The First Real Choice

Seokjun finished the puzzle at a crushing pace and leaned back in his chair. He was, without question, first among the male contestants.

The other men, Sangho included, hadn't even managed half of theirs. At a speed that made comparison pointless, they could only click their tongues in disbelief.

The women, whose contest was still undecided, threw themselves into snatching up the remaining date passes. Minju, too, hunted for pieces with fire in her eyes.

Once she started working from the edges, her pace thankfully began to pick up. The empty spaces filled in little by little, and at last came the moment she was about to press in the final piece.

A chime burst out from the table beside her.

"Yay! First place!"

Her head snapped up at the sound to find Na Seon-young leaping up and down, cheering. Minju stood frozen, the last puzzle piece clutched in her hand, as a wave of emptiness crashed over her chest.

"The winners of the puzzle mission, Kwon Seokjun and Na Seon-young, please choose your dates."

Before the Love Coach had even finished speaking, Seon-young shot her hand into the air.

"May I choose first?"

"Of course. Take your time."

Seon-young stepped forward, looked straight across at Seokjun, and declared,

"I choose Kwon Seokjun."

At her deliberate, showy announcement, everyone nodded as if they'd seen it coming. Then the Coach's gaze turned to Seokjun.

"And Seokjun, who will you choose?"

The contestants held their breath as one. This was the first time Seokjun would name someone directly in front of everyone. The last rooftop date had merely been the result of choosing a lifestyle option, not a selection aimed at any particular person.

On the eve of his first real choice, a taut tension settled over the set.

But not a single clue could be read from Seokjun's expression. He swept his gaze over the women one by one, very, very slowly.

When Seon-young met his eyes, she smiled with certainty and brushed her hair back elegantly; Hayun flashed a small wink with her signature foxlike grace, making her presence known.

Minju took a deep breath inside.

He'd warned her that morning to stay out of his way, so she assumed he wouldn't choose her—and yet she couldn't help being nervous. She knew better than anyone that Kwon Seokjun was not a man who meekly obeyed other people's warnings.

Before long his gaze came to rest on Minju, and her heart began to pound wildly.

Just as everyone was watching the corner of his mouth, he finally spoke, offhand.

"Lee Hayun. Have dinner with me today."

"Oh my! Really?"

Despite all the interest she'd shown in Seokjun, being named outright left Hayun wide-eyed with disbelief. Drunk on victory, she bounced in place like a child, unable to contain her joy.

But in stark contrast to her whoops of delight, the air in the lobby froze over in an instant.

Seon-young stared at Hayun with a look of stunned outrage. The shock was doubled by the fact that she had never once considered Hayun a rival.

More than failing to be chosen by Seokjun, it was being displaced by Hayun—a woman she'd considered far beneath her—that shredded Seon-young's pride. Her face, wavering between shame and fury, flushed so red it looked ready to burst.

Meanwhile, Minju, who had let out a sigh of relief at Seokjun's choice, was struck by a sudden puzzlement.

What was Kwon Seokjun thinking?

Had he decided to accept Hayun's feelings? Or was this a silent rejection aimed at Na Seon-young?

Everyone on set seemed to share Minju's bewilderment, unable to hide their disbelief. The Seokjun she knew was not a man kind enough to toss out pity votes to soothe someone's heart.

If anything, he was the type to focus and obsess with terrifying intensity only on people connected to him. Then where, exactly, did that reckless choice of Hayun lead?

Sensing the commotion, the Love Coach steadied her microphone as if to smooth things over.

"The atmosphere is quite heated. It seems you're all surprised by an unexpected choice. We'll take a short break and resume filming."

At the call of "cut," the staff sprang into motion.

"No way. He really picked Hayun? Seon-young must be furious."

"Hayun's something else. She chased after Seokjun that hard and finally pulled it off, huh."

Low murmurs rippled up from everywhere, washing over the room like waves.

Unable to stomach the absurdity, Na Seon-young raked a hand roughly through her hair and stalked out of the lobby, her face set like stone. Hayun, by contrast, beamed as if she'd won the whole world.

Minju fled the commotion and stepped outside. The drizzle that had been falling softly had thickened at some point into a downpour that blotted out everything ahead of her.

Even under the torrential rain, the tight, suffocating knot in her chest refused to loosen.

Seokjun's arrogant habit of shaking up situations on his own terms, acting as though other people's eyes meant nothing to him—it was all so familiar.

Ten years ago, the day she first met him, he'd worn that exact same look.

The day a merciless rain had poured down—the day that twisted her peaceful daily life upside down in a single stroke.

That morning, the sky had seemed to split open, rain hammering down from the start.

With her final major exam still ahead of her, Minju was the only one left; the other students had long since slipped out of school, savoring their freedom. The first-floor reading room, which on any ordinary day would have been a battlefield for seats, was eerily, almost unnaturally empty.

Hundreds of vacant desks sat abandoned across the vast room. The heavy rain lashing the windows struck the high ceiling and dissolved into a low, droning hum that filled the space.

Minju had gone to the bathroom to shake off the drowsiness crashing over her, and when she returned to check her desk, she froze solid. On it sat a cold drink, and beside it, a single sticky note.

A chill shot straight down her spine.

For two weeks now, not a single day missed, someone had been leaving the same drink at her seat.

Uncomfortable with drinking an unidentified liquid, she had left it untouched every time—and the person had been watching even that smallest of habits.

Minju quickly raised her head and scanned her surroundings. But only three people remained in the vast reading room, herself included.

Of the figures buried in books at the far-off seats, none so much as glanced her way—yet Minju was certain. One of them had been observing her all along, pretending to study.

In broad daylight she might have ignored it, but the lateness of the hour let fear creep in.

Deciding she couldn't take any more, Minju hurriedly stuffed her books into her bag and fled the reading room.

At the library entrance, a downpour thick enough to blind her was hammering down. Anxious, she opened her bag to pull out her umbrella, but the carelessly crammed books spilled past their tipping point and clattered to the floor.

"Ah……"

She snatched them up, but the covers were already soaked through and soggy.

As she patted at the water in frustration, a pair of unfamiliar sneakers suddenly entered her field of vision.

She raised her head slowly—and met the eyes of a man she had never seen before in her life.

He grinned, the corners of his mouth stretching long, but his eyes weren't smiling at all.

A cold shiver ran up her spine. She knew it instinctively. This was the man who had been leaving drinks on her desk for two weeks.

Before he could open his mouth, Minju shoved the wet books into her bag, snapped open her umbrella, and plunged into the rain.

He wouldn't follow me... would he?

She gripped the umbrella handle so hard it went white and quickened her pace.

Perhaps because of the late hour, the campus lay hushed and still. Nothing filled the air but the roar of the downpour—not a soul in sight, not even an ant.

Then it came. Heavy footsteps began trailing behind her at steady intervals.

Minju flinched and looked back. The man from the library entrance was following, keeping a fixed distance.

Her heart began to tighten. When she sped up, the footsteps behind her quickened in step.

Squish. Squish. Squish. The wet sound of footsteps lodged vividly in her ears. The surroundings were empty, and even the lit buildings were far away.

The instant she realized this was no accident—that the man had a purpose—Minju clutched her bag strap and started to run. The pursuing footsteps roughened and closed in behind her.

"Please... please...!"