Upon hearing the conductor’s announcement that the subway could no longer operate due to an accident at the next station, Yoon Na Eun hailed a taxi to the next station as soon as she got off at the station.

This was because she knew one of the heroes who would be waiting at her original destination.

As expected, the area around the station where the accident occurred was already crowded with people, and at the end of her frantic run, she found an unfamiliar, disheveled Seo Hee Won kneeling on the ground, staggering.

Her actions came before her thoughts.

Amidst the rudeness of people taking out their phones to look at him like a celebrity, she decided to protect the hero.

After all, in moments like this, it is the way for civilians to protect heroes.

Fortunately, Seung Joo and Sun Jin arrived at the scene right away to provide support.

Upon hearing from Hee Won that two people were still left in the station, Seung Joo immediately went inside to look for them, while Sun Jin took the staggering Seo Hee Won from Na Eun.

Even though she was wearing a mask and a hat, Sun Jin’s expression upon first seeing Seo Hee Won in Na Eun’s arms was strange enough to be noticeable, but like a professional, she did not show it.

The fire incident in the subway eventually concluded with zero fatalities.

Newspapers and news outlets were full of praise and admiration for the heroes who prevented casualties, continuously lauding them.

Glancing at the passing news, Na Eun vaguely thought.

I wonder if his hands have healed.

This was because she had seen the terrible burns on his palms when she held him in her arms at that time.

And fortunately, she was able to confirm with her own eyes that his hands had healed within a few days.

Na Eun stared blankly at the paper bag he held out in front of her.

More precisely, she focused on the hand holding it out.

“You’re not angry that I’m late in returning this, are you?”

He playfully swung the paper bag left and right with his usual cheeky smile.

Without further ado, Na Eun took the shopping bag containing her outerwear.

Inside the paper bag, her jacket that she had wrapped Hee Won with that day was neatly folded. Judging by the faint scent, it seemed he had even washed it.

Na Eun stared at the man who showed a meticulous side in strange places and asked.

“Are your hands okay?”

His relaxed smile stiffened slightly. It was the look of someone facing a person who only says things they don’t want to hear.

I wonder if I said something rude. She pondered for a moment but decided to say what she wanted to say anyway.

“If something similar happens again, you don’t have to return things like this. Don’t worry about it.”

Considering Hee Won’s displeasure, Na Eun chose her words carefully.

In doing so, she failed to notice the wavering in his gaze.

“Your tattered palms were much more important than clothes like these. …I’m glad to see they seem to have healed now.”

“Didn’t you say you have a part-time job? Shouldn’t you get going?”

Hee Won interrupted, quickly retorting with a tone that seemed to imply he no longer wanted to hear her voice.

Despite his seemingly sarcastic attitude, Na Eun showed a reaction that once again went against his expectations, rather than being displeased.

“I was going to eat before leaving. Do you want to eat together? It’s my treat.”

“……”

Hee Won’s words were stuck for a moment. In the few years he had known her, it was a suggestion he had never heard before.

She always drew a clear line about not eating with a man alone.

Knowing the person who had always strictly maintained that line, Hee Won’s expression darkened.

However, being much older than her, he was skilled at hiding his bewilderment. He tilted his head with a smirk.

“Why, did you suddenly fall for me? Are you in the mood to hit on me now?”

“I didn’t fall for you, and I have no intention of hitting on you. But I’ve come to respect you. Suddenly.”

Na Eun, who would have usually gotten serious and denied it with annoyance, simply acknowledged it calmly.

Faced with another unexpected answer, Hee Won silently chewed on his tongue.

It was quite humiliating to face the fact that while he was trying to resist being drawn in, the other person was not applying any force at all.

Regardless of what he was thinking, Na Eun expressed her feelings without holding back.

“Thank you. Even though such a big accident occurred, not a single person died, and it was thanks to you.”

“You make it sound like you were the one who was saved.”

“If I had taken the subway even 10 minutes earlier, you would have saved me.”

“……”

“It didn’t matter to you who was on that train. You would have saved anyone. And I know that it could have been me at any time.”

Her eyes met his directly.

“So thank you. Sincerely.”

Hee Won genuinely wanted to avoid that upright gaze.

