Throughout her three years of high school, Yoon Na Eun studied fiercely and honed her memorization skills, never imagining that the day would come when she would use them to save the world.
Of course, Na Eun had no idea what this mix of English, numbers, and Korean characters, with absolutely no regularity, meant or why it was necessary.
And she couldn’t even be sure if what she was doing now was truly saving the world.
But believing that this was the kind of thing heroes usually do, she summoned the most exceptional concentration she had shown since her senior year of high school and memorized the two pages densely filled with codes.
Her memorization skills were still unrivaled, and as a result of focusing like crazy for about 10 minutes, she finally did it.
No matter how cutting-edge the technology was, it couldn’t scan the information engraved in her mind, so she was able to leisurely leave the VIP floor and get into the car to go home.
Throughout the entire car ride home, Na Eun kept repeating the memorization to ensure that the information imprinted in her mind was conveyed without a single mistake.
As soon as she entered her room on the upper floor of her house, she discovered two uninvited guests standing in the room that didn’t even have its owner.
Two heroes were occupying the space even though she hadn’t even opened the door for them.
They must have roughly come through the window or snuck in somehow.
Although she had told them through the communication device that she would go home and let them know, she didn’t even want to ask how they could have infiltrated this place faster than her, who came by car.
There was something more urgent than that.
Na Eun hurriedly went to the drawer, pulled out any notebook, and tore off an empty part.
Before Kwon Seung Joo and Seo Hee Won could even speak, she took out a pen first and began writing down the content she had memorized in order from the first line.
Instant memory is quickly forgotten, so speed was important.
The two heroes silently watched Na Eun, who was lying on the floor writing on the paper with a pen, too rushed to even use the table right next to her.
They didn’t want to disturb her concentration.
After about 20 minutes, four sheets of white paper were completely filled.
“Ha……”
Thank goodness. I wrote it all down without forgetting until the end.
With the period, Na Eun put down the pen with a relaxed face and leaned her back against the bed.
She held out the paper to Seung Joo with a weak hand. Seung Joo hurriedly took it and said,
“Really, thank you so much Na Eun.”
“…It’s fine, so hurry up and go. You’re busy, aren’t you?”
Na Eun sighed and waved her hand dismissively.
As if he was indeed busy, Seung Joo turned his back without further ado, and so did Hee Won.
Perhaps having found composure after overcoming a big hurdle, Hee Won threw another tease with his usual sly smile.
“I’m grateful too. If I get a chance next time, I’ll give you a deep kiss.”
Too drained to retort, Na Eun quietly held up her middle finger.
Hee Won laughed again at that sight. This time, he seemed genuinely happy.
As if this place was originally the exit, Na Eun blankly stared at the backs of the two people leaving through the window, and then suddenly remembered and shouted,
“Hey! Kwon Seung Joo, make sure to pick up when I call!”
Seung Joo, who was crossing the window, turned this way and curved his eyes above the mask. He nodded, indicating that he understood.
After receiving confirmation, Na Eun, who was sprawled out on the spot, closed her eyes, exhausted from too many things happening in one day.
Not resisting the sleep that was slowly pouring in, she suddenly recalled the fourth item written in her diary.
The fourth virtue that a civilian friend of a hero should uphold:
Hopefully it won’t come to that, but always help out when help is needed.
[This is the timeline separator]If a not-so-desperate relationship keeps colliding, what does it mean?
[Sorry, the professor isn’t ending the class. Wait for me a bit.]Na Eun, who was sitting on a bench near the student cafeteria waiting to have lunch with her boyfriend, frowned as she checked the message from Jae Kyung.
It wasn’t that she was angry about having to wait for him, but rather that she was displeased with the unexpected visitor she had run into while waiting.
“Who is it?”
“Someone I know. Want to go in first?”
The man, who was walking around the campus with a companion who looked like a couple to anyone, walked straight to the bench without hesitation as soon as he spotted Na Eun.
His acquaintance walked away first in the other direction with a sulky face, showing a hint of disappointment, but Hee Won didn’t seem to care much.
I wish he would just pretend not to know me.
Even though she thought that, it was difficult to ignore someone who was blatantly acknowledging her (and even more so if that person was her lifesaver), so Na Eun greeted him with a small nod.
Hee Won put his hands in his pockets and looked around Na Eun’s vicinity.
“Who are you waiting for?”
“My boyfriend.”
