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“I’ll wash and clean them properly and return them to you.”

Seol-hee made the offer without thinking.

She really wanted to do at least this much.

She could not repay the man who had saved her, and she had even ruined his expensive-looking shoes. The guilt felt heavy in her heart.

The man suddenly narrowed his eyes and stared at her.

When she felt his gaze, something came to Seol-hee’s mind.

She quickly shook her head.

“I’m not trying to hit on you… I mean, you’ve helped me twice, and I can’t do anything to thank you. I’m really innocent. I promise.”

Seol-hee opened her eyes wide, looking unfairly accused.

“Who said anything?”

The man gave a small laugh, as if she was the one misunderstanding him.

“Ah, well… I was just worried you might misunderstand me. You’re so good-looking…”

She was nervous, so the words came out before she could stop them.

Seol-hee bit her lower lip.

“Then, shall we go?”

He stood up.

Seol-hee blinked.

“Where?”

Yi-hyeok looked down at his shoes.

“If I give you my shoes now, I’ll have to walk barefoot. I have another pair of shoes in my car.”

“Oh, okay. Then let’s go.”

Yi-hyeok walked ahead, and Seol-hee followed him.

After walking a few steps, he noticed that he could no longer hear her footsteps. He stopped and looked back.

Someone from one of the booths that was still open had grabbed Seol-hee and was trying to sell her handmade couple items.

Seol-hee looked uncomfortable and waved both hands.

“We’re not a couple.”

Yi-hyeok silently watched her until she managed to get away from the booth and started walking again.

The loud music and cheers from the festival continued around them.

Then a familiar song started playing.

It was O.I.O’s survival-show song, which had become famous ten years ago as one of those songs that students were told not to listen to before the college entrance exam.

How can such a cheerful song be about desperately asking people to vote for you?

Before she knew it, Seol-hee was humming along.

She only realized she had been singing when she saw the man trying to hide his smile.

What’s wrong with me?

Now she understood why the song was called a “forbidden exam song.”

They continued walking quietly.

Seol-hee could smell the man’s perfume.

The closer she got to him, the stronger the scent became. It made her feel strangely relaxed.

After walking for a while, they arrived at an outdoor parking lot far away from the central grass field.

“I parked far away because there weren’t many parking spaces because of the festival. Aren’t your legs tired?”

“I’m fine.”

Seol-hee quickly shook her head.

Compared to everything that had happened, tired legs were nothing.

“Come to think of it.”

The man’s eyes moved toward Seol-hee’s shoes as he stood in front of a black sedan.

“Your sneakers look worse than my shoes.”

He looked sadly at her wet sneakers.

Seol-hee’s white sneakers had stepped directly into the muddy water on the central lawn. They were now covered in dark gray mud.

She looked down at them and tried to act as if she was fine.

“It’s okay. They’re just sneakers. I can wash them.”

She waved her hand as if it were nothing.

“More importantly, the shoes…”

She tried to change the subject and quietly remind him about his shoes.

The worried look disappeared from his face, and he opened the trunk.

Yi-hyeok looked down at his shoes for a moment.

Then, without saying anything, he took out a pair of slippers from the car and changed into them.

He put his shoes into a paper bag and handed the bag to Seol-hee.

“I don’t know if this is okay.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her.

He simply felt a little strange about handing his shoes to her.

But if he refused, she would probably feel even more uncomfortable.

And, secretly, he also wanted to see her again at least once.

“Just trust me.”

Seol-hee was so serious and determined that Yi-hyeok couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

At that moment, Seol-hee was holding the shoes, but she was worried about something else.

How am I supposed to contact him?

She glanced at the man.

She was worried he might think she was trying to get close to him, so she felt awkward about asking for his phone number first.

So instead, she decided to give him hers.

“I’ll give you my phone number.”

“Okay. Just a moment.”

He reached for the phone in his pants pocket, then suddenly stopped.

“Ah.”

Yi-hyeok hesitated.

The phone numbers of the high school students who had helped Seol-hee before were actually saved on his phone.

The last digits were unusual, so she might remember them.

More importantly, if he had saved her number, it could cause more trouble later.

A short silence passed.

“Wait a moment.”

Yi-hyeok went to the driver’s seat, took out a small piece of paper and a pen, and handed them to Seol-hee.

“Write it down. I’ll contact you.”

Seol-hee accepted them with a confused expression.

Don’t people usually exchange phone numbers using their phones?

