We left the station and wandered down a street packed with things to do.
PC bangs, karaoke rooms, arcades, board game cafés—the scenery was full of them.
It was a street so focused on entertainment that there was another PC bang in the building right next to a PC bang.
“Is there anywhere you want to go first?”
Gaeul asked, looking back at us.
“I don’t care where.”
Gaon answered indifferently.
“I don’t really care either.”
I didn’t have anywhere in mind either, so I followed up.
Then Seohyeon smiled brightly and suggested,
“Then want to go to a bowling alley? I’ve never gone with you before, Gaeul.”
“Oh, bowling? Sounds good! I’m in!”
Gaeul chimed in excitedly, and we immediately started looking for a bowling alley.
We opened a map and went into a nearby bowling alley.
“How many of you?”
“Four.”
“Do you all have shoes, or will you need to rent them?”
“None of you brought any, right?”
When Gaeul looked back at us and asked, Seohyeon answered.
“I don’t think anyone did.”
“We’ll rent them.”
After that, the employee explained the number of games and payment options to us.
“Hmm… how many should we do?”
Watching Gaeul think it over, I offered the most cost-effective opinion.
“Wouldn’t the discounted package for three games be best?”
“That would be better, right?”
The other two agreed that sounded good too, and we finished paying.
After changing into the shoes and stepping into the bowling alley, I was surprised to find that the atmosphere was more stylish than I had expected.
The LED lights on the ceiling were all different colors, filling the space with a flashy glow.
“Wow, this place has such a great vibe!”
Gaeul exclaimed, seeming to have thought the same thing as me.
We went to the lane number the employee had told us and took our seats.
“Hmm, the balls are in pretty good condition.”
Gaon tossed her padded jacket onto the sofa and examined the balls lined up in front of the lane one by one.
“Yeonseo, are you good at bowling?”
While Seohyeon also went to pick out a ball, Gaeul came up beside me and asked quietly.
Now that I thought about it, even though we’d been close since middle school, I didn’t think we had ever gone bowling together.
“No… I’m really bad at it.”
In truth, saying I was bad wasn’t enough. I had only gone once in high school, so I had practically no experience at all.
At my answer, Gaeul tapped my shoulder and said,
“Don’t worry. There’s someone here who’s good at it, so start by finding a ball that fits you, learn the posture, and try throwing.”
I nodded and picked up a ball with a weight that suited my hand.
Gaeul was first.
She rolled the ball with a more practiced posture than I had expected, but because it veered slightly to the side near the end, she only knocked down four pins.
Even so, on her second chance, she cleanly knocked down all the remaining pins and got a spare.
“Oh~ Park Gaeul, nice start.”
Seohyeon showed about the same level of skill as Gaeul and passed her turn without much trouble, and finally, it was my turn.
As I stood on the lane under the flowing neon lights, an inexplicable tension rose from the tips of my toes.
“Is this basically your first time here?”
Maybe she had noticed how visibly nervous I was, because Gaon, sitting on the sofa, asked bluntly.
I smiled awkwardly and nodded.
“…Yeah, it’s pretty much my first time. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do.”
Then Gaon got up from her seat and came over beside me.
Her expression was indifferent, but she demonstrated in person and helped me fix my stance.
“I’ll teach you the steps first. Watch.”
I watched Gaon’s movements carefully and tried my best to copy them.
After practicing empty-handed a few times, I cautiously rolled the ball.
But contrary to my enthusiasm, the ball completely veered off to the side at the end of the lane and failed to touch a single pin.
“Ah…”
Seeing me feel dejected, Gaon threw out another comment.
“Don’t shake so much. Just think of it as pushing the ball toward the center at the far end.”
I calmed myself down as Gaon had instructed and picked up the ball again.
This time, I pushed it heavily toward the exact center.
The ball rolled in a straight line and, with a crisp sound, knocked down all the remaining pins.
Surprised by the result I hadn’t expected at all, I turned to Gaon and thanked her.
“Thanks, Gaon. It really worked when I did it the way you told me.”
At my thanks, Gaon replied in an indifferent tone, whether because she was embarrassed or because she genuinely had no interest.
“I just told you what to do.”
I’d heard she was a friend with a temper, but I found myself thinking she actually had a thoughtful side to her.
We kept throwing balls like that for close to an hour.
As expected, the person Gaeul had said was good was Gaon.
The scoreboard was filled with strike and spare marks recorded by Gaon.
Maybe because we had moved around so vigorously, we quickly ran out of energy, and the next place naturally became a café.
