Chapter 25
A week after the mutant gathering.
Hyeonwoo and I were at an amusement park in Seoul.
“It's been a while since I've been to an amusement park.”
“Yeah. It's my first time since middle school.”
While waiting for the cat sisters near the entrance, we began chatting about this and that.
“But am I really allowed to come too? I was basically just a tagalong that time.”
“I kind of think so too.... But they said I absolutely had to come with you, so what choice did we have?”
This trip to the amusement park was a gift from the cat sisters as payment for the ice show we'd put on last time.
They gave us amusement park tickets just for putting on a little ice show.... I guess rich people really are generous.
The only strange thing was that they insisted I come to the amusement park with Hyeonwoo.
Hyeonwoo hadn't really talked to them that time, and they'd only teased me, so there was no reason for him to be invited....
...Now that I think about it, I'm getting mad that they teased me.
“Huh? What's wrong, Seolhwa?”
“...Nothing.”
I lightly kicked Hyeonwoo's calf out of annoyance.
As expected, it didn't seem to do much damage.
“But are you going to be okay? It's a little cool today, but what if you collapse halfway through….”
“I'm fine, I'm fine. I was able to come up with a countermeasure through all those simulations.”
“What countermeasure?”
“It's simple. If I keep eating cold things to replenish my cold energy, I won't collapse from the heat!”
A tactic I'd come up with while playing games.
If I treated the heat as damage over time and increased my recovery rate beyond the damage I was taking, I should be able to endure it.
In other words, I would overpower the heat's damage output with the recovery from my cold energy!
It was simple, but it was bound to be extremely effective.
“So buy me a slushie and bingsu. I don't have any money.”
“...You're incredibly shameless. Fine. Since we're here thanks to you, I'll do it today.”
“Heheh. Thanks, Hyeonwoo.”
As we passed the time chatting about nothing, we soon saw the cat sisters running toward us from far away.
“Sorry! We're a little late, right?”
“...Sis.... I overslept….”
Their dark circles were plainly visible, apparently because they'd been so excited about the amusement park, and they came running toward us with their tails swaying.
“It's fine. You're paying for everything, so I won't complain about you being this late.”
“Besides, you're not even that late, so you don't have to worry.”
Even though they said they were late, only ten minutes had passed since the scheduled entrance time.
Being ten minutes late wasn't enough to interfere with having fun.
Hehe.... I'm going to enjoy myself to the fullest today....
“Well then, shall we go?”
“Yeah!”
Now that everyone was here, we headed straight for the entrance.
“Hehe.... It's all set.... The operation begins now, Yuri!”
“Yeah…!”
I had a feeling the sisters were whispering something behind me….
It probably wasn't anything important.
For now, I'm only thinking about having fun! Heheh.
======
Let's turn back the clock a little—to the previous night.
The two girls lying on a large bed were planning their operation, their tails swaying gently.
“So if we get them on the Ferris wheel at the end, it'll work somehow.... Yuri, are you listening?”
“...Yeah.”
“You don't seem to be listening at all.... What are you thinking about so hard?”
“...Is this really okay…? What if we ruin things for no reason….”
Yuri, who had a somewhat timid personality, was hesitant about the scheme to get the childhood friends together, unlike her bold older sister Yeri.
“You're too worried about everything.... You saw those two, too.
If someone openly touches the other's cheek like that, they're definitely already flirting, I'm telling you.”
Actually, Yeri wasn't entirely wrong.
The only problem was that they didn't know Seolhwa had been a man.
If Seolhwa had been a girl from the beginning, Haru might have done so, but even Hyeonwoo wouldn't have casually touched those addictive cheeks.
Because Seolhwa was male, Hyeonwoo could touch Seolhwa's cheek as a joke, knowing Seolhwa would only get a little angry and forgive him—a trivial prank between longtime friends, but….
There was no way the two sisters could have known that.
“So if anything, we'll help them. There's no way we'll ruin things, right?”
“You think so…?”
“And when will we ever get an experience this fun? We're going to bring together two people who seem to be flirting.... Just thinking about it sounds fun, doesn't it?”
“That is true…!”
Since neither of them had ever dated and had learned about romance only through manga, they were quite excited by the idea that they could bring a real couple together.
“So tomorrow, we just have to follow the plan. First of all….”
======
After passing through the entrance and starting toward the rides, the cats suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me along.
“Sis, sis! Let's go over there first!”
“There are lots of pretty things….”
The place they pointed to was a souvenir shop selling animal-ear headbands, ribbons, and the like.
“Uh.... Can't we go there after riding all the rides?”
“It'll only take a second! Come on, let's go!”
I wanted to ride the attractions and have fun right away, but Yeri grabbed my arm and led me to the souvenir shop.
I guess it can't be helped….
“Okay, fine. Hyeonwoo, let's go.”
“Sure.”
Regardless of how we'd ended up here, the cat sisters were paying for everything today, so Hyeonwoo and I had no choice but to follow them into the souvenir shop.
======
The souvenir shop was bigger than I expected, and it had a wide variety of things.
Rabbit headbands, cat headbands, pig headbands, fox headbands, flower headbands….
...There are nothing but headbands.
“Snow Woman sis! What do you think of this?”
