Love for love's sake [ENG TRANS]

Chapter 4

[Tae Myeongha's POV]

This message window had been appearing for a while. I didn't know what it was or why it continued to appear. Fondness from before too, wasn't that something usually seen in games?

So, was this not a novel but a game world?

And what the hell did Love Supremacy Zone mean? Wasn't that the title of the novel? Judging by the distance displayed, it seemed like there was a fixed zone, probably around Cha Yeowoon's vicinity.

Right now, he was at the front of the bus, and I was at the back, so I guess it was roughly the radius of a shuttle bus. I decided to look up the dictionary definition of love using my smartphone.

Love (1): An intense feeling of deep affection.

Or was it this one?

Love (2): A great interest and pleasure in something.

While I was at it, I also looked up 'Love Supremacy.'

Love Supremacy: An attitude or tendency that claims that love is the ultimate goal in life and is the only essential condition for marriage.

So, roughly speaking 'Love Supremacy Zone' was a place where love was supreme, or something like that?

But I didn't have any intention of falling in love with Cha Yeowoon...? More importantly, he was 18 and I was 29.

"Hey, student."

When Cha Yeowoon was a fertilized egg, I was solving problems related to geometry in my math book.

"The student sitting in the back!"

Back?

When I lifted my head, I saw the bus driver, who had withdrawn his head from the driver's box, looking at me.

"Student, are you deaf? Aren't you going to get off?"

Right. I was a student. Just until yesterday, I was at an age where I wasn't asked for my ID, so I had forgotten. The bus had come to a stop before I knew it. The last passengers were getting off, and Cha Yeowoon was already looking at me from the rear door after swiping his bus card.

"Yeah. I'll get off. Thank you."

I quickly bowed and got off the bus. The cool night air flowed through the bus stop. It was the last stop so there were only a few people. I took a good look around the familiar yet new scenery.

"Why are you absentminded?"

"Huh? No reason."

I couldn't say that seeing the place I used to live a decade ago was a new experience.

"But to get to my home, we have to walk from here."

My home was further up from the bus station. When I pointed to the steep road, Cha Yeowoon looked at me with a blank expression.

Without saying that he wouldn't go or that he didn't want to, he followed me silently. Perhaps he thought if he refused to go from here, it might be interpreted differently. He might have just given up after coming this far.

The path I pointed to led to an unauthorized shantytown. It was surprising that the shantytown, which hardly existed in Seoul anymore, still existed in the same way as it did 10 years ago. This place was really a strange world.

Walking down the path after a long time felt both unfamiliar and familiar. The more I walked, the more my memories came alive. The road leading to the hillside was narrow and steep. It smelled of spoiled food and sewage. Small shanties with slated roofs were lined up like crab shells. Moss-covered stone steps and abandoned garbage were entangled like flesh in the alleys.