Twenty-three is a young age, but seventeen is even younger.

Na Eun cherished her high school friends who always turned her back into a seventeen-year-old child whenever they met.

On an evening when she was having fun eating delicious food with her friends in her studio apartment, Na Eun had been arguing with Seung Joo over a piece of clothing for 10 minutes.

“I saw it first!”

“Sun Jin was thinking of giving it to me!”

“But I asked for it first!”

Sun Jin alternated between looking at Na Eun and Seung Joo with a slightly troubled expression as they fought over the hoodie she had brought.

While they were all hanging out at Na Eun’s place after a long time, Na Eun discovered a shopping bag containing a hoodie in Sun Jin’s belongings.

When Na Eun said the shirt was pretty, Sun Jin fired a small signal flare by saying, “It’s not really my style, but I got it as a free gift. Do you want it? I was originally going to give it to Seung Joo.”

Na Eun excitedly asked for it, and Seung Joo, who joined late, said she liked the clothes too, starting a battle for the shirt.

Knowing that her friends, who usually gave in to each other easily, could act strangely childish at times like this, Sun Jin scratched her head, sympathizing with the position of a shrimp about to get its back burst in a whale fight.

The two who were tugging at both ends of the hoodie finally looked at Sun Jin simultaneously.

She avoided their burning gazes asking her to take their side.

“Just give it to me! I’m having a hard time because Han Jae Kyung is bullying me these days!”

Like a whiny character from an old cartoon shouting “It’s Danbi’s!”, Na Eun clung to the end of the hoodie and threw a tantrum all around.

Both Sun Jin, who had been listening quietly, and Seung Joo, who had been arguing face to face, were inwardly shocked.

Seung Joo opened her mouth in surprise for a moment. Wow, how can I win against this?

“…You take it.”

Seung Joo finally let go of the edge of the clothes she was holding and gave up cleanly.

Yes, I won! Na Eun packed up the hoodie like a trophy with the satisfied expression of a victor and immediately lay down resting her head on Sun Jin’s lap right in front of her.

Sun Jin’s legs in pajama pants became a good pillow for her.

Now Han Jae Kyung has been reduced to an excuse used to snatch a mere piece of cloth.

Sun Jin clicked her tongue inwardly but thought it might be a positive sign and didn’t add any more words.

Seung Joo carefully observed Na Eun’s expression, which was extremely pleased with winning, and asked cautiously in her own way.

“…Are you really okay with continuing to see that bastard?”

After hearing from Hee Won that her friends now knew all about her situation, Na Eun chose to become rather bold instead.

Na Eun hummed a tune while lying down using Sun Jin’s leg as a pillow.

She started to take off the pajama top she was wearing while wiggling around.

“It’s not okay. But what can I do?”

Sun Jin scolded Na Eun who was trying to change into the hoodie she gave her while lying down on her leg, taking off her top while wiggling around.

Despite Sun Jin’s nagging to sit up properly to put on clothes, Na Eun succeeded in changing clothes while stubbornly lying down and smiled, quite pleased with the fit of the roomy hoodie.

“If it’s hard for you, really quit the academy. We can somehow help with him threatening you with the kids.”

Seung Joo advised seriously, but Na Eun shook her head.

“If he was someone I could avoid forever just by quitting the academy, I would have done it already. I have to resolve it someday, and I think that’s now.”

Han Jae Kyung, who came openly to torment her, was not someone she could avoid simply by giving up her workplace.

Then all she could do was cooperate with the heroes, including Hee Won, as much as possible and ask them to defeat the villain who was tormenting her.

If there were some painful things in the process, what could she do but endure?

As a powerless civilian caught up in the incident, she had very few options given.

“You guys are working hard to investigate why my family suddenly went bankrupt like that and why Han Jae Kyung is acting like that, right?”

“…”

Seung Joo and Sun Jin exchanged glances. Knowing this, Na Eun pretended not to notice.

“You don’t need to tell me the progress of things one by one. I’m not even curious. Just tell me when the case is all resolved.”

Now, that everything is alright. So don’t worry.

Just as heroes usually do to their loved ones in the last scene of a happy ending superhero movie.

Na Eun was waiting for justice to triumph as an extra approaching the predetermined ending.

Firmly believing in Seo Hee Won’s promise to make it a happy ending.

“…Let’s eat.”

Seung Joo, who felt awkward talking about heavy topics for too long, got up first.

When she tried to order delivery food on her phone, Na Eun said it was a waste of money and suggested cooking themselves since there were side dishes in the refrigerator.

Sun Jin asked if there were ingredients, and Na Eun nodded vigorously.

