Night-Owl Romance
.
Note: I've tried since August to finish this chapter and had hoped to end it with Zen's rooftop scene. In the end, that scene shall be reserved for the next part and will pretty much be similar to the in-game one (including the no kiss part – rip ) X'D
Already the word count is insane – like it is with most chapters of this story. ^^;;; hehe, sorry guys for my ramblings.
Still, I appreciate each and every one of you who reads and likes/comments the story. Even those who are privately supporting me 3 I'll try my best to keep things interesting enough and I hope the long wait for updates isn't too discouraging. ^^;;;
.
.
Chapter 47: An Evening inside a Wolf's Den 3: Constant Interruptions
.
.
.
[707]: MAYDAY, MAYDAY!
[707]: I've picked up a distress signal coming from the deepest parts of the galaxy!
[707]: 707's Defender of Justice mode is ON!
[707]: Searching for the signal's location!
[707]: BEEP.
[707]: BEEP.
[707]: I feel it coming closer...
[707]: BEEEP.
[707]: BEEEP.
[707]: Closeeer...
[707]: BEEEEEP.
.
[ZEN]: *unimpressed emoji*
.
[707]: BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
[707]: The source of the distress signal has been located!
[707]: And an alien entity has appeared in front of my eyes!
[707]: UWHAAAAAA!
[707]: Who dares summoning me, Oh, The Almighty Defender of Justice, from the furthest corners of my abode in the Hackingus Sevenus System?
[707]: *raises eyeglasses emoji*
.
[ZEN]: Quit fooling around and tell me why the hell have you been ignoring my calls?! *angry emoji*
.
[707]: *shocked emoji*
[707]: Danger, danger!
[707]: Handsome alien entity showing intense hostility towards the Defender of Justice!
[707]: Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!
[707]: *upset emoji*
[ZEN]: Cut it out! I'm being serious here!
[ZEN]: Why would you ever plan for us to get food poisoning?!
[ZEN]: *angry emoji*
[707]: HUH?*shocked emoji*
[707]: What'cha mean?!
[ZEN]: The recipe you've given Mina and those horrible ingredients have created a complete monstrosity.
[ZEN]: Forget about pranking me, I can take it no prob, but for the life of me I can't understand why.
[ZEN]: Why would you make her go through such a terrible thing? *upset emoji*
[707]: Wait, wait, wait!
[707]: I didn't prank any of you guys!
.
[707]: Recently. O-O
.
[ZEN]: Check this yourself! *posts screenshots of the recipe*
[707]: ...
[707]: Hmm...
[707]: I see nothing wrong with it.
[707]: Have you guys followed the steps written in there correctly? O-O
[707]: I mean, for sure Zen I trust you haven't since u prob couldn't read them, trololol!
[ZEN]: *angry emoji*
[707]: But Mina 2?
[707]: Strange.
[ZEN]: Are you kidding me?!
.
[ZEN]: Nothing could salvage this abomination of flavors even after repeating those steps over and over!
.
[707]: You hated my recipe that much?
[707]: *shocked emoji*
[707]: It's one of my favorite dishes to make...
[707]: *upset emoji*
[707]: *upset emoji*
[707]: *upset emoji*
[ZEN]: What...
[ZEN]: *shocked emoji*
[ZEN]: You actually eat this kind of stuff willingly? O_O
[707]: When I can, yeah!
.
[707]: It's super great for your health and very filling~~~!
.
[ZEN]: ...
[707]: Plus, Mina had been preparing her meals using similar recipes and ingredients.
[707]: She's been cooking with these shortly after crashing at Rika's apartment.
[ZEN]: *shocked emoji*
[707]: And she had never complained to me once about the food tasting bad!
[707]: On the contrary!
.
[707]: Only you have, you huge meanie!
.
[ZEN]: OMFG!
[ZEN]: *crying emoji*
[ZEN]: My poor jagi... T-T
[ZEN]: No wonder her eyes were shining at the sight of those fish bread!
[ZEN]: I have to fix the issue at once!
.
[ZEN]: Seven, what the hell's wrong with your taste buds?!
.
[707]: *clueless emoji*
[ZEN]: Has to be from all those years of gobbling down sugary sodas and chips instead of eating proper meals!
