Chapter 13

[13] Get Ready, Oppa.

We had only six hours left together.

Once those six hours were up, we wouldn’t be able to see each other whenever we wanted for a while, no matter how much we missed each other.

According to Sia’s grandfather, we would probably be allowed only three hours a week.

For the time being, we would be like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, forced to stay apart.

Considering all that, this date couldn’t help but be special. And that was exactly why I felt we couldn’t afford to waste a single moment.

“Oppa, is there anywhere you want to go? Or anything you want to do?”

“Plenty. So much that I don’t even know where to go or what to do first.”

I could think of dozens of places I wanted to visit and things I wanted to do right off the top of my head.

“Ugh. Where should we go?”

We didn’t have much time left, but Sia seemed to want a more meaningful, romantic date too, because she was giving it some serious thought.

Before long, though, we found an answer we both liked.

“How about Gangwon Province?”

“Gangwon Province?”

“We said we’d take a trip there, remember?”

About a year ago from my perspective—a few days before Sia’s accident, in other words.

We’d casually talked about taking advantage of the short break before classes started to visit Gangneung.

It was a little late for a summer getaway, but we’d figured that would actually make it perfect. There would be fewer people, and the prices would be relatively low.

Let’s take a three-day, two-night trip to Gangneung and make some memories of this summer. I remembered saying something like that.

“Oh, right! We did! Then we should go there!”

Sia clapped her hands in delight.

“What should we do when we get there?”

“It’s five thirty now, so… let’s eat first and figure it out over dinner. Oppa, how does king crab sound?”

“…It’s that late already?”

“Yeah. Time’s so cruel, isn’t it?”

I wished we could have had even a little more time, but we didn’t even have time to dwell on that.

After saying goodbye to Sia’s grandfather, we promptly made our way to a king crab restaurant in Gangneung.

We skimmed the menu and quickly placed our order.

While we were waiting for the food to arrive, I spoke up.

“Sia, I’m going to the restroom for a minute.”

I hadn’t been to the restroom for several hours, so I decided to step away.

“Then, Oppa, could I borrow your phone for a bit?”

Sia suddenly asked to borrow my phone.

“What do you need it for?”

“We need to book somewhere to stay later, right? I thought I’d look for a nice place first. My phone’s out of battery.”

That was what she said, but I couldn’t help wondering whether she had some other purpose.

Like inspecting my phone, snooping through it, or checking my messages and photo gallery…

I flinched for a moment, but after concluding that I had nothing to feel guilty about even if she saw everything, I readily handed it over.

Surely Sia wouldn’t do anything strange while I was gone.

This was Sia, after all. I should trust her.

Most men would probably find it suspicious if their girlfriend suddenly asked to borrow their phone.

How many would willingly hand it over in a situation like that?

Even between lovers, it was difficult to readily hand over a phone—a veritable treasure trove of private information—and Sia knew that very well.

She knew Minjun probably hadn’t lent her his phone without a single thought or suspicion.

Seeing him hand it over so readily anyway, Sia resolved not to do anything he might be worried about.

There was only one thing she wanted to check.

His wallpaper.

Would it be the default wallpaper, some other picture, or a photo of the two of them?

Surely that much was all right.

She immediately checked his wallpaper.

And found that it was a picture of her and Minjun together.

But it wasn’t one of the pictures they had taken today. By this world’s reckoning, it was a photo from about two years ago.

‘If he’d changed his wallpaper today, he would’ve used one of the pictures we took today.’

Then what did it mean that he was using an old photo?

There was a very good chance that he had been using this picture as his wallpaper for a long time.

Perhaps he had set it shortly before she died. Or perhaps after her death.

It didn’t matter which.

The fact that a two-year-old photo was still his wallpaper meant that Minjun had continued longing for her even after she died.

And Sia’s guess was right.

Minjun had set that picture as his wallpaper a few weeks before Sia’s death.

After she died, he had never changed it, not even once, because he missed her so much.

“…Why am I crying again?”

She had been so sure there would be no more reason to cry.

Yet her eyes were already growing moist again.

“No. This isn’t the time for that.”

How flustered would Minjun be if he returned to find her suddenly crying?

Sia quickly wiped her eyes and checked her face with the front-facing camera.

‘Good. You can’t tell.’

She picked up Minjun’s phone again and decided to look for accommodations, as she had originally intended.

But before that, she decided to search for something else.

Before looking for a place to stay, she searched for…

Swimsuits.

After hurrying back from the restroom, I took my phone back from Sia and watched her reaction.

“Sorry. Did you wait long? The restroom was outside the building and pretty far away, so it took me a little longer.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t wait long.”

Aside from the meaningful smile on her face, she seemed like her usual self.

Just as I’d thought.

