"I don't think I'm near enough," he said, as he came even closer, closing the gap between them. She forgot about the bad luck for a moment and got lost in his eyes. As he moved his face closer to hers, in a panic, the ticket slipped from Jang Mi's hand to the bottom of the stairs. She screamed, "The ticket!" which made Lee Hoo jump back, startled.
"Why? What? What ticket?" he asked.
"The ticket! It was expensive, and it slipped away. I need to find it."
"It's okay, we'll find it. No worries," he reassured her.
"I'll find it alone, it's okay. See you later," Jang Mi said, running off quickly, hoping he wouldn't follow her so she could find the ticket and secure her date, as it wasn't certain she would find it if they stayed together.
Lee Hoo stood frozen for a moment, shocked. "What just happened? I wasn't dreaming, right?" he thought. Quickly, he rushed to the elevator to catch up with her. He needed to talk to her more; he would be on a business trip for the next few days and might not see her for a while. As he got to the entrance of the company first, waiting for her to come, he saw Min Hyuk waiting there. "What is he doing here?" he wondered and rushed to him.
"What are you doing here?" Lee Hoo demanded.
"It's none of your business," Min Hyuk replied.
"Are you here to see Jang Mi? Too bad she went home early today," Lee Hoo said, trying to steer Min Hyuk away from Jang Mi.
"Already?" Min Hyuk replied, a hint of disbelief in his voice.
"We need to talk," Lee Hoo insisted, causing Min Hyuk's eyes to widen in confusion.
Before he knew it, Min Hyuk found himself sitting in a coffee shop, waiting for Lee Hoo to bring their order. "Does he like me or something?" he thought, a tinge of fear creeping in.
Lee Hoo brought the order and sat in front of Min Hyuk.
"First of all, I am not into guys, so don't even try," Min Hyuk blurted out. "I had my suspicions when you held my hand last time, but I didn't think much of it. Thank you for your interest, though!"
Lee Hoo blinked, taken aback by Min Hyuk's statement. "What? No, that's not what this is about at all. I need to talk to you about Jang Mi."
"What about her?" Min Hyuk asked.
"You should stop following her and scaring her," Lee Hoo replied.
"What are you talking about?" Min Hyuk said, his confusion growing.
"Whatever you did to her, it made her so afraid that she can't meet you alone," Lee Hoo insisted.
"I never did such a thing to her. She seems more afraid of you than of me. To my knowledge, I'm not the one bullying her."
"Bullied? Who's bullying her? Is someone harassing her??" Lee Hoo demanded, his concern evident.
Min Hyuk pointed directly at him. "He is right here. Are you acting stupid?"
"Me?" Lee Hoo asked, genuinely perplexed.
"Yeah, who else? Don't you remember? On our first date, she spent the night working. The poor thing was like a zombie. Weren't you the one who forced her to work that much? And the second time I asked to meet her, you kept following us. She looked so stressed , she couldn't even tell you to leave us alone," Min Hyuk said.
"So you two met only twice?" Lee Hoo thought, realizing that Min Hyuk didn't seem violent or aggressive during those times. "He didn't seem violent or aggressive those times. I was there both times."
"If you don't stop bullying her, I will report you. Understood?" Min Hyuk threatened.
"Hey, I didn't bully her, and I never forced her to work overtime. She did it because she wanted a bonus!" Lee Hoo explained.
"And you were following her to the park?" Min Hyuk accused.
"I never did. She asked me to come!"
"Why would she do that?" Min Hyuk asked, baffled.
"I don't know. You tell me!" Lee Hoo responded.
The two guys continued chatting and drinking their drinks, both confused and trying to piece together what was really going on.
As they parted ways, both men kept wondering what was in Jang Mi's head and why she had pulled them into this drama. Technically, she had never lied to either of them, but she had never explained her reasons either. What could those reasons be anyway?
Lee Hoo kept wondering about that on his way home, glancing at the ticket Jang Mi had given him. "She smiled earlier, and she took the second ticket. So, does she like me too? To be exact, she didn't reject me, but she didn't accept me either. She ran away." he thought.
Min Hyuk, on the other hand, didn't completely believe Lee Hoo. What he said made no sense anyway. While the two men were confused and trying to understand what was going on, Jang Mi was in her own world. She was smiling and giggling, eagerly anticipating telling Seo Ah about what had happened.
The next day, Min Hyuk did go to meet Jang Mi after work.
"Hey there!" Min Hyuk said.
"Oh, what are you doing here?" Jang Mi responded.
"I came to see you."
"Me ?, Why?"
As they started walking along, Min Hyuk told her about what happened yesterday and how he met Lee Hoo. "What bullying? Violence? What were you talking about? I never told you that Lee Hoo was bullying me, and I never told him that you were aggressing me," Jang Mi said.