[ZEN]: And now we are paying the price for it!
[707]: *upset emoji*
[707]: Hyung, really, why are you being so uncharacteristically mean towards me...?
[707]: And it's not just your attitude tonight.
[707]: You used to be soooooooooo much nicer to me back in the day!
[707]: What gives?!
[707]: *crying emoji*
[707]: Minaaaaaaa!
[707]: Take him away from meeeeeeeeee!
[707]: *defeated emoji*
[707]: My heart is crumbling, piece by piece...
.
[707]: Help me heal it, pls!
.
[ZEN]: *unimpressed emoji*
[ZEN]: I'm not mean, I'm just stating the facts whether you like hearing them or not!
[ZEN]: And – shoo! – don't go running to her when you are the one in trouble!
[ZEN]: Plus, she's not online to listen to your whining!
[707]: *surprised emoji*
[707]: Oh, right.
[707]: What's Mina doing, anyway? O-O
[ZEN]: If you really must know, she's on the phone with her parents.
[ZEN]: I think.
[707]: ...You think?
[ZEN]: From the name I could spot on the screen, ya.
[ZEN]: I've left her alone in the bedroom.
[ZEN]: Though it's been like 15 minutes already...
[707]: ...
[707]: DANGER, DANGER!
[707]: You've brought her in there waaaaaaay too early and waaaaaaay too fast!
[707]: Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!
[707]: Pang-pang, pang-pang, pang-...
[707]: What's left of the 707 heart went numb.
[707]: *crying emoji*
.
[ZEN]: To offer her some privacy when taking that call, dammit!*angry emoji*
.
[ZEN]: What kind of a man do you peg me to be?!
[707]: *posts his Zorro-musical picture*
[707]: A dangerous man who lures innocent damsels into his lair and then entraps them inside when they're at their most vulnerable.
[707]: And then...
[707]: O-O
.
[ZEN]: I'd never do any despicable things to her, wtf!
.
[ZEN]: Ashi!
[ZEN]: My head...
[ZEN]: T-T
[ZEN]: I hope Mina's ok in there, but – I don't want to disturb her. : /
[ZEN]: She looked nervous when I left her.
[ZEN]: And it's getting a little loud in there but I can't make up any of the words.
[ZEN]: *disappointed emoji*
[707]: Who knows...
[707]: Hm.
[707]: Maybe!
[ZEN]: What? O-o
[707]: That might be it!
[ZEN]: What do you know?!
[707]: Maybe Mina doesn't wanna to tell her folks how she's trapped in a dangerous wolf's house~~~!
[707]: *cheeky tongue-sticking emoji*
.
[ZEN]: Yo. You've been tempting Lady Faith without consequences for far too long.
[ZEN]: O_e Gotta fix that as well when we meet next time!
.
[707]: *shocked emoji*
[707]: Sssssscaryyyyyyyy!
[ZEN]: Ah!
[ZEN]: She's finally returned~!
[ZEN]: *happy emoji*
[ZEN]: Time to wipe out this chat from my memory!
[707]: No worries, I shall e-mail you the log so you will have it saved in your computer's memory~!
[ZEN]: *angry emoji*
.
~oOo~
.
The phone call should have been a fairly standard one for Mina to handle, the girl garnering an impressive repertoire of lies throughout the years from which she could choose from and then use in her weekly update back home, similarly to how it had been the previous week, and the week prior and so on. No matter the question, an answer or excuse would be right at her disposal and that usually did the job surprisingly well considering how sloppy some of the coordinator's explanations would be.
Despite noticing the obvious inaccuracies in Mina's storytelling, her mother had never really pushed the girl into confessing and, in hindsight, this might not have been the correct decision to make but the woman's hands were tied. Both of them lived hundreds of kilometers away from one another and with no prospect of diminishing the gap in the foreseeable future since the only person who could change this status were Mina herself. However, the party coordinator wouldn't even use her national holidays to return to their home in Daegu and instead would claim to be working hard to save up money, paying off her rent and daily supplies or other unforeseen uni expenses. She also refused to have them help her and pay for these expenses in her stead or even for the ticket ride home, returning any of her mother's help back into the woman's bank account with no explanations whatsoever!
