“Huk, huek, heuk, huek!”
I pedaled the bicycle like crazy.
00 : 05 : 31
It was because of the time limit flowing away helplessly. The date with Joel ended earlier than expected, but the party location was much farther than I thought. I should have just called an Uber! It was too late to regret it now.
↑
I turned the bicycle’s front according to the system’s guidance, which had now become half a navigation system. And only after pedaling until my lungs felt like they would burst could I finally arrive. People were bustling about. They said it was the house of one of the band members. After roughly parking my bicycle, I ran toward that place.
“Heu, heuk! I’m here!”
00 : 04 : 19
Even though I’d clearly arrived at the location, the time limit kept decreasing. I glared at the changing numbers, then turned my body around. It seemed I needed to find David.
I pushed through the swarming crowd in the yard and finally managed to enter the house. And as I looked around to find David, someone suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“Oh, who are you? I don’t know your face.”
It was a tall guy with a ring piercing in the middle of his lip. He had fairly handsome looks, but because my eyes had gotten picky from dealing with David and Joel, that face didn’t feel particularly special. I shook off that hand. Who does he think he is, grabbing my wrist without permission? I’m in a rush to death. But this time—grab!—my forearm was seized.
“I said who are you? Whose invitation did you come with? Ah, what does it matter. Do you have a lover by any chance? Huh? Or want to go do something like this together?”
The guy covered one side of his nose and made a motion like he was inhaling something. Even though I’m an ordinary teenager who grew up in South Korea, I know what that means. This bastard’s a druggie!
I tried to quickly shake off that touch again, but as he persistently grabbed me again, it almost became a physical struggle. I pushed away that bastard trying to grab me, and that bastard tried to grab me. And after that tug-of-war repeated several times, as if getting angry, that guy crumpled his face.
“Fuck, who are you to be here…!”
“Rob.”
“…Ah.”
The expression of the man spewing harsh curses changed instantly. He was staring blankly only at my back with slightly wide eyes. When I slowly turned around, I saw a familiar face smiling gently. Ding! Only then did the time limit stop and the system window disappear.
“David.”
**<David Evans’s Party Invitation>**
**You have accepted David Evans’s party invitation!**
**Please attend without being late!**
**Attend within the time limit without being late [Success!]**
**【※Reward: David Evans’s affection 15♥※】**
**NEW!**
**’David Evans’s affection has increased by 15!**
“Yeah. You came just in time, July. I was about to go out to look for you in case you got lost.”
“No. I came straight here without getting lost.”
Before I knew it, the guy called ‘Rob’ had slipped away, and David stretched his arm around my waist area, leading me deep inside the house. And after sitting me on the sofa and sitting side by side in the next seat, he frowned slightly toward me.
“You must have come in a hurry. You have sweat on your forehead…”
David, who picked up a napkin from the table in front of the sofa, quickly began wiping the sweat on my forehead. His movements were so swift I couldn’t even point it out. I just rolled my eyes awkwardly and embarrassedly, then belatedly snatched the napkin from David’s hand.
“I came in a bit of a rush because I was afraid I’d be late.”
“Did you enjoy the movie with your friend?”
David, who had been holding the napkin and now lightly clenched and unclenched his empty hand, asked with a smiling face. Did I enjoy the movie? Actually, it was the worst and a mess. The other party was actually a ‘date partner,’ not a ‘friend.’ But since there was no need to inform David of all those circumstances, I smiled brightly.
“Yeah, I did.”
“What did you see?”
“50 First Dates.”
I roughly said one movie title I’d seen on the screening schedule. Was it because of my messy ‘first date’? It was a title that remained clearly in my memory. Then pfft! David burst out laughing.
“You saw quite a cute movie?”
“Yeah, they really did have 50 first dates.”
Since it was a movie I’d never seen, I roughly wrapped up the topic and flapped my shirt, acting like I was tired. No, I actually was tired too.
“Is there anything to drink here by any chance? I came in such a rush I’m exhausted.”
“Sure. I’ll get you something. Wait just a moment.”
After David got up from his seat and disappeared into the crowd, I waited, then opened my status window. Even though I felt like my soul was escaping due to the frantically flowing situation, I needed to organize the situation well in my head.
**<Status Window>**
**【Quest】**
**1. Get the broadcasting rights for Season 2 of ‘Pizza Saver’!**
**2. Make 3 people with affection 55♥ or higher [2/3]**
**【Rotten Pineapple】**
**Currently [58]%**
**◈ High-teen: 100%**
**◈ Romance: 29%**
**◈ Queer: 24%**
It was fairly smooth. I’d raised the Rotten Pineapple index with the date earlier, and I’d already achieved affection 55 or higher with two people. If I gathered just one more person, it would be a success!