"Why did you ask him to come with you that day?"
"I have a situation. It's a long story."
"Let me hear it."
"Okay, let's buy some ice cream first. It's hot today," Jang Mi said.
As the two ate their ice cream and sat on chairs in the convenience store, Jang Mi told Min Hyuk her story and her luck theory :
"Wait , I need to understand your luck technique source first," he said, pulling out a red talisman from his pocket. "Do you have something like that?" he asked.
Jang Mi replied surprisingly, "What is that?"
"A famous shaman that my granny knows made this for me. It's supposed to make me super lucky, but I don't know how. Maybe you should help me with that" Min Hyuk responded.
"My luck is different; I was born with it. I heard from my parents that the day I was born, my mom won a year's worth of free diapers. Everything works out fine for me; it's just my love life that's miserable," Jang Mi said.
"So you're telling me you don't need a talisman for that? I'm jealous. You don't have to pay to get your luck like I did. This one was expensive," Min Hyuk said.
Jang Mi started laughing.
"What? Why are you laughing?" Min Hyuk asked.
"It's just that usually people don't believe me and don't believe in things like that. So, I was relieved that I can talk to you like this" Jang Mi responded.
Min Hyuk smiled back and added, "So you're that lucky, but you have bad luck in your love life. I'm still confused about your manager. What does he have to do with that?"
Jang Mi said, "I don't really know why, but I always have bad luck when Lee Hoo is around. But on our first date, things went smoothly, unexpectedly, as Lee Hoo was near us. So, I thought it was because of him. I was curious about going on a second date for the first time, so I asked him to come to our second date so that it would go without problems."
"So you liked me? And you wanted the date to go smoothly?" Min Hyuk asked.
"Actually, I was just curious. I've had so many first dates and never had the chance to go on a second date," Jang Mi replied.
"Having bad luck is always linked to your love life—doesn't that mean that Lee Hoo is also linked to your love life?" Min Hyuk pointed out.
"I guess you're right. I didn't know that before but I guess I like him," Jang Mi admitted.
In the silence that followed that statement, Min Hyuk suddenly shouted, "Ohhh, I won another ice cream! My granny's talisman really worked!"
"What? I bought those ice creams, not you," Jang Mi said, rushing to eat the last piece of her ice cream too, only to see the words "+one free."
"Your luck works just fine. Doesn't that mean we don't need Lee Hoo to have good luck together?" Min Hyuk asked.
"Sorry for misleading you all this time. I really didn't know how I felt before, while you seemed interested," Jang Mi said apologetically.
"The main reason I asked to meet again was because I felt pity for you. My first year as an intern was hell. My boss kept bullying me, and I had a hard time. So I asked to meet you to give you advice and maybe help you, especially after seeing your boss following you. I was concerned, which is why I came to meet you again," Min Hyuk explained.
"If you're really sorry, maybe you should buy me a lottery ticket," Jang Mi joked back at Min Hyuk's playful remark, but his serious demeanor quickly shifted her mood.
"I am serious though, please help me here," he urged.
Realizing the gravity of his request, Jang Mi sighed deeply. She recounted the shaman's words from her childhood, and Min Hyuk's expression turned solemn. "I knew it couldn't be that easy," he murmured, his mind racing with thoughts and possibilities.
Jang Mi kept looking at the ice cream prize she won and said, "It seems like we never had bad luck together in the first place." She looked into Min Hyuk's eyes and then realized, "Maybe you helped with my bad luck with Lee Hoo and not the other way around." She messed her hair and sighed, "I am so confused. What should I do?"
Min Hyuk looked at her with a serious face. "I know exactly what you should do!"
Jang Mi, curious, asked, "What?"
Min Hyuk replied, "You should go to my granny shaman."
Jang Mi gave him a disappointed look.
"I'm serious!" Min Hyuk insisted. "She's always right about my life and never misses. It's not easy to get an appointment there; people come from all over the country to see her."
"Really?" Jang Mi asked, intrigued.
Min Hyuk nodded. "And to prove I'm a good friend, I'll ask my granny to get you an appointment! Just for you."
"A friend? I never had a guy friend before. My feelings and my bad luck always get in the way. It's nice to have a male friend for once," she thought. She smiled and said, "Okay, thank you, friend!"
----
Jang Mi lay on her bed, gazing at the concert ticket, her mind swirling with thoughts of the day, when her phone buzzed with a new message. It was from Lee Hoo: "How are you doing?."
Jang Mi lay on her bed, gazing at the concert ticket, her mind swirling with thoughts of the day, when her phone buzzed with a new message. It was from Lee Hoo: "How are you doing?"