*sigh*
Nonetheless, her mom did not forget to send her daughter weekly words of comfort and would sincerely shower her eldest baby with endless love, hoping one day that she could become more upfront with her daily activities in the big city.
Or even her struggles...
...
Alas,
Mina did hesitate to take the call while being a guest in Zen's apartment, not wanting to risk causing a scene and then have him needlessly worry about her shattered psyche. Plus, the injured actor should continue being the girl's priority and not her own resurfacing problems! So the party planner would have coldly ignored the woman until she returned to Rika's, pouring additional sorrow and guilt into her heart in the meantime, had it not been for Zen generously offering Mina the privacy she needed without her even requesting it, a very touching gesture which caused another set of internal back flips.
Yet, despite all of this, in under a minute the actor's wooden floors had become stained by the countless droplets streaming down the girl's cheeks.
Without warning, it had been Mirae on the line and not her mother like in the vast majority of cases. The tiny ball of energy had no filter or restraint, effortlessly expressing (well, as effortlessly as a third year old could express words)her desire to see her big sister as she had been missing her lots and lots~! She was desperately wishing to have Mina finally come home and play together in person since Mirae would no longer be satisfied with solely her pictures, videos or toys~! Heck, the little one had even worriedly asked her sister if she loved them anymore since she never comes home, after continuing to give watered down replies to the baby and not a screeching "I WILL" or "YES" type of answer like she had expected.
That extremely painful jab to the heart aside, the conversation managed to somewhat return to its normal pattern after her mother had taken over, the hyper and cheerfully screechy child still present in the background.
.
Eomma.
The only person who never once stopped checking up on the girl
in the entirety of these two long and difficult years apart.
.
"My love! *multiple air kisses* How have you been this week?"
"Have you had anything for dinner, yet? ^^"
.
Ever since leaving the house in Daegu for uni, eomma would be contacting Mina on a weekly basis and often later in the evenings with the hope that she wouldn't disturb her schedule too much, be it work or her studies, or – why not – a date~! (Lololol!)Otherwise, if she didn't make the tiniest of effort in keeping touch then the woman would be completely left in the dark in regards to her daughter, her whereabouts and livelihood remaining unknown since the frequency of her calls had been lessening until she had fully stopped being the one to initiate contact altogether.
The woman had initially hoped that the girl had simply grown too careless with the passing of time as it wasn't that uncommon to have her react in pure confusion at the ever-changing calendar dates whilst in the middle of creating her artwork, a feat which could span days or weeks until finished. So she believed her daughter must be taking her role as a student very, very seriously, unbeknown to her how fast time was flying outside the real world!
Any other alternatives to this explanation would be too hard hitting to consider even if more plausible.
Tonight, however, the woman had sensed a change in her daughter's demeanor whose voice carried a much lower register than normal – like she were in hiding due to someone being in close proximity. It was unnerving, eomma expressing her discomfort at the mere thought of the girl being in a precarious environment. It was only then that Mina threw her quite the curveball, revealing how she had freshly joined an organization and she was in the midst of handling the party invitations alongside another member of this new group.
And that had immediately, like immediately, flipped on her mother's switch, eomma throwing an array of questions left, right, up and down, with Mina struggling to find suitable answers and the correct amount of fiction sprinkled atop as a delicious topping.
"Eh?! Joining an organization?! What organization?! What's the name of this group? Is it in any way related to SKY or was it part of her university program? Was it not? Then what kind of an organization was it? Did she know any of the members before joining them? Were her uni friends in it, too? What are the organization's goals? How long have they been active in the area? Were they a large organization, a small one, non-profit, membership paid to enter? Was she certain they were a legit group and not wanting to scam her for money? What?! They are doing charity work and public figures are running it?! Oh... a famous photographer is the leading figure of the R.F.A.? So it must be SKY related then? Is really is not? Oh... Also, since when had Mina been interested in pursuing charity at such a young age? Or coordinating public events? She had never shown interest in either subject before. O-O"
"I know, right!(E)"
"Sometimes it feels like I've joined the group by accident, then I went – might as well stick around and see this whole thing through – ha, ha, ha~!(E)", Mina summed up the truth in a joking manner, but her mother of course wasn't delighted about her laidback silliness, quickly falling silent for an uncomfortable minute. The party planner hesitated before asking if she were alright when –
.
