The morning after getting home, Yoo Hye-Sook repeated what happened at the restaurant to Kang Dae-Kyung about five times. Kang Dae-Kyung’s reaction was surprising. Every time he heard Yoo Hye-Sook recounting the story, he would smile widely without showing any signs of annoyance.

Kang Chan was engrossed in browsing the internet on the computer in his room. He had been trying his best to look for records of the battles in Africa but to no avail.

Buzzz- Buzzz- Buzzz-

Kang Chan picked up his phone and smiled softly.

[Are you home?]

It was a text from Kim Mi-Young. He called her in response.

–– Hello?

“Yeah.”

–– Where are you?

“At home.”

–– Can you come out for a bit? I have some free time after hagwon.

“You have to go to hagwon even on Sundays?”

–– It’s for my academic records.

Kang Chan didn’t know what she meant by that, but he took her word for it.

–– You can’t come out?

“Where are you?”

–– Tron Square.

Kang Chan didn’t know where that was. He hesitated for a moment, but he didn’t want to disappoint Kim Mi-Young, who was already there.

“Where do you wanna meet?”

–– Eunbo Bookstore. It’s on the third floor.

A joyful reply came from the other end of the line.

Kang Chan changed into his jeans and T-shirt and went into the living room.

“I’m going out to see Mi-Young for a bit.”

“Mi-Young? Your classmate, Kim Mi-Young?”

Yoo Hye-Sook looked worried.

Kang Chan was puzzled, but he wasn’t the type to be inquisitive and get to the bottom of it. He proceeded to put his sneakers on at the front door.

“Do you still have some allowance left?”

“I still have the money you gave me yesterday.”

“Alright.”

Kang Chan smiled at Yoo Hye-Sook and walked out the front door.

***

“What’s wrong?” Even Kang Dae-Kyung noticed that Yoo Hye-Sook looked tense.

“I’m worried her mother will say something terrible about our son again.”

Kang Dae-Kyung blinked.

“Her mother is well-known in this apartment complex. She previously went to the house of her daughter’s close friend to talk to her parents, telling them to keep their daughter away from hers so she wouldn’t interfere with her daughter’s studies.”

“What?”

“Her dad’s a judge.”

“What has that got to do with our children being friends?”

“Honey! Mothers aren’t like that. It really hurts a parent’s pride to hear someone say something like that. If Mi-Young’s dad wasn’t a judge, she would’ve been so badly bullied that she wouldn’t have been able to go to school. Her mother even went to the school and requested them not to put students that disrupt classes in the same class as her daughter.”

“Ridiculous!” Kang Dae-Kyung shook his head, speechless.

“Things will be okay, right?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? Seong-Hee’s son isn’t even close to being on Chan’s level.”

“What do we do if she comes knocking on our door?”

“What do you mean? All we have to do is agree and say ‘okay.’”

“Honey!”

“Let’s just focus on thinking about brunch with Seong-Hee today. Why worry about something that hasn’t even happened yet on such a good day?”

It seemed like Kang Dae-Kyung’s words had a positive effect on Yoo Hye-Sook, considering a whimsical smile appeared on her face.

“Since our son isn’t home, let’s have that steamy session I’ve been waiting for…”

Yoo Hye-Sook looked dumbfounded.

Kang Dae-Kyung continued, “We couldn’t do it properly last night because Chan went out.”

“Have you been taking drugs without my knowledge?”

“We’ll get in trouble if we take drugs here. Don’t be like that. Okay?”

Yoo Hye-Sook walked over to Kang Dae-Kyung, who was sitting on the sofa, and sat on his lap.

“It’s all thanks to Chan.”

She proceeded to hug Kang Dae-Kyung tightly.

***

Tron Square was so close to their apartment that Kang Chan only had to pay the minimum taxi fare. At first glance, it looked huge, but as soon as he entered the mall, he found the lobby the size of a soccer field packed with people.

Kang Chan took the escalator and made his way up to the third floor. Eunbo Bookstore’s entrance design was that of a monster’s mouth facing the escalator, looking as though it was devouring it. Kim Mi-Young was easy to spot since she stood by the entrance, looking at the people coming up the escalator.

“Chan!”

Kim Mi-Young jumped joyously and greeted Kang Chan.

She was cute. Just like a maknae [1] female friend.

“Are you buying some books?” he asked her.

“No.”

Kang Chan stared at Kim Mi-Young. That was when the realization hit him. Even though she was smiling broadly, she had the typical look that lonely people had. Perhaps Kang Chan was the only person she found solace in.

Among the people that signed up to be mercenaries, there were quite a lot of them who had the same look on their faces because they had a lonely life. Those men were tough––they tried to prove themselves through fights.

“I want to watch a movie. I have some money,” Kim Mi-Young said.

Kim Mi-Young looked kind of sad.

“Alright, let’s go watch one. What do you want to watch?”

