Black Candy

I glanced at the system and let out a sigh.

“This time, I’ll say thank you. Thanks for snapping me out of it.”

[TIP! Excessive affection gain does not help gameplay.]

“…You said this was a dating simulation, so why is raising affection suddenly not helpful?”

At my incredulous question, the system fell silent, as if hiding itself.

The tip telling me to take relationships all the way, only to suddenly warn me to control affection, was absurd, but the system wasn’t wrong.

He was a man who appeared alongside other men whose identities I didn’t even know.

No matter how innocent he seemed, I couldn’t afford to let my guard down.

The moment I steeled myself like that, time, which had been frozen, began to move again.

“That’s….”

Hyeon Jaeyul was looking straight at me with a resolute gaze.

I cut off the voice he was about to continue with and spoke with a smiling face.

“I was just saying it.

You already have people you’re traveling with, and I’m more comfortable living alone in the bunker.

I’m not planning to be with anyone.”

“…Doya.”

“Forget what I just said.”

I cut him off coldly.

It probably looked ridiculous, me making a suggestion and then immediately taking it back, but I didn’t care.

“You don’t even remember me anyway.”

“That’s….”

When I muttered bluntly, Hyeon Jaeyul’s face fell into desolation.

I’d expected that someone who seemed easygoing by nature wouldn’t be able to treat lightly a woman he’d been physically involved with, but I hadn’t thought it would be this bad.

I pulled the corners of my lips up and put on a smile.

“This was just something I said, too. You don’t remember, so what can you do?”

I pulled on clothes that still felt unpleasant against my skin, even though the traces of soot were gone.

[Scorch Marks (20/100)]

When I checked the system, I could see the scorch marks had decreased significantly.

The balloon, the handkerchief, getting swept up in this dream, me getting stained with scorch marks… and what was left after that?

Judging by the fact that Hyeon Jaeyul hadn’t disappeared from in front of me, there had to be something nearby.

As I started to sit up, I swallowed a laugh at the sight of him hurriedly turning his head away, and then I noticed something.

Something was bulging out under the top covering his lower body.

No, “bulging” wasn’t right. It looked more like a pocket.

A small, round shape was sticking out where a pocket would be.

I didn’t hesitate and reached out.

Hyeon Jaeyul flinched briefly at my movement but didn’t stop me.

When I shoved my hand into the pocket, something crinkly brushed against my fingers.

“Candy?”

Hyeon Jaeyul muttered blankly when he saw what I’d pulled out.

He frowned slightly, as if it were something that had no business coming out of his pocket.

[TIP! This is the final memory artifact. This artifact can remove scorch marks through ‘consumption’.]]

Seeing the system window pop up over his frown, I scrunched my own brows hard.

‘How am I supposed to eat something like this?’

The candy was pitch-black.

Wrapped in black packaging, the round candy looked like something no one would ever want to put in their mouth.

“Give it here.”

“Huh? Why?”

Hyeon Jaeyul, who had been staring at the candy resting in my hand, spoke first.

He reached out and absentmindedly closed his hand over the one holding the candy.

He stood there blankly with his fist clenched, and then our eyes met.

Hyeon Jaeyul’s neat eyebrows shot up.

“Your hands’ll get dirty. Give it here.”

Ah….

Hyeon Jaeyul was really a strange one.

Built like a bear, yet delicate and gentle at heart.

To someone like me, who’d lived through the end of the world and been betrayed by others more times than I could count, he was far too dangerous.

His indifferent eyes held a docile light.

I liked eyes like that, and I hated them.

…People with eyes like that disappear too quickly. I hated that.

[This artifact can remove scorch marks through ‘consumption’.]

Alternating my gaze between his eyes and the system, I sighed and opened my hand.

I pulled apart the packaging, blackened with scorch marks, peeling it open from both sides.

Contrary to my faint hope that only the wrapper would be scorched, a pitch-black candy pellet revealed itself.

‘If only Hyeon Jaeyul were just a little more of a bad person.’

After staring at the black candy, I popped it into my mouth in one go.

“…Doya!”

Startled by my impulsive act, Hyeon Jaeyul raised his voice sharply.

He didn’t need to shout.
I could hear him just fine.

Frowning at the ringing in my ears, I made a show of covering them.

Hyeon Jaeyul reached out and grabbed my cheek with one hand.

I barely managed to endure the pressure of his hand pushing, trying to force the candy back out.

“Why would you eat something like that? Spit it out. Now.”

I shook my head and pulled his hand away with the one that had been covering my ear.

“I’m eating it.”

The words came out slurred because the candy was bigger than I’d expected.

“So I can get out.”

And once I actually tasted it, it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. It tasted like plain milk.

A flavor completely mismatched with its color.

Hyeon Jaeyul’s expression, caught in my grasp, still hadn’t softened.

