Episode 61

Su Jin felt all his hair stand on end when he heard Ye Yun’s voice. He would never forget how Tang Ning had essentially forced him to accompany Ye Yun to go bungee jumping. But there was no way he was doing that. He might have been really calm in the face of danger during the Handbook Challenges, but his fear of heights was something he had yet to overcome.

“My dear cousin, are you going to keep your promise or not?” hissed Ye Yun.

“I…I am!” Su Jin didn’t sound very sure. But he had already put this off for a month and Ye Yun was clearly losing patience.

Kano Mai couldn’t help but put a hand over her mouth to laugh when she saw the stiffened expression on Su Jin’s face. After consuming that body strengthening elixir, she could hear what Ye Yun was saying over the phone since she was sitting so close by.

“Okay, fine. Where are you now? I’ll meet you there.” Su Jin saw Kano Mai laughing at him, so he grew indignant and decided to go ahead in a bid to save his pride.

“I’ll see you at Amusement Valley! If you dare to stand me up…you’ll experience the full spectrum of horrors a young lady can unleash!” Ye Yun threatened Su Jin.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there.” Su Jin hung up with a sigh, then glared at Kano Mai who was still laughing at him.

She ignored his glaring and said cheekily, “Your girlfriend?”

“I…wish she were, but given our situation, I think it’s better not to get into a relationship. That would only hurt the other party,” said Su Jin with a big sigh. He did like Ye Yun very much. He had felt that way since he met her the first time.

But so what? Should he fall for her, make her fall for him, then suddenly disappear forever sometime in the future and let her live in pain for the rest of her life?

As long as he was still under the Handbook’s control, he felt that his future was bleak and uncertain. It was better to just hide his feelings than to pursue this relationship. That would be better for everyone.

Kano Mai looked at Su Jin strangely and said, “Your logic is really weird!”

“Wha-? Why?” Su Jin was surprised by her remark.

“It’s true that we’re all under the curse of the Handbook and we might die anytime. But even if you weren’t chosen by the Handbook, would you be able to guarantee what will happen tomorrow?”

“Life is uncertain in the first place. Success and failure in life is uncertain. Falling in love is uncertain. When and how you die is also uncertain. You can’t possibly become like a duckling that hides in its mother’s embrace all day just because you don’t know what tomorrow holds. So instead of worrying or escaping, why don’t you give it a shot?”

“I might not be as good at analyzing Challenges as you are, but when it comes to facing up to your own emotions, I think you need to take a few pointers from me!” Kano Mai said a lot, but everything she said made Su Jin think more deeply.

“Even if…even if I end up dying next month, I should pursue this relationship?” Su Jin asked after a long period of silence as he looked up at Kano Mai.

“That’s right. Why would you want to die with regrets? Also, how weak do you think we women are? So many couples break up every day in the world. As long as you’re prepared beforehand, it’s going to be just fine!” said Kano Mai as she nodded very seriously.

“As long as you’re prepared beforehand? What do you mean?” Su Jin couldn’t understand. How did one prepare for a breakup?

Kano Mai shook her head disappointedly and sighed. “Why do you seem so obtuse when it comes to such things?”

“Hey, I’m your team leader, you know? I have pride too!”

“So? Do you care more about your pride? Or do you want some pointers?”

“I’m sorry, Mai-senpai! Please teach me your ways!” Su Jin didn’t have a problem with putting his pride aside after being a low ranked employee for so many years.

Kano Mai was appeased when she saw that Su Jin was contrite and said, “It’s very simple, actually. You just have to record a voice message or write an email that states the reason for breaking up clearly, then set it to send at a certain time. If you don’t survive the next Challenge, this message will be sent to her automatically. Make sure the content is as awful as possible and I guarantee you that she will just assume that you were nothing more than a douchebag and she won’t miss you.”

“It sounds like a good idea, but…why do I feel like it’s not a nice thing to do?” Su Jin looked reluctant as he said, “I’d have died with no regrets, but she…”

Kano Mai rolled her eyes at him and snapped, “Fine! Do it your way then! The team leader of Team Boning Knife is a man of principle! A man who doesn’t let women down! Sure! Carry on this one-sided relationship then! Goodbye!”

She pushed him all the way out of the house and slammed the door shut behind him. He grumbled, “Hey, this is MY house!”

Su Jin found Ye Yun very quickly once he got to the amusement park. She seemed to sparkle brightly like a diamond and attracted attention everywhere. Besides her good looks and the way she carried herself, the things she did certainly drew a lot of additional attention.

