A bakery cafe located in Hannam-dong.
Seojiwon and Cheon Na Young both arrived 10 minutes earlier than their scheduled meeting time and exchanged awkward greetings at the entrance.
“Oh, Sister!”
“Yeah. It’s been a while, Na-young.”
Cheon Na Young seemed quite used to hiding her face now, as she showed up wearing a natural-looking short-haired wig.
“Did you dye your hair?”
“No. It’s a wig.”
“Wow. It looks really natural.”
The two ordered delicious-looking strawberry cake and iced americanos. They sat down and began chatting about trivial things, much like any other pair of friends. It had been a while since they last met after their trip to Tokyo, and since they weren’t exactly best friends yet, there were moments of awkward silence between them.
‘We should definitely grab a meal when we get back to Korea.’
They were doing their best to build their friendship, finally putting that promise into practice.
“Writer Lee must be having a hard time, right? I didn’t even contact him because I was afraid it might be a burden.”
“Me too. But I heard from Taemi that he’s already preparing a new project.”
“Wow. The Writer is truly amazing. He has a heart of steel.”
“Oh, by the way. I started growing plants as a hobby recently. Want to see?”
“Wow. You grew all of these, Na-young? That’s incredible. How are they so… green?”
“Sister, leaves are supposed to be green.”
“Hoho. I mean they’re shiny and glowing.”
They put in a lot of effort to bond, starting with stories about people they both knew and then moving on to asking about each other’s interests.
“So… what should we do now?”
Cheon Na Young asked, breaking a 1-minute silence as she sucked on the straw of her iced americano, which now held only ice.
“Hmm. Good question. You’re not hungry yet, are you?”
“I ate the cake, so I’m not really thinking about a meal.”
“Hmm. What do friends usually do when they hang out?”
“Well… I don’t really have that many friends.”
After graduating high school, Cheon Na Young had worked part-time jobs continuously while preparing for her college entrance exams. Because of her abusive biological mother, she spent many days in hiding, so the times she could play with a light heart were few and far between.
Seojiwon had also spent her youth as an idol, meaning she had very little time to mingle with peers her age. Hanging out with her fellow members at their dorm was practically the extent of her social life, so she was worried about what they should do outside to make it a memorable day.
“And my male friends would always confess their feelings at the drop of a hat.”
“Ugh. I know exactly what you mean.”
Setting aside female friends, the two found common ground in their complete lack of platonic male friends. When a guy approached pretending to be a friend and then confessed, things naturally became uncomfortable. Avoiding them often led to strange rumors spreading as well.
“It’s the same in the industry. You think of someone as a close colleague or a reliable senior, but the moment they approach you romantically, it becomes such a burden.”
If anyone else heard them, they might have said, ‘What? Isn’t that a bit narcissistic?’ However, looking at their faces as they expressed their grievances so seriously, anyone would find themselves nodding in agreement. If either of them even looked at someone and smiled, how many men would unintentionally fall in love? If they were guilty of anything, it was their faces.
Regardless, the two continued to complain, agreeing that they had never really learned how to have proper fun.
“Sister, have you ever been to a club?”
“No? If I had, the agency would have flipped out.”
“Sigh. I should have gone when I was 20 instead of just working part-time.”
Moreover, since they were now fully established celebrities, typical spots like bars and clubs had long been erased from their minds.
“It’s a shame.”
“It really is.”
Seojiwon thought deeply for a moment before speaking cautiously.
“About clubs. I wonder if they’re actually fun. Aside from going to one for a drama shoot, I’ve only ever seen them in other shows.”
When filming at a rented club during the bright afternoon, all she saw were background actors waving empty bottles around in a space where no music was even playing. Since people supposedly lined up in massive crowds just to get inside, they could only imagine how exciting such a place must be.
“Sister. Do you want to try going to a club?”
“What if we get our pictures taken?”
“We’re perfectly disguised. And it’ll be so dark that no one will recognize us.”
“…Do you think so?”
“Let’s go to a bar, get a little tipsy, and then head to a club!”
Seojiwon hesitated for a long time, but she was eventually persuaded when Cheon Na Young said, “This might be our last chance.” She shouted an “Okay!”
With the ambitious goal of enjoying their youth for once, they headed toward Itaewon.
“Oh my god. Is that seriously the line?”
They couldn’t help but freeze when they saw the massive crowd lining the main road. The sight of people standing there in clothes that looked more like scraps of fabric made them instinctively step back. Furthermore, they were completely intimidated by the club promoters who would grab their wrists or sleeves, trying to pull them inside.
“I-Isn’t the music too loud?”
“What? I can’t hear you!”
“Sister, should we just go grab a drink instead?”
“Sh-Should we?”
Without needing to say who went first, Seojiwon and Cheon Na Young bolted. If they were this startled just by the music playing outside the club, how could they dare enter the heart of it? Not a chance.
In the end, the two entered a four-cut photo booth shop. They put on rabbit headbands and dinosaur hats, laughing bitterly at themselves.
“I guess this kind of thing suits us better after all.”
“Yeah. Let’s not get greedy and just play by ourselves.”
“We’re kind of losers.”
