“Hah, a date…”
Si-woo, having dropped a bombshell at the Hunter Association, didn’t stop there.
Like a runaway train without brakes, he planned the entire date, even tailoring the itinerary to fit Yu Ga-eun’s preferences.
In just one hour, he had completed the perfect date course and gave her the itinerary.
Is it okay to even go on a date like this?
Well, if I didn’t do it this way, she’d probably disappear until the plans fell apart.
Si-woo knew Yu Ga-eun so well.
If not, she would either make me wish for another wish, or she’d try to convince me again and again.
I can’t handle that.
If you know her so well, why even take on something you can’t handle?
Sorry, but I told you. This is something I’ve wanted to try for a long time.
“What on earth does that even mean?”
Yu Ga-eun let out a sigh as she sat in front of her vanity, running her fingers through her disheveled hair.
She had lived a life far removed from the concept of a date.
Before she turned 20, she had attended an all-girls middle and high school.
The year she was about to enter university, she was selected as an awakened individual.
There had been plenty of chances to get involved with men—during her academy days and her Hunter career—but each one was rejected because none of them ever felt right.
Her engraving, the Hollow Dragon shard, had twisted her tastes.
Just a few years ago, she couldn’t even feel affection for men she once thought were good-looking.
The mindset of a Dragon—survival of the fittest, the law of strength—shifted her view on what mattered in a partner.
For her to feel affection for a man, strength mattered more than looks or personality.
Her tastes hadn’t disappeared entirely, but men who weren’t strong didn’t even feel like options.
“In that sense, is Si-woo just on the edge of being safe?”
The flutter she had felt a few months ago came to mind.
The feelings of affection, attraction, and love were still hard to define.
Having received training from S-rank Hunters, Si-woo had grown stronger.
Though he was still lacking in experience, especially in survival, his firepower and strength had reached a level that could compare to C-rank—no, by now, he was likely comparable to a B-rank Hunter.
The highest barrier—the instincts of a Dragon—had fallen.
Si-woo had met the conditions that other men couldn’t even dream of reaching.
If it were any other man, she might have been able to fall in love.
She might have thought it was destiny, and allowed herself to be swept away.
But with Si-woo, it wasn’t that simple.
She knew the depth of the wounds still lingering in him.
She couldn’t confidently say that she was different.
Unlike other women, she couldn’t guarantee that she wouldn’t become obsessed or be able to control the rising desires within her.
She had already experienced what it was like to lose control.
Having tried to suppress these emotions and desires with only half-hearted resolve, she had learned through personal experience that it was impossible.
Yu Ga-eun steadied herself.
She wouldn’t let these feelings burn.
She would show affection, but not love.
For Si-woo, who had barely started to heal from his wounds, these emotions would only become another scar.
So, she decided to turn them into something that didn’t exist.
She couldn’t afford to make the same mistake again, swept up by desires.
“Hah…”
She had tried desperately to extinguish the spark.
She had done everything to crush it, so it would never come back to life.
“Why are you adding fuel to the fire?”
Looking around the vanity, Yu Ga-eun’s trembling hand reached for the drawer.
She stared down at the cosmetics that filled it.
“I thought I’d never need to use this again.”
Since she had put an end to her Hunter life, she had considered makeup unnecessary.
Makeup was something you wore to look good for others.
When she was a Hunter, she had to care about her appearance, but in her current life, makeup was an unnecessary tool.
Cosmetics were meant to enhance beauty and keep it intact through aging and change.
But now, makeup seemed like something she only used when she was in the modeling world or on television.
Since she had adopted the name Yu Seo-ha, she hadn’t used any of it.
As she stared at the makeup products, her eyes fell on one foundation that stood out.
“What the heck is this?”
This was the first cosmetic she had bought with her own money.
It was the foundation she had saved for her first date.
As memories of the past rushed back, the resolve she thought she had built wavered.