So he chose the action he knew she would hate the most.

“If you’re grateful, how about a kiss as a thank-you?”

It was harassment, the so-called delinquent behavior she hated the most. But Na Eun smiled.

“Will you do it?”

“……”

“I’m kidding. Instead, I’ll treat you to a meal. As a token of my respect.”

Her principle remained the same: she wouldn’t eat alone with a man unless he was someone she was considering dating seriously.

However, Na Eun was willing to buy a meal for a hero who had selflessly sacrificed himself to save innocent lives without expecting anything in return.

One of the reasons she had always loved hero stories since childhood was because she genuinely respected the nobility of those heroes.

Personally, he might be a complete delinquent with a flawed personality, but remembering his one-sided dedication that she had witnessed a few days ago, she expressed her sincere respect.

But Hee Won looked down at her with a completely displeased face and spoke. Respect?

“I don’t need that kind of thing.”

I never needed it in the first place, but I want it even less from you.

“I’m leaving.”

Hee Won turned his back without hesitation and quickly left the place.

Na Eun looked at Hee Won’s retreating back with slightly dumbfounded eyes for quite a while, then shook her head.

Even if she wanted to treat him more amicably, he was still a person with a bad personality after all.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Student’s Night?”

What’s with that old-fashioned name? Na Eun fiddled with her bag strap, trying not to show a displeased expression.

The man with a friendly impression standing in front of her was a senior by one year and a student council member in charge of all events organized by the department.

“Yeah. It’s held for two days in the last week of next month, and we need a lot of people. You haven’t been able to participate much in these events so far. Think of it as making memories before graduation… What do you say?”

Na Eun, who had experienced various incidents after entering college and took a semester off, had never attended any department-organized events since returning to school.

It was such a sensational incident that it made headlines in the news, and some people who knew about Na Eun’s family background excessively spread rumors throughout the department.

In a situation where she was rumored to be a mentally disturbed person who attempted suicide by jumping from a rooftop after doing drugs and hearing about her father’s accident, there couldn’t have been anyone who would leisurely propose going on an MT trip to her.

Na Eun looked at the senior, who was suggesting participating in a department event for the first time in nearly 4 years of college life, feeling a bit awkward.

He was a good senior who took care of people around him, had a good personality, and had helped her in various ways when she was left out in the department after returning to school.

After some thought, she casually asked.

“What kind of event is it?”

“Ah, it’s nothing special. We set up a pub-like place on Friday and Saturday evenings among ourselves. The profits are collected by the student council and added to the budget for the next event. And after wrapping up the business, we go on a trip right away and play until Sunday, but…”

The senior glanced at her, gauging her reaction.

It was an expression that seemed to say, ‘Of course she won’t do this.’ Na Eun was lost in thought for a moment, then raised her head.

“A trip is tough, but I think I can attend briefly on Friday evening. Is it okay if I do it that briefly?”

“Oh, of course! Just come and help with some cooking, do some serving, just work like you would at a restaurant part-time job!”

The senior’s eyes sparkled with excitement at the unexpected agreement.

She casually read the name written on the major book he was holding.

This senior’s name was that. Maybe that’s why she felt more affectionate towards him.

“Then I’ll try it, although I don’t know if I’ll be of help. …Seok Hoon sunbae.”

Seok Hoon, who was called by name for the first time in several years of being acquainted as seniors and juniors in the same department, though not close, widened his eyes.

He smiled brightly.

“You can just call me oppa.”

At the pure goodwill without any ulterior motives, Na Eun also smiled widely without complicated thoughts for the first time in a long while.

[This is the timeline separator] [Are you free on the last Friday of next month?]

After agreeing to attend the event, she immediately asked in the group chat if her friends were available.

Usually, their replies were slow, but today, Sun Jin contacted her first, perhaps because she had some free time.

[I’m free. Why?] [Our department is holding a pub event, and I agreed to work that day. They said I could bring friends, so can you come and help sell?] [That’s unusual for Yoon Na Eun to do something like that.]

It was a remark made knowing Na Eun, who never attended such events because she was busy earning pocket money and studying. Seung Joo’s reply followed.

