As we left the arcade, I asked,
“Where are we eating lunch?”
“I made a reservation at the bakery. Figured it’d be better than a restaurant.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Either way, both were top-tier places, so there was no reason to complain.
Since we still had plenty of time until the reservation, we strolled around leisurely, checking out various booths and performances.
Then, in the middle of the crowd, Dang Gyu-young’s eyes lit up as she spotted something.
“Hey, it’s my kids!”
Sure enough, it was Shin Byeong-cheol and the rest of the first-year members from the Thieves Club.
Without warning, Dang Gyu-young grabbed my hand and turned to the others.
“Be right back.”
“Byeong-cheol? I want to say hi too.”
“No, no, we’ll be quick.”
At that, Jegal So-so’s expression shifted slightly.
She seemed to be wondering why only I was being taken along.
If it was really going to be quick, wouldn’t she have just gone alone?
After a brief moment of hesitation, she pointed at Seo Ye-in and said,
“Fine, I’ll stay with her. Go ahead.”
Dang Gyu-young quickly pulled me through the crowd.
As we got closer, Shin Byeong-cheol noticed us first and turned his head in our direction.
He immediately bowed deeply.
“You’re here, noonim.”
“Hey. Out for fun?”
“Yes, just hanging out and doing a bit of market research, hehe.”
“Did you find anything useful?”
Shin Byeong-cheol looked a little flustered.
“Ah….ah! That? We’ve been poking around, but so far it’s just rumors.”
“Yeah, it’s probably too early for any real moves. Just keep tracking it.”
“Got it.”
That was the end of their exchange. Dang Gyu-young waved off the boys to go about their business.
As we watched them walk away, I asked,
“What was that about?”
“Apparently, the Black Faction kids and the archers have been acting a bit strange lately. Looks like they’re thinking about forming an alliance.”
The faces of Sa Gong-wook and Cha Hyeon-joo flashed through my mind.
Back then, if it hadn’t been for the Disciplinary Committee, things would’ve gotten violent fast. But I guess things change when it’s clubs or factions involved.
Or maybe they still don’t get along, but they’re working together temporarily.
“What are they trying to do with that alliance?”
“Obvious stuff. Probably planning to hit the temporary storage room.”
“Guess they think the Disciplinary Committee’s a pushover now.”
“Well, considering what happened… thanks to someone.”
Dang Gyu-young shot me a teasing smile.
She wasn’t wrong. The committee’s reputation had taken a serious hit lately.
After all, that infiltration attempt on the storage room had ended in a spectacular failure for their side.
They had built the entire operation around Kwak Seung-jae’s wooden door, only to be completely blindsided by my unexpected [Caw?].
With reinforcements arriving far too late, most of the prohibited items ended up getting leaked.
As the news spread, mid- to small-sized groups probably started thinking:
– Huh? The Disciplinary Committee’s not as scary as we thought.
– They got looted by a bunch of thieves?
– Then maybe we could pull it off too?
– If we’re lucky, it could be a huge score.
So now they were all lying in wait, looking for a chance to pounce.
I asked again,
“We’re sitting out the next temporary storage mission, right?”
“We’ve gotten more than enough out of it already.”
Not to mention, there was a strong possibility that faculty-level experts would be brought in this time.
The risks would be far higher than before, so there was no reason to push our luck.
Though it seemed the Black Faction and the archers had different ideas.
“We’ll have to keep an eye on their moves.”
“Yeah. If anything comes up, I’ll let you know too.”
With the conversation wrapped up, I turned to head back to the group.
But just as I started to move, Dang Gyu-young suddenly grabbed my hand.
She had a mysterious smile on her face.
Then, a shadow slithered up from beneath our feet and swallowed us whole.
Looking around, I realized we’d been transported to a secluded alleyway.
“So this is why you brought me along.”
“You knew from the start.”
“True enough.”
Honestly, she could’ve asked Shin Byeong-cheol all that back at the club room or over a message.
It wasn’t anything urgent or confidential.
The fact that she brought me along anyway clearly meant she had another motive.
I had guessed as much and decided to go with the flow.
Then, Dang Gyu-young suddenly pushed me up against the wall and, mimicking the narration voice from Labyrinth of Choice, said:
“You’ve fallen into Qyu-Qyu’s trap. Qyu-Qyu is currently feeling very pouty.”
“And what exactly has made you so pouty?”
“When it’s the four of us together, I can’t talk to you properly. I think I need to fix my mood right now.”
“Alright, give me Option 1.”
She tapped her cheek with a finger and replied,
“Option 1: Kiss her sweetly, full of affection.”
“Knew it’d be something like that.”
“Option 2: Kiss her like a beast, rough and wild.”
“What exactly does ‘like a beast’ mean?”
“That’s for you to figure out.”
She said it without a hint of shame.
I paused for a moment, then lowered my voice and whispered,
“So you’re saying I should just go at it like my lips turned into octopus suckers? Slurping away forehead, ears, cheeks, neck…?”
“Pffthahaha! I like it. Proceed.”
“Let’s rule out Option 2 for now.”
At that, Dang Gyu-young suddenly turned serious and asked,
“…Why?”
“As a student of Dragon Slayer Academy, I feel it’s a bit beneath my dignity. Plus, it leaves marks.”
“Are marks really that big of a deal?”
“They are. So, what’s Option 3?”
Gyu-young pouted, then continued.
“…Option 3, force a kiss.”
“It’s all kisses. Are there any more options? Option 4?”
“Nope, 3 is the last one.”
