He must have done something. No, how come he can’t remember? Is his brain a goldfish brain? He said he rolled like a spring roll, how can he not remember anything at all?

As Su Young was clutching her head, someone sat down in front of her, panting. It was Mi Jin, who works as a teacher in Incheon.

“Why are you so late?”

Su Young directed her anger about her goldfish brain towards her innocent friend. But Mi Jin, unaware of the circumstances, smiled awkwardly and said,

“Sorry, sorry. The vice principal suddenly asked me to do something, so while doing that… What did he ask? He didn’t ask anything? Excuse me!”

Mi Jin raised her hand and a waiter approached. They each ordered stir-fried pork and soybean paste stew. They ordered separately, but since they would share anyway, it was easier to order different dishes.

“Have you ever completely blacked out after drinking? Like, not remembering anything at all.”

Su Young asked seriously while waiting for the food. Mi Jin casually replied while wiping her hands with a wet towel.

“No. At first I don’t remember, but later I do. Why? Did you black out after drinking?”

“Yeah. After drinking wine.”

“How many degrees?”

“I don’t know. It was delicious though.”

“No matter how delicious, wines have different alcohol contents, right? Some are quite strong.”

“Then did I drink something like that? But everyone else who drank together remembers?”

“You must have drunk more. Why? Who did you drink with? Who did you drink with to black out completely?”

Mi Jin’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. It was truly a precious moment in her ordinary daily life of wrestling with middle school students.

“Just, with someone I know.”

“Who do you know? Don’t tell me… you drank with that player?”

“No.”

“You, be careful of that cow sunbae or horse sunbae or whatever! He may look decent and tempting, but a man who meets this woman and that woman is really not good. You know?”

“Cow sunbae is just a male friend.”

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

Although they were the same age, in Mi Jin’s eyes, Su Young was a naive innocent who knew nothing. Just look at how she’s still playing around without getting a job at this age…

“But then, who did you drink with? Is there someone I don’t know among your acquaintances? A man?”

When Su Young didn’t answer, Mi Jin’s narrowly slit eyes suddenly became like full moons.

“It’s a man! Who? Are you dating?”

“No.”

“What do you mean no. If you drank wine with a man, it means you’re dating. Wow, are you next after Han So Ra?”

“Hey, I said it’s not like that.”

But Mi Jin was still grinning as she leaned her upper body closer to the table.

“Who is it? You know I can keep a secret, right? I won’t tell the others, so just whisper it to me. Hmm?”

Su Young couldn’t quite remember if Mi Jin was good at keeping secrets, but wanting to vent to someone, she opened her mouth.

“Well, the mood was good? We ate kimbap and drank wine. But after that, total silence.”

“Huh? Silent after drinking wine? Why? Did you misbehave while drunk?”

“…I think I did, but I can’t remember?”

“Oh no!”

“What should I do? He’s right in front of me but talks on the phone. Not showing his face.”

Mi Jin didn’t quite understand what it meant to not show one’s face while being right in front, but that wasn’t the important part.

“This is serious. What kind of drunken behavior did you do?”

“…I kissed him.”

“What! And you don’t remember?”

“I remembered this later, but I can’t remember anything after that. He said I rolled like a spring roll.”

“What?”

At that moment, the stir-fried pork, soybean paste stew, and rice arrived.

Mi Jin was completely hungry as it had been a long time since lunch, but now hunger was the least of her concerns. It felt like she wouldn’t need to eat if she could listen to her friend’s love story.

“Hey, did you sleep with him?”

“I did sleep, but…”

“You slept with him?”

She shouted loud enough to shake the small restaurant. Su Young covered her mouth with her finger to calm her down.

“I just slept. Nothing happened. And I only slept for a very short time. Just briefly.”

She couldn’t remember how many hours she slept, but since it wasn’t all night, she thought it was fine to describe it as briefly.

“You said you rolled like a spring roll? Is that nothing happening?”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that, right?”

“That’s true, but you must have gone to the brink.”

Mi Jin said firmly, hitting the table with her spoon.

“To the brink?”

As Su Young asked back with a blank expression, Mi Jin lowered her voice and said,

“You rolled that man like a spring roll. Wouldn’t he have taken that as a kind of permission? Plus, you kissed him first, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But! After rolling him like a spring roll, you just passed out. As if nothing happened. How do you think the man who was expecting felt?”

Su Young finally seemed to understand with Mi Jin’s words.

“How about it? Don’t you think it’s worth getting the silent treatment even from your perspective?”

“…I guess so…”

She nodded after a moment of blankness. But that doesn’t mean she should have given permission just to not disappoint the man, right?

“But I can’t give permission just to not disappoint a man, right?”

“You shouldn’t have kissed in the first place.”

“…Is that so?”

“Of course.”

“Then, it’s my fault?”

“Of course!”

Suddenly, she felt sorry for Woo Jin. She really didn’t mean to… She seemed to understand why he emphasized ‘in a drunken state’. He must have been disappointed! Poor thing. Our David!

“Then what should I do?”

When Su Young asked seriously, Mi Jin spoke in a serious manner as if counseling a student about their career.

“You should apologize and say you’re sorry.”

“Sorry for what? For not meeting his expectations?”

“No!”

Mi Jin looked at her friend with an incredulous expression.

“You should apologize for kissing! You did it first, right? Without his permission!”

“…But, later… I think we did it together…”

“Well, since you made the first move, from a man’s perspective, he would have felt safe to do it. You really don’t know men, this is a problem. Still, that man has manners. He didn’t pounce on you while you were sleeping.”

