Side Story 2: Yoppi's Wedding
TL: Hanguk
Yoppi packed up the [Three Month Vow, Apple Blossom Bouquet] he'd received at Sejun's wedding and made his way to his home on the 22nd Floor of the Red Tower.
"Yohyohyo. With this, I can get married within three months, right?"
The thought that he wouldn't just be getting a girlfriend soon, but actually marrying within three months, had him feeling like he could fly.
The [Three Month Vow, Apple Blossom Bouquet]'s effect wasn't "you can get married within three months", but rather "marriage opportunities will increase". To Yoppi, though, it amounted to the same thing.
Because...
Yohyohyo. I, Yoppi, am a charming male flame squirrel who possesses both the cool assertiveness and the domestic gentleness I learned from Sejun-nim!
He'd been taught everything by Sejun himself.
So he wasn't the least bit worried about the clause that said failing to marry would leave him single for life. Naturally, he'd be married within three months.
On the way home.
He spotted an attractive female!
"Hello! Would you happen to want to marry me?!"
"Ah! Excuse me, if you're free, want to marry me?!"
Trusting in the bouquet's power, Yoppi flung himself at every female he liked, flaunting his cool assertiveness, but...
"What?! Marriage?! Do I look like a pushover?! Hmph! Unbelievable!"
"I have a boyfriend, thanks!"
"Ah. My apologies!"
He failed every single time. Of course he did. Why would anyone marry a Yoppi they were seeing for the very first time?
Over the month it took him to travel to the 22nd Floor of the Red Tower, Yoppi was rejected about a hundred times, but he never lost his confidence.
"Yohyohyo. By now, word about me has surely spread, so there must be female flame squirrels lining up in front of my house waiting to marry me, right?"
There's no way they'd leave Yoppi, possessor of both cool assertiveness and domestic gentleness, alone!
He was carrying an utterly absurd expectation. Why, no one could say.
And so, full of baseless anticipation, Yoppi arrived home.
"What?! Why is no one here?!"
Naturally, not a soul was waiting for Yoppi in front of his house. It was the most obvious outcome in the world, and yet Yoppi's heart sank with a thud.
That was when it started.
'What if I don't get married in the two months I have left?'
They said I'd be alone forever if I don't...
I want to get married just like Sejun-nim!
That was when he began to worry he might end up born single, never to date in his life. Far, far too late a moment to start worrying.
"No.... I don't want to live alone forever...."
Yoppi clutched his head in despair.
Just then.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Someone pounded roughly on Yoppi's door.
I knew it! There's no way they'd leave the charming male Yoppi-nim alone!
"Yes! One moment, please!"
In an instant, Yoppi's expression flipped from despair to elation. He scurried outside and threw the door open.
But.
"Uh...?"
Standing in front of the door wasn't a female flame squirrel, but...
"Kuhahaha. Yoppi, good to see you! Since we last saw each other at Sejun-nim's wedding, has it been a month?"
...a massive red-furred wolf. Yoppi's briefly fluttering face darkened again.
"Bayon-nim, why are you here...?"
It was Bayon, Boss of Red Tower 87th Floor.
"Let's talk inside first. Ugh... why's your house so small?"
Bayon shoved Yoppi aside and forcibly crammed his body inside.
Creeeak.
Yoppi's house screamed.
Bayon was so enormous that even hunched down as small as he could go, he took up nearly three-quarters of the house.
"Boss! We'll stand by out here!"
"Alright."
The voices of Bayon's subordinates, who had followed him here, drifted in from outside.
"Um... Bayon-nim, would you like some tea?"
Yoppi asked in a thoroughly shrunken voice. Bayon, Boss of Red Tower 87th Floor, was famous for having a foul temper.
"Tea? You got no booze?"
"Booze? I do have some, but...."
"But?"
"You'd have to move...."
Yoppi answered while glancing toward Bayon's right hindquarters. The booze was apparently over there.
"Eh. Forget it, then."