Perhaps because of her suspicious look, the man quickly gave an excuse.

“I left my phone at home.”

“Oh, okay.”

Seol-hee wrote down her phone number and handed the paper back to him.

Now that she had his shoes, she didn’t know what else to say.

Unable to stand the awkward silence, she said goodbye first.

“Then I’ll go now. Please contact me.”

The man simply nodded once.

Seol-hee turned around awkwardly and started walking away.

For some reason, she felt as if someone was staring at the back of her head.

With every step, water came up from the wet insoles of her sneakers.

But she didn’t have time to care about how uncomfortable they felt.

Her thoughts were focused on the man she had left behind.

The music from the concert was still beating loudly in the distance.

The black sedan passed by her.

She couldn’t see inside because of the dark tinted windows.

Seol-hee looked down at the shoes inside the paper bag.

“I should have some leather cleaner at home.”

With that thought, she continued toward home.

At the same time.

Yi-hyeok watched Seol-hee through the side mirror.

Even after turning the corner and losing sight of her, he kept looking in her direction.

That Evening

After returning home, Seol-hee scanned the recommendation letter Professor Kim had given her along with the résumé she had already prepared.

She immediately submitted her application.

It had been a little rushed, but she was glad she had managed to meet the deadline.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly.

Even after submitting the application, Seol-hee couldn’t easily fall asleep.

She had been tossing and turning for so long that, when she looked at the clock, more than two hours had already passed.

The man’s face from the university kept appearing in her mind.

“Why does he feel so familiar?”

She had felt the same thing when she first met him in the main building.

There was definitely something familiar about him.

It was strange.

Even if she had only passed by him before, a man with such a memorable face should have stayed in her memory.

But she couldn’t remember him at all.

“Where have I seen him before?”

Since they had attended the same university, perhaps she had seen him while walking around campus.

But it had been more than ten years. There was no way she could remember everything from that time immediately.

Still, she couldn’t give up.

A memory seemed to be hiding just below the surface of her mind.

It felt like it was about to appear, but then disappeared again.

“Ah… I’m going to stay awake all night.”

At this rate, she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

As a last resort, she pulled the blanket all the way over her head.

But that didn’t last long either.

She threw off the blanket and stared at the ceiling.

“Where did I see him?”

Shinwol Foundation Interview Day

“Perfect.”

Seol-hee stood in front of the full-length mirror and carefully checked her appearance in her neat suit.

One week had passed since she submitted her application.

Then she received the news that she had passed the document screening.

She was so happy that she even jumped around in excitement.

It was only the first step, but considering how many times she had failed before, this opportunity was extremely precious to her.

In her new life, one of the things that gave her the most energy was simply having a chance to try again.

When she had been trapped in a life like a prison and used as a scapegoat, she had never even dreamed of having an opportunity like this.

That was why she treasured every moment.

Of course, she was nervous enough to make her whole body shake.

“You can do this. Don’t be nervous, Woo Seol-hee.”

She gave herself a strong pep talk and opened the shoe cabinet.

But her confident expression immediately disappeared.

A pair of men’s shoes was sitting on the top shelf.

On the day she went to the university to get the recommendation letter, that man had helped her twice.

Because of the sudden accident, she could have been seriously hurt.

Even in that dangerous situation, he had helped her.

She was extremely grateful.

Since she had no way to repay him immediately, she had made an offer that her old self would never have made.

Fortunately, the shoes were now perfectly clean.

All she had to do was wait for him to contact her.

But several days had passed, and there was still no message from him.

“…Am I Cinderella?”

The shoes were obviously made of high-quality leather, so she had assumed they were expensive.

But when she looked at the logo inside, she realized they were luxury-brand shoes.

They were so expensive that even keeping them in her house made her nervous.

Yet the man had simply left them with her and seemed completely unconcerned.

“Did he really forget about them?”

Even the clothes and things he had been wearing that day would have cost more than she could earn from a whole year of part-time jobs.

So perhaps he had already forgotten about the shoes.

She wanted to go find him herself.

But that was impossible in reality.

Besides, she was far too busy to go looking for her prince.

Seol-hee looked sadly at the shoes and remembered what had happened that day.

Then she suddenly looked at the wall clock.

“Ah! I’m going to be late!”

She couldn’t believe she was wasting time on such an important day.

Seol-hee quickly took her own shoes from the bottom of the cabinet, put them on, and hurried out of the house.

She had no idea that this connection would soon completely change both of their lives.