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"Hah... haha..." "Whoa... How are you?" "Let's do it one more time, okay?" "Again? You said it was your first time, and you're already hooked? Was it that good?" "Yes. Quickly, quickly..."
Yu-ri Lee begged with her eyes, and I complied with her request. I took out a ₩500 coin from my pocket and inserted it into the machine. When we put in the coins we had exchanged for the money we brought, cheerful music started playing from the device, and I stepped on the right footrest and started selecting a song.
"Which one do you want?"
"Exciting!"
Although Yu-ri was sweating profusely, she answered immediately with a very excited expression. For Yu-ri Lee, who had never had any other hobbies besides occasionally watching webtoons or dramas, things like DDR and the arcade—which has long been out of fashion—were a great stimulus. As arrows divided into up, down, left, and right continued to fall on the game screen, Yu-ri Lee and I began dancing on the DDR device.
"Huh?! This, what the... Now, wait a minute, why is this so fast... Argh! I'm dead again!"
However, her body could not withstand the barrage of arrows, and Yu-ri Lee quickly "died." Since I did not play DDR often, I did not last long and died too.
"Mr. Ha, this is difficult."
"Let's play one more round, okay?"
Yu-ri begged, raising one of her index fingers, but I refused her request outright.
"Hey, this is already our fifth game. It's hard for me, too. Let's not just do this and do something else. We have a lot of time today anyway, right?"
"Hmph..."
At the arcade, we spent time playing coin karaoke and DDR, and Yu-ri Lee quickly became hooked. Perhaps because she had just opened her eyes to new stimulation, Yu-ri Lee did not act cold like usual, but instead pouted her mouth and made a whining sound like a child. I placed my finger on Yu-ri's lips, which were sticking out, while laughing. Originally, if I did something like this, Yu-ri Lee would have looked at me like a bug, but I had a strong feeling that it would be okay now.
"Look at that lip sticking out. Are you a kid? There are plenty of other things to do, so this is the end of the arcade."
Yu-ri Lee's lips were moist and slightly sticky because of the lip balm. Yu-ri saw my finger touching her lips, and she lifted her eyebrows slightly and took my finger away.
"So, where are we going next?"
She looked like she was asking, "what are you doing?" But she wasn't upset at all that I had put my finger on her lips. It means that the boundaries in Yu-ri Lee's mind have already become much lighter. I smiled to myself and answered Yu-ri's question.
"Have you ever been to an escape room café?"
"I just know the name, but I don't know what they do there..."
"You've lost half your life. Of all the places we'll go today, this is probably the most intense."
"..."
I searched through Han Seong-jin's memories and looked for an escape room café that would give Yu-ri Lee her most intense first experience. It didn't take long to make a decision, and I immediately took Yu-ri Lee to an escape room café near Jinsu Station with a sign that said 'Amazing'.
"Welcome! It's amazing! Are there two of you? What would you like as the theme?"
"Do you want to choose a theme?"
I gave the choice of theme to Yu-ri Lee.
"Theme? What theme?"
"Should I say the atmosphere of the room we're going into...? You'll know when you choose and go in."
"Uhm..."
Yu-ri Lee was troubled as she looked at the catalog given by the clerk. This café is unusual in that it only shows the name of the theme in the catalog but does not tell us at all what type it is. And what Yu-ri Lee chose...
"Ah! I found it!"
Yu-ri Lee pointed to a part of the catalog.
Dogs, Cats, and Mystery Pension
"Isn't the name cute? I'll go with this!"
Perhaps Yu-ri Lee just saw the name and imagined something like a cat café. We pooled our money, paid the bill, and headed to our room with the guidance of the clerk. It was a small, enclosed space of no more than a few square meters. The surroundings were dark, and only a white light illuminated this dark room. A few seconds after hearing the clerk lock the door, a dark and deep male voice was heard filling the room.
—On a snowy Christmas Eve five years ago, a man who brought several of his pet dogs and cats stayed in this very room.
Yu-ri Lee was startled by that voice but soon looked around the dark room with expectant eyes. However, the next moment, a male voice was heard, completely changing the atmosphere.
—At midnight on Christmas, the man killed all of his beloved dogs and cats with his own hands.
"What...?"
Yu-ri Lee was greatly embarrassed by the gruesome contents and froze in place. At the same time, the white light that illuminated the room changed to an ominous red color.
"Surprise! What is this?!"
—The dogs and cats cried out for help, but the owner killed them all one by one.
