Episode 13: A face genius is good at soccer

Episode 13: Strange Ha-yeon Noona (1)

I knew it. Even a guy that handsome can't compare to me.

Feeling pleased with herself, Ha-yeon let her hand down and pretended to elegantly brush her hair back. Humming a satisfied tune, she reached for her phone to text Ji-kyung, but suddenly, she sensed someone staring at her from the side and cautiously turned her head.

"Gasp!"

An intimidating gaze through the sunglasses.

Not envious—no, annoying. A random girl was glaring at her for no apparent reason.

"Why... why are you looking at me like that?"

Ha-yeon was always confident and poised, but it was impossible to stay composed in front of a superior predator.

This wasn't a rational judgment, but a gut instinct derived from the unique aura of women who are popular with men... like herself.

"Hey."

"Hiccup! Y-Yes?"

"Who do you think you are?"

"W-What do you mean?"

"Who are you to greet him so warmly?"

"Greet...?"

Blinking in confusion, Ha-yeon finally realized.

"Oh. Are you dating him? With number 15?"

Damn.

Who would have thought a girl like this would be involved?

What on earth did Ji-kyung have against her to push her into this situation? Ha-yeon felt so wronged that she wanted to cry.

"Who, me? Dating? No way. Not at all. Date him? With that monkey?"

But the woman bit her lip and kept sighing heavily.

"Oh, so you... No, you must like number 15, right?"

"Ha! Like him? Me? Like him?"

The woman, who had been sighing repeatedly, said,

"Hey. You think I like him?"

"Uh, maybe not?"

"I don't."

Her words were obviously a lie.

Even through the sunglasses, her furrowed brow and the intense glare were impossible to miss. Ha-yeon felt so unfairly accused.

'Ugh... This isn't elementary school, just admit it if you like someone! Why put me through this?'

After glaring at Ha-yeon for a while, the sunglasses woman finally seemed satisfied with Ha-yeon's restless demeanor, relaxing her expression and crossing her arms.

"Hey."

"Y-Yes!"

"How well do you know him?"

"Not... not that well..."

"Huh? You don’t? Why?"

"What do you mean why... I only met him once, a week ago, and even then, it was just for a brief moment..."

Carefully trying to explain herself to avoid further misunderstanding, Ha-yeon watched as the woman tilted her head in confusion.

"Then why were you so friendly?"

"It's not like we're that close..."

"But you waved at him. Happily. Even waving your hand at him."

"That wasn't really a big deal..."

Is she picking a fight?

Even if she wants to be sarcastic, why be sarcastic over this? Feeling wronged, Ha-yeon tried to defend herself, but the sunglasses woman just pouted her lips as if she didn't understand.

"So, you're telling me you only met that monkey once, for just a brief moment, and yet you greeted him so warmly?"

"Not exactly warmly..."

It’s true, but saying it like that makes it sound way more than it was.

The woman, deep in thought, uncrossed her arms and took off her sunglasses.

Dangling the sunglasses on the bridge of her nose, revealing her eyes.

Ha-yeon forgot the situation and muttered to herself.

"Wow."

Despite having undergone inner and outer eye corner surgeries, her eyes were still slightly dissatisfied.

Everyone else said her eyes were beautiful, natural, and perfect, but she had always felt something was missing. Now she knew why. The perfect eyes she had always dreamed of were right in front of her.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"Ha-yeon... Kim Ha-yeon."

"Yeah, okay."

With deep brown eyes that seemed to draw you in, the woman stared intently at Ha-yeon and then said,

"Be my puppy."

"Yes-sir... Wait, what??"

Wait, what?

* * *

Beep, beep, beeeeep—

The game ended.

1:0 victory.

Early in the second half, my dribble breakthrough created the decisive chance that led to the only goal of the match.

After that, I continued to actively threaten the opponent's flank, but unfortunately, nothing else resulted in a goal, so my stat remained at 1 assist. Still, if you look at my performance, I was definitely the Man of the Match today.

If they edit the highlights, I’m sure you'll see me in most of the scenes.

Of course, no one bothers to edit highlights for university league games.

See, I told you I could do it! Even the coach praised me, saying, "You did great!" And the seniors seem to acknowledge my skills as well. The season opener was definitely a success.

After finishing my stretches and taking a shower, I stepped outside to find the sky already dark.

Even though I’m a starting member, as the youngest, I couldn’t skip out on cleanup duty. After waiting for the other soccer players to finish and leave, I ended up being the last one out.

It's nice to be bigger, but the problem is, during showers, people keep staring.

These days, I purposely wait until everyone else is done to shower last because it’s kind of embarrassing. It’s a bit inconvenient.

“You’re late?”

As soon as I stepped out of the locker room, a woman suddenly appeared and linked her arm with mine.

“Who... Ha-yeon noona?”

“Yep. You remember me.”

“Of course. How could I forget someone as pretty as you?”

“Aww, you’re sweet. But no calls or texts from you all this time?”

“Texts? I’d need your number to— Oh!”

Right.

I exchanged numbers with Ha-yeon noona when the cheer squad came.

Realizing this belatedly, I just gaped, and Ha-yeon noona laughed.

“What~ You said you’d never forget a pretty girl like me, but you already forgot.”

“No, it’s not like that... I really just forgot we exchanged numbers... But I didn’t forget about you.”

“Hmph. I’m hurt.”

Uh-oh... Is this that thing?

The classic “I’m pretending to be upset so you’ll make it up to me” move that girls pull.

Thankfully, Ha-yeon noona smiled and said in a playful voice,

“Then buy me a drink to make up for it. Sound good?”

