“Five thousand won is too expensive.”

“Listen to this young man. It’s domestic, picked and dried myself this spring! How is this expensive?”

“It’s just a handful.”

“Oh my. Go soak it in water. It’ll be enough for two to eat for a while and still have leftovers.”

“Please give me just a bit more.”

As the shopkeeper continued to argue, she saw Da Jung standing behind and laughed, saying she met a tired man. Da Jung, who had just finished a call with Kyung Jun and turned off her phone, smiled at the owner and then looked down at Jae Ho’s back. He was more brazen and slick than she had thought, but she didn’t dislike it, as it seemed to be a side only she knew.

“Mr. Jae Ho. I think we need to go.”

“Young lady! Is he your boyfriend or husband? This man is quite picky.”

As she pondered how to answer for a moment, Jae Ho spoke first.

“She’s not my girlfriend or wife yet. Ma’am, do you know what ‘some’ is? Some.”

Jae Ho handed the basket that seemed to have the most quantity to the lady, answering smoothly. The lady opened a black plastic bag and asked Jae Ho back.

“What’s ‘seom’?”

“Not ‘seom’, ‘some’.”

“So, what is it?”

Jae Ho scanned the surroundings with his eyes to see if there was anything else to buy. He picked up a bag of onions and handed it over while grumbling.

“It’s walking at the pace of a slow child.”

Jae Ho handed over the money.

“That’s ‘some’.”

“The young man should just wait, shouldn’t he?”

The lady scolded him. As Jae Ho was about to say something more, Da Jung grabbed his sleeve and spoke again.

“Mr. Jae Ho, we need to go now.”

**

The man who had been boasting of his smooth handling suddenly became terrible at driving. Da Jung could tell from the muscles twitching in his forearm that his grip on the steering wheel was tight enough to break it. The braking at speed bumps was harsh.

“Your friend, is coming?”

It didn’t take long for the man she had defined as a big Retriever to regain the killer instinct of a black panther. Da Jung felt the atmosphere was uncomfortable inside, so she deliberately gave a long answer, adding unnecessary words.

“Ah, yes. He’s my childhood friend who grew up with me. We’re from the same obstetrics clinic. We lived in the same neighborhood and are so close he’s like family.”

“It’s a man?”

“Ah. Yes. He is a man, but to me he’s just a friend……”

Jae Ho naturally took Da Jung’s hand as he changed his grip on the steering wheel. He looked like a male marking his territory.

“Is he staying over?”

Da Jung’s voice became smaller, feeling there were thorns in the question.

“……He says he will.”

“Will you let him stay?”

“Ah.”

Having figured out exactly which part Jae Ho was displeased with, Da Jung started speaking kindly with a reassuring smile.

“I know what you’re worried about, but he’s just a friend! He’s always been very worried about me, so he’s coming because he’s concerned about me being alone. There are two rooms in the accommodation, so of course we’ll sleep separately.”

Jae Ho’s furrowed brow didn’t relax, as if it wasn’t the answer he wanted.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ve really never thought of Lee Kyung Jun as a man.”

Jae Ho let out a sound close to a sneer.

“It’s not about what you think, Ms. Yoon Da Jung.”

“Pardon?”

“Would he also think of you as just a friend?”

“Of course we’re friends!”

Da Jung smiled brightly with her eyes half-closed.

“We’re really, really just friends.”

Seeing Da Jung’s innocent gaze, Jae Ho was at a loss for words.

“He said he’d come every weekend because he was worried about me traveling alone. I guess he’s coming earlier this week using a day off.”

Should he call her innocent, or just oblivious?

Shouldn’t she be old enough to know that all men in this world are just wolf cubs? Jae Ho included himself in that category of wolf cubs. With thoughts of holding hands, embracing waists, and sucking lips swarming in his head, it seemed a bit ridiculous to consider himself the only rational person.

One wolf by Yoon Da Jung’s side was enough.

Lee Kyung Jun’s gaze was always dangerous. He was a consistently steady guy. He had been like that before too. He always walked Da Jung home and then left, but his departing steps dripped with lingering attachment.

The guy would needlessly carry Da Jung’s bag, take her to school, and go to the library together. While staying by her side under the name of friendship, he had in fact been acting more like a man than anyone else.

It’s still the same now.

“How can there be friendship between men and women.”

“There can be!”

“Don’t let him stay over.”

“Then where will he sleep……”

“That’s for you to figure out.”

The knuckles of the fingers holding Da Jung’s hand tensed up. It was a soft hand that seemed like it would crumble like soft tofu if squeezed tightly. As a strange sensation transmitted through his palm, blood boiled in his lower abdomen. He wished all of this could be entirely his.

“What man in the world would let the woman he likes sleep with another man.”

Though he tried to speak gently, there was a chill in his voice.

“Listen carefully. Let me be clear. He’s a man before a friend. Even if you lived like family, in the end you’re not actually family.”

Jae Ho pointed out each error one by one.

“Keep your distance. Okay? Your ‘some’ guy doesn’t have much patience.”

Da Jung turned her head and quietly looked at his profile as he drove. In the scenery where red maple trees were quickly passing by the window, the picturesque man was opening his mouth with furrowed brows.

“Not just lacking patience. I’m also good at obsession. And I get jealous too.”

“……”

“Hmm?”

“……”

“Answer me.”

