"Jihoon, let’s go here~"

The weekend turned out to be much more hectic than Jihoon anticipated. Following Isul's meticulously planned schedule left them rushing from one spot to the next without a moment to rest.

"Okay, okay."

Jihoon felt more exhausted than he had during some of his toughest dungeon raids.

‘Do people really go on dates like this?’

He wasn’t sure why Isul was so intent on following this grueling schedule, but it was clear that she had her heart set on it, making it hard for him to refuse. It reminded him of the time when Cha Soo-hyun dragged him around. Back then, it had been to meticulously plan dungeon raids, pushing him to his limits.

“Isul, can’t we slow down a bit? Why are you pushing yourself so hard?”
“I just… there are so many places I want to go with you. But okay, let’s take it slow.”
“Yeah, let’s relax a bit. We have plenty of time. There’s no rush like we’re on a time limit…”

Finally, he managed to calm her down and they took a breather.

Not far away, Lee Soo-ah, disguised, was secretly following Jihoon and Isul.

‘Hmph… Isul, why can’t you just settle in one place? Who even goes on dates like this?’

Soo-ah was annoyed with everything about Isul, particularly her constant moving around, which made it harder for her to keep up unnoticed. She was doing her best to tail them from a distance, keeping her eyes glued to Jihoon.

‘Jihoon… that should’ve been me by your side…’

Soo-ah bit her lip as she continued her surveillance.

“Soo-ah!”

A familiar voice suddenly called out to her—it was Yoo Hana.

“Gah! You scared me! What is it?”

Soo-ah jumped, startled by Hana’s sudden appearance.

“What are you doing here?”
“W-what do you mean? I’m just resting.”
“What’s over there?”

Hana pretended to be clueless as she looked in Jihoon’s direction.

“Ugh! What are you doing? You’ll get caught!”

Soo-ah hurriedly pulled Hana down, panicking.

“Hm? Isn’t that Jihoon over there~”

Hana gave Soo-ah a knowing look.

“Hmph, what about you, Yoo Hana? Why are you here?”

Soo-ah quickly realized that Hana was up to the same thing as her.

“You’re following them too, aren’t you? You’re stalking them!”

“Ha, stalking? Do you think I’m like you? I’m not doing anything shady. I’m just providing long-distance protection.”
“Long-distance protection? Oh, please…”

Soo-ah rolled her eyes in disbelief.

“Yes~ You never know when someone might try to threaten Jihoon.”
“Jihoon’s an S-class Hunter, you know. And aren’t you more at risk, Hana? You’re a famous top celebrity, walking around in the open like this. What if one of your crazy fans attacks you?”
“Psh, I’m an S-class Hunter too. I’m fine.”

The two of them began to bicker back and forth.

“But seriously, why is Isul dragging him around like this? They’ve already moved to eight different places today.”
“Right? Do you think she’s doing this because she feels threatened by us?”
“Threatened?”
“Yeah, like she’s heard the rumors going around in the Blue Guild and is trying to stake her claim.”

Hana spoke with confidence.

“Hm…”

The two exchanged glances, deep in thought.

Bam!

Suddenly, someone approached and slammed their hand down on the table. It was none other than Cha Isul.

"Uh, oh…”

Soo-ah and Hana froze, staring at Isul.

“Lee Soo-ah, Yoo Hana. Hello.”

Isul had just told Jihoon she was going to the bathroom, but instead, she had come straight for them.

“H-hello! Oh my, I didn’t expect to see you here, Isul! Haha!” Soo-ah stammered, trying to play it off with a laugh.

“Right! We’re just here hanging out together! Haha! We’re really close friends, you know. Haha!”

“Oh really~ This place is usually for couples, though.”

Isul looked around, noticing that every table, except for theirs, was occupied by couples.

“Well, you two aren’t a couple, right?”

She shot them a sharp look.

“Haha, can’t we just come here for fun? Do we have to be a couple to be here?”
“Right, right! It’s just a famous spot, so we decided to check it out.”

“Mm-hmm, but I’ve been watching you for a while now. Why are you following us?”

