Chapter 48
After that conversation, the two continued walking without exchanging any meaningful words and eventually arrived at Hyeonwoo's house.
“...We're here.”
Seolhwa muttered softly as she looked at the large apartment building that was Hyeonwoo's home.
Her voice sounded almost regretful that they had arrived.
“Th-then I'll go inside….”
Hyeonwoo, on the other hand, spoke as if relieved to have made it home and hurriedly tried to go inside.
Naturally, it was because he wanted to part ways with Seolhwa as quickly as possible.
Walking without saying anything had calmed him down a little, but Seolhwa's attack just now had been far too powerful for Hyeonwoo in his current state.
That scene where the Snow Woman's cold hands had grasped both his cheeks and she had made eye contact with him.
Seolhwa herself seemed to have noticed, but that pose had looked just like a couple about to kiss….
“...Th-then, take care.”
“......”
As thinking back on that scene threatened to make those unsavory thoughts sprout again, Hyeonwoo tried to hurry home, but…
Yet Seolhwa's expression troubled him even more, and his feet refused to carry him toward the house.
“...Damn it.”
Reluctantly glancing back, he saw Seolhwa still standing there and looking at him.
She kept gazing at Hyeonwoo with eyes that seemed dissatisfied yet worried about something.
She had been looking at him that way earlier, too.
‘...Did something happen at her family home?’
Seolhwa's behavior was clearly strange, but Hyeonwoo couldn't even begin to figure out why.
The only thing he could infer was that something might have happened at her family home, but….
Contrary to Hyeonwoo's assumption, the only things that had happened at her family home were light pranks, such as making her exercise and messing with her hair, so his guess was completely wrong.
“...Hey, Hyeonwoo.”
“...Huh?”
As he continued looking at Seolhwa, who looked uneasy, she gathered her courage and spoke to Hyeonwoo first.
However, perhaps she was a little short on courage, because she fidgeted for a while before finally speaking to Hyeonwoo with a serious expression.
“...Would you like to hang out for a bit before you go?”
======
Afterward, Seolhwa and Hyeonwoo walked a little farther and went to the nearby university district.
Though it had been long past nightfall, the street wasn't dark at all thanks to the lights glowing everywhere, creating a sharp contrast with the dark night sky.
“...I'm hungry.”
As befitted a university district, the crowded nighttime street was filled with countless food aromas that whetted their appetites.
It was a place Seolhwa had suddenly dragged Hyeonwoo to.
“Hyeonwoo, Hyeonwoo! They're selling ice cream over there!”
“I know, I know….”
Seolhwa, who had looked slightly worried until a moment ago, was running through the night street with her usual innocent smile.
When they had first arrived at the university district, she had still looked worried, but after smelling the food, her expression gradually relaxed, and when she spotted ice cream while drooling, she returned to normal.
Ice cream really does seem to be the Snow Woman's cure.
‘I'm glad she's back to normal….’
Only after seeing Seolhwa regain her innocent smile could Hyeonwoo relax a little.
‘I was worried because she kept looking anxious until just now….’
Seeing how easily she had returned to normal, he felt that perhaps nothing serious had happened,
but Hyeonwoo still couldn't stop wondering what was wrong with Seolhwa.
‘But even when I asked Minjun, he said nothing had happened….’
On the way over, he had exchanged texts with Minjun and heard how Seolhwa had been doing over the past week.
The problem was that nothing in that account explained why Seolhwa would have worn an expression like that.
Since his older brother had said that she had spent her days much as usual, Hyeonwoo was even less able to guess why Seolhwa had made that expression.
He also couldn't understand why Seolhwa had been staring so intently at him while he texted Minjun.
For the record, Minjun had last texted Hyeonwoo that it was fine for them to hang out, but that he should bring Seolhwa back earlier than Hyeonwoo was probably planning to.
Of course, Hyeonwoo had no idea why Minjun was acting that way and could only look puzzled.
“I don't know….”
Hyeonwoo was utterly perplexed because he couldn't understand Seolhwa's behavior at all.
Her suddenly becoming depressed, pressing him for answers, and looking at him worriedly….
Seolhwa suddenly asking him out on a date….
He simply couldn't understand it.
Of course, it wasn't as though he had no idea what might be going on…. But it made no sense for his friend to act like that just because he hadn't sent one measly text.
“Mister! One strawberry ice cream, please!”
Unaware of Hyeonwoo's pointless worries, Seolhwa had already pushed through the crowd and was standing in front of an ice cream stand, her eyes sparkling.