Actor Lee Jae Ho was very good at this kind of acting. A seductive gaze that subtly captivates women and a possessive tone. By this point, it felt like being immersed in a drama. Had she become the female lead receiving infinite love from Lee Jae Ho? Like that, what’s her name, Oh Chae Won?

She felt immeasurably happy, but suddenly became afraid. She could strangely understand the feeling of Cinderella wearing glass slippers.

“Um. Then……”

Da Jung opened her mouth a bit foolishly.

“I’ll consider your opinion. If my friend comes, I’ll try to find another pension nearby……”

At that moment, Jae Ho let go of Da Jung’s hand and picked up her phone lying on her thigh. His fingers looked strong as he casually tapped in the number while driving, briefly glancing down. He finished entering his number and pressed call once.

“My number.”

She had obtained Lee Jae Ho’s personal number, which she had so earnestly wished for, or rather never dared to dream of, so easily it felt anticlimactic. The faces of a few fangirl friends who would faint with foam in their mouths if they knew this fact came to mind.

“I’ll be staring at my phone the whole time you’re with your friend.”

“……Why?”

“You ask why.”

Jae Ho laughed emptily while shaking his head.

“You’re asking why?”

As he skillfully parked at the pension, he lightly tapped Da Jung’s cheek. It seemed like he was treating her cutely, but there also seemed to be an incomprehensible urgency in it, making Da Jung open her eyes wide.

“The woman I like is with another man. What other reason do I need?”

“……”

“……Anyway, I’m the only one getting worked up.”

Her heart pounded.

“Don’t make me be the only one having feelings.”

“When, when did I……”

“I’ll wait. Continuously.”

“……”

“I want you to be concerned about me.”

**

Kyung Jun arrived in the late afternoon.

When the call came at the market, Da Jung actually wanted to tell him not to come. While listening to Kyung Jun’s happy voice saying he took a day off, Da Jung stared down at the man’s broad back.

……He probably won’t like it.

The man finally decided to buy after checking the color and smell of the dried fern bracken, and stood up to open his wallet. When Da Jung had the words “Just don’t come” on the tip of her tongue, Kyung Jun said,

And then he announced he would stay overnight. Speechless, she couldn’t stop him, and he even misunderstood her silence as agreement. He firmly believed she would let him stay, of course.

That attitude was subtly irritating. Even if he said he would sleep in her bed, she wouldn’t have felt much resistance before, but now it grated on her nerves strangely. Da Jung bit her lip, unfamiliar with her own emotion that jutted out like a jagged pebble. She looked up at the man.

The man who had brought about the change in her heart was grumbling as he paid.

‘We’re really, really just friends.’

Even as she heard his blatant jealousy, she had innocently answered as if she didn’t understand what he meant, but inwardly she thought. She wished Lee Kyung Jun would just go back.

But contrary to Da Jung’s wishes, Kyung Jun finally arrived at the pension. He got out of the car with a smile and exclaimed in admiration as he looked around at the scenery.

“Wow. The sea here is nice to see even twice.”

Da Jung replied without smiling.

“If you brought Kyung Mi’s car, what will she do?”

“She said she’ll use your car.”

“What’s that about. You could have just brought my car yourself.”

Kyung Jun laughed brightly, saying he hadn’t thought of that. Is that really something you need to think about? Da Jung laughed along emptily as she looked at him. In any case, he was a friend who rushed here because he was worried about her. She tried hard to erase her jagged feelings.

Kyung Jun approached habitually and patted Da Jung’s head. He asked softly if she had slept well for the past few days, if she had any nightmares, if she was cold, as he gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Though it was an everyday occurrence they had always done, it bothered her. Jae Ho’s voice pinpointing Kyung Jun as a man echoed in her ears. Kyung Jun’s familiar touch felt somewhat burdensome.

“Let’s go in.”

Kyung Jun took out his suitcase and shopping bags and grabbed Da Jung’s wrist. Da Jung reflexively pulled her hand away. Her eyes unconsciously glanced at the second floor terrace of Room 101.

Kyung Jun didn’t pay much attention to Da Jung’s reaction and continued speaking.

“You haven’t had a proper meal since you came here, right? Today your big brother will grill meat for you. Look forward to it.”

“Did you buy meat?”

“Yeah. Pork and Korean beef. Let’s have a barbecue.”

“We need to light a fire. Can you do it?”

Da Jung said with slightly trembling fingertips. Imagining the logs that would dance and burn like they were alive, cold sweat ran down her back. After her brother died in a fire, fire became a fear for Da Jung.

Kyung Jun was not unaware of this.

“I’ll do it. And it’s not fire, it’s charcoal. It’ll be okay.”

There weren’t many occasions to face blazing flames in daily life, so it usually didn’t show, but for Da Jung, fire was a direct fear of death. When difficult times came, she would suffer from nightmares of being trapped in flames for days.

“You need to overcome it little by little. Da Jung. It’s okay. You can handle charcoal. I’ll be right beside you.”

Kyung Jun, who had been staring at Da Jung’s slightly trembling eyes, approached with the momentum of about to hug her. But Da Jung stepped back two steps.

“Okay. Okay. You do it. Men are supposed to do that kind of thing originally.”

Kyung Jun made a strange expression at Da Jung’s retreating steps, then slowly returned to his original face.

“You’ve been seeing me as a man since a few days ago? Making my heart flutter.”

And before she could counter, he grabbed Da Jung’s hand and opened the front door. Da Jung, wearing a troubled smile, resisted slightly but was pulled inside.