Still, even if she had gotten some mischievous idea and snooped through my phone, it wouldn’t have mattered.

The only woman I’d called recently was my mother.

The last time I had spoken to a woman on the phone, excluding family, was a year ago.

And that had been about Sia’s funeral.

That was why I’d been able to hand my phone over so readily.

“No, really. It’s fine.”

“Did you find anywhere nice?”

“Yeah. There are a few places I like… but I haven’t decided which one yet.”

Sia showed me the list of accommodations she had found.

“They all look nice to me. Is there anywhere here you like, Oppa?”

I’d expected her to have found some luxurious hotel.

But whether it was a coincidence or not, every place on Sia’s list was a villa with a private pool.

I could practically feel her determination to go swimming with me one way or another.

Of the three places on the list, we ultimately chose the one with the best ocean view.

“This one.”

“Then you make the reservation, Oppa. I’ll pay when we get there.”

We settled on a place to stay that evening in no time.

Just after we finished booking, the food arrived.

There was sashimi, all kinds of seafood, an impressive assortment of side dishes, and, of course, the delicious king crab that would be the highlight of our dinner.

“Wow…”

I had never seen such a lavish spread in my life, and my jaw dropped in admiration.

Since I wasn’t very good at taking pictures of food, I passed my phone to Sia. Like a fish taking to water, she immediately began taking beautiful shots.

She must have spent far more of her life as a dragon, yet she still remembered every detail of how to use a phone. It was adorable.

As soon as she finished taking pictures, we each picked up a king crab leg at almost the same moment.

Realizing we were thinking alike, we smiled at each other.

“Oppa, want me to take the meat out for you?”

“No, it’s fine. You don’t have to go to all that trouble. Just relax and eat.”

“I’m going to use magic anyway. Hehe.”

“Oh.”

Why hadn’t I thought of that?

Even in an age when magic was commonplace, it had never occurred to me to use it to shell crab.

Then again, my awakening had been related to swordsmanship, not magic.

I handed Sia the king crab leg.

With a single motion of her hand, the meat came cleanly out of the shell.

“Thanks, Sia.”

“I’ll do the rest too, so just enjoy your food, Oppa.”

Thanking her for the food, I ate the king crab meat she had neatly separated from its shell.

Whether it was because it was expensive or because Sia had shelled it for me, it tasted incredible.

Sia kept taking the meat out for me, watching me eat with a pleased expression.

She looked as though just seeing me enjoy the food was enough to fill her up.

That said, she was also diligently shelling and eating king crab herself.

Completely taken with the king crab, the two of us ate in silence for a while.

Then, as Sia was clearing away the neatly emptied shells, she spoke as though something had occurred to her.

“Oppa, has anyone other than me ever shelled king crab for you?”

Assuming she was simply curious, I answered without much thought.

“This is my first time eating king crab, so no. And with regular crab, I’ve always shelled it myself, except when I was little.”

“Mhm. I see.”

Sia’s eyes curved into crescents.

“Then have you ever shelled it for someone else?”

“Uh… not yet.”

Maybe I would if I had children someday, but so far, I’d had my hands full just shelling my own.

Still, if I were to do it for someone other than my own children, it would probably be my parents or…

‘Wait.’

I thought I understood why Sia was asking.

“Then, Oppa, what if I asked you to do it for me?”

She had probably been building up to that question all along.

Once she asked it, the fact that she could use magic to shell anything perfectly was irrelevant.

The answer had already been decided the moment she asked. All I had to do was say it.

“Of course I would. Whether it’s shelling king crab, peeling shrimp, or anything else.”

“Hehehe.”

Apparently pleased with that textbook answer, Sia grinned from ear to ear.

Maybe I was imagining it, but since our reunion, she seemed more expressive than before.

“Oppa, you have to do it only for me, okay? Only peel shrimp for me, and only hold down perilla leaves for me. Never do any of that for other women. Okay?”

Even though I’d just told her I had never done those things for anyone, Sia went out of her way to emphasize it again.

And perilla leaves?

I had no particular desire to help anyone with those unless it was Sia or my family.

“I just don’t think I could bear watching you sweetly peel shrimp for another woman.”

“No, I mean…”

I hadn’t been planning to do that in the first place.

I tried to explain something that shouldn’t have needed explaining, but apparently fixated on the subject, Sia picked up her chopsticks with a chilling look in her eyes.

“You won’t, will you?”

Why was it?

Why did the ordinary restaurant chopsticks in Sia’s hand suddenly look like a vicious weapon?

Was it because she was gripping them like a stick rather than holding them normally?

And why did her smile look like a demon’s?

“…B-before that, Sia. Of course I won’t, but could you p-put those chopsticks down…?”

You’re scaring me, Sia.

“Ummm…”