CH 414

“It was a mistake,” said Kang Jin-Ho. He had to admit to his crime this time.

Of course, he didn’t mean that coming to this amusement park was a mistake. No, the 'mistake' he was talking about referred to… Not stopping himself after the purchase of free usage passes.

When Kang Jin-Ho learned that an additional fee could purchase the park's special pass allowing him to ride any attractions without queuing up, he unhesitantly bought them for every orphanage kid.

He chose to do this since today was the children's first visit to an amusement park, and queuing up unnecessarily and wasting their valuable time would've only ruined their day.

'But… To think that would turn around and bite me back!'

Obviously, his choice was a pretty solid one from the children's perspectives. However, the problem with it was that Choi Yeon-Ha was forced to endure many more rides than what would've been the usual case.

By the time the sun began setting beyond the Western mountains, Choi Yeon-Ha was basically crawling limply on the ground like an invertebrate.

“Unnie, please get a hold of yourself...!”

“Drink this, unnie.”

“C-children, I… I'm fine. Don't worry about me, and have fun, okay?”

“Unnie, you gotta snap out of it. You're scaring us!”

At this point, it was safe to say the kids were looking after Choi Yeon-Ha, not the other way around. Han Jin-Seong observing this scene from afar slapped his forehead in dismay. “Gee whiz… Noona sure is a unique character, isn't she?”

Trying to find someone as unique as Choi Yeon-Ha would be an exercise in futility!

“Still! We did this for her so she could hang out with Jin-Ho hyung, so why did she idiotically stick to the kids instead?! And everyone already knows what to do, too!”

Han Jin-Seong's plan was pretty straightforward. All the orphanage kids were in on the act, and they divided themselves into groups.

The high-school-aged kids were in a separate group, and their job was to secretly chaperone the younger kids at the expense of riding the attractions themselves. This would've 'naturally' led to Kang Jin-Ho and Choi Yeon-Ha having enough free time to… drift away and do their own thing somewhere else. At least, that was the plan.

However, that plan went out the window the moment Choi Yeon-Ha confidently declared, “Kids! Assemble!”

“Seriously now...“ Han Jin-Seong helplessly chuckled. “I'm telling you, only people with loose screws in their heads hang around Jin-Ho hyung…”

Choi Yeon-Ha's assessment and Han Jin-Seong's thoughts mirrored each other remarkably well. Such was their similarity that they even failed remarkably well at assessing themselves!

“Hold on,” said Kang Jin-Ho as he approached the limp Choi Yeon-Ha.

“Oppa, please do something.”

“That's why I'm here. Hold on, everyone.”

“Okay…”

Once the children stepped aside to make room, Kang Jin-Ho reached down and grabbed Choi Yeon-Ha's head.

“...Ng?” Choi Yeon-Ha blinked her eyes in puzzlement before shuddering grandly. Something cold rushed inside her head, and her body became refreshingly cool in the blink of an eye. So much so she even had to shiver from the coldness, too! “Ah...!”

Choi Yeon-Ha finally regained her frazzled mind.

Kang Jin-Ho tutted. “You wrapped yourself like that in this weather, so no wonder you overheated.”

Choi Yeon-Ha wordlessly nodded, still slightly dazed.

If she didn't want people to notice her, hiding her face would've been sufficient. However, she was an actress at the end of the day. An actress like her had to be extra careful not to sunburn her skin too much.

That meant besides the hat and the scarf, Choi Yeon-Ha also tightly wrapped her whole body with long pants and a blouse made out of non-breathable material to prevent sunlight from even thinking about touching her skin.

That was why Choi Yeon-Ha's consciousness was getting fainter by the minute, but Kang Jin-Ho must've done something to her just now. She felt clear-headed in the literal blink of an eye.

“Oh, uh… I feel much better now, thank you. Let's go and ride the next one, shall we?”

Kang Jin-Ho crumpled his expression, feeling slightly fed up by her response.

'What is wrong with this woman? Is she a masochist?'

That was when one of the older girls suddenly pulled Choi Yeon-Ha's hand and placed it inside Kang Jin-Ho's grip. “Oppa...!”

“Yeah?”

“We'll go and have fun by ourselves, so you focus on looking after Yeon-Ha unnie. Okay?”

“...Huh?”

“Do. You. Understand?”

“...Yes.” Kang Jin-Ho obediently nodded after sensing that the glares from the girls surrounding him were not to be taken lightly. “L-leave her to me.”

“Please look after unnie, okay! And buy her something cold to drink, too!”

“We're going to see the parade starting soon!”