"Is the other member you are with now a boy?"
.
– she suddenly realized that the main reason for her mother's silence had been for her to focus on her newest research material. The R.F.A.~! And the woman had been fast in gathering and compiling information from the various online sources she could find at her disposal.
.
"According to their main website, only one other active member in the R.F.A. is a woman."
"Are you with her now?"
"Or..."
*loud gasp*
"Mina! Are you alone with one of these men?!"(E)
.
Mina was edging closer to having an out-of-body experience because of her crumbling nerves.
.
"Are you sure that you're capable of doing much work like this?"
O-O
"Is it rea~~lly not a date?!" (E)
.
"It's d-definitely not...!(E)", the party planner complained, not wanting to raise her voice too high in case Zen could overhear her from the living area. But she was gradually losing both her resolve and calm due to the ridiculousness of such blunt inquiries, the woman relentless in poking around for extra details about the R.F.A. and somehow integrate those in the girl's supposed active love life she kept hidden from their family, thus riling her up!
On purpose!
.
*prolonged gasp*
.
"Am I actually interrupting you on a real date?!" (E)
"I can't believe this is happening!" (E)
"My baby is growing up!" (E)
.
"YEOBO! MINA HAS A BOYFRIEND!"
"WE HAVE TO CELEBRATE!"
*faint unintelligible murmur in the background*.
"Should I go open a bottle of champagne then or is last night's wine fine?"
.
.
"How could you reach such a faulty conclusion?!"(E), the girl cried out in pain. "There's nothing to celebrate there, don't go grabbing any more bottles or spread weird rumors!"
.
.
"Oh, Mina dear." (E)
"Don't be shy~!" (E)
"Eomma can tell whenever you are fancying someone,
So don't try to hide the obvious from me~!"
"It will only make me sadder if you keep denying reality..."
.
.
"Eomma, please..." (E)
"Why are you doing this to me?" (E) \(º □ º l|l)/
.
.
"Mina!"
"When are you going to introduce him to the family, hmm~?!"
"Oh, I must look at the members' profiles!"
"Hm..."
"Which one of them are you currently dating?! O-O"
.
.
"Ok, mom." (E)
"I love you, I really do." (E)
"But I am leaving!" (E)
"Farewell!"(E)
.
.
"Mina, dear!" (E)
"Don't run away now!" (E)
"I am not done with you –"(E)
.
.
"My tasks are calling for my attention, byeeee~!" (E)
.
.
.
*END CALL*
.
.
.
*sigh*
.
.
.
If her lifespan kept shortening at this troublesome rate then she wouldn't make it far into adulthood...
.
.
.
~oOo~
.
.
.
Mina hadn't realized how lengthy the conversation with her mother had been until checking the messenger and its numerous chat room alerts. She didn't have the chance of reading more than a few opening lines from Seven before Jumin's sudden DMs popping on her screen, the CEO heir curious as to whether she had been successful with her tasks.
Or did he need to call off the entire operation and send her back to Rika's?
"Not yet... ^.^;;;", Mina replied anxiously, invoking how she had to do a little more convincing to achieve success!
*BUZZ*
But his swift reply had pierced at her sensitive heart though, Jumin adding his signature cat-shaped chat bubble in which he'd posted an emoji of a clock ticking alongside that same disappointed kitty expression from many texts ago.
.
" (=^ 눈 . 눈 =) "
"Prepare for extraction soon."
.
*gulp*
This was it then.
And having Jumin reconsider his stance was not going to be a viable option, the young businessman upsettingly expressing to the party planner how she had wholeheartedly agreed to these terms from the beginning. It wasn't an honorable thing to change her wishes halfway for a deal was a deal.
Was Mina not a trustworthy girl who'd own up to her promises?
Jumin did give her a redeeming chance to prove him wrong, still recalling the party planner's disappearance the day she had bumped into her university professor, after which having forgone any contact with the R.F.A. for many hours and dismissing her promise to get to Rika's in a timely manner. The scare she had given the members was not forgotten whether they kept expressing the thought openly or not.
"Understood.", Mina answered with a single word as any more would become futile additions.
.
