As she walked several meters away from the dumpling stall she exchanged her 500-won at, she could hear the voice of the female auntie calling her names, "You swindler! Please give me back those dumplings! You are nothing and did not come from the Song Dynasty! HOW DARE YOU LIE TO MEEEEE?!"
Yuna's heart suddenly beat fast. She opened the bag that she had and took a whole dumpling in her mouth. It was scorchingly hot; the filling was even hotter that she almost threw it out of her mouth. But because it would be wasted, Yuna just endured it and chewed everything until she could swallow it.
With the bag filled with dumplings on her hand, she tightened her grasp as she took a deep breath.
And just with that, she immediately ran for her life.
It was a chaotic event as if she was in a historical drama where she had committed treason and was about to get chewed off by the local officials.
"You swindler!" The dumpling owner shouted at the top of her lungs. "Help me catch that young woman with a weird attire!"
"Excuse me, coming through!" Yuna spoke as she huffed and puffed against the crowd of people within the market. "Coming through!"
As she tried to run for her dear life, an unknown hand showed up from an alley and grabbed Yuna's right arm. He found herself standing in front of a young male who seemed to be of her age. He had long straight eyebrows, fierce-looking monolid eyes that resembled those of a cat, an L-shaped nose and thick lips. His chubby cheeks made him look adorable, contrary to his sharp jawline.
What captured Yuna's eyes was that he looked pretty tall and had broad shoulders. His forehead was covered with a blue bandana, and his long hair was tied in a topknot. His traditional clothes were combined with blue and green.
Song Yuna had never been fond of boys. Don't get her wrong. She had always been attracted to one, but she never had the time to date. She was so busy attending her lessons and even attending academic classes that she did not have the time to date.
Her usual reaction would be punching this guy in the stomach or face, or even a roundhouse kick would be possible. Yuna learned taekwondo ever since she was a child and definitely had the upper hand to average looking people.
She was about to say something when the male put his index finger on his lips, "Ssh. You do not want to get caught, don't you?"
Yuna met with his gaze, and she became surprised with how close they were with each other. Out of nowhere, she held her breath as she became self-conscious.
"Thanks," This was the only word that came out of her mouth. She took a step backwards away from the handsome young man in front of her when she realized the dumpling owner could not be heard anymore. Sighing in relief, she asked, "Who are you?"
Just when the young man was about to answer her, the dumpling owner stood right up in the alley with her brows furrowed, breathing heavily from all the running she did. "You swindler! Did you really think I am sacrificing my dumplings to give it to you?"
"Run!" The young male yelled as he grabbed Yuna's wrist and started running for their lives.
How did the situation turn into this?
Why did it seem like Yuna dragged an innocent person out of this? It was clearly wrong of her to try to scam that dumpling owner lady to give her the dumplings in exchange for several five hundred won coins. They were real coins; it's just that maybe they have not used this type of currency before.
For some unknown reason, Yuna felt safe with this young man by her side. The place, the people, and even the whole atmosphere were certainly strange for her, but she knew that this young man is a good person just like Rin.
Yuna thought that she could trust him.
After running for several minutes, they found out that they reached a dead end. Unless they could jump over a tall-looking gate, they couldn't get away with it.
Yuna was shocked to see it was not only the dumpling owner who was chasing them, but several stall owners came to the dumpling owner's defense. It was already a significant number of people and no matter how strong they are, it did not seem like they will be able to win against them.
"Excuse me," The young male cleared his throat, but it did not really make any difference to his husky voice. "Aren't you guys trying to corner a pair of young men and women? This is too much! What has happened to the world now?"
"What do you mean that, Min?" The dumpling owner shrieked, calling over the man right next to me. "You are not included in this, and that woman you are trying to protect is a swindler!"
"That's right!" The other merchant owners agreed with what the dumpling lady said. "That young lady is a liar!"
The dumpling owner continued and pointed to Yuna using her index finger, "That young lady claimed that she was from the Song Dynasty!"
This time, Yuna did not let herself get in more trouble. She took a step forward and proudly spoke in Chinese, "Wo ele, gei wo jiaozi."
The Chinese certification she received from all the training she did during her days as a trainee paid off. Yuna expected to showcase her Chinese speaking skills in a concert, not in a situation like this.
But well, she had to. This was the only way out.
The merchants seemed shocked to hear Yuna speaking Chinese and immediately believed that she did come from the Song Dynasty. They became frozen as they watched her in utter amazement.
"Wo xiang anjing de chi jiaozi!" Yuna spoke as if she was enraged with the merchants' acts trying to imply that she was lying.