Feeling good, I was giggling and fanning myself with my hand when suddenly something cold touched my cheek. Startled, I raised my head and my eyes met David’s as he smiled brightly.
“Drink. It’s cola.”
“Cherry flavored?”
“No, just Zero Cola. You didn’t seem to like cherry flavor much?”
Plop, David, who sat back down in the seat next to me, opened the cola can in his hand while smiling playfully. That one was cherry flavored. So he knew I didn’t like cherry flavor from before. He had an unexpectedly delicate side.
The cola David brought was extremely cold and had strong carbonation, so after gulping it down, my entire throat stung and I suffered. After coughing for a while, I drank the water David brought me and barely came to my senses.
“But when does the performance start?”
Embarrassed about choking, I pointlessly talked about something else. Then David suddenly got up from his seat and held out his hand to me.
“Hey, Alice. Won’t you go to the labyrinth?”
“…Are you the White Rabbit? And the White Rabbit should say ‘I’m late, I’m late!'”
Instead of taking David’s hand, I supported myself on the armrest of the sofa and stood up. David, for some reason, smirked like a sulking child, then soon led me somewhere. It wasn’t that far, and it was too embarrassing to call it a grand ‘labyrinth’ like David said. It was right downstairs, the basement.
“Wow.”
The basement was decorated just like a club. The dim space was barely brightened with colored lights, and one headlight was illuminating a corner of the space, where there was a stage-like raised level difference. A standing microphone and drums were also placed there. Naturally, I could tell that place was a performance stage for the band.
“Let’s go.”
David, who had grabbed my wrist, pushed through the kids. I didn’t know how popular this band was, but I could tell their connections were tremendous.
The house was quite spacious, but it felt cramped because there were so many people. I struggled through the people, being careful not to bury my face in the armpits of sweaty guys. And finally, only after passing one large-bodied girl could I arrive at the very front row.
“They compose too, and all their songs are good. Really.”
David leaned toward me and whispered. As if a loud performance was in progress. When the only music coming from this place was an alarm from someone’s iPhone.
“Then when does it start?”
“Start? We just do it right away.”
David, who pulled up both corners of his mouth like a mischievous child, jumped up onto the stage and grabbed the microphone.
“Ah, ah. Mic test. Ah, ah.”
Screech! After making an unpleasant sound for a moment, the microphone properly transferred David’s voice to the speakers, and everyone’s gaze turned to the stage. Even though quite a lot of people were looking only at him, David said leisurely with a smiling face.
“Not everyone here is a fan of this damn band. You were all probably recruited from somewhere. ‘Please come to the performance, please, pleeeease!’ Like this, each member begged until this many people gathered here, right?”
Hahahaha! Laughter burst out from here and there. David continued speaking while slowly walking back and forth on the stage like someone doing stand-up comedy or a talk show.
“These slowpoke lazy friends haven’t come down yet even though it’s time. So I came up on stage like this to soothe your boredom… What would be a good method?”
Someone shouted, “Take off your clothes, clothes!” Then David furrowed his brow slightly.
“Oh my, trying to undress a 16-year-old! Someone report that person quickly!”
Again, puhahaha! Everyone burst out laughing.
“Then to introduce this band, my longtime friend Dave. Yes. My name is David, and my nickname is Dave, but this friend is just Dave. So we call him ‘Deb.’ It’s a band Deb made. Deb has been really noisy since childhood. To an extremely tiring degree. So maybe that’s why he ended up doing a band like this. You all know the band’s name, right?”
Everyone around raised their voices and shouted, “Red Lemon!” David chuckled.
“Isn’t it really childish? Red Lemon! But you know what? Deb’s dead dogs’ names were Red and Lemon. Let’s not mock it too much. For our lovely bulldog Red and chihuahua Lemon.”
David, who had been continuing to speak on stage like a relaxed host, seemed to discover something and smiled brightly toward somewhere. And after clearing his voice with ahem, ahem, he spoke in a much louder voice.
“Now, the lazy bums have finally come! Then everyone, please welcome them with applause and boos! It’s Red Lemon!”
Clap clap clap, boooo! When applause and boos burst out simultaneously, David threw the microphone somewhere. The microphone, which I thought would fall to the floor and make an unpleasant sound, was unexpectedly caught stably in someone’s hand and loudly transmitted that person’s voice.
“Everyone stop the boos! Cheer!”
Whether he was the vocalist, that person naturally stood in the very front, in front of the standing microphone, inserted the microphone there, and induced people’s response. Meanwhile, I stood next to David who had come down from the stage and waited until the band finished preparing. Fortunately, they didn’t make us wait long.