“Then Option 1’s the most normal, at least.”
“Mhmm, but just so you know…it’s also the least effective.”
A subtle hint that it wouldn’t be enough to fix her mood.
I shook my head and asked,
“Let’s say we go with Option 3. What does ‘force a kiss’ even mean?”
“It means we act out a situation like that.”
“You really love your little skits, don’t you?”
“For today, make it extra cheesy. I’m in the mood for something greasy.”
“Your requests, honestly… Fine.”
To set the mood, we switched positions.
I moved into a wall-slam pose.
That alone made Dang Gyu-young look absolutely thrilled, but clearly, she wasn’t going to skip the roleplay. She cleared her throat, as if preparing for a performance.
Then she began in a delicate voice,
“I have to go back soon.”
“No, I won’t let you. I’m never letting you go.”
“Hehee!”
The skit nearly fell apart right from the start.
Dang Gyu-young tried to steady the corners of her twitching lips and delivered her next line.
“The others are waiting. They’ll be worried if I’m late.”
“Then let them wait. Right now, this moment is just for the two of us. No one else matters.”
“Kuhm, hhup!”
Even after that, Dang Gyu-young fought to hold back laughter while I fought to keep from cringing as we carried the skit forward.
And in the end, I cupped her neck and kissed her on the cheek.
Dang Gyu-young caught her breath, her face slightly flushed.
“Phew, that was hard to hold in.”
“It was rough for me too.”
If she tries something like this again, I’m shutting it down immediately.
Dang Gyu-young seemed mostly satisfied, but at the same time, there was a hint of lingering regret.
“I’ve been thinking.”
“About the skit?”
“Mhmm. Since it was just on the cheek, it didn’t really have that impact.”
“I can see that. A cheek kiss doesn’t exactly scream ‘forced kiss’.”
She glanced sideways at me.
“…We need to push it further.”
“Nope.”
“Aww, why not!”
“Because your intentions are impure. You can’t escalate things just for a roleplay.”
From now on, even if I agreed to these skits, I’d be a lot more selective.
Looking pouty, Dang Gyu-young looked up at me then suddenly bit my shoulder.
“Chomp.”
“Why are you biting me?”
“Every time you refuse to move things forward, I’m gonna bite you.”
With a fox-like gleam in her eyes, she came closer like she was stalking prey.
I used Blink to escape.
***
We rejoined Seo Ye-in and Jegal So-so.
Surprisingly, the two of them were deep in conversation, and it seemed like playing the game together had helped them grow a little closer.
Just as they both happened to look our way, I asked,
“What were you two talking about?”
“Just some random stuff? We talked about you a bit, too.”
“She’s kind of a short-answer type, right?”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t hard to follow. It actually felt kind of refreshing. Shall we get going?”
“Let’s.”
After walking together for a bit, we came across the bakery.
We sat at our reserved table, ordered a few dishes, and grabbed some bread to share.
While chatting and eating, Seo Ye-in suddenly tilted her head.
“…….?”
Then, for some reason, she took out her Charcoal Card and started inspecting it closely.
Jegal So-so and Dang Gyu-young looked on with interest and commented.
“Doesn’t the gold color seem to have increased?”
“Just a tiny bit.”
I’d been thinking the same thing.
I suspected it had something to do with the Lucky Charm thing. Maybe it meant that some good luck had returned?
Though, to be honest, she was still much closer to being the Unlucky Sloth.
As I thought about that and connected the Unlucky Sloth with the bakery, something popped into my mind.
“Since we’re here, we might as well get some cake.”
“…….!”
An exclamation mark appeared above Seo Ye-in’s head.
After midterms ended, we’d spent nearly ten days searching for a strawberry fresh cream cake, only to fail every single time.
Either the bakery was closed, the student cafeteria didn’t stock the strawberry cake, or when they did, someone else always got to it first.
But now, we had come straight to the bakery ourselves.
We weren’t relying on the student cafeteria anymore, and we had a big advantage over the competition, so our success rate this time was close to 100%.
Still, just in case, I decided to bring it up.
“Should we go grab it now?”
“Secure it early.”
Seo Ye-in nodded.
When we walked over to the cake section together, something familiar caught our eye.
A cake with cloud-like whipped cream and pieces of fruit, including strawberries, embedded all over.
We quickly picked it up and brought it back to our table. Seo Ye-in slowly began to dig in with her fork.
“…I’m happy.”
Her expression was as flat as ever, but her excitement was obvious to everyone.
Watching her with a smile, Jegal So-so asked curiously,
“You must really like that cake.”
“It’s my favorite.”
Hearing that, something came to mind.
“I thought cookies were your favorite.”
“They’re tied for first.”
In other words, it was a tight race for the number one spot.
Right now, the strawberry fresh cream cake seemed to be winning, probably thanks to its limited-edition premium status.
Jegal So-so asked another question.
“Is there a special reason you like cookies?”
“They’re fun.”
Since her answer was extremely concise, I stepped in to explain.
“Her hobby is baking cookies.”
“Mhmm, making them yourself does feel different. And it’s nice to share them with friends too.”
Jegal So-so nodded, while Dang Gyu-young looked like she wanted to dig a little deeper.
“Do you like all cakes, or just this one?”
Seo Ye-in slowly shook her head, then pointed to the cake on her plate.
“This one’s special.”
“Why?”
“The first one I received.”
They didn’t need to ask who she got it from. The answer was obvious.
Dang Gyu-young and Jegal So-so narrowed their eyes and looked straight at me.
“You’re such a smooth player, aren’t you?”
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