“Ahem.”
Just as they were about to enter a booth, two men wearing white shirts and black slacks stepped out.
“Ah. Sorry.”
As the men brushed past Seojiwon and Cheon Na Young, they quickly exchanged glances. It was a signal unique to those with extensive experience in “hunting” for girls. The men waited for Seojiwon and Cheon Na Young to finish taking their photos and then naturally struck up a conversation.
“Are there just two of you? There are two of us, too.”
“What? Oh. Yes.”
“Would you like to grab a drink with us?”
“Pardon? No?”
However, the women, who had never been picked up like this in their lives, had no idea what was happening. They simply left the shop quickly, wondering why a complete stranger was asking them to drink.
“Sister… do you think that was a ‘hunt’ just now?”
“Nah. Who picks someone up like that? No mood at all.”
“Isn’t ‘hunting’ usually… lacking a mood?”
“No, no. When I saw it on TV, it was much smoother and more polite.”
“I guess so.”
Even though they had disguised themselves to look as plain as possible, their beauty still outshone everyone else in Itaewon. However, without even a shred of thought that they were beautiful, they dismissed the interaction. They assumed no one would try to pick them up looking like this and simply moved on, thinking the men were strange.
*****
Itaewon on a Saturday night was, of course, packed. The two peeked into various bars scattered throughout the area but were forced to retreat by the overwhelming energy of the “extroverts” inside.
Ultimately, they ended up at a quiet blood sausage soup restaurant located in a secluded alley. Sitting there, each ordering a bowl of soup and knocking back shots of soju, they looked like the ultimate loners to anyone watching.
“Sister. We actually had a pretty productive day today.”
“You’re right. We had coffee, took photos, and now we’re having blood sausage soup with soju. It’s the perfect date.”
“Absolutely, absolutely.”
Raising their glasses in their modest setting and shouting, “Wow! That was fun!” they looked like two people who had suffered a crushing defeat.
Just then, from a distance, another pair of men in white shirts and black slacks spotted them and their eyes lit up. These men were “failures” who had already struck out at a nearby hunting bar and decided to grab a bowl of soup before catching the last train home. However, even in a place like this, the instinct of a failure flickered to life.
‘Everything we’ve done so far was just practice. The real battle starts now!’
One needed that kind of crazy audacity—attempting to pick someone up in a soup restaurant—to earn a ticket to Itaewon every week.
Having finished about one bottle of soju each, the women finally sensed the presence of another pair of “hunters” approaching.
“Excuse me, are there just two of you? There are two of us as well. Would you like to join us?”
Seojiwon and Cheon Na Young looked at each other simultaneously. They exchanged a silent look. This was a clear signal born from their recent experience. Seeing the same outfits and the same opening line, they realized this was the “Bible of Hunting”!
Without missing a beat, they both tapped into their professional skills and began to act.
“Ah… we’re currently in the middle of a very serious conversation.”
“Oh, a serious talk? About what? We like those kinds of conversations too.”
But the men were no pushovers. Accustomed to rejection and bolstered by alcohol, they naturally tried to take a seat with a greasy sort of charisma.
Suddenly, Cheon Na Young’s eyes filled with profound sadness, and her voice became heavy and damp.
“The thing is… we were both unfairly imprisoned, and today is the day we were released.”
“Pr-Prision?”
“Yes. We just got out of the Big House and were reminiscing about our time there. Would you like to hear about it?”
It was a ridiculous excuse, but with her acting skills, they truly looked like people who had just finished serving three or five years in prison. Seojiwon’s quick-witted follow-up performance was equally spectacular.
“It’s a bit embarrassing, but this friend here was in for robbery, and I was locked up for the attempted murder of my boyfriend. I was in for five years, so can you imagine how unfair it feels? I didn’t actually mean to kill him.”
Seojiwon adjusted her grip on her chopsticks, clutching them tightly in her fist as if they were a lethal weapon.
“I really should have finished that bastard off.”
“He ran away with 50 million! 50 million! I would have killed him too,” Cheon Na Young chimed in, holding up her hand with fingers spread wide. “If you’re okay with it, should I tell you how I ended up being charged with attempted murder? My heart feels so heavy. Please, have a seat.”
“W-W-We accidentally interrupted a very important conversation. Our apologies. Please, enjoy your meal!”
The men bowed politely and hurriedly paid for their half-eaten soup before fleeing the restaurant.
“Pfft! Hahaha! Sister, attempted murder? You look like you couldn’t even kill a mosquito. Wasn’t that a bit much?”
“I just received a script for a killer role recently. Wasn’t my gaze acting pretty good?”
“I’ll give you that. Look at how fast those guys ran away.”
“They probably thought we were either the real deal or completely insane.”
The two clinked their final glasses, grandly celebrating their one-night escape in Itaewon.
The next day.
On the entertainment news section of the portal site Naver, a paparazzi photo of Seojiwon and Cheon Na Young in disguise, standing with strange men, was posted for all to see.
The headline of the article read:
LongStringOfTextToSimulateLargeRandomDataSet123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz[Shocking! Lee Junghyuk Division Actresses Spotted ‘Hunting’ in Nightlife District]
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