.

Now I had come to think of it, even if Ban Yeo Ryung and Yeo Dan oppa were separated into different teams, the number of people didn’t match. Raising my hand, I asked, “Which team should I participate in?”

Switching his gaze to me, Lucas replied with an enigmatic expression, “You… can be wherever you want.”

“What’s with that look? I mean, the winner and loser can be based on my performance.”

“I don’t think so…”

I smashed Lucas on the back, who responded that way with a weird look. Well, I clearly remembered how incompetent I was during the chase that took place in the Reed Enterprise building. Still, wasn’t he being too harsh on me?

Thankfully, the manager of the paintball game place, who looked bored while having no customers, also told us that he wanted to participate, so each team now had three people. Lucas, Yeo Dan oppa, and I became the same team, whereas Ruda, Yeo Ryung, and the manager were in the opposite. And within a minute, the manager got shot on his body triple times and had to watch us play the rest of the game without him.

‘Oh, Lord, when did he get out of the game?’ Throwing a glance in his direction while hiding behind the cover, I suddenly lost balance.

“Oh, my god!” I collapsed with a low shriek. Once I pulled myself together, I found myself sitting on the open spot. Yeo Dan oppa and Lucas, who were hiding behind other covers, mouthed at me what on earth I was doing right now.

At that moment, Ruda and Yeo Ryung, who were hiding over there, pointed their guns at me at the same time. ‘Geez, I screwed up!’ I closed my eyes tightly. Well, I did expect that I was the first to get eliminated when we played games together.

That was when something unanticipated occurred. Suddenly, Yeo Ryung grabbed Ruda by his collar, who was standing right beside her, instead of pulling the trigger at me. Due to her sudden behavior, Ruda lost his aim on his target, which was me. He quickly threw a tantrum.

“URGH! What the heck is that? Are you insane or what!?”

“How can you even think about shooting Donnie?!!!”

“Come on, didn’t you also point your gun at her? Do you think I’m enjoying laying this at her?”

Watching the two quarreling, Lucas and Yeo Dan oppa looked dumbfounded. The two then exchanged eye contact as if they were saying something like, ‘How many hardships have you suffered while having that kind of sister?’

Meanwhile, I crawled stealthily toward the cover and hid behind the back of it again. ‘For some reason, I don’t feel that happy although I’ve survived just now,’ I murmured to myself.

At that moment, Yi Ruda and Yeo Ryung, who were squabbling with each other, released their hands out of the blue and escaped to the opposite side. A green paintball struck between them simultaneously.

When I turned around, I found Lucas flaunting a mischievous grin.

“You guys look very relaxed, huh?”

Lucas then lifted one side of his legs. Two paintballs hit the place, where he just stepped back, one after another. Watching that sight, I thought, ‘Oh, come on, he isn’t the master of martial arts, is he?’

Clasping his hands behind his back, Lucas continued to speak nonchalantly, “You can’t do that as the same team.”

Looking at Lucas speaking that way, Ruda muttered fiercely, “I’m gonna win while pouring everything out I’ve learned from the successor training that I took before.”

“Have no idea what that is, but let me help you with it.”

Also regarding Yeo Ryung’s remark, this competition was about to head toward Ruda having a confrontation with Lucas.

I was right. From some point, Ruda and Ban Yeo Ryung didn’t have their eyes on me or even Yeo Dan oppa but were out for only Lucas. After Yeo Ryung got out of the game first, the match went on as an exclusive competition between Ruda and Lucas.

Moving through the covers, I met Ruda’s eyes. Thinking that it was a good chance just in time, I uttered, “Sorry, but shoot me.”

Having such bad stamina and poor athletic abilities, I had already reached my limits from running for about ten minutes. I was even sweating hard inside my bulletproof vest in the wintertime.

Since Yeo Ryung also got out of the game, I dropped those words to go take some rest beside her, but Ruda bit his lips tightly all of a sudden and said, “Don’t say that… how can I shoot you?”

“Come on, this is a survival game.”

I became confused for a second. ‘Am I the only person who doesn’t know that we’re actually filming?’ Listening to Ruda’s tragic remark just now, it somehow made sense.

That was when something exploded with a loud noise behind Ruda’s back. Turning my head with a flinch, I had eye contact with Lucas, who was standing behind Ruda.

Waving his gun, Lucas uttered, “My dear Ruda, you haven’t learned shooting properly while busily running away from Jenny, right?”

“What the heck! Let’s do it one more time!”

Ruda soon walked toward Lucas while gnashing his teeth. Being left alone, I wondered, ‘What are we all doing here right now?’ and followed him.

This time, we rearranged our teams, which made Ruda, Yeo Dan oppa, and I became the same team. Lucas then shot me mercilessly and got me out of the game within two minutes.

Leaving the paintball space with no hesitation, I perched on the bench where I could keep watching the game. After a few minutes, someone out of my expectation walked totteringly in this direction and sat beside me. I displayed a look of surprise on my face.

“What happened?”

Lucas replied without looking that upset, “Two shots from Ruda, and one from your boyfriend.”

“Oh…”

“Your boyfriend, he’s quite good.”

I just nodded my head. Tilting his head slightly, Lucas showed a look of wonder.

“I gave a compliment, but you don’t look that good? Not even surprised, huh?”

In a calm attitude, I responded to Lucas, who was adding something like, ‘I seldom compliment though…’

“If you’ve, instead, said he sucks, I would have become surprised.”

That was when he looked like he understood the situation. Curling his sky-blue hair with his finger, Lucas replied, “A-ha, so are you talking about something like Mr. Perfect Next Door? Your country has a lot of interesting expressions.”

“Exactly. It’s true that he’s actually my neighbor living next door, also a perfect son of my mom’s close friend.”

When I spoke that way, Lucas seemed like he was lost in thoughts. Placing his elbow on his knee, he rested his chin on his palm and said, “Hmm, I did hear about it from Ruda. You and your boyfriend have known each other since you guys were very young.”

“I can’t clearly remember but probably from kindergarten.”

In fact, I wasn’t being just unclear at that time but also had no memories in that period, so I wasn’t able to talk about it. Dropping my gaze on the ground, I was deep in thought. Suddenly, a question returned.

“But you guys managed to become a couple, right?”

“Huh?”

“They say love has an expiry date equivalent to the period of fantasizing each other.”

Fantasizing each other… My brows slightly met in the middle.

Now I had come to think of it, Lee Mina said something similar before. She said something like, from a commonsense point of view, she could get more fluttered to a stranger in the streets instead of the handsome Yoon Jung In.

‘But those two were now in a relationship; therefore, we never know what will happen.’

While I showed an enigmatic look on my face, Lucas continued, “Many couples, who were best friends before, end up being friends again. Do you know why?”

Thinking about Lee Mina and Yoon Jung In just in time, I was startled at his question. I wished their relationship lasted as long as possible since they were such a great couple.

Tilting my head for a moment, I soon shook my head and uttered, “No, why?”

“You’ve thought that you’ve known this person well, but once you guys are in a relationship, that turns out to be not true. The two people, who got used to each other for a long time and was a great pair like puzzle pieces, suddenly don’t mix well anymore.”

“Oh…”

“Fitting into each other is quite a painful process, so going through it again with someone I’ve already done that seems very upsetting and also becomes an overwhelming sense of loss. You know it’s hard to find like that again. Thus, it may feel like I’ve been too greedy to lose something very critical.”

Letting an exclamation, I asked, “Lucas, how many times have you been in love?”