.

However, no matter how gorgeous his legs were, I couldn’t utterly put these cold feelings out of my mind. Sniffing my nose, I looked forward again.

Our parents called a large cab that could hold 6 people. Chatting excitedly, they were loading their luggage bags. They looked so delighted even without talking to us that I had to agonize over the sight.

‘Why on earth did they call us outside?’ Then I came up with the most reasonable conclusion. Perhaps they were going to give us well-wishing remarks along with some New Year’s cash gift since we wouldn’t be able to see other during the holiday weekend!

I nodded while thinking, ‘That much reward is worth enduring this pain.’

However, as soon as they finished loading their stuff on the taxi, my mom and dad said, ‘Let’s go,’ and shut the door with a bang.

‘Eh? Hold on…’ I murmured absent-mindedly, ‘Where are you guys going…?’ And with a loud vroom, the cab began to move outside our apartment complex and disappeared over the corner.

“… Why did they call us to come outside?”

Those were Yeo Dan oppa’s first words that he dropped while watching the vehicle leave his sight. I couldn’t deny that he took the words right out of my mouth.

We returned home totteringly like zombies that lost their attack targets. Yeo Ryung and I collapsed on her bed and fell into sleep. Yeo Dan oppa also went into his room immediately and didn’t show any indication of him being around as if he got to sleep as well.

Within ten minutes, we received a call from Yeo Ryung’s auntie. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Yeo Ryung picked up the phone. I woke up from sleep too.

“Hello? Auntie?”

“Yeah, we’re about to arrive in ten minutes, so get ready.”

“Hold on, ten minutes? TEN MINUTES??”

Looking at Yeo Ryung asking back in surprise, I thought, ‘Oh, gosh, we screwed up,’ and dashed out of her room.

‘If this was about to happen, I should have packed my bag before dozing off!’ Thinking that way, I swept everything in my room into my backpack such as my workbook that I had to finish as an assignment, all kinds of writing supplies, and just in case, comb, towel, and books to read.

Once I stepped outside my house hurriedly, Yeo Ryung and Yeo Dan oppa were also standing in the hallway while carrying their bags with heroic looks on their faces like warriors preparing for war. We then quickly went down to the apartment complex.

“…”

After half an hour, Yeo Ryung’s auntie arrived. She pulled the car over in front of us, lowered the window, and blurted out nonchalantly, “Oh, my God, you guys didn’t turn into a snowman, did you? Are you all alive?”

Dusting off the snowflakes on my lashes, I murmured to myself, ‘I think I have the right to become a snowman after standing outside in this weather for thirty minutes…’

We finally got on the car to head toward Gapyeong. It was such a chaotic New Year’s morning.

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As soon as I got in the car, I went out like a light, then quickly arose from slumber. Flickering my dry eyes from the heater, I tried to check the name of the tollgate over the window, but it was too high to come into my view.

That was when I heard a quiet voice coming from beside me.

“We’re almost there.”

“Eek, oppa,” dropping that way, I pulled myself together without a delay.

The distance between us was too close. I would have definitely shoved my head onto his shoulder and fell into sleep.

My face blushed. I, of course, dozed off numerous times while leaning my head onto his shoulder. However, that mostly happened when we weren’t officially seeing each other. We were currently having a relationship; besides, there weren’t just us inside the car.

As soon as I got away from him, a voice flew over from the front seat.

“Are you guys in a relationship?”

It was Yeo Ryung’s auntie who was putting her hand on the driver’s seat. She was in her mid-forties. However, as if she proved that the Bans’ blood was running through her veins, she looked like a lady in her early thirties; besides, her outfit was a black dress and black coat, which looked very chic and remarkable.

I was gonna respond no, of course, but once her sharp glance scanned us through the rearview mirror, I flinched instinctively.

As if that short silence was enough for a response, Yeo Ryung’s auntie replied with a smile.

“Come on, that’s the matter with it? I’ll keep it as secret.”

