"So how long have you been writing on Webnovel?"
"Years…"
"Yeah, I see that you have a LOT of novels"
The one-star review girl, whose name I came to learn was Haein, commented over a cup of Flappucino in Moonbucks that she treated me to as an apology. Now that my initial rage had subsided, I felt shy and fidgety in front of this girl again.
"But.. many of them are unfinished"
"Why do you start so many of them and don't finish them?"
"That's just the story of my life, I guess…"
"Maybe you'd do better and build more fan base if you finished them"
"It's kinda discouraging to keep writing when I get 0 collections even after updating daily for weeks"
"Ouch"
"Yes, a big ouch"
"Well, as I said, your covers are pretty cool"
"Thanks"
Awkward.
I've been to this Moonbucks many times before, and I saw the same crowd that I always saw every time I came here.
"Have you come here before? I've never seen you in this place"
I mustered up the courage to continue the conversation.
"No, it's my first time. Do you come here a lot?"
"I guess you could say that"
Well, like fifty times at least.
"Heh, I'm not from here"
"No wonder"
"What do you mean?"
"Let me guess- you are from Busan?"
"Oh wow, how did you know?"
"Your accent…"
"That's amazing! I was doing my best to speak standard Korean"
Only Busan people think their accent is not obvious just because they switch to standard Korean…
I didn't say that of course.
"Erm, I have ears for it. I guess"
"Your hearing's more impressive than your writing"
"Aw, please stop already"
Does this girl have any tact?!
"Sorry, sometimes words just come out of my mouth"
"I can tell that much"
Awkward.
"Anyways, what brings you to Seoul?"
I tried to steer the conversation the other way.
"I was supposed to meet my boyfriend today"
"Supposed to?"
"He canceled while I was on the train"
"That sucks"
"Yeah that sucks big balls"
Rude.
"So what's your plan-"
Oh no, now is about the time-
"Watch out!"
I quickly jumped out of my seat and threw myself between the Busan girl and some ahjumma who was just about to get bumped by another ahjussi passing by.
"Hot! Hot! Hot!!"
The hot coffee spilled on my back as the ahjumma semi-tripped - saved from a full face plant only by domino knocking me onto Haein, whose head I slammed with my chin.
Ah fuck. This is why I always try to avoid this table…
"Oh, I'm sorry!"
The ahjumma apologized but I just waved her off.
You are gonna get stomped to death by the Hell Beast anyway. Justice will be served.
"Aoa…"
Haein was rubbing her head in pain.
"Are you OK?"
"Yeah… are YOU ok?"
"No"
"Did you get burnt?"
"I don't know"
"Let me see"
With that, this tactless girl lifted my shirt from behind to inspect me, exposing my bare back for all to see.
"What the heck are you doing?!"
"It's red. You need to go under cold water quickly. I'll help you"
Haein forcefully grabbed me by the wrist and ran to the bathroom, and once we got there she promptly took off my t-shirts, turned on the tap, and started to splash cold water on my back.
"I'm like… so confused right now"
I muttered, not quite understanding why I was letting this stranger do this to me.
"Is your head OK?", she asked probably thinking I meant I was in a daze.
In a way I was, but not in that way.
"That's not what I meant"
"It doesn't look like a serious burn but your skin's gotten red. Just bear with it a bit"
The cold water did feel soothing though, but then…
"What are you doing?!!!"
I yelled at the weirdo as I found that she was washing my top in the sink.
"Coffee stain's hard to remove unless you wash it straight away. Hang on, I'll sort it out for you"
"What am I supposed to wear now?!!"
"Oh…"
"…"
I covered my chest by crossing my arms and looked away in embarrassment as I realized my cleavage was fully exposed.
"It's OK. We are both girls. And flat is justice"
AARRRRGH!
"Could you please just give me back my T-shirts?"
"We can dry it on the hand drier"
The increasingly catastrophic girl got the brilliant idea only to find that the hand drier wasn't working.
"Not a lucky day for me", she murmured.
"It's ME who's unlucky today"
"Right, sorry. I've been nothing but trouble for you today. I'll make it up to you"
Before I could stop her from putting yet another genius idea into action, she already ran out of the lady's room and promptly returned with her bag.
"Here, you can wear this"
She pulled out clean new t-shirts from her bag and handed them over to me.
"Really? I can wear this?"
"Yeah, go for it. It was my fault after all"
"I won't turn down the offer. Thanks"
Finally, this girl proved to be useful.
I pulled on the T-shirts. It was quite big and loose, but comfortable.
"Great. You look good in it"
She commented as we both stood by the sink and looked into the big mirror in front of us.
"Hey…"
"Yeah?"
"Isn't this like a couple look?!"
"Heh, yeah. It was meant for my boyfriend"
:Facepalm:
Now I was wearing matching stripy t-shirts with the one-star review fucker.
"Anything wrong?"
"No… nothing. Thank you"
What more could I say?
This must be the weirdest October 1st I've ever had.