“Seo Hee Won brought side dishes and instant rice before. He said to eat properly even when I’m alone.”

At her words, Sun Jin and Seung Joo exchanged glances.

Sun Jin asked while tidying the bangs of her friend who was lying with her head on her knee.

“Our team leader did that for you?”

When asked why, the answer came right away.

“He said there was nothing to eat when he saw my refrigerator, and that I would soon collapse from malnutrition if I ate like that.”

“…How did Seo Hee Won see the refrigerator here? Has he been in here?”

She knew the general situation and understood that the team leader now knew every move Na Eun made. But this news was new.

“I wasn’t in my right mind when it was found out that I was being threatened by Han Jae Kyung. He brought me in here because he was afraid I might faint. That’s when he saw. Did he even cook for me?”

He was worried, he said. Na Eun’s tone was nonchalant, and Seung Joo, who had been listening, looked increasingly bizarre.

“…Seo Hee Won came here and cooked for you.”

“Yeah. I felt it before too, but he’s really good at cooking.”

“Hey, Na Eun.”

Seung Joo called her. Na Eun blinked and turned her head to look at her friend.

Seung Joo scratched her head with a slightly complicated look and asked.

“You’re not going to date Seo Hee Won, are you?”

“What nonsense.”

“…But don’t you think you two are crossing the line a bit?”

Seung Joo was hot-tempered, but she had an extraordinary sense for objectively judging situations.

Sun Jin was grateful to Seung Joo for bringing up this conversation that she herself wouldn’t have been able to say so directly.

Na Eun blinked at her friend, who didn’t seem to be scolding her, but was showing signs of not quite liking this situation.

“…Is that so.”

Bringing a man she’s not dating to her home where she lives alone, eating the meals he makes well, and perhaps sticking to him more than a lover would – it’s understandable that her friends might misunderstand the current situation.

Na Eun thought for a moment and said.

“Seo Hee Won said it was okay.”

“What was?”

“He said it was okay to be childish.”

“…”

“He’ll never truly like me anyway, and neither will I. So isn’t it fine?”

Na Eun tilted her head and expressed her honest thoughts while resting her head on Sun Jin’s knee.

Can there be friendship between a man and a woman? Na Eun had always strongly opposed that topic, saying “How dare you say such things in a Confucian country.”

Her thought was that since they were born as man and woman, they couldn’t be close without completely excluding romantic feelings.

Isn’t friendship a relationship formed on the basis of liking, and if it’s with the opposite sex, wouldn’t it inevitably develop into a romantic relationship? Na Eun believed without a doubt that if Seung Joo or Sun Jin were men, she would have confessed to them first, liking them in that way.

But through Seo Hee Won, that firm belief was gradually crumbling.

She thought it might be possible with him.

Of course, she didn’t feel close enough to call him a friend yet, but it would be strange not to feel grateful towards a hero who had saved her life several times and protected her so sacrificially.

And sometimes, she wondered if this is how it would feel to have an older brother to lean on.

She had such thoughts when looking at Seo Hee Won.

She thought it might be possible to have such a relationship with Seo Hee Won, if not with others.

Precisely because they weren’t friends, Seung Joo, who read her friend’s thoughts from a few words, furrowed her brow, and Sun Jin was at a loss for words.

Her friend’s thinking was wrong from the start.

Seo Hee Won was already harboring passionate feelings for her.

He just couldn’t confess because of what he had done in front of her before.

They say if a friendship persists between a man and a woman, it’s because one side has been in love for a long time.

For Sun Jin, Na Eun’s words rather became an opportunity to realize again that this saying was true, and Seung Joo clicked her tongue and looked at Na Eun.

More precisely, she glanced at something sparkling on her ear.

“Do you wear that even when you sleep?”

Na Eun nodded at the mention of her earrings.

“Yes.”

“…If you toss and turn in your sleep and touch those earrings, not only your voice but all the sounds around you will be heard by the team leader in real-time. Are you okay with that?”

“Yes, it’s not really uncomfortable? That’s why I take them off when I shower or go to the bathroom.”

Na Eun’s attitude was as if she could control everything, so what was there to be uncomfortable about?

Seung Joo felt that Na Eun’s attitude towards Seo Hee Won was gradually changing. This was, well.

Sometimes it seemed like she was more comfortable with him than with her friends, and she seemed to rely on him more. Even though she said she allowed herself to be childish, it seemed to be getting worse.

…Just like a child throwing tantrums to her father or older brother. It was a side of Na Eun that wasn’t often seen.

Seung Joo had more to say but kept her mouth shut.

The situation was flowing in a direction she didn’t want, but ironically, the safest person in the world for Na Eun right now was still her team leader.