Eyes Across the Lake

"Minju."

At the sound of the Love Coach's voice calling her name, Minju pulled her gaze away from Hayun and drew a quiet breath.

"Please introduce yourself to everyone."

"Hello. I'm Seo Minju. I'm thirty years old, and I work as a graphic designer in Seoul."

Her voice was calm, though a faint thread of nervousness ran beneath it.

"What sort of work do you do, mostly?"

"I mostly handle graphics for branding and exhibitions. Lately my company has been running a cultural foundation project as well, and I'm part of that too."

"From what I've seen in dramas, designers work endless overtime. Isn't it exhausting?"

"It is, but when the finished work turns out well, the sense of reward is just as big—so I'm fine."

Then Sangho posed a question of his own. "What do you do on weekends?"

"I like taking walks in the park near my place, or lying on the couch watching TV."

"And how do you feel about long-distance relationships, Minju?"

"I've never really thought about it, but if two people's hearts are truly in it, I don't think the distance matters."

Reading a positive signal in her answer, Sangho broke into a bright smile.

Just then, Choi Moonyeol thrust his hand high into the air.

"You're a designer, so you must have a great eye, right? Do you... size men up that way too? Looks, clothes, things like that?"

"I don't really look at looks, but I'd like a man who dresses well."

When Minju let a beat of silence pass, Moonyeol slid his black horn-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose with his middle finger and smirked roguishly.

"Then what about me?"

"I'm sorry?"

"My style. Honestly, I'm curious."

Moonyeol even squared his shoulders, as though a glowing review were the only conceivable outcome.

"...You have a very distinct sense of individuality."

It was as tactful a dodge as Minju could manage—the skin-tight black T-shirt that left his entire build on display was embarrassing just to look at—but Moonyeol took it as pure praise and burst into hearty laughter, thoroughly pleased with himself.

"Haha! I knew it! People are always telling me my style's great."

An awkward silence followed. The female contestants exchanged small smiles across the room, but bewilderment and a careful distance lay just beneath them.

With a serene smile, the Love Coach clapped her hands lightly, as though to smooth the air flat again.

"Splendid. Moonyeol, that confidence of yours is magnificent. We'll conclude the introductions here—let us take a short rest, and we will gather again at the site of our next mission."

Once the Love Coach withdrew, the male contestants filed outside to smoke or head off to their individual interviews, and the shared lodging was left to the women.

After a stretch of quiet, Seolhee could contain her curiosity no longer.

"So, everyone—what did you all think of the introductions? Anyone whose first impression changed your mind?"

"I picked Choi Moonyeol, and his self-introduction killed it for me. Confidence is attractive, but he has so much of it that it's just overwhelming. And that T-shirt is far too tight... and the questions were plain rude."

Knowing laughter rippled among the women.

"Well, mine went the other way—I liked him more after his introduction."

"Seon-young, your first impression was Kwon Seokjun, right?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Completely."

Seolhee's words might well have flustered her, but Seon-young wore them with pride instead.

"What is it you like about him?"

"Hmm—well, he's a CEO, but he isn't the least bit arrogant about it, and he never shows off. If you overlook how quiet he is, he's exactly my ideal type."

"Mine too."

Hayun cut in as though she had been waiting for just that opening.

Seon-young lowered her gaze and added, "Well, I suppose we'll see soon enough who ends up chosen."

The tone was soft, but the look she wore said Hayun didn't even count as competition.

With that, Seon-young turned her head toward Minju, who had been quietly sipping her coffee.

"And what about you, Minju?"

Minju, deep in thought, looked up with a start.

"Sorry?"

"Your first impression—is it still Han Sangho?"

Seon-young's eyes were sharp as they studied her. With the field of rivals suddenly grown, she seemed to be probing, carefully, in case Minju too had had her head turned by the revelation of Kwon Seokjun's profession.

"It hasn't changed."

At Minju's level reply, a small smile surfaced at the corner of Seon-young's mouth. Something like relief flickered across her face.

"It would be fun if the four of us went on a couples' date sometime."

She spoke as though the outcome had already been decided.

Just then, Hayun cut in without warning.

"Have you forgotten that this is a place where hearts can change at any moment?"

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Seon-young's smile vanished in an instant.

"Only that it's a little early to let your guard down."

"Who said anything about letting my guard down?"

"Nothing at all. Just saying."

With a meaningful smile and a light shrug of her shoulders, Hayun strolled out of the shared lodging.

When the door clicked shut behind her, Seon-young bit down hard on her lower lip, forcing back the indignation she had been swallowing.

Minju drew a quiet breath. This atmosphere—she had somehow been dragged to the center of it without meaning to be—was deeply uncomfortable.

The mission that followed the individual interviews was the Kayak Date. The men would be seated first in kayaks floating on the lake, and the women would board the boat of whichever man had caught their eye. Guided by the production staff, the contestants made their way to a lake near the resort.

Beneath a clear blue sky, transparent kayaks lay rocking gently on the still water. Minju held her life vest in her arms, yet could not quite bring herself to step closer.

"Unnie, are you okay?"

Seolhee asked from behind her, worried.

After the introductions, Seolhee had learned that Minju was older than she was, and had asked shyly if she might call her unnie—an older sister—and Minju had laughed and agreed. Perhaps because she was the very age of Minju's younger sister Minyoung, being around Seolhee put her strangely at ease.

"I've never been on good terms with water."

"Did you tell the production team?"