While I was lamenting the hopeless selection, Yeri swayed her tail and brought me a cat headband.
“Uh.... Does that have any meaning?”
The odd thing was that Yeri, who was already a cat mutant with cat ears, had brought it over.
How many ears was she trying to have…?
“Ah, this isn't for me.”
Yeri handed the headband toward me and said,
“Sis, try it on!”
...What?
“Why would I wear that?”
“To make an impression, obviously?”
“An impression? On whom?”
“......”
Yeri stared at me as though I were a strange person.
Why is she acting like that…?
“Whether it's to make an impression or not.... I don't really want to wear a headband or anything….”
Unless it were a matching headband to wear with my girlfriend, I didn't want to walk around alone wearing one for no reason.
The reason was that it was embarrassing, embarrassing, and embarrassing.
“But you're wearing a hair clip!”
Yeri pointed at my hair and insisted that was different.
A hair clip…?
Me, wearing something like that... Ah.
Just as Yeri had said, I was wearing one.
The snowflake hair clip Hyeonwoo had given me before.
“...I got so used to it that I was wearing it without thinking….”
A sudden sense of dread came over me.
The fear that I'd unknowingly started wearing a hair clip as though it were perfectly normal.
It was the realistic fear that before long, I might even get used to going around dressed increasingly like a woman.
“You got used to it.... I was wondering why you were wearing it.”
Hyeonwoo looked at me with an exasperated expression as he spoke.
He had a point….
“Maybe I should take it off…?”
“Just leave it. You have nowhere to put it.”
“Ugh.... I guess….”
I wanted to take it off quickly and walk around bareheaded, but unfortunately, I had nothing to store it in.
I guess it can't be helped….
“...Anyway, apart from that, I'm not wearing anything like this.”
“Tch.... So dense….”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing! Hyeonwoo oppa! Don't you think Snow Woman sis would look good wearing this?”
“...Wouldn't it be cute…?”
“Huh? Why are you asking me?”
When I refused, the sisters suddenly began asking Hyeonwoo instead.
Why are they asking him…?
“It might be fun if Seolhwa wore something. We'd have more photos to post in the group chat.”
“I'm not wearing it!”
I shouted at Hyeonwoo, who was once again only thinking of ways to tease me, and fled the souvenir shop.
I hate having any more embarrassing memories!
“...What should we do, sis…?”
“It's fine. This is only the first plan, after all. We still have plenty of plans left!”
======
About an hour later.
While the four of us were heading toward the rides, Yeri clutched her stomach in front of the haunted house and said,
“Ugh.... My stomach suddenly hurts…!”
“Oh no…!”
Yeri suddenly began acting as though she had a stomachache, and Seolhwa and Hyeonwoo, flustered by her performance, approached her to check on her condition.
“A-are you okay?”
“Is there a first-aid station nearby…?”
The two of them were worried about Yeri and tried to do something to help as quickly as possible, but—
“I'll.... take Sis there…!”
“Ugh.... I'm sorry.... I'll be back in a moment….”
Yuri supported Yeri and left for the first-aid station before they could do anything, so all they could do was watch her go.
Yeri kept up the act to the end, pretending to go to the first-aid station with her sister—then hid herself in a nearby patch of bushes.
“This operation is.... the suspension-bridge effect!”
“The suspension-bridge effect…!”
The suspension-bridge effect was a phenomenon in which people mistook the pounding of fear for the pounding of love.
The sisters seemed to be using this phenomenon to push the two toward a sudden romance.
The fact that they'd started their performance in front of the haunted house, of all places, was proof of that.
“What should we do? Should we wait here for a while?”
Worried that Yeri had gone to the first-aid station, Seolhwa asked Hyeonwoo.
“Well, why don't we play for now and call her later to meet up?”
“I see….”
After listening to Hyeonwoo, Seolhwa looked around for the next ride….
“Then shall we go to the haunted house right in front of us first? It looks fun!”
Seolhwa pointed to the haunted house right in front of them and invited Hyeonwoo to go with them.
It looked as though the sisters' plan was proceeding exactly as intended, but—
“You go by yourself. I'm skipping it.”
“Huh? You like scary things, don't you?”
“I'm fine. Go alone if you want.”
“Tch.... Fine.”
Contrary to the sisters' expectations, Hyeonwoo refused to enter the haunted house, so Seolhwa went inside alone.
“Is that oppa impotent?!”
“What a disappointment….”
Just as they were feeling terribly disappointed that he hadn't followed and were considering scrapping the plan—
“Kyaaaaaaa!!”
“Whoa! Minjun's frozen!”
“Hey, the walls are freezing over! Run away, quickly!!””
Along with Seolhwa's scream, an enormous blast of cold erupted from inside the haunted house, followed by the employees' screams.
“What on earth is that person?! The place is freezing over as soon as they faint!!”
“S-save me…! I haven't confessed yet—”
“Seungcheol!!!”
“Stop! You'll die too!!”
The haunted house became a complete scene of chaos, with the employees screaming and cold air pouring out.
“Couldn't even last a minute….”
Hyeonwoo sipped his coffee with a sigh, as though he had expected this.
The cat sisters, dumbfounded by the chaos unfolding before them, said,
“He's not dense….”
“He was.... wise….”