With a serious face, he said,

“If someone has to do that, I’ll do it. Spit it out.”

He opened his free hand and held it out in front of my mouth, urging me to spit it out.

“This is where I’m trapped. I don’t know how you got in, but you were just dragged along.

So if there’s anything that helps me get out, that’s something I should do.”

His tone was blunt, but the point was clear.

Better him than someone else getting hurt.

It was a remarkably selfless thought.

If he weren’t the kind of person to say things like that, I would’ve shoved the candy straight into his mouth myself.

I really hate righteous people.

People like that make me move when I don’t want to.

‘Seriously hate it.’

I jutted out my lips in displeasure and shook my head.

Frowning, he grabbed my cheek again, clearly trying to make me spit it out, but the moment he put strength into his hand, I exaggeratedly welled up with tears, my eyes going glossy.

If I put my mind to it, I could cry buckets in under five seconds.

The moment I started to sniffle, Hyeon Jaeyul recoiled in shock, pulling his hand away and fidgeting helplessly.

He was too easy to handle, which somehow made him hard to handle.

Because he moved exactly the way I wanted, I ended up being the one to step forward.

The look on his face as he stood there with his hands half-raised hardened in the next moment.

It was the look of someone who’d made a decision.

‘What’s with him now?’

As I tilted my head in confusion, a large hand grabbed the back of my head.

The palm against my nape pulled me toward him.

Then our awkwardly parted lips met.

Ah, damn.

‘Come to think of it, he was the one who kissed first.’

It was my mistake not to realize so quickly that this was an option.

What slipped past my lips invaded easily.

“Mm….”

I let out a whine that was closer to irritation, but Hyeon Jaeyul ignored it without hesitation.

In his gaze, locked with mine, there was only a single-minded determination to take what was inside me.

Before long, the candy was stolen from me.

“If there’s something that needs to be done, tell me.”

“It was something I could do.”

“You didn’t look like you wanted to eat it.”

How did you even figure that out?

Still wearing a blunt expression, Hyeon Jaeyul wiped near my lips as he spoke.

I must’ve made it pretty obvious how much I didn’t want to eat it.

The sight of his cheek puffed out slightly as he tucked the candy to one side of his mouth was strangely amusing.

I laughed hollowly and replied,

“Fine.
Do whatever you want.”

“Okay.”

Hyeon Jaeyul nodded, completely unbothered by my sarcastic tone.

He was seriously annoying.

[Scorch Marks 0/100]

[All scorch marks have been removed.]

[The true form of Hidden Field ‘Blue Forest’ is revealed.]

[Sub Scenario ‘Hyeon Jaeyul – 1. Scorch Marks’ has been completed.]

[Event occurrence probability with character ‘Hyeon Jaeyul’ has increased.]

[TIP …The more verbal abuse, criticism, and coercion you direct at target ‘Hyeon Jaeyul’, the more it will help scenario progression.]

What is it saying now?

My face twisted as I checked the contents of the tip that appeared looking oddly dejected, even though his affection had clearly gone up.

‘Doing that would tank affection instantly.
There’s no way it would help.’

I decided that from now on, I’d filter the tips the system fed me in the Hidden Field.

I definitely couldn’t take them at face value.

That aside, I’d finally met the conditions to escape the Hidden Field.

The forest no longer held even a trace of its original gloom.

Dew sparkled on green leaves, and sunlight streamed down between the trees, rippling across the forest floor like waves.

In a place where everything had seemed dead and silent, birds began to chirp and insects to hum.

I only took a moment to take in the scenery.

[You may exit the Hidden Field.]

[Would you like to exit?]

The system appeared, breaking my reverie.

I sighed and nodded.

Yeah, I’m leaving. I’m leaving!

***

“Imagination really does help.”

“It’s already become ‘tomorrow’!”

“It would’ve become ‘tomorrow’ anyway.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“‘Today’ can’t last forever.”

“Fair enough.”

***

“Oh, you’re awake?”

Jeong Iheon’s voice reached my ears before I even opened my eyes.

And before I could open them, I found myself in serious trouble.

“…What is this?”

I could feel hands pulled behind my back, and the texture of cloth binding my wrists.

Why am I tied up?

‘You rotten bastards…!’

Still reeling from the aftermath of the dream, I forgot for a moment to put on an act.

I barely swallowed the curse that was about to spill from my mouth and blinked innocently.

Whatever had happened while I was asleep, the men were lined up in front of me, glaring.

“She stayed quiet even with her hands tied. Guess she’s the type who sleeps really deeply.”

Jeong Iheon said with a chuckle.

“Does it hurt?”

He asked gently, feigning concern.

The warmth of the question, completely out of place in this situation, made my blood boil.

More than fear, rage flooded my head.