“Seems like he’s from the same school. Don’t tell me you’re in the same department?”
He casually struck up a conversation, innocently saying that not dating someone from the same department was a wisdom passed down from ancestors decades ago.
Na Eun was a bit dumbfounded.
Since when were we close enough for you to talk to me? The man seemed to have developed a sense of intimacy with her, who had helped him a few days ago, but she wasn’t very pleased about it.
“I think your girlfriend was upset earlier. Wouldn’t it be better to catch up with her quickly?”
In summary, it meant to mind his own business and go his own way.
But the man, who seemed to have lived a life of selectively hearing only what he wanted to hear, shrugged his shoulders and again spouted an unexpected answer.
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
“What?”
This time, Na Eun was taken aback. She had just witnessed a pair who were stuck together until just now, with one body but two heads.
They were clinging to each other like that, and now he’s saying they’re not dating? When she stared at him in absurdity, Hee Won shrugged his shoulders.
“You can hug even if you’re not dating.”
“……”
“Plenty of other things are possible too.”
I want to buy ears that didn’t hear that.
Yoon Na Eun bit her lip.
Feeling like her ears have been sullied, she brushed her ear with one hand out of annoyance and snapped.
“Can’t you just get lost?”
“That’s harsh. I’m still your senior.”
“We’re not even in the same department, what senior?”
Na Eun avoided his gaze with an incredulous expression. And at the same time, she gritted her teeth.
She realized anew that this person really attended the same school as her.
It’s unwanted information she obtained from a student’s mother while tutoring them.
She still remembered how Mrs. Kim urged her to buy meals for Hee Won and get close to him since they go to the same school.
Of course, she tried not to be too shocked by the fact she unintentionally found out, but honestly, she couldn’t help feeling resentful.
That person studied as well as I did.
She worked and worked hard throughout her three years of high school and finally got into the university she wanted, but that person, who has absolutely no respectable qualities, is attending the same school.
For the first time, Na Eun poured out criticism towards the school she attends. It has no eye for people.
Even if she hurled a storm of criticism at the current South Korean education system that only looks at grades and not character at all, the bitter reality doesn’t change.
Na Eun eventually expressed her dislike toward the person hitting the ground by shooting her words like arrows in a pointed tone.
“No wonder your ex-girlfriend’s dad hates you when you act like that.”
“I admit that was my fault.”
Hee Won, who almost ruined his important work because he got on the bad side of Assemblyman Kang, admitted readily with an awkward laugh.
He’s quick to admit when he’s wrong, too.
Grumbling but having nothing more to say, Na Eun avoided his gaze, and Hee Won spoke.
“Let’s talk later when you don’t have a boyfriend. I’ll buy you a meal.”
“I don’t eat with a man alone.”
“I’m not hitting on you. It’s a sincere gesture of gratitude.”
“……”
Although his tone was still light, somehow it seemed like she shouldn’t ignore it this time.
Na Eun lifted her head and stared at Hee Won intently. After a few seconds of eye contact, Hee Won smiled.
“What, do you really want me to show my gratitude in another way?”
“I’ll just accept your gratitude. But I really don’t eat with a man alone. Unless we’re dating.”
Lightly dismissing his persistent jokes, Na Eun simultaneously noticed a figure approaching from a distance with quick steps and her face brightened.
Na Eun waved her hand with a very bright complexion.
“Jae Kyung!”
“Sorry, did you wait long… Oh, hello.”
Jae Kyung, who hurriedly approached with his backpack roughly slung over one shoulder, apologized to Na Eun and at the same time, noticed Hee Won standing in front of the bench and widened his eyes. Jae Kyung’s face lit up.
“We’ve met before, right?”
“Yeah, hi. Turns out you’re our junior. You must have studied well.”
“Haha.”
Our poor Jae Kyung. He likes him without knowing his dark personality at all.
Knowing Jae Kyung, who was full of admiration for all heroes including Hee Won, Na Eun could only look at her boyfriend with pity.
Whether he knew what she was thinking or not, Jae Kyung approached Hee Won and spoke to him in a delighted tone.
“I’m keeping the autograph you gave me last time preciously.”
“Really? But I gave it to your girlfriend, so it unintentionally ended up like that.”
“You were a university student. And to think we’re in the same school, it’s an honor.”
“Your girlfriend didn’t tell you?”
Hee Won shrugged as if he found it a bit unexpected.