Isul went straight to the point, clearly aware of their tailing from the start.

“What? What do you mean? Us? Following you? Oh, no way!”

Soo-ah jumped, her denial overly dramatic.

“You’ve been following us the whole time. I’ve been watching you since earlier.”
“Oh no, it’s just a coincidence.”
“Shall we check the CCTV?”

“Oh, no need for that! Really, it’s just a coincidence that the places I wanted to visit overlapped with yours. Haha!”

Soo-ah tried desperately to evade the confrontation.

“Alright then. We’re about to move again, but I’m sure we won’t ‘coincidentally’ end up in the same place, right?”

Isul smiled knowingly.

“Haha…”

Soo-ah and Hana forced awkward laughs as Isul walked away.

“Hah… How did she notice? Since when did she realize we were following them?”
“Judging by how she spoke, she probably knew from the moment we first ran into them.”

“Hah, why is she so sharp? I thought my disguise was flawless. Could you tell it was me?”
“Yes, it was very obvious.”
“Ugh…”

The two continued to whisper, trying to figure out how to continue following Jihoon and Isul without getting caught again.

“You took a while. Was the bathroom busy?”
“Oh, you know how long the lines can get in women’s restrooms.”

Isul had returned from her little confrontation with Soo-ah and Hana.

“By the way…”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been wondering… What do you think of Lee Soo-ah and Yoo Hana?”

She asked directly, making Jihoon suspect she had heard some rumors.

“Uh? Well… I don’t really think about them.”
“Really? Not even a little?”
“Not really.”
“What if they were interested in you? What would you do?”

“Well, to be honest…”

Jihoon hesitated for a moment, but decided it would be better to come clean.

“Soo-ah confessed to me earlier this week…”

“What?”

Isul’s expression quickly hardened, clearly irritated.

“And…?”
“I turned her down right away, of course.”
“Phew…”

She let out a sigh of relief, visibly relaxing.

“Why do they even have a crush on you?”
“Um…”

Isul’s frustration boiled over, and she finally voiced her question, one she’d been holding back.

“I don’t know. I just started working at Blue Guild, and it all happened.”
“Ugh… why are they so obsessed with you? Following you around like stalkers.”
“Stalkers?”
“Yeah, look over there.”

She pointed toward a nearby table, where two very obvious figures, poorly disguised as Lee Soo-ah and Yoo Hana, were trying to hide.

‘Why are they here?’

“Those two have been following us all day. I’ve noticed them everywhere we went.”
“All day? Even with all the places we visited?”
“Yup, every single one.”

“Hah…”

Jihoon was at a loss for words, stunned by their persistence.

‘What are they thinking?’

He couldn’t understand what was going through Soo-ah and Hana’s minds. First, they confessed, and now they were stalking him.

“I thought I made things clear to her yesterday.”

Jihoon had believed he had clearly expressed his disinterest, but apparently, the message hadn’t gotten through.

“Did you leave her with any hope or something?”

Isul asked, sounding genuinely concerned. She was clearly worried about their intentions.

“No, I was very clear. Should I have been harsher?”
“Why are they still following you if you turned them down? This is really starting to bother me.”

“You’re right.”

Jihoon agreed. This was getting out of hand.

“I’ll have a stronger word with them next time.”
“Thanks. I really think you need to. There might have been a misunderstanding, so just make sure to clear it up.”
“I will. I’ll talk to them next week.”

Jihoon glanced over at the table where Soo-ah and Hana were sitting. As soon as he turned his head, they both quickly tried to hide.

‘As if that’s going to help…’

It was painfully obvious that it was them.

“Ugh, Jihoon keeps looking over at us.”
“Right? What’s going on? Do you think Isul told him something? Ugh… I think we’ve been caught.”
“Why did you have to come to my table? It’s your fault we got spotted, Yoo Hana!”
“Excuse me? How is this my fault? Your disguise was terrible, Soo-ah!”

“Hah… unbelievable…”

Soo-ah and Hana glared at each other, neither willing to accept the blame. They were both incredibly frustrated with each other.