She giggled and started replying, "I am fine, and you? How's your trip going?"
He responded, answering her question and adding, "I've been thinking about you."
Those words made Jang Mi's heart flutter. "I've never felt my heart beat this fast before. My heart is working after all," she thought.
They kept texting, sharing details about their day apart. He sent her pictures of the vibrant city he was visiting, and she asked him about the food. Unfortunately, he hadn't taken pictures of the meals, but he teased, "Next time, I'll make sure to capture every delicious bite just for you." His words made her heart flutter even more.
After their conversation, Lee Hoo couldn't help but smile. Feeling happy and full of hope, he eagerly searched "how to take great pictures of food" to make sure he could share perfect shots with Jang Mi later. As he browsed through tips and tricks, his mind occasionally wandered back to the puzzling conversation he had with Min Hyuk. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to Jang Mi's situation, and he resolved to find out what it was.
Jang mi fell asleep with his words echoing in her mind, feeling happier than ever. That night, she dreamt she was on a date with Lee Hoo, enjoying their time together. Just as they were about to kiss, a bear appeared out of nowhere and started chasing them. They ran for their lives until she noticed that the bear suddenly had Min Hyuk's face and was saying, "It's okay, I will help you, friend!"
She woke up screaming, her heart pounding. "What a weird dream," she muttered to herself. "I should definitely stop eating late dinners."
The next day, Jang Mi was in the office kitchen, trying to prepare a cup of coffee. She recalled the time when Lee Hoo handed her the ticket there, saying, "Then go with me." A smile appeared on her face for a moment. She headed to the water dispenser to sip some water when she felt a tall figure behind her. It was Lee Hoo.
"Hey," he said, his voice soft but unmistakable.
"I thought you were on a business trip," she replied, surprised.
"I hurried back because there's someone I wanted to see," he said, his eyes locking onto hers with a warm intensity.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she couldn't help but smile.
As Jang Mi and Lee Hoo shared a moment, the water dispenser suddenly broke without warning, flooding the kitchen with water. The sound of water spilling and the ensuing chaos attracted the attention of all their coworkers, who rushed in to see what had happened.
In the midst of the surprise and confusion, everyone pitched in to help clean up the mess. Amidst the scramble to control the water and mop the floors, Jang Mi and Lee Hoo were inadvertently separated. Despite the unexpected interruption, Jang Mi couldn't help but feel a strange mix of frustration and amusement at their luck.
She glanced over at Lee Hoo, who was also looking her way. Both of them smiled despite the chaos around them. As everyone headed back to their desks, the bustling office made it impossible for them to talk directly. They communicated silently, their eyes conveying everything they couldn't say aloud.
Lee Hoo, feeling a mix of anticipation and nervousness, sent a text message to Jang Mi: "Should we have dinner together today?" He hoped to go out with her and properly confess his feelings, unable to wait until the concert.
Jang Mi's reply came swiftly: "Sorry, I have plans today. Let's go out tomorrow. There's a place I want to visit with you." Lee Hoo's curiosity peaked. "Where?" he replied. "It's a secret," came her cryptic response. She didn't know how to explain her situation yet and hadn't expected him to come back today. She needed to talk to Seo Ah first, leaving Lee Hoo racing through thoughts. "Does she have a nice place in mind? How nice is this place? Maybe the movies? Or perhaps just coffee for couples?"
On his way out, Lee Hoo missed the elevator that Jang Mi took. Feeling a rush of urgency, he quickly took the next one, hoping to catch up with her.
Determined to catch up with Jang Mi, Lee Hoo hurried towards the company entrance, only to see Jang Mi running towards Min Hyuk. There they were, standing together in front of the company again. "What is he doing here again?" Lee Hoo thought, his heart sinking as he watched the two laughing.
Jealousy bubbled up inside him. "So the plans she talked about were with Min Hyuk," he thought bitterly, his mind racing with doubts and insecurities. He stood there for a moment, torn between confronting them or quietly slipping away.
He stood there, watching Jang Mi and Min Hyuk interact. Amy and another colleague, Nam Gil, stood by his side. "Oh, who's this handsome man?" Amy asked, referring to Min Hyuk.
"Handsome? What are you talking about?" Lee Hoo responded, trying to hide his irritation.
Nam Gil added, "Maybe he's the unlucky intern's boyfriend."
Lee Hoo immediately responded defensively, "No, he is not."
Amy raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure? She's been giggling a lot while texting lately. Maybe she has a boyfriend."
Lee Hoo, feeling a pang of jealousy, shouted nervously, "I said he is not!"
Later, Min hyuk and Jang Mi ended up taking a taxi together, leaving lee hoo in a state of confusion, still thinking about Amy and Jeremy's discussion.