“Got it. Have fun,” Kang Jin-Ho replied as the kids waved their hands and walked away. He sighed deeply and turned his head toward Choi Yeon-Ha. “...?”

Choi Yeon-Ha had her back turned to him while looking away for some reason.

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow and addressed her. “What are you doing, Miss Yeon-Ha?”

“I've finally sobered up, you see…”

“Mm? Okay, but why aren't you looking at me while saying that?”

“...Give me a moment. If I look at your face right now, I might die from embarrassment, you know!”

“...Oh.” Kang Jin-Ho couldn't reply to that and just stood there awkwardly. However, his sharp hearing still heard Choi Yeon-Ha's pained whisper.

“...I should just kill myself.”

Sorrow heavy enough to crush the world was contained in her whisper.

***

“So… Today is your first time in an amusement park?” Kang Jin-Ho cautiously asked.

Choi Yeon-Ha sheepishly nodded. “...Yes.”

“Which means... You've never been on a ride before?”

“Yes, that too.”

Kang Jin-Ho's expression became unreadable. “Really? Then why were you so confident earlier?”

“I thought everything would be fine, you know? Everyone else is fine, so I figured…” Choi Yeon-Ha stopped talking there and resumed sucking on the cold drink through the straw. Her ears framing her blushing face twitched constantly. “And… I thought it was fun, in a way, too…”

“I'm sorry?”

“I said, it was fun, too!”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled at her feisty reply. Didn't she say the children wouldn't get to enjoy themselves if she was seen struggling, so she needed to 'endure'? And now, she was changing her tune so soon?

“Since when did you start worrying about the kids?” Kang Jin-Ho asked with a chuckle.

“Do you find it weird?”

“Well… You haven't been around them for long, after all. It took me a long time to start caring deeply about the kids, you see?”

“Mm…” Choi Yeon-Ha leaned slightly against the chair. “I guess I… felt a sense of kinship with the kids.”

“Sense of kinship, you say?”

Choi Yeon-Ha weightily nodded. “I've never been to an amusement park before. I didn't have the time or friends to come to a place like this until now. I started working as an actor even before I was old enough to vote, after all…”

“I see.”

“I used to think my situation couldn't be helped, but… Maybe I was hiding my real feelings. Feelings of wanting to come to a place like this and have fun without a care in the world,” Choi Yeon-Ha sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “But now… Trying to enjoy stuff like that at my age seemed less important than helping the kids have a great time today. That's what I planned to do, but… Look at me now.”

Choi Yeon-Ha lowered her head a little.

“It feels like I keep stumbling all the time lately. I'm trying my best in my own way, but things don't work out as I intended, and I'm only getting in other people's way.”

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“That's not true,” Kang Jin-Ho shook his head. “I'm pretty sure the kids will reminisce more about the stuff you've gone through today rather than the rides they've been on.”

“You… think so?”

“Yes, I do.” Kang Jin-Ho confidently nodded.

'As long as you overlook how badly you will get wrecked in the kids' recollections…’

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled gently.

How should he describe his current impression of this woman? Choi Yeon-Ha kept surprising him by revealing a new side of hers every time they met. At first, he saw her as nothing more than a black-hearted opportunist and, a little bit later, a weirdly obsessive woman. But now…

'...Now, how do I see her?'

Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow a little while thinking about that question.

Although he couldn't button down his evaluation of Choi Yeon-Ha just yet, he was still sure of this one thing. The more they met and interacted, the more his opinion of her improved.

“How are you feeling now? Better?” Kang Jin-Ho asked while leaning back in his chair.

“...A little more rest, and I should be good to join the children on the rides again.”

“Maybe you should take a rain check on that, Miss Yeon-Ha.”

“No, I'm being serious.”

Kang Jin-Ho mused that Choi Yeon-Ha's willpower had to be the reason why he viewed her in a better light. He had been feeling a little disappointed by the orphanage kids' lack of willpower recently, so Choi Yeon-Ha's gutsiness was like healing rays to his soul.

Didn't matter whether one was a boy or girl, they should be as gutsy as Choi Yeon-Ha!

Choi Yeon-Ha scanned their surroundings. “Where did the kids go, though?”

Kang Jin-Ho shrugged his shoulders. “They said they wanted to watch the parade. But some of them probably went to ride that thing.”

“That thing? Which one?”

Kang Jin-Ho pointed up. Choi Yeon-Ha followed his finger and looked up and noticed a ride spinning along the arch of the domed ceiling.