As we were heading to the café, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
[Seohui unnie: I’m on break right now. What are you doing?]
[Me: I’m in Hyehwa with Gaeul and Gaeul’s friends.]
[Seohui unnie: Wow, that sounds really fun! It hasn’t been long since you were sick, so don’t overdo it while you’re out. Have a good time.]
“She’s not even my mom…”
Murmuring softly, I smiled without realizing it.
Seohyeon, who was walking beside me, noticed my expression and spoke up.
“What’s this, Yeonseo? Is the person who texted you your boyfriend?”
“Huh? Ah, no… no.”
Caught off guard by the sudden question, I answered with a slight stammer.
I could feel Gaon’s gaze from beside me in a strange way, but I ignored it and went into the café in front of us.
After each of us ordered coffee to our liking and sat down, conversation started naturally.
Seohyeon asked me while holding her straw between her lips.
“Yeonseo, what school do you go to?”
“Ah, I’m not in college.”
At my answer, Seohyeon’s eyes widened, and she asked again.
“Really? Then what do you do?”
I hesitated for a moment.
But even if it was a little embarrassing to tell other people, I decided not to hide it.
“I just… compose music. I make songs and upload them to my channel.”
“Wow, that’s amazing!”
“Yeah, well, I guess… but I’m a little embarrassed to tell you the channel.”
Seohyeon nodded regretfully and said she understood.
Then Gaon, who had been quietly listening from the side, opened her mouth.
“Even after coming to college, I don’t really have anything I want to do, so I’m just going. It’s impressive that you already have something like that.”
“No, it’s not that impressive…”
To be honest, I was a little surprised inside.
Because I had thought that if I spoke honestly about my situation, I might be looked down on or laughed at for not going to college.
But their reaction was calmer and more positive than I had expected, and I felt the tension loosen all at once.
After that, we sat in the café for quite a while.
We mostly spent our time listening to small stories about the others’ college lives and assignments, and after stopping by a karaoke room to digest and pour out a burst of energy, we finally returned to the station.
The vague anxiety I had felt when I first arrived at the station had, at some point, been covered over by pleasant memories.
In front of the station, I got Gaon and Seohyeon’s contact information.
“Let’s meet again sometime!”
Leaving Seohyeon’s farewell behind, I headed to the platform with Gaeul to take the subway.
“See? I told you they were good people.”
Gaeul tapped my shoulder and smiled triumphantly.
As if answering that smile, I nodded.
The way Seohyeon had seemed completely different from when I first saw her still bothered me, but since there hadn’t been any problems while we were hanging out, I decided not to worry about it.
***
“I swear I’ve seen her somewhere before… and her name, too.”
Even as Gaon walked down the street, she kept muttering with a frown.
Soon, as if something had flashed into her mind, her eyes widened, and she spoke in a low voice.
“That’s right. She’s Kim Taeyun’s girlfriend.”
***
When I arrived at my neighborhood station and passed through the ticket gate, familiar scenery came into view.
After walking and chatting with Gaeul until we were near my house, we parted ways at a fork in the road.
“Gaeul, get home safely.”
“Yeah. If you’re okay with it, let’s hang out with them again next time!”
As I watched Gaeul’s back grow farther away and walked home alone, the face I had briefly forgotten while spending the whole day having fun suddenly came to mind.
‘Seohui unnie… I wonder if she’s at the bar by now?’
The current time was 9:40. She had said she started work at 10, so she would probably be starting soon.
Since it had been a while, and because I wanted to see Seohui unnie, I turned away from the path home and headed straight there.
Jingle—
I opened the door with the light sound of a bell and stepped inside.
As expected, the Seohui unnie I usually knew was nowhere to be seen at the counter.
Instead, a strange woman with pale violet hair was watching the place.
As soon as the woman spotted me, she opened her mouth cheerfully.
“Welcome, cust—no, it’s Yeonseo, isn’t it?”
For a moment, I went blank. She was definitely a face I was seeing for the first time, so how did she know my name?
Unable to hide my confusion, I asked carefully,
“Have we… met somewhere before?”
Then the woman grinned as if my reaction amused her and answered,
“It’s me, Seohui. I changed up my style this time with a wig and makeup.”
“Uh… yes…?”
Was this what it felt like for your brain to stop working?
While I thought that if it was Seohui unnie, who could pull off cross-dressing perfectly, then a transformation like this might be possible too, the doubt of, ‘Is this really Seohui unnie?’ arose at the same time.