His response seemed to have flustered and dumbfounded her. People would usually have that look on their faces if someone beat the living daylights out of them and then handed them a bottle of beer afterward. While Kang Chan was on the escalator with Kim Mi-Young, he thought about the first time he met Dayeru. Kang Chan had almost killed him in their third and final fight.

“It’s my birthday today,” Mi-Young suddenly spoke up.

“Huh?”

“I said it’s my birthday today.”

I see.

Kang Chan nodded.

Kim Mi-Young looked at Kang Chan with a sad look on her face. Was she hinting at him to give her a present? Kang Chan had never celebrated his birthday in his life and had never met anyone who wanted him to do anything for their birthday.

He decided to think about it during the movie. Ironically, there were no seats, probably because it was Sunday. All the movie tickets starting in the next three hours had been sold out, including the movie with the poster of a pretty woman smiling broadly while standing next to a dumb-looking man.

Kim Mi-Young’s shoulders drooped. Was she that disappointed because they couldn’t catch a movie?

‘What should I do?’

Even if he wanted to do something for her, he needed to know what his options were. Kang Chan then looked around.

Kim Mi-Young whipped out her flip phone from her pocket and her face immediately turned pale after seeing the name of the caller. Kim Mi-Young glanced at Kang Chan, then answered the phone.

“Hi, mom.”

She shifted her gaze down to the floor.

“No, I was done with hagwon earlier than expected, so I swung by Eunbo Bookstore to buy a book.”

Kim Mi-Young looked like she was about to cry.

“Mom, there’s a book I’m interested in. Can I read it here before I go home?”

Kang Chan seemed to have an idea of what her mother’s reply was. Kim Mi-Young still looked sad.

“Mom, it’s my birthday today, though.”

Such defiance would only give the other party even more justification to stand their ground.

“Okay.”

Then their call ended according to Kang Chan’s expectations.

Kim Mi-Young felt resentful, disappointed, and so angry that it seemed like she was about to explode. Nonetheless, she had no choice but to suppress those feelings even though they were already mixing and entangling with one another. It could all be seen in her eyes.

Kang Chan gestured to the entrance with a nod.

The girl was no longer jumping for joy and instead walked with drooping shoulders.

“Snow White.”

“The hagwon probably called her. I studied really hard to complete the test early today, though…”

“You have to take tests at hagwon too?”

“If you make mistakes, you have to stay there until you get the right answer. That’s why I tried my best to get them all right on my first try. My mom probably told the hagwon to text her.”

‘You have a difficult life too, huh.’

When Kang Chan suddenly wanted to console her, he smirked to himself. Since when did he become such a caring person? He felt like he could hear Seok Kang-Ho teasing him.

Kang Chan held out his right hand and grabbed Kim Mi-Young’s hand. She looked at him in surprise.

“Birthdays may be important, but I hope you’ll study hard and come in first place in the entire school.”

Kang Chan could feel goosebumps all over his back, but he completely ignored his body’s reaction to his words.

“If it weren’t for our promise, I would’ve kissed you here today. What a pity.” Kang Chan clicked his tongue.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

He regretted looking at Kim Mi-Young’s blushing face. He truly didn’t expect her to look so happy because of what he said in passing.

Kang Chan suddenly pulled her closer to him.

“Huh?”

Kim Mi-Young froze the moment Kang Chan held her in his arms. Even though she talked about their relationship so casually, she seemed very nervous when he hugged her.

“Cheer up. And do well on your exams. Even though we’re not doing anything for your birthday today, I’ll celebrate it with you next year. Okay?”

Snow White buried her head in his arms and hugged him tightly. There was still some space between them below the waist, though. Kang Chan patted Kim Mi-Young on the back just as Yoo Hye-Sook did to him.

“Happy birthday.”

Those passing by looked at them with judgmental eyes.

It was emotional.

Anything more than a hug would be dangerous. It was completely different seeing her as a maknae female friend versus feeling her chest pressed against him.

“Let’s go.”

Kang Chan stepped away from the blushing Kim Mi-Young.

“I’m happy.”

Kang Chan grinned.

Yoo Hye-Sook said she was happy in the morning, and Kim Mi-Young said the same thing in the afternoon.

Had he ever made anyone happy before in his life? There had been a couple of times when his men thanked him for saving them during difficult battles, but nobody had ever told him he made them happy.

Kang Chan walked back to the apartment complex holding Kim Mi-Young’s hand.

He was worried for nothing––Kim Mi-Young’s mother wasn’t waiting for her outside.

“Go home and study hard.”

“Okay!”

Kang Chan found Kim Mi-Young cute. However, he was also worried because he tended to blindly focus on one particular thing.

“Run along.”

“Alright. You should go home too.”

Kim Mi-Young skipped into the apartment complex.

‘Am I doing something wrong?’

At this rate, would the naive child be okay once he suddenly vanished to France? He was also worried about Yoo Hye-Sook. He had to think of a good excuse to go to France.

Nothing eventful happened after he got home. Kang Chan was more worried about his classes than his rendezvous with the gangsters tomorrow. Just like that, Kang Chan’s Sunday came to an end.