
“Is there anywhere you want to go tomorrow? If so, I'll write it into the itinerary ahead of time.”
Tomorrow's destination was Universal Studios.
It was an itinerary worthy of being called the highlight of the school trip.
Since it was the last day, Jinuri was more determined than usual.
She looked as if she refused to waste even a single second.
“Somewhere I want to go···.”
Now that she'd asked, nothing came to mind right away.
Since we were enjoying an amusement park in Japan, I did want to experience something unavailable at Korea's Everland.
If so, what came to mind was···
“Ah, I do want to see Dotendo World at least once.”
“Dotendo World? It's a little tough there···.”
“Really?”
“It's so popular that they say it's hard to get on the rides unless you do an open run. What time did we say we'd arrive tomorrow?”
“Around seven? They said we'd leave early on purpose because the lines are long.”
“Then we might make it if we're lucky.”
That was welcome news.
— “Still, I should set up another route in case that doesn't work out···.”
Jinuri's mini-me muttered as she scribbled away.
She even worried about things like that?
Not just a Plan A, but a backup plan as well.
She really was thorough.
— “We have to go to Universal Cool Japan, so I'll work that in naturally··· We can't miss our chance to buy the limited ‘Demon Slayer’ merchandise.”
···So there was something like that, too.
From what I could gather from her mini-me, it was apparently an attraction that regularly held anime collaborations.
Even then, she wasn't neglecting the anime attraction she liked.
“I'll go get another plate.”
Jinuri got up from her seat and headed back toward the food tables.
She really ate a lot.
I put down my chopsticks and stood up.
I thought I'd go get a drink while I was up.
“···?”
On the way to the beverage station,
a boy with a somewhat pale face caught my eye. He was looking around a little too quickly.
“···Ugh.”
— “The bathroom··· Where is the bathroom···?!”
Apparently, his stomach hurt.
Even his mini-me was sweating.
We'd already been staying at this hotel for two days. Did he still not know where the bathroom was?
···I couldn't just walk past him.
I lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
“The bathroom isn't inside the dining hall. Go outside and it's at the end of the hallway on the right.”
“Ah! Thanks···!”
He disappeared in a hurry.
I turned around as if nothing had happened.
“Hmm···.”
···Why were mini-mes so cute?
Since they were drawn in a character style, mini-mes were generally cute.
Maybe that's why it felt wrong to simply walk past them.
It was like seeing an abandoned puppy or kitten on the street···
“···.”
As I was thinking that, I suddenly turned my gaze out the window.
Lee Sol, sitting alone on a bench on the terrace, caught my eye.
“···.”
···What was she doing out there again?
***
The cold evening wind brushed against her body.
After finishing her meal, Lee Sol went out to the terrace for a while and leaned back against a bench.
“Whew···.”
She had come out here because her thoughts were tangled up somehow.
“···.”
After that, she hadn't managed to do anything at all.
In fact, afterward, it wasn't Shin A-young's interference so much as her own inability to step forward that had been the problem.
She'd kept hemming and hawing until the schedule came to an end.
“···What a hassle.”
She was talking about herself.
Why was she acting like this?
Whenever she was beside him, her already-slow movements became several times slower··· This wasn't like her usual self.
She was always languid, unhurried, carefree, and self-assured.
That was what Lee Sol was supposed to be.
But all of those things disappeared whenever Lee Seungho showed up—
“What are you doing out here alone?”
“···!?”
Her hips jerked upward.
She recognized whose voice it was instantly.
Lee Sol couldn't hide her fluster as she whipped her head around. Her shoulders twitched.
Lee Seungho was standing there, looking puzzled.
“Ah···.”
Lee Sol's eyes darted around.
Her mind raced as she tried to figure out how to act from that moment on.
···Look at this.
Didn't she lose all room to think clearly?
“It's just··· I was getting some air.”
Lee Sol slowly offered a plausible excuse.
It wasn't a lie.
“···Aren't you cold?”
“I'm wearing a hoodie.”
Lee Sol pulled up her hood for no particular reason.
She tugged the strings to lightly cover both cheeks. For some reason, she felt like doing it.
Lee Seungho gave a small nod at the sight.
“Still, come inside after a while. You'll catch a cold for no reason.”
“Mm-hm.”
He turned around and started heading back inside.
“···.”
Lee Sol's hand fidgeted inside her pocket.
Her fingertips lightly tapped the object in there.
Was now the right time?
She hesitated over it a little.