“Wow, that looks fun.”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. As long as it's not moving too fast, I'll be fine. I'm not scared of heights, you see? To be honest, I didn't know I'd be scared of going fast. When I'm behind the wheel and in control, I feel like nothing can scare me, but… It was like my body wasn't mine anymore, and…”

Choi Yeon-Ha held her shoulders and shuddered as if she inadvertently recalled the sensations of riding on the roller coaster.

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled at her. “No need to force yourself. It's about time to go home, anyway. We can't stay here forever, and the bus I hired should be here not too long from now, as well. Once the kids are done, we'll be heading home.”

“Oh. Ah, well. How unfortunate, but it can't be helped, I guess.”

You can still say 'how unfortunate' after what you went through?

Before Kang Jin-Ho could express his dismay, Choi Yeon-Ha spoke up first in a wry-sounding voice. “You know, I… I always wanted to do those kinds of things in a theme park.”

“What kind of things?”

“Stuff other people do, you know? Like, putting on a bunny hair band, taking lots of photos, waving my hand at the parade…”

Kang Jin-Ho silently listened, occasionally nodding.

“Eat cotton candies, and, and... I mean, I'm not a kid anymore. So I wanted to take my time strolling around and looking at other people and maybe make some fun memories along the way, but…” Choi Yeon-Ha poked her tongue out. “But things turned out a bit too… combative, I guess?”

Kang Jin-Ho replied in an off-hand manner. “We can always come back later.”

“...Later?”

“Yes. Without the kids, too.”

“...!“ Choi Yeon-Ha's voice trembled a little. “Are you saying you'll come with me?”

It took a lot out of Choi Yeon-Ha to ask that question, but Kang Jin-Ho didn't even require a speck of mental energy to reply to her. “Yes. I don't see why not.”

“Really? You sure?”

“Yes, I am.”

Choi Yeon-Ha trembled a little from excitement. Her sunglasses and mask hid her expression but couldn't entirely hide how red her cheeks had gotten.

***

“...So? What does the atmosphere down there look like?”

“It's perfect, Jin-Seong hyung-nim!”[1]

“Good. Looks like we don't need to create another scene, then?”

Han Jin-Seong, in charge of the emergency response committee, and the orphanage kids assisting him smiled suspiciously while observing Kang Jin-Ho and Choi Yeon-Ha from a tall balcony.

“Who cares about what happens as long as we get the results we want! Am I right?”

“You're totally correct, hyung-nim!”

Han Jin-Seong smirked deviously before glancing around. “By the way, where did the girls go?”

“They went to ride that thing, hyung.”

“That thing? You mean… that?” Han Jin-Seong pointed above.

“Yes. They said they'll be back right after riding it.”

“Really? Geez, they are no help whatsoever, eh...?” Han Jin-Seong tutted unhappily.

***

“S-so, you think the kids are still riding that?” Choi Yeon-Ha tried to change the conversation to escape from her embarrassment.

“I'm sorry?”

“I meant that ride.”

Kang Jin-Ho raised his head to look at the amusement park's ride above his head. “...Yes, they are riding on it.”

“...You can actually see that?”

“Yes.”

Choi Yeon-Ha chuckled in dismay. Obviously, something that far away shouldn't be…

'No, hang on. If it's Mister Jin-Ho, he might really be able to see them.'

Hadn't Choi Yeon-Ha already witnessed the mysterious power Kang Jin-Ho possessed?

“Okay... Which ride is it, though?”

“It's that yellow one over—” Kang Jin-Ho suddenly stopped talking and clamped his mouth shut.

“Yellow one?” Choi Yeon-Ha blinked her eyes.

“...”

“Mister Jin-Ho...? Which color is it?”

Kang Jin-Ho didn't say anything while suddenly standing up.

“Mister Jin-Ho?” Choi Yeon-Ha's expression stiffened after noticing Kang Jin-Ho's hardened face. She remembered seeing that look on Kang Jin-Ho's face once before.

...Back when the tunnel was collapsing on top of them!

Kang Jin-Ho spoke while scanning the area above his head. “...Call the kids and tell them to gather in one area.”

“I'm sorry?”

“No, tell them to leave this place. To leave this building altogether!”

Choi Yeon-Ha was full of questions but didn't talk back to him. If Kang Jin-Ho was making a face like that, it could only mean something terrible was about to happen. In that case, she shouldn't be wasting time like this!

“Dammit!”

Kang Jin-Ho broke into a full-powered sprint. But, almost at the same time...!

Crack! Craaaack!

The sounds of something ripping apart rang out as debris and dust began cascading from above.

1. 'Hyung-nim' is a term for calling one's 'mob boss,' 'crime boss,' or 'Don'. Of course, it's used humorously in this case. ☜