"Yes."
"The reason I came here is to help you with your love life on behalf of Sejun-nim, who's busy with his honeymoon."
Bayon explained the purpose of his visit.
"My love life?"
"That's right. Ahem. For your information, Sejun-nim personally sought out me, Bayon, his loyal full-time employee, and instructed me to help with your love life, Yoppi."
In an arrogant tone.
"Ah...."
Sejun-nim, I'm grateful that you're looking out for me to the very end, but why did it have to be Bayon-nim, of all people?
At Bayon's words, Yoppi felt like crying. His love life was already going nowhere, and now he was about to be coached by Bayon, a scoundrel rumored to hit females.
"Alright. Let's head outside first. Up we go!"
Bayon stood up with vigor, and...
Kra-krack.
...!
The roof separated from Yoppi's house.
No!
Watching it happen, Yoppi let out a silent scream. He didn't dare make a fuss, afraid Bayon might hit him.
Thump.
With Yoppi's roof still perched on his head, Bayon gave a light hop out of the house, and then...
Thunk.
"There. Problem solved, right?"
...placed the detached roof back on top of Yoppi's house.
"Haaa...."
If you were going to do that, we could've just talked outside.
Yoppi let out a long sigh and hurried out.
"Huh?"
Outside, dozens of Red Foxes stood surrounding tens of thousands of female flame squirrels.
"Hey. I came out here for this side gig, how long are you going to make us wait??"
"That's right! I came because you said we'd get 1 Tower Coin just for talking to Yoppi, and making us wait this long wasn't part of the deal! Give us 2 Tower Coins!"
"E-everyone, calm down."
"Y-yeah. The boss is going to bring Yoppi out now."
No. It was the other way around. It looked more like the female flame squirrels were surrounding the Red Foxes.
Just then.
"Alright. Let's get started quickly."
The moment Bayon opened his mouth, the female flame squirrels who had been raising such a ruckus lined up obediently in a single row. The thug Bayon was terrifying, apparently.
A moment later.
Yoppi and the female flame squirrels began their conversations.
But.
"Hello..."
"Hi! I'm Yoppi..."
"That's enough, right? Give me 1 Tower Coin."
"Here you go."
The female flame squirrels turned away and demanded payment before Yoppi could even finish his answer. They had absolutely no personal interest in him; they just took the money and left.
From their perspective, that was only natural. They'd come here as if it were a part-time job.
One hour later.
"Hello."
"Hi..."
"Now give me the money."
"Nice weather, isn't it?"
"Yes. The weather is nic..."
"I said one thing, so pay up."
Without managing a single proper conversation, Yoppi was treated like a vending machine that dispensed money by thousands of female flame squirrels.
Am I going to die single, having never dated?
Yoppi's confidence plunged through the floor, through the basement, deeper and deeper down.
"Boss, you think Yoppi's gonna be okay?"
Watching him, one of the Red Foxes asked Bayon in a worried voice. At this rate, they might fail Chairman Park's orders.
"Heh heh heh. He'll be fine. It's not like Yoppi's going to marry all of them. Keep going long enough and one female who likes Yoppi is bound to show up. In fact, the more he gets rejected like this, the more likely it is that someone will start to feel pity for him."
Bayon answered with a confident expression, his eyes fixed on one particular female flame squirrel.
Her expression grew more and more pained every time Yoppi was treated like a vending machine by another female.
'Yoppi, you idiot.'
There's a beautiful flame squirrel right nearby who likes you, so why are you looking somewhere else?
Yoppi had no idea there was a female flame squirrel who adored him.
Because...
I want to tell Yoppi I like him...
I want to tell him to talk only to me...
'But the words won't come out when I'm in front of Yoppi!'
The moment she stood before him, she froze up, tongue-tied as if her mouth had been sealed shut.
The line dwindled quickly, and before long, it was her turn.
"...Yohyohyo. Shuril, you came too? It's been a while. Hey."