···Still.
She wanted to do something today, no matter what.
“Hey, Lee Seungho.”
Lee Sol rose from the bench and called out to him.
“? What?”
As he turned back toward her,
Lee Sol pulled her hand from her pocket and extended the object she was holding.
“···This. You wanted it, right?”
A character key ring dangled from her finger, swaying in the wind.
It was the item he'd seen in Dotonbori.
“You helped me get through midterms, too. This is my way of thanking you.”
She'd felt like he wanted it.
She'd bought it as a way to repay him, but···
···Now, she was glad she'd done it.
“···.”
Lee Seungho's eyebrows rose slightly. He looked a little surprised.
He also seemed somewhat flustered.
“···You didn't want this, by any chance?”
What if he didn't need it?
As that anxiety began to creep up,
“No, it's not that···.”
Lee Seungho accepted it.
A soft arc formed at the corners of his eyes, and he gave a slight, awkward laugh.
“I just mean, thank you.”
“···Okay.”
Lee Sol answered as calmly as possible and slipped her hand back into her pocket.
“···.”
···She'd done it.
She had at least done something.
Clench—
The small fist she clenched inside her hoodie pocket revealed exactly how she felt.
***
The next day—
We arrived in front of Universal Studios early in the morning.
“···.”
My lips pressed together slightly.
— “Once we get inside, reserve Dotendo World immediately, buy some Henry Potter merchandise on the way to the attraction, then eat a main snack while we wait for the attraction—”
Um···
Jinuri's mini-me was muttering so intensely that it was frightening.
— “Good. The preparations are perfectly complete.”
The little thing snapped the notebook in one hand shut with a satisfying smack—its determination burning brightly.
I could even sense its fighting spirit.
“Ah, it looks like we're going in now.”
The line in front of us was slowly disappearing.
···Should I open the app first?
I opened the Universal Studios app.
Jinuri had nagged me so much to do it in advance that my body moved naturally.
···After about thirty minutes of waiting, it was finally our turn to enter.
Tap-tap-tap-tap—
We quickly started making our reservations for Dotendo World.
“I got it, I got it···! Did you guys reserve it?”
Jinuri was the first to shout.
“Yeah, I got it.”
“Mm, me too.”
“Then everyone got it. We all have the same time slot, too.”
Maybe it was because we'd arrived early. It hadn't been nearly as difficult as I'd expected.
As expected of South Korea, the land of ticketing.
Now I could finally relax a little.
I quickly bought a churro and asked,
“Where are we going first?”
“There's an attraction called Henry Potter and the Journey, you know? Let's start there.”
Henry Potter···
Was it an attraction based on a wizard novel that everyone knew?
Jinuri flipped through her notebook as she explained the itinerary.
“Then we'll go into the Dotendo World we reserved and ride the Bario Kart attraction.”
Our reservation was about two hours from now.
If we rode that attraction and came out, the timing would line up perfectly.
“Let's hurry.”
Jinuri excitedly took the lead, her energy rising.
That was also a sight that was hard to see very often.
Jinuri walking around so excitedly.
···But.
“?”
It was only for a brief moment, but
Jinuri's steps seemed to slow awkwardly.
— “Something··· ”
Her mini-me tilted its head with a strange expression, then
— “···No, is it just my imagination?”
I saw her raise her energy again.
···What was that?
That thought only lasted a moment.
“Wow, it's Henry Potter···!”
I turned my gaze toward Shin A-young's cheer from beside me.
“···Whoa.”
My mouth fell open on its own.
The line was seriously fucking long. The snake-like queue twisted away into the distance, and I was already exhausted just looking at it.
It looked like we'd have to stand there for over an hour··· The problem was that this was apparently the line in its shorter state.
Honestly, standing in line wasn't my thing.
“···.”
It'd better not be boring.
.
.
.
“Wow.”
It's seriously fucking fun!
It was worth waiting for at least once.
If there hadn't been a line, I would've ridden it one more time. Other than that, everything was great.
“I see why it's so popular.”
“I know···!”
Not only Shin A-young but Lee Sol as well seemed to like it, her eyes sparkling.
As expected, it was worthy of being Jinuri's first choice—
“···Jinuri?”
When I turned around, she was the only one left behind.
“···.”
Her head was bowed, so I couldn't see her expression clearly, but
“···Ugh, sob···.”
Judging by the way she was clutching her stomach and trembling,
it was easy to tell that something serious had happened.