This World is too Cruel to Men

Anyway… the first day of school and the entrance ceremony passed by in a flash, and before I knew it, the second day arrived.

“Hey, are you ready?”

“Ah, just wait a minute.”

Leaning against the wall, I waited silently.

Soon enough, the tightly closed door swung open, and something came flying towards me.

Reacting instinctively, I snatched it out of the air.

It was a bag of snacks covered in scribbled writing.

“What’s this?”

Wondering what this was all about, I asked Yun-Seo, who had just emerged from her room.

Her reply was nonchalant.

“Well… you probably didn’t have time to eat breakfast because you woke up so early. Eat that, at least.”

“You’re not just getting rid of it because you bought it because it looked interesting but it didn’t taste how you imagined, right?”

“…Do you want to die? Give it back if you’re not going to eat it.”

She swiped at me like a cat, so I lifted the snacks above my head to avoid her.

“I never said I wasn’t going to eat it. Thanks. I’ll enjoy it.”

“Honestly… why can’t you just take it nicely when I give you something…”

Pretending not to hear her grumbling, I ripped open the package.

What appeared was a rather fancy-looking snack.

You know how when you buy a sandwich-type ice cream, there’s a stiff piece of cardboard inside to keep it from getting squished?

This snack had one of those too.

“Wow… a fancy snack, huh? Where did you get this?”

“I went to the mart with Dad yesterday. They were selling them in the imported snacks section.”

The imported snacks section…

If I remember correctly, there was only one mart nearby that had such a section.

“Hanmaeum Mart?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s pretty far. What made him go all the way there?”

“They were having a sale on eggs, or something. He said we had to go there because they were limiting it to one per person.”

“So, did he get any?”

“Nope, they were all sold out by the time we got there.”

“Oh dear…”

That happens sometimes.

You go because of a sale, but the sale items are already gone, and you end up buying unrelated things instead.

“…Are you going to eat that or not?”

“Ah, right.”

I popped the snack I’d been neglecting into my mouth.

A soft, sweet, cake-like flavor spread across my tongue.

It was much better than I expected, honestly, quite surprising.

“…Wow, this is good.”

“Right?”

I’d been feeling a bit hungry after waking up and moving around so early, and this seemed like the perfect thing to snack on.

“How much was this?”

“Uh… I think it was around 3,000 won per box.”

“How many are in a box?”

“Ten. Oh, and they have chocolate and strawberry flavors too.”

The small size was a bit of a drawback, but ten for 3,000 won with this quality was practically a steal.

That meant each one was only about 300 won.

“Then it would be perfect to buy a box of each flavor and eat one every morning.”

“One…? You’re not planning on eating them all yourself, are you?”

“No, you can buy your own.”

“Dad will get mad if I eat too many of these kinds of things.”

“Well, about that…”

I held back, figuring it wasn’t my place to comment, and Yun-Seo, seizing the opportunity, launched into her usual offensive.

“So, you’re going to be selfish and eat them all by yourself?”

“Hey, I’ll share.”

“Hmph, you better.”

Her offensive continued until I finally surrendered.

Just like that, we bickered our way down the familiar alley towards the bus stop.

We were just a few steps away when Yun-Seo suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

“What? Did you forget something at home?”

Honestly, I couldn’t think of any other reason for her to stop, so I asked, half-expecting that to be the case.

Her answer, however, was completely unexpected.

“…Hey.”

“What?”

“Can we… take the subway instead of the bus?”

“Huh? The subway?”

Why suddenly the subway?

*****

Dokgun’s face and mind were filled with question marks at this sudden and unexpected suggestion.

Meanwhile, Yun-Seo was struggling to hide her rising blush.

She couldn’t help it.

The memory had surfaced just as the bus stop came into view.

The memory… of Dokgun’s actions on the bus yesterday.

Of course, it happened while he was asleep, so there was no intention behind it, and he probably wasn’t even aware of what he’d done.

But from her perspective, as the one on the receiving end

…it was hard not to flinch.

How could she ‘not’ flinch?

After all… ‘that’ had happened.

So, she wanted to avoid the bus at all costs.