Mi Jin said, crossing her arms. Su Young became deeply troubled about how to apologize to him later, and whether it was really necessary to apologize.

Anyway, she felt sorry for giving him a test.

“Hey, it’s getting cold. Let’s eat first.”

Mi Jin said, pushing the soybean paste stew and stir-fried pork slightly towards her. At Mi Jin’s urging, Su Young took a spoonful of the stew, but she couldn’t taste anything at all.

Su Young stood quietly in front of Woo Jin’s door. Not pacing back and forth like before.

Reason was telling her to knock and apologize, but emotion was holding her back.

She didn’t want to apologize. Though she couldn’t remember exactly, honestly, it felt good. To the point where she wanted to feel it once more with a clear mind.

But if she apologized, it felt like that feeling would become meaningless. As if nothing had happened. She didn’t like that. What should she do?

As she was unconsciously pacing in front of the door, she suddenly noticed something on the floor and stood still. Why is that here? On the 10th floor?

It suddenly started charging towards her.

“Ahhhhh!”

Su Young screamed breathlessly and dashed towards the window.

Meanwhile, Woo Jin in the room had noticed that she was standing guard in front of his door. How long is she going to stay like that…

But this time, hearing a piercing scream, he unconsciously sprang up from his seat.

As he was hurriedly moving towards the door, he suddenly thought she might be acting to make him come out of the room. She was fully capable of doing that.

But then another sound came from the living room.

“Go away, go away, go away! Ahhhhh! What if it goes in there! Hey! You’re not coming out! Kyaaaah!”

It was too real for acting. Wondering what she was seeing to act like that, he quickly opened the door. At that moment, a familiar scent pounced on him.

Unable to bear the weight, he stumbled backwards, and his whole body stiffened at the sound of his own gasping breath at his neck. His arms holding her also tensed.

“What’s wrong? What is it?”

“C-cockroach!”

“What!”

Suddenly, the strength in his arms holding her disappeared. Woo Jin shook his body to drop her and shouted.

“Hey! Catch it quickly!”

He also hated bugs. Not being able to see it made it worse. It seemed to emphasize the creepy feeling. He pushed Su Young to detach her, but the more he did, the more she clung to him.

“Quickly! Quickly close the door! Seol Woo Jin, quickly!”

As she shouted frantically, Woo Jin stretched out his foot to close the door. Even though the sound of the door closing was heard, she was still clinging to him, panting.

“Get down now. You’re heavy.”

Afraid she might notice that the middle part had hardened, he said while trying to lift her up as much as possible.

“Are you sure it didn’t come in? Did you see?”

“How can I see? You should look.”

“Ahhh! That means it might have come in! What do we do, what do we do!”

Hearing her words, Woo Jin’s spine also chilled. That thing in my room? For a moment, he wanted to burn down the house.

Woo Jin walked steadily towards the bed while holding her. Then he forcibly detached her and threw her onto the bed.

Su Young, fallen on the bed, watched his every move with wide eyes, wondering what he was going to do. Is he going to do the next step after the spring roll?

However, Woo Jin took out his phone from his pocket and called Seol Ji Hyun following the voice guidance.

“It’s me. This woman brought a roach.”

− Roach? What roach?

Seol Ji Hyun asked back as if he didn’t understand.

“A cockroach! Call the pest control quickly!”

Su Young and Woo Jin were sitting side by side in the bathroom. Neither of them had any intention of coming out until the pest control workers came to deal with the cockroach.

Su Young grumbled and said to him.

“Are you really a man? Why is a man afraid of cockroaches?”

“What does being a man or woman have to do with disliking bugs?”

“I mean, when a cockroach appears, isn’t it manly to just stomp on it with your foot and kill it?”

“Are you a goldfish? How many times do I have to say I couldn’t see it?”

“Even if you can’t see it, hiding in the bathroom like this isn’t right, is it?”

“You suggested hiding here. Do you usually carry those things around?”

Woo Jin said, giving her a disgusted look as if she were a cockroach.

“Ha, what are you saying? I didn’t bring it, you know?”

“I’ve lived in this house for 7 years. Why does a cockroach that never appeared during that time come out when you arrive?”

“Maybe it rode the elevator up!”

“So, didn’t it follow you? Don’t you usually not wash well?”

“Ah, this man, really!”

Suppressing the urge to grab his collar, Su Young only trembled her innocent fist.

“But… why don’t you eat with me? Did I do something wrong?”

Su Young asked calmly, but Woo Jin didn’t answer.

“Is it… because I kissed you? You said not to mind it.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then why?”

He understood that she was curious, but he didn’t know how to answer. Woo Jin hugged his knees with both arms.

“You, how long are you coming?”

He asked inadvertently.

“Me? I don’t know? Why? Are you trying to kick me out because I brought a cockroach? I’m telling you, I really didn’t bring it!”

“You came instead of your aunt, right? So, I’m asking how long you’re coming.”

“I don’t know. My aunt is still in the hospital. I guess I’ll have to come for a few more days? Why?”

He became silent again. Su Young frowned, thinking he might be displeased with her coming.

Right. I’m not as good as my aunt. But I’ve been trying my best… Above all, does he not know how hard it is to prepare lunch every day?

“I’m sorry if I’m not doing the work well. But I’m trying my best, so please bear with it a little. As soon as my aunt’s back gets better…”

“I want you to come.”

“What?”

“I want… you to keep coming.”

Woo Jin’s voice was trembling slightly.