Warm streetlights illuminated the manicured hedges and security gates of Seoul's most exclusive residential neighborhood.
Yoo Chae-rin walked hand-in-hand with Han Min-gyu down the quiet stone pavement, their fingers loosely intertwined.
Even after changing into a fresh silk blouse back at her house, Chae-rin's mood was still simmering with leftover irritation.
"I honestly cannot comprehend what my father was thinking," she complained, her voice dropping into a sharp, aristocratic cut. "An international exchange student? From Ukraine? And on his very first day, he managed to spill hot kimchi stew over my Prada top and call me deoreowo to my face!"
Min-gyu listened attentively, his thumb gently caressing the back of her hand.
"Your father usually has a strategic reason for every board decision, Chae-rin-ah. But... calling you 'filthy' in front of the entire cafeteria was definitely out of line."
"Out of line is an understatement," Chae-rin huffed, crossing her free arm over her chest. "He's a complete barbarian. Un-uniformed, clumsy, loud... I don't understand how someone like that even stepped foot past Kirin's gates."
They reached the wrought-iron gates of the Yoo estate.
The security lights cast a soft, golden glow across the pavement.
Min-gyu stopped, turning to face her.
Seeing the tense line of her shoulders, he stepped in close, cupped the side of her face, and leaned down to press a soft, lingering kiss directly against her forehead.
The comforting warmth of his touch worked like magic. The sharp edge in Chae-rin's posture melted away, and a small, genuine chuckle escaped her lips. She tilted her head up, looking into his eyes.
"Look at you..." she teased softly, a faint smirk tugging at her mouth. "Getting bold, aren't we?"
Min-gyu blinked, a sudden flush of red creeping up his neck to the tips of his ears as he cleared his throat.
"I... I just wanted to calm you down. You always stress yourself out over these things."
Chae-rin smiled—a rare, soft expression that almost nobody at Kirin ever got to see.
"Come on. Let me walk with you to the park before I go inside."
They strolled a short distance down the avenue, turning into the private neighborhood park—a secluded, circular garden equipped with stone paths, decorative rock arrangements, and dark wooden benches shaded by weeping maples.
They sat down together on one of the wooden benches under the soft glow of a streetlamp.
Min-gyu began sharing stories from his own day—telling her about a hilarious miscommunication during the swimming team's morning fitness evaluation and how the sports captain had almost fallen into the pool fully clothed. Even though he was from the Visual Arts Wing, he was also a part of the swimming club.
His easy humor worked wonders, bringing small laughs and relaxed smiles to Chae-rin's face.
For a few minutes, the lingering annoyance of the cafeteria disaster faded entirely into the quiet September evening.
Chae-rin leaned her head against Min-gyu's shoulder, staring out at the dark shadows of the park. "Min-gyu-ya..."
"Hmm?"
"Setting aside his atrocious manners and that ridiculous orange tracksuit..." Chae-rin murmured, her brow furrowing slightly as a sudden, nagging thought resurfaced in her mind. "There was one thing that was stark about that San..."
"What do you mean?" Min-gyu asked, shifting slightly to look at her.
"When he was standing under the spotlight in the auditorium... and when I looked at him up close in the cafeteria..." Chae-rin paused, her dark eyes narrowing with deep, troubled calculation. "He looked strikingly like—"
SCOFF.
A sharp, muffled sound—half-gasp, half-groan—echoed from behind the massive decorative rock formation tucked into the bushes five meters behind their bench.
The quiet atmosphere shattered in a single instant.
The conversation on the bench died.
"Mwoya?" Chae-rin's voice instantly snapped back to pure ice. Her head whipped toward the dark foliage behind them. "Who's there?!"
Min-gyu stood up immediately, his brow furrowing with sharp annoyance as he stepped in front of her.
"What was that?"
They both stared directly at the dark shadow cast by the rock.
Before Min-gyu could take two steps toward the bushes, a sudden rustle of leaves exploded from behind the stone. A tall figure wearing an oversized dark hoodie and sweatpants frantically scrambled backward out of the shrubs, lost its footing for a microsecond, and then launched into a desperate, lightning-fast sprint across the lawn!
"YA! STAND RIGHT THERE!" Chae-rin shouted, her voice ringing sharply across the quiet park.
The intruder didn't even turn around.
The runner vaulted over a low manicured hedge with athletic speed, his sneakers slipping on the grass before he rounded the corner of the brick wall and vanished down the main street.
Min-gyu sprinted to the edge of the hedge, scanning the empty, lit avenue, but the stalker was already long gone, leaving only the sound of distant, fading footfalls echoing against the stone walls.
Min-gyu walked back to the bench, running a hand through his hair with a deep frown.
"Did someone actually follow us all the way to the residential sector?"
Chae-rin stood by the stone path, her arms crossed tight, her dark eyes fixed on the empty corner where the runner had disappeared.
"I don't know," Chae-rin said quietly, her voice cold and unreadable. "But whoever that was... they were definitely watching us."