“O-Of course... Ah. But I can’t drink...”

“Why? You don’t want to? You don’t want to buy me a drink, Min-sung?”

“No, it’s not that... And my name’s not Min-sung.”

“...Huh? Oh, my mistake. Min-seon?”

“...It’s Min-jun.”

“......”

“......”

She awkwardly let go of my arm.

Ha-yeon noona, who had been smiling sheepishly, quickly clung to me again, rubbing her chest against my arm and acting all cute.

“Sorry~ I do remember your face, Min-jun. You’re too handsome to forget~”

Handsome... Ahem.

I’ll take that.

“Then noona, why don’t you buy me dinner?”

“Me?”

“Yes. You, noona.”

“Uh... I’ve never bought a guy dinner before.”

...This noona is just like Ji-kyung noona.

Well, Ji-kyung noona was also part of the cheer squad, so... Birds of a feather, I guess.

In the past, I would’ve been over the moon if a pretty girl approached me, even if she was an easy target or had a reputation. But now, I’m a guy with a charm stat of 95.

“Then you can make this your first time.”

“Should I?”

“Why? Don’t want to? Then never mind.”

“No, no, no. I’m happy to~”

Hmm.

But I have to admit, Ji-kyung noona has a better... you know...

Savoring the sensation of her chest against my arm, I headed toward Daehakro with Ha-yeon noona.

“Oh, and noona, since I don’t drink, let’s skip the bars.”

“What!? Why!?”

“Come on, I’m an athlete. I just finished a game.”

“So what?”

Ignoring Ha-yeon noona’s whining, I led her to my favorite BBQ restaurant.

With a sulky expression, she just stared at the grill, not setting the table, not pouring water, not even grilling the meat. She was acting like a princess.

“Noona, hurry up and grill the meat.”

“What!? Why should I!?”

“I just finished a game.”

“But I’m the one paying!”

...Good point.

Well, I guess I should grill the meat then.

As I grilled the meat and handed her a wrapped bite, she giggled and smiled.

“Mmm, delicious~ Meat grilled by a handsome guy tastes the best.”

“But noona.”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve been meaning to ask... what’s with the sunglasses?”

“Huh?”

“The sunglasses, your sunglasses.”

They were high-end sunglasses that didn’t quite match her casual outfit.

She didn’t have them during the game, so I was surprised when she suddenly showed up wearing them.

“Oh... those... an acquaintance— no, an older sister I know gave them to me. How do they look? Pretty, right?”

“They’re pretty, but please take them off.”

“Why~ These are expensive~ No way~”

“It’s just that you look like you’re trying to hide a black eye from being hit by your husband.”

“...You always have to say something.”

Despite her words, she slyly took off the sunglasses and carefully packed them back into her bag.

Wow, you’d think those sunglasses were some kind of gem. She’s making such a big deal over a pair of glasses.

“But Min-jun.”

“Yeah?”

“You really don’t drink?”

“Yeah, I don’t.”

“Come ooon~ Just one drink. Please? Not even one?”

“Nope, not even one~ Let it go.”

“Oh, geez.”

I handed her a wrapped bite of meat, which she chewed on before continuing.

“Then...”

“No, there’s no ‘then.’”

“Oh, seriously! Ugh... 'chew chew' So, what I meant to say was~”

I wondered what was up with her as she spoke with a strange expression on her face.

“I have a question.”

“Ask away. No need to beat around the bush.”

“Mmm. So... Min-jun, what’s your ideal type?”

“Huh? My ideal type?”

That’s all? I thought it was something serious.

My ideal type, huh.

“A girl with fair skin, big eyes, a sharp nose, and red lips?”

“Aww, come on~ Not that kind of stuff~”

“Honestly, I don’t really have one. I’m not the type to have a fixed ideal.”

I chuckled lightly as I lied.

Actually, the opposite is true. I do have a very clear ideal type.

But that ideal is someone I can never meet again.

‘That bitch... I wonder how she’s doing.’

As I reminisced, Ha-yeon noona asked in a sharp voice,

“Then next question! Who’s the most attractive girl you’ve met recently?”

“Hmm... What do you mean by ‘recently’?”

“Let’s say...”

What’s she up to?

After glancing at her phone, she answered.

“Within the last week?”

“In that case...”

Attractive girls I’ve met in the past week.

There’s Ji-kyung noona, Ha-yeon noona... and that crazy chick.

To be honest, if not for her personality, that crazy girl was really pretty.

“Of course, it’s Ha-yeon noona—”

“No! That can’t be it! Think harder.”

Yeah, that’s too predictable.

“Hmm, then... there was this really weird girl. Her personality was completely off, but she was super pretty.”

“R-really! Then...”

After glancing at her phone again, she asked,

“Then why didn’t you date that pretty girl?”

“...??”

What kind of question is that?

“Just because she’s pretty, do I have to date her?”

“Well, no, but still! You must’ve had the chance to date her!”

Ah, this is getting annoying.

I’m full now, and starting to feel that itch, so I answered her half-heartedly.

“Well, first you have to check if you’re compatible in bed.”

“Eek! D-do you really think, I mean, see things that way?”

“Yep. But noona, let’s get going now.”

These women never put their phones down.

While continuously tapping away at her phone, sending messages nonstop, noona let out a strange noise.

“Eek!!”

“Ugh, what now?”

“Well, you see...”

Sigh. This woman’s a bit weird too.

Are all pretty girls like this?

“Um, Min-jun. How about... we stop by that place over there?”

The place she pointed to.

It was the tallest building in the area.

'Latz Hotel'.

“...Sounds good.”

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