—Meoww
At the same time, a very ominous and creepy cat's cry echoed in the room.
"Mom!!!"
Yu-ri Lee became panicked and clung to me and screamed.
—But when the police arrived, all that was left in the room was a horrible bloodstain. They couldn't find the dogs, the cats, or even the man. To escape this room, you must find out where they disappeared to.
—Meoww
—Awooo
Hehe!!!
The theme chosen by Yu-ri Lee, 'Dogs, Cats, and Mystery Pension', despite the cute-looking name, was a fairly high-quality horror thriller theme.
A Frightful Experience
"Thank you for using us!"
After an hour, we left the escape room café while being greeted by the clerk. Somehow, we succeeded in solving all the puzzles in exactly one hour, but...
"Hhhhh... Hiccup..."
"Hey, stop crying. It's over."
When the horror atmosphere of the escape room café reached its peak, Yu-ri Lee, who was half out of her mind, became a gumball completely stuck to my arm by the end. When everything was over and the door was opened, she ran out, whining like a child, and had been like this ever since.
"W-I thought I was going to die because I was scared! What is that? They said they were dogs and cats! I thought it was a dog café or something!"
"But you chose the theme yourself, right?"
"Uh-huh... You have to tell me, you bastard! I really thought I was having a heart attack!"
"No, I didn't know either. Is there anyone who memorizes the theme of an escape room café?"
"Hiccup... You bad guy... You tricked me..."
Only after receiving the afternoon sunlight did Yu-ri finally calm down. All the while, she didn't stop whining about how I had lied to her and called me a bad person. The last time she tried to ostracize me and ended up in an alley that was a gangster's hangout, and the way she chose the escape room café theme today, doesn't she have the temperament of an idiot?
I took her to a nearby convenience store and comforted her by buying her a chocolate bar. Even though Yu-ri kept complaining to me, she just ate the chocolate I gave her. Yu-ri Lee was so surprised that she even began to hiccup. While she was sitting on a bench on the main street for a while, she just chewed chocolate in silence.
"Mumble... Hiccup."
"Have you calmed down now?"
"No."
Seeing Yu-ri Lee still with a pouty expression, I lifted my hand and wiped the tear stains from her eyes with my sleeve.
"Kya?!"
Although Yu-ri was shocked, she didn't throw away my hand, and thanks to that, I was able to erase her tear stains while feeling the texture of her cheeks.
"My makeup will be ruined. I came out looking pretty to show off, but it's a waste."
"Who, who said you put makeup on to show off?! Hiccup!"
"Isn't that right? I heard this is the first time you've come out like this, so I thought you were doing it to show me off."
"Ah... No! I'm really alone in this strange delusion... Hiccup."
"Is that so? I guess I was mistaken because I wasn't in a good mood. Then, when things have calmed down, shall we go to a calmer place this time?"
"It's not like an escape room café, right? If you cheat again, I'll be furious."
"No. Um... How about watching a movie?"
Yu-ri Lee tilted her head at my suggestion.
"Movies? I don't really want to see anything that's showing right now."
"I'm sorry, but going to the movie theater is difficult because I don't have a lot of money. After paying the entrance fee to the escape room café earlier, I don't have any money now..."
"But how can we watch a movie?"
"A DVD room, perhaps?"
Then Yu-ri narrowed her eyes and looked me up and down with an expression full of disbelief.
"Even though I've never been there, you think I don't know what the DVD room is for?"
"What are you thinking? Really, we're just going to watch a movie. I won't do anything weird."
"...Is it true?"
Instead of answering, I held out my pinky finger, and although Yu-ri looked disapproving, she ended up putting her pinky finger on mine.
"If you do anything strange, I'll really scream."
"I realize once again that you don't have any trust in me."
"So, it would have been better if you had behaved properly on a regular basis. Sigh... I feel a little uncomfortable... But it will be cheaper than the movie theater. I will choose the movie instead."
"Okay, so this time, don't make a fuss by choosing a strange movie and crying alone?"
"That's not it!"
Yu-ri crossed her arms and walked ahead, looking upset. I quickly walked next to Yu-ri Lee and poked her protruding cheek.
"But did you really hate escape room cafés that much? To the point where you never wanted to go again?"
Yu-ri swatted away my hand that was poking her cheek and quietly took a bite of the last piece of chocolate. And after swallowing it, Yu-ri turned her head to the side, avoiding my gaze, and she answered quietly.
"...Next time, go somewhere that isn't scary."
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