Yu Ga-eun thought she shouldn’t fall in love, while Yu Seo-ha thought, “Maybe I want to try loving someone.”
Despite being the same person, they carried completely different thoughts.
The memories from that day stirred up emotions that shattered the resolve she had worked so hard to establish.
Ding ding ding!
“What’s that?”
The alarm from her second phone rang, breaking her thoughts.
She had set her primary phone to not ring when it was off, but the second phone—the one she had recently gotten for daily use—was an exception.
“No one should be calling at this hour.”
In fact, there were almost no people who would contact her on this second phone.
While she had many contacts for professional reasons, there were very few she communicated with personally.
The few people I do contact would be Baek Eun-seol or maybe Hong-yeon…
Oh.
There was one more person.
Someone who wouldn’t be out of place calling at this hour.
“Why are you picking up so late?”
“It’s 1 AM right now.”
In her routine, she would be going to bed at around 3 AM.
So, she thought for sure that he would still be awake at this hour.
“You still remember that?”
“Who was it that told me not to forget what women taught me?”
“That was only for customers. Don’t remember unnecessary things like my information. You’ll end up forgetting other customers’ information too.”
“Now it doesn’t matter if I forget. I’m not a host anymore.”
She said it in a way that almost seemed like she was suggesting he should forget it.
Back when she worked as a host, she was strict about keeping things professional, but now, he was the one getting close to her personally.
It’s like…
Like she’s something special.
“…I still think you were better back then.”
“Do you want me to be as scary as I was back then?”
“Begging for me to bow down?”
“You still accept the bow though. Isn’t that enough?”
“Enough already? So, what’s the deal? You rarely even contact me these days.”
“It’s obvious.”
A care service for a customer who is losing sleep over his troubles.
Yu Ga-eun froze on the spot as she let out a soft grunt.
“You thought I wouldn’t notice?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
He spoke the lie calmly, but the faint trembling in his voice was clear, even through the phone.
“I was a little unsure at first. But whenever I spoke with Eun-seol or met with old acquaintances from my Hunter days, I couldn’t control my feelings back then.”
But what gave him certainty was just a few hours ago.
“After hearing what you said, I was sure.”
Si-woo and Yu Ga-eun shared the same condition.
“It’s been a little while since you stopped taking your depression medication, right?”
“And you still take sleeping pills occasionally, right? Like tonight, when you can’t control your emotions, or when you’re worried about the next day, and you use the pills to escape into a peaceful sleep?”
He knew because he had been through it himself.
As someone who had suffered from the same illness, he could understand her emotions, even just a little.
She was trying to avoid something.
In business, she could wear a mask and deal with things confidently, but when it came to personal matters, the mask wouldn’t work.
“Noona, please answer me seriously.”
“Do you want to run away?”
Though he had been a little forceful in the association, it had been for a reason.
He needed to create a reason for her to overcome her trauma.
But the most important thing was her will.
If she didn’t have the will to overcome it, it would be no different from harassment.
But if he said it was okay to run away, a person with depression would inevitably choose to escape.
So, he had no choice but to use a slightly forceful approach.
“Just like I did.”
But he still left her with at least one escape route.
“If, after all the hesitation, the conclusion is that it’s ‘impossible,’ then you should let me run away.”
Depression is a condition that requires the help of others but also one that the person themselves must overcome.
The silence stretched on for what felt like an eternity.
But Si-woo stayed quiet and patiently waited.
This silence was the most necessary thing for her at that moment.
After gathering her resolve, Yu Ga-eun finally spoke up.
Si-woo responded with a simple “I understand”, and hung up the phone. It was as if the answer didn’t matter anymore.
As the phone call ended, the room returned to silence.
“Cody, could you possibly do my makeup tomorrow morning?”
“Huh? Did you find a decent guy?”
“No, I’m doing it myself.”
In that moment, Yu Ga-eun, not Yu Seo-ha, had made her choice.