“Then I guess you don’t know that she’s tutoring my younger sibling either.”
“Oh, really?”
Jae Kyung turned to look at Na Eun, hearing the story for the first time again.
Na Eun made awkward eye contact with Jae Kyung and smiled uncomfortably.
He knew that she had started tutoring, but it was news to Jae Kyung that the student was that man’s sibling.
To smooth things over, Na Eun hurriedly got up from her seat and linked arms with Jae Kyung.
“Sorry for not telling you. I thought it would be better if you didn’t know. You know. He’s not the kind of person you want to get involved with.”
“Wow, you’re saying that right to my face. I’m hurt.”
“Who was the one who blatantly threatened to kill me if I said the wrong thing? And is it okay for you to let people know your personal information here and there like that? Why are you so careless?”
Na Eun frowned, blaming Hee Won instead.
Hee Won laughed, not disliking the unexpectedness coming from her.
“I didn’t expect you to keep your mouth shut even to your boyfriend.”
“Do you know how many years I’ve lasted playing with Seung Joo and Sun Jin? I know that you have to keep your mouth shut to live long!”
“Indeed, you’re smart.”
Jae Kyung nodded in satisfaction, and watching the two of them converse, his expression became a bit strange. He asked Na Eun,
“You two seem to have gotten quite close.”
Was it because they were both men? Or was it because he was quick-witted? Hee Won, who sensed a hint of irritation in Jae Kyung’s tone, laughed inwardly.
Hee Won immediately discerned that Na Eun had not disclosed any of the incidents she encountered with him, from the hotel incident to stealing the book at the VIP lounge a while ago, to her boyfriend.
Her mouth is not only tight, but exceptionally so.
I like it.
Thinking that he likes this feeling of a civilian related to his main job not being bothersome for the first time, he considerately excused himself.
“My lover is waiting for me. I’ll get going first.”
“Didn’t you say she wasn’t your girlfriend earlier?”
“I’ll start from today, I guess.”
When Na Eun asked with a dumbfounded expression, Hee Won waved his hand casually and left.
Sighing in admiration at his free-spirited view on relationships that she couldn’t understand and didn’t want to understand, Jae Kyung took her hand in the meantime.
Na Eun turned her head and looked up at her boyfriend.
“You’re hungry, right? Let’s go eat.”
Toward him, who made eye contact and talked to her kindly as if nothing had happened, Na Eun said with all her heart.
[This is the timeline separator]“Were you disappointed that I didn’t tell you anything about that person? I’m sorry.”
“……”
“But, I was afraid that you might get hurt if you knew…”
You know? In movies, it’s safer for ordinary people like us to not know about such things.
Carefully, but fully aware that her boyfriend’s feelings were hurt, Yoon Na Eun comforted Han Jae Kyung like that.
If the situation were reversed and Jae Kyung had been in constant contact with another woman without telling Na Eun anything related to her, Na Eun certainly wouldn’t have been pleased either.
Moreover, although she hated to admit it, it could be even more irksome if the other person was as handsome as him.
Not wanting to invite unnecessary misunderstandings, Jae Kyung silently looked down at Na Eun, who was honestly conveying her feelings.
Then suddenly, just as Na Eun felt a slightly excessive force being applied to their clasped hands, he spoke.
“It’s okay. I understand.”
“No, you’re not okay.”
Na Eun shook her head at him, who gave a textbook-perfect answer.
Jae Kyung blinked in surprise when his words were blatantly denied.
Na Eun linked her arm with Jae Kyung’s and said,
“You’re angry right now. Don’t say it’s okay when it’s not.”
“……”
“I’m sorry for disappointing you.”
As a sign of apology, she gently leaned her head on his shoulder, and Jae Kyung didn’t push her away.
He stood stiffly for a moment, then slowly raised his free arm on the opposite side and stroked Na Eun’s head.
“Na Eun, do you want to have a date at my house this weekend?”
“…Huh?”
Na Eun, who had been leaning against Jae Kyung and smelling the faint scent of his cologne, suddenly lifted her head.
What, what did he say?
“We couldn’t watch the movie you said you wanted to see last time. It’s now available on OTT.”
“……”
“Let’s watch it together at home. I’ll cook for you too.”
How about it?
At her boyfriend’s innocent invitation, which seemed to have no ulterior motive, Na Eun froze for a moment and then awkwardly nodded.
“Uh, okay. Let’s do that!”
[This is the timeline separator]Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