Disappointed.
.
While Jumin wasn't in the wrong for reminding Mina of their pre-established agreement, the negative outcome still bothered the girl immensely. It felt like she had totally wasted their precious time together and had achieved nothing of substance throughout the entire get-together. Heck, she'd probably caused him more headaches than it had been worth. Selfishly, though, the party planner didn't want to leave the actor's side yet, more so to use the extra hours to sweeten the disastrous first impression she might have left on him. ^^;;;
...
*BADDUMP BADDUMP*
Only then did Mina consciously acknowledged to actually being alone in Zen's most private room of his apartment, noting his bedroom following the same color scheme and wall patterns seen within the living area.
*BADDUMP BADDUMP*
Her large eyes were roaming over every piece of furniture and wall decoration she could observe while the redness in her cheeks faded to a softer hue, the most notable items she could identify being a few musical posters above the table, where many scattered books and crumpled notes lied. Funnily enough, the party planner expected to see more of Zen's selfies to gawk at. There was a surprising shortage of them considering how often the actor would brag about his pics and share online.
Actually, she saw no photograph of him in this entire room.
Nor in his apartment as a matter of fact...
*BADDUMP BADDUMP*
Moreover, there was a lingering scent which was following the girl with each step she took, albeit much fainter to the one she'd been wrapped into after arriving into the actor's apartment when his face had been dangerously close to her own. That appealing mixture of his perfume and cigarettes did not help with taming the powerful pounding of the coordinator's heart, becoming that much louder in her ears.
*BADDUMP BADDUMP BADDU-MP*
The outside mirror built into his dresser, however, had instantly pulled the girl out of her dream like state, the horror of Mina seeing her damaged make up putting her into a panicked frenzy as she tried to quickly salvage the situation with her fingers and the bottom of her sleeves. While she was an artist at heart, the miracles she could perform using these shaky hands solely resided on a canvas and not her plain face.
*sigh*
At least there weren't obvious incriminating evidence left of that recent flood gate, nor her eye liner smudging down the direction of those tears anymore. Regardless, Mina prayed that Zen would be too distracted by other things than to notice her stained reddened eyes through her bangs.
"I'm back!"
Unfortunately, after braving herself out the door and apologizing to him for the long wait, his faltering smile had told the party planner otherwise.
.
~oOo~
.
When it came to the people he cherished, Zen could be very perceptive and it wouldn't take long for him to see through their facade. His meddling around would sometimes yield positive results, but other times... the added barriers to their friendship would force him to take a few steps back and enter a powerless waiting game while they would continue boiling in whatever issue was eating at them during their solitary plight.
He had such moments too and could understand not wanting to share personal burdens to just anybody and deal with certain stuff alone. Zen was pretty much the same in that regards. Even now. *lmao* But he couldn't really turn a blind eye to their problems either and would seek out the best methods in helping them out without overstepping boundaries.
Ladies were his weakness, their sorrows always wounding to the heart. He'd be willing to move mountains just to have them rediscover the path to happier days and find their lost beautiful smiles.
If they would allow him to try, of course. ^^;
Mostly, all he could be was a distant supportive figure, always available when needed even if it would just be through texting in the pits of the night. Same feeling he carried towards Mina. The party coordinator's rapid dismissal of anything negative or unpleasant having happened to her during the conversation with her parents, in addition to her rapid crossed-hand gestures and strained bubbly-laughter, had given the actor enough hints for him not to pursue the topic any further despite his heart constricting from the red in her eyes. Regardless, he continued with the goal he'd set in mind, the actor aiming to have the party planner's smiles blossom on her very pretty features one way or another tonight (and pretty lips), thus having resumed their previous interactions like it had never been put on hold.
The silver haired male made a natural transition towards the discarded inedible mush laying atop the coffee table, Zen being reminded once more of Seven's lack of cuisine knowledge for the general folk.
A piece of great news though!
While Mina was busy, Zen proudly picked up something truly yummy from this restaurant nearby he used to frequent during warmer seasons and he'd just found out they had recently introduced a delivery service for those living in the neighborhood~!
"Oppa, you shouldn't have – I'm fine with only the fish bread!", Mina was appalled at the thought of Zen wasting his income on her and tried searching for better and cheaper alternatives that were already in his home, so the actor could cancel his order pronto! But her expression got that more dire when she'd gone through the contents of the mini fridge.