When he found her, she was swinging a large hammer around at a booth that was supposed to measure one’s strength. A large group had already gathered around the booth to watch, since this young lady was just swinging the hammer about like she was part of an acrobatic troupe and everyone was just cheering her on. Su Jin felt that if she placed a bowl on the ground in front of herself, someone would throw a few coins in for sure.

“Miss, are you going to play or not?!” The person manning the booth was almost going insane. This large hammer weighed more than 10 kilograms and Ye Yun was swinging it about like it only weighed 10 grams, so the man knew that he was definitely going to end up having to give her a big prize once she slammed that hammer down. But instead of just getting it over and done with and allowing someone else to play the game, Ye Yun just held onto the hammer and entertained the crowd. The man looked more like he was about to have a heart attack.

“That’s quite enough, cousin!” Su Jin grabbed hold of the hammer from behind Ye Yun and took it away from her.

“Hey! I haven’t played the game yet!”

“You can play again next time!”

Su Jin pulled Ye Yun away from the booth and the man breathed a huge sigh of relief. But the crowd was very unhappy and kept yelling at Su Jin for taking Ye Yun away.

He got so annoyed by their clamoring that he spun around and slammed the hammer down on the machine. A piece of metal from the top of the machine was instantly sent flying out because Su Jin had brought the hammer so hard, the indicator broke through the top of the machine.

Everyone instantly fell silent. Su Jin ignored them and dragged Ye Yun away from them. And since Su Jin had actually turned up to go bungee jumping, Ye Yun couldn’t complain too much either.

“You’ve been putting this off again and again. Is it because you’re afraid of heights?” Su Jin’s expression when he was first told to accompany her bungee jumping and the way he had avoided her for a month helped her to reach this conclusion quite easily.

He nodded sadly. “That’s right. I’m afraid of heights.”

“Oh! Then…we’ll just do it fewer times than I had originally planned.”

“Wait, what?! You’re going to do it more than once?!”

“Of course! It wasn’t easy to get this chance, you know? I’m going to jump to my heart’s content!” said Ye Yun matter-of-factly.

Half an hour later, the two of them stood atop a bungee jumping platform with a safety harness around each of their bodies. After the staff went through the usual questions to make sure they were good to go, the staff took a step back.

“Time to jump!” Ye Yun excitedly called out to Su Jin, then leaped off the platform with hesitation.

Su Jin had no choice but to jump off the platform as well. But because he was really scared, he paused at the edge of the platform, shut his eyes and threw himself off the platform a little too hard.

Craaaacck!

“Crap!” Su Jin heard the sound of something breaking and his heart sank. He had pushed himself off the platform too hard, so the safety rope and part of the platform itself had broken off from the force.

“Oh no!”

The staff on the platform immediately gasped in horror. Such a thing had never happened before. The bungee jumping platform and equipment were all specially made and were extremely durable, so it was impossible for anyone to break it like this.

Su Jin went plunging at high speed and he fainted shortly after he had heard the sound of the platform breaking. He wasn’t afraid of dying – he had fainted more from his fear of heights compounded by the sound of the safety equipment breaking.

When he regained consciousness, he realized that Ye Yun was hugging him. But she was hugging him because the staff was now pulling them back to safety with Ye Yun’s safety harness.

“Oh, you’ve woken up? I think you’d better close your eyes again, otherwise you’re going to faint from fear again,” said Ye Yun as she quickly used a hand to cover his eyes.

“I’m…I’m okay, I…don’t feel so scared anymore.” Su Jin blushed crimson red because while Ye Yun was on the skinny side, she had quite a full bosom. Hanging off her body with her chest against his made his heart pound wildly.

Ye Yun didn’t seem to notice anything amiss and only let go of him after they had been safely pulled back up again. The staff kept apologizing to Su Jin and assumed that it was their equipment that was of poor quality, so they insisted on compensating Su Jin.

Su Jin was rather embarrassed because he knew very well why the equipment broke like that. It was actually his own fault, so he felt bad accepting any compensation.

The management of the amusement park was very grateful that Su Jin wasn’t going to pursue this matter, so they decided to cover Su Jin and Ye Yun’s expenses for the day and also let them stay at the attached hotel’s presidential suite for the night.

Su Jin wasn’t sure if he ought to laugh or cry at their insistence. So, even though he still felt bad for them, he decided to accept their kind offer.

Ye Yun’s eyes instantly lit up when she heard that their expenses at the park were going to be covered and got ready to make Su Jin accompany her on every ride possible.

“Wait…presidential suite? Did the staff think we’re a couple?” Su Jin’s imagination ran wild after the manager handed him the key card to the hotel’s presidential suite.