[If I go, will you give me free chicken feet?] [I don’t know what the menu is. But if you come, I’ll get you some extra side dishes.]

Actually, there were people she conversed with occasionally after getting acquainted, but Na Eun had very few friends she could call close in college.

She had a few in her second year, but as they advanced to higher years and took different courses, they naturally grew distant.

Unlike the high school system where they were together all day, and with Na Eun always being busy with personal matters, she was unintentionally lonely.

She had agreed to do it because she was grateful for Seok Hoon sunbae’s thoughtfulness, but the thought of being awkwardly alone among unfamiliar people without friends made her a bit worried.

Anyway, they said it was a pub catering to other schools or departments, so the more friends she brought, the better.

In response to Na Eun’s honest message that it would be less lonely if they came, her friends accepted without further ado.

[I’ll go. Let’s drink together after you finish working there. You don’t have tutoring that day, right?] [Yeah! I’m excited.]

She sent a sticker of a bear shaking its bottom in excitement and was about to smile slightly when-

“Hee Won oppa!”

In the large lecture hall accommodating over 70 students, a familiar name and an unfamiliar way of addressing someone reached the ears of Na Eun, who had secured a seat in the front.

There was still time before the class started, so she had been focusing on her phone after taking a seat first. She raised her head.

As expected. He was also looking at her with slightly startled eyes.

Although they shared basic schedules, there was no need to inform each other about the elective courses they were taking, so he probably didn’t know.

By the way, more than two months had passed since the semester began, and Na Eun genuinely clicked her tongue at his irresponsibility for only running into her now.

No wonder he hasn’t graduated yet. An F is already confirmed.

Hee Won also realized that Na Eun was taking the course he had registered for and stopped walking up the lecture hall stairs.

A female junior from the same department approached him with a bright smile as he boldly entered without even a bag, let alone a book.

“Do you know her?”

When Hee Won rarely showed his flustered state and kept staring at Na Eun sitting in the front row, the junior casually asked.

Usually, he would have answered with a smile, smoothly evading the question, but for some reason, he couldn’t open his mouth.

It was only yesterday that he deliberately restored the contact information he had blocked, citing his busy schedule, and started responding to the expressions of interest from his female juniors, disguised as concern, telling him to attend some classes.

He chose to turn away from reality because he didn’t want to lose, didn’t want to jump into a fight with an obvious outcome, but perhaps because he had committed many sins, the heavens were not on his side at all.

Hee Won watched in real-time as Na Eun’s expression, who was also looking at him with surprised eyes, faded into a deliberate “Well, of course.”

In fact, the female junior, whose name he couldn’t even remember well, didn’t hide her attitude toward a potential rival and deliberately pretended to be close to him, pulling his arm.

“Let’s go quickly. The lecture is starting.”

Unable to give any answer, Hee Won was helplessly led to the back seat by the junior’s hand.

Na Eun was looking at him with her chin resting on her hand, a somewhat pathetic gaze.

He’s still doing that, I see.

Not knowing that he had been so busy guarding her that he wished a day had 40 hours, the resentful person turned her gaze towards the podium, shaking her head and clicking her tongue slightly.

It was obvious that she was guessing he had been doing this for every moment he was out of her sight.

Hee Won, who knew better than anyone else how he had appeared in front of her all this time, had to quietly swallow the indescribable feeling rising within him instead of feeling wronged.

It was the penalty he had to endure for deciding to run away.

“I bought coffee because you said you were coming. I did well, right?”

To the junior who was fully showing her desire to be praised, he would have gently smiled in the past and held her hand as if not, but now he just took the coffee she offered with an awkward expression and turned his gaze forward.

Due to the stepped seating, Na Eun’s back sitting in the front row came into view at a glance.

He unknowingly scanned the way her short bob hair swayed on her small shoulders, then slowly closed and opened his eyes.

Even in moments like this, she was calm, and the fire was burning only within him.

The resolve he made alone while embracing that small frame was of no use now.

Without any relationship, any promise, any connection, he suddenly realized that he wanted to make excuses right now that he had no special relationship with the girl sitting next to him, and the harsh curse that Hee Won unknowingly muttered inwardly was.

Fuck