“… Uh, yes, thank you, ma’am.”

“You’re, again, responding immediately,” said Yeo Ryung’s auntie with a giggle as if she felt interesting. Wiggling my fingers, I laughed awkwardly after her.

It was something very unexpected, but Yeo Ryung’s auntie turned out to be the first grown-up who became aware that Yeo Dan oppa and I were in a relationship. We exchanged eye contact. All we did was just letting her know the truth about us, but my heart pounded clumsily as if I received a question that if we loved each other.

Staring at me for a while, Yeo Dan oppa stretched out his hand stealthily and grabbed mine. I just lowered my head and sat still with reddened ears.

Yeo Ryung was breathing in and out quietly beside me while leaning her head on my shoulder. Once she was asleep, nothing could wake her up; therefore, she wouldn’t get up until we arrived at the destination.

Inside the car that became magically quiet all of a sudden, I was lost into thought. I wondered, ‘Now I come to think of it, what do the female main character and the Four Heavenly Kings usually do during the holiday?’ Although I wasn’t sure whether or not this world was somewhere in a web novel and the Four Heavenly Kings and I grew apart, it seemed like I wasn’t supposed to feel relieved even during the long weekends while thinking about all the hardships this world had given me.

Last time when I was kidnapped, I could stay calm because I believed that one day such an incident might happen. Thus, I tried to guess what would take place during the New Year’s holiday. To be precise, I was estimating what would happen to Yeo Ryung and Yeo Dan oppa.

But no matter how much I put my brain to work, I couldn’t come up with the memories of reading the New Year’s Day part. Furrowing my brows repeatedly, I received a question from Yeo Dan oppa who was sitting beside me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Huh? Uh, um… Yeo Dan oppa, what do you do during New Year’s Day?”

It wasn’t a strange topic to ask, so I dropped the question straightforwardly. Yeo Dan oppa replied with a shrug, “Eat, bow, get some cash gifts… visit our ancestral graves…”

“…”

“We do what others do.”

My face stiffened. The words, ‘We do what others do,’ that just slipped from his mouth never sounded so unfamiliar enough.

Well, but to think about it, New Year’s Day was a traditional holiday, so even the Four Heavenly Kings wouldn’t say something like, ‘Change the foods for ancestral rites ceremony to a cake,’ or ‘Do you think I’m gonna visit and pay my respects at my ancestral graves?’

As I imagined those scenes in my head, the look on my face turned more serious. Those weren’t a good sight to see. I mean, that would turn the Four Heavenly Kings into the Prodigal Sons who had sinned against heaven.

I hit my head while thinking, ‘I can’t believe that I didn’t come up with such a natural idea!’ Although I had recalled all the crazy laws of web novels, there wouldn’t be anything happening on New Year’s Day. Except for stopping by somewhere in this secluded country village and getting robbed, nothing seemed for me to worry about.

‘Ah, thank goodness!’ Heaving a sigh of relief, I relaxed myself and watched the scenery passing through the window. Since it was a holiday morning, I thought there would be a lot of cars in the street; however, the traffic wasn’t that bad than I expected.

Without getting stuck in traffic, our car was running on a smooth flow; buildings gradually disappeared from the sight, and the green view of trees and plants began to occupy the sceneries outside our car on both sides.

Watching them over the window, I suddenly took out my phone and snapped some pictures. The shutter sound made Yeo Dan oppa and his auntie look in this direction at once.

I uttered with an awkward smile, “Oh, I just wanted to send some photos to my friends.”

“Kids these days even take and share food photos,” replied Yeo Ryung’s auntie while showing a look of curiosity.

‘Well, that’s only available for a few sane people who can take out their camera phones before they eat,’ I said to myself.

Then I accessed my phone inbox and began to check the text messages. This was the first time today to see any unread messages since, earlier, my fingers were gonna break outside in the cold and I was busy sleeping at home.