300 won (~30 cents) per shot!
Lee Hyun checked the prices and chose the cheapest game.
“Mister, please load ten bullets for each of us.”
This time, Jung Hyo Rin took out her own wallet and paid. It was an action that struck Lee Hyun deeply.
‘So she’s a nice girl…’
Jung Hyo Rin raised her pistol with one hand.
“I will shoot first.”
“Okay.”
The bullets Jung Hyo Rin shot missed the plushies exquisitely. Even when they hit a plushie by some chance, it didn’t fall over.
This game was originally like this.
It was a war between the owner and the customers who were recklessly coveting the plushies!
After Jung Hyo Rin’s failure, Lee Hyun didn’t aim for the big plushies.
‘A medium-sized plushie was roughly 780 grams (~1.72 lbs). It’s a weight I’ve felt countless times whenever I sewed eyes onto plushies. It won’t be easy to take it down precisely with a BB-pellet.’
Even if it hit the center of the plushie, the force was not enough.
It was only possible by shooting a barrage.
Since he was throwing away 300 won per shot, Lee Hyun aimed carefully at a small sparrow plushie and knocked it down.
‘Success.’
Lee Hyun planned to give the sparrow plushie to his little sister.
‘Looks like I can brush off this year’s birthday present with this.’
But Jung Hyo Rin snatched the plushie.
“Are you giving this to me?”
“…”
He couldn’t bear to refuse the sparkling eyes and beautiful expression that was asking him to give it to her.
“Y-you can have it.”
“Thank you.”
Jung Hyo Rin embraced the plushie preciously.
The two of them also rode the merry-go-round and watched a play by college students.
On the roof of Korea University’s main building they had the opportunity to see the night view of the city and the festival.
Even when the fireworks were embellishing the sky, Jung Hyo Rin didn’t let go of Lee Hyun’s hand. She didn’t confess her feeling for him; this was her way of conveying what she felt.
Lee Hyun thought, ‘She must really like holding hands.’
* * *
Jung Hyo Rin went up onto a small stage by the lakeside.
It was a shabby stage without much of an audience. There was only one master piano as an instrument.
“Shall we sing a song?” Jung Hyo Rin asked after sitting on the piano’s bench.
Since they were still holding hands, Lee Hyun also sat next to her.
“What song?”
“Any song… please tell me what piece you want. Any song is fine, but a happy piece would be nice. I feel so happy right now, I’m in a good mood.”
Jung Hyo Rin had toured around the world for concerts. With her magical voice, she made 60 thousand people go wild in her concert, and in some socialist countries, crowds of hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the plaza and fully enjoyed the freedom of music.
Although she was charming and shone incomparably bright when she was singing her song, once she left the stage, she went to sleep alone in her lonely hotel room.
Music was her only friend, a means to soothe her emptiness and loneliness. She sang of happiness, but she was actually very lonely after she sang.
She had the feeling that she would be able to sincerely sing happily if she was with Lee Hyun.
“Will you let me hear ‹ Dialogue of Eyes ›?”
Jung Hyo Rin’s debut song was ‹ Dialogue of Eyes ›.
It was also the song Lee Hyun’s little sister liked the most.
It was released when Jung Hyo Rin was still a sixteen-year old high school student, this song became a worldwide hit and she became a star.
Although her subsequent songs received even more love from the public, there were many people who couldn’t forget the ‹ Dialogue of Eyes › a youthful lady had sung.
“I’ll sing it for you. In return… I’ll play with only one hand.”
For reasons, I didn’t want to let go of your hand.
There are no words in this world.
Just us repeating the meaningless murmurs.
Please say what you want to say.
Since I cannot listen.
Jung Hyo Rin’s voice spread out like magic, amply rich and beautiful as it was enveloped in the melody of the slightly lacking piano which she played with one hand.
No gestures allowed.
Dialogues does not exist.
Connections made by the glint of the eyes.
Please show me the light of your eyes.
Earnestness, pain, despair, anger, regret, desire, intimacy, love
Please express all these feelings through your eyes.
A crowd, drawn by the music, walked towards the stage.
They found a place to sit quietly in order to avoid making even a slight disturbance.
Then they pulled out their cellphones and sent texts to their friends.
‘Jung Hyo Rin’s singing on the lake concert stage. Come quickly!’
What shall we choose when we eat.
Please tell me if you’ve eaten well, and where we must go with your eyes.
If we look into each other’s eyes, we can read our feelings.
A world without misunderstandings and distortions.
So I can understand you, your feelings while looking into your eyes, we must make an effort.
Even so, we can never truly understand each other’s thoughts.
Even if you see an action you cannot understand, I can accept it.
Because I may also do the same.
Looking at the light of your eyes is an uncertain vagueness.
They aren’t words without feeling, please illuminate my happiness.
So that I can see myself in your eyes.
Even for just a short while, don’t divert your eyes from my face.
One heart in one glance.
Please illuminate my heart.
The closer your shining eyes are, the better.
As ever, she sang with a magical voice.
She wasn’t the youthful high school student she had been, but a woman who was now learning to truly love.
The magical voice did not convey sadness and grief, but was weeping to be taught about love.
If hard words cannot make the heart quiver.
Then, I want to speak with the light of my eyes.
Hear the sound of your eye’s voice.
Because it will furrow far more deeply into your heart.
I will be able to convey what words cannot.
Speak with your eyes.
I want to see the light in your eyes.
Jung Hyo Rin did not look at the piano.
She looked at the Lee Hyun who was sitting right next to her, as she sang with her sparkling obsidian eyes.