"I did, but... I told them I'd manage."

In truth, the moment Minju learned the next mission would be the Kayak Date, she had gone discreetly to the producers and confessed her fear of the water. But preparations for the shoot were already complete. Told not to worry—there would be safety personnel and life vests—she had been unable to hold her ground any longer.

She grew tense even when the water barely reached her waist, so the worry came first and foremost; but the thought that she could not be the one to hold up filming carried the day, and she had nodded.

She had resolved herself, and yet the moment she actually faced the lake, its depths unknowable, fear came flooding up before she could stop it.

Then the Love Coach's announcement rang out.

"Today, our female contestants will be doing the choosing."

A soft chorus of groans rose from the men at once, but the Love Coach paid it no heed.

"Should several of you choose the same man, you need only divide the turns and ride in order. Now then—let us begin."

The moment the Love Coach's hand fell, the first to move was Na Seon-young. Without a moment's hesitation she walked straight toward Kwon Seokjun's kayak.

"You don't mind if I join you?"

Seokjun gave a brief nod.

"This is my first time in a kayak. Have you been on one before, Seokjun?"

"I have. On a business trip, once—part client entertainment, part leisure sports."

"No wonder you look so relaxed."

Seon-young, giddy over her date with him, soon turned her head at the stir of movement behind her. Two other female contestants were standing there. On the face of the woman who had assumed she would have him all to herself, displeasure flickered past.

Baek Seolhee, this time, chose not Choi Doyun but the kayak of another male contestant. From Doyun, who could not hide his disappointment, it was plain enough that his heart lay with Seolhee.

Minju, last in line, hesitated a moment before making for Han Sangho's kayak. But Hayun had arrived ahead of her and was already waiting. Just as Minju hung back, feeling like an intruder for no good reason, Sangho spotted her and waved with a radiant face.

"Minju! Come on over!"

"May I... ride too?"

"Of course!"

But the expression of Hayun, who had come first, had stiffened into something hard. At the look in her eyes—there were plenty of other kayaks; did she really have to come here?—an awkward shadow crossed Minju's face as well.

Then Sangho, glancing between the two of them, abruptly sprang to his feet.

"One moment—I'll be right back."

And he all but ran to the Love Coach.

"Coach, is there... any way for the men to decline?"

"I'm afraid that is not possible."

At the sight of Sangho turning back with disappointment written across his face, the contestants—who had grasped the situation at once—erupted into jeers and playful hollering.

"Hey, Sangho, you're not even hiding it!"

"You were planning to take only Minju, weren't you?"

"Now that's what a man does—straight ahead, no detours!"

Feeling her face burn hot, Minju lowered her head. Mortifying—yet somehow, not unpleasant at all.

By the time Sangho returned, Hayun, who had been there first, fired at him with an edged voice.

"I came first. Isn't that a little too much?"

"I'm sorry. It's just... I'm the kind of person who only sees one."

Sangho bowed his head even as he apologized. With that, there was nothing left for Hayun to press, and she folded her arms and turned her gaze away, unsatisfied.

"Everyone, please board your kayaks."

At the Love Coach's word, Sangho and Hayun climbed in with ill grace. The other contestants paired off as well, and one by one the kayaks began gliding slowly out onto the lake.

Back under the shade canopy, Minju watched the kayaks crossing the water while she waited for the heat in her face to subside.

Baek Seolhee was already wearing a bored expression; Han Sangho rowed in stoic silence; one couple chattered away without a pause for breath, while another laughed behind hands raised against the punishing sun. And through it all, Minju's gaze drifted, unbidden, toward a single point on the lake: the kayak carrying Kwon Seokjun.

Na Seon-young was laughing brightly, though the performance looked slightly overdone. As if she knew precisely how to angle her smiles to look her prettiest, her head tipped to one side each time she laughed.

Before long, Minju's gaze found Kwon Seokjun, rowing quietly on the far side of the water. Only his back was visible, his face hidden from view—but surely he was enjoying the date. Had Seon-young displeased him, he would not have so much as engaged her in conversation yesterday.

Objectively speaking, the two of them made a striking pair. Looks that captured every eye in a room, and to match, ability and wealth in perfect measure.

Minju, by contrast, had lived as diligently as she could in the years since they had parted, yet set against his glittering career, her own somehow felt wanting. She could not even begin to guess how long she would have to save to buy the luxury car he had once driven around without a second thought. When that old gulf she had always felt between them rose up again, some corner of her heart shrank away for no reason at all. Even though he was, by now, a person with nothing to do with her.

The very moment she forced her gaze away, the kayak swung around, and her eyes met Kwon Seokjun's. Her heart lurched—but she made herself hold the look. They were far apart, for one thing, and for another, she refused to look like a woman caught stealing glances.

The glance she had expected to brush past hers instead stayed fixed, refusing to lift. In the end, it was Minju who turned her head first, unable to outlast that relentless stare. His gaze did not leave her until long after.

Before long, the couples who had finished their Kayak Dates first began drifting back one by one. Guided by a staff member, Minju walked slowly toward the dock where the kayaks were moored.

From the opposite direction, Na Seon-young was approaching, her date with Kwon Seokjun at an end. The instant their gazes crossed, a subtle tension threaded the air between them.

Seon-young offered a brief smile. "Enjoy your time out there," she said, but the smile was laced with a curious note of triumph.

Minju nodded as though nothing were amiss, yet without her meaning it, her fingertips went taut.