Her heart was already pounding just from seeing the bus stop approaching.

What would happen if she actually got on the bus?

And… this was just a possibility, but what if Dokgun dozed off again today?

What if… what happened yesterday repeated itself, even if not exactly the same way?

Her heart might just give up and go on strike.

So how could she just get on the bus?

She knew it sounded out of the blue, but she’d brought up the subway out of concern.

However… there was one thing bothering her—

“But ‘you’ were the one who said we should take the bus because we’d have to walk from the subway station.”

Yes, that was it.

‘She’ was the one who suggested the bus in the first place.

That was why Dokgun was so puzzled.

Just the other day she was insisting on the bus over the subway, and now she was saying the opposite.

“Well, that…”

She was speechless.

She couldn’t very well tell him the real reason why the subway was suddenly preferable.

So, she just stood there, lips moving soundlessly, when—

“What? Did you try it yesterday and decide it was too crowded?”

Dokgun offered a hint.

“Kind of? And… maybe it was because it was morning, but the traffic was pretty bad.”

“Hmm, that’s true… it was a bit congested yesterday.”

“Right? It’s… usually we leave early enough that it doesn’t matter, but imagine if we overslept and were running late.”

Being late because of traffic when you would have been on time otherwise?

Was there a more frustrating reason for being late?

She’d made her argument to Dokgun, and it seemed to have had some effect.

“Hmm…”

Dokgun looked thoughtful for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“You’re right. So, you want to take the subway from now on?”

“Yeah… at least the subway won’t get stuck in traffic.”

Honestly?

Anything was fine as long as it wasn’t the bus.

“Hmm… the subway… not bad, but it’ll be packed with people in the morning. Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

Hadn’t she said it already?

Anything but the bus.

And honestly, how crowded could it be?

Besides, wouldn’t the bus and subway be about the same in terms of crowding?

That’s what she ‘thought’…

“Wow…”

“Holy… crap…”

They stepped onto the platform just as a train arrived.

The sight that greeted them, accompanied by their stunned exclamations, made her realize…

…that she had been completely wrong.

‘This’ was why they called it hell on wheels.

The train was literally crammed full of people—

‘Is it even possible to get on?’

That was her first thought.

Dokgun, however, seemed to have a different opinion.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you getting on?”

“But there’s no space…”

Beyond that, she wondered if this was even safe.

What if a Villain with a dangerous talent suddenly appeared and started using their powers in this packed train?

It would be a disaster.

‘Ah, so that’s why…’

…there were so many Heroes stationed near subway lines.

As she stood there, taking in the dizzying sight, her body was pulled forward by Dokgun’s hand, towards the train.

And… the inside of the train was, indeed, hell.

It felt like… being a grain of sand on a beach battered by fierce waves.

Surrounded by people, she was tossed back and forth every time the train moved, feeling like she was about to fall. S

he squeezed her eyes shut, and that’s when she heard a slightly strained voice, familiar yet strangely unfamiliar in its hushed tone, close to her ear.

“Just bear with it. Don’t forget to ask for your bag back when we get off.”

Her hand, which had been holding the bag, shifted slightly, and then she felt a tug.

She let herself be pulled along, and—

…her back bumped against the wall.

Plastered against the wall, she swayed with every jolt and rattle of the train.

Then, she cautiously opened one eye—

“—!”

She met her own reflection in the blackened train window.

And that’s when she realized…

…that her and Dokgun’s current position, seen from afar, could easily be mistaken for a kiss.

That’s how close… and awkward… their position was.

She realized…

The subway was just as dangerous as the bus, if not more so.

As soon as she realized this… her heart began to pound.

Just as fast as yesterday.

…So, Yun-Seo had chosen the subway to avoid a repeat of yesterday’s incident… but her choice proved to be a mistake.

In a way, the subway was just as dangerous, if not more so, than the bus—

“Ugh… so many people…”

“…Hmm?”

“…Huh?”

—because it created a ‘coincidence’ that, had Yun-Seo witnessed it, would have made her want to bang her head against the wall in frustration, lamenting that this wasn’t what she wanted at all.