Yoppi greeted his childhood friend Shuril, trying to act unaffected after being treated like a vending machine all day, but it only made him look more pathetic.
The two had been the closest of friends as children, but at some point Shuril had stopped opening her mouth whenever Yoppi was around, and they had drifted apart.
In the years that followed, Shuril was chosen every year as May's Flame, the most beautiful of the flame squirrels, while Yoppi became the Strongest Flame Squirrel and rose to be the boss guarding the Waypoint.
"......"
Today too, Shuril kept her silence in front of Yoppi.
"You can just go. Danto-nim, she talked to me, so you can give her the money."
Yoppi stood up for Shuril so she could receive her 1 Tower Coin. That was the most considerate thing he could do for his first love.
Having played with Shuril since they were small, Yoppi had at some point come to realize his love for her, and he had tried to confess his feelings.
But that day, faced with Shuril standing before him in awkward distress, saying nothing at all, he had let his feelings go.
"Got it. Here's your money."
At Yoppi's words, Danto, the Red Fox who had been watching, handed Shuril 1 Tower Coin, and...
"......"
Shuril's eyes wavered as she looked between Yoppi and the money, her lips trembling. She'd resolved, today of all days, to finally tell him how she felt, but the words she wanted to say stuck in her throat like a thorn and wouldn't come out.
"Heh heh heh. Looks like she needs a little push."
I might be able to complete Sejun-nim's orders faster than I thought.
Bayon grinned as he watched the two of them.
Time to play the villain for once.
"Boys, make your faces as nasty as you can."
""Yes!""
At Bayon's command, the Red Fox subordinates twisted their faces into the most menacing scowls they could manage.
"Let's go."
Bayon and his subordinates radiated a ferocious aura as they advanced on Yoppi.
And then.
"Yoppi! You useless lump! After everything Sejun-nim taught you, this is the best you can do?! At this rate, when are you ever going to get a girlfriend?! Huh?! You're a disgrace to Sejun Company! Just die!"
Whoosh.
Without warning, Bayon swung a paw with claws extended right at Yoppi.
I knew Bayon was a scoundrel after all! Sejun-nim!
Yoppi squeezed his eyes shut, resenting Sejun.
Just then.
"No! Don't kill Yoppi! I'll be Yoppi's girlfriend!"
Shuril rushed in front of Yoppi, threw her arms wide, and cried out.
"Liar. How can you be his girlfriend when you haven't said a single word to him?"
Bayon halted his paw right in front of Shuril and asked in a suspicious voice.
"Not now, maybe, but Yoppi and I were childhood friends who'd known each other since we were small, and back then we used to talk all the time! And I've been in love with Yoppi for ten years! But every time I stood in front of him my mouth wouldn't open and I couldn't tell him I liked him!"
To clear Bayon's suspicions and save Yoppi, Shuril desperately poured out the truth she'd kept in her heart.
And.
"Shuril liked me...?"
Having stumbled into hearing Shuril's confession, Yoppi was left utterly stunned.
"Yoppi, I like you! I really, really like you!"
Shuril finally spat out the words she'd held inside for ten long years.
"Shuril, I liked you too."
At long last, spring had come for Yoppi as well.
***
Two weeks later.
Yoppi and Shuril's wedding.
"Now, the bride will toss the bouquet. Anyone who wishes to catch it, please step forward."
A great many female flame squirrels surged forward to try to catch the [Three Month Vow, Apple Blossom Bouquet] in Shuril's hand, and...
"Then here it goes!"
Whoosh.
Shuril hurled the bouquet with all her strength.
At that moment.
Boom.
Gravity suddenly intensified and pressed down on everyone. While they all lay flat on the ground, unable to so much as lift their heads...
"Kyoot kyoot kyoot."
...a happy laugh sounded somewhere overhead.
Soon the laughter faded and gravity returned to normal. Everyone was able to move freely again.
But.
"Huh? Where did the bouquet go?"
The bouquet was nowhere to be seen.
*****
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