Seeing her, Hyeonwoo decided to forget the complicated matters for now and approached her, when the ice cream stand's sign suddenly caught his eye.
“Oh…. That ice cream….”
Realizing what kind of ice cream stand it was, Hyeonwoo hurriedly tried to warn Seolhwa, but-
“Miss, here's your ice cream.”
“Thank you!”
Seolhwa was already in the middle of paying for and receiving the ice cream.
The vendor attached the ice cream to a long metal bar, placed a cone beneath it, and handed it to Seolhwa.
Then, just as Seolhwa smiled brightly and took the ice cream cone in her hand-
The man swiftly lifted the bar with the ice cream, and the ice cream popped right out of the cone Seolhwa was holding, leaving only an empty cone in her hand.
“Huh…?”
Seolhwa stared blankly at the empty cone, unable to hide her bewildered expression.
The shopkeeper, who had attached the ice cream to the metal bar, wore a scheming smile as he happily watched Seolhwa grow flustered.
“Oh, dear….”
Seeing that, Hyeonwoo sighed, certain that Seolhwa had fallen straight into the vendor's trap.
It was a playful ice cream stand that teased customers by pretending to hand them its uniquely chewy ice cream before pulling it away.
Yes, what they sold here was Turkish ice cream.
“Huh…? Huh…? What…?”
Seolhwa alternated her gaze between the empty cone in her hand and the ice cream stuck to the vendor's bar, finally realizing that she had been fooled by a scam of sorts.
“H-Hyeonwoo! He took my ice cream!”
“It's not like that, so don't worry….”
Hyeonwoo patted his friend, who looked ready to burst into tears, and explained that it wasn't like that.
“Haha, it was just a joke. Here you go.”
Perhaps pleased with Seolhwa's reaction, the man laughed heartily, put the ice cream back in the cone, and handed it to her.
“Thank you...”
But Turkish ice cream's pranks never ended with just one.
When Seolhwa tried to grab the cone, the man rotated the bar 180 degrees, lifting the ice cream cone upward.
“Ngh…!”
Frustrated by the prank again, Seolhwa's competitive spirit flared as she reached stubbornly for the cone, but naturally, the man raised the bar again, turning the cone downward.
“Tch…! Then I'll do this…!”
This time, determined not to be fooled, Seolhwa reached out with one hand raised and the other lowered, trying to grab the cone-
“Whoops.”
As if he had expected that, the man rotated the bar only 90 degrees, making the cone point to the left.
“Haha, it's still too early for you, miss.”
“Aaaaaah!!”
After that, Seolhwa challenged the ice cream vendor, even using her abilities as a Snow Woman, but….
“Aha! If I freeze the bar, you won't be able to move it….”
Seolhwa challenged him by freezing the space between the bar and the refrigerator, but….
“Not a chance.”
The man countered by melting the ice with goblin fire using nothing but his eyes.
“Hahaha! You look like a mutant too, miss, but I'm a goblin mutant as well. I won't be beaten so easily.”
“Why is a goblin mutant selling ice cream?!”
Amid Seolhwa's dismayed screams at encountering another mutant in a place like this,
she was toyed with for another five minutes.
======
“Hehe…. It's delicious….”
After the shopkeeper said he'd had fun and gave her an extra-large ice cream, Seolhwa licked it with a blissful smile.
The sight of her looking as if she were about to cry from being teased moments ago had completely vanished.
“Good grief….”
Hyeonwoo could only stare at her in disbelief.
Just a few minutes ago, that Snow Woman had worn a worried expression for some unknown reason, and now she was smiling brightly as if she were the happiest person in the world….
‘Well, still…. This is more like Seolhwa, so I guess it's fine.’
But when he thought that this bright, adorable smile was Seolhwa, he decided it didn't matter.
Just as he was thinking that and about to continue walking, he turned toward the cold gaze he suddenly felt from beside him and noticed Seolhwa staring intently at his face.
Seolhwa had stopped eating her favorite ice cream and was looking at him with a slightly worried expression, so Hyeonwoo asked, a little flustered,
“...What's wrong? Is there something on my face?”
“...No.”
But Seolhwa said it was nothing, turned her head forward again, and walked ahead while eating her ice cream.
Then she muttered a few words under her breath.
“...Not yet.”
Returning to the worried expression she'd worn a few dozen minutes earlier, Seolhwa muttered this, turned around, and walked on ahead-
“Not yet...? What does that mean?”
Hyeonwoo could only stare at Seolhwa's back.