"Wooow..." (E)
Zen had been too slow in preventing the party planner from reaching the kitchen. "How is this possible..." (E), Mina whispered and stared inside with pure disbelief, resisting the urge to share the fridge's alarming content towards the R.F.A. group. Or lack thereof.
"Zen, what are you even eating every single day O_O?!", her voice cracked from the shock of seeing rows and rows of beer cans and nothing else resembling actual food in there, nor inside the nearby cupboards as a matter of fact, this time the actor being the one to dismiss the girl's unfounded concerns.
.
*DOORBELL RINGING*
.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha! The restaurant's service is really incredibly fast. Super amazing~!", Zen laughed excitedly and swooshed by the party planner as if the foot injury wasn't even there to begin with. But to the actor's extreme,extreme displeasure, it wasn't the delivery boy that he was expecting to be standing at his front door.
It had been the imposing Dandelion bodyguard leader disrupting them.
"Miss Choi, it's time to go!", Jisoo looked past Zen's shoulder and did not throw the actor a second glance before calling out for the coordinator who had stilled in the background.
"Huh?! You're freaking kidding me, what's the meaning of this?"
"Hey. Mr. Han's orders, I can't do nothing about it.", the raven blandly explained but that did little to tame Zen's visible anger who was now aiming his glare towards his phone, seeking out Jumin Han's contact! This delay annoyed Jisoo a bit, so the bodyguard shot a knowing look towards Mina and made a come-here motion with his head. The girl lowered her gaze and silently complied, approaching the hallway to get ready.
She was going for her coat on the hanger when Zen intervened. "Mina! Don't worry~! I can talk to Jumin and sort this out immediately – !"
"It's alright. You don't have to try anymore, it won't work for sure!", the girl took her coat without looking at the actor for a second as to not let the glossiness of her eyes reflect in the light. "I've tried myself already..."
"Mina..."
"We'll see each other more at the party!", Mina added in an optimistic view despite her strained smiles popping on her face.
.
Mission successfully failed.
.
However, the girl wouldn't leave without at least a comforting thought to hold dear. Their time together may have been cut short and the visit had been an overall disaster, but there were plenty of other opportunities in the future to reboot their offline interactions, including at the upcoming R.F.A. party.
And despite the setbacks, the party planner did enjoy meeting Zen very, very much...
And...
.
She hoped the feeling was mutual for him too...
About meeting her.
.
Alas,
Mina was nearly ready to leave despite Zen's own features drooping with sadness when another interruption happened by the doorway which gave the actor the opportunity to turn the situation around.
"Good evening! The passcode to the building didn't seem to be working and saw the door was opened... Delivery to B1 431 Mysterious Tabacco Street, is this the right apartment?"
It only took the actor a few seconds to register who the strange boy was, Zen reaching out for his take-out order and then dropping the ball back to Jumin Han's court. "Thanks! This guy's boss will pay for it!" And then he slammed the door shut in front of the two baffled men, the delivery boy soon bothering Jisoo for the money he owned.
*sigh*
It never could be an uneventful day when it came to missions surrounding Miss Choi.
.
.
.
.
End note 1: I've been following the MysMe manhwa to this day and I see that it is going for an interesting route and quite unexpected, although I am happy if that remains the final option of the author!
The artwork of the manhwa, as always, is chef's kiss. X3 I hope you guys also take the time to check it out because I think it adds to the world Cheritz created and tries a more realistic approach to the game version in a way. For example, the actual party planning doesn't take 11 days, but many days and the MC really does a lot of tasks besides answering emails. And the R.F.A. members meet with the party planner much early in the manhwa, each taking turns to see her solo or together in various group formations. And she meets up with all kinds of party guests face to face too, which is also a great addition.
Super chill read overall!
Yoosung especially is drawn really nicely compared to his game version - he was always ranking lower in my tier list. But Yoosung in the manhwa is much better even personality wise than in game.
End note 2: Unrelated to story and MysMe, butIf anyone plays Genshin on Europe Server / PC version, I am happy to